Friends - a Harry Potter Fanfiction

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Hi, my name is Katie. Thank you for choosing to read this book. I am the author of this story and before you start reading I want to tell you a few things:

- I am from Germany so please don't judge me if you find spelling or grammar mistakes. Please write them into the comments so I can see and change it.

- The story takes place in England from June 1996 to May 1998. You will find events that also appear in the original Potter story in here too but I sometimes describe them like they are presented in the movies and sometimes like Rowling wrote them in the books. I am not only referring to just one of them.

- The main character's name is Athena Montgomery. I haven't described her because I personally hate it when I imagine a character in my own way and then he or she is described and looks totally different than in my mind. Please imagine her like you want her to look like.

Now have fun and enjoy the story.

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My graduation was over. I was 19 years old and a fully educated witch. I couldn't really believe it.

I remembered it as if it was yesterday but it was already five years ago when the doctor told me and my mom the result of the examination. I was suffering from the same illness my father had died from so many years ago. I inherited it and now I was about to die too. I actually should have died three years ago but somehow I was still alive and standing here at platform 9 ¾ where I should be picked up by my best friends Fred and George Weasley. But they were late as always.

It was all planed. After they left Hogwarts a few months ago, they began their life in diagon alley. They told me about their flat over their shop and I agreed to live there. At first I was afraid to tell my mother. I didn't want her to feel alone, because she had nobody except me, but when I finally told her everything, she was so happy for me.

"Athena", she had said. "I always thought you wouldn't get new friends here in England but I'm so glad you found someone. When you're dying, I want you to be happy. I don't care what you need for it. If these twins make you happy, I will let you go. You are an adult and you can decide for yourself. But you should know that if they do anything that makes you sad, you can always come back to me." I was so thankful after this conversation. She always had the right words for every situation.

I watched all the other children being picked up by their parents, grandparents or older siblings but I saw nobody who was still waiting like me, except for this one brown haired girl named Martha, who had been in my year at Hogwarts. She was still wearing her Ravenclaw uniform. A few hours ago it had been a struggle for me too, to change from my uniform to normal clothes. It was a strange feeling, knowing that I would never return to any school. When Martha was picked up by her brother Valentine, I was standing there all alone at this platform .

I felt like the day I arrived here after my first year at Hogwarts. I was only 11 years old, about to turn 12 in July. I was still healthy, well at least I thought so. This illness had been in me since I was born but I didn't know yet. But what I knew was, that this would probably be the last time I saw all these kids that I got to know when I was at Hogwarts. I was about to move into the USA and I would probably never come back to this beautiful castle. Many people had told me Ilvermony was a wonderful school too but I knew that nothing could be as beautiful as Hogwarts.

My mum worked for the ministry in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. At this time they were looking for people who would move to the USA and work in their Ministry as something like 'representatives' of the UK. When mum heard that these people would get a salary increase she said yes immediately because we'd always been a bit strapped.