The Unseen Eye of Hogwarts

CHAPTER ONE

Next Stop: Life

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Nobody knew her, but she knew everybody.

Weird, isn't it? To be so observant, to read emotions better than anyone else could, to delve into the lives of her fellow students. Sometimes she knew more about them than they knew about themselves. She refused to socialize; she refused to open up. But she was blessed with a vivid mind and a mind always running. Why talk to people when you have yourself? It didn't bother her that she had no friends. She was fine with it. She had always been. Until she moved to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts was a whole different experience for her. It seemed every year there was one traumatizing event after another. First the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, then the escape of Sirius Black, next the Triwizard Tournament's disastrous ending...She wasn't new to the wizarding world. In fact, she knew it quite well. But Hogwarts was different. She had been coming to Hogwarts three years now, and each year proved to be interesting. It had Harry Potter. It had Hermione Granger. And Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy, and she could go on forever.

But she wasn't a spy or anything, and she didn't intend to become one. She just liked to observe her surroundings and splendor at the many types of people and problems.

Her stomach was churning excitedly as she made her way to the scarlet steam engine of the Hogwarts Express. Students were filing on, chatting animatedly with one another. With a wary glance around her, she studied new haircuts, different makeovers, who finally developed breasts or toned muscles. And it all worked out because no one would look back at her, so she could study all she wanted. And it didn't really bother her either. It didn't bother her that once on the train, she had absolutely no place to seat, or that Crabbe and Goyle had just roughly shoved her out of the aisle into a random compartment with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. Actually, it would make the ride all the more interesting.

With a thump, she roughly landed on the cushioned seat, Crabbe and Goyle paying no notice to her. The hustle and bustle of students outside quieted when their compartment door slid shut, and the train whistled soundly. She blushed and turned around to see Ron Weasley eyeing her with a confused expression. She glanced at the other two who were also staring at her. She merely smiled and turned the other way. Yes, it was an awkward situation, but the feeling would pass.

"So Harry, do you think I should try out for Captain on the Quidditch team?" Ron asked excitedly.

Harry was reluctant to answer and seemed to be restraining himself from rolling his eyes. "We'll see, won't we? We aren't seventh years yet and usually the upper levels have first choice."

Ron looked crestfallen and quickly moved on to eating a chocolate frog. The stranger sitting across from him giggled.

"What's so funny? Hey, are you that Mia girl?" Ron asked rudely, jamming more candy down his throat.

Mia? Mia? Who the hell was Mia? She had never been called Mia in her life! It wasn't even similar to her name.

Mia shifted uncomfortably and tried to avoid eye contact. Ron shrugged and continued to fraternize.

Meanwhile, "Mia" was opening her ears yet again for more interesting conversations.

"So anyway, my dad refused to get promoted again so now I have to listen to Malfoy pick on me even more about my father being a supposed Muggle-lover. But I think this year he's gonna get it. You'll see. One pop to the jaw and bam" - Hermione jumped - "he'll be on the ground crying to his precious daddy." Ron laughed to himself, his eyes glazed over with a kind of malicious hilarity.

Harry laughed and Hermione scowled. "Ron, you know if you lay a finger on Malfoy, the prick will land you and your whole family in a spot of trouble a whole lot worse than a 'pop to the jaw.'"

Harry shifted in his seat, reluctant to agree with Hermione, but agreeing nonetheless. "She's right, mate. But I s'pose one beating wouldn't hurt too much."

The boys laughed loudly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, get in trouble if you like, but please shut your mouth, Ron, because you're slobbering all over me."

Ron paused for a brief second to wipe the chocolate off his mouth, catching the disgusted look on Hermione's face in doing so. This caused him to burst out laughing even more.

Boring, boring, boring! Mia thought to herself. She had heard this conversation too many times before. Talk about sex. Talk about partying! Talk about Snape in a bikini for all I care!

Hermione waited for a moment of silence to actually begin speaking again. "Anyway, I was talking to some witches at Green Tea Leaves Herbal and Remedy Shop, and they were extremely interested to hear what I had to say about S.P.E.W. In fact, they even asked to join! I had put up flyers about a week earlier but strangely enough, nobody was replying. But that's beside the point. I finally found people who care about the stuff I do!" Hermione's face was shining with glee.

"That's because that's where the hippies hang out, Hermione! Of course they're gonna be interested in that do-good stuff!" Ron and Harry were simply hooting with laughter. Hermione sighed and retreated to staring out the window.

Mia couldn't help but to wrinkle her own nose in disgust at Ron's immaturity. She decided to steal a glance at Hermione who was gazing somberly outside at the grey sky. Mia frowned.

Harry seemed to come to his senses and notice Hermione's dismal expression. He put a hand out and caressed her arm. Hermione looked down and smiled slightly.

"Sorry, 'Mione. This world could use a lot more people like you. We're just giving you a hard time."

Mia held back a smile as she gazed at Harry's compassionate gesture. She glanced at Ron and was startled by his expression. His cheeks were almost as red as his hair, his lips were curled into a thin line, and his eyes seemed to be popping out of his head. He was eyeing Harry caressing Hermione's arm with extreme anger.

Mia knew that Ron liked Hermione. Everyone knew. Gee, you could cut the sexual tension with a knife.

Mia was quite glad that Harry pulled his arm away from Hermione because, quite frankly, Ron's expression was starting to freak her the hell out. Further discussion of anything ended and silence hung in the air for the rest of the ride, which made for quite a boring journey to Hogwarts. Ah well. The three of these guys were the same every year. Bickering. Laughing. Harry touches Hermione. Hermione gives affectionate smile. Ron gets mad. Awkward silence. And so on, and so on. The only person who showed any significant development as a human being was Hermione. Ron seemed to regress if anything. But Harry was an interesting case. Each year she saw Harry crumble a little more from stress. She somewhat knew the responsibilities of being "The-Boy-Who-Lived" and had quite the soft spot for him. But Hermione...She never seemed to show a flaw, or weak spot. To Mia, she was a wonderful role model, a seemingly great friend, (and a quite tolerant one, that is), and always had her head in the right place. It made Mia briefly wonder where Hermione's weak spot lay, but for now, she'd had enough of the Golden Trio. Perhaps she'd spend the second half of her ride to Hogwarts with Ginny Weasley, or Cho Chang. They were quite interesting. And if Mia was feeling daring enough, perhaps she could get a few snippets of conversations from Draco Malfoy. He always seemed to be up to no good.

But unexpectedly, she felt the train slow down. The ride had gone incredibly fast. And to think, she was finally back at Hogwarts! New year, new people, new problems, but overall, more watching.