The Protagonist System

Harriet couldn't believe the way her life was turning out after only a few days after meeting her newest crush. The adjustments he had helped her make, in both her outward behavior and her apparently signature looks, had completely changed how everyone else reacted around her.

She was still the same awkward person on the inside that she had always been, though. It was just the little tips and tricks Harry had taught her that let her not freak out about everything... and wasn't that a delightful and weirdly romantic coincidence. They were both called Harry for short, with her being Harriet and him being Harold.

Also, having her own rooms, with an attached bathroom, let her be herself all the time and not have to put up a false front that hid everything she thought about her current situation, the school, and everyone inside of it. She was still involved in a deadly tournament that usually killed half of its competitors and everyone still thought she was a liar and a cheater for entering it.

Why would anyone in their right minds think she wanted the measly 1,000 galleon prize for winning and the fake eternal glory it offered? She was the most famous person in the wizarding world and everyone already knew her name. How was more fame going to help her?

Harriet shook her head and stepped out of the tub and grabbed a fresh towel that smelled of some flowery fragrance she couldn't place. She wrapped the fluffy softness around her developing body and blushed at how good it felt. It was almost sinful how such a little thing could affect her, now that she wasn't trying to suppress everything.

She grabbed a smaller towel and carefully dabbed at her long black hair instead of the rough rubbing she used to do to dry it as quickly as possible. That was just one of the little tricks Harry had told her about to make her life easier.

Who could have guessed that there were beauty spells specifically designed to handle things like hair care? After it was dried enough, she cast the two spells she had easily learned from Harry and her hair dried out completely and then the natural waves and curls were fluffed up and made it look like she had spent all day in a salon and had spent a fortune to look as good as she did.

Harriet stared at her naturally beautiful face in the mirror and she still couldn't believe it was her, even as she carefully poked her own cheek and smiled, and frowned, and stuck her tongue out at her reflection. After a moment, she barked a laugh at herself for being ridiculous and left the bathroom to walk over to her new multi-compartment trunk.

It was full of new things for her, both to learn from and to wear, and she had quite a bit of fun picking through the internal closet of the first compartment to find something appropriate to wear to breakfast. The only good part about being a champion was that she could skip as many classes as she wanted to prepare for the upcoming tasks and she was exempt from the end of year exams.

When she grabbed an acromantula silk robe and pulled out some lacy underthings that made her blush again, she remembered she had withdrawn from Hogwarts and didn't have to do those things anyway. Boy, oh boy! Wasn't that a huge surprise, too? She had actually stood up for herself in front of the whole school and made sure she wasn't penalized for remaining a Hogwarts student as she competed in a tournament that she didn't want anything to do with.

At least, it had been that way before she had met Harry Peverell. The handsome blond haired man had made everything sound so easy and simple, that she was confident she would come out on top and not only survive like she had originally planned. He was just so charismatic that she couldn't help but believe he would make her become the best her she could be.

There was a small pop and Harriet turned away from the mirror that had shown how well those underthings had hugged her growing curves and made her look much more mature than she ever thought she would.

“Good morning, Dobby.” Harriet said with a huge smile. It had been Harry's idea to call for the elf after she withdrew from the school and asked him to come work for the Potter Family. Dobby had been instrumental in retrieving all of her things, including anything her friends had borrowed, usually without her permission or knowledge, and had kept until Dobby took it back.

“The great Missus Harry Potter be greeting Dobby like a friend!” Dobby exclaimed and hopped around in excitement.

Harriet laughed at his reaction and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “I assume you popped in for a reason?”

“Yes, Missus! Harry Too bees waiting for you in the Entrance Hall!” Dobby almost shouted.

Harriet gasped and looked at the elaborate robes and other things she had yet to put on. “Tell him I'll be a few minutes. No, ten minutes. No, twenty minutes, since I still have to walk all the way there.”

“Dobby won't remember all of that and bees telling him you comes as soon as yous can.” Dobby responded.

“Yes, that.” Harriet said with relief. “Thank you.”

Dobby nodded several times and popped away.

Harriet took a deep breath and let it out, then grabbed the web pattern stockings and sat down on the bed to slide them on and they slipped up her legs like they belonged there. How did they do that without snagging on her toenails? Every normal pair she had ever tried to put on had always ended up with a run in them, so she had resorted to wearing more resilient tights instead.

The black garter belt was a little awkward to put on at first; but, when it was clipped in place and attached to the stockings, it make her look sophisticated and went so well with the lingerie she wore, that she couldn't stop her blush at how pretty she felt.

The light blue blouse was next and barely hid her black bra under it. Her mind went to how many boys had stared at her the last few days as she wore similar things and she tried to not relish how good it felt to be looked at for any other reason than because of who she was and what was happening to her.

The slightly darker blue skirt was next and she slipped it on and it didn't catch on the garters. It really amazed her how much work actually went into a girl trying to dress up and she tucked her blouse into the skirt and secured it in place. The much darker blue robes were next and she used the hidden clasps inside the waist area to cinch it in a little more than a hanging robe could have achieved without it.

That little trick made both her slender hips and her modest bust stand out and drew the eye to the contours that no other girl that wore draping robes had. She smiled at that thought and admired herself in the mirror, then nodded. Her reflection nodded back and waved, so she waved back and left her room. It was password protected and only she knew what it was.

Minerva McGonagall was the Deputy Headmistress and could override it, so Harriet also assumed Albus Dumbledore could also do it. She just hoped no other professors could, because she knew that Snape would abuse it as much as he could, just because he could.

Harriet walked through the halls of the school she had once thought of as home and now only saw as an escape from the Dursleys. She had once hoped that with Sirius free, she could have started living with him, only for the man to leave the country after escaping from custody to remain out of Auror hands.

As soon as she came around the corner and started to descend down the main staircase, she blushed at seeing Harry's happy face as he smiled warmly at her. Harriet admonished herself and tried to not get her hopes up, because he was an adult and she was only 14. What hope did she have of ever being with someone like him?

“I came here for you, didn't I?” Harry asked her, as if answering her question.

Harriet wasn't sure what to say to that, so she just nodded and came to a stop in front of him.

“Shall we?” Harry asked and offered his elbow.

Harriet nodded again and accepted it, then they walked into the Great Hall together to have breakfast. Every single person already there made surprised sounds when they saw the well dressed pair enter. She didn't shy away and tried to accept the attention, because it wasn't because of her being a champion or because she was famous. It was because of how nice she looked and the good looking young man on her arm.

The best reactions were on the faces of her ex-friends and both Hermione and Lavender had opened mouths as they stared at Harry. Harriet barely stopped her giggle from escaping and she came to a stop just inside the Great Hall's doors and turned her head and looked up at Harry's face.

“Where should we sit?” Harriet asked him, because she honestly had no idea where she could safely sit without pissing off half of the school.

“I think Ravenclaw is the safest bet this morning.” Harry said. “As long as you don't mind people talking down to you because they think they're smarter than you.”

Harriet huffed. “When has that not happened to me?”

Harry gave her a sad smile that changed to a normal one. “That doesn't have to happen to you anymore if you don't want it to.”

Harriet didn't blush, even if she felt like she should have. No one had really been there to encourage her, not since the end of first year. Hermione had called her brave and urged her to continue on to save the Sorcerer's Stone from Professor Snape, since Harriet was the only one that could.

“Let's sit near the end of the Ravenclaw table.” Harriet suggested and they walked over to it and all the way down to the end near the teacher's table and found a lone blonde girl sitting there. She had her head down and was slowly eating a bowl of butterscotch pudding.

“Excuse me.” Harry said and the blonde girl didn't react. He glanced at Harriet, whom shrugged. She didn't know the girl or why she was ignoring them. “Miss Lovegood? Do you mind if we sit here?” Harry asked her.

The blonde girl lifted her head and gave them a surprised look. At least, Harriet assumed it was a surprised look. It wasn't until she spoke that Harriet figured out that it was a look she always had when someone talked to her.

“Are you two real? It's not a trick my dormmates arranged, is it?” Luna asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “I'm quite tired of those.”

Harry sat Harriet down across from her and Harry walked around the table and sat down next to the blonde. She took the spoon she held from her hand and placed it into the bowl of pudding, then he took her hand and held it with both of his.

“I want to sincerely apologize for all the rotten people that treated their fellow Ravenclaw so poorly that she would rather sit alone than be associated with the rest of her house.” Harry said, sincerely.

Everyone at the Ravenclaw table fell silent at his words and some of them looked embarrassed. Unfortunately, most of them dismissed his comment, since Luna had always been treated that way and one person mentioning it after three years wasn't going to change anything. Or so they thought.

“I want you to submit your withdrawal notice from Hogwarts right after breakfast and you can get your tuition back from the school's coffers for the remaining years.” Harry said and kept hold of her hand.

Luna looked shocked at his offer and didn't respond.

“I've already submitted the paperwork to have Harriet as a student, so including another student isn't going to be any trouble.” Harry told her. “I just have to juggle two different course schedules for a while, at least until you can catch up to her. After that, I can teach you both what you need to know to pass your exams.”

Harriet felt a bit betrayed by this and kept her mouth shut, since she didn't want anyone to think that she was against something Harry was suggesting.

Harry somehow knew what she was thinking and gave her a reassuring smile. “It's okay, Harriet. Luna's a year or so behind you at the moment, thanks to the poor teaching methods she's been subjected to. She won't be able to catch up to you until at least March, just after the second task of the tournament. Even with an accelerated curriculum, that's plenty of time for the two of us to share a lot of one-on-one alone time together.”

That made Harriet blush and she reluctantly nodded. Having it pointed out like that, made her realize she was being selfish and she shouldn't try to restrict Harry when he was only trying to help someone else.

“Do they have to be mutually exclusive?” Luna asked as she looked from Harry to Harriet. “You're not a Hogwarts student anymore, so why are you bothering with sticking to the way they teach you to learn?”

Harriet opened her mouth to respond that was how the school was run, then she realized what Luna had said. Why did she want to keep the same class schedule, only with Harry as her teacher? Why couldn't she have some other kind of lessons than the ones she was used to? Had the professors at Hogwarts trained her to only accept that in order to learn properly, she had to do things their way?

Harry chuckled and let Luna's hand go, picked up the spoon in the pudding, and handed it back to her. “You don't have to accept, of course. It's a genuine offer from someone that hates to see someone like you be treated like you are by people that are too stupid to realize they are still alive because you are too nice to curse the things they steal from you.”

Luna blushed and ducked her head as she ate another spoonful of pudding.

“However, I am not a student here and I am also not as nice as you.” Harry said and loaded up his plate with waffles and pancakes.

Half of the people at the Ravenclaw table paled at hearing that and a few exchanged concerned looks. Anyone looking at them would have seen both guilt and anger there, because someone had just threatened them with cursing them if they didn't leave their chosen bullying target alone.

What Harry didn't tell them was that he had already cast a wide area curse on anything of Luna's that wasn't in her possession, thanks to Dobby giving him the idea. It was something Lucius Malfoy had done with the gold he had paid out or items he traded for favors and as bribes, so he could track them down later and steal them back.

As soon as the thief touched them again, they would activate the bad luck curse and it wouldn't stop or fade away until the item was returned to the owner. It was sneaky and also a great way to ensure your possessions were always brought back to you.

“Why?” Luna asked in a whisper as she finished off her pudding.

“Because that's what friends do for their friends.” Harry answered and started eating. He didn't offer any other explanation and Luna didn't ask for more. She was too surprised by the answer to wonder if he had any other motive.

Harriet across the table started eating as well. They had a meeting with Minerva McGonagall after breakfast to have Harry's living space assigned officially, since he really was going to tutor her in every subject she was taking at Hogwarts. The suite was beside hers and Harriet wondered if he would be as excited as she was by that fact. They were practically living together!

That thought made her blush and she ducked her head as well to concentrate on eating and pushing those kinds of thoughts aside. She needed to be in a serious mood to meet with the stern Deputy Headmistress and didn't want to come off as a silly little girl with a crush on her teacher. That would just be too embarrassing for her to ever live down.

The meal came to an end and Harry reminded Luna about the offer and that there was no rush to accept, since the real lessons wouldn't start until after the first task, and that wasn't until two weeks after the Wand Weighing next week. She had plenty of time to choose if she wanted to become a homeschool student and he wouldn't be insulted if she refused.

His genuine offer to still be her friend and would protect her, no matter what she decided, actually made the decision for her. Luna waited for Harry and Harriet to leave before she went to the head of Ravenclaw House and verbally withdrew from the school before she asked him to arrange an appointment with the Deputy Headmistress to file the appropriate paperwork.

Professor Fitwick was too stunned by the request to deny it and the little blonde girl put a happy smile on her face and skipped out of the Great Hall to go and pack her things. She also wondered if she would have to share a dorm with Harriet or with Harry, and both thoughts made the girl blush.

When she realized she was moving out of the dorm she hated, because her bed and homework were always messed with and she never felt safe there, she really looked forward to the upheaval that her new friend had caused in her life.