The Half-Blood Princess

Questions For The Dead

Harley had never had friends. What did she do? Should she change the way she dressed? Feeling at a disadvantage was something she was not fond of, and it had been happening all too much lately.

She finally looked into her mirror, glanced down at her bed with her wand case, and heard that little voice we all have in our minds say, "You are a talented witch. These trivial Muggle matters are far beyond you."

Since she did want to go and make a few official rounds concerning her parentage, she made sure to look a bit presentable, but she was not prepared for when her friends arrived at her doorstep, driving another one of Mr. Weasley's bewitched cars: this one was able to accommodate multiple passengers yet still look like a typical four-door sedan. He apparently was able to obtain them when the Ministry of Magic had discarded them from one of his department's investigations.

They all looked pleased with themselves at how they had arrived.

"Ginny wasn't allowed to come," Ron said. "And boy did she and Mum have a row!"

"How are you driving?" Harley asked George. "You only turned fifteen in April!"

"I nicked this from Dad's bag last year." He held out a piece of parchment that he could Transfigure into a legal driver's licence. "I did the Transfiguring at school, so it wasn't considered underage magic!"

Harley chuckled. "If we get in trouble, I knew nothing about this."

"So, what is Muggle high school like?" Hermione asked. It looked as if she had been wondering that for a while.

"I would not know. I got expelled in my last year of primary school," Harley replied. "But that was Hell on Earth, in case you were wondering."

"This is going to be interesting, being Muggles for a day," Ron said to Hermione and Harley. "You two are going to have to make sure we don't out ourselves."

Harley noticed that Fred was staring at her. "Are you carsick or something?" She asked him.

"Huh. Oh, nothing--I mean, I'm fine," he stammered. His eyes raked over her as if he had never seen a living teen girl before. She wore a loose black batwing shirt and black leggings. Nothing special. What was he staring at?

"We can probably walk most places if you lot really want to experience a Muggle summer," Harley said.

"You know, Harry only lives a few towns over," Ron said.

Harley resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She felt that, while Harry was responsible for a few great deeds, he was not exactly idol material. After a year of him at Hogwarts, she was glad for a summer of having to not hear his name. He was a nice kid, but the Wizarding community was a little too Harry-happy, in her opinion.

Harley walked down her street, trying to see it as a pureblood wizard might. "The Muggle world is very dull, by the way," she said. "All my life I wished for a way out of it."

"So did I," Hermione said. "And I live in London...which is much more exciting than here."

"So...what do Muggles even do all day? Dad makes them sound fascinating, but to be honest this looks so dull, I want to set off a few Dungbombs," Fred said.

Harley smirked, leading them into town. The day was nice and cool, a summer breeze whipping her black hair from her face. She'd not felt this good in years, and it was about to come tumbling down as they turned a corner by the community swimming pool.

"Well, if it isn't Snake Girl," they all heard a girl's voice say. "Come home after a year at the girls' reformatory?"

Carol. Bloody Carol. Harley had nearly forgotten about her. She was wearing naught but her extremely tiny bikini and a sarong around her waist, looking at Harley like Harley was a bug she had spotted on her new shoes.