All belongs to JK Rowling!
As the train screeched to a halt at the station in Hogsmeade, Lyra stood up abruptly, her heart pounding. It was now or never.
Hurrying out of the compartment ahead of the two younger students she had shared it with, Lyra pushed through the crowds to get off the train as soon as possible. As she walked towards the carriages she noticed she could now see the thestrals that everyone had been talking about since the war started. They looked like skeletal horses with wings and Lyra tried to ignore them; the sight of them bringing back unpleasant memories of the dead body of Alecto Carrow.
Shivering involuntarily, Lyra hoped into the nearest carriage, purposefully avoiding eye contact with the other students in the carriage. The three of them, two Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff, stared uneasily at her for a few moments before continuing on the conversation she had interrupted by her entrance.
The closer to Hogwarts they got, the more Lyra found herself shivering. She crossed her arms against herself and looked out the window of the carriage, finally noticing what it was that was making everything so cold. High above the lake, floating like grotesque rag dolls were a fleet of twenty or so dementors.
"What- what are they doing here?" Lyra asked the others, finally breaking her silence.
The three students gave her strange looks, "Protecting us." One of the Ravenclaw girls said.
"Just like last year." The other Ravenclaw girl added, raising her eyebrows to look at Lyra with suspicion.
"Are you...new?" The Hufflepuff boy asked.
"Yes." Lyra said, dully.
The Hufflepuff boy looked excitedly at the girls, before turning back to Lyra, "You know you're not the only new one this year! I met this boy on the train...said he was a transfer student from Durmstrang."
Lyra turned to look at the boy, her interest peeked, "Do you know why he's transferring?" She asked.
The boy shrugged, "Said he didn't like Durmstrang. They teach you the Dark Arts there, you know? Not just defense against them, but the real thing! Creepy isn't it?"
Lyra forced a smile and nodded, before turning back to look out the window.
"So where are you from?" One of the Ravenclaw girls asked.
"Albania." Lyra replied, forcing a tight-lipped smile just as the carriage mercifully screeched to a halt and Lyra jumped out before she could be interrogated any further.
Quickly pushing through the crowds, Lyra found her way to the front of the mass of students. Spotting a red-haired man who she was nearly certain was a younger version of Dumbledore, she quickly ran over to him.
"Professor Dumbledore, sir." Lyra blurted out, panting from her run. "I need to talk to you."
Dumbledore looked down at her, surprise and curiosity etched into his features. "You are not a student here?"
"No, but I want to be. Please, sir, I need to be." Lyra said, desperately.
Dumbledore assessed her for a moment and then said, "Very well. You'd better follow me, Ms...?"
"Reed." Lyra said, "Lyra Reed."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Ms. Reed." Dumbledore said, smiling down at her with the same twinkle in his eye that she recognized from the Dumbledore of her own time.
"And you." Lyra breathed, smiling genuinely for the first time in days.
The din of the crowd of students grew fainter and fainter as Lyra followed Dumbledore through the halls of Hogwarts. Lyra couldn't help looking around herself, feeling at once at home while noticing every subtle difference that reminded her she was, in fact, very far from home.
They stopped at last outside of the Headmaster's office, and Lyra watched as Dumbledore spoke the password, revealing the staircase beyond.
"Headmaster Dippet will be quite surprised to see you." Dumbledore said, "You're not the only transfer student we've taken in this year."
"So I've heard." Lyra replied, as they climbed the stairs to the office.
At last, they reached the top of the stairs, and Dumbledore gently rapped on the door.
"Come in!" Lyra heard a man call out and Dumbledore pushed open the door to reveal a circular room filled with portraits. Lyra had never seen the Headmaster's office before and found it difficult to prevent her eyes from wandering all over the place.
"Headmaster, it seems we've got another potential transfer student on our hands." Dumbledore said, walking towards Dippet, who was seated at his desk.
Lyra stared at the Headmaster, noticing that he was quite short and round, not at all the way she had imagined him.
"I see." Dippet said, leaning back in his chair to rest his hands on his stomach. "What is your name, Ms?"
"Lyra Reed, sir." Lyra said, launching into her whole backstory of being home-schooled and orphaned, hoping to Merlin her voice sounded emotional and desperate enough.
At the end of her story, a silence fell and the Headmaster exchanged a look with Dumbledore.
"Well, Ms. Reed, we certainly can't accept a witch without proof of her magical abilities, nor can we accept international students without consultation with the country from which they originated."
Lyra felt her throat close in on her, how in the name of Merlin was she supposed to fill these requirements. "I was born in Britain, sir." She said, knowing it was the only believable story due to her unmistakable British accent. "My parents did not record my birth, though, because they feared the Ministry would not allow them to home-school me if they knew I existed. That's part of the reason why they moved to Albania...to hide from the Ministry. As far as official records go...I don't exist." She said, her fingers trembling.
To her horror, she felt the two men begin prying away at her mind, attempting to use legilimency on her. Lyra quickly shielded her mind the way her mother had taught her at the beginning of the war.
After a few moments of silence, a rap on the door broke the three of them out of their contemplation.
"Come in!" Headmaster Dippet called, and a red-headed Gryffindor girl, sporting a Head Girl badge, entered; surveying the scene with mild curiosity.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but the sorting ceremony is due to begin any moment and-"
"Not to worry, Ms. Weasley." Dippet said, standing up. "We will be there shortly."
Lyra stared in shock as she watched the ancestor of her classmate, Ginny Weasley, nod and disappear back out of the door.
"We'll see to this matter later. For now, I suppose you ought to be sorted and begin your classes. An investigation into a matter such as this could take weeks or months and in the meantime, I do not see the harm in having you educated." Headmaster Dippet said, and Lyra breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, sir!" She said, smiling gratefully up at him, "Thank you so much."
Dippet waved away her thanks, "Not to worry, Ms. Reed. Just please write here which classes you would like to take and then come along before we delay the feast any longer."
High on the knowledge that her place at Hogwarts was secure, at least for the time being, Lyra had to force herself not to skip as she followed Dippet and Dumbledore out the door and down the stairs.
