Harry Potter and the Very Bad Influence

Chapter 1

Hey guys, I have finally started my Harry Potter fic that I've been talking about in my prompts fic. If you're new, welcome. I have had a WONDERFUL beta reader helping me with this story and doing a little writing of their own. So a HUGE thank you to Sam1107 on FF.Net for being absolutely amazing.

Harry didn't have a lot of friends and that was okay. At the start of his fourth year the Triwizard Tournament was announced and under no circumstances was he interested in joining. Ron told him that joining the tournament would be fun, he disagreed. Then his name was called from the goblet and now he had even fewer friends than he started with, so when a girl a couple years older than him suddenly started hanging out with him, he wasn't complaining.

She just kind of showed up out of nowhere, he'd never seen her before. He'd originally thought that she was from one of the other schools, but then she didn't wear their uniforms. She barely wore the Hogwarts uniform. She was taller than him by a couple inches and was way skinnier than he was, but in a healthy sort of way. She had coppery brown hair that was cut unevenly around her shoulders like she had cut it herself. She also had the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen. She usually wore muggle clothes- band and graphic T-Shirts and tight jeans of varying colors, and a worn pair of red converse. She wore an unmarked Hogwarts robe over her muggle clothes and never had on a tie so Harry didn't know what house she was in and he never asked her. She wore glasses much like his and they were always perched low on the bridge of her thin, pointed nose.

She always looked like she was judging you, her stare tearing you apart, searching for all of your hidden flaws and insecurities. And she always knew! If Harry was feeling bad, she knew. If he was happy, she instantly knew why.

She was a better friend than any he'd had.

So when she suggested he skip class so they could hang out by the lake, he was more than happy to comply. That's where he now found himself, skipping rocks across the surface of the lake, shivering slightly in the crisp breeze that promised a white winter, and watching the tentacles of the giant squid try to catch the stones. Every now and then it would succeed and throw them back and Harry and Max would jump out of the way shrieking with laughter. That was her name. Max. He had found out after about a week of her just showing up.

"Hey, Scarhead, why don't we head in? Your lips are blue." Max didn't even have Goosebumps. She was out here in just her ACDC T-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans, robe bunched up on the ground beneath a tree.

"Okay." Harry replied, his teeth chattering. The pair headed back towards the castle, Max throwing her robe back over her shoulders. They walked through the silent and empty corridors. Everyone was in class. Every now and then they would have to duck behind statues or suits of armor as Filch or Mrs. Norris made their way past them.

"Should we get back to class?" Harry asked, brows furrowed in thought. Skipping class was alright but getting caught skipping class was a whole new ordeal.

"Nah, we'll be good. Unless you want to. Don't you have potions next?" Harry shuddered as he remembered that he did, in fact, have potions. Max raised an eyebrow in his direction. She hopped down from her position on the one-eyed witch statue and sauntered off. Harry started after her once she'd rounded the corner but she was nowhere to be found. That's how it usually went with Max. Harry sighed and dejectedly made his way down to the dungeons for potions.

He had gotten there a bit earlier than usual so he walked in and took his usual seat, pulling out his potions book from his bag. Harry looked around him at all of the shelves of potions ingredients. He was very excited to learn potions in his first year... until he met Snape. Harry sighed and rested his head on his arms.