The Importance of the Insignificant

The Importance of the Insignificant (pending title)

By Vlana

Chapter 1

The door slid open quietly. A red-haired woman entered, gently shaking the figure sleeping in the bed.

"Come on, honey. It's time to get up! It's your first day home back from Hogwarts this year!"

The girl in the bed yawned, then stretched. "Morning, mum," she mumbled, before getting out of bed and stumbling towards the bathroom. The woman smiled and headed back downstairs.

When in the bathroom, the girl peered at her reflection in the mirror. She was fairly short and slightly chubby, with red hair that fell in her face, and brown eyes. She gave a sigh, causing her bangs to fly up. She was 16; she should have hit puberty far before now.

She looked around for the toothpaste, but couldn't find it. She grumbled about it slightly under her breath, but stopped short when it appeared suddenly in her hand. Blinking, she looked around. No one else was in the bathroom. But wandless magic was impossible, wasn't it? Only the most powerful people could do wandless magic. Merlin, the Founders, and rumours of Harry Potter.

But she wasn't powerful! She was a Hufflepuff, a muggle-born. No one noticed her. She was the silent one, always reading. She was Susan Bones. Just Susan, no one else. Not powerful. Just Susan.

*

"Wake up, young master! You must hurry! Your father is waiting!"

The figure in the large canopy bed stirred, then rolled over to glare at the house elf. The elf took no notice and disappeared with a "pop".

The boy rushed out of bed and into the bathroom to clean himself up. Being late for a meeting with his father was never a good thing.

He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and then rushed to his wardrobe. Grabbing one of his many pairs of dress robes, he attempted to pull them on and comb his hair at the same time. It's didn't work. He crashed to the ground, cursing.

Quickly finishing getting dressed and combing his hair, he speed-walked to his father's study. When he got there, he quickly straightened his robes and brushed his hair back, before knocking once, twice, thrice, waiting for his father's permission to enter.

What happened next surprised him. Instead of the usual curt "enter", the door swung open revealing a beaming Lucius Malfoy.

"Ah, Draco, come in, come in." Draco blinked. What was wrong with his father? He was never this pleasant.

When he entered the room, he saw what. Sitting in his father's chair was a tall, thin, red-eyed man. Lord Voldemort.

"Draco, son." His father was speaking to him again. "Out master has an offer I think you'd like to hear…"

*

The sun dawned, shining through the window onto… an empty bed. The girl who slept in that bed was already downstairs, eager for the day to start. It was her first day of summer hols, and she had a whole list of things she wanted to do.

First things first - to the library. As she walked down there, she smiled, realising she was acting the stereotypical Ravenclaw. In reality, she wasn't going to get books, but going to talk to the librarian, a friend of hers.

When she got to the library, the door was locked, but the librarian, Madeline, was inside. When the girl knocked, Madeline turned, grinning as she saw who it was.

The librarian rushed to the door, unlocking it and pulling it open. "Lisa!" she cried. "Lisa Turpin!" She pulled Lisa into a hug. "Back from boarding school already?"

Lisa smiled and hugged her back. "You bet! And what do you mean 'already'? Didn't you miss me?" She fake pouted.

Madeline laughed. "Of course I did!" She pulled her into the store. "Come, now, you reall-"

Lisa didn't hear the rest of her sentence. It was as if she was in a different dimension. She couldn't see Madeline anywhere.

Suddenly, there she was. Madeline was crossing a street. Lisa tried to raise a hand to wave, but she couldn't move.

There was a screeching of tires. Lisa watched in horror as a car tried to brake but slid right into Madeline.

Then Madeline was shaking her. "Lisa! Lisa! Are you all right?"

Lisa smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just daydreaming."

Madeline still looked worried. "You stay here and I'll just run across the street for some doughnuts and juice, how's that?"

Lisa just nodded. Right after Madeline left, Lisa's head jerked up. Across the street? She bolted to the door, but she was too late. She watched in horror, for the second time, as a car hit Madeline. She screamed.

*

There was a knocking at the door. "Get up!"

A figure stirred in the bed, grumbling. It was only the first day of summer holidays. He sighed. Such a long time until he could go back to Hogwarts.

When he went downstairs, his aunt told him he would be attending a martial arts class with his cousin. Hs sighed inwardly - with his cousin? Great.

The gym they went to was large, but not many kids were there. The instructor was tall and thing, with an air of authority.

The instructor called for order and had all the students line up. "When I call you name," he said, "you will come up here so I can see how much you know."

Next to him, the boy heard his cousin gulp loudly. He was also nervous. He didn't know anything!

As he watched the others, he became even more nervous. All of them knew at least something. Some fought the instructor; others did individual kata. One girl even did a weapon routine with a staff.

He smirked slightly as his cousin went up. He attempted something, but wound up falling. The others in the class attempted unsuccessfully to cover up their chuckles. His cousin was bright red when he sat down.

"Harry Potter."

Great, that was him. He walked nervously up to the front. He bowed to the instructor and tried to get into a position that wouldn't make him look stupid.

The instructor moved first, and Harry's body started moving of its own accord. He blocked everything and even managed to "hit" (they weren't allowed to land any blows) the instructor a few times.

When the instructor told him to stop, he did, flushing. The rest of the class, including his cousin and instructor, was looking at him in awe. He flushed bright red.

As the next student was called up, Harry though, how did that happen?

*

Susan jumped slightly as the remote came rushing towards her, but she was getting more used to her "powers". It had only happened three times so far, but she realised she like them. They were extremely useful - especially for a couch potato like her.

The phone rang and Susan started out of her daydream. She ran to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?" she asked.

There was no answer.

She tried again. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

There was, again, no answer.

"That's it! I'm going to hang up!"

No answer.

As Susan was about to put the phone down, mumbling about crazy people, she heard something coming from the phone. She snatched it back up. "Hello?"

There was an answer this time. "Beware, Hufflepuff. Watch your back."

Susan gasped. "Ex-excuse me?"

"Beware. Beware. Beware…" The voice, which was female, just kept repeating that word. Susan quickly slammed the phone on the hook, gasping. What had just happened there?

She thought about the phone call, but it kept confusing her. Giving up and wanting to go back to the TV, she looked up, and suddenly had an image of being in a large room, decorated in yellow, with a tall man in red speaking with a woman sitting at a table.

Susan blinked, and the house disappeared. When she opened her eyes, she was back in her own house, in front of the phone. She shook her head to wake herself up, then headed back into the family room.

*

"Nice day, isn't it, Draco?" Voldemort smiled evilly. Draco bowed.

"Draco, your father is one of my most loyal and powerful Death Eaters, and I hope you will follow in his footsteps."

"Yes, my lord."

Voldemort's smile widened. "Good." He sat back. "Draco, I have a very important mission that I need done. I believe you are the person to carry it out."

Draco started. "Me, my lord?"

Voldemort's eyes flashed, but his evil smile did not falter. "Did I not just say that?"

Draco bowed his head.

"You are not the only child of a Death Eater at Hogwarts, but I have been observing you for quite some time and believe you are the best."

Now Draco looked curious. "What is the mission, my lord?"

Voldemort stood, beckoning for Draco to stand beside him. "If you succeed, Draco, you just might stand here, my right-hand man, even higher than your father."

Draco's eyes widened and traveled to his father. Instead of the anger, spite, and jealousy he expected, there was only a proud smile. He looked back at Voldemort.

"Hogwarts and the surrounding forest are filled with creatures, light and dark. I have tried to recruit them many times before, but they don't like cages, they attack those that don't understand them, and they can sense the Dark Mark," Voldemort touched the inside of Draco's left forearm, making Draco shiver inwardly, "on a Death Eater's arm."

Voldemort sat back down, and Draco retreated to stand next to his father.

"What I want you to do, Draco," Voldemort started, "is to talk to the animals at Hogwarts. You are a student - they will be used to you. One of Slytherin's gifts was to speak to animals, not only snakes, and was therefore passed down to me. I can harness some of his and pass it to you. This way, the animals will trust you because you understand them, but not fear you," he smiled, "for you will not bear my mark."

Draco looked confused.

Voldemort explained. "You will receive the Dark Mark on you arm after you have completed the mission. Will you do it?"

Draco smiled. "Of course, my lord."

"Good. I will transfer the powers to you here, tomorrow, at 6:00 PM. Do not be late."

Draco bowed and exited. As the door slammed shut behind him, he had a sudden image of a large room, furnished in green, a Dark Mark hovering near the ceiling, and a tall man laughing. But he shook it off and walked to his room.

*

"You may come in and see her now." The nurse opened the door.

Lisa rushed into the room. "Madeline!" she cried, giving her a quick hug, careful to not hurt her.

"Hey Lisa," Madeline said, smiling weakly. "How are you?"

"How am I?" Lisa shrieked. "How are you? Are you all right? How bad are the injuries? When will you be able to leave the hospital?" Her questions were rushed and hard to understand.

Madeline laughed. "Relax, girl! I'm fine! A broken arm and a twisted ankle, but that's it. I'll be able to leave soon."

Lisa sighed in relief. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she said.

Madeline grinned. "Yeah, me too." They laughed. "I don't even know what happened," she continued. "I was just walking across the street, there's a screech, and boom! something hit me."

Lisa bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"What do you mean, you're sorry? It wasn't your fault."

But Lisa kept repeating that as she left. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

When Lisa stepped out the hospital door, she was transported into an entirely different place. She stepped out into a beautiful garden, filled with flowers of all kinds and birds singing in the trees. She looked around, but when she blinked she was back outside the hospital. Lisa looked up at the building strangely, before whispering, "I'm sorry," to Madeline once again and then heading back home.

*

"He did what?"

Harry winced. His uncle didn't sound too happy. Dudley had rushed ahead into the house after their bus home to tell his parents about their class as soon as he could. Or, more like, to tell them about how Harry knew how to fight. Harry had a feeling that he was only sent to the class so Dudley wasn't the worst, but had a suspicion that this incident wasn't a very good thing for him.

He was right. Uncle Vernon stormed out to where Harry was and dragged him back to the kitchen.

Harry braced himself for the lecture. Uncle Vernon started in on how he was, indeed, sent so Dudley didn't look so bad, then to how upstaging Dudley was unacceptable. All Harry did was roll his eyes and pretend to listen.

Uncle Vernon ranted on and on, about embarrassing Dudley, and he should have respect, and they took him in and this was how they repaid him? and so on. Harry had no idea how the last topic came into this, but he didn't say anything. He had a feeling Uncle Vernon just needed to get some things out and now was as good time as any to do it.

But when his uncle got onto the subject of his parents…Uncle Vernon ranted about his parents, how they were worthless, and he was too, and that he should have respect, and should have died with them, and how dare they teach this stuff at that school…

Harry interrupted him. "They don't teach martial arts at Ho- my school."

Uncle Vernon stared at him. "Then where did you learn that stuff?" he growled.

Harry blinked, thought about it, then shrugged. "I don't know. I… I just knew it, I guess."

His uncle didn't like this. "You can't just know something, you little brat! You are worthless, like your parents, not gifted! Dudders should just know something, but not you!"

He had gone too far. Harry's eyes flashed, the muscles in his face tensed. He closed his eyes to stop his anger, and suddenly had a vision of a beautiful room, the beauty destroyed by two men, in the centre, fighting, sword against sword, wand against wand. He saw the taller man fall, and opened his eyes to stop it. He came face to face with three bewildered Dursleys, wondering what he was doing. Harry just glared at them, before heading upstairs to his room.

*

Angela watched the goings on of four very different people on her screens. She had given them warnings, showed them the way it used to be. She could only hope they were as smart as her master gave them credit for. The riddles she left for them were tough, but if she knew each of their personalities, she knew exactly what each of them would do - exactly what she wanted them to do. They each had different strengths, powers that would help them.

She watched the Ravenclaw, the brown-haired girl, wander down the street. Angela was extremely sorry she had to do that to her, but it was the only way to show her exactly what kind of powers she now possessed. Being a Seer was not an easy thing… she should know! The Ravenclaw was smart, would get them out of sticky situations. Which she hoped there would be none of…

Next was the blonde-haired boy, the Slytherin. If she didn't know better, she'd have sworn that Voldemort knew what was going on and was trying to help her by recruiting the boy and giving him those powers… But he wouldn't know. Would he? The Slytherin was powerful, almost as much so as the Gryffindor. He could change things - but for the better or for the worse? The Slytherin was cunning, he would see through things because he would have done the same. But would he use it to help the others?

Angela watched the red-haired girl, the Hufflepuff, next. She liked this one, and was extremely sorry for what would happen, and could only hope that her warning would prevent it. She had tried to make it sound like a threat, so the girl actually would watch her back… but she might not… she could only hope. This girl was calm; she would help them very much - if she survived. Angela closed her eyes and prayed…

The black-haired boy, the Gryffindor. He was the most important, the most powerful, the one who could change the most or keep the most the same. But the attack, when he was so young… was that meant to be, or wasn't it? How much of him did it change? The Sorting Hat had nearly put him into Slytherin. How much like Slytherin was he? But he had also pulled the Gryffindor sword out of the hat… He had bravery, courage, and nobility. He was the perfect Gryffindor. He would push forward when the others lost hope, put himself into danger to make sure the others would survive. Would that kill him?

She smiled as she watched each of the four drop off to sleep. They were powerful. The tasks ahead of them were dangerous, but she knew in her heart that they could do it. But was three enough? Did the fourth have to be there? Could they find a replacement? Someone else? The Gryffindor had just been through very much - did he have confidence in himself? The Slytherin never worked with the Gryffindor, but in legend they should have… would this change something? The Ravenclaw hated the Slytherin - they all did. But they were not meant to hate each other… the exact opposite, in fact. Was their rivalry standing in the way of success? And the Hufflepuff. She was not as Hufflepuff-ish as Angela had first thought. If what she had first seen in the screens came true despite their warnings… how much would it change? The girl was important, whether she seemed it or not. Could they do it without her?

Angela sighed, exiting the room. What had she done? There were so many questions she didn't know the answers to.