Episode One

Part One

It was a slow afternoon and Gwen was sitting quietly in her dorm room, leafing through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for perhaps the eighth time. She was feeling kind of hazy, a little ominous premonition and Harry accompanied by a little Jimmy Eat World seemed to be the only thing to settle her stomach. It was only a matter of time before she was falling asleep and entering one of the strangest dreams she'd had so far in her adult life.

The room was dim and Gwen was seated in a student's desk, she craned her neck around to see other students sitting about her and busy working. Professor McGonagall was seated at her desk with a raised eyebrow staring at Gwen.

"Is there a problem Ms. LeFey?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Well then, out with it."

"Where am I?"

The other students giggled with delight. They hadn't had such entertainment since one of their fellow students re-enacted a story about a Potions class where fifth year Neville Longbottom spilled some slimy substance that Crabbe and Goyle slipped on, making a huge bungling pile of idiocy on the floor with Snape screaming his head off.

"You are in Transfiguration, Ms. LeFey and if there is any more impertinence you will serve a detention."

"Yes Professor." Gwen said gazing down at her notebook. She knew she was sleeping somewhere in her dorm room, lazily draped on her pillows. And yet, the dream seemed so real…

Part Two

Gwen was waking from her dream with a very hazy memory. Had she just been in Transfiguration with McGonagall breathing down her neck like some rabid animal?

She laughed. That's silly. It was just a dream. But there was an unsettled feeling about her that she was on the verge of stepping into another world altogether.

Pirandello thought that fictional characters could take on a life of their own, so maybe Rowling's books had that same power. Maybe Hogwarts really did exist in some other dimension and Gwen had stumbled into it in her dream.

She had lived through other such strange experiences, so it didn't really surprise her much that her line of thinking followed this particular route. She'd never had an ordinary life. She was part faerie.

She couldn't remember the first time she saw them, she was little and they were so terrifying. Faeries in stories seemed so much nicer than they were in real life. But from that day on she knew she was special. She had magical blood and no matter how mundane she appeared she was different. However, she was good at hiding herself from the real world.

But lately, strange things had been happening beyond her control. Like her dream. She'd lost that amazing cool about the extraordinary and was becoming a bit nervous. What if she fell into Hogwarts every time she fell asleep? What if she never woke up? But mostly she thought: is this somehow connected to my magic ability in the real world?

The rest of her day was a rather quiet one with no serious upsets or surprises, but she almost feared going back to bed. If she landed in Hogwarts again how would she be able to make everyone believe she belonged there?

She drank coffee after coffee to stay awake, but chasing the caffeine dragon wasn't going to protect her from sleep. Her body demanded to lay down and finally she had to obey it.

The moment her head hit the pillow she was out.

Part Three

The room was brighter than last time, but it was the same Transfiguration classroom. Professor McGonagall was up at her desk keeping a watchful eye on her students. Today they were turning kittens into tea cups and back again. Bonus points if you could make a saucer to match.

Gwen gazed around again, trying to take in as much of her surroundings as humanly possible. McGonagall pulled out from behind her desk and marched down the aisle to Gwen's desk. "May I help you Ms. LeFey?"

"No, Professor, I was just seeing what everyone else was doing."

"You should be less concerned about everyone else and more concerned about yourself. I'm not certain you'll be properly prepared for exams this year. Your complete lack of concentration is astounding. This is the second time I've spoken to you and from now on I expect perfect marks."

"Yes Professor." She said softly, gazing at her hands.

McGonagall turned heel as Gwen sighed quietly. That went well, she thought, rolling her eyes at her own behavior.

Finally she decided that she might as well try the spell they were all attempting. She waved her wand, quietly chanting words she wasn't even aware she understood and before her eyes the little brown kitten sitting on her desk a moment ago was replaced by a blue ceramic tea cup resting on a perfectly matching blue saucer with a neatly folded napkin underneath.

She smiled, amazed at her own handiwork. McGonagall nodded, as if she finally understood something about her least attentive student.

When Gwen finally returned to the Gryffindor common room she found herself bursting with questions. How was this working? Not only could she work the magic required of a Hogwart's student, but she suddenly had an entire working knowledge of the past 6 years she had been enrolled in Hogwarts.

She didn't understand it herself. This was only the second dream, and yet she had 6 years worth of memories to sort through, including her own sorting into Gryffindor house.

She plunked into a chair by the fire and Lucille, her precious black cat padded up to her. She had been a gift from her late father and she felt with some certainty that she was her familiar.

But wait, Gwen's mind buckled. Her father was still alive in the real world and she didn't own any pets because her brother and sister were allergic. But she wasn't in the real world.

She was in Hogwarts and she simply had to accept this reality in order to operate within it.

Harry Potter padded into the room and smiled at her broadly. "Hey Gwen. How was your day?"

Gwen nearly burst out loud with laughter. I know Harry Potter? Oh good lord. "Fine Harry. And you?"

"Well, except for double potions, excellent." He said while taking an adjacent chair.

There was something about the way he sat near her that made her nervous. He was good looking in that tall, skinny kind of way. He had matured quite a bit since his first year and now that he was heading into his fifth year, well he was becoming quite the catch.

"Hi Lucille." Harry said softly, stroking her belly as she rolled under his fingers for more.