Not many people knew about the small girl that lived in the cupboard under the stairs. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon liked it that way.
Harriet Euphemia Potter had incredibly messy hair and bright green eyes. The only thing she liked about her appe...
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Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harriet and Ron were still at Hogwarts the next day, looking tired, but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by next morning Harriet and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure and they were quite keen to have another one.
In the meantime, Harriet filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection.
"It's either really valuable or really dangerous." said Ron.
"Or both," said Harriet.
But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues.
Neither Neville or Hermione showed showed the slight interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again.
Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harriet and Ron. She had even started glaring at Harriet in their dorm, but she was such a know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus. All they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived with the post about a week later.
As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harriet was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel and was amazed when the owls soared down and drooped in right in front of her, knocking her bacon to the floor. They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel.
Harriet ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said:
DO NOT OPEN THIS PARCEL AT THE TABLE. It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch pitch at seven o'clock for your first training session.
Harriet had difficulty hiding her glee as she handed the note to Ron and looked around to try to find Oliver. He was sitting with Percy Weasley as usual. Harriet was a bit confused to find out that Percy always sat at the Gryffindor table, but she never questioned it. He saw her and offered her a smile just as Ron made an inhuman sound.
"A Nimbus Two Thousand!" Ron moaned enviously. "I've never even touched one."
They left the Hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first lesson, but halfway across the Entrance Hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy seized the package from Harriet and felt it.
"That's a broomstick," he said, throwing it back to Harriet with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. "You'll be for it this time, Potter, first-years aren't allowed them."
