AUTHORS NOTE: I own nothing but original characters and extend my thanks to the original author for their work.

A MUGGLE AT HOGWARTS

(TAKES PLACE DURING SECOND BOOK)

CHAPTER 1:

RUNNING LATE

"Bugger it!"

The muggles stared openly at the strange woman running down platform 10 at kings cross station, her luggage wobbling dangerously behind her as she dragged it along.

At a glance she seemed like anyone else there, leggings, ankle boots and a baggy white t-shirt that said "I'M NOT A MORNING PERSON". Yes, aside form the fact she was clearly dressed for bed she appeared very normal indeed. Look- she was even wearing a black bathrobe...

The woman ducked and weaved between benches, bins, and bystanders seemingly looking for something; what for, no-one could guess there were no trains on this platform -the service was delayed by half hour. Maybe she was foreign and hadn't understood the announcement from earlier?

Why is she running at the wall-oh my god!

There was an awful crashing sound as the woman ran head first into one of the division that parted platform 10 from platform 9. It knocked the woman back, landing painfully against her luggage, not to mention the stream of blood that now poured down her face from her nose.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." The woman groaned. She got up slowly, and looked around bleary eyed and confused. She then pointed her fingers at each of the stone arches she had past between the platforms and seemed to be counting each one.

"1...2...3...4-oh BUGGER!" She grabbed her suitcase and dragged it back to the previous division, it's stone arch seemingly unmoved by her presence.

The muggles near by who had politely turned away from her, while strategically watching her every move as only a British person could do, were amazed and relieved to see that she had disappeared. Hopefully onto another train and far away from their commute.

Esther almost knocked down a first year as she swung her luggage onto the Hogwarts express, a baggage handler caught it and put it in storage with the others.

Esther wondered briefly if she had packed everything and then decided it was too late to worry now and all that running had exhausted her. She just wanted to find a quiet compartment to 'sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up' in as her father would have said.

She passed students in their robes saying good bye to their parents; tears, laughter and reunions were in abundance as the children shared what they had gotten up to that summer. Esther would have thought it sweet if she didn't want to currently kick something. Stupid alarm clock. It now laid in her house in a broken smoking heap she thought proudly. She looked around briefly for a moment as she stood to get on the train. It was a platform like any other but you could 'smell' the magic in the air buzzing in the atmosphere. She wondered what it would have been like for her at eleven, going to Hogwarts for the first time. But alas, she went to a comprehensive school instead.

Esther chuckled under her breath and boarded the train.

Her presence was met with whispers and pointed looks once the train departed in a haze of smoke. She had managed to find a compartment to herself and had extended her legs comfortably to the seat opposite. Despite looking outside seemingly entranced by the passing city and trees she was really watching passing students reactions to her in the window. The older ones had figured out she was a new teacher, the first years adorably thought she was a 'special' case here for tuition and one third year thought she was here to keep an eye on them after the Weasley twin's fiasco last time.

Esther wanted to know what happened last time but she was still tired and decided to rest instead. Her head bumped pleasantly on the glass window until she drifted off...

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" Esther jolted awake at the pleasant sounding voice, through cloudy eyes she say a round woman in red pinafore with a smile on her face pushing around a refreshment trolley covered with every confectionery item known to man. Esther, reluctantly gave in to her baser urges.

"Chocolate." she said getting some money out of her pocket.

"What kind dear?" asked the woman.

Esther looked at her blankly then realized the small boy sitting in the compartment with her who looked incredibly nervous. How long had he been there?, Esther pondered.

"You, boy," The lad jumped in his seat with a small squeak.

"What chocolate is best?" Esther asked him.

The pale boy, obvious second year, looked from Esther to the trolley lady and piped "Frogs!"

Esther offered him a small smile,

"10 frogs please."

"Ten?" whispered the boy. Ester's grin widened. "Each."

The trolley lady smiled and gave them their frogs before leaving to tend to the other children. The compartment door slid shut with a hiss and the boy stared in awe as Esther began counting out the frogs. Putting one in her lap and one in his. The rest sat in a pile nearby ready to be eaten.

"These better be good..uh...what's your name?" Esther asked, unwrapping the first one.

The boy picked at a frog cover but didn't unwrap it, as he looked down his black bowl hair cut fell just enough to cover his face. "Roland, Miss."

"Alright Roland, I'm Esther Bloom. And technically..." She drew her robes together and put on a mock superior tone "That's professor to you!"

The boy looked terrified

"I'm so sorry Professor Bloom I didn't-"

Esther felt guilty immediately, clearly this kid wasn't used to jokes, Esther felt a bit sad at that notion.

"Don't be silly, I was only joking – But I am a professor though, that bits real. I don't have a degree or anything mind, but Dumbledore did definitely give me the job. I asked like five times, I couldn't believe it either. Sorry, I'm rambling aren't I? Ignore me Roland, eat your frog."

The boy nodded mutely and began to open his wrappings.

Esther picked the box cover open and - "WHAT THE SHIT?!"

Roland jumped again "What, what is it?!"

But it was too late, the chocolate frog inside jumped onto Esther s chest as she squealed, swatting at it, until it jumped onto the floor and wriggled under the door frame to terrorize the other students.

Esther looked at Roland pointing a shaking finger at the door.

"What was that Roland?!" she hissed.

"I-it's a chocolate frog!" Roland squeaked.

"Its alive!"

"No! No, that's just the magic!" Roland explained desperately, poor boy seemed scared to death of getting into trouble.

"Their supposed to do that?" Esther asked disbelievingly, heart calming down, anger subsiding.

"Yes, um...have you never had one before?"

"No, muggle chocolate stays put thank you very much..."

"Muggle?...do you live in a muggle neighborhood professor?"

Esther smiled, twinkle in her eye as she leaned down close to Roland. He leaned in to to hear her whisper;

"Yes Roland...because I am a muggle."

The boys reaction had been priceless, torn between getting a prefect to wipe her memory to asking a gazillion questions about how and why she was here. That at least was easy.

She told him how Dumbledore had approached her six months ago and asked her to take over muggle studies at Hogwarts. She was more then surprised given that the last time she had seen or spoke to a wizard they were informing her and her family she was not eligible for magical education as her talent for spells was denied 'squib' level.

Esther gleefully tells Roland she is 'magically retarded', so even though she could sense and notice magic when she was younger, enough so the ministry made inquiries but not actually enough to get her in. Roland looked sad for her, she put a stop to it immediately.

"Oh no, don't give me that face, Roland. Magic is not the be all and end all of life, I've had a very splendid time without magic thank you very much. I went to a good school – alright, a school anyway. Made good friends, had a few...interesting jobs and you know lived life like anyone else, well anyone muggle anyway. So maybe I don't have a wand but you know what I got, Roland.?"

He looked at her waiting...

"I've got 8 GCSE's 4 A-levels and a diploma in teaching." She gestured with her hands: "Boom!"

Roland scrunched up his nose.

"What's a GCSE?"

Esther looked at him for a moment and tilted her head. "You know what, I never learned what that stood for."

They sat in companionable conversation for the rest of the trip, Esther told Roland about the muggle world and Roland explained some of the things she would need to know about Hogwarts.

Moving staircases had taken her aback, that was going to be interesting hungover.

Eventually the train pulled into Hogwarts station, more like a rain shelter with a platform. Esther looked out of the window in time to see a hulking shadow stalk past with a booming voice.

"FIRST YEARS WI' ME, TO THE BOATS NOW, YOU LOT!"

"What the-"

"That's Hagrid, the goundskeeper." said Roland., hoping down from his seat to get his suitcase overhead.

"Oh, right, the giant you mentioned."

"half giant."

"Are you sure?" Esther muttered looking at the size of the scraggly man.

Roland turned to face her.

"I, um, I better go... Non first years get the carriages to Hogwarts for the feast."

"Feast?" Esther asked excitedly.

Roland nodded, Esther grinned, yes, food!

"Alright then, Roland.,"she extended a hand, "Good to meet you, thanks for keeping me company and I expect you to be a bad ass at muggle studies when class starts."

Roland turned red and shook her hand enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you too!" he cried before turning heel and running off.

"Cute little weirdo." Esther smiled softly.

Luggage in hand again, Esther was guided to the teachers carriage, it seems everyone else somehow 'magically' got here before her. Esther sniffed, easy for some she thought. Still the ride was a pleasant one and she sat back and relaxed. She was not even phased that there was nothing pulling her along. Her conversation with Roland. made her realize that if anything happened she could not explain the best response was to chalk it up to 'magic' and forget about it.

She leaned back into the soft velvet seats and watch the trees, tall and green roll by. The stars were out too which was nice. Then after a few minutes she saw it – Hogwarts.

"Christ on a bike."she whispered. She knew Hogwarts was a castle, because you know – 'magic' but she did not realize how magnificent it would look, even in moonlight it was grand, a huge stone building with sprawling towers and lights in every window. It looked like a fairytale then Esther figured because it was. She felt a small pang of regret for her younger self suddenly. She had never regretted being raised muggle but looking at this... it made the new professor wonder what her life could have been like...

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hi,

Thank you for reading this chapter. I welcome any and all feedback particularly with the writing itself as well as the story. Updates to come soon so please check back.

Regards

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