Chapter One: Dimension Jumping Seems Plausible
"Hey guys, I'm heading out now if that's okay," Aria called through the darkened restaurant to her coworkers who were busy cleaning and going through the nightly closing tasks.
"No prob," she heard Taylor call back. "Thanks for staying late… again," she added.
"It's fine," Aria said, walking over to lean against the half wall by the register. "It's not like I do anything else anyway."
"Well I feel bad that you are always the one to stay late," Taylor commented as she counted out the dollar bills in the register. Aria waited until she was done counting to continue the conversation so she didn't ruin Taylor's concentration.
"I don't mind staying late. Anyway, I'll see you on Thursday," she said, pushing off the wall.
"Bye," Taylor called, moving on to the coins in the register.
"Bye!" She heard Grace, the other worker call from the front where she was sweeping the floor.
Aria waved to her before turning to walk out the back door to the parking lot. Double checking that the door was locked behind her, she turned and pulled her keys from her purse and sighed, walking to her car.
At 23 years of age, Aria had expected to be doing something worthwhile with her life, but instead, she was stuck working a dead end job at a restaurant, paying off student loans for the art school she hadn't finished. She lived alone, in a tiny apartment, and spent all of her time at work. Her parent's had moved out of state after Aria and her younger sister had graduated high school, and while Aria liked Wisconsin well enough, she wished she could at least get away for a little bit. That was the whole point of her taking the next three days off. She had been meaning to drive down to Missouri to visit her sister and brother-in-law. Aria had packed a small duffle bag, hoping to leave when her shift ended at 5, but she had stayed late and now it was almost 10, so she wasn't sure if she wanted to make the eight hour drive that night. She let her car idle for a moment, then decided she wasn't going to waste the only time she'd had to see Renee in over a year. She stopped at the gas station next door to get a coffee and fuel up, then headed toward the freeway which, hopefully, would be mostly empty this time of night.
Aria had made two more stops for coffee and just barely crossed the border from Wisconsin to Illinois when something strange began happening. The radio station she had been singing along to became static. This was expected as she was quite a ways from her normal area, but as the pushed through the seek buttons, no other stations came in, everything was all static. She frowned, but didn't look down too long, since she was going quite fast on the nearly empty freeway. She felt around in her purse with one hand, looking for her iPod, but came up empty. With a sigh, she glanced over at her overnight bag for a second, wondering if she had put it in there instead. She unzipped the small front pocket, glancing out of the corner of her eye and sure enough, her iPod fell out onto the floor.
She let out a frustrated sigh, then looked up at the road. Determining that the highway was straight, and empty of cars, she reached down to the floor, keeping her hand steady on the wheel, and immediately grabbed the device and straightened, only to see she had drifted dangerously close to the median. She jerked the wheel to the right on instinct, then screamed as she began to lose control of the vehicle. She slammed on the brakes and began to skid into the ditch between the two directions of road. The car tipped over as it left the pavement, rolling over twice and finally coming to a stop upside down in the bottom of the wide median. Dizzily, Aria lifted a hand to her aching head as she hung upside down, suspended by her seat belt. Her hair was hanging over her head, and it felt warm and sticky. Black spots danced around the sides of her vision as she tried to squint through the darkness at her hands, which were now covered with dark liquid. She blindly reached a hand toward her purse and duffle bag that now rested on the ceiling, trying to find her phone to call for help. Her eyes closed momentarily as she tried to focus on what she was doing, but her head swam and everything faded away from her until she couldn't feel anything at all.
"Mum! Mum, I think she's waking up!" Aria heard an excited voice say from her side. She tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn't obey her, so she settled for taking a deep breath in. She was met by a barrage of smells, some were familiar, like the scent of slightly musty furniture, the faint smell of fast food coming frothier clothes, a flowery smelling sop or shampoo, but everything else was new to her. As she woke up further, she noticed a variety of sounds around her as well, there was a kettle boiling somewhere nearby, and it must have been raining outside, she could hear the drops hitting a glass window nearby.
A flurry of colors bloomed behind her eyelids as she remembered what had just happened, and she sat up with a gasp, her eyes finally flying open. She brought a hand up to her head where there had been blood, expecting to encounter bandages or something, but instead when she touched her hair, it was it's normal smooth self. She ran her hands over it, surprised at not feeling any aches or pains at all. She assumed her car was totaled, and she had expected to be hurt. And in a hospital for that matter. She looked around the slightly cluttered living room and frowned, not recognizing anything.
She swung her legs over the side of the couch she had been laying on, but before she could stand, a plump red haired woman came bustling into the room, followed closely by a small girl, who looked to be about 9 or 10.
"How do you feel dear?" The woman said, coming to a halt in front of the couch. She had a motherly air about her, reminding Aria strongly of her mother.
"Great," Aria said distractedly, taking a side note of the woman's British accent. "Sorry to be rude, but where am I? And who are you?" She asked, trying to keep her words even and calm, not wanting to retry her confusion and worry.
"You are at our house. I'm Molly Weasley, this is my daughter Ginny," she said, and Aria's mouth dropped open as she stared up at them.
Finally she closed her mouth, trying to find something to say.
"Is this a joke?" She asked at last, making the middle aged woman frown in confusion.
"No dear," she said slowly, then hesitated. "Is there something wrong?"
"How did I get here?" Aria asked, ignoring her question and trying to get to her feet. She frowned, noticing that the woman was taller than her. Aria had never been tall, but she had a good height on her, and it threw her off that everything in the room seemed larger than normal.
"Well, two of my sons found you passed out in the yard this morning, so we brought you inside," she said, running her eyes over Aria again, searching for any sign of injury. "Do you remember what happened?"
"I-," Aria began, then hesitated and shook her head. There is no way she could be where she thought she was. She must be dreaming. "I don't remember."
She sat back down on the couch in a daze, resisting the urge to pinch herself.
"Ginny, go and get a cup of tea for our visitor," Mrs. Weasley said after an awkward moment of silence. Ginny ran off to the kitchen, Aria watching her go, trying to wrap her mind around what was happening.
"Do you know where your parent's are, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked softly, as though trying not to spook her.
"My parents? They both live in Alaska," Aria said without thought, frowning distractedly. Why was she there? What had happened?
"Alaska? In the United States? Well, that explains you accent then. Were you just on vacation in London then?" Mrs. Weasley asked slowly, looking like she was trying to figure out a puzzle.
"No, I was driving, um, I'm just here alone," Aria said, shaking her head again.
"Alone? My goodness, you are far too young to be wandering around alone, what were they thinking?" Mrs. Weasley said, sounding completely scandalized. Her tone drew Aria out of her thoughts for a moment.
"I'm old enough to take care of myself," Aria said, frowning at her overbearing nature.
"I'm sure youthink are dear, but it's not safe. My son Ronald is your age, and I would never let him leave the property alone, let alone the country," she said, bustling around the room and straightening things as she went. Aria was half ignoring her as she accepted the cup of tea Ginny had just brought to her.
"Wait, wait, wait," Aria said, interrupting Mrs. Weasley's ranting as she took in what she had said. Both Weasley's fell silent and stared at her as she stood.
"You are Ginny right?" She asked, pointing at the young girl who nodded. "But, that means…" she trailed off, then looked around the room for something reflective. She spotted a tall grandfather clock with a glass front, and stepped in front of it quickly, taking in her reflection with her mouth hanging open. She brought her free hand up to her face, then ran it over the front of her body quickly.
"Holy shit," she said, ignoring Mrs. Weasley's gasp of indignation behind her. "I'm 11. What the hell?" Then her eyes rolled back into her head and she hit the floor, her cup of tea spill ion over her legs and the floor.
It was dark outside the next time Aria opened her eyes, and she could see that the rain had stopped. She stood, looking around her again, then pinched her arm roughly, leaving a red mark behind. When she didn't 'wake up', she frowned and looked down at herself again. She was still wearing her work uniform, which were black slacks, and a light blue blouse with the logo of the restaurant below her left shoulder. She ran her hand over the shirt, taking a moment to marvel at the fact that she no longer had breasts, but rather, a flat chest. She ran her hands through her hair next, noting that it was no longer waist length and red, as she had worn it since high school, but rather light brown and shoulder length, with bangs, a style she'd had throughout middle school.
She was startled from her self analysis by hushed voices from a room nearby. She stood and wandered over to the doorway, staying to the side of it so whoever was in the room wouldn't notice her.
"And then she just fainted," she heard Mrs. Weasley saying. After a moment of silence, Aria peeked around the doorway to see who she was talking to, but came face to face with an old man with long gray hair and a beard to match.
"Oh, hello," Aria said. "I was just coming to see Mrs. Weasley." Aria stood with her hands behind her back, and looked up at the tall man in front of her, whom she assumed to be Dumbledore.
"I'm glad to see you are awake," he said in a deep voice, taking a step back into the kitchen and gesturing for her to sit at the table, which was occupied by Mr. Weasley and three cups of tea. Mrs. Weasley had stood to pour another cup for her. "Now, can you tell me how you managed to be here?"
"I don't really remember what happened," Aria said, immediately making up her mind not to tell them anything, not wanting to sound insane. "I was in a car… I think it was a cab," she began, trying to figure out what to say. "And, I think it went into the ditch," she said, to make it sound like she was with others. "I don't remember where it was, but then I woke up here." She looked up at the old man, hoping he wound't think anything of her much lacking description.
"Mrs. Weasley said that her sons found you and your bags in the yard," Dumbledore said, his eyes glittering with a hidden amusement.
"I don't know how I got here," Aria said, frowning. Her voice was much higher pitched than she was used to, now that she was paying attention to it. "The last thing I remember is the car rolling over."
"Do you think maybe… she apparated here by accident?" Mr. Weasley said, and Aria almost let out a sigh of longing. To be able to do magic… that would be amazing.
"It is possible," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
"Um, what year is it?" Aria asked, suddenly realizing just how out of her time she was.
"It's 1991. July to be exact," Dumbledore said with a smile as the Weasley's gave her an odd look.
Aria's mouth fell open again, but just for a second. She hadn't even been born until 1991. Somewhere in the world, there was a version of her parents with a 3 month old version of her. She closed her mouth as she thought. Maybe she could go find them, they would have been living in Alaska at the time, still together and married, that would be something to see. And in six months, her mother would find out she was pregnant with Aria's little sister. And then a year after her sister was born, they would get a divorce and move away. Maybe… maybe she could go back and try to get them to stay together. Maybe the other her could grow up in a whole family, without shared custody and summers spent away. Aria shook her head then, trying to gather her thoughts. If her parents never got divorced, her mother would never move to Wisconsin with the two girls, and then her sister would never have met her husband, and Aria wouldn't have met all the wonderful people she had become friends with in high school. She focused on the conversation at the table just in time to hear Dumbledore ask to speak to her alone. As the Weasley's left the room, Aria looked up at Dumbledore, getting the sudden impression that he knew more than she had told him.
"Now, what year are you from," he said, and Aria made sure to keep her face completely blank. She wasn't sure what she should tell him. She didn't want to change something important in the story.
"I was born in April of this year," she said at last, sure that him knowing that much wouldn't change anything.
"I see. And do you remember what happened to get you here, like this," he asked, resting his chin on his folded hands.
"I… remember some of it. But I don't want to tell you in case it changes this timeline," Aria said hesitantly, not wanting to anger him. From what she could recall of the Harry Potter universe, which was quite a bit as that was her best subject at trivia night with her friends, he was usually very calm, but she wasn't sure what her presence here would change.
"Very astute of you," Dumbledore said, a small smile on his face, which quickly faded to a thoughtful look. "You say change this time, which implies that you know something about the future of this time, correct?"
Aria frowned, she hadn't meant to give any of that away, but if someone was to know, she supposed it should be Dumbledore. Even though she didn't agree with the way he had handled the whole 'keeping Harry alive just to die at the right time' thing, she couldn't argue with the results.
"I know… a bit," she said, not elaborating. Dumbledore looked at her face for a long moment, then nodded.
"I see," he said. "I don't suppose…" he said thoughtfully, then trailed off.
"Suppose what Professor?" Aria asked when he didn't continue. He focused on her again.
"How much of the future do you know of this time?" Dumbledore asked, then was quick to add "I don't need the details."
"Well," Aria said, after a moment of thought. "I am from the year 2014, so I know what happens before that," she said, not mentioning that in her time, none of them actually existed.
"Hm," he said, folding his hands in front of him again. "Do you happen to know how you became eleven then, if you were 23 when you came here?"
"I dunno," Aria said, shrugging.
"And this is the same time you left behind you, correct?" Dumbledore asked, his blue eyes gazing over his glasses in curiosity.
"More or less," she said evasively.
"So you are a witch then?" Dumbledore asked, giving her an encouraging smile.
"I... don't know," Aria said frowning. She for sure was normal in her old time, but perhaps here she was magical, since magic existed here.
"I see," he said, a pensive look on his face. "Well, you must have some sort of magic, since you were able to enter the wards placed around this building, and your eyes change colors, I suspect based off your emotions."
"They what?" She asked, tilting her head to one side. She had been born with her fathers eyes, and they were one of her best features, in her opinion. They were a hazel green color, with lances of light brown around the edges. When she was young, there had been a bit of blue around the iris as well, but it had faded to green as she grew, just as her sisters light blue eyes had grown darker. As far as she knew, that was the extent of her eye color changes.
"Your eyes have shifted between green and blue for the last twenty minutes or so, is this not something that has happened previously?" Dumbledore asked, though he didn't sound surprised. Aria shook her head, resolving to find a mirror as soon as she could. "Well sometimes the untrained mind can let magic escape their grasps at emotional times."
"Magic… does that mean I can attend Hogwarts?" She asked, the name sounding totally ridiculous to her, as her mind continually told her that these things didn't exist, and magic didn't exist, and the person sitting in front of her was fictional. Dumbledore gave her another smile.
"I would say that is likely, but you will have to wait for your letter," he said. "Which should actually be arriving in a few weeks. Now," he said, adopting a serious expression. "If you are to stay here, you must be sure not to change anything about the timeline, for it could change your future. Things must happen as you remember them for the most part. You must not interfere with events here," he said, and Aria let out a worried frown as she thought about all the deaths that would occur in only a few years. She nodded, to let him know she had heard, but there was no way she was agreeing to not meddling in things if she could keep someone alive without ruining everything later down the road. She tried to recall exactly who died in each book, but she could only recall a few of the more popular characters, as it had been a few years since she had read through the series.
"You said my luggage was here?" She asked, suddenly remembering that in her bag, she had her computer and her Kindle, both of which had copies of all seven books.
"Yes, you would have to ask Mrs. Weasley where she stowed it," he said, giving her a nod. "May I suggest that you don't tell anyone about what we have discussed here," he said, and she nodded again. "I think it best to say that your parents sent you to this country for schooling. You can say you forgot that until now."
"But, where will I stay while I'm here? And for that matter, how do I get back to my time? And what am I going to do about money? I think I have a little American money with me, but that won't do me any good here," Aria said, rambling. She stopped when Dumbledore held up a hand to make her fall silent.
"I think for now, Molly will let you stay here. You can say you were meant to live with a muggle aunt or cousin, but prefer to stay here for now. We can arrange something else for next summer. As for how you will get back, I am not sure that you can. Pulling someone back in time, in theory, is possible, but sending someone to the future isn't possible yet," he said, and Aria struggled to keep her face from falling. "As for money, you can exchange American money at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and the school will give you a small fund which should do for getting your supplies."
Aria nodded, trying not to let her eyes water at the thought of not being able to go home. She had never been so emotional in her old body, and already this one was threatening to cry. She took a deep breath in, clearing her thoughts like she did for meditation.
"Now, one last thing," Dumbledore said, getting to his feet. "What is your name," he asked, a twinkle in his blue eyes.
"Aria Gray," Aria said, a smile on her face now. She held her hand out to him. "It was nice to meet you professor."
"And you as well, Ms. Gray," he said with a smile. "Now, I must have a word with Molly about you staying with her for the rest of the summer. Farewell."
Aria gave him a small wave from her spot at the table, then turned back to her cold tea, thinking furiously.
She would have to learn how to keep her emotions and reactions to herself. And she would have to think about every single thing she said or did, so people didn't get suspicious. She sighed, suddenly not excited at all to attend the magic school she had spent time thinking about throughout her childhood.
She was drawn out of her thoughts by Mrs. Weasley bustling back into the kitchen.
"Well it's all arranged dear, you can stay here until school starts," Mrs. Weasley said, putting together a sandwich and putting it on a plate in front of her.
"Thank you Mrs. Weasley, I appreciate it," Aria said, then frowned down at the plate. She wasn't used to people taking care of her, it had been years since she moved out on her own.
"It's no problem at all dear, we need more girls around here anyway," she said, making Aria smile at her. Aria let out a small yawn, not understanding how she could be tired after having just been passed out on a couch all day.
"Um, did you say you found my bags?" Aria asked, setting down the uneaten half of her sandwich a few minutes later.
"Yes of course, I put them up in Ginny's room for now, you'll have to share with her, we are a bit tight on space here at the moment, with Bill home to visit as well," she said, waving her wand and making the dishes in the sink wash themselves.
"That's alright," Aria said, getting to her feet. Her cloths were a few sizes too big for her, and the pants were much too long, so she had to be careful to hold them up as she followed Mrs. Weasley up two flights of stairs.
"Here we are," Mrs. Weasley said, coming to a stop outside a door on the second landing. "You can meet everyone at breakfast tomorrow. There is a bathroom right across the hall if you need one," she said, then she pulled Aria into a hug, surprising the girl who usually kept pretty much to herself. Aria couldn't remember the last time she had been hugged by anyone, let alone someone who reminded her so much of her mother. She patted the older woman on the back a few times before she was released and hurried into Ginny's room with a mumbled good night to Mrs. Weasley.
Aria let out a sigh, then turned to see Ginny sitting up in her bed, looking at her expectantly.
"Ah, sorry," Aria said, walking over to the cot that was obviously hers. "I should have knocked."
"It's fine," Ginny said, grinning at her and turning on her bed to face Aria's cot.
"So, does your mother always hug everybody like that?" Aria asked, trying to distract Gunny from any questions she was going to ask.
"Oh, yeah, she's very huggy," Ginny said, giggling slightly. "So, where are you from? How did you get in our yard earlier?"
"Oh, I don't really know," Aria said, sitting on her bed and pulling her duffle bag towards her. "I must have apparated by accident, I was in a car crash, so I think maybe I just did magic by accident," Aria said, trying to make it sound like she didn't know how all that worked. "My parents lived as muggles, so I didn't know about magic until a few weeks ago," she continued, hoping to answer any other questions the girl might have. Aria knew she probably didn't know how car's worked, coming from an all magic family.
"Oh, thats so weird. I wish I could apparate. I'm not old enough to do magic yet," Ginny said, laying back on her bed as Aria fished out the sweat pants and a t-shirt she had packed away. She knew they would probably be too big, but it was better than sleeping in her work clothes. "If you apparated by accident, how did your stuff come with you?" Ginny asked suddenly, making Aria raise her head in thought.
"I don't know. I suppose it's because I was touching it when I, um, disapparated," Aria said, trying to remember what had happened right before she passed out. She had been reaching to her upturned luggage to find her phone. She couldn't remember if she had managed to touch it or not, but that seemed like the most likely scenario.
"Oh cool," Ginny said, then grinned over at her again. "I'm glad you are here. I've always wanted a sister, but I only have brothers, it sucks."
"I don't have any brothers at all, just one sister," Aria said, smiling over at Ginny. She stood and looked around the room for a moment.
"That must be nice," Ginny said, smiling wistfully.
"Well, I've always wanted a brother, maybe we just want what we don't have," Aria said, still smiling. She really did like Ginny in the books, and Ginny in person was more interesting.
"I'll be right back, I'm going to go change," Aria said, pulling the bedroom door open and walking across the hall.
The bathroom was barley large enough to hold a shower, toilet and sink, with hardly any room to stand. Aria stripped out of her work uniform, then stood in front of the small mirror to look at herself. Her face was round and childish, just as it had been in pictures she had of herself from that age. Her hair was it's natural mousey brown color. She sighed, twisting it around her finger. Now she would have to grow it out all over again, and she hated the color. She had gotten so used to the subtle red tint in her hair the last six years or so. She sighed, then brought her eyes down to her chest. Not having to wear a bra would be so great for the next few years. If she remembered correctly, she hadn't gone through puberty until right before her thirteenth birthday. She grinned at the thought of not having to deal with cramps and cycles until then. And not having to shave her legs. Maybe being a child again would be nice for a while, she grinned at herself in the mirror. She could start over and not make the mistake she did in high school of not caring about what she ate. Then she wouldn't have to work so hard to lose weight when she got to her 20's again.
She shook her head, chuckling at herself. She pulled on her sweats, pulling the string tight around her hips to get them to stay, then pulled her shirt over her head, seeing that it was much more spacious than she needed. She would have to find some way to obtain new clothes while she was here. Money wasn't an option, but then again, she had never really had a problem with shop lifting before. She was pretty good at lying and getting out of situations when she wanted to.
It was only July, maybe she would have time before school started to take a trip to whatever the nearest village was and do some… shopping.
She slipped back into Ginny's room a moment later to hunt through her make up bag for her toothbrush and tooth paste, then disappeared back to the bathroom to brush her teeth. By the time she was back and ready for bed, Ginny had fallen asleep, so Aria quietly settled onto her bed and began to go through her things. All the clothes would be too big for her, but she had a pair of leggings and a dress she could wear the next day. She pulled them out of her bag and set them next to her, then picked through the other clothes she had brought, seeing if anything would still fit her smaller frame. She saved the two t-shirts, they would make good sleeping shirts if nothing else. None of the jeans she had brought would fit, and the sweats were not good for public wear. She would have to try to get away to town the next day sometime.
She overturned her bag, tucking the unwanted clothes back inside before turning to the other things inside. She had her macbook, something she was sure wasn't even close to invention in this time, and her Kindle, something else she was sure wasn't invented yet. She had the charging cords for them and her iPhone and iPod as well, but there was no electricity in the house, so everything would be useless as soon as the batteries died. If she recalled correctly, muggle things didn't work around magic anyway. She made sure her phone and computer were turned off, then tucked them away with the clothes she wouldn't wear. Her makeup and bathroom bags were there too, and she tucked those away next, then her too big t-shirts on top of them, zipping the bag up when she was done and slipping it under her cot next to her purse that held her wallet. She then got under the blanket and flipped on her Kindle, smiling as the screen lit up and seemed to work well, even though the house was probably covered with magic. She settled down, beginning to read the first chapter of the Harry Potter series.