Chapter 1

The sky was so pretty above me. Midnight blue swirled with purple, and little white stars dotted the mix of colors. I wanted to relish in how beautiful the space above me was, but that was impossible.

It was impossible because I was currently falling.

Maybe this was the part where I was supposed to see cliche flashes of my life, but that did seem to be happening.

Air rushed past my airs as I dropped, making me unsure of whether I was screaming or not. I could feel my arms splayed out at my sides, trying to grasp for anything to hold on to, even though I knew it was completely futile. I tried to turn my body around, mostly my head, to see what I would be landing on.

Then, in the blink of an eye, my descent slowed. The sound of wind in my ears was gone in an instant, and suddenly I saw that I was not outside. The stars above me were not there because I was falling from the sky. As I was able to take in my surroundings, I saw that I was not in the open night air, but instead in some sort of grand hall, complete with candles and torches on the huge walls, and four long tables.

My back hit marble, and even though it was not nearly as hard as it would have been if I hadn't mysteriously slowed down a second ago, it was still painful. I winced.

I glanced around me again. There were four long tables, filled with people. I seemed to have landed in the middle of the room, between the middle two tables. Wait—were those floating candles?

I tried to sit up to get a better look, but could hardly move my fingers, let alone my whole torso. My back was aching, my shoulders were experiencing some sort of burning sensation.

"Don't move," a voice told me. My eyes had drifted shut, and I was unable to open them again, so I couldn't get a good look at the owner of the voice. It was a male voice, I could tell, and old.

"Oh my god," I heard someone exclaim. "Is that—?"

Everything went dark (well, it would have, if my eyes weren't already closed), and I lost consciousness.

—

I woke up to voices whispering around me. I could feel sheets or blankets around me, tucked under my arms and legs. A surprisingly cushy pillow rested under my head.

"It looks just like her," someone said quietly. "Do you think that it could be her?"

"Don't be silly," someone else said, slightly louder, "Lily Potter is dead!"

Lily Potter? Lily Potter like in the Harry Potter series?

"Shhh!" a third voice interrupted. "I think that she's waking up!"

My eyes flew open. I found myself looking up at four people. Two men and two women. One of the men sported a long, white beard, half-moon glasses, and curious eyes. The other man was dressed completely in black (everyone was wearing strange robes). His black hair matched his outfit, and his expression was guarded. The two other women both had gray hair, but while one was stout and plump and wearing a bonnet and apron, the other was tall and skinny and wore green robes and a tight bun.

"Where am I?" I groaned. My voice was crackly and dry. The stout, kind-looking woman handed me a glass of water. I quickly gulped it down.

"Do you not know where you are?" The tall women asked. She looked both confused and suspicious of me. I shook my head and looked around me.

I was laying in a white bed, which appeared to be lined up among other white beds, all empty. I turned around to find tall windows directly behind my bed. They overlooked expansive green grounds.

"Am I in some sort of fancy hospital?" I asked the four people.

The bearded man and tall woman exchanged a worried glance. The bearded man spoke up.

"What is your name?" He asked, looking right not my eyes.

There was something at the edge of my mind. A feeling that told me not to tell them.

"I don't know," I whispered.

"Oh dear," the plump woman said.

"Is it a memory spell, Albus?" The dark-clothed man asked. His voice was cold.

"I do not know," the bearded man answered.

"Severus," the tall woman said to the dark man, "get the veritaserum. We need to figure this out as soon as possible. She could be an imposter, sent by You-Know-Who."

"Is that really necessary?" The dark man, Severus, asked the woman. She gave him a look, and he turned with a flourish of his black robes and walked out of the hospital-like room.

"Where am I?" I asked for the second time.

"You are at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," the old man, Albus, told me.

"Why am I here? What happened? Who are you?" I asked. I had a nagging suspicion, and I knew that I wasn't going to like the answer.

"Well, unfortunately we don't know why you are here or exactly what happened, but I am Professor McGonagall, and this is Professor Dumbledore," the tall woman said.

"And I'm Madam Pomfrey," the other woman said with a smile.

I didn't say a thing. The last thing I remembered was driving in my car, on my way home from school. Oh no! What if I'd gotten into a car crash and I was in a coma and this was all a dream? What if I was dead?

Just then, the other man returned to the room with a bottle of something clutched in one of his hands.

"This," Professor McGonagall said, "is Professor Snape."

"Hmm," I managed. He didn't respond. Well then.

"Here is the veritaserum," Professor Snape told Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore. Madam Pomfrey tutted with disapproval and walked to a door labeled "Madam Pomfrey's Office." The door closed harshly behind her as she entered her office.

"I don't want veritaserum," I said. This was my dream. I didn't want to drink some made-up potion from the Harry Potter books. The three professors exchanged a look.

"You know what it is?" Dumbledore asked me with one raised eyebrow.

"No… I mean yes. I mean I don't know." What the hell was I even saying. I could hardly manage what I said on a regular day-to-day basis. Who knew what would happen if I was given a truth potion. "Why do you want to give me this… 'veritaserum?' "

"Oh, never mind that," Professor Dumbledore said, waving his hand as if to dismiss the importance of the question. "In fact, we can wait a little while to administer the serum. Minerva, would you please get a cup of tea for our dear girl here? She looks as if she could use a bit of… honey in the tea as well."

Minerva Mcgonagall nodded, and I felt offended that Dumbledore would assume that I was stupid enough to not understand what he was talking about. He wanted Mcgonagall to give the potion in the tea. The woman looked at him gravely before walking out of the room.

I turned to find Professor Snape looking at me with some sort of glint in his eyes. I couldn't tell what he was feeling, but it was probably something evil.

"So neither of you knows why I am here?" I asked. I found myself twisting the sheet on my lap nervously.

"You remember nothing?" Professor Snape asked coldly, giving me a calculated look. Had I done something to anger him or was he just mean?

"Yes."

"You remember something?" He asked. I sighed at his density

"No, I just agreed with the fact that I didn't remember anything," I said.

"Just like her," Professor Dumbledore muttered. Professor Snape glared at him.

"Like who?" I asked. Lily Potter? I mean, I did have red hair and green eyes but I looked nothing like the Lily Potter in the movies.

"An old friend," Dumbledore said. "Ah, yes. The tea," he continued as McGonagall handed him a small cup of pink tea. I looked at it suspiciously. Something in my told me not to drink it. I didn't want to drink the veritaserum if McGonagall had slipped it into the cup. Dumbledore offered me the tea, but I shook my head.

"I'm not thirsty."

"No, really, I insist. You must be cold, and some tea will do you good."

"No, thank you," I declined, more strongly this time.

"Drink the tea," Snape snapped harshly. I glared at him and was hit by an urge to throw the cup at him and tell him to drink it.

"Fine!" I grabbed the tea and pretended to take a sip. "Happy?"

I slammed the saucer down on the bedside table next to me.

"Even though that was a fake sip, I think it was enough, Headmaster," Snape said stonily. Dumbledore looked at him for a second before nodding. Shit. They knew.

"What is your name?" Snape asked me. Words fought their way up to my throat but I shook my head. I'd always told myself as I was reading the books that I would never succumb to the truth serum, but it was so difficult in real life… or in a dream or whatever this was. Was this my subconscious' way of telling me that I was powerless?

"Rose," I spit out. "Rose Evans." Eyebrows rose on all three of them.

"Evans? Are you completely sure about that?" McGonagall asked. Yes, professor, I'm quite sure because I'm under the control of a FREAKING TRUTH POTION! I tried to convey those emotions through a glare, then realized that I'd said that aloud. Shit part two. Stupid truth potion.

"So you do know what veritaserum is?" McGongall asked.

"Yep," I said grumpily.

"Where are you from?" Dumbledore asked.

"London," I said shortly.

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

"What do you think you are doing here?"

I sighed "I'm probably in a coma somewhere, and this is probably a dream."

"Why do you think that?" Snape joined in the questioning. I glared at him.

"Because I hurt everywhere. Maybe I got into a car crash." Part of the truth. Mostly.

"No. I'm assuming that's because you fell from the ceiling of the Great Hall," Snape said. I was about to tell him to go fall off of a cliff, but I was interrupted by a splitting headache and some on-the-side nausea. At least, it seemed like it was on the side until I started to dry heave the nothingness that was in my stomach.

Madam Pomfrey came out of her office as if she could sense somebody's sickness. She shooed the two teachers and the headmaster away from my bead.

"I knew it!" She said. "Veritaserum is not good for somebody who has just been injured. Out! You can question her later!" And with that, my head fell back on a pillow and my eyes closed.