Chapter 1 – Unanswerable Questions and Unimaginable Answers

May 1st 2018

Beatrix didn't think she was an overly special person, at the age of twenty-three she had done very little in her life to truly believe so. She didn't believe that she looked anything special, with black hair that hung in loose, messy curls, dark eyes, and hooked nose that had her step-father calling her 'his little raven' Beatrix wasn't any great beauty or specifically unique. Maybe her beliefs were a bit different from the norm, more of a believer in Wicca than anything else. She practiced in the occult and dabbled in hedgerow magic from time to time, but her main practice came in the form of celebrating old holidays.

She had been enjoying the Beltane festival held in a small town in North Yorkshire. The bonfire roared as men and women alike danced around the flames to welcome in the summer and bless the growing crops. All the fireplaces had been lit with torches that burned with the flame of the bonfire. Drinks had been shared abound, and food was split between everyone without second thought. There were people of all ages at the festival, and not all them lived in the town, some, like Beatrix, came purely for the enjoyment that the night offered.

Beatrix had been coming to this particular village to celebrate various events from in Celtic calendar. Her mother used to bring her when she was younger, the town being the same one that Beatrix's mother was born in and later continued to participate with after having moved away, but this was the first time that Beatrix had come alone, her mother was held back looking after Beatrix's younger sister who had gotten sick after a school trip. Beatrix was having the time of her life though, she could almost taste the magic in the air, hailing in the new season.

Further into the evening, the locals started to jump over the bonfire, enticing the flames to bless them with wealth and prosperity for the coming harvest. The men went first, young and old alike, young lads encouraging their friends to have second or third attempts, once they had begun to settle it was the women, and Beatrix prepared for her turn, she had participated in the jumps since she was first 'considered' a woman, making this her eleventh year at the ritual. The air rippled as Beatrix lined up her run, time stretched and blurred, her heart slowed as she made her leap. All she could hear was the pounding of her pulse as her feet left the ground.

And on May 1st 2018 Beatrix Lyra Potter vanished without a trace.

# # #

May 1st 1994

For the Unspeakables, the shift was as normal as it could be. The unusual was within what could be expected of their work. Ezras Lockewood had been deep in his work within the Portal Chamber, the previous Unspeakables that worked there had been the reason why the magical world had floos and then eventually portkeys. Ezras had been observing the activity of a new portal, unlike some of the others it was not truly visible, but instead appeared more as a shimmer, and could be played off as a trick of the light. It didn't seem to be active, as anything that was thrown at the portal simply bounced back.

But for the first time since the portal appeared, there was activity in the Room of Portals. The barely there portal fizzed and spluttered, and the dying embers of flames started to appear. As he got closer Ezras thought he could hear the faint sounds of a festival coming from the shimmering light, cheers and jeers ringing louder as he approached. Ezras called over his colleagues to observe the spectacle, hopeful that the portal will enable them to learn more about these natural phenomena and how wizarding-kind could develop their own variation of the portal.

What the team hadn't been expecting, and the Unspeakables were quite used to the unexpected happening, was for a young woman to leap out of the portal, and for the portal to disappear behind her without any evidence of it having ever existed. The young woman seemed to be equally shocked by the events, if her wide eyes and sudden flailing were anything to go by.

The young woman, for Ezras noted that she couldn't have been older than twenty, was petite, dressed in a peasant skirt and a flowing top, she seemed to look like a muggle peasant, her clothes looking quite dated compared to the ones he knew his wife to favour. Her long black hair hung down her back in loose curls, highlighting her equally dark eyes and pale skin. With a hooked nose and thin lips Ezras wouldn't call the woman a classic beauty, but there was something almost bird-like in her appearance that was only enhanced by her confusion and rising fear.

Unable to confirm that the woman wasn't actually a threat, as it hadn't been the first time that something fell through a portal that turned out to be hostile, Ezras turned to his newest colleague and sent him to fetch a couple of Aurors, just in case the woman became violent. With the knowledge that help was on the way Ezras made to decision to approach the unknown woman, using slow, methodical, steps he inched closer to the girl as she crawled away, shaking and sputtering.

"Ma'am, I am not here to hurt you. Do you speak English?" Ezras spoke, making sure to keep the woman in sight, but also keeping an eye on his colleagues who all had their wands in hand.

"I... I... I... Yes. I... Where... Where am I?" She stuttered, Ezras noted that her shaking had worsened, but at least he knew that communication was possible. Behind him Ezras could hear the Aurors approaching, and signalled with a hand behind his back for them to keep their distance. While the woman wasn't yet a threat there was no guarantee she would stay that way when surrounded by unknowns.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"I... I'm... Beatrix." The woman, Beatrix, managed to say. Her breathing getting more under control as the moments rolled by.

"Beatrix. I'm Squawker, and you are currently sat on the floor of the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. Does any of that make sense to you?" Watching Beatrix, Ezras could tell this his answer to her previous question had only caused her more confusion, if the pinching of her brows was anything to go by.

"Wh…Where? No… I was at Thornborough Henge. Celebrating Beltane. I was just there. I…I… I was North Yorkshire. And… And… What?" Beatrix looked up at Ezras, her eyes glassy with tears, the Unspeakable felt pity for the young woman. She had gotten even more pale, if that was possible, and had gone from shaking to swaying, indicating that she was close to collapsing if she didn't calm down soon.

"Beatrix. I need you to calm down. We will try to help you, but my colleagues," Ezras motioned for the Aurors to now come in closer, "need to get you to a safe location." Beatrix then seemed to notice that there was more than just two people in the room, shocking her once more.

Ezras saw that Alastor Moody was in the group of Aurors that arrived, his looming figure standing out among the crowd, despite the fact the older Auror was in fact retired from formal Auror duties. Beatrix was helped up by a young woman that Ezras didn't recognise, most likely a new recruit.

"Wotcher hun. I'm Tonks. Just come with me and we'll get you all patched up and sorted out in a jif." Beatrix smiled weakly at Tonks, but accepted her assistance. With a nervous glance back at Ezras, Beatrix was escorted out of the Department of Mysteries, leaving the Unspeakables to try and figure out how she arrived at all.

###

"Okay duckie. We're going to get you a drink and then we'll be asking you some questions. Just be honest, and we'll try and get you home in time for tea." Tonks chirped as she settled Beatrix on a wooden chair.

Beatrix wasn't sure what she thought about Tonks. For one, Tonks didn't sound like a real name, it didn't even sound like a nickname, but the young woman seemed to be about the same age as Beatrix and was kind enough. There had been other people, but no one else deigned to introduce themselves to Beatrix.

Left to her own devices, as Tonks had left to go get Beatrix something to drink, the ravenette took the opportunity to take a good look at the room she had been left in. It was clearly some kind of interview or interrogation room, with a single overhead light, one door, and the only furniture being a table and three chairs. The table had clearly been chosen to be intimidating, a dark wood perfectly polished to reflect the light above, but not hiding that the table had been witness to some unknown horrors.

But as Beatrix wondered, if it was an interrogation room, where was the window that allowed others to observe her, the answer turned out to be much more complicated than she could have expected. The room that the young woman was in was in fact a lot larger than she knew, with a fake wall diving the room in two and allowing for spectators to stand on one side of the wall unseen by those they wished to observe.

Nymphadora Tonks stood on the other side of the wall, along with her mentor Alastor Moody. As far as Tonks could tell the strange young woman was just an innocent victim of natural magic. But she knew that she would defer to the expertise of the tall man next to her in regards to the situation. As it was Tonks was about to walk back into the other side of the room with a cup of tea laced with veritaserum. This wouldn't be the normal procedure, but Alastor had decided that this was best practice in this case, there would be no telling how much the woman actually knew about her situation.

"Hiya Duckie. Got you a nice cuppa. 'elp calm your nerves. Just got some simple questions for ya and then you can be on your way." Tonks gave her best reassuring smile, she knew that she would never have the imposing nature that Alastor had without changing her form, and she had been recommended that a softer approach was normally the best way to go when concerning unknown women. For whatever half-assed reason the other Aurors came up with.

Tonks watched as Beatrix took a sip of her tea, and she seemed to relax, her shoulders dropping from their tensed position. Once she was happy that the veritaserum was in the other woman's' system Tonks began her questioning.

"Okay hun. So, your full name?"

"Beatrix Lyra Potter." Not even past the second question and Tonks came across an unexpected answer, and decided to already shift her line of questioning.

"And any living relations?"

"My mum, Angela Smith, my step-dad George Smith, and my little sister Lila Smith. Mum used to be Angela Potter before she got married, Dad let me choose which name I wanted."

"Any grandparents?"

"Oswalt Potter, and Delilah Potter, on Mum's side. Dad's parents are dead."

"And what were you doing before you appeared in the Ministry?"

"I was celebrating Beltane, I go every year. I had been dancing and singing before it was my turn to jump the fire. I've been jumping the fire since I was twelve, since that was when I had my first period and considered a woman in terms of the festivities." Beatrix's hands flew to her mouth as that last bit of information left her mouth, her face flushing with embarrassment.

"Don't worry, our mouths run away from the best of us. Now I'm going to say a series of words, and you need to tell me if you recognise any of them. Okay?" Beatrix nodded, removing her hands from her mouth but her face still flushed. "Alright. Dumbledore. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. Slytherin. Gryffindor. Hogwarts. Hogsmeade. Diagon Alley. Muggle. No-Maj." Tonks paused, normally there would have been some hint of recognition by this point, but Beatrix seemed to just be getting more and more confused. Not getting a sign to stop Tonks continued. "Voldemort. Grindelwald." Still no response from Beatrix. "Wands. Magic."

"Like fairies? Faith, trust and pixie dust? Disney magic? Is this a trick? What do these words have to do with anything? When can I go home?" Beatrix went from confused, to annoyed, to distressed. Confirming to Tonks, and Alastor, that Beatrix was most likely a muggle caught in the middle of a natural phenomenon. With a nod Tonks thanked Beatrix and told her that they'd try to get her home as soon as possible.

Back on the hidden side of the room Alastor gave Beatrix a final look over before addressing his young protégé. He confirmed that there didn't seem to be any enchantments on her, and he couldn't see any magical objects that would have caused her appearance in the Chamber, so agreed to have her obliviated and then sent home. All they had to do was check that she didn't have latent magic and confirm the year she came from. It wouldn't have been the first time that the Ministry had visitors from the past show up.

Wandering back Tonks re-entered the room with Beatrix, hopefully for the final time of the night. Tonks placed her wand on the table between the two of them, Beatrix looked at it with a mixture of interest and confusion, but made no effort to reach for it.

"Sorry about that. So, I've just got some final bits I've got to do and then we can hopefully send you home. Can you just confirm the time and date that you left the Beltane festival?"

"Sure. It was probably about eleven at night, May first twenty-eighteen."

"Twenty-eighteen. As in two-oh-one-eight?" Beatrix didn't miss the sudden and fleeting look of panic on Tonk's face.

"Yes. Two-thousand and eighteen."

"Okay. And finally, can you just give this wand a wave." And Beatrix didn't have say a word for Tonks to be able to read the answer to that request, the eyebrow raise was both startingly familiar and decisively clear. With some non-verbal urging Beatrix picked up the want, looking at it curiously before eyeing the young Auror again, but following instructions and giving the wand a lacklustre wave.

There was a moment of silence as, contrary to what was expected, something happened. Rather, a large and disorientating flash of light erupted from the wand. Blinding the two women in the room.

When she regained her sight, Beatrix looked at the polished wood in her hand, and then promptly threw it away from her, leaping from her chair to further the distance between herself and the wand. Tonks was still blinking rapidly and looking around blindly when the door opened and Alastor walked in. Frustrated that the situation had just become more complicated than necessary.

"Miss Potter. It seems that you an' I are gonna need t' have a conversation." Alastor's Scottish accent cut across the room, drawing Beatrix's attention. Her fear only increasing when she noticed his glass eye moving around its' socket on its own.

Alastor swore as he saw Beatrix hit the ground in a dead faint.

###

Beatrix awoke on a bed. A large change from the stone ground she vaguely remembered landing on. If that had even been real. Beatrix wasn't sure if what she remembered was real, it certainly felt real, but all the same it seemed highly impossible. Questions about magic, and wands, and then that flash of light. Beatrix felt a chill roll down her spine, it was all too surreal. It had to be an elaborate prank, someone one would jump out at any minute and explain how they did it.

With each minute that no one appeared Beatrix became more and more anxious.

After what felt like hours, but was most likely no more than half, Tonks and a tall man that Beatrix recognised as the one who walked in before she fainted came to stand by her bed. From the looks on their faces they had been in a heated conversation before they made their way to her bedside, and the bedridden woman wasn't sure she wanted to know what the conversation had been about. The man looked a Beatrix and she nearly fainted again when she noticed that she hadn't imagined that his glass eye moved of its own volition.

"Miss Potter. Alastor Moody. We've got some things to discuss." Beatrix could hear the Scottish accent making an appearance. The more she looked the more Beatrix noticed about the intimidating man in front of her. His nose was oddly prominent, but only for the fact that it seemed misshapen, as if bits of it were missing. "Potter, do you know what you did in the other room?"

"I waved that stick and then there was a flash of light. I don't know why that happened. What's going on Mister Moody?"

The conversation that took place made Beatrix wish that she was dreaming, or that she was in some kind of coma, anything that made the situations she was in seem slightly less terrifying. According to Alastor, as he insisted being called instead of all the 'mister' stuff that Beatrix had been clinging to, Beatrix had the ability to use magic, her lack of knowledge about the matter suggested she was what he called a 'muggleborn', and that they had no way of sending her back to the future. There were further concerns raised over the fact that Beatrix had made it to adulthood without knowing she was a witch, and speculations as to what had happened in the intervening years that caused her identity to be hidden.

Towards the ends of the discussion Alastor made it clear that there was no set path as to what would happen next, all he knew for certain was that Beatrix was to be presented to the Wizengamot where her fate will be decided. There wasn't much Beatrix could do to prepare for the meeting and less she could do while she waited for it. Thankfully, Alastor said that he had put her down as an emergency and the meeting would take place in less than a week, and in the meantime, Beatrix just had to wait.