She landed in the Ministry Approved zone for foreign travelers. She didn't want to cause trouble two seconds after arriving. Nothing could stand in the way of what she needed to do.
"Papers please." Grunted a short wizard with a handle bar mustache. He surveyed the papers she handed over closely, giving a little start as he read the information. She shifted nervously, hoping that he wouldn't raise any alarms. "Welcome to Britain, miss." He said, handing the papers back to her and turning to a travel log. "What's the purpose for this trip?"
Her mind raced, there were so many possible options, but she settled on the safest bet. "Funeral….Albus Dumbledore's funeral." She replied, forcing the last few syllables out as the hot tears rose behind her eyes.
"I see…very sorry, m'am." The short wizard said, jotting down the information into the travel log. "Very sorry indeed….the whole wizarding world is now at greater risk with the loss of Dumbledore."
She nodded politely, hoping that the short wizard would let her continue on her journey soon. "Sign here." He said, handing her the travel log. "And then you'll want to Apparate straight into Hogsmeade Village, closest town to Hogwarts."
She smiled her thanks and bent down, quill shaking in her hand as she signed the parchment.
XXXXXX
She had disappeared as quickly and as quietly as she'd appeared. Harry barely glimpsed her at the funeral services for Dumbledore. The stranger who stoically stood beside Professor McGonagall was not Harry's primary concern at the time. But later, as his journey to destroy Voldemort weighed heavily on his mind, that's when the face of they mysterious girl started to haunt him.
There was something so familiar about those features, but Harry could not place them. He felt, as though he knew this girl somehow, had some fleeting memory of those brooding hazel eyes. The nose, the mouth, the dark red hair that fell lazily in her face, the way she stood that day…they all reminded Harry of someone. But who? Of all the things that could possibly be running through his mind while he waited at number four Privet Drive, this girl took up most of his time.
Then, the day after Harry's narrow escape from Voldemort and his Death Eaters to the Burrow, she appeared again, in the same quiet and mysterious manner, although this time, she was not staring stoically ahead but rather sitting at the kitchen table, calmly reading the newest edition of the Daily Prophet and drinking a cup of tea. Harry rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to make sure that he was not dreaming, to make she this mystery girl was not a figment of his imagination.
"Oh, Harry, good morning!" Mrs. Weasley greeted him cheerily. "Breakfast, dear?" she set a plate of eggs, toast, and bacon down on the table for him, directly across from the girl.
"Thanks." Harry said as he sat down, not taking his eyes off of the girl.
"Ron should be coming around late this morning.' Mrs. Weasley told him. "I had to send him out for some errands for the wedding. Hermione and Bill went with him." She added as Harry cast her a concerned look.
"How is George?" He asked, digging into his breakfast and trying to keep from staring at the girl sitting across from him.
"He's as well as can be expected. Still sleeping, I would expect."
Harry, clearly distracted by the presence of the mystery girl across the table (who as of yet, had not lifted her eyes from the paper), uttered an undecipherable sentence back to Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley looked at both Harry and the girl with concern before turning away and setting about cleaning the dishes.
Harry haphazardly ate his food, his fork on more then one occasion stabbing the old wooden table rather then the eggs on his plate. After this occurred several times, the girl finally looked up from her paper.
"Good morning, Harry. She said raising an eyebrow and turning the page. "Mrs. Weasley, can I have a refill on the tea?" Harry was surprised to hear heavy evidence of an accent in her speech. An American accent.
"Of course dear," Mrs. Weasley smiled. "And please, dear, it's Molly."
"Alright, well, Molly…" Alex trailed off. "Are you sure that he is coming today?" she asked anxiously.
Mrs. Weasley paused slightly. "I believe so…but there's no being certain."
The girl frowned slightly and slumped down in her chair, readjusting the Daily Prophet angrily. A loud crack sounded from outside, and Mrs. Weasley looked up suddenly. Harry scrambled over to the window in time to see Remus Lupin climbing over the fence that marked the beginning of the Weasleys' property. He was shunted aside as Mrs. Weasley and the girl rushed to the window.
"Harry, stay away from the window, just in case." Mrs. Weasley cautioned, pulling her wand from her apron pocket and going outside.
"Is that Remus Lupin?" Alex asked anxiously, her eyes darting between Harry and Lupin.
"Yeah, that's him…." Harry replied. "I'm sorry, but who are you, exactly?"
She looked at him, her mouth scrunched to the side as she surveyed him. "I—" Lupin and Mrs. Weasley's arrival in the house cut her words short. find his body, though Molly." Lupin said sadly as he walked in the door. He stopped short when he saw the girl glowering at him. Lupin's mouth opened slightly, as though he was shell-shocked to see the person in front of him.
Next to Harry, she took a deep breath. "I need to know the truth." She said, her tone implying that there was no room for Harry, Lupin, or even Mrs. Weasley to protest.