It's still June 1971

Chapter 4

James House

A woman with long brown hair and chocolate eyes ran out of James' house, "Jessie?! Jessie! Floo for you!"

"Aw Mum! I was winning!" James shouted back as he landed on the grass with his broom.

"No you weren't!" Jessie called back to him and she ran into the house, leaving her broom abandoned on the grass behind her.

"It's Professor Dumbledore! He says it's important!" James's Mum shouted to her sister Jessie.

The Hogwarts Hospital Wing

"I don't doubt that she has suffered emotional trauma, but she must attend Hogwarts. It is the only option to keep her safe and let her obey her Mother's last wishes." Dumbledore told the two people who were sitting on beds in the Hospital Wing with him.

"You cannot be serious Dumbledore! Do you understand the threat to her safety by placing her in a building with a thousand other people?" exclaimed Jessica. Her chocolate brown eyes flashed with fury. "Perhaps you do not understand. I have worked with fairies, both free and imprisoned. There is nothing that they dread more!"

"Can she disguise her identity?" asked Madame Pompfrey.

"I have no doubt that she can. She will be in no more danger than Mr. Lupin who will start attending school at the same time." stated Dumbledore.

"Will her magical ability be different to that of the other students Jessica?"

Jessica sighed. "It's difficult to say. her abilities with protective charms and spells will surpass that of any other student I'm sure," she replied, "but she will be capable of performing wandless magic, and will infact find it easier than spell-casting with a wand. I assume you will make her use a wand?"

"We have little option." he answered. "I have placed Anti-Summoning Charms on the necklace that reveals her true identity. We may also have to cast a protective charm to prevent physical contact, if you believe the threat is so large."

"Or you could simply ask her if she wants one." Jessica retorted.

"She is eleven years old-"

"-and far more intelligent than any witch or wizard her age! As far as I know she was the last fairy to be born in a century. She deserves a little more respect than you appear to give her!" Jessica shouted at Dumbledore, leaping to her feet. She immediately realised that she was losing her temper and took a deep breath, sitting down again. "I'm sorry, it's just ... she's eleven years old and the last of her kind! All of them are gone."

"It's a tragedy." agreed Madame Pompfrey.

"Yes, but this tragedy cannot cloud our judgement. Jessica, what are the exact threats to her safety that she will have from attending Hogwarts?"

Jessica leaned back in her chair as she started to explain the complicated background which she had learned of this species. "Fairies have power, like all elder creatures. Like witches and wizards they have magic inside themselves which they use to the purpose of protecting the forest, including all creatures, which the fairy was given to protect. As they are a woodland species, they grew apart from wizards many thousands of years ago, and adapted to using protective magic without wands and drawing their magic straight from their cores, which is both powerful and dangerous. As you know, no creature can be invincible. When fairies and wizards grew apart many thousands of years ago, misunderstanding grew between the two races, and now, not many people believe that they exist. Another tale from Beedle the Bard one might say. They are real of course, and the so called tale has lead to another threat. You will remember that I said I have worked with fairies that are both free and imprisoned. For wizarding sport, some wizards collect the souls of fairies whom they come across, like the legend of Balthazar. They believe that the fairies will grant a wish when they have been captured and I'm afraid to say this is true. They are bound by blood to give their souls to those who overpower them and grant them a wish which uses and then destroys all the magic in their souls. They then live a life of slavery until they die, approximately three hundred years old."

The room was silent. "Does Myrissa know this?" Madame Pompfrey asked after a few moments.

"She will know it. They are taught from a young age. She may have a sister who was captured, or simply disappeared. When a fairy is captured, they never see their family again." she said.

"But," Jessica continued, "if, she remains free for the rest of her life, or falls in love and willingly gives that necklace," she gestured to pendant around the sleeping girl's neck, "then she will remain free until she dies."

"And the wish?" asked Madame Pompfrey.

"I don't know. I never knew any fairy who willingly gave it away."

"In human form she will be protected. Far better, I might say, than if she were anywhere else. No one will know, but us and her Head of House, and perhaps anyone whom she wishes to tell. However, school does not start for two months. I have been summoned to the Ministry of Magic. She must be kept somewhere away from London, the countryside perhaps, and I'm afraid I cannot go too."

"She can stay with me." Jessica said, her voice cracking. "Professor, I'm afraid there is one more problem." Jessica hesitated. "Due to Ministry Law, fairies, when amond wizarding communities, must reveal themselves in their true for in the event of a formal activity or event once they come of age."

"That's fine though, is it not? If Hogwarts hosts no formal events, no dances or balls, after she is 17..." Madame Pompfrey said hopefully.

"I am afraid, Poppy, that Fairies come of age, when they are 14 years old." Dumbledore said. It seemed to be the only fact about fairies that he knew, and he was right.

"No! There must be a way round it? Dumbledore, you will think of a way?" she asked.

"Of course Poppy. Jessica, Myrissa shall stay with you and your family over the summer. When she comes to Hogwarts, after she is sorted, we will notify her Head of House of the situation."

A sudden thought came to Jessica, "Professor, she cannot be in Slytherin. I remember all to well from my Hogwarts days, temptation is irresistable to him, even thought he is a Professor. It would be an unnecessary risk!"

"I don't believe she is a Slytherin." said Madame Pompfrey.

"The Sorting Hat is wise," added Dumbledore. "It will not place her where she doesn't belong or place her deliberately in danger."

"She does not belong in Slytherin. She lost her entire family, she must be so brave. She does not belong in Slytherin."

"No my dear, I believe not. Yet we shall see..."