What Can I Change?
Freya’s summer had been frantic. Just after Dumbledore had praised her for being careful with her knowledge of the future and not revealing too much, she had another rush of knowledge from who knows where. And this time, it had much more potential to be deadly.
How much can I change? Will changing it only make it worse? Can I live with myself if I let everything go as expected? How much will already be different after last year’s changes?
She was startled out of her pacing and fretting by a snowy white owl and a barn owl flying through her window and dropping a pair of letters on her desk. Hedwig and the other owl stood on the perch Freya had set up on her desk and nibbled at the owl treats Freya kept out for visiting owls. Freya moved to her desk to see what they had brought. A pair of letters sat on her desk. One each from Hermione and Ron.
She opened Hermione’s letter first.
Freya,
I think something’s wrong with Harry’s mail. I haven’t gotten anything from him this summer, and after you mentioned abuse at the end of last term, I know Dumbledore had arranged for him to stay with Ron, and I actually have received one letter from him. I’m testing sending a letter to just Ron to see if it might get through.
Hermione
Freya, of course, knew exactly what was stopping the letters. She turned to Ron’s letter next.
Freya,
This is actually Harry and Ron testing something for Hermione. She thinks Harry’s mail is being stolen or something. Let us know if this gets through.
Ron
Freya felt dizzy. Just by having Harry with the Weasleys, so much must have already changed. Could she even trust that what she expected would ever happen anymore?
“What am I even supposed to do?” she said to no one in particular.
She looked at the owls and decided it would be rude to ignore the letters from her friends. She sat at her desk and began to write. She sent the letters in which she vaguely alluded that she knew something to Hermione and simply responded ‘Message received. Hermione’s right. I haven’t received anything else with Harry’s name on it all summer.’
She sent the letters with the owls and returned to her worrying.
She sent a letter to Ron wishing Harry a Happy Birthday, promising a gift when they saw each other in Diagon or on the train. She also warned Ron that he should make sure Harry gets used to Floo travel before heading to Diagon Alley.
The day after Harry’s birthday, she got another letter from Ron, telling her that Harry was visited by a House Elf who told him to stay away from Hogwarts this year.
Freya made sure that she would be in Diagon Alley the same day the others would be there, though she went the day before and spent a night in the Leaky Cauldron, with her Mum’s permission. Thank goodness I have a good bit of extra money from the troll.
Freya’s mother worked as a secretary for some doctors. Freya wasn’t sure what kind of doctors they were. It never seemed important. Her father was an Unspeakable, working in the Department of Mysteries until he disappeared before Freya was born. Thankfully, he’d made plenty to pay Freya’s tuition before she was even born. Freya’s mother’s job was enough to pay the rent and buy her other school supplies without issue, but she tended to work long hours and didn’t spend much time at home except for sleep and a few holidays.
Before going to sleep that Tuesday evening, she went through her plan for the next day. Last chance to back out. This will change everything if I do it. She set her jaw and laid down to sleep.
The next morning, she put on her gloves and brought her bag with her to meet the others at the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. She didn’t have to wait long before the twins appeared. When Harry walked out of the fireplace, she breathed a sigh of relief. The rest of the Weasleys joined them shortly thereafter.
After greetings, the group made their way through Diagon to make their purchases, agreeing to meet up at Flourish and Blotts in an hour. Freya took an opportunity while shopping to pull Harry aside for a moment and give him his present. She handed him a thin box with a Snitch decoration on the front.
“Happy Birthday, Harry. This is for you.”
Harry looked amazed that he was actually getting a present, “You didn’t have to…”
“I know, but I give my friends birthday presents.”
Finally, he opened it, revealing a plain necklace with a Golden Snitch pendant.
Harry’s eyes widened momentarily at it, “Er -”
“It’s a gender neutral necklace, meaning it’s not just for girls. There’s plenty of boys who wear jewelry, anyway. I know you’re a good Seeker. Sorry I haven’t seen you play much. And there’s plenty of girls who never wear jewelry. I just thought you might like to try.”
Harry smiled a little and nodded, “Thank you, Freya. I… I don’t know, yet…”
Freya returned the smile, “And that’s okay, too. I’m always open to talk if you want. Let’s get back to the others before they start wondering where we are.”
The bookstore was packed as expected. Freya let everyone know that she’d already gotten her books the previous day, and stayed close to Ginny as Lockhart grabbed Harry up for the forced photoshoot. Hermione and Ginny seemed relatively unimpressed with Lockhart compared to Mrs. Weasley.
When Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley got into a fight and nearly knocked Ginny’s books all over the floor, Freya acted, quickly pulling out a small black diary from her bag and swapping it with the one Mr. Malfoy had hidden with her Transfiguration book beforehand. She looked around quickly, and her eye was caught by Hermione, who narrowed her eyes at her.
Freya mouthed ‘later’ to Hermione, who seemed to accept it for the moment, though she was clearly still suspicious.
The fight was broken up and they all returned to the Leaky Cauldron, where the Weasleys said goodbye. Mrs. Weasley surprised Freya with a hug and the family Flooed back to the Burrow, leaving Freya with the Grangers. Hermione turned to Freya with her eyes narrowed.
“Mum, Dad, can I have a minute to talk with Freya about something?”
“Sure, sweetheart. We need to leave soon, though.” Mrs. Granger responded.
Freya joined Hermione in the room she had rented in the Leaky Cauldron.
“Talk.” Hermione crossed her arms as Freya sat and sealed her bag as well as she could.
“Alright, Hermione. Mr. Malfoy put a dangerous object into Ginny Weasley’s cauldron. I was prepared and swapped it with a perfectly harmless object. I will be bringing the object straight to Dumbledore at the first chance. If I hadn’t done so, terrible things would have happened this year. I hope this is enough to avoid those things.”
Hermione frowned, “You know more things about this year? Do you know more about other years?”
Freya shook her head, “When you woke me up in King’s Cross at the end of last term, I suddenly knew what would happen this year. At first, I was scared to do anything about it, because I might make it worse, somehow. What was going to happen was awful, so I decided to risk changing things. Things were already different, because I got Dumbledore to get Harry away from Harry’s relatives. Harry would have been abused even more if I hadn’t.”
Hermione’s gaze finally softened, “Fine. You said you’re going to Dumbledore with it right away?”
Freya nodded. There was another moment of silence before Hermione returned the nod, “See you on the train then, Freya.”
“You too, Hermione.”
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ginny Weasley excitedly began unpacking her Hogwarts supplies from the shopping trip in Diagon Alley. She’d run to her room almost immediately when they got home, mostly to avoid being in the same room as Harry. She couldn’t help it. How could she? He had only gotten cuter this summer as his hair grew out a bit.
As she started pulling out her books, she found a small black book she didn’t recognize. She opened the first page to find a note on the front cover:
Ginny,
I hope you have a good first year at Hogwarts. I figured every girl needs her diary, so I got you this one. I spend most of my free time in the library, and will be happy to help you any time, even if you just need someone to talk to.
By the way, never trust books that talk back.
Freya Gardner
Ginny blinked a few times. Her cheeks felt a little warm. Freya got her a diary? She recalled the stories she’d overheard Harry, Ron, and the twins talking about occasionally from last year. Freya was an odd Ravenclaw girl, they said, but she was very helpful, too. She even helped with the Philosopher’s Stone at the end of the year, somehow having known everything that was protecting the stone beforehand. ‘She just knows things, somehow’, Ron had mentioned.
She apparently spent more time with Hermione than the boys, and was barely behind Hermione in most classes.
She thought about when she had met Freya in Diagon that morning. The pretty blond girl was about the same height as Hermione, and was wearing thin gloves in the summer for some reason. When did she slip me the diary? She recalled the chaos in the bookstore. Probably then.
Ginny eyed the last line suspiciously. She set the diary on her desk and pulled out a quill and ink.
Dear Diary…