The Girl From Nowhere
joerandom
24 July, 2011
SUMMARY: Hermione Weasley, the aging Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, thought she was going to retire in quiet repose but the universe has other plans.
DISCLAIMER: JK Rowling owns the Harry Potter universe, I do not. This is just fan-fiction folks, I'm not selling it.
DEDICATION: To my daughters, who have become fan-fiction fanatics.
AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first fan fiction story and the first bit of creative writing I've done (well, besides a few business plans :-) in many decades. I have not changed this story since it was first posted, I've just figured out how to get my favorite writing tool to output the right stuff so I can post the story in separate chapters.
Chapter 1
Just The Beginning...
Johnny Travers was almost late for breakfast, coming down the main staircase. He wasn't worried, since all he had to do was make it through the doors to the Great Hall before the bell and he was assured to get some food, and he had timed it perfectly. After 3 years at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he had come to deeply understand the rhythms of this grand and ancient institution. His brown hair and blue eyes did not mark him very different than most of the other 4th year students at Hogwarts, nor did his height or build. He liked being unremarkable and average. It was comfortable.
And this was a good day, this Tuesday the second week of fall term. No major assignments yet. No nasty pranks yet. No tests yet. Not even any bad weather yet. Life was good. "Oi, Jamison!" Johnny burst out as his friend merged into view amongst the river of students heading the other way. Jamison was taller, skinnier, with reddish-brown hair and freckles, a Ravenclaw.
"Johnny, how's the craic," Jamison said with quiet familiarity in his Irish brogue. They moved upstream through the flowing crowds like birds through a high wind.
"Good, sir. And you?"
"Ye s'possed to say 'massive', boy. 'Massive', er ye sound like a hick, man." Jamison said emphatically, with a pained expression that didn't quite hide a sly grin.
"A hick, eh? How do ye spell that, now?" Johnny said with a failed Irish accent.
"Ochk, me mother'd smack ye man. Disgraceful, that is." Jamison had a grin that was positively infectious.
"That's my best side, don't ya' know," Johnny said with an even more failed Irish accent.
Jamison stopped in his tracks and glared at Johnny, who stopped a few steps later and turned his back into the onrushing stream of students, "Oh, now that's better. That'll get ya' arrested, that will. Impersonatin' an Irishman, that is."
Johnny sighed with such contentment to be back with friends in school again. It gave so much meaning to life now. "Oh. And here I thought I was aiming higher for a Welshman." With a cackle Johnny turned and ran for the Great Hall as Jamison started after him.
"Now that's a low blow, ya' scoundrel!" Jamison yelled after him.
As they ran passed the larger crowds they went down through the thinning students in the main hallway and into the Great Hall. They said hello to their friend Geary from Hufflepuff, as Johnny was approaching the Gryfindor table when they heard loud crashing noises from the Main Hall. Johnny turned to look, then heard some screams. He started to move toward the sounds but before he got a full step there came very loud booms, huge growls, a lot of panicked screams, a deafening roar, and the pressure-wave expanding from a huge explosion inside the main hall that knocked students to the ground. Dust came down from the ceiling and walls. Silence, even though people looked like they were screaming. He heard nothing. He picked himself up from the floor and started to move as his hearing started to come back, though it was mostly just painful ringing at first.
Johnny and a few others started to run toward the Main Hall. In the main hall he stopped and stood there dumbly. The floor and parts of the walls were covered in dark splashes and green goo of some sort, like it was spread around with paint bombs. The splinters of smashed painting frames and shattered statue parts scattered over the floor. The smell was bad; burnt, foul. There was what looked like, at first glance, the body of a cow, twitching on the hall floor. On closer inspection it looked like the arm of a giant, bigger around than his waist, covered in amulets and a gauntlet next to a huge mace on the end of a chain. A few students were on the floor, trying to get up or get away, some covered in the goo. One or two, not moving.
The headmistress ran into the hall and yelled "STOP! Nobody move!" as other teachers started coming into the hall. She threw up shields surrounding the scene to prevent students from interfering. She pointed her wand at her throat and her voice was sent booming throughout the castle and said "All students back to your common rooms, now! All students in the Dinning Hall go out the other door past the staff room. Move! Nurse Mason, prepare the infirmary." Removing her wand, she said "Professor Colton, please help clear the students out of the Dinning Hall to their common rooms. Professor Young, can you see to those students over there?" Some students were now trying to stand, still in shock, others were huddled on the floor crying with blood coming from their ears, a few were barely moving groaning in pain. The teachers began moving to help the students who were having problems getting up.
"Professor Weasley, over here!", called Professor Zelazney, near the far wall. A small blond haired girl was laying crumpled against the wall, covered in goo, bits of stonework, dust, and wood splinters, with streaks of blood from many large cuts. She looked dead, her arms and legs looked very broken.
"Oh my...", Professor Weasley said in a choked whisper as she knelt down. The girl's clothes were burnt to rags with holes and ashes covering them, so much so that Professor Weasley couldn't tell what they used to be. "Who is this? I don't recognize her with so much dirt," she asked. She reached out to clear the girl's hair from her face to see who it was and she got a small shock, like a static electric shock. There was a twitch in one of the girl's fingers and the barest trace of breathing. She cast a spell to feed the girl some energy and help stabilize her. "To the infirmary, now!".
She levitated the girl and magically attached her to Johnny and said "Johnny, run to the infirmary as fast as you can and tell Nurse Mason that she is high priority. Go!" Johnny took off running up the stairs with the crumpled girl in tow. "Professor Young, what is your situation?"
"Three in shock, damaged ear drums, 2 slightly injured, seemingly from the blast and being thrown around. I have levitated the 2 and they are heading for the infirmary as a group. I'll follow in a minute. I don't know the seriousness of this green sludge, hopefully it's not toxic?", professor Young said, trying to wipe it off his hand. "But what is that!", he said pointing at the "arm" on the floor.
Professor Zelazney put a shield around it before they started walking toward it, just in case it was still dangerous. It was, in fact, bigger than any of them. A very muscular arm, seemingly sliced off above the middle of the bicep, loosely holding a large metal bar with a chain at one end connected to a viciously spiked mace. Some of the spikes were bent and dented and all very discoloured. A bracelet around the wrist with spikes in all directions. The "hand" was really like a bird foot with only 2 fingers and a thumb ending in long claws. The fingers were as large as the Professor's arms. A few large rings with crude stones inset on the 2 fingers. There was a gauntlet above the wristband and another band around the bicep just below the slice. There were strange symbols pressed into the metal of the armband and what looked like dragon hide on the gauntlet. There was what looked like a cattle brand burnt into the flesh, with a bit of the brand missing above the cut.
"At least we know where the goo came from, and the smell," said Professor Young, squatting down to look closer. Goo was leaking out of the arm making a large thick, lumpy puddle.
"Anyone recognize this?" asked Professor Weasley. Everyone shook their heads. "Recognize any of the symbols?" she asked. Again, no.
"Professor Young, please see what information you can gather in all this mess, but don't clean it up until I give the go-ahead. We need to find out what happened here first. Check for any residual magic, any traces of what caused the burn marks, all right?", Professor Weasley said.
"Yes Headmistress," Professor Young gave a heavy sigh and a bit of a blank look before turning away to get his thoughts in order.
"Professor Zelazney, can you collect all the information from any students who were nearby?", Professor Weasley asked.
"Yes ma'am," he said, with a determined note.
"Start with the ones in the infirmary first, gently of course. Then everyone else. And interview each of them independently and several times throughout the day, to make sure."
Professor Colton, the deputy headmaster, came swiftly down the main staircase, stumbling and slipping slightly, grabbing the railing he stopped halfway down. "The students are all back in their common rooms now. What the hell is that!", he stood staring at the arm.
"We were hoping you'd know; no one you recognize?" the Headmistress said with a bit of a smirk. He shook his head with wide eyes still fixed on the arm. "Professor Colton, please find each Head of House and have them talk to their houses. Have the students stay in their common rooms until 10:00, then we restart the regularly scheduled classes. But under no circumstances are they to come anywhere near this area, under penalty of ... something painful. Then find the Caretaker and have him guard the top of the staircase. Also, see if you can find the Potions Master and have him have a look at the goo, maybe he can tell what it is, or if it's dangerous."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Professor Young, please keep a shield around this area whenever you are not here." He nodded absently. "Are we all right?", she asked. After seeing no questions, "then let's get to it, I'm heading for the infirmary".
Johnny
Johnny was sprinting up the empty halls with his floating girl in tow. If he wasn't so scared of the seriousness of the situation he would be having great fun. It felt really good to be fast. As he got closer to the infirmary he started yelling for Nurse Mason. He hit the big doors hard enough to slam them back against the walls with a bang, even though they were so heavy.
"Mr. Travers!" Nurse Mason yelled as she left the bedside of one of the hard-hit students and came stalking toward him with with a pointed finger and a slow strained voice through clenched teeth. "Don't wake the rocks!"
"Yes ma'am," he said meekly. He had completely forgotten. "But what should I do with her?" he asked pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the floating girl.
"Yes, over here, quickly." The nearest empty bed was down a ways on the right. "I'll take it from here Mr. Travers."
"Professor Weasley said that she should be high priority, Nurse Mason." Johnny tried to sound meek, and mostly made it.
"Oh my ..." Her faced paled, her voice caught, and she started to wave her wand over the girl and mumble. "Oh my!" Supplies started flying from her office at the end of the room to her side. She caught them with practised ease as they flew into her hands. Her wand was run along cuts, potions were applied and administered, spells were cast, bones were straightened, and potion bottles tinkled to the floor falling off the bedside table as they were used. "Mr. Travers, draw the curtains and find someplace useful to be! And get me the Potions Master! Now!"
He flipped the curtains closed and ran, glad to be free with something to do, and an excuse to run.
Professor Weasley
Professor Weasley started up the stairs toward the infirmary. It was a long ways in her advanced age and again she felt the sharp frustration at not being able to apparate directly there. "I'm going to have to start carrying a broom with me," she thought to herself. She had felt the magic, could almost touch the magic it was so strong. It was just an explosion of magic without any lead-in or warning at all and then was gone just as fast. Too fast for more than a bare glimpse of what it was. It was not stopped or seemingly hindered by any of the castle's wards or protections, almost as if the castle wasn't here. But why would this explosion happen in the castle if not for the castle being here? The concentration of magical energy so strong and so old is like a magnet. She was thinking about how she could find out more about this mess and she had an idea. Then she stopped and yelled out "Dobby!". He then popped into place next to her and she turned to see his smiling aged face.
"Hello Professor Weasley! What does you want from old Dobby? Always happy to help, though a little slow these days."
"Hello dear Dobby," she asked with a fond smile. "Is there anything you can tell me about what happened in the Main Hall this morning?"
Dobby looked rather sheepish and a little shaken. Reluctantly, slowly and with emphasis, he said "Yes Professor Weasley. It was Big Magic! Not like Elfs magics, not like Wizards magics. It was very big. Different kind, not from here. From other side of here."
"The other side of here?" she asked, quite confused.
"There are many sides of here, this place. Many places, all here. Two places touched, here. She is now here. We wonder to see her."
"Who is here, Dobby?" Professor Weasley crouched down to talk to Dobby more eye to eye.
"The girl, from nowhere. She is here now. We don't know all that it means, we can not say right now, " he said softly.
"Can not say? Why not, Dobby?" she said with amazement.
"Oh, too important to guess. Must know more."
"Will you tell me when you find out, Dobby?"
"Yes, headmistress. Dobby will tell you."
"Thank you Dobby." He popped out of existence immediately.
Professor Weasley proceeded down the hall deep in thought.
As she was rounding a corner Johnny came blasting down the hall and almost crashed into her. "Mr. Travers, slow down!"
"Yes, Headmistress! Find Potions Master!" and he was gone, not even slowing down a bit.
The Headmistress came into the infirmary, trying to make sense of the confusion of students, beds, and noise.
"Oh, Headmistress. You're here, good!" said Nurse Morse in some relief as she came out from behind some curtains. "We have several students with minor injuries that will be fixed soon, but we have one very serious case."
"The blond girl?" the Headmistress asked.
"Yes, what happened! Something hit her very hard. Many broken bones, large cuts, and burns. I've repaired her broken bones, but it will take much more time than normal before she will be able to move well." The look of shock on Nurse Mason was so plain it was startling. "And I don't recognize her. Do you know who she is?" confusion taking over her face.
A yell started escalating to a scream from one of the beds, rising to the thud of a mattress and the crash of bed frame parts flying across the room from behind the curtains of the blond girl's bed. The two women starting moving toward the noise. A bed frame pole swung through the curtains tearing them down revealing the blond girl holding the pole. A look of fear bordering on insanity on her face, she threw the pole through the opposite window and ran, jumping on the window sill and leaped out the window to the 40 foot drop to the grounds below. Professor Weasley instinctively reached out with her wand to catch the girl as she fell, but as her magic was about to connect a huge explosion shattering all the windows, threw them back off their feet knocking the wind out of them, and blowing the glass and bed curtains all over the room in the shock wave and gust of wind that followed.
Surreal silence surrounded by motion again, then ringing as everyone's hearing started to come back again. The students were screaming and Nurse Mason rose to kneeling and trying to help Professor Weasley up off the floor. When Professor Weasley's dizziness settled down she stood up fully and said "accio broom!", then tried to stumble toward the windows through the rubble. Nurse Mason started unsteadily stumbling over the rubble toward the other students. When the broom arrived the professor hopped on and flew slowly and wobblingly out the now enlarged window to see the blond girl laying on the ground looking again crumpled. She flew down and found her alive. Professor Weasley sighed and again levitated her back up to the now damaged infirmary, through the window.
"Nurse Mason, I think we need the private room," the Headmistress said in complete shock.
Professor Colton came running down the hall and into the infirmary and looked at the destruction. "What the bloody hell was that!" he screamed, looking dumbfounded.
"Professor Colton, over here please," Professor Weasley called. He moved, picking his way through the glass, stonework, and general rubble. "Can you set up the private room? We need sensory isolation, shields, and above all keep her out until we can wake her slowly. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am. But you sound like ... Did she do this?" he asked.
"I don't know. She threw the bed frame out the window and jumped. When I tried to levitate her fall, that's when the explosion happened."
"She ... bed? ... jumped out the window?" His mind did not know how to connect the dots.
"Yes, she looked insane with fear. I think we need to watch her very carefully. And wake her very slowly."
Johnny
Johnny was running down the halls toward the Potions Master's office when he heard a huge explosion and he stumbled and almost tripped as he flinched. Soon he met the Potions Master, Professor Lombard, coming up the hallway with a startled look on his usually very composed face.
"Professor, a girl in the infirmary is critical!" he said and they started running back the way he came.
Professor Weasley
Professor Weasley stood in the infirmary, idly trying to fix one of the broken windows while musing tiredly about the events so far this morning. She was beginning to think she was getting too old for this much excitement. Especially since the last few decades had been so quiet. Her thoughts were interrupted by the Potions Master coming into the infirmary. "Johnny, thank you for bringing Professor Lombard. You should go back to your common room now and wait for classes to start again at 10:00."
"Yes, ma'am," Johnny said quite reluctantly. He turned and slowly took a wandering path toward the door, hoping someone would call him back and give him a task.
"Professor Weasley, how may I help?" he asked with quiet assured tones. A man of few words but much confidence and composure.
"We have a seriously injured girl in the private room here. Our first problem is that we don't know who she is, she is not a student."
"Mmm, that's a very interesting problem. How could she have even gotten into the castle?" he said thoughtfully.
"Yes, well, there's a lot more. She may not be very stable and has shown some tendency for violence. We have not been able to talk to her yet, and I think we need to be very careful when we try. Can you develop a regimen of potions to keep her unconscious until we are ready?"
"Yes, I see. I'll have something in an hour."
"Make it faster. We also have some evidence that needs gathering." She tried to be circumspect in her description. "There is some liquid splashes in the Main Hall that need to be investigated; what are they and are they toxic. And there is a severed arm in the Main Hall."
"A - what?" he asked quite shocked, his composure slipping.
"A severed arm that is larger than you are." His jaw dropped. "We need to know what it is, or - was. And then, hopefully, where it came from and how it got into the school."
His face paled as these ideas sunk in. "Yes, ma'am. I will do my best."
"And quickly, please. I'd like to have a meeting to discuss what we are able to discover at noon today."
Johnny
Johnny walked into the Gryfindor common room and was immediately set upon by - pretty much everyone. Where had he been? What did he know? Who was in the infirmary? So many questions and so little brain-space for such a confused little student. He moved near the fire and plopped down in a chair, everyone following him over and still firing questions at him. "Ok, ok, ... wait, wait, WAIT!" As the questions finally slowed down. "We all heard the noises from the Main Hall, right?"
General muttering of a basic "yeah" from all around.
"After the boom, I ran into the hall and saw several students who were hurt." The noise burst forth threatening to swallow everything, "no I won't say who!", and it didn't slow down. "But - BUT!", and it slowed down as he waited. "There was a huge severed arm of a monster!." The noise hit the roof and threatened to take it off.
Professor Zelazney came through the portrait hole, "Quiet! Quiet!" he yelled to get everyone's attention. "I'm here to find out what you saw. If you were in the Main Hall this morning I need to talk to you about what you saw, so come see me now." A few people started to move forward. "That includes you Mr. Travers."
"Yes, sir," he said tiredly.
