Chapter 3
It was an hour before curfew and Christina found herself wondering the grounds outside. It was slightly cloudy and rain drizzled around her. She sighed and just kept walking there was no one else around except for her. Her mind wondered from her strange dreams involving Sirius Black and to her plan to expose Peter Pettigrew. The only problem was trying to keep the time line correct, to try and protect Cedric Diggory, who had become a good friend, and Harry all at the same time next year. She sighed and grumbled under her breath as she took a turn. Then Chris paused. She felt a presence. Not one she was used but it felt familiar all the same.
Her eyes turned to a black worn out looking dog that was hiding around a corner next to a bush, "Sirius," she whispered to herself as she crouched down. "Come here boy, I have something for yuh," she spoke holding out what of the apple she hadn't eaten. The dog's soulful grey eyes perked at the sight of food. "Come here, boy, its okay, I don't mean you any harm," she pulled her wand out and muttered a cutting spell and cut what was left of the apple and held it out to the dog. The dog quickly trotted over and happily took it. Christina smirked and scratched the dog behind his ears. "My names Christina, its nice to finally meet you Sirius."
The dog completely paused and looked up at her. A growl emitted from his throat. Christina sighed and didn't move from her spot, "I know your secret Sirius, I mean you no harm, and I don't intend to turn you in. I know Peter Pettigrew betrayed you and I know he's posing as Ron Weasley's rat. Please, just hear me out…"
The dog paused and began to run off, "Wait!" she called running after him. The rain began to poor down harder on them. She followed him to a large series of trees and jumped when he moved behind a bush and transformed into his human form. Christina looked down as he pulled clothes over himself before looking at her.
"How do you know all this?" he asked when he suddenly turned and pressed her up against a tree.
"I can't tell you," she insisted as pain shot up her back. Sirius let up slightly when he realized he had hurt her. "Well… It's complicated…"
Sirius stared at her. He knew her face, it was the same girl that appeared in his dreams but she looked so much younger then what he remembered, "I do not wish to put this on you, it is best if you never come out to find me," he muttered as he quickly turned from her.
"I want to help you," she insisted while touching his shoulders. Chris jumped back when a vision of him holding her crossed her mind. She shook it off and put her hand back on his shoulder. "Sirius, please, let me help."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"If it weren't true, you would have killed me by now," she insisted. "You know that part is true."
Sirius shook his head, "Leave," he told her, almost darkly. "Forget you saw me, forget we've talked. Never come looking for me."
"Sirius," she pleaded.
"Leave," he told her turning his back.
She looked down at the ground then back up at him, "I'll find a way to help you," she whispered. "Whether you like it or not, I will," she quickly stormed off.
Sirius stared at where she had been standing, "Its for the best," he insisted to himself. "She shouldn't be involved, it's mine to fix, no one else's."
Christina sighed and flipped through the next page. It was a Saturday and she was once again sitting in the library. She had been there for the last hour, trying to find the spell. Christmas coming slowly upon them. The young woman jumped when someone else plopped down next to her, "Hermione," she gasped. "You startled me."
"Sorry," Hermione gave her an apologetic smile. "All the other tables are full and…well I hope you don't mind if I sit here."
"Its fine," Chris smiled. "Actually…maybe you could help me, if you don't mind."
"But you're a fifth year," Hermione laughed gently. "What could I help you with that you wouldn't all ready know?"
"One day maybe I'll explain why," she told her calmly. "But I'm looking for this spell… It's to expose an Animagi. I know its difficult magic but… I can't ask professor McGonagall she'll ask questions…"
Hermione looked at Christina carefully then nodded her head, "I'll be right back."
Chris watched her walk away and frowned. She went back to looking through her book. A long moment passed before Hermione returned, a book in hand, "I was looking through his earlier and I thought it might help you. I'm not sure if it will have what you're looking for, but it's a good book and it may point you in the right direction."
Christina smiled, "Thank you so much," Hermione nodded her head. "Ummm… Well I should be getting to work on this so I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah, I have class so I'll see you later Christina, good luck!"
"Its occurred to me that you haven't given us an answer yet," a voice spoke behind Christina a while later. She was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, with George Weasley standing behind her.
"Hmmm… How long has it been since you've asked this question?" she asked while she flipped a page.
George plopped down next to her with a kind smile, "It's been about two months. Halloween's passed, and well, I was hoping for a yes sometime soon."
She looked over at him for a moment then sighed, "Here, I'll make you a deal."
The twin's head perked up.
"You help me find a spell, and maybe help me learn it too, and I'll agree to help you and Fred," Chris offered.
George sat there for a moment, contemplating her words, "All right, lets get started, shall we?"
Fred glared as his twin and Christina sat next to each other the couch, laughing with one another while they looked through a book. Ever since he had seen George talking to Christina a few weeks ago they had been spending almost every waking moment together outside of class. Fred felt left out. Angelina wouldn't even hang out with him and Lee was always busy. Christina suddenly let out a cry of joy; "I think this is it!" she looked ecstatic.
George's eyes ran across the page a few times and then he smiled, "Yeah, I think your right… Wow this actually looks really easy."
"Lots of concentration though," she sighed. "and good aim, sometimes you can't get the…creature to hold still."
"Should be easy enough to learn though," George insisted. "I mean…its… well its just a spell you have to say and then aim at the Animagi you wish to transform back into human form, right?"
"That's what it looks like but…we'll never know tell we try it out… I say I'll give it a shot after Christmas is over," Christina told him.
"Why not try it now? That's not for another month and a half," he asked.
She gave him a knowing smile, "I have my reasons, and it will all fall into place once I work out the kinks."
"There's a plan?"
"Yep," she slowly stood, book in hand. "Now I believe I owe you something."
"Careful what you say, Chris," Fred laughed from the other side of the room. "He may take that one seriously and hold you to it."
Christina raised an eyebrow and looked back at George, "I'm not going to dance naked for you."
George made a face, "I would never ask that on a first date."
She completely froze, "Wha?"
The red headed twin cleared his throat and turned to look at her, "I was wondering…if you wanted to go to the next Hogsmeade trip with me… as a date…"
All she could do was stare, and that's what she did for five minutes until George spoke again.
"Chris?"
"Huh?"
"You okay?"
She didn't blink, she just nodded her head slowly, "uh huh…"
Fred laughed behind his hand and George glared at him before looking back at her, "You gonna answer?"
"I've never been asked out before," she told him without changing facial expressions.
"Really?"
She nodded.
"Then will you go with me?" he asked again.
Chris opened her mouth to answer then shut it again. It seemed unsure what to say, "I want to say yes but…"
"There's someone else?"
"No," she laughed. "Of course not… not that popular of a girl here. Yes George, it would be fun."
A smile lit up across his face and he suddenly hugged her, "Great! I mean…smashing um… So just meet outside of the school when the group leaves and we'll walk there?"
Chris nodded, "Yeah, sounds good. Um… Well I need to go work on my potions. Snape's been ragging me."
"I thought he liked you," Fred called.
Chris paused and looked at the other twin, "Some days," she explained. "Most days he's as cold to me as he is to everyone else. I think he's only nice to me in private is because I'm Dumbledore's niece."
She stood silently with the rest of the students while they handed their permission forms off to Professor McGonagall. George had just caught up with her and she had been watching the conversation between the professor and Harry, "But I don't say so. A parent or guardian must sign, and since I am neither, it would be inappropriate. I'm sorry, Potter. But that's my final word."
Chris sighed and turned with George to head out, "We need to do something nice for him sometime," she insisted. "Its not his fault he didn't get his lousy Uncle to sign that piece of paper for him."
George glanced over at her, "So you know about that?"
She caught herself and shrugged, "Hermione and I talk a lot when we're in the library studying. She's the one who helped me find that book."
"Ah, I see," George chuckled. "Very unfortunate that is, about his uncle."
They walked the rest of the way with George telling her about what had happened over the last two years with Harry Potter. Of course, she knew all of this, but she had to listen, and hearing it from him was pretty funny. George was a very good story-teller. He had very vivid hand gestures and his eyes just lit up when he could tell a story. It was very entertaining.
When they finally arrived at the small village Christina stopped in front of a building and paused, "Um… George… Do you mind before we start if we stop by the Hog's Head for a moment?"
George looked at her with a raised eye-brow, "Do you mind if I ask you why?"
"My dad," she sighed while forcing the words out of her mouth, it was weird calling a man she had only seen a few times her father. "I told him the next time I go through Hogsmeade I would stop by. I wanted to ask him the best way to learn that spell… Is that okay?"
"That's fine," George answered quickly.
Christina gave him a thankful smile and walked in. The bartender looked up when they entered and a surprised but content smile appeared on the man's face, "If it isn't my little girl," he smiled. He was almost a younger version of the Headmaster with slight facial differences.
"Hey dad," she called as they walked in. "How's business?"
"It goes, ever so slowly," Aberforth chuckled. "Who is this young man?"
"This is my…friend, George Weasley. He has a twin named Fred," Christina told him. "Um… I don't have that much time right now because we have plans but I was hoping you could answer a question for me."
"Of course," he leaned forward. "What's the question."
Chris pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to him, "This spell… I was curious how easy it is to learn."
Aberforth looked at the piece of parchment then over at her, "Christina Burch Dumbledore, what are you planning?"
She looked over at George and leaned forward to whisper something to her adoptive-father, "I'm trying to help somebody, I'll explain more I promise, but right now I shouldn't say anymore."
He looked at her for a moment then nodded his head, "All right, but you promise you'll tell me when you can?"
Chris smiled, "Yep, I promise dad, I'll come by on the next trip, ok?"
"Have a good one young lady," he chuckled as he must up her hair.
George looked at her Chris as they waited for their butter beer in the Three-Broom Sticks, "You really shouldn't have paid for my drink," she insisted.
The twin smiled, "I wanted to," he insisted. "I may not be able to afford much right now but I can at least get you a drink. Once the business kicks into gear a little more it will be so much better."
She smiled slightly, "Well, you're optimistic."
"I can dream, and I hear dreams are something I should always believe in…or was that something you said…" he muttered.
Christina glared playfully and hit him in the shoulder, "Hey now! I meant that!"
"I know."
Their drinks were set gently in front of them and Christina looked down at the butterbeer. She had never had one before. The young woman sipped it and her eyes widened. It was actually really good. A smile spread over her lips and George chuckled, "Never had one before have you?"
"No," she shrunk back slightly. "Don't have them in America…"
"You like it?"
"Yeah, its really good," she laughed gently
"Good."
They walked along the street of Hogsmeade while Christina told him a story of one of her friends from America. George laughed at the end and gently put his arm around her waist. She set her head on his shoulder but froze as they began to walk into Honeydukes, "What is it?" George asked.
She stared at the shadow of a dog in the bushes, "Um… I have to run and do something… Would you mind if I met you inside in a few minutes?"
George looked at her and smirked, "Only if I can do something first."
Chris raised an eye brow, "What?"
He leaned forward and kissed her gently. Christina froze completely for a moment then returned the kiss. George chuckled and looked at her, "Ok, now I'll let you go for a little bit."
Christina watched him walk into Honeydukes before turning and walking as quickly as she could after the dog trotting away. She glanced to her right as she passed Hermione and Ron, "Hey guys!" she called before continuing after the scraggily looking dog. She slid across a patch of ice before turning again. A hand suddenly grabbed her by her jacket and pulled into an ally, "AH!"
"What in the world do you think your doing?" a male voice growled as she was pushed against a wall.
"Sirius!" she snapped making him let go of her. "What are you doing?"
"What are YOU doing?" he whispered harshly. "I told you to stay away."
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm helping whether you like it or not," she sneered. "Sirius, I can get Pettigrew away from Ron, you can't without being seen! If you kill the damn rat you'll never be free and I know I can help, please let me."
Sirius stood there for a moment and looked down at her, "You shouldn't be risking yourself to help someone you don't know. Its strange enough you all ready know these things about me. You shouldn't be here. Get back to your boy."
"You saw…." She shook her head quickly. "I'm not from here," she told him. "I'm from a different time and I guess plane of existence… You deserve to know that since…I know your secret…"
He looked at her, "Do what you care to do, but I can't guarantee anything you do will be safe."
"I know… If I keep my secrets to myself for a time, I should be able to do this," she sighed. "I…" she glanced around. "Be safe, stay covered, don't come into the castle."
"But Pettigrew."
She grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt, "Don't come into the castle," she warned before walking off. The young lady stopped in front of Honeydukes and sighed. "Well… This is going to be an interesting Christmas. Better start talking to George to see if he'll show me that map."
Note: So… Here's the next chapter. I got this review, which I guess I should say thank you for your criticism? (you know who you are :P) But I know Snape was a little out character in chapter 2, but it happens and it'll just work for what I'm doing for the story line so hmmm… anyway I will be going through the other chapters later and taking care of grammar and spelling and all that. Thanks so much to those who reviewed and liked it! It was great to hear it!
Oh and you know, review!
