THE GOLDEN KEY AND THE BOOK OF ANCIENTS
CHAPTER 1
THE VISITOR
Weird things happen in life but this was by far the most weirdest and most amazing. Now there is only two problem; one: they had no idea how to go back. Two: were they really doing the right thing. Four ordinary girls suddenly find themselves stranded inside the world of Harry Potter. Will they survive this dangerous game? Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J K Rowling.
Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, sat in his office.
It had been eleven years since the event that changed the wizarding world. Eleven years since the birth of their hailed hero and the supposed death of the Dark Lord Voldemort at his hands. Harry Potter. The young boy who defeated a great evil the moment he was born. The boy who lived.
After the incident things had changed drastically. Muggle born wizards and witches no longer had to hide in fear of certain death.
But Dumbledore knew the war was only about to begin. Harry hasn't saved them all quiet yet. Voldemort will come back. It wasn't a matter of 'if'; it was a matter of 'when'. Dumbledore knew the burden that was placed on the young boy's shoulders since birth. Training the boy is essential.
Dumbledore looked down at the parchment sitting on the table. It was regarding Harry's admission to Hogwarts.
"Would you like to sit with me and enjoy some lemon drops?" Dumbledore spoke without even looking up from the parchment.
His question was answered with soft melodious laughter.
A dark figure emerged from the wall and glided forward. In one fluid motion the figure was sitting in the chair opposite to Dumbledore.
"I was wondering how long it would take for the great Dumbledore to notice my presence." Soft female voice spoke in a slightly mocking tone.
It was a woman that much was sure. She was wearing a black, hooded robe that hid almost all of her features other than her ruby red lips, which was wearing a slight smirk.
"Oh! I noticed you have been standing there since I entered the room… you seem quiet fascinated with my office. So I let it be."
The woman frowned slightly; perhaps she had been hoping that Dumbledore was oblivious to her presence. Then the smirk came back.
"Mmmhmm so the Greatness of Albus Dumbledore is not all talk."
"Why thank you." Dumbledore answered chuckling.
"You are going to have some guests this evening Albus."
"Oh yes! Tonight is the day for the start of the new term after all." But Dumbledore had a feeling that the woman wasn't talking about the new students.
"Oh you are going to have some visitors other than your precious new students Albus." The woman gave an amused chuckle.
Dumbledore was not sure whether it was a warning or a threat, but despite her Death Eater like fashion sense, the woman gave off an aura of trustworthy. Dumbledore could sense no ill intent from the woman at all. But one thing he did sense was power. Power beyond his imagination, that too not brute force but wisdom. She would be dangerous to cross. And given such power it would be almost child splay for someone like her to mask her ill intent. But if she did have such power, which she did, there would be no need for hiding anything at all. So Dumbledore was confused.
"Should I prepare to welcome them then?" Dumbledore asked curiously, his mind working a mile per second.
The smile never once left her lips as she spoke, "Oh! No need Albus. They are pretty harmless children… But…. they would help you win this game, grandmaster"
Dumbledore kept silent but the woman could clearly see the gears turning in his mind. She continued,
"You could win this game without losing any of your precious pawns, dear Albus. And they will be the ones to help you win. If you want them that is…"
She paused letting Dumbledore decide his fate. If he says no then the deal will be over. She would have to find some other way to get what she wants.
"I know all about your plans Albus, about who all you are willing to sacrifice in order to win this battle. You yourself are one of them. Mark my words Albus none of those pawns will survive. Their deaths have been decided the moment to crafted your master plan."
The woman kept quiet after that the man had a good poker face but she could sense rather than see the emotions that were swirling inside of him. She could feel regret, despair, sorrow, stubbornness, the need to protect and a rainbow of many other emotions. She focused and latched on to the regret and slowly fueled it. Nothing too major. Subtle enough not to be sensed. The regret of having to sacrifice his own comrades, one name in particular dealt the old man a heavy blow Severus Snape. The boy had suffered so much and he was only adding to his pain each day, all in the name of a greater good. She pulled back her influence and let his own emotions do the rest.
She felt the chaos that was Albus Dumbledore's mind. She hid her smirk when an almost desperate look came over the man's eyes. He was breaking. But surprising even her, Dumbledore reined his emotions and his emotions were carefully hidden once again. Although she felt the brewing storm inside him she didn't do anything to fuel it, after all getting caught won't do her any good.
"While am happy that you wish to help us, I am not optimistic enough to believe that your actions are the result of your kindness." Dumbledore was serious, the grandfatherly aura he kept up faded to reveal a cunning man.
"And I would call you a fool if you did believe that Albus. You are right of course my offer comes at a price. But before that, what are your opinions regarding my generous offer?"
"I am afraid that I can't make a decision without learning your price and reasons first. What good would it do to have a greater threat created just for eradicating a smaller one?"
"You think I would become a greater threat than Tom Riddle?" she chuckled mirthlessly.
"I only meant that you could. Whether you would or not remains to be known." Dumbledore was not surprised that she knew Vorldemort's real name. After all she seems to know quite a lot.
"I promise you Albus I am not a threat to you or your people. You'll just have to take my word for that. But do try not to cross me…. It could have rather … dangerous outcomes." She chuckled and Dumbledore heard the sinister undertone.
"Your words do little to reassure me. The fact that I don't know anything about you, not even your name, only adds to the reasons for which I can't trust you."
The woman scoffed,
"Albus Albus Albus do you really believe that you are my only option at getting what I want? That is hardly the case. I will get what I require anyway the only one who would have anything to lose is you dear Albus. But I do understand your concerns. So since I am feeling rather generous today I shall indulge your need for knowledge about me and my actions."
THAT EVENING.
One by one all students were called and sorted.
"Potter, Harry" professor McGonagall's voice rang through the hall. The entire hall become silent for a minute and everyone turned their attention to harry who nervously made his way over to the sorting hat.
As harry sat down on the stool murmurs broke out. Everyone one wondering in which house 'The Boy Who Lived' will be sorted into.
Harry was sweating from all the attention he was receiving. Growing up with people who never really spared you a look and then being thrown in to a room full of people, who looked only at you, could do that to you. So yeah harry was not used to all the attention. He was pretty sure his knees were shaking.
He almost jumped out of the stool when the hat's voice startled him.
But at last he managed to convince the hat to place him in Gryffindor. He definitely didn't want to be in Slytherin. Not that he had a problem with snakes; the only snake he ever met was rather nice. He idly wondered if that snake ever made it to Brazil. He sincerely hoped it did.
"Harry, mate snap out of it. Dumbledore is about to make a speech." Ron's voice startled him out of his thoughts.
He turned and saw Dumbledore stand up to give his speech. Dumbledore opened his mouth and… screamed? Harry was confused that's when he noticed that Dumbledore wasn't the one who screamed, he looked confused as well.
Every one's attention was drawn to the ceiling which was the source of the screams.
Slowly the four falling bodies came into everyone's view. Judging by the screams they were not doing this out of their choice.
Harry deduced four things;
They were obviously girls.
This was definitely not a usual occurrence judging by everyone's shocked faces.
They were falling to their deaths.
Everyone was too shocked to do a damn thing!
"Somebody do something. Damn it!" harry saw Dumbledore raise his wand. Harry expected something pretty cool to happen (Hey! He was still a kid.).
But all that happened was that the speed of the falling girls slowed. They began slowly floating down like feathers. This was also pretty cool but not as cool some of them wanted.
The girls landed in various parts of the great hall. One of them even landed on the Gryffindor table right in front of Harry. Another one had landed on the headmaster's hands. And the last two girls; both landed on an older student's back. That might have hurt.
The girls were looking around frantically obviously not understanding where they were if the growing panic in their eyes were any indication. All four girls looked to be about 7 or 8 years old no more than that. Harry observed the girl who landed in front of him.
She would only reach his shoulder in height. She had curled black hair that reached her mid back and it was tied in two pigtails. A round chubby face and fair skin. The girl was frantically looking around. Her eyes finally met Harry's and Harry was stunned two wide emerald green eyes stared in to his own forest green eyes. Up on seeing him the kid's (it feels good to call someone else the kid sometimes…) eyes widened comically and she looked like she was about to faint or hyperventilate or both. Harry briefly thought if that was even possible.
"Hey calm down." Harry spoke softly to calm the kid down. The kid still wide eyed nodded ever so slightly. Harry sighed in relief.
"Don't go fainting now okay?" Harry said with a brief chuckle.
"Faint?" the girl asked shyly biting her petal pink lips.
Her voice was soft and childish, Harry noted.
And then she fainted.
Harry almost groaned. He was trying to not make her faint. He looked over and saw that the other three girls had fainted as well. Almost the entire Gryffindor table was now staring at him. This time he really did groan.
Mean while, Dumbledore looked at the little girl who had fallen on his hands. When she had told him of the visitors he never thought they would fall out of the ceiling.
The girl was looking at him with wide amethyst eyes which seemed to go wider as her eyes flashed with recognition. So the girl knows him. He was not surprised; the woman had said that they would know quite a few things about them all. She had a chubby face and tan skin. Soft feathery hair with bangs framing her face. Her lips seem to be set in a constant pout.
Is this who he was supposed to trust? These children who were not even old enough to be their first year? The woman had explained all the conditions. She told him that the girls knew things that would certainly help him achieve his goals. But they were children! He sighed. He might as well trust the woman's judgment on these kids there was not much he could do otherwise. Somewhere during his inner monologue, (during which he was having a staring contest with the girl) the kid had apparently fainted. He sighed tiredly. Sometimes he wished he had opened a candy store instead of becoming headmaster.
One Cedric Diggory was in a rather painful position. That could happen if two eight year olds suddenly landed on your back.
He groaned. The kids must have realized they were not on a piggy back ride, because they scrambled off of his back allowing him to regain his bearings. The kids were now standing of to the side staring wide eyed at him and then at everything else, including themselves.
One girl had sapphire blue eyes. She was tanned with long black hair in a ponytail with bangs framing her chubby face and she was very amazed and was looking around with her mouth hanging open.
The next girl had topaz eyes almost like molten gold. Her skin was like ivory and her slightly curled jet black hair was kept open allowing it frame her chubby face freely and a few bangs fell over her eyes. The girl kept pinching herself probably thinking that she was dreaming. When the pinching didn't work she became more and more panicked and then before he got a chance to calm her down, she fainted.
The soft thud of her friend hitting the floor got the other girls attention. She looked at the fallen girl with wide eyes then looked at him questioningly.
"She…fainted" Cedric said softly to the girl.
"Fainted? Mmhmm good idea." And with that she too fainted.
Cedric looked at the fallen girls not really knowing what to do.
Sometime later the great hall erupted in chatter. Some other professors had taken all four girls to the infirmary sometime ago. After the feast started Dumbledore had also left, probably to check on the mysterious girls.
Every student had his or her own theory about the kids.
"They must've used some teleportation spell to get here."
"But how did they get past the wards around Hogwarts?"
"What if they were send by some really powerful enemy?!" followed by some horrified gasps.
Harry snorted at the idea of the girls being sent by some enemy. The girls seemed as surprised as them all.
"They must be very powerful!"
Harry had the same thought; their cute looks were really a great weapon. Adults especially woman had a thing for all things cute especially if said thing was a living creature. He had seen many people bought down on their knees by a simple pout. So yeah they were very powerful. But maybe everyone was not thinking in the same direction as him.
"They were just kids. Did you see how those stupid brats were screaming for their lives? And you believe they could do anything remotely dangerous to us?" a very familiar and annoying voice announced at the Slytherin table.
There were many sounds of agreements and laughter.
Harry just hoped that the kids were alright. He too was curious but he was too tired to care. So he silently listened to the theories by his friends. One theory caught his attention. What were the chances that the girl who had fallen in front of him being related to him? He understood their suspicion. She had black hair and green eyes like him.
"But Harry's eyes are a shade darker than her eyes and Harry has paler skin than her. The shape of their eyes and face was also different." Hermione's statement surprised him. He was surprised that she paid that much attention to him. He looked at her quizzically and she flushed when everyone looked at her.
"You a fan Hermione?" some other girl asked giggling.
"N-no! It's just that when I first saw the girl I entertained the idea of them being related so I just observed them both that's it!"
"Whatever you say Hermione…" sang both Fred and George.
Hermione hid her face in her hands. She was the subject of their teasing for a while, but it helped them to become friendlier with her. She noticed this too and once in awhile began teasing the others.
Ron was having fun making up many theories about fallen angels and little devils, veela or whatever that is.
After dinner all of them were led into the Gryffindor common room. But Harry couldn't stop thinking about the green eyed girl. A tiny hint of hope that maybe just maybe she was family. He knew aunt petunia was his mother's sister. But he wasn't sure about his father's family. He decided it was better not to think too much and give him false hope. The world had many people who looked similar.
In the infirmary Dumbledore stood observing as Madam Pomfrey or Poppy as he called her, worked on the four unconscious girls. Professor Severus Snape who was their potions master stood beside Dumbledore. The next person was professor McGonagall who was looking on worried.
Finally madam Pomfrey sighed.
"I don't know what people teach kids these days." She grumbled.
"How are they Poppy?" Dumbledore asked softly.
"They are fine. Exhausted from almost draining their magical energy dry. There are no other problems. Nothing a good sleep wouldn't fix."
"Exhausting their magical energy? That can only mean that they had been using wand less magic, otherwise it should be near impossible for someone to dry up their magical core." Snape said eyes narrowing.
"Are you saying that these children, used wand less magic to get past Hogwarts magical wards? That should be impossible. Wand less magic should be weak as it is and these are children, they would not have gotten their hands on a spell powerful enough for that." Minerva McGonagall was worried.
"Well Minerva these four have already proven that such a thing is possible." Dumbledore said calmly, his blue eyes twinkling.
"But Albus does that not mean that our wards are not powerful enough? If these children could do it then…" McGonagall trailed of nervously.
"I believe that what these four did was only possible due a certain set of circumstances Minerva. I am fully convinced that this will not happen in normal circumstances." Dumbledore was confident that their mysterious benefactor was involved in it.
"And what do you think those circumstances are Albus?" Snape questioned.
"Well let's ask the children when they wake up. In the mean time we need to strengthen our wards once more it seems." Dumbledore said and send a questioning look at madam Pomfrey.
"They will be awake by tomorrow." She said and left the room.
"It's settled then. We shall have our answers tomorrow." Dumbledore strolled out of the room, followed by Snape and McGonagall. Although he noticed the other presence in the room he chose not to care. It was the same woman who promised to help them. Dumbledore bit back a groan he needed some lemon drops.
As soon as the room was cleared of the professors and the medic, the black cloaked woman stepped out of the shadows and moved towards the sleeping children. She sighed deeply.
"I guess I'll leave you a gift so you won't do anything foolish. Wizards are paranoid we don't want anyone finding out where you are from do we?" the woman said to the sleeping girls giggling.
She hovered her palm above the head of one of the girls first and then repeated it with the other three.
"I hope you provide me some good entertainment… disappointing me will have dangerous consequences." She softly said caressing the cheek of the girl nearest to her.
Out of nowhere a black leather couch and a bucket full of popcorn appeared in the middle of the room. She sat on the couch Indian style with popcorn on her lap, all the while giggling like a maniac (which she probably is).
"It's going to be soooo much fun." She squealed and the couch along with her and her popcorn sunk into the shadows.
"Let the movie begin…" her soft giggles were like the whispers of the wind.
To Be Continued…