Hey guys...sorry about the wait. Summer kind of caught up with me, something that I am not complaining about either! Chapters are gonna start getting longer now, because the story is going to start taking off from here! Hope you like it, and don't forget to review :D
'Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.' - Thomas Jefferson.
"I'm going to count to three, and if that twig your holding in your hand is still pointed at my face, then I will take it from you, and snap it in half." Anna's threat did not go unnoticed by Dawlish and his goon's.
They had the general good sense not to laugh, however strange Dawlish thought it at the time for a mere muggle to be threatening him...
"And how do you propose to take it from me muggle?" His sneer only resulted in making things so much more exciting for Anna.
Sirius had made his way to stand beside Dumbledore, who strangely enough, had not interrupted the intense exchange of words going on between Anna and Dawlish. He stared at her in confusion, and watched as a wide grin took over her face. The way she looked now, she could not have reminded him more of a predator that was joyfully taunting its prey.
Just as he had started to admire the mischievous gleam that took over her eyes, she was gone.
Less than one second later, she reappeared behind Dawlish's back, one hand placed on his shoulder as she leaned into his ear and whispered "By stealing it from your grasp of course." With a wicked smile, she quickly grabbed the wand from his hand, and Jumped once again so that she was standing in the exact spot she had been two moments before, beside Sirius once more. Dawlish' face was priceless, as well as the two other idiot's standing behind him, who would need each others help to pick their jaws up from the floor.
Sirius, hearing his own barking laughter mimicked by Anna's sweet yet slightly mischievous laughter beside him, turned to see her twirling the wand between her fingers. He became distracted by the faint markings she had up and down the inside's of each of her fingers, almost like tattoo's, except that they were a reddish colour, too deep for scars...but no, they couldn't be. They were too perfect. It looked like letters, and script between each one...
Removing his gaze from the strangely entertaining way she was playing with Dawlish's wand, he noticed that she had the red ink was covering her body...she had tattoo's everywhere! Her tanned skin just prevented them from standing out as black ink does. Looking closer, he noticed tiny, intricate script running on the inside's of both of her forearms, and once along the inside of her right bicep... 'Where else is she hiding them?'
Had Sirius been able to take his eyes off her, he would have noticed what his godson, and his godson alone had noticed. Harry had learned that situations are more easily judged when he took in the reaction of a certain genius, who Harry had always counted on to have the answers. And at this very moment Albus Dumbledore was smiling, no not smiling…beaming.
'And she doesn't even know the extent of what she can do…' The cog's in Dumbledore's great mind started to work over time, as he imagined just what Anna could have done, had the situation been altered to a life or death one that included a death eater. The numerous conclusions he came up with were enough motivation for him to decide that he was definitely making the right choice. Now all he had to do was go and get Scrimgeour out of his way, and he was home free to get down to work with testing her limitations.
"Anna, while that was quite entertaining, we have many matters to discuss, and dinner time is growing nearer every moment. If you could please return the wand to John, he can be on his way." Dumbledore knew he was taking a risk, attempting to exert some control over the clearly free spirited and fiery young woman, who clearly had an issue with authority figures, as she just demonstrated. It was a risk however, that he felt was necessary to take.
The look in her eyes told him just exactly what she thought of him giving her order's, but luckily the possible conflict was put off by the stampeding sounds of the herd of raging bulls coming around the corner. And they were led by none other than the alpha lion himself…Rufus Scrimgeour, who did not appear to be in a good mood.
"Dawlish! What are you still doing here?" He barked at the auror without breaking his stride, who immediately straightened out of the slacked jawed shocked position he had been staring at Anna in for the past five minutes.
"Well, Sir, there was a bit of trouble, nothing I can't-"
"It was a rhetorical question Dawlish; I couldn't care less what you're doing here, as long as you get out of here now. And for the love of Merlin, take that bloody muggle with you!" Oh no, Rufus Scrimgeour was not in a good mood at all. He stood in front of Dawlish, glaring every now and then at Dumbledore from across the wide gap between them.
"For your own good, I suggest that you, and every one else around here, stop referring to me as 'the muggle'. It sound tacky, and I don't like it." When the Minister and the rest of his 'goon's' turned to look at her as if she had just spontaneously grown ten heads, Anna felt the need to add on "Just so we're clear." She also seemed to think it was a necessity to add a self satisfied smirk.
It appeared that Anna was used to giving one line explanations for why people shouldn't do things. 'Most likely because she delights in showing them exactly why they shouldn't do them in the first place…' Dumbledore mused to himself, seeing how this could be a problem in the time that (hopefully) follows this tiring day.
"Excuse me?" Scrimgeour was beyond appalled that someone had actually spoken back to him. He wasn't a man that stood for any nonsense, and to be spoken back to by a muggle of all things…well, let's just say it wasn't on his agenda for the day.
"You're excused." Anna said politely, never taking her glaring eyes from Scrimgeour's face. For a moment he looked perplexed, until he shook his mane of hair and turned to Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore, could you please enlighten me as to why my office's have been pestered with owl's and numerous howler's all afternoon, from fuming parents wondering how three muggle men, armed with knives and Merlin only knows what other ridiculous muggle weaponry, followed a young woman who 'apparated' onto Hogwarts grounds…even though it's impossible, and even though muggle's can't apparate!" Dumbledore didn't appear to have moved a muscle, but was still regarding Scrimgeour with nothing but polite curiosity, as he waited for the next bout of anger to break from the Minister's jaws.
"And why have two of said muggle's gone missing, presumably dead, while another one is most definitely dead. All of this witnessed by the entire student population, before she was carried to the hospital wing…unconscious!" Scrimgeour was panting now, one of the large vein's in his fore head looking dangerously close to exploding. Of course, he knew once he heard the word 'apparate' that Dumbledore had something to do with it. Who else would have been able to remove the charms protecting the castle?
Obviously, this girl was no ordinary muggle, and Scrimgeour wanted to find out why Dumbledore was interested in her. 'He had obviously invited her to the castle…had probably known she would cause havoc, planned on it so that the trouble it caused for me, would get me off Dumbledore's back for a while. But the old man was going soft if he thought that was enough to throw Rufus Scrimgeour off his back. That old man is hiding something, and by god's I am going to find out what!'
That was along the line's that every worker back at the Ministry heard when Scrimgeour asked to see the latest report on Dementor disappearances from Azkaban. Upon seeing that a hole had been burned right through the center of it, Scrimgeour had a fairly good idea what the reason was before his secretary feebly informed him that "A Mrs. Parkinson's howler burst into flames on it Sir." Does Dumbledore not think that he has better things to be doing than running around after the crack pot lunatic's, werewolves and what not that man brings into this school.
Speaking of lunatic's, while Scrimgeour was attempting to regain his breath, he had begun searching around the corridor; looking to see why it was so crowded. When his eyes rested on a certain individual, his blood started to boil ferociously again. Too many of his problems were now packed into the one tight corridor, and he didn't like it one bit.
"What is he doing here?" He roared at Dumbledore, while pointing to a mock offended Sirius.
"Well Rufus, as soon as I heard there was an auror convention being held in Hogwarts corridors, I couldn't resist offering my services to the workload that I knew would be accomplished. I thought it was going to be something exciting, maybe along the lines of filling the quota of Voldemort's spies we could allow to walk through the Hogwarts corridors as well as the Ministries. Imagine my disappointment when I found that it was nothing more intriguing than sending three senior auror's to arrest an innocent and unarmed young woman." Sirius' eyes were harboring a dangerous storm in them now, and the fact that the look was being mirrored in Anna's deep green ones was doing nothing to alleviate the hostility in the room.
"Dumbledore?" Scrimgeour roared at the headmaster, who by now had assembled the rest of the auror's behind him in a sort of triangle, as if waiting to be attacked.
"Rufus, when you have calmed down and are willing to listen to my explanations, then I will be more than happy to 'enlighten you'. As it is, I think this conversation would be better suited to the confines of my office, don't you agree?" Dumbledore stated this from the other side of no man's land, as if he was remarking on how lovely the weather was. But there was no mistaking the serious note he held behind his words.
After a few seconds, he calmed down enough and nodded towards Dumbledore, who replied with "Wonderful, shall we?" And he indicated his hand towards the staircases.
Before he went any further however, Scrimgeour turned to Dawlish. "Clean this mess up, and come back here when she's detained." There was no mistaking who they were talking about.
Anna was about to make her opinion known, before a light touch on her shoulder made her turn around ready to spout venom, until she looked into the calm eyes of Remus Lupin that were filled with slight concern.
"Best to leave this to Dumbledore. He has a way with words, and you'll find yourself sitting in a comfortable chair with a cold drink far more quickly this way." Anna had been about to argue, but another light touch on her shoulder made her calm down, because of the entirely different affect it had on her. Sirius Black's hand lingered on her shoulder for no less than ten seconds, and that alone had prevented her from jumping feet first into an argument with the Minister for Magic. 'This is so not good.' Anna thought to herself. "As long as it's got alcohol in it." She said grudgingly before turning to see the source of who had just mentioned her name.
"Minister, Anna, as of earlier today, is my guest here at Hogwarts. She has just woken up from being unconscious for the best part of four hours, and I'm quite amazed that she's able to walk around so soon without collapsing, never mind being interrogated by a wizard trial. I'm sure, if asked politely, she will answer your questions in my office. But I'm afraid that it is out of the question for her to be taken to the Ministry." Dumbledore's note of finality was wasted on the Minister, who seemed to have no intention of leaving without knowing that Anna was locked up in a dingy cell somewhere…away from Dumbledore.
"Now see here Dumbledore, she-" Apparently, Anna had had enough. She had Jumped, only to land two feet in front of the Minister with a very angry look on her face.
"Listen up, Mufasa. First of all, she is not the cat's mother, so she has a name. It's Anna. Don't forget it. Secondly, as I just demonstrated, it is impossible for you to 'detain' me any where I do not want to be, so if I were you I'd be counting my lucky stars that someone has been smart enough to capture my interests." At this she turned around to Dumbledore and informed him " I am very interested to see just exactly what a wizard keeps in his office." Before turning back to Scrimgeour to get her final say. "Now, if you want to ask me questions, fire ahead. I probably won't answer them, but no harm ever came from trying." Anna had been too busy grilling Scrimgeour that she didn't see Dawlish sneaking up behind her.
Or so that's what every one else thought, and which is also why Sirius Black covered the ground between him and Dawlish in two stride's. Fortunately for him, he grabbed onto thin air, because unfortunately for Dawlish, when he reached out to grab Anna from behind, he found himself gripping thin air.
He also found himself hanging upside down from one of the chandeliers two seconds later, by nothing but his shoe laces. Anna was crouched on top of said chandelier, Dawlish's wand still held in her hand. She leapt gracefully off the chandelier, smiling to herself, and Jumped so that she landed effortlessly in front of Scrimgeour again, handing him Dawlish's wand.
"I also suggest you put a leash on your dogs, before any of them get bitten." At this, she turned around and chomped her teeth at the rest of the auror's standing behind Scrimgeour. They all jumped back words in shock.
Sirius thought to himself, had any other woman done that, he would probably have laughed. However, because Anna was so fierce and such a predatory creature anyway, it came out nothing short of sexy…and though they would never bring it up, Lupin, Harry, Ron and even the rest of the auror's shared the same opinion.
"Shall we Dumbledore?" Anna said, and followed the headmaster out of the corridor, and up on to the moving marble staircase.
Before following Dumbledore and the rest of the Hogwarts crew, Sirius decided to bask in the glorious moment of watching John Dawlish hang helplessly from his shoelaces, having been put there by no less that a muggle (and a female one at that.) He was not alone and was delighted to share the wonderful moment with none other than his best friend, Remus Lupin, when he felt the werewolf's arm rest on his shoulder.
"Plan on hanging around for long, Dawlish?" Both men laughed at Sirius' joke, before turning and giving a cheeky grin to the rest of the auror's and Scrimgeour.
Next, Sirius turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione and draped an arm around his godson's neck on one side, with Lupin standing on the other side of the trio. "I think it might be best if you three weren't seen in Dumbledore's office for this chat mate, don't you?" He turned to his godson with raised eye brows, when they were far enough out of ear shot from Scrimgeour and the rest of his circus. Sirius' grey eyes had abandoned the dangerous tempest look they had earlier, only to be replaced with the mischievous gleam they always had, and Harry was delighted to see that the smile reached his eyes when he heard the crashing and cursing that let them know Dawlish had managed to disentangle himself from the chandelier.
Comprehension dawned on Harry's face, only to be replaced with annoyance.
"I left it up in the common room!" He smacked his forehead.
"You would also leave your head behind if it wasn't attached to your shoulders, but please don't get any idea's, because there are only so many things I can look out for you for, while also managing to get you to breakfast and class on time." Hermione stood on the other side of Harry, and inconspicuously opened her bag to reveal his invisibility cloak lying beside 'Hogwarts: A History'.
"Hermione, has my godson ever told you just how brilliant you are?" Sirius joked with the young witch.
"He might have mentioned it once…or twice."
Just then they had a timely interruption from a very confused looking Ron and Lupin.
"Do any of you three have the faintest idea what a Mufasa is?" Hermione and Harry turned to each other, and laughed at the previously unnoticed reference to the Lion King.
"Well, you know how Scrimgeour's hair is kind of mane like…" Hermione began explaining to Ron, at the same time distracting him so he wouldn't make such a fuss as she and Harry simply started to wander off the usual route to Dumbledore's office, and disappeared around the next corner.
Anna had been about to let Dumbledore in on the large secret that the entrance to his office wasn't an entrance at all, but a large stone eagle standing in an alcove. She stopped herself in time though, to remind herself of the age old lesson that not everything is what it appears to be. 'Take me for example. At first look you'd just think I was your average twenty year old… (Well, obviously not your average twenty year old. I'm way too good looking for that.)You'd never guess that I was a murdering, thieving, knife wielding psycho path with an alcohol problem. Yes, I know the first step is admitting it, and I have, but I still haven't found anything that taste's as good, and solves problems at the same time.'
It was a statement to how quickly Anna accepted things, when her eyes didn't pop out of her head the moment the eagle in front of Dumbledore's office started to ascend and reveal a set of stairs, after he said 'Sherbet lollies'.
'Well, it makes sense. Moving staircases, moving statue's…moving portraits. Does anything around this place stay still?'
"Oh my god what is it with you people and stairs? I know magic is a lot more interesting than human technology…did I just say human? Anyway, my point is that this place could seriously benefit from an elevator or two…or twelve. No pressure, it's just something you might want to look into in the near future….Does anybody else feel that, or is it just me?" Anna questioned the group, after feeling the strange pull that was in fact the very thing that brought her to Hogwarts in the first place. The source of it was definitely in Dumbledore's office, she was sure of it, which is why she hustled Dumbledore into his own office, and was immediately distracted by the awe inspiring wonder she was filled with.
"Anna, is it a habit of yours to talk this much, or do you just do it when you get excited?" McGonagall's kind voice did nothing to distract Anna from turning around in circles in Dumbledore's office, but Anna found herself answering anyway.
"I don't know, no one's ever been around long enough to tell me." She didn't realize the questions this would have gotten other people asking, because she had just realized that she had finally made it to Dumbledore's office, and the reaction might as well have been the same as throwing a child into a toy store. She was glued to the very center of the room, not knowing whether or not to run towards the table full of gold…things, that were whizzing and twirling all by themselves, or over to the high shelves, where she was certain that she saw a hat with a face staring down at her. Her attention swayed toward the other walls that led towards a huge desk set against a giant window that showed the slowly descending sun, which were plastered with other moving portraits.
In the end, what finally won her over was a large glass cabinet, inside which held one of the most beautiful swords she had ever seen. Anna enjoyed knives, swords, darts…pointy things that did damage. Knives had the advantage that even if a pen knife is ten times smaller than a sword, it is a lot easier to throw and get a favourable outcome. What's the advantage of guns? There is none in her opinion, because some one always has a bigger one. 'And it is not fun to be caught on the receiving end of a Jackhammer shotgun...'
Anna shuddered at the memory of walking down through a Chinese market district, when the Paladins finally made it clear to her that after 2 years, they were not playing games anymore. She was 12 years old, and had never seen so many dead bodies on t.v before, only to be surrounded by the howling screams of pain and terror as men, women and children on all sides of her ran screaming through out the streets. In all the hustle, she managed to get lose the Paladins...but she will never lose the memory of that night. It's one of the many memories she has that reminds her of why they aren't hunting her...she's hunting them.
The hilt of the long sword was encrusted with rubies the size of golf balls… 'Oh yeah, I might have forgot to mention, I have a thing for anything that looks like it might have been found in a pirate chest. Some people would call it treasure…I would call it 'mine'.'…and it gleamed so brightly, the suns rays almost bounced off it and blinded her, which is what brought her mind out of the war zone she had almost lost herself in yet again.
"Ah yes, the sword of Godric Gryffindor…many a great things that sword has achieved." Anna didn't notice the wink in Dumbledore's eyes as he turned to stare at the small alcove behind his desk, before sitting down.
"If you would all care to sit your selves down anywhere you can find a seat." Anna reluctantly dropped out of her stupor, and Jumped over to the biggest armchair that had a small pouf in front of it, where she gladly popped her feet on. She looked up into the disgruntled face of Scrimgeour, who she wouldn't have guessed would have liked such a comfortable seat anyway. He was way too uptight, and serious, and she wasn't surprised when he chose the same hard backed chair that McGonagall did.
'Besides, the pole he has sticking up his arse probably doesn't make it too easy to relax much anyway.'
"You're going to have to move faster than that if you want to keep up with me Mufasa." She grinned cheekily over to him, before sighing and relaxing further back into the chair.
"Nick names aside, it is sheer laziness that prevented you from walking to the seat, or must you look for praise for everything you do?" Scrimgeour remarked to her, without even the manners to look over at her.
"A bit of both I suppose, but mostly because I didn't want any one else to get what I wanted. It only makes it better to find out that it doesn't get your approval." Hearing Scrimgeour's sigh of annoyance, Anna knew that she had had the last word, and relaxed back further in the chair again only to be reminded of just how damaged her clothes were. Seriously, she could have jumped up on a pole, and nobody would have given her a second look. Her tattoos were poking out through every ripped surface of clothing, something which she wasn't too happy about. While she loved her tattoos, they weren't for every one to see.
"Now, Dumbledore, would you care to explain to me why she is still here?" Scrimgeour decided to begin.
"Did we not just have this conversation!" Anna groaned from somewhere on the armchair. Every time Sirius looked to the side of him, he could have sworn she was sinking further into the armchair.
"If everyone could please place the childish tendencies aside. We are all adults in this room; I suggest you start behaving like one's." Only Dumbledore could reprimand the Minister for Magic about his conduct, and get away with it.
"Now, Anna if you wouldn't mind recounting your tale. The tale of how you happened to end up in Hogwarts, right up until waking up in the hospital wing earlier this evening." Dumbledore leaned calmly back into his chair, and watched Anna from over his entwined hands.
"I can tell you, but I honestly don't even know what happened to have me end up here. And I don't trust him enough to explain why I don't know how I ended up here…" Anna jerked her head towards Scrimgeour, never moving her gaze from Dumbledore. She could have sworn she heard an agitated sigh from the back of the room, and was sure that if she put the effort into turning around she would have found that it came from Snape.
"Well, then Anna if you would just reveal what you feel like trusting every one with. Please." It wasn't pleading, and it wasn't begging. It was nice, for a change, to be asked to do something and be asked to do it with manners. If the Paladins had ever asked her to 'get down on the ground please', it still most definitely would not have worked, but it might have softened her up a bit to them and… ok no, it still definitely would not have worked.
"Ok, well bare in mind that I don't know how a lot of this happened, but I'll try to fill you in on the why along the way...Basically, I arrived at Miami Beach this morning, not expecting it to be as hot as it was, because believe it or not, I did not exit my house looking like an extra from a terminator film." She stopped to look at the blank faces staring at her.
"What's the bloody hell is a terminator film?" She stopped to notice that Sirius' Black looked oh so cute when he was confused...'Focus Anna!'
"Never mind...Anyway, after deciding that Miami was definitely not an appropriate place to be wearing a leather jacket and boots at this time of year, I went to find somewhere safe to Jump from when I heard the ruckus behind me, and knew that my day was just going to get worse. There was a group of Paladins sitting down, well no actually falling down, where I had just Jumped from, but that shouldn't have even have been possible, not unless they had a…" Anna's voice trailed off, as the puzzle pieces in her mind began to fit in together.
Why she saw his face in the Paladins thoughts, why they've been able to find her, to track her.
"He was telling the truth..." She spoke to no one, but herself and gasped at how much more real things sounded when you said them out loud.
'But he wasn't with them when they followed you on a wild goose chase across the globe?'
"Not unless they had a what?" Well, at least she knew she had the room's attention. You could have heard a pin drop, but Anna's attention was focused somewhere entirely different. She stood up, and began pacing, something she hasn't done since she was a child, when she was trying to figure out a way to get her own way, yet again.
"Not unless they had another Jumper with them, which would explain how they could track me. If the other Jumper was accustomed to me, he'd be able to feel my pull across the globe…but it doesn't explain how they were able to follow me through the Jump Scars. You can't follow some one through a Jump Scar without physically touching a Jumper...I don't know how you managed to get through this morning..." Anna trailed off as she turned to stare at Sirius, studying him for a minute before turning away in frustration. None of this made any sense to her!
"Ugh! It doesn't even really matter how they can do it, it's the fact that they can that has just made my life ten times worse than it already was…wait what am I saying, my life is brilliant. It's just become a little more difficult than usual." Anna corrected herself, shaking her head at the nonsense she had just spoken, knowing somewhere within her that it was probably the biggest lie she was going to tell for the duration of the day.
"As I'm sure it probably is, would you kindly explain to the rest of us what 'jumping' is?" Scrimgeour turned to look at Anna with general interest. This question was safe for her to answer, as long as she didn't tell him the limitations of it. How on edge would he be if he thought that Anna could be following him behind his shoulder at any minute.
"The stunt's I pulled earlier, moving from the cabinet to the chair, taking your mutt for a swing on the chandelier. That's Jumping."
"How could a muggle learn how to apparate?" Scrimgeour's tone of suspicion was definitely directed at Dumbledore, and Anna found herself getting annoyed at the way the man was treating the older wizard, and she had no idea why.
Dumbledore was clearly able to take care of himself, he was principal of the school. He wasn't slow off the mark either, and it was pretty obvious from the respect everyone gives him that he is a force to be reckoned with. So why the irritation?
'Because the man's been nothing but nice to you since you got here. Is it so bad for you not to want other's to be nice to him?'
'He's obviously after something though. Nobody could be that nice to some one, with out something else to gain in return…'
Anna's inner battle went on for a few minutes while Dumbledore was filling the rest of the room in. Anna was about to learn that she could argue with herself, while listen to another argument at the same time. 'There is a reason why women are good at multi tasking. You can never trust the things men might say when they think your not listening…'
"It's not apparition Rufus. Contemplate for a moment, as I have. This is Hogwarts, it is impossible to apparate into the grounds, without removing numerous spells and incantations before doing so. Secondly, apparition does not leave a 'scar' in the fabric of space, one could call it. No, I have a feeling that what we are witnessing right in front of our eyes is nothing less than evolution itself." Dumbledore then sat back to let the others mull this over in the heads for a few minutes.
It didn't 'mull' for very long.
"Evolution? Albus how is that even possible?" McGonagall questioned from her hard backed chair that was nearest to the wall.
"It's quite possible. Muggle's have gone so long without magic, yet most of them are subjected to it at least once in their life times, sometimes maybe even on a daily occurrence in certain communities. It was bound to take its toll someday, and I doubt that Anna here is the only 'Jumper' that exists. Would I be right Anna?" Dumbledore's question brought Anna's mind right back to where it had started, that she hadn't always been on her own.
"Not many that I know of. But a few…" She didn't care to elaborate on the number's, before Scrimgeour got a Paladin theory into his head and made it his life's ambition to exterminate all Jumpers, just because he had taken a dislike to her.
"Interesting, but it still doesn't explain why you ended up here, or the Ministry has a dead muggle to deal with!" Scrimgeour banged his fist on the table, without getting the desired result from anybody.
"Well if I knew how I ended up here, than I wouldn't still be stuck here with you, would I?" She refused to raise her voice, but said growled the last sentence at the Minister through gritted teeth. 'God, I really hate that man!'
"Rufus, I believe you would agree with me, that it is human nature to defend ones self when one is being attacked. Accidents do happen in the muggle world as well, and I'm sure it wasn't Anna's intent to kill those men. Was it Anna?" Dumbledore's eyes told her that even if it was her intent (and it was) that now was not the right time to admit to it.
"Hardly. If you want to check, I'm sure you'll find one strolling somewhere around the Sahara, and I'm pretty sure there's another somewhere in the Amazon jungle…hence the ripped clothes and leaf riddled hair." That should do the trick.
"Be that as it may, parents won't be satisfied when they hear that the woman who killed a man in front of their children is going to stroll out of the school with nothing said but a 'thank you for dropping by'. Dumbledore, I've told you time and time again, we are on the same side but you have got to give me something to work with!" Scrimgeour's voice was turning slightly towards the desperate side now, and Anna was amazed at how genuine he seemed to be when asking the old wizard for help, just not in so many words.
"They will not be satisfied Rufus you are quite right. They may however, accept the unfortunate case of a young 'witch' whose magic hadn't established itself for unknown reasons until now. In it's uncontrolled state, it is a danger to herself and to others, which is why she will be welcomed into the school with open arms." Dumbledore turned to smile at Anna, who couldn't help but return it even though she didn't know why. The Minister was unable to form the right words, to let Dumbledore know how ridiculous he thought this was, and just found himself stuttering for a few seconds.
"Rufus, do you remember when you were a young boy, and something happened that made you absolutely terrified." The minister nodded his head at Dumbledore's question.
"What happened Rufus?" Dumbledore sounded like a psychiatrist that was pushing his patient towards the end point of treatment.
"Well, naturally, my magic went out of control, but I was only a child Albus, you can't compare-"
"Exactly Rufus, I cannot compare. You were only a child. Anna here is…" "Twenty." She answered Dumbledore's questioning gaze, as the old man chuckled to himself.
"I always find myself a little frightened when asking a woman her age…sometimes they seem to get a bit testy, and people almost always never get the right answer. Anyway, as I was saying Minister." And the old man went back to being serious again, all traces of laughter gone from his face.
"Anna here is twenty years old. How out of control would your magic be, had you not learned to control it all those year's ago right here, in this very school. Like it or not Rufus, this is a problem we may some day have to face, whether it be five years into the future, or fifty years into the future, if or indeed when, muggle's find themselves in increasing numbers to be possessing magic that is different than our own."
The whole of Dumbledore's office was silent for a moment, before the Minister stood up and started a staring contest with Anna that lasted for at least three minutes. Neither one of them backed down.
"Ok Dumbledore, you can have this little project and use your little lab rat. But I want weekly reports as to how she's getting on...And I want to know where she's going, when she's going and who she's going with. In fact, I don't want her to move unless I know about it first! The last thing we need is another psychopathic murderer running loose." At this he turned to Sirius, before heading towards the fireplace, followed by three other Ministry officials, who had already stepped into green flames that erupted in the huge fireplace.
"Rufus Scrimgeour's Office, Ministry Of Magic." He spoke as he threw a handful of powder into the fireplace… "And the rest of you, get back to work. That includes you Dawlish!" The minister roared at his lap dog, who made to follow him over to the fire place. With a crack, the Minister was gone.
Moments later, and the office was silent again after the trudging feet of the auror's that slumped out of Dumbledore's office and back to their designated posts around the school to fulfill their purpose of 'uselessness'.
"Is it just me, or does that man have a death wish?" Anna asked, still not having moved her eyes away from the fireplace.
"The minister has a lot on his plate at the moment Anna, he wasn't always as bull headed as he is now." Dumbledore let out a sigh, and finally let himself relax back into his chair.
"You should still treat everyone with respect, until they do something to lose it." Anna spat, before collapsing back down into the armchair she had inhabited earlier.
Dumbledore sat forward to contemplate her over his half moon glasses, the twinkle returned to his eyes and a slight smile on his face.
"Is there a reason as to why you are so wise beyond your years Anna?"
"Things tend to look different to you when you have to grow up fast." Anna could feel the cold feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach every time she thought about her past, and was glad that Dumbledore didn't press her for details.
"Anna, is there anyone you would like to contact? Anyone you would like to talk to, and inform of your safety or where abouts?"
"No thank you." Was all the information she was going to divulge about her personal life this moment.
"Ok then. Now, Anna as my favorite muggle saying goes 'let's not beat about the bush'. I'm going to make you an offer, but I am not going to ask you to decide now. I want you to take as long as you need, during which time you will be more than welcome to spend here at the castle." The room went silent once more.
"Anna, would you accept my offer of letting me work with you, to help you control your abilities, and see just how far you can push your limitations."
Anna stared at the man for a few minutes, before finally voicing the question she had been wondering all day.
"Why are you being so nice to me?...Not that I don't appreciate it!" She added hastily. "It's just that, I've been around…a lot. And from what I've learned from human nature, you don't be this nice to some one unless you have something to gain from it? I suppose what I'm really asking is, what could you possibly gain from me, that has you butting heads with the man who run's the wizarding show, and offer to put me up in the school where all of your students are going to hide in their cauldrons when they see me coming? What can I possibly do, that can be that useful to you?"
"Anna, it may or may not be right of me to assume that in the time that you have 'gotten around' you have not met many nice individuals. However, that is neither here nor there, as I am not going to lie to you. There is something great you can offer to me Anna, not just to me, but something that will benefit people, magic or not, all across the country. First you may need a bit of training though. Before you ask me why, I suggest that you hold all the questions you have for me in your head, and come back here tomorrow and ask me them, all of which I will answer to the best of my ability. It's getting rather late, and dinner is approaching very quickly." Dumbledore himself had to admit that it was a fairly genius move he just made.
Anna had the ability to, and probably had, seen many of the interesting things the world had to offer, which only encouraged her seemingly inquisitive nature. The only thing was, is that she had experienced all this, from a non-magical point of view. After spending one night in an enchanted castle, Dumbledore knew that her eyes would only continue to grow wider at the thoughts of how many things she had missed out on the first time around, not being able to see them from a magical point of view, and secondly, how many places had she not known had even existed that from this moment on would be possible for her to travel to? Yes, Dumbledore had dangled quite a large bait in front of her, all he had to now was to wait and see if she would take it….and he had a suspicion that she would.
"I'm sure you already know this, but I have to tell you that you are a sly old fox Dumbledore." Anna chuckled to herself, while the rest of them looked at her with furrowed brow's, Dumbledore just smiled.
"Offer the most curious person in the world the chance to see magical things beyond her dreams that she didn't even know existed! What person in their right mind would turn that down? You have to understand, that I don't come to trust people easily, so I'm going to have to think it over. But when you answer my question's tomorrow, I will also give you an answer. And oh, by the way, I would very much like to take you up on your offer to spend the night here." She felt that she had to leave the room on a happy note.
"Anna, I would be delighted if you would." The old man smiled at her, and she couldn't stop herself from sending her a genuine smile of thank you back to him.
"Minerva if you would be so kind as to show Anna to a room, preferably in one of the guest room's that are located beside the Gryffindor common room. Those quarters have only one other guest, and it is not an auror, or ministry official, which I think would be a wise move." Dumbledore sighed and fell back into his seat once more, as Snape and Lupin took their cue to leave also.
"Who's the other guest?" Anna asked McGonagall curiously, only to feel a presence beside her, and look up into the storm grey eyes of a certain man god.
"Me." Was all Sirius Black's husky voice had to say to send a shiver down her spine, as she thought about the perks of sharing 'quarters' with him.
'This might not be such a bad idea after all A.' Her inner voice gloated to itself. Leaving the Dumbledore with an Oscar Winning smile, Anna turned and exited the headmaster's office, followed by Sirius Black who turned to give the Headmaster a sly wink...or was it aimed at the headmaster?
"I believe it's quite safe for you three to come out now…" Dumbledore said to the three teenager's hiding underneath an invisibility cloak behind his desk, when he heard the stone gargoyle move back into place to guard his office from Ministry ears. What he was about to say to the three teenager's, would be vital to making sure his plan that involved Anna succeeded in the months to come, and is was with a happy heart that he finally gave Harry Potter a task, that he knew would not lead him into too much danger...or so he hoped.
So I don't know if every one knows this saying or if it's just another one of the many Irish sayings we have but : 'she is not the cat's mother' is basically what you say to some one when they refuse to use your name...Probably didn't need to explain that.
As well, for those of you that are getting anxious about the whole lack of Siriusness, don't worry he's playing a bigger part in the next chapter! Thanks for reading :D x
