Hannah sat at the desk in her room; the window was open and the white curtains floated around the window as the breeze blew in crisp fall air. It had been a few months since she took over the Leaky Caldron from her Uncle Tom and since she started seeing a certain old classmate of hers who just happened to be the new Herbology Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Neville Longbottom. She gently sucked the tip of her quill as she thought of how to end her letter; decided to sign it love from Hannah then put her quill back in the holder and blew on the still wet ink.
Once the ink was dry (Hannah quickly brushed her fingers across a few sentences to make sure) she folded the letter carefully and put it into a white envelope. She went to the window and whistled and quick little tune then walked back to her desk and sealed the letter with her Leaky Caldron seal using wax from a yellow candle. Just as she finished up the seal Hannah's Tawney owl Archimedes (whom he called him Archie for short) landed gently on the windowsill and hooted softly. "Good morning." Hannah said as she greeted him with a sweet pat on the head. "I have a letter here for Neville. Would you take this to him?" Archie ruffled his feathers and quietly hooted again. Hannah put out her arm and he hoped on; she brought him over to her dresser; where his cage sat with the door open. She placed him on the dresser then pulled out her wand and said "aguamenti" pointing it toward Archie's water dish. The bird began to drink happily, while he drank she filled his food dish and clipped the letter to his foot. She patted his head again and said, "you take that letter whenever you are ready. Rest as long as you want."
Downstairs the place was bustling; Hannah even helped out in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on the porridge and preparing the trays of bacon for the oven. Around 11am things had begun to die down; Hannah was busy moving around in the main dining area making sure the remaining guests had everything they needed. As she was refilling an old wizard's pumpkin juice she heard a distant crack and through the window she saw Professor Minerva McGonagall appear out of thin air.
"Professor; this is a surprise." Hannah said greeting her as she walked through the back door and into the pub. "Please sit." The woman sat down at a small table and Hannah continued, "can I get you something professor?"
"I'll just have a warm butterbeer Abbott thank you; and when you come back I need to ask you favor dear."
"Ok." Hannah walked back to the bar; got the warm butterbeer and went back to the small table to join her former teacher. "Here you go; what did you need?"
"I may need you to put someone up for me for a few weeks."
"I should be able to accommodate that. Who is it?"
"A young witch I'm interviewing for a position at Hogwarts; if things work out; I'd just need some time to get things ready at the school and I thought she might enjoy the inn here and the Alley; she's never been here before you see."
"Never been to Diagon Alley? Where is she from?" Hannah asked
"America." McGonagall said taking a swig of her butterbeer.
"So she's a graduate of Ilvermoney?" Hannah asked
"Umm, well no actually."
"But you said she was a witch."
"She is dear; she is just. Well; she practices magic a little differently; she's still quite powerful from what I understand. In fact; it was the MACUSA that made me aware of her. It seems this girl had no knowledge of our Wizarding World she is a practitioner of another ancient magic; Wiccan magic."
"You mean that stuff Muggles try to do at fairs and in stores where they imitate us?"
"There is some of that; however, this young woman has actual active powers. I'd like you to be present during the interview Hannah." McGonagall continued "that way you can kind of understand her story as it's told by her. I know I'm not telling it very well."
"I can stay, we can use the office down here."
"Great, I'm expecting her in about 20 minutes."
"Professor?" Hannah looked curious
"Yes."
"How old is this girl?"
"24; that's another reason I thought she might like to stay here."
"I see; well I look forward to meeting her."
Fifteen minutes later the door from the front of the pub opened and Hannah watched as a tall girl emerged into her entrance way. She walked in and looked around the room; then smiled as she saw Professor McGonagall waving her over. She had a long main of beautiful wavy reddish-brown hair that seemed to perfectly follow behind her bouncing just that perfect amount. Gesturing for her to sit, professor McGonagall took out a notepad from inside her tartan robes and placed it in front of her with a quill she'd taken from the same place. "Hello there." She said shaking the hand of the young woman now sitting opposite her. "I trust you found the place ok."
"Oh yeah." The girl replied, "the instructions they sent me were pretty crystal clear; I was sorta surprised how easy it was." Her smile was radiant; she had such a warmth to her that it seemed to make the entire room more relaxed.
"That's wonderful. Well, if you don't mind we are going to be moving our little party to a more private area; and Hannah here is going to join us."
McGonagall gestured Hannah over to them as they stood up, "Hello." Hannah said as she met them; "it's nice to meet you."
The two women shook hands, "Nice to meet you too; I'm Gemma. Gemma Kirkland."
"I'm Hannah. Hannah Abbott; so ladies, this way." They walked silently to the office off the front door of the inn. It was a large room with a large desk; a table with four chairs and a fireplace. The room was dark except for the light of the fire so as they walked in Hannah took out her wand and said "lumos" lighting the tip of her wand. She made her way over to the lamps and got them going bringing the room into full view. "That's better" Hannah said as all three ladies made their way to the table.
"Too cool, gotta tell you I just love the magic wand thing." Gemma began but then McGonagall cleared her throat.
"Let's get started." McGonagall said "you were recommended to me for this position by the MACUSA, you know who they are now I take it."
"Oh yes, I'm familiar, they were the ones who told me about this side of magic. I mean, I didn't even know about magic being real at all until five years ago anyway."
"How did you come to find out?"
"After my parents died; going through my mother's things I found this book. I learned later it was galled a Grimoire; a book of spells you know." The two women listening nodded her to go on. "I opened it and read the inscription and it was like it was meant for me to read. It was written by my great grandmother; whom I'd never met but it detailed a family lineage and connection with magic. It was after that when I noticed my active powers started to emerge. Someone at the MACUSA told me that my mother passing triggered the gift to move on to me; that she had likely bound my powers; but that the binding broke when she died. So, like I said that was five years ago and now here we are."
"What are your active powers?" Hannah asked
"I'm telekinetic and I can stop time."
"Without a potion or a spell?" Hannah asked astonished.
"Yeah." Gemma answered
"Can you show us?" Professor McGonagall asked
"Sure." Gemma looked around the room. The fire poker lifted from it's stand on the hearth and whizzed through the air until Gemma caught it in her hand. "How was that?"
Professor McGonagall nodded her head approvingly; while Hannah looked awestruck. "Very good dear." Professor McGonagall answered her; "so about this stopping time; how does that work."
"Well, it only works on non-magical and evil beings; anyone who practices magic on the side of the light is not effected; so I'm sure it would not work on the two of you; but neither should it work on anyone in the pub so can we pop out to the side of the pub I entered from."
"The muggle side." Hannah said.
"Yeah, that." Gemma said smiling. "After you." Gemma waved her hand behind her and the door of the office opened with a creek.
Professor McGonagall cracked a rare smile; "very good. Let's go Abbott." The three women walked out the door and began to walk down the block. They needed to at least find another person or a car; anything that Gemma could use her power on. As they reached the end of the square, a car approached from their left; Gemma raised her hands gestured them toward the car; suddenly everything in their immediate vicinity froze; including the approaching car whose driver happened to be in the middle of tossing a cigarette butt out his window. Gemma walked over, grabbed the butt from the middle of the air, then threw it into the trash bin just next to where the other two ladies were standing. She wiped her hands with two loud clasps raised them again, and the scene unfroze. The car passed by them as she said, "I hate when people litter don't you?"
Once back inside Hannah excused herself while Professor McGonnagal finished telling Gemma all about the job. She filled her in on all the details of the wizarding war; and about how the last Professor who taught the subject had been killed during that time; and even though the war was over people had still be reluctant to fill the spot. It was the difficulty that had led McGonagall to reach out for assistance; and to the MACUSA letting her know that there was an American witch, who lived amongst muggles who might be perfect. After some time both women emerged from the office and Hannah was happy to see that they were both smiling. Stopping in front of her as she manned the bar area, Professor McGonagall said, "so, it looks like we've got ourselves a new Muggle Studies professor. I trust I can leave Ms. Kirkland in your hands Abbott."
"Yes mame." Hannah said to McGonagall, then turned to Gemma "congratulations. I have a feeling you'll do amazingly."
"Thank you." Gemma said slightly shocked.
"I'll leave you two then, Ms. Kirkland I'll see you on Monday; you'll be starting a few weeks late; but I'm sure the children our quite tired of filling their Muggle Studies hour with extra leisure time." She smiled and Hannah and Gemma both giggled a little. "Until then." She stepped out the door and vanished with a loud crack.
"That was so cool." Gemma said
"You don't apparate?" Hannah asked.
"Appa-what?" Gemma replied.
"Apparate; you know leave one place and instantly pop up in another."
"Oh, like blinking. No I can't do that."
"You can learn; there's a test."
"Can you do it?"
"I can, but I actually don't like it very much."
"No."
"Yeah, no it actually feels quite unpleasant, it is only for a second, but I just don't like how I feel afterwards."
"Gotcha." Gemma looked around the room which had emptied. "So where is my room."
"Right of course." Hannah came around the bar and gestured for Gemma to follow her. She led her upstairs and into a small room with a full size four poster bed a desk and a nightstand. A wardrobe stood behind the door so that the door could not actually be opened all the way. "So, it's a bit snug, but the bed is quite comfy and if there's anything you need while you're staying here, my room is at the end of the hall, I live here too."
"It's great; thanks so much. I really appreciate this."
"Anything for Professor McGonagall. She's an amazing lady; she saved our lives during that battle. Made all the right decisions. I mean, I don't know how much you know about all of that; and trust me I know Harry is due pretty much all the credit for stopping he who must not be named and everything; and he's a friend of mine so I know." She paused, "but you'll find out soon enough how amazing Hogwarts really is; and not just Professor McGonagall actually. It's extraordinary; it's my home." Hannah completed her thought then looked at Gemma who looked confused. "Sorry." Hannah continued briefly, "I just know first hand how truly magical Hogwarts is. What it's been through."
"You talk about the school like it's a person."
Hannah smiled. "It kind of is. You'll see it's a special kind of something; that's for sure. Welcome Gemma, I hope you find yourself comfortable here really soon."