Principal Harpswell

Principal Harpswell is a minor character that appears in the comic "Cinder Isle", and the Beyond comic "Cinder Isle: The Cure". He is the principal of Cinder Isle High School during the outbreak of the T1-G1 Virus and is one of its first victims. He is first seen bursting into the Nurse's office after hearing that Zack is there. He assumes that Zack is faking it to get out school early as he has a history of doing so but Nurse Belfast tells him how he's already thrown up a couple times is genuinely ill. Gavin however points out to both of them that Zack seems to be turning into a girl. At first Harpswell agrees he looks odd but asks if he's a crossdresser or transvestite. This angers Zack back after Harpswell gets too close Zack coughs right in his face infecting him with the virus as well. Harpswell goes to clean himself off just as Bruce is brought in by his best friend Frank and is experiencing the same symptoms as Zack. After another moment Harpswell sees his lower body transform which alerts him and Belfast to the fact this is a virus and a highly contagious one. He orders Belfast to evacuate the school and call the paramedics while he and the other infected remain quarantined in the office. 
He is left with Zack and Bruce as they all continue to transform. But when Zack says how his crotch is beginning to change Bruce gets very aggressive fearing the same thing will soon happen to him and Harpswell is left to try and placate things between them. The are then all loaded into the ambulances and taken to the hospital where Harpswell continues to transform. The head of the hospital Walter Togus sees both his head and his crotch transform and has the later part of the process recorded so he can fax over the evidence to the CDC and get action taken to contain the outbreak. After he (now she) fully reaches Stage 5 of the virus Togus asks Harpswell to call and cancel school for the next few days until the CDC and government can get a handle on the situation and assess what needs to be done about the virus. She is then forced to remain in quarantine for a few more days until the virus is assessed and revealed that once transformation is complete the infected is much less likely to infect others easily. 
About a week later the island managed to return to a degree of normalcy and the school reopened. Despite her transformed state Harpswell returned to work and the day classes resumed she called the students into an assembly in the gym where she gave a speech. She explained how the virus had been classified and how the infected could be "Transmitters" or "Carriers" and how things have adjusted to accommodate the virus and any possibly outbreaks. She then speaks about how the community is stronger together and that they all need to do their part to make the best of the situation and keep it under control. ￼ 
Harpswell is seen again briefly when she introduces Nathan Pembroke as a new student to the school after he and his father (turned mother) tried to sneak onto the island and are now quarantined there like the rest of them. She is then seen again when a fight between Bridget, Frank, Shane, and Chase occurred in the school gym and they were all brought to the office by Nurse Belfast. Angry that things escalated so much Harpswell picks up the fact Shane and Natalie were the victims and Chase was trying to defend them but before she can issue out the punishment, she thought of she is possessed by one of the ghosts known as the Mistress. The Mistress had taken a liking to Chase after seeing his fight and chose to possess Harpswell to find a chance to sleep with him. Possessed by the mistress Harpswell told Frank and Bridget they were suspended for the rest of the year and then would make up their lost time in summer school. She then told chase he would have to do after school detention under her supervision. The Mistress left her soon after and though Harpswell remembered everything as though she had said it herself, she was confused why she did it. 
A couple days later Harpswell was waiting in her office for Chase when the Mistress took over again. This time she had another ghost known as the Starlet put her in a rather sexy outfit witch she eventually used to seduce Chase. While chase resisted at first, she enticed him after explaining using special condoms and being careful but despite this the condom ripped and Chase became infected. The Mistress was ashamed and felt guilty she had caused this but fled from Harpswell not wanting to deal with the consequences herself. When Harpswell snapped out of the haze and recalled what just happened she assumed the virus had made her blank out and her hormones took over. Ashamed and panicking about what her sleeping with a student would do to her career she convinced Chase to tell everyone she had infected him from a paper cut and in exchange she would wave his (now her) remaining detention and change her grades so she graduated with top honors. Harpswell then called for both of them to be taken to the hospital where she confronted Chases Mother Clairissa and Stepfather-turned-stepmother Wanda. While they were not entirely convinced about the paper cut story, they were more concerned with Chase to question it further. 
Harpswell resumed her work as principal until she was eventually cured, and memory altered by Alistair Huntington over a year after getting infected. In the voting pole given out that night she was among the group who elected to return to normal. 
Category:Cinder Isle characters
Category:Females
Category:Males