[a contest entry from a loooong time ago - this was for the Granger Danger contest omg XD]

MY CHARACTER:

Name: Mariah Belle Cassidy

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Age: 17 (in the Twins' year)

Some background info: Tall & skinny; jet black hair; unnaturally green eyes; pure-blood; in love with Fred Weasley, traveled back in time to the beginning of Harry's 4th year and has lived with the Weasleys since

I stood, horrified, as Cedric Diggory's father wept over his son's body. George stood on one side of me, his hand gripping mine, while Mrs. Weasley stood on the other, one arm wrapped around me and the other holding onto her husband's hand. I buried my face into George's chest and breathed deeply, refusing to let myself cry, although I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, which I had squeezed shut as to prevent myself from letting my emotions get the better of me. Mrs. Weasley eventually let me go, and the moment she did, George had his arms around me in a full, brotherly embrace as I sobbed, thoughts flooding my mind as to what was going on. I finally remembered what occurred at the end of my third year, and the result was even scarier than I first imagined when I read it back in my own time.

George and I stood there for a while, holding each other tightly, never wanting to let go, for fear that if we did we might end up with the same fate as poor Cedric. I pulled my head away anyways, turning around to see two girls running away towards the castle, one who reminded me so much of Hermione Granger. But - no, Hermione didn't go into Hogwarts so soon, Harry did! Right? My brain scrambled to find an accurate explanation for this, but nothing came up. Besides, Harry had already gone off with Professor Moody. I had to realize that not everything that happened might have been recorded, which means...

Hermione might be in danger. Back there was Barty Crouch Jr., disguised as Professor Moody. I had to get to them before he did.

I ripped myself away from George, screaming an apology as I leaped from the stands and rolled onto the ground, breaking into a sprint to the castle to catch up with Hermione and her friend. I heard the thunderous roar of running professors behind me, but continued to run to get to the girls and Harry. Any time wasted could be the difference between life and death. Especially for the unknown girl whom Hermione had ran after.

Even so, the professors caught up to me as I raced through the Hogwarts corridors to Professor Moody - I mean, Barty Crouch Jr.'s - office.

"Miss Cassidy, what is the explanation of this?" Professor McGonagall demanded. I quickly shook my head and gestured to the door, where suddenly a yell could be heard, followed by several different spells being cast. McGonagall understood and blasted the door open. I yanked my wand from my boot and dove into the room, casting a powerful protection spell around me to block any spells that may be shot my way.

"Confringo!" A male voice shouted, and suddenly a fireball soared towards Hermione. It engulfed her in flames, and I dove directly into them to get her out of the mess before it was too late.

I scooped her up through the flames and began running again to get out as fast as possible. The Infirmary was the best bet for now, although I wasn't sure what they would be able to do with her.

As I was running, I looked down at Hermione and realized that this couldn't be Hermione, causing me to abruptly stop. The nose was a little different, and the lips were as well. Her eyes were more almond-shaped, and suddenly my mind came to a stop.

Who is this? And why have I never heard of her before?

I continued to carry her out, hoping in my mind that the other girl was alright. I couldn't carry two bodies at once (I could barely even carry this Hermione look-alike), and I didn't even see the other girl when we burst into that room amidst the chaos.

I hustled quickly to the Hospital Wing and carried the Hermione-look-a-like down to a bed, laying her down on it. Madame Pomfrey hurried down, absolutely horrified, yet determined. She immediately went to work on her burns and told me to go get the Weasleys, Hermione, Harry, and a girl named Jenna. I nodded and quickly ran to the Great Hall.

When I arrived, I spotted a sea of red at the Gryffindor table, where the Weasley family was now sitting, comforting one another. When they saw me, Fred immediately leaped from his seat and rushed over. "What happened, Mariah?" he cried. "George said you ran off, following Elle and Lana, where are they?"

"Who?"

He gave me a confused look. "Elle, Hermione's twin? And Lana, you know, one of Elle's best friends, other than Jenna, of course," Fred mumbled the last part as an extremely pretty blonde sitting next to Hermione glared at him.

Hermione has a twin? Oh, great, two know-it-alls. Wonderful. I suddenly realized that Elle must've been that girl I saved. "Oh, that's the thing. You all should probably come with me. You see-"

"Is Elle hurt?" The blonde I assumed was Jenna screeched, ripping herself from the seat. "Oh, my wizard God, if Elle is hurt I'll die! I'll throw all my candy off the Astronomy Tower! We'll all be doomed!"

"Well, in that case, then yes, we're all doomed," I said in a monotone voice.

Fred and Jenna immediately turned serious, Fred shoving me to the side and running off towards the Hospital Wing, George on his tail. Jenna's eyes got bigger and bigger and welled up with tears. "What happened to her?"

"A-A Death Eater got to her. Set her on fire. I got her out as fast as possible but-"

Jenna screamed and sprinted towards the Infirmary, knocking me to the ground. The rest of the Weasleys and Hermione followed suit. Harry stayed behind with me. "C'mon, Mariah, we'd better go down there," he said kindly, helping me up.

"Thank you, Harry."

We made our way to the Infirmary and stood next to Elle's bed, Fred weeping by her side. Sparks of jealousy flared up in me, but I forced them down. That's such a cruel thing to do, hate someone when they're on the brink of death just because they had the man I loved... "George," I whispered, "why is Fred so upset about Elle?"

My best friend gave me a startled, then sorry look. "Mariah, she's Fred's girlfriend."

***********THREE MONTH TIME SKIP WHOOP************

I stood in the Infirmary, watching over the girl I helped save. Fred rushed in and raced to her side, just like he always had for three months now, holding her cheek, and whispering, "Come on! Please wake up! Please, not you too..." Tears welled up into his eyes and a spark of jealousy shot through me for nearly the seventh time since Elle went under.

Who was this girl, and why does she have Fred wrapped around her finger like that? It was a selfish thought, but I couldn't help but have it flash through my mind. I should be upset for Fred's sake, not angry that he didn't feel the same way about me instead of her.

George approached us and wrapped his arms around me in that brotherly fashion, much like he does to Ginny when she's upset about something. He gave his brother a sad look. "We need to get her to St. Mungo's, see what they can do."

"St. Mungo's can't help us," I blurted out. Fred and George gave me a crazy look, but I couldn't have said that for no reason. I quickly scrambled for a continuation of that accusation, when suddenly an insane thought hit me: Magnus. Of course! "I mean, I have a warlock brother who is really good at healing people, and I think he'd be able to help Elle more than the Healers. And I know that sounds really crazy, but you're going to have to trust me on this."

Fred and George nodded slowly. "Oh, Letter," Fred choked out, his face streaked with tears. I never imagined someone usually so filled with life and joy could be so...heartbroken. "We're gonna make you better, and when you do, I'm gonna kill you for scaring the shit out of me."

********************ANOTHER TIME SKIP YAYAY********************

Four or five months later (I couldn't really tell anymore), after we had taken Elle to 12 Grimmauld Place to finish healing, Elle was still in her coma, and Sirius and I were losing faith that she would wake up. Even my older brother, Magnus, who we had gone to for help instead of St. Mungo's, said the possibility of her waking up after all this time was highly unlikely.

But she was breathing, and that was enough for me to keep holding on to the little hope I had left.

One morning, I was lying in my bed, rereading A Game of Thrones, when I heard a very warrior-like scream of, "Not today, ass-wipe!" and a loud crash, followed by a frantic Sirius trying to speak calmly, then the sound of a door slamming.

Elle.

"Damnit, Elle, I knew this was going to happen!" I muttered, throwing the covers off my bed in the room that belonged to me and Ginny over the summer, making sure I placed a bookmark in my book, because wizard God damnit that Elle had to wake when I was at the best part of the story, and ran down the flights of stairs to where Sirius was standing outside of a bathroom.

"What the hell?" I cried. Sirius was holding a hand to head, which was quickly turning red.

"I should be saying the same thing! She decked me in the head with a lamp!" he whispered, trying not to make it too obvious that he was there.

"What did you do?" I demanded, pointing to the phone lying on the floor a few feet away.

"I let her talk to Fred..." the sharpness of envy pierced through yet again. Of course they would want to talk. And of course, Fred wouldn't ask about me at all, otherwise I would've heard something earlier. Anger boiled up inside of me, and I nearly took it out on the closed door in front of me, but I remembered Fred's heartbroken face in the Infirmary seven months ago, and I forced myself to suppress that anger. Elle didn't do anything, at least nothing she was conscious of or doing to purposefully hurt me.

"I can hear you out there, you know, you fucker!" Elle's voice yelled through the bathroom door.

I swore under my breath and hit the door. "Elle, can you come out, please? We're not going to hurt you!"

There was a very long pause, until she asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Mariah Cassidy. I'm Fred and George's friend. Can you come out, please?" I asked again.

Another long pause. Then the door cracked open, revealing a very frightened brown eye. She saw Sirius and slammed the door again. "I'm not coming out until he's gone."

"Sirius, go away," I said.

"But-"

"No. Do you want Elle to be locked up in a bathroom forever?"

Sirius gave me a sour look, but trudged off to the kitchen anyways, probably to get an ice pack for his head.

"He's gone," I told her, knocking on the door.

The door swung open, and Elle walked out, muttering a simple, "Fuck you, Fred." I grinned, then immediately dropped it when I got a good look at her, the look replaced with worry.

She was considerably shorter than me, by at least a whole head, and the first thing I noticed was that she looked dead. Her frizzy brown hair was so long it hung to her elbows, and her fingernails were as long as a cat's claws. She resembled a shriveled up raisin, shrunken cheekbones and all. A large red stain was forming under her shirt and I mentally face-palmed. Not awake more than fifteen minutes, Granger, and you've already managed to rip your stitches. Nicely done.

"Nice to meet you," Elle said, grimacing.

"Nice to meet you too, Elle."