Loyalty and Unity

Harri woke with a start. With green beams of light still flying in her sight and cruel laughter still ringing in her ears, she ran a shaky hand through her messy hair.

"Harri? Are you alright?"

Harri sighed quietly and swept back the hangings on her bed that isolated her from the rest of the world. Neville shifted nervously from foot to foot, a pink hue covering his cheekbones when he glanced at her. Harri smiled sleepily at his bashful demeanour.

"I'm fine, thanks Neville."

"Don't believe her for a second, Nev" Dean grinned, as Seamus snorted,

"Your not the only one who heard her whimpering this morning."

As he said this, the four boys turned to look at her in tandem. While Neville looked worriedly at her, Ron, Seamus and Dean were giving her a look that dared her to deny she had anything but a restful night of sleep. Harri sighed again, knowing better than to try, since it seemed they were all up some time before her, which was something of a rarity. An unlucky one, in her opinion.

"I had the reoccurring nightmare, that's all" she said softly.

The boys looked disheartened. There was nothing they could do to help her. If she had been sick, they could have called their Head of House or brought her to the hospital wing. But, there was nothing they do to take away her nightmares. Or in this case, her vague memories of the night her parents died. Under duress, Harri had told them about the different memories that haunted her during the night and she had grudgingly promised to tell them if she ever had a different nightmare or segmented memory. All because, one morning Neville had found her, in a cold sweat, shaking in fear under her covers, crying in her sleep. As was said before, it was an unlucky rarity that he was up before her that morning.

"Well, at least you weren't having the Quirrell Dream or Merlin forbid, dreaming about Lockhart" Seamus stated with optimism before shivering in disgust with the other occupants in the room. Harri glared darkly at him for even suggesting it.

"If I ever do have a dream about that git, I'm blaming you" she hissed with a rarely seen venom.

"We're all finished in the showers, if you want one" Ron interrupted, before Seamus could do or say anything stupid, like the mischievous light in his eyes suggested he was going to.

Thankfully, Harri nodded and Dean glared Seamus into silence. As Harri gathered her toiletries, the boys blushed and looked away, doing anything but watch her as she made her way to the showers.

It had been around two months, two and a half for Ron, since the second year boys of Gryffindor had found out that they had a girl sleeping in their dorm and that Harri was actually short for Harriet. They were still getting used to Harri being less secretive about the type of "girl things" she had in her belongings. This was how Ron found out his "Best Mate" was actually a girl. Being the redhead he was and feeling quite betrayed, he didn't give Harri time to explain before yelling at her and storming off. Ron stopped speaking to Harri and Hermione, who figured it out in first year, for about two weeks until Seamus walked in on Harri in the shower, in the hope of playing a prank on 'him'.

The accidental magic that sent Seamus flying out of the showers was enough to tell Ron that Harri's secret wasn't so secret anymore.

When Harri had finally calmed down enough to face her dorm mates, she walked in on the beginnings of a fistfight. Neville and Dean were holding Ron and Seamus back respectively, while Ron verbally defended Harri's 'Honour' and Seamus roared about how she shouldn't be in their dorm. Harri was by no means a meek person, but between Lockhart's fixations on her fame, the voices she was hearing in the walls and Ron's recent abandonment, her control snapped and the tears started. She tried desperately to calm herself and keep the tears at bay, having always known they never helped her. Even still, her first quiet sniffle made the four boys stop all movement.

Any anger any of them might have felt for her completely evaporated when they saw her defeated posture and her hopeless attempt to stop her tears. Neville, being the most compassionate of the boys and having grown up with his grandmother, who had a similiar opinion on the topic of tears as Harri, took it upon himself to help calm and comfort her. He sat hugging her on her bed for five minutes, while Dean, Ron and Seamus sat silently on the ground, waiting mournfully for Harri to stop crying and explain to them why she was a girl sleeping in a boy's dorm.

With Neville's arm still around her shoulders and hiccupping slightly every so often, Harri told them of how she had always been treated as a boy.

She explained that while her Aunt Petunia truly disliked her niece, she was more afraid of the abuse that her husband would inflict upon Harri, due to his passionate hatred of the magical race and of Petunia's sister and her family. Petunia's fear was that he would abuse her niece in way that she wouldn't inflict on any young girl, magical or not.

So, she told Vernon that Harri was a boy. She told him Harri would be given all of Dudley's future clothes to hide the figure she may begin to develop. She told him not to do anything too physical to Harri because of what the neighbours might think. She instilled in Harri, a fear of Vernon and what he would do to Harri if he ever found out she was a girl. Petunia protected Harri, hating her all the while for being something Petunia wasn't, for looking at her with Lily's eyes, which were not hidden by glasses like she hoped they would be.

When she finally went to Hogwarts, her name had been written as Harri on the roster. While it was unusual, it had been known that the Potter's were going to name their first child after James' father. When the Sorting Hat had been placed on her head, she was told that Hogwarts would protect her and her secret. Hogwarts and its elves provided her with a bed in the boy's dormitories and extra attention when it came to cleaning, care and food. Even when Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore tried to move her to the girl's dormitories, her bed and belongings stayed in the boy's. Even when the Professors made to discuss her gender with each other and the truth with her, they were magically silenced. They learned to accept the situation at face value, though Professors Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore knew better.

By the time she had finished her tale, there were varying expressions of horror, disgust, anger, and sympathy portrayed on the faces of the Gryffindors listening. As Ron and Seamus shamefully stumbled over an apology, the four boys subconsciously made a magical vow to protect this quivering girl to the best of their abilities. With Hogwarts acting as a witness, a bond was created that would save the Girl-Who-Lived a lot of grief in future. Namely when it was discovered that she was a Parselmouth and could speak to snakes.

After this, their lives went back to normal, save for the slight moodiness that Harri exhibited once a month. It was clear, though, that the group had become far closer than they once had been.

Harri found her dorm mates waiting for her when she came out of the showers. Having fully dressed while she was in the bathroom, she picked up her bag that she had packed the night before and the group made their way down to breakfast with Hermione, who joined them in the Common Room.

Happily joking and laughing at Seamus and Ron horsing around, the cheerful group were stopped just before they entered the Great Hall.

"Looking a bit pale today, Potter, have another dream about detention in the Forest again, did you?" Malfoy taunted loudly. In reality, Harri hadn't given her detention with Malfoy a passing thought since the night she saved the Philosopher's Stone. It just paled in comparison, if she was honest.

Even so, Ron, Seamus and Dean stepped in front of her, while Neville and Hermione stood at her sides. Malfoy sneered at the display.

"Hiding behind your bodyguards again, Potter? Are you not man enough to face me?"

The group of Gryffindors laughed at his comment and smirked secretively at the Slytherins who couldn't hide their looks of confusion. Harri stepped forward to stand in line with Ron and Seamus, still smiling in amusement. She knew exactly what she wanted to say; her anger wouldn't get the better of her this time. She was in control.

"We've been here before Malfoy, you challenged me last year, remember? Then you didn't show up. How manly is that?" She asked rhetorically, while the Gryffindors laughed.

Malfoy glared in fury but Harri continued before he could get a word in.

"Besides, they're not my bodyguards. They're my friends and that means that instead of standing in front of or behind me, they stand with me as equals. They're ready and willing to help me if I'm in trouble not because they're paid to or because I'm famous or have prestige in the wizarding world. They stand by me because they care about me," Harri smiled sweetly with a challenge in her eyes.

"Can you say the same for your friends, Malfoy?"

Only silence answered the question. Malfoy glared darkly at her, while Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles uneasily and Parkinson and Zabini shifted nervously.

Harri smiled victoriously, but her eyes held a pity for Malfoy that only he could see, and he hated her for it.

"I thought so" was all she said, before walking off with her friends by her sides.

Malfoy fumed for a moment before shouting at her, "They care about you? What are you, Potter? A girl?!"

Harri glanced over her shoulder and grinned viciously at him, her unusually pointy canines giving her a more animalistic and dangerous look. Draco suddenly felt very foolish for asking that.

"You should know Malfoy. You're more of a priss than I am."

The Gryffindors roared with laughter, staying true to their house mascot, as they left the Slytherin group and a pink, embarrassed Malfoy in their wake. Though what exactly Malfoy was embarrassed about is unknown to all but him.

And so began another day at Hogwarts.

I have something like 2 weeks until my final exams, but this technically counts as English study. Yeah, going 'cold turkey' really didn't work, but I think I'm going to be okay. It also means I have loads of little things, like this story, floating around my head. I hope to put them all up soon, and to those waiting for chapters for my Naruto stories: They will be put up sometime after the 21st of June, I hope.

Hope you enjoyed this!