The Curious Tale of Harriet Potter

3 - Christmas Evening

Christmas Day had gone by in a blur and when anyone asked Harriet where she had gotten the yellow sweater she wouldn't take off, she just swiftly changed the subject and fiddled with her sleeves.

Harriet was sat with her new broom in the Gryffindor common room, showing off her broom to the Weasley's who all wanted a go. Hermione was off somewhere, Harriet assumed in the library, after she and Ron had got into yet another argument about their pets.

"Can I have a go on it, Harriet?"

"Tomorrow, Ron. It's too dark now."

"What about us?" Fred and George cried out indignantly, making Harriet chuckle.

"Sure thing guys."

They were all admiring the broom in Harriet's hands - even Ginny who had gotten over her nerves to look at the broom - when the portrait hole opened and Hermione came in, accompanied by Professor McGonagall.

Hermione sat down in a chair and pulled out a book, hiding her face.

"So, that's it, is it?" McGonagall was staring at the broom. "Miss Granger informed me that you'd been sent a firebolt, Potter."

"Yes. I have Professor. With this, we're guaranteed to win our next match." She grinned up at her teacher with such happiness, that the transfiguration professor felt bad about what she was going to do next.

The transfiguration professor pursed her lips. "It is not the fate of the quidditch cup that I am concerned about, Potter. May I?"

She didn't wait for Harriet to answer before prying the firebolt out of the teenage girl's hands.

She turned the broom over in her hands, eyeing it beadily. "And there was no note, Potter? No message? No card of any kind?"

Harriet's face contorted in confusion. "No..."

"I see." Giving Harriet a look, the woman continued. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take this Potter."

Harriet stood up in indignation. "What? Why?"

"It will need to be checked for jinxes. Of course, I'm no expert, but I daresay Madam Hooch and Professor Flitwick will have to strip it down-"

"Strip it down?!" Ron was just as, if not more, furious that the broom was going to be confiscated.

"It shouldn't take more than a few weeks. You can have it back when we are sure it's completely jinx-free."

"But it's perfectly safe!" Harriet couldn't believe what she was hearing. Since arriving at Hogwarts, flying had always been her escape from whatever she had to worry about. When she was in the air, the only thing she needed to think about was staying up. The time where she didn't have a broom and therefore couldn't go flying was like torture for the Gryffindor girl, and now that she had one it was just going to be taken away?

"You can't know that, Potter. Not until you've flown it, at any rate, and I'm afraid that is out of the question until we are certain it has not been tampered with. I shall keep you informed." The formidable woman turned and left the room, leaving no room for argument, though that didn't stop Harriet from trying.

"But, Professor-!"

"Nothing you say can make me return you the broom at this moment, Potter."

Harriet turned to her female best friend. "Why would you do that, Mione?!"

Hermione was blushing at the anger of her best friend. "Well I thought, and Professor McGonagall agrees with me, that the broom could have been sent by Sirius Black!"