A small dog walked up to the castle and sniffed the air. It was dark and there seemed to be something...wrong. It walked hesitantly closer and stepped lightly and slowly so as not to disturb the danger that might lurk.
Suddenly there were footsteps, and the dog tensed, the hair on its neck standing on end. It was prepared to fight whatever there was in the shadows that might want war. Instead of a menacing figure, though, a young girl of sixteen or seventeen walked around the corner.
"Puppy? Puppy?" she called quietly as she knelt down and extended her hand. The dog sniffed tentatively and, deciding there was no threat, came close enough to lay its head on the girls lap.
"That's right, I won't hurt you. I'm surprised at you, though. There haven't been many animals around here since...well, you know. Dogs and other animals can sense these things, can't they? You must be really hungry to come this close to the castle. Well, I suppose that no one would mind if I just gave you some food." With that, the girl got up and started back to the castle. She turned to see that the dog was still sitting there.
"Well, puppy, what are you waiting for? A written invitation? You won't be getting one from anyone at this school. They're all much too paranoid." The dog cocked its head to one side, and then followed the girl into the school.
~
"Pendragon School of Magical Means. Extremely new. The school has been subject to numerous atmospheric anomalies that have students, teachers, parents, you name it, worried out of their heads. The anomalies don't seem to be in any specific sequence, nor do they coincide with dates, schedules of any students, or holidays. Whenever one of them happens, something bad usually follows," stated Hermione Granger who was reporting to her boss, Wendell Holmes. Hermione was the assistant head of the Ministry of Magic's department of Unusual Occurrences.
"Where exactly have these anomalies been centered?" Holmes asked disinterestedly.
"On top of the school. No one knows anything about them, which is why it seems logical for us to investigate. It could be something to do with Dark Magic."
"You want to investigate in other words? Personally, I assume?" Hermione nodded with false confidence. Holmes had a weird peeve of sending anyone into a situation where no outside research has been done. Hermione, on the other hand, preferred to be the one who did the first research. She hoped that he would allow her to go on this case along with the other agents."
"You've done your homework, Granger, and I can't deny that this doesn't look suspicious, but I can hardly send one of my Assistant Heads out chasing some storm clouds that some student is probably concocting as a joke." Hermione tried to object but Holmes stopped her. "But, I will send out a couple agents to question a few people. Just not you..." Hermione cut him off before he could finish.
"Sir, if I can't go, then can I chose who does go?" She wasn't about to let him send people that would work to only his requirements.
"Of course, Granger. Send whomever you want. If you can get me their files before eight hundred hours tomorrow, I'll get them on the case by nine hundred." Hermione stood up and Holmes nodded her out.
Ron Weasley was waiting outside the office. He stood up when he saw her. "So? How'd it go? Did he go for it?" Hermione smiled. When he acted like this, she could almost see him as he was when she had first met him at Hogwarts.
"Of course he went for it. I was pitching it," she said. Ron frowned at her flippancy and pretended to punch her on the chin.
"It's a wonder I stayed friends with a know-it-all like you all these years," he remarked. Hermione beamed at his jab. "Anyway, Leslie will be so relieved. She's been so worried about what Aislin has been writing about in her letters. It's good to know that you're out there investigating."
Hermione stopped. "Ron, I'm not the one investigating. He wouldn't let me go." She started walking quickly down the hall to her office. "But don't worry. He's letting me at least pick the agents to send. I'll pick the best ones that I have." Hermione could see that Ron was not uplifted by her news. "I'm sorry."
"You did your best Hermione. I'm sure that whoever you chose will do theirs."
~
"A dog!? Where in the world did you get a dog?" Cara looked up at her friend and stopped petting the dog for a little while. The dog was deeply offended by this, and pawed at her until Cara continued.
Aislin laughed. "She was outside when I was walking. She was so hungry and so I brought her inside to feed her and she just fell asleep on my bed. What should I name her?"
"Name her? You're not actually going to keep her. There is no way they would let you keep her. I mean, I don't think that she's the one causing these strange clouds, but no one around here is thinking clearly, and they might want to...they won't let you keep her. That's for sure." Cara looked at the dog longingly. There hadn't been any animals at the school for a long time. Cara had had a small tabby, but he had been one of the victims of the first anomaly.
"Shandeigh." Aislin said, not paying attention to her friend.
"What?"
"That's her name. Shandeigh." Cara rolled her eyes.
"You're lucky that I'm the only other person in our room. You know that if Jenn were still here, she'd already have gone straight to Walden," Cara sighed, referring to their former roommate who had been extremely vehement that all rules must be followed at all times. Cara and Aislin were not the best at this, and so at the first opportunity for a room change, Jenn had applied for new roommates.
"No one will find out about her. I'll just say that from now on I don't feel like facing everyone because...I'm scared. You can bring food up for Shandeigh and me," Aislin said.
"Great. Just what I always wanted to do my graduating year: accomplice to concealing a direct violation of orders from the headmaster. Peachy, freaking, keen," Cara flopped down on her bed, disturbing the dog, which ran to Aislin for protection.
"Don't be such a devout sourpuss. Once this whole thing blows over, everyone will see how stupid they were and Shandeigh will be welcome."
Cara rolled her eyes again. For some reason she wasn't sure that it would be quite as simple as that.
***February 20***
Hermione presented her hand chosen agents to Holmes just in time. It had been harder than she thought to find two agents who hadn't been completely brainwashed by Holmes' idea of half the research being enough to figure out what needed to be done about a situation. She finally decided on Starler and Musklin, two agents that had been with the Ministry longer than Hermione herself had, and still remember the days where one had to actually work when on a case.
There wasn't much else on her docket for the day so she figured that she might as well go out and try to forget work for a while. She didn't know where she was going when she set out, but she ended up at the Leaky Cauldron, an old tavern that had been around for as long as Hermione could remember.
"Well, if it isn't an old friend," came a high-pitched voice from behind Hermione. She turned around to see who was talking.
"Wanda! How wonderful to see you again. SO what's new around the Cauldron?" Hermione asked after a quick hug.
"Well, not much, dearie. Same old, same old. But today has been the day for reunions!" replied the old waitress.
"Oh? What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked.
"I think, she means me." A man with dark black hair walked up behind Wanda and extended his arms as if he was going to hug Hermione, but he stopped.
"HARRY!" Hermione ran into his arms and hugged him instead. "When did you get in town? I thought that you were supposed to be in Egypt!"
"We were, but they forfeited at the last minute and so we have home field advantage now for the World Cup." After a few years in minor league Quidditch, Harry had been drafted as a second-string Seeker for England's team, with a good possibility of moving to starting in a few more years.
"Oh, that's wonderful. SO when were you planning on seeing me?"
"I was going to call you, only Wanda and I got to talking, and...I must have forgotten. Almost seems like fate, you coming in here now. SO how's Unusual Occurrences? Had any weird ones lately?"
"They're all weird, but nothing rivals the things we saw at Hogwarts. Actually the strangest thing is what's happening over at that new school, Pendragon. Strange clouds have been sighted. Only they weren't really clouds, more like anomalies and they are the forbearers of bad tidings. After each one, there's been something terrible happening, ranging from the death of a cat to a student breaking both legs to one of the teachers breaking their neck. But we have people on it. Good people. Anyway, Mr. Potter I want to hear all about your life since I saw you last." Hermione sat down and rested her chin on hands expectantly.
"Oh. Well, I don't know much that hasn't been in the news about the Cup. You probably want something more personal, though, right? Well, I suppose there's always Kelley," he said with a smirk.
"I'll bite. Who's Kelley?"
"She's my girlfriend. Hermione, I think that she's the one."
"Harry, every girl is 'the one.' For Heaven's sake, you thought that I was the one at one point." During their seventh year at Hogwarts, Harry and Hermione had started going out. Two years later, Harry asked Hermione to marry him and she turned him down. They didn't speak to each other for months and it had nearly ruined their friendship. It had taken all their friends to reunite them and force the two to make up.
"You know what I mean," Harry said. He looked down at his glass to hide his momentary blush. "There's just something about her that I can't explain. She's just great, Hermione. I want you and Ron to meet her," he said eagerly.
"Well, you sound serious, so I will. Bring her over for dinner tomorrow night. I'll invite Ron and Leslie too. And little Lelia. It'll be a reunion to die for. Maybe even Neville'll come from Hogwarts if I ask nicely," Hermione said with growing excitement. "We can talk about the old times. We haven't had time to do that since...those times were there. And then we were too busy talking about the future." She paused, caught up in the moment with tears hanging in her eyes.
"We grew up so fast. At the time I guess we all thought it would last forever. Only it never did. And it never does. I'll bring her tomorrow night. Do you still live on Downy Street?" asked Harry.
"Lucky Number 13," she replied, jolting out of her reverie.
Wanda walked over and handed them the bill. Hermione tried to reach for it, but Harry got it first. He put down quite a bit more money than the bill called for and smiled at Wanda.
***February 21***
Hermione's head jolted up as a file was thrown onto her desk. She looked up and muttered thanks to her secretary, Josie. Josie walked out and Hermione opened the file. It was the results of the search that Starler and Musklin had done. Oh great, thought Hermione, now I have to muddle through this all. "And there's interviews!" she mumbled to herself.
She sighedas she started with the interview of the headmaster. She had read all the way through it when she found that the agents had taken the time to summarize the whole interview on the back of the last page. "Bless them," she said aloud. So Hermione read the last page of each interview. There were teachers, students, and even a nearby farmer that was interviewed. No one had any idea what was going on, but they all seemed to have a connection. Almost every person had mentioned one student in particular who had confined herself to her room, supposedly because she was scared: Aislin Weasley.
"Not Aislin. It couldn't be Aislin." She read the case summary next.
" 'Conclusion: Very little knowledge of what's going on. I suggest that a more thourough investigation of all students and teacher be carried out. The cause of the anomalies and the accidents are as yet unknown, but such an investigation might bring out new evidence. We were unable to interview this Aislin girl that everyone mentioned. Her roommate, Cara Leafly has told us that she is sick and will not see anyone. If you do start a formal investigation, I suggest starting with her.' "
Hermione looked at the clock. It was only two. At seven, she would be entertaining Harry, his girlfriend, Ron, Leslie, and Aislin's little sister Lelia. And they knew that she would have the report from the case. She dropped her head to her desk again. They would expect Hermione to tell them how it was going.
~
"Leslie! You look simply smashing. Wherever did you get that dress? Was it specially tailored?" Hermione had a smile a mile wide plastered onto her face as she addressed Ron's wife.
"No dear, I found the loveliest little shop and everything there only looks like it's specially tailored without the dreaful prices," replied the small woman with blonde hair and green eyes. She had a thick Irish accent.
Hermione led them into the kitchen. She turned to Ron and Leslie. "You two know Harry, of course. This is Miss Kelley Lincoln, Harry's girlfriend." Everyone exchanged greeting, hugs, compliments, and kisses.
"Well, dinner's ready when everyone else is," Hermione announced amidst the low din of chattering.
"Oh, and it smells delicious," Kelley observed. "My mouth is watering, Hermione. What are we having?"
"Oh I made filet mignon and a wonderful new kind of squash that I have fallem madly in love with since they released it. I'm sure you all will too," she said as they all sat.
Once seated, a line of trays paraded out and floated to each person. They started dinner and after the first "ooh's" and "aah's" over the cooking were through, Ron said, "Too bad that Neville couldn't make it."
"Yes, I know, but he said that he had an important potion to mix for his class tonight. And it was imperitive that it was made tonight and not today. Not that he would have time during class," Hermione explained.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't have met him. I can't wait to meet all of Harry's friends if they're as nice as you all are," Kelley gushed.
The conversation was pleasant all through dinner, but by the time dessert rolled out (actually, it floated too) it had turned to work.
"SO, Hermione, how's work at the Ministry going for you?" Leslie asked carefully. Hermione knew that she was much too polite to just go out and ask about the case.
"Oh, everythign's just marvelous. We just solved one of our cases that we've been working on forever. It was such a relief."
"What about that case with the school that you were telling me about yesterday?" Harry asked innocently. Hermione could have killed him.
"Well, the agents brought back their case. They don't know what's going on. The limitaitions of preliminary inquistions prevented them from being able to ask enough questions. They do suggest that I start a formal inquest though," she said, carefully choosing how much to tell them.
"Are you?" Leslie asked.
"Well, until I do, I can't divulge any details and once I do, there's only very little that I can let out. Even to the parents of the students." She smiled and took a long drink from her wine glass. Kelley stared at her for a little while and then winked.
"Your daughter goes to Pendragon? Why did you chose a new school instead of Hogwarts or where you went to school, Leslie?" asked Harry's girlfriend. Hermione smiled at her weakly.
The Weasleys looked at Hermione, briefly annoyed by the subject change, but they turned to Kelley to explain that they didn't want Aislin to go to school in Ireland where her mother had gone and the new school proved to be very much as Hagwarts was with a few curriculum differences that had made the decision. Hermione made a mental note to hug Kelley when she got the chance.
~
Cara ran down the hallway for her life. The form was chasing her. She could remember it coming for cat the first time the clouds came. It was coming for her now. She had to get away. If she could only get to her room in time. If she could only get to her room...
Cara's eyes popped open. There was dim candlelight near Aislin's bed. She was doing homework. Cara could see the books and the quill moving furiously over the parchment. Shandeigh was twitching at the foot of the bed, chasing rabbits in her dreams.
Cara saw Aislin look up. "Cara? Are you awake?" Cara didn't answer. If she did she would have to tell Aislin about the dream. Aislin would extract it from her. Her friend had a gift for that. So Cara didn't answer. Aislin went back to her work.
There had been something about the dream that had really terrified her. At the end, before she woke up, she had heard the voice of what had been chasing her. It sounded like everybad thing that Cara had ever known, and yet it sounded like absolutely nothing. Cara knew that the next time the clouds came, she would go as her cat had gone. And she suddenly missed Felix very badly.
A/N: Okay, well this part might be kinda boring, but it's setting up the rest of the story, so I promise that it'll get better as it goes along. I try to write stories of the trio at Hogwarts, but it never quite works out, so I'm reverting back to them post-graduation. Hope this story is well received. Thanks for reading so far, and I'd appreciate reviews. Send any owls to mtfbwya@pacbell.net.