Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it. That honor goes to the reputable J.K. Rowling.
Chapter One- Mysterious Happenstances
Laurel woke to the sound of chirping birds and the feeling of the sun warming her face. She smiled contently as she stretched her arms over her head in an attempt to work the kinks caused by a night spent on the harsh forest floor out of her tired body. Slowly she wriggled her way out of the comfort of her sleeping bag. Blinking rapidly, trying to convince her tired hazel eyes to work properly, she rolled up her sleeping bag, attaching it to the pack she carried with her. Hefting the large pack on the back of her 5 foot six inch lithe frame she began to walk towards the creek she had seen just last night. In the waters of the creek she saw her reflection. Tired eyes stared back at her, and her shoulder length unruly chocolate brown hair suck out at odd angles around her face. Even as she struggled to calm her unmanageable mane she gazed at the wilderness that surrounded her.
'Well,' she thought, smiling widely, eyes wandering from lush forest plants to the rustling of animals up in the trees, 'this is something I will never get tired of being around.'
It was almost three months ago that Laurel lost her job. She had been working as a secretary for a mediocre divorce attorney for the past four years. For the first few years things seemed to be going okay. Recently, however, her boss had hit a rough patch, and the business seemed to be on the fast path to bankruptcy. Her boss decided the best course for them to take would be to do a little bit of downsizing. It sounded like a good idea to Laurel at first, until she realized that part of downsizing was getting rid of the secretary. So, at the age of 25 Laurel found herself suddenly without a job.
Instead of wallowing - like she wanted to, or searching for a new job - as she almost certainly should have been doing, she decided to take a chance, and do something she would probably never get the opportunity to do ever again.
As a young child Laurel would always listen to her mother tell her stories about Europe, and the time she had spent backpacking there. She told Laurel of the towering trees, the varied shrubbery and animals she came across. Laurel lived for those stories as a child, and as she grew older she felt an urge to do exactly as her mother had.
Laurel knew that at the age of 25, this could likely be the last chance she would ever get to follow in her mother's footsteps, and she seized the opportunity. Now, two months later, she decided that she still did not regret the decision, and with only a map to guide her she continued on her journey of exploring what the forest of Europe had to offer.
That very day, around midday, something odd appeared in Laurel's path that made her stop unexpectedly. Just a little ways ahead of her there was a break in the woods that could only mean one thing, a clearing, and a large one by the looks of it. Confused eyes furrowed slightly as she removed the large pack from tired shoulders to retrieve the map she carried with her. As she unfolded the wrinkled piece of paper carefully her suspicions were confirmed. There was supposed to be nothing but forest for miles around. According to her map, this place didn't exist.
'Well,' she thought with care, placing her pack back on her shoulders, 'It could always be a recent development. Maybe they just haven't had time to update the map or something like that.'
With wary feet she continued onward into the clearing. As soon as she was free of the woods the sight that met her eyes took her breath away. In front of her was the largest, most grandiose castle she could have ever imagined. The flora flourished around it and it was so tall the towers seemed to reach into the clouds. It seemed ancient, and yet timeless at the same time.
"So much for this being a recent development," she thought out loud, doubting that someone could build such a magnificent castle in such a little amount of time that no one was able to chart it on a map. Mesmerized by the site before her she continued closer to the building. Sooner than she might have liked she stood in front of the enormous doors leading into the castle. One hand pushed hair out of her face slowly as she contemplated the choices she had.
On one hand she could open the doors and wander inside. The same part of her which had wanted to come to Europe wanted to choose this option. To explore an ancient and probably deserted castle would be an awfully amazing adventure, and Laurel had always wanted to have an adventure. I mean, how many times in your life are you going to come across a deserted castle in the middle of nowhere.
On the other hand that could be an entirely foolish idea. It was, after all, an uncharted castle in the middle of nowhere. There had to be a reason it wasn't on the map. Perhaps there was a rational explanation as to why they didn't want people going in it, such as inside laid a germ that would instantly destroy anyone it came in contact with. Sure, it wasn't the most likely circumstance, but stranger things have happened in more normal places.
To add to her concern, technically if she entered the castle it could be considered breaking and entering. Sure, it looked deserted, she couldn't see any lights on or anything, but that didn't necessarily mean that no one was there. What if someone heard her enter? What if they called the police? Surely it wouldn't be good to get arrested while on vacation in Europe.
It didn't take too long before Laurel determined that she had come to Europe to have adventure. She decided she would explore the castle, hoping that if someone was currently occupying the castle it would be some lonely old lady who would be glad for her company. Her jaw set, one cautious hand reached forward with the purpose of pushing open the enormous door before her.
Before that hand could touch the door, however, it swung open with force, revealing a tall foreboding figure before her. Instead of the lonely old woman she had hoped for, a tall lanky man loomed over her, arms crossed defiantly. Black, slicked back hair topped the man, who seemed to stand more than six feet tall. Obsidian eyes looked condescendingly down a crooked nose, and she could hear one foot tapping impatiently on the floor.
"You know," he began, voice full of distain, "it becomes much simpler to enter a building if you open the door rather than merely stare at it." He regarded her silently for another moment before turning away.
Laurel took a quick step back, stunned by the sudden appearance of the man in front of her.
"Who are you, and for what reason are you here?" The man asked her. Laurel stood, gaping, looking up at the stranger, to overwhelmed to formulate a coherent sentence. She hadn't actually expected there to be anyone here.
The man tapped his foot impatiently, "Well? Are you able to speak? Out with it."
Finally, Laurel seemed to regain the ability to speak. "I didn't actually think anyone would be here." She blurted out, wincing at how unintelligent that actually sounded.
He looked at her strangely, as though trying to figure her out. "If you're here to apply for the muggle studies position I'm afraid you've arrived days to early. That's no matter really, if it's too difficult for you to understand simple directions I'm sure we will not be interested in having you fill the position."
There were so many confusing things about that statement that Laurel didn't even know where to begin. She decided to ignore the slur at her intelligence. Instead she reverted back to the way her elementary school teachers taught her to think.
Breaking down the sentance she focused on the strange word that he had used, muggle. Usually she would turn to a dictionary to find the definition, obviously, but unfortunately when packing for her month long trip in European wilderness she did not think a dictionary would be a necessity.
'Well, since he used the word he must know what it means.' She figured logically.
Swallowing her pride she turned to him and asked, "What's a muggle? Is that some sort of slang you have here in England?"
The man's eyes narrowed at her and Laurel chewed nervously on her lip.
"What did you say?" He hissed out, each word punctuated harshly.
Crossing her arms in front of herself, suddenly self conscious, she shriveled in on herself under his intimidating gaze. "Well it's not like it's a common word or anything. I might not be a genius but I've never even heard it before."
She saw the man open his mouth as though he was going to say something, but it closed soon after. He pressed his thin lips together in thought as he looked at her with wary eyes. After a moment of silence Laurel was shocked when one pale, slim hand shot out and grabbed her bicep, dragging her through the large doorway.
"Hey!" She struggled, trying to pull herself out of his grasp as he towed her further and further into the strange building. "What the hell are you doing? Let me go!"
For such a lean man he was surprisingly strong, and Laurel found herself unable to break out of his hold.
The man sighed heavily, finally ceasing in his hurried pace, as he turned to the girl behind him, his steel grip never leaving her arm. "For Merlin's sake calm down. I'm bringing you to the Headmaster. You present an issue that needs to be fixed and as soon as we deal with it you can be along your happy little way."
Somehow, his words did not comfort her. "Listen," she tried to reason, looking around the cold stone hallway they were in for anything she could possibly use as a weapon, "I didn't mean to cause any problems and I'm really sorry if I did but I really just want to go now. I have friends waiting for me and they won't be happy if I don't meet up with them."
Laurel hoped he would buy her lie. If he thought there was someone waiting for he might be less likely to do anything to her.
Unfortunately his demeanor suggested he didn't believe her at all. "Your friends can wait," The sarcasm in his voice only confirmed her belief that her lie had been a failure. "This should only take a moment and I assure you no harm shall come to you.
'Well, that's comforting. I have the word of my potential murderer that nothing will happen. Fantastic.' Laurel was still looking around the hallway, debating trying to reach one of the torches on the wall to use as a weapon, when something caught her eye.
"How bizarre!" she proclaimed, almost completely forgetting about the man in front of her, fixing her eyes on a painting placed near her, "Who in their right mind would spend their time painting a man picking his nose?" As she examined the work of art, the figure within it suddenly pulled its occupied hand away from its nose violently.
"For your information I was not painted that way," It proclaimed haughtily, and a bit defensively, sticking its nose up in the air. "Nor was I picking my nose as you so crudely suggested. My nose merely itched, and I chose that moment to relieve myself of the bother."
With that, he walked clear out of the frame, and she thought she could even see him storming away through some of the other paintings that littered the hallways.
Bewildered, she turned back towards the man who had let her in. Her eyes slightly glazed over she wobbled precariously on her feet as her mind became overloaded trying to understand what had just happened.
"I think I just got told off by a painting." She told the man calmly right before the world went black, and she dropped into a dead faint, her body falling gracelessly onto the cold stone floor.
BREAK
Severus Snape stared at the woman crumpled awkwardly on the ground befuddled. When he had first seen her he hadn't known what to think. She was in a clear state of dishevelment, and the large bag on her pack seemed bothersome.
Really, with a simple charm she could have easily made that burden lighter.
The thought struck him that she must be there to apply for the muggle studies position. Merlin knew the people to take that job tended to be quirky.
It wasn't until she claimed to be ignorant of the meaning of the word muggle that he began to realize something had to be amiss. Severus had, in his multiple years, met many witches and wizards who had an uncanny infatuation with everything muggle, Arthur Weasley being the least annoying of them (though you would be hard pressed to get Severus to admit that out loud).
They would toy with muggle contraptions, and integrate them into their everyday life just because they found muggles to be fascinating for some unknown reason. He had never, however, in his multitude of years met anyone so fanatically obsessed that they feigned being ignorant of basic wizard knowledge.
He decided, against his better judgment, to bring her to Dumbledore. If she was merely senseless, there would be no harm done. If, however, as the tickling feeling in the back of his mind suggested, she was a muggle, there was a much larger issue that had to be dealt with.
He did have to admit, he was amused at her interactions with the painting, the one she happened upon being notoriously rude, however when she fell into a deep faint caused by shock he knew he could no longer deny the fact that the girl on the floor in front of him was almost definitely a muggle.
'This is impossible,' He thought, 'there are wards to keep muggles away from Hogwarts.' As far as he knew, the wards were impenetrable, and had been standing secure since possibly even before the day that Hogwarts was founded.
He also knew, however, that there was a first time for everything. True, the founders of the school set up the wards, but it wasn't as though they were all powerful. Eventually someone had to be able to get through the wards. Whatever the reason he knew that he had to bring the girl to Dumbledore, and tell him of the failure of the wards around the school.
Severus sighed, a little annoyed at all the trouble this small girl was causing him, but resigned to the fact that he would indeed have to seek an audience with the headmaster of the school. He removed his wand from its resting place in his pocket and pointed it at the unconscious female and muttered a levitation spell, fully intending to levitating her to Dumbledore's office.
To his astonishment, he girl did not lift so much as one centimeter off of the floor. One slim eyebrow rose as he realized his spell was failing to work properly.
'I know people supposedly lose knowledge over the summer,' he thought with distain, 'but this is absurd. Surely I have not regressed so much that I cannot perform a simple levitation spell.'
He turned to an empty side of the hallway, and hurriedly cast the first spell he could think of in order to make sure his wand was not malfunctioning. When the hallway lit up brilliantly with a perfect lumos, he was satisfied his wand was performing up to standards.
Again, he performed the spell, and again nothing happened. Once more, with a little more fervor this time he cast the spell to no avail. Severus lost count of the amount of times he cast the spell, using varying tones, and altered wand strokes in an attempt to figure out just what was wrong.
Eventually, a frustrated and exhausted Severus folded his legs, kneeling down next to the prone body of the enigma that lied before him. He tilted his head to one side and rested it on one palm, taking some time to just look at the girl on the floor before him. Even in worn out crumpled clothes he could tell she would be quite attractive given the proper preparation, for a muggle at least.
She looked so peaceful just laying there, a ghost of a smile playing on deliciously pink lips. It almost made him mad that this strange woman could just lie there innocently and be completely oblivious to the torment that she was causing him.
'How is it that, even while unconscious, this mere slip of a girl is able to deflect every one of my spells? I never even saw her touch a wand!' Removing the outrageously large and heavy pack she was still wearing, he slowly picked her up, one arm supporting under the bend in her knees, the other her upper back.
He cradled the strange girl to his chest as he began the journey to Dumbledore's office, all the while trying to ignore the fact that as soon as he picked her up his heart seemed to beat a little bit faster.
End Chapter One
A/N
So a few weeks ago I ran across a journal that I kept while I was in middle school. It was filled with this story. I have fixed it up, of course (this first chapter being originally around 100 words ;D), my skill having increased dramatically since middle school, but the plot remains essentially the same. The majority of it was written just after the fourth Harry Potter book was written, and thus does not take into account the happenings of the fifth book. I did, however, write out Sirius, accounting for his death.
I do still need a beta for the story, so if there is anyone out there interested go ahead and shoot me a message. It would be greatly appreciated.
Constructive criticism is encouraged and greatly appreciated, as would be anyone wanting to merely drop by to say "Hey pretty nice story you've got started here!" Hell, if you are even having a bad day and want to flame me, go right ahead. I hold no illusions to being a brilliant novelist, and telling me how horrible I am really will not hurt my feelings. I know yelling at someone now and again can be very soothing and have a good affect on anyone's psyche.
*Whoopsydaisy
Edited 8/30/09: Just a few minor changes.
