By Saturday, Cedric regretted ever doubting the chaos the small first year could cause.
In the first week alone, Lucy had proven that she was absolutely insane. It was the only explanation for her behavior.
On potions class Thursday, she'd gotten detention for hugging Professor Snape. The Hufflepuff first years had spread the story to the entire table about how she'd walked up to Snape as class started and attempted to wrap her arms around him. As he pried her off of him, he'd yelled, 'Detention for assaulting a teacher." She'd simply smiled at him and skipped back to her desk. Despite him being more horrible than he usually was to the Hufflepuffs, she hadn't seemed upset. Three other Hufflepuffs had gone to Professor Sprout after class crying, but she'd waved goodbye to him as she left.
In addition, she had broken years of Hogwarts tradition by sitting at the Slytherin table. Cedric remembering watching in fear along with the other Hufflepuffs at the table at lunch as she'd sat at the Slytherin table at lunch on Wednesday. They'd waited for the Slytherins to tear her apart.
Instead, the older Slytherin's seemed to completely ignore the small first year. After all, she wasn't a Gryffindor so they must have decided she didn't deserve immediate death. Cedric had watched as she talked to another first year (after asking around, he discovered that the first year was Blaise Zabini). Their heads were close together, and they seemed to be in the middle of a tense discussion.
After five minutes of talking, there was a pregnant pause. Then, Lucy just threw her arms around the disgruntled Slytherin. He rolled his eyes, but gave her one squeeze before pushing her off him. She had simply laughed as she stole some toast of his plate and left.
Plus, there were all the incidents with Professor Quirrell. On Tuesday, she had dropped her books right as he walked by her. Cedric wasn't there, but he'd heard about the way he'd tripped on the books and she'd tripped on him. She'd managed to end up sprawling over his head, knocking his turban off in the process.
Then in class, she'd tried to walk up to his desk with her homework. Apparently she'd tripped on the leg of a desk and ended up falling into him as he walked around checking homework. Despite being tiny, she'd managed to knock him over again.
Speaking of Quirrell incidents, this had to be the funniest one yet.
"She's a wild one," Alex whispered to him at the table as they watched her get lectured by two of the professors. Cedric nodded in agreement.
She'd been trying to practice her charms work at the table when her levitation charm hit the head table instead of the plate she seemed to have been aiming for. Professor Quirrell's turban had flown high into the air. As everyone laughed at his startled appearance, Professor McGonagall immediately called her to the front.
"You aren't even supposed to be practicing charms at the table! What if you had accidentally lifted someone's full glass of pumpkin juice and spilled it everywhere?" she scolded the first year. "Are you even listening to me, young lady?"
Indeed, Lucy seemed to be staring intently at Professor Quirrell's head and turban.
"Now, McGonagall, th-th-there was no harm done. I-I-I'm fine, and everyone got a good laugh," Professor Quirrell said with a smile.
Professor McGonagall humped, but walked away. Professor Quirrell turned to go, but Lucy stopped him with a question, "Why do you even wear a turban professor?"
Quirrell looked at the turban still held in his hands, "Well, I think it makes me look rather da-da-dashing."
Lucy walked around Quirrell once staring at his head before nodding at the professor quite solemnly, "It hides that your head isn't perfectly round."
Professor Quirrell seemed to almost die laughing as Cedric buried his face in his hands with a sigh. Alex watched the two with a gaping mouth, "She's loony, she is. Who talks to a professor like that?"
When Lucy sat back down, she glared at her plate. Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Cheer up, short stuff. You didn't even get in trouble, and no one's mad."
Lucy seemed to scowl even more.
"I just don't understand," he heard her mumble. He considered telling her that he didn't understand the First Year either, but decided it was best to focus on something else.
Lucy had been having a long week.
First she found out that she wasn't some super powered First Year, and she'd actually have to relearn all her abilities. Plus Carver had woken her up to the fact that she hadn't even been all that impressive as an adult when she had been one.
She'd realized that she needed to try harder, so she had a plan of actually doing studying and research like Hermione had in her previous life. She didn't want to depend on others.
It was a solid plan, but she hadn't found time to actually go to the Library and start that researching.
Plus, she'd had to figure out what was going on with her and Blaise. She knew he was probably upset that she had gone to Hufflepuff, but she hoped he still wanted to be friends. She'd realized pretty quickly that she didn't seem to fit in all that well with her classmates. Most of them were very typical first years. They were scared by a lot of things. Unlike the Gryffindors, they didn't seem to have any desire to go exploring after hours or break rules in general. They reminded her of a brood of sheep.
So, Lucy had tried unsuccessfully to catch Blaise's attention in the hallway between class, but he seemed to be ignoring her. Eventually she had enough and decided to attack him at lunch.
"So, why are you ignoring me?" she asked as she sat next to him.
He looked up at his book and leaned in closer, "Lucy! You can't sit here, this is the Slytherin table!"
She shrugged, "Drastic times call for drastic measures. So why are you ignoring me?"
"I'm not ignoring you," he frowned at her.
She frowned back, "Yes you have. You haven't talked to me since the sorting."
He dropped his voice as he leaned a little closer, "I'm trying to help you out. None of those Hufflepuffs are gonna want to be your friend if you're seen with a Slytherin. I figured you'd prefer being friends with your classmates."
Lucy stared at him in shock before throwing her arms around him.
"Oh thank goodness that's all it was. I thought you hated me since I got sorted into Hufflepuff. Besides, I think my classmates are already scared of me!"
Blaise rolled his eyes at her, "I'm not even going to ask why they're scared, it's not like you're particularly frightening."
Lucy laughed, "We can catch up on Saturday in the library. I wanna hear all about your first week. Bye!"
He tried to stop her as she grabbed the toast off of his plate. He scowled as she walked away. When he reached to grab more, he realized that the food had disappeared.
Despite the other problems, Lucy was certain that the biggest problem was Quirrell. She'd had this whole plan of getting rid of the Dark Lord first thing in the semester so she'd have the entire year to focus on other things.
But when she tripped Professor Quirrell in the hallway and made sure his turban fell off, she was shocked to see a perfectly smooth head. He was lacking the protruding extra face that he was supposed to have under the turban.
At first, she'd assumed that he'd somehow had an opportunity to cast a hiding charm on the face, but both of the other times she'd done it, he still hadn't had a face. Plus, he seemed completely unconcerned by the turban falling off.
After asking around, she'd discovered that this Quirrell had spent the entire summer at Hogwarts. He had never gone on a trip to Albania, so it wouldn't make sense that he had Voldemort on the back of his head.
Lucy scowled at her plate despite Alex trying to reassure her.
"I just don't understand," she mumbled to herself.
If Quirrell wasn't possessed by Voldemort, what was going on? Was Voldemort still in the school? Had he stayed hidden in Albania this time around? Was Quirrell a bad guy?
Lucy felt more overwhelmed than she had since the first Wizarding War. What was the point of going back in time if she didn't know what was going on anymore and couldn't stop things?
Later that evening, after hanging out with Blaise for a while in the library, Lucy went into an empty classroom.
"Carver," she called.
Instantly, the suited man appeared, "Yes?"
"I have a problem. Everything is changing. Quirrell isn't even possessed by Voldemort, but the third floor corridor is still off limits. I never know when something will be changed and when something is the same! How am I supposed to change things if I don't even know what's going to happen?" she cried.
Carver looked entirely unperturbed, "I believe most humans don't know what the future will be, but many of them still manage to make a difference in the world."
She glared at him, "Yeah, but I thought the whole point of me coming back was to help the future?"
He shrugged, "You have already started to change the future. Your very presence changes things. You have a choice to either use the changes for good or for bad."
Lucy threw her hands up, "You didn't give me all the facts when you sent me back!"
Carver smiled at her, "I told you everything. It's not my fault if you didn't listen well enough."
Lucy left the classroom in a huff. She'd had grand dreams of being amazing this time around, but that clearly wasn't going to just happen. She was quickly realizing that she'd have to work really hard if she didn't want people to die.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice the monster at the end of the hallway. When the lights started to flicker around her, she glanced up and stopped in shock at the creature.
At the end of the hallway was a swirling mass of black. It seemed to have tendrils of black smoke that went around itself and occasionally reached a thin wandering strand out. The tendrils came off of it in all different directions and thicknesses. As it took a step towards her, the lights near it flickered.
Lucy's breath caught in her throat. She'd never seen anything like it, and she wasn't sure what to do to stop it.
She was reminded of a cross between a boggart and a dementor.
In addition to causing the lights to flicker, it also seemed to make the corridor colder. She noticed the way that the tendrils started to look less distinct and more like smoke. The corridor became darker and more hazy.
Lucy found that it was hard to breath and see as it got closer, as though its smoke was filling her brain.
She shook her head to clear her mind and forced herself into a defensive crouch.
What could she do? She didn't know much magic. She tried sending a transfiguration spell at the monster and watched in amazement as the spell went straight through the being. It was as though it was a ghost.
At that thought, she looked at it closer.
"Are you a ghost?" she asked.
A head shaped blob of smoke appeared towards the top of the monster and shook its head no. As though to demonstrate that it was real, a tendril grabbed the sword off the suit of armor in the corridor. The tendril started spinning the sword in the air.
All of a sudden, it started running towards her. She gasped and ducked her head under her arms.
In a last minute cry, she yelled, "Carver!"
Suddenly a light blasted into the hallway as a form appeared in front of her.
Lucy was amazed to see a very different Carver than the one she had gotten used to during the last four years. She was reminded of when she first met Carver, and she didn't really believe that he was an angel. She had dared him to show his wings. The 30 foot wing span and brilliant white color had startled her.
She now realized that Carver must have hidden most of his real form. Instead of the 30 year old business man in a suit, a warrior stood in front of her.
He was easily 7ft tall, with the snow white wings spread out across his back. He was dressed like the old drawings that Lucy had seen of angels, in a white knee length tunic. Strapped to his hip was a sheath.
He suddenly swung his sword and it seemed to cut through the smoke blob. With a shriek, the monster seemed to dissolve in front of her.
After watching the monster until it had completely disappeared into a pile of sand, he turned to her.
She watched in awe as he sheathed the giant sword. It was much larger than Gryffindor's sword that she had used in second year. It wasn't until the sword of completely sheathed and the corridor returned to normal color that she realized that the sword had been giving off a bright light.
In silence, Carver's wings melted into his back and his clothing changed from a medieval knight to a regular businessman again. He even shrunk down about a foot to a more normal height.
Lucy gaped at him.
"Did you see that Siqsa?" he demanded.
Lucy kept staring at him until he grabbed her arm.
"Lucy, you need to tell me right away. Did you see the Siqsa?"
Lucy shook her head, "What's a Siqsa?"
Carver looked over her shoulder, "A smoke demon."
"Is that what that thing was?" she asked.
Carver suddenly looked very angry and very worried, "So you did see it then. I couldn't believe that you actually saw it until I heard you yell for me."
"What was it?" she asked.
"A demon. You never considered that if there were angels, there would also be demons?" he asked her.
Lucy shook her head, "I didn't even believe there were angels until I met you, and I've been pretty busy since then."
Carver rolled his eyes, "Honestly, you've had four years."
Lucy ignored this and considered something else, "Why could I see it now? Have they always existed?"
Carver looked around and sighed, "We need to go somewhere more private. Hold onto my arm and close your eyes."
Even with her eyes closed, Lucy felt the flash of light. When Carver told her she was safe, she opened her eyes. She seemed to be in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.
"How did we get here? You can't apparate on Hogwarts grounds," she said.
"It's not apparition, it's a form of angel magic," he said.
Lucy shook her head and tried to understand what was going on, "Why have I never heard of different forms of magic before?"
"What about Dobby the House Elf, or House Elves in general. They have their own form of magic. Angels also have their own form of magic. You've never heard about it because we normally hide our presence from witches and wizards, really humans in general," he sat on a fallen log across from her. Assuming that meant this would be a long conversation, Lucy sat on a stump.
"You shouldn't have seen the denom. It should be hidden from you like all other angels and demons have been hidden thus far. I'll have to ask some others of my people, but I am worried that using my magic to bring your soul back and being in communication with you may have opened your eyes to the other realm," he murmured.
Lucy stared at him, "What does that mean?"
He looked her in the eye, "All of the hidden parts of the supernatural realm will be shown to you. The veil over your eyes may be damaged."
Lucy leaned back and groaned, "As if Voldemort wasn't enough, now I have to deal with angels and demons too?"
Carver looked apologetic, "I apologize. You are a special case, and I didn't realize that I may be damaging your immunity by continuing to show myself to you. Since you knew about me, I didn't think it would hurt to stay in communication."
Lucy suddenly thought of something, "Hey, when I was at Diagon Alley, I saw some strange symbols on Gringotts. Are they connected to this? Plus I've been seeing them other places. When I was on the boat going towards Hogwarts, I thought that I saw some runes that I'd never seen before. I had meant to ask you and I kept forgetting."
"You've been seeing the ancient runes and you didn't think to tell me! That means the damage is probably too set to do anything," he cried.
Lucy stared at him, "Is it really that big of a deal? I mean, I guess angels must have their own form of the Statue of Secrecy, but I won't tell on you."
Carver snorted at her, "No we don't have a Statute of Secrecy. This is a much bigger deal. The demons will be able to sense that you can see them, so they will start to come after you."
"What?"
Carver nodded, "We can tell when there is one with Sight around us. Occasionally a human is born with the natural ability to see into our realm. Normally they don't live past their fifth birthday, because they are hunted in droves and their guardian angel quickly becomes overwhelmed."
Lucy felt herself start to panic, so she grabbed onto a leaf near her and started to shred it. Keeping her hands busy helped.
"You mean more creatures like that will come after me?"
"If they were all just smoke demons, we would be fine. Much stronger and more dangerous demons will start coming after you. Supposedly eating someone with the Sight not only tastes delicious, but offers the demons a power burst," Carver looked displeased at the whole thing, as though he was talking about eating a disgusting piece of trash instead of eating a human being.
"So what can I do? My magic went straight through the monster," she asked.
Carver nodded, "Demons, and angels for that matter, are impervious to the magic of wizards. Occasionally, a spell will slow them down such as the patronus, but it won't destroy them. Your best option would be angel magic, but a witch can't use angel magic."
Carver suddenly paused as he thought about something. He shook his head before his eyes suddenly started glowing and he looked over Lucy.
"What have I done?" he asked.
"What?"
He shook his head, "I believe that I may have affected more than I originally planned to. When I put your soul into Lucy's body, I had to touch your soul to direct it into the body. In addition, I had to use magic on you to make the transfer hold. I believe that my magic may have affected your magic core."
Lucy hoped that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to do magic anymore, "What does that mean? I could still do magic, is that going to change?"
He shook his head, "No, your magic should be fine. Again, I will have to talk to come of my colleagues, but I think you may be able to now perform angel magic."
Lucy finally smiled, "That sounds awesome. Finally a bright side to this mess."
Carver shook his head, "You don't understand what you're talking about. Besides, we don't know for sure and we have to way of testing now. You will shortly be missed from the castle. For now, your best bet is to use a physical weapon against the monsters. Plus, there are not enough coming after you yet, that I can't just handle them. It will only be later on when there are many powerful ones that I may get overwhelmed.
Lucy looked at Carver in confusion, "I don't have any weapons I can use unless you plan on me using Gryffindors sword?"
Carver looked thoughtful, "That idea may have some merit, but it wouldn't be logical for now. I have a spare knife on me, you may use that."
His knife was only about a foot shorter than Gryffindors sword had been. When Lucy grabbed the holt, she struggled to even lift the knife, let alone awing it. She looked at him in aggravation.
Looking sheepish, Carver laughed at her once, "I forgot how small you are. Hold still for a second."
The knife in her hands shrunk until it was as long as two of her hands. It was still heavy, but not as much. Lucy experimentally tried waving the knife once.
Carver looked at her arms, "We will have to work on your physical strength if you're going to use weapons more. And please put the knife away before you kill someone."
He handed her a sheath and helped her to strap it to her thigh. "Better not to let anyone see this," he warned. She nodded in agreement. She could only imagine what Susan or Hannah would do if they saw a knife strapped to her thigh. Professor Sprout would certainly end up involved.
Carver grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eye, "I am sorry that I have removed your veil from your eyes. Do not worry about this though. I am capable of keeping you safe. We will begin training during winter break when you can get away from the castle. If you ever feel scared, just call for me."
"What if someone hears me call for you?" she asked.
Carver looked away again, "The demons normally don't come around crowded areas. If there is someone with you or portraits nearby, just stay silent. I will take care of it."
She nodded. Lucy was starting to realize that she'd have to trust Carver.
"Close your eyes and hold onto my arm again," he ordered her.
In another flash, they were back in the hallway at Hogwarts. Lucy started to head towards the Hufflepuff common room. As she walked away, she spotted Carver standing in the middle of the hallway watching her. On a sudden impulse, she ran back and hugged him.
"I'm not mad at you," she declared before turning around and running towards the common room.
As she ran, she suddenly collided with a Ravenclaw prefect, "What are you doing out? It's almost curfew!"
"Sorry I got lost!" Lucy lied swiftly.
"Come along, I'll bring you back to your common room," she said.
That evening, Lucy tried to come to terms with everything that had happened. Not only was she the chosen one of the Wizarding world (though the new Harry Potter could also fulfill the prophecy), but she would now be hunted by demons.
She felt fairly overwhelmed.
That night, Lucy had a strange dream where Voldemort was chasing her through the corridors of Hogwarts.
"Give me the stone!" he'd yell as he chased her. Suddenly, she came to a dead end corridor. When she reached the end, she turned around to face Voldemort, but he turned into the smoke demon.
She tried to send spell after spell after him, but nothing worked. The demon seemed to laugh as the tendrils reached out to grab her.
Lucy woke up with a start. Her heart was racing, and she was breathing heavily.
She looked around the dorm room and spotted her dorm mates sleeping peacefully in their own beds.
Akia slithered towards her, "What is going on little witch?"
"Just a bad dream," Lucy replied. She felt herself absently stroking the knife under her pillow in reassurance.
"Ahh, I have them. Sometimes I am eating a mouse when the mouse suddenly starts to eat me from the inside out," the snake gave her equivalent of a shudder. "Pull your quilt up over you. I will stay awake tonight and watch that nothing comes into the dorms. If they do, I will bite them."
Lucy grabbed the quilt and pulled it up to her chin. She wondered if the soft quilt had a permanent calming charm cast onto it. She felt herself start to relax as Akia settled in on her chest. Akia put her to sleep by hissing softly about the different kinds of mice living in the castle for her to eat.
When Lucy woke up the next morning, she could not remember all of her dream, but she felt more sure than ever that Voldemort was still hidden somewhere in the castle or on the grounds, even if he wasn't with Quirrell.
Author's Note:
Alright, y'all can now see that things are going to be quite different in this story than the typical Harry Goes Back in Time Story. Please leave reviews with what you think is going to happen. I love the good ideas that you come up with, plus I want to see how much I surprise you guys.
Do you think Voldemort is at Hogwarts? Where/ how is he hiding if he is?
What will happen with the angels and demons? What changes will come with that.
Thanks for all the reviews so far, can't wait for more!
