disclaimer: I own Hannah and the plot. Everything else belongs to J.K.R.
a/n I'm going to post a lot of chapters today, tomorrow, and Tuesday id I can, because I'm giving up everything related to Harry Potter for Lent. (Which starts Wed. and goes 'till Easter.) I might post on Sundays if I get enough reviews and if I don't read what I post, but you'll have to beg. Sorry for the inconvienience, and thanks to all those who reviewed or sent me e-mail.
I waved my wand at my trunk, and then stood up. We went outside the train, and sure enough, there was a (horseless?) carriage waiting. We got in, and it took us straight to the whomping willow. I grabbed a stick, and prodded the knot on the trunk. The tree froze, and I slipped in a small hole. "Bye Professor," I said. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye Hannah." Lupin said.
I walked through the tunnel, and after a while, emerged into the shrieking shack. It was very dirty, but with a little work, I could make it as good as new. I decided that I would work on it until the moon started showing. The first thing I did was to repair the couch. It had big chunks of it torn out, and was missing a leg. After I repaired it, I used a cleaning charm to clean it. When I was done, the couch looked brand new. I did the same thing to all the other furniture in the house. It was called a shack, but it was really big on the inside.
After I fixed all the furniture, (which took about ten minutes) I bewitched a broom to sweep the floor, and a mop to follow it around and mop. When I was done, all the floors were sparkling. I found a trash can, and put all the trash I saw in it. I also found a rag, which I bewitched to dust everything. I went around, and fixed all the doors that were off their hinges, and all the blankets with big holes in them. After about an hour of cleaning, I transformed into a wolf, and curled up in the bed to sleep.
The next morning, I finished up cleaning the house before Lupin came to get me. When he came in, he was astonished at how clean it was.
"Wow!" he said. "You were busy with some cleaning spells! What are you planing on doing with this place?"
"I want to be able to come here and predict things, or to brew potions here. I also would like a place where I can get away from people for awhile. You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"As long as you let me join you sometimes!" he said laughingly. " I'm just kidding. This place is all yours. I personally never liked it that much."
"You can come anytime you want, as long as you warn me first." I said. "Should we leave now?"
"Yes." Lupin said. "Dumbledore wants to see you."
We walked along the tunnel in silence for awhile, then I asked "When do classes start Professor?"
"This afternoon." he said. "Dumbledore will give you your schedule."
"I need to talk to McGonagall some time." I said. "Do you know where she will be when I'm done with Dumbledore?"
"She'll probably be in her class room, which is on the second floor, near the top of the stairs. It has a sign on it that says Transfiguration. Why do you want to see her?"
"She, er, knew my mother." I said.
"I'm sure." Professor Lupin said. She's seven years older than her. When your mum was a first year, she was a seventh year. I never once saw them say two words to each other."
"Be patient Professor!" I teased him. "You'll find out before the year is over. It's one of those things I'm not supposed to tell you yet. And she skipped a few years. She was only five years older than my mother."
"Ok miss divination, we're here. You tell me the password!"
"Tootsie roll." I said smugly. "I win."
"Fine." said Professor Lupin, smiling. "But see who wins in my class! Bye."
"Bye." I said. "Thanks."
I stepped in to a curving staircase, and before I knew it, I was at the door. I knocked, and Dumbledore answered, "Come in."
I opened the door, and stepped into his office. He motioned for me to sit down. He handed me the Sorting hat.
"Hello Miss O'Riley. You missed the sorting last night." he said. All you have to do is put the hat on, and it will tell us which house you will be in.
I put the hat on, and right away, it said "Gryffindor!"
"Well done!" he said. He handed me a piece of parchment, and said "That is your schedule. You have Transfiguration at one today, and then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Speaking of Defense Against the Dark Arts, how do you like Professor Lupin?"
"He's really nice." I said. "He is also very understanding."
"Yes." Dumbledore said. "I had to beg him to teach here. I desperately needed a teacher, so I convinced him to come. He is doing it as a favor for me."
"From what I've seen, he loves it here." I said. "He probably only needed to be encouraged that it was ok for him to be here."
"How much do you know about him?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"A fair amount." I said. "He told me quite a bit on the train."
"Good." Dumbledore said. "I had a feeling he would. I'm very sorry we were not able to get you to Hogwarts earlier."
"It's ok." I said.
"You are on the list, but until the end of last year you only had a first name written down. I have a magical quill that writes down the name of every child in the Hogwarts area. Here is the list for your age group." Dumbledore said, handing me a large piece of parchment.
I found my name near the top of the list. It had Hannah written down, and underlined five times. Then it had O'Riley circled.
"Wow." I said. "My name is underlined."
"Yes." Dumbledore said. "That means that the quill really wanted you at Hogwarts. I must admit, I was discouraged from trying to get you a few times. When your last name appeared, I tried to look you up on the Ministry's records. You are not listed there."
"I know." I said.
"I sent an owl to retrieve your file, and when it came back with a notice in it that you were a werewolf, I was a little bit nervous. A couple years back we had a werewolf loose on the grounds, and I was not eager to repeat the incident." Dumbledore continued.
"However, when I was sure that the Wolfsbane Potion was not flawed, and when I appointed Professor Lupin, I decided that I might as well look at your academic records. I almost went to get my eyes examined when I saw that you had a perfect score in every subject. I was a little bit hesitant again, you see, the last person I ever saw with perfect grades was Voldemort himself."
"I assure you, I will never go to the dark side." I said.
"Good, but I am not suggesting that you will." Dumbledore said.
"Good." I said.
"To get the perfect grades you have received it requires a lot of power, especially in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. I think you will be an excellent addition to the school." Dumbledore said.
We talked for a few more minutes about classes and how he thought that I might find them harder here than at my old school. I think he was trying to get himself to believe that I was not all that powerful. I decided that after I got to know him better I would tell him who I really was.
Dear me!" Dumbledore exclaimed after a few minutes.. "Lunch starts in an hour. I suggest that you go to your common room and unpack. The password is "penguin." It is behind the picture of the fat lady. Go down this hall, and up one flight of stairs. It should be right there. Good day, Miss O'Riley." he said, nodding his head to me.
"Good day, Professor Dumbledore." I said, imitating him. As I left, I heard him chuckle.
I went down the hall, and up one flight of stairs, and sure enough, there was a picture if a fat lady in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she asked me.
"Penguin." I said, and the portrait swung open. I was facing a big room, decorated all in red and gold. As I climbed through the hole, a girl I recognized as Hermione Granger came over to me.
"Are you the transfer student that missed the train?" she asked.
"That'd be me!" I said. "Someone forgot to tell me that there was a time difference, and I arrived an hour late. My name is Hannah O'Riley."
"I'm Hermione Granger." she said. "I'll introduce you to the other fifth years. "This is Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley." she said. "This is Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan. Over there are Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil. Everyone, this is Hannah O'Riley, the transfer student."
"Hi." I said. "Nice to meet you all."
"I'll show you to our room," Hermione continued. "All the fifth year boys share this one, and the girls share this one." she said. "Your trunk is there, by your bed. I'm in this one next to you. You can unpack, then meet me in the common room for lunch."
"Ok." I said to her retreating back. There was a wardrobe next to my bed. I changed, then hung my robes, and my muggle clothes in it. I left all my other stuff in my trunk, them went down to meet Hermione.
"That was quick!" she said when she saw me.
"I can't wait for some Mac and Cheese." I told her.
"That's a muggle thing." she said, shocked. "Hogwarts has never served that before."
"Oh well." I said. "Let's go see."
When we sat down, bowls of macaroni and cheese popped up in front of us, along with soup and turkey sandwiches.
Hermione turned to me, her mouth hanging open, and said "How did you know what we were having?"
"Not all divinators are frauds." I told her. "Our little secret, ok? I want to let people figure out for themselves."
"Sure." she said. "I almost wish I were still taking divination, so I could see the look on professor Trewlany's face when she notices!"
"I'll take a picture." I told her. "and give you a copy."
"Are you muggle born?" she asked.
"No." I said. "But I was raised near muggles, so we had to pretend to be muggles a lot. No obvious magic."
"Oh." she said.
By this time I was done with lunch, so I said "I need to talk to Professor McGonagall before class. See ya later!"
"Bye." Hermione said.
I went back to my room and got the books I would need for Transfiguration and D.A.D.A., and then went in search of Professor McGonagall. Sure enough, she was in her classroom.
I knocked on the door.
"Come in." she called, looking up. "Who are you?" she asked, as I came in.
"Hannah O'Riley." I said. You might know me better as Hannah Prewett." As I suspected, she turned white.
"Prewett?" she asked.
"Yes." I said. I believe you knew my mother." It was a statement, not a question.
"She didn't have a child." McGonagall said.
"She wanted to owl you." I said. But you were overseas, and it was too risky for everyone. You know my mother, she predicted when Voldemort would kill her. Right before he came into the house, she apparated me to an orphanage. She told Lily and James, but no one else. She predicted Voldemort going after them too."
"Why didn't they do anything?" McGonagall asked me.
"My mother had a plan, but something went wrong." I said gently. "I don't know what, but I'll find out on Halloween."
"Oh yes." she said. "You would be a Seer."
"Yes, I would."
"How do you know all this?" she asked.
I pulled my letter out of my bag, and handed it to her. She started reading out loud:
"Dear Hannah,
This is your mother, Elizabeth Potter, writing in red ink,
And your father, Billy Prewett, writing in blue.
We need to tell you everything we know, because we are going to die when you are a baby, and you will need to undertake a mission. I am a Seer, a very powerful one,
And I am an Auror, the head of the Voldemort case, working alongside Frank Longbottom. I am Albus Dumbledore's son. My mother died when I was born, and he changed my last name to Prewett so that Voldemort would not want to come after me.
My maiden name is not really Potter. The Potters are directly related to Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts. My family's last name was changed to Potter over the years. I went by Elizabeth Kettle. We are the only family left that is related to Godric Gryffindor. Hannah, you will be the most powerful witch in the world. You, Minerva McGonagall (my sister) Harry, and Lily Potter, and Albus Dumbledore are the only ones who stand a chance against Voldemort. You will need to combine your magic."
"As I make more predictions, and we learn more about what you need to do, we will write more in your letter. From now on, I am going to call it your book. If you need to explain something, this book will help you. If you don't understand something, this book will help you. You should let my sister read the first page of this book. You also can let Harry read some of it, if you want to. It is written in ink that is charmed, so that only someone with Potter blood can read it, and your father. Have faith in your prediction Hannah, they will help."
"Stop there." I said to McGonagall. "I just wanted you to believe me, and to get a chance to get to know me without first knowing me as a student."
"I believe you." she said.
I walked up to her, took my book and put it in my bag, gave her a quick hug, and sat down in a seat at the front of the room.
"I have transfiguration next." I said. "It starts in three minutes."
"Ok." she said. "Are you good at transfiguration?"
"I'm ok." I said. "I don't know how Hogwarts compares with the orphanage school, though. What will we be working on today?"
"Tuning desks into pigs." McGonagall said. "Can you do that?"
"I've never tried." I said. "Do you want me to now?"
"Go ahead." she answered.
I stood up, pointed my wand at my desk, and focused on a pig. A second later, there was a pig in the floor, right where my desk was.
"Excellent!" McGonagall said. "Can you turn it back?"
I pointed my wand at the pig, and it turned back into a desk immediately.
"Yep." I said. "I can turn it back."
McGonagall laughed, and sat down at her desk, just as the students were coming in. Then the lesson started, and I turned my desk into a pig and back a few times. The only other people that managed it right away were Harry and Hermione. Ron and Dean Thomas got it right towards the end of class.
As we were walking out, I whispered "Goodbye Aunt Minnie."
She looked at me, oddly at first, and then said "Good bye Hannah."
"Why was Professor McGonagall looking at you so weirdly?"
Hermione asked.
"What do you mean, weirdly?" I asked.
"Oh, I don't know, she just seemed a little off today. Maybe I'm imagining it." she said.
"Maybe." I answered. "I hope you're leading, because I'm clueless as to where we are." I said, changing the subject.
"Yes." Hermione said. "Actually, this is it, right here."
"Cool." I said. "Do we just go in?"
"Yes." she said.
We went in, and sat down, Harry on my left, then Ron and Hermione on my right. As I pulled out my D.A.D.A. book, my letter from my parents fell out, and landed right next to Harry. I knew he would be able to read it, if it fell open, so I grabbed it quickly. I tried to act casual, but just as I was sitting up, I realized that I had leaned over too far for my chair to hold me any more. I crashed onto the ground, and my letter skidded over to Harry's feet. While I was untangling myself from my bag, and trying not to laugh, Harry picked up my letter, and held out his hand to help me up. I gladly took it, and my letter. When I was safely in my seat again, I burst out laughing. Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined in.
I looked up, to find Professor Lupin smiling down at me. "Sorry." I gasped. "I fell."
"Right." he said. Ok, class. Let's take a test. I want to see what you learned last year.
He passed out the test, and I was surprised to see that I knew almost every answer. The only one I didn't know was 'Can you throw the Imperius curse?' I had never had it put on me, so I put 'I don't know, never tried.'
After everyone was done, Professor Lupin did the grading spell I had taught him, copied our grades into his grade book, looked at the personal part, and then handed them back. When I got mine, I was surprised to see that I had gotten all the questions about what we knew right. Next to the Imperius curse question, he wrote 'Oh, darn. Now I get, I mean have to put it on you :)'
"Great." I said, as we walked out of class.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I was just groaning about having the Imperius Curse on me." I answered.
"It's not too bad." Harry said. "As long as you don't try to do what he says, and try not to at the same time. That's painful!"
"That eases my mind a lot." I said sarcastically. "Thank you for the comforting thought of fractured kneecaps. That will make it much better."
"I never said I fractured my kneecaps." Harry said slowly. "But it did feel like I did."
He looked at me oddly. People seemed to be doing that a lot today.
"I, uh, well, that was the most painful thing I could think of happening with the Imperius curse." I said.
"Riiiiiiight." Harry said.
After dinner that night, all the fifth years were in a corner of the common room. *a/n Don't ask me why, but they were* They all had their schedules out.
"Oh, goody!" I said. "Divination tomorrow morning! Wait! On second thought, oh darn! Professor Trewlany's not a real Seer."
"Oh." said Lavender Brown, indignantly. "And I suppose you are?"
"Actually, yes." I said.
"Prove it. Parvati challenged me. "Tell me my parent's names, and what job they have!"
"Ok." I said. "Why don't you all stand in a circle, and I'll tell all of you. I don't know why you want me to tell you that, anyone could know. I would have asked for a prediction, but ok. All fifth years, stand in a circle, and prepare to be amazed." When everyone was in a circle, with me in the middle, I started.
"Parvati Patil, twin to Padma Patil, in Ravenclaw. Pure blood. Daughter of Paul Patil, a worker for the Ministry of Magic, in the underage wizardry office, and Polly Phillips, mother and wife."
"Lavender Brown. Pure blood. Daughter of Robert Brown, spell inventor, and Suzan Little, magical gardener."
"Seamus Finnigan. Half blood. Son of John Finnigan, muggle doctor, and Donna O'Kleery, magical doctor."
"Dean Thomas. Pure blood. Son of Kevin Thomas, a worker for the Ministry of Magic, accidental magic reversal department, and Stephanie White, mother and wife."
"Neville Longbottom."
"Hermione Granger. Muggle born. Daughter of Chris Granger, dentist, and Ellen Bright, dentist."
"Ron Weasley. Pure blood. Son of Arthur Weasley, a worker for the Ministry of Magic, Miss-use of muggle artifacts department, and Molly Hemphman, mother and wife."
"Harry Potter." I finished.
"Why didn't you say anything about Harry or Neville?" Lavender asked. "Don't you know?"
"Of course I know." I said. "In fact, I knew without Seeing, and I would have known even if I hadn't been a Seer. You should know too."
"Why don't you tell us, and then we will know." Parvati said.
I walked over to Neville, and said "Neville, how much do you want me to tell them? I won't say anything, if you don't want me to."
"You can tell them everything." Neville squeaked. "I would have sooner, but I can't talk about it."
"Why don't you all sit down.'' I said. "I have a long story for you." When everyone was comfortably seated, I started.
"Back when Voldemort was powerful, there was a team of Aurors who led the battle of defeating him. They were the most powerful and brave light side wizards in the world. They took one big team, and divided it into to smaller teams, the A team, and the B team, and reserves for both teams. The two most trusted and skilled Aurors led their team. On team A, those two wizards were Frank Longbottom, and Billy. They were in charge of the entire operation, and responsible for every wizard in it. If a wizard was scared of dieing, they left the team. A scared wizard was a liability to the entire project, and if you were scared to die, you didn't become an Auror. The Aurors were the first people Voldemort put on his hit list. The Aurors opposed Voldemort with all their being, and anyone who opposed Voldemort like that was going to be murdered, or tortured. The lucky ones were murdered, and the unlucky were tortured."
"The operation tried many different things, and finally discovered that Voldemort had done experiments on immortality. Voldemort thought he was too good to have all that power, and them die. A long life wasn't good enough, he wanted to live forever."
"The operation discovered that by this time, there wasn't enough human in him to just die. He would have to be hit with the killing curse an estimated twenty times, before he was broken down to enough human to be killed."
"Well, even the best light wizard can't do the killing curse twice in a row, or quickly enough to hit Voldemort once and live. Once one curse is shot at him, Voldemort kills anyone in sight. Voldemort can do up to 100 unforgivable curses in a day, and often did. Anyone weak enough to be put under the Imperius curse was, if they could be even the tiniest help to Voldemort."
"The Aurors sent team B out, one at a time, whoever was willing. It was mostly the people with no family that went, or those who's family were killed by Voldemort. No wizard from team B ever returned, and Voldemort only got hit 10 times. It wasn't enough. They had to start sending out team A's reserves. Team A was saved for the final battle."
"When all the team A reserves (which were like a team C) had been gone through, Voldemort was still only hit a total of 15 times. There was a team D, the team B reserves, but they were only good for research. Frank Longbottom and Billy had no choice but to start sending out team A, even though they were needed for the final battle. Frank and Billy knew a Seer, that never made a wrong prediction. The Seer told Frank and Billy to send five people. Frank sent those five people, and four of them hit. The fifth person missed, but there was a traitor with access to the magical log. That traitor was in the research team, team D. I will not name him, because only three people would believe me, and the rest of you would cause utter chaos. The traitor logged in that the fifth Auror had hit, even though he didn't."
"Frank and Billy, thinking that Voldemort had been hit the full twenty times needed, prepared the rest of the Aurors for the final battle. They were ready to go out, when the Seer made a prediction. She predicted that final battle would be delayed for seventeen years. She said that after Halloween, they would know for sure whether or not the final battle would be needed. Frank and Billy trusted the Seer, so they decided that they might as well save the twenty or so lives that they commanded until Halloween, to see if the final battle would be needed. Billy and his wife were killed by Voldemort, a week before Halloween."
"The final battle was not needed, because on Halloween, Voldemort met his downfall, however, because that traitor had modified the log, it was really like the twentieth time of being hit with the killing curse. Voldemort was alive, but barely. He fled, and waited fourteen years before he even had a body again. You have heard roomers about what happened at the Triwizard tournament."
"The Aurors who had been on team A were still not safe. Voldemort had many supporters, and the Aurors now had to capture them. It was no easy task, and there are still plenty out there."
"After about a month, people started to feel safe again. That is when tragedy struck. Billy had already been killed by Voldemort, but Frank was still a very powerful wizard, still helping the light side. Word got out that he was trying to locate Voldemort, to be done with him once and for all."
"This roomer was true. Many death eaters were trying to bring Voldemort back to power, and they were still killing people. Frank was very smart, and knew that if he found Voldemort, the death eaters would be captured much quicker. Frank finally had an idea of where Voldemort might be. All Aurors spend years to make themselves immune to truth potions, and the death eaters knew this."
"One day, four death eaters went to the home of Frank and Miranda Longbottom. Luckily, their son happened to be at his grandmother's house. The death eaters tortured Frank with the Cruciatus Curse, trying to get him to tell them where Voldemort was. After one minute with the curse on him, they lifted it, and said they would do it again if he didn't tell them. Most wizards would have given in at that point. Frank Longbottom didn't. He had already had his wand snapped, or he would have gotten them. Unfortunately, they had broken in and caught him by surprise. They cowardly cursed him from behind, and tied up his wife as well."
"They tortured Frank for two more minutes, and he still wouldn't tell. They tortured him for three minutes, and he wouldn't give in. They worked their way up to ten minutes, and he didn't give in. I have had that curse on me, only for a minute. It hurts more than almost any of you can imagine. The Death Eaters put the curse on Frank Longbottom for twenty minutes, long enough to drive you insane. In fact, it did drive him insane. The death eaters did the exact same thing to his wife, Miranda. They are now both at St. Mungo's hospital, and they don't recognize their son Neville when he visits."
"Goodnight all."
Every one stood up, and most people went to bed silently. finally it was only Neville and I left in the common room.
"Thank you for telling them that." Neville said to me. "I didn't know all of what you said, about the teams and everything. Who was Billy?"
"Oh, um, he was my dad."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Neville said. "No wonder you know so much."
"Yes." I said. "We're all in the same boat here. If you ever need help with anything at all, don't hesitate to ask me." I patted his shoulder, being careful not to touch his skin.
"I'm going to bed now." Neville said. "See you in the morning."
"Goodnight." I said. "I'm going to bed too."
a/n I'm going to post a lot of chapters today, tomorrow, and Tuesday id I can, because I'm giving up everything related to Harry Potter for Lent. (Which starts Wed. and goes 'till Easter.) I might post on Sundays if I get enough reviews and if I don't read what I post, but you'll have to beg. Sorry for the inconvienience, and thanks to all those who reviewed or sent me e-mail.
I waved my wand at my trunk, and then stood up. We went outside the train, and sure enough, there was a (horseless?) carriage waiting. We got in, and it took us straight to the whomping willow. I grabbed a stick, and prodded the knot on the trunk. The tree froze, and I slipped in a small hole. "Bye Professor," I said. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye Hannah." Lupin said.
I walked through the tunnel, and after a while, emerged into the shrieking shack. It was very dirty, but with a little work, I could make it as good as new. I decided that I would work on it until the moon started showing. The first thing I did was to repair the couch. It had big chunks of it torn out, and was missing a leg. After I repaired it, I used a cleaning charm to clean it. When I was done, the couch looked brand new. I did the same thing to all the other furniture in the house. It was called a shack, but it was really big on the inside.
After I fixed all the furniture, (which took about ten minutes) I bewitched a broom to sweep the floor, and a mop to follow it around and mop. When I was done, all the floors were sparkling. I found a trash can, and put all the trash I saw in it. I also found a rag, which I bewitched to dust everything. I went around, and fixed all the doors that were off their hinges, and all the blankets with big holes in them. After about an hour of cleaning, I transformed into a wolf, and curled up in the bed to sleep.
The next morning, I finished up cleaning the house before Lupin came to get me. When he came in, he was astonished at how clean it was.
"Wow!" he said. "You were busy with some cleaning spells! What are you planing on doing with this place?"
"I want to be able to come here and predict things, or to brew potions here. I also would like a place where I can get away from people for awhile. You won't tell anyone, will you?"
"As long as you let me join you sometimes!" he said laughingly. " I'm just kidding. This place is all yours. I personally never liked it that much."
"You can come anytime you want, as long as you warn me first." I said. "Should we leave now?"
"Yes." Lupin said. "Dumbledore wants to see you."
We walked along the tunnel in silence for awhile, then I asked "When do classes start Professor?"
"This afternoon." he said. "Dumbledore will give you your schedule."
"I need to talk to McGonagall some time." I said. "Do you know where she will be when I'm done with Dumbledore?"
"She'll probably be in her class room, which is on the second floor, near the top of the stairs. It has a sign on it that says Transfiguration. Why do you want to see her?"
"She, er, knew my mother." I said.
"I'm sure." Professor Lupin said. She's seven years older than her. When your mum was a first year, she was a seventh year. I never once saw them say two words to each other."
"Be patient Professor!" I teased him. "You'll find out before the year is over. It's one of those things I'm not supposed to tell you yet. And she skipped a few years. She was only five years older than my mother."
"Ok miss divination, we're here. You tell me the password!"
"Tootsie roll." I said smugly. "I win."
"Fine." said Professor Lupin, smiling. "But see who wins in my class! Bye."
"Bye." I said. "Thanks."
I stepped in to a curving staircase, and before I knew it, I was at the door. I knocked, and Dumbledore answered, "Come in."
I opened the door, and stepped into his office. He motioned for me to sit down. He handed me the Sorting hat.
"Hello Miss O'Riley. You missed the sorting last night." he said. All you have to do is put the hat on, and it will tell us which house you will be in.
I put the hat on, and right away, it said "Gryffindor!"
"Well done!" he said. He handed me a piece of parchment, and said "That is your schedule. You have Transfiguration at one today, and then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Speaking of Defense Against the Dark Arts, how do you like Professor Lupin?"
"He's really nice." I said. "He is also very understanding."
"Yes." Dumbledore said. "I had to beg him to teach here. I desperately needed a teacher, so I convinced him to come. He is doing it as a favor for me."
"From what I've seen, he loves it here." I said. "He probably only needed to be encouraged that it was ok for him to be here."
"How much do you know about him?" Professor Dumbledore asked.
"A fair amount." I said. "He told me quite a bit on the train."
"Good." Dumbledore said. "I had a feeling he would. I'm very sorry we were not able to get you to Hogwarts earlier."
"It's ok." I said.
"You are on the list, but until the end of last year you only had a first name written down. I have a magical quill that writes down the name of every child in the Hogwarts area. Here is the list for your age group." Dumbledore said, handing me a large piece of parchment.
I found my name near the top of the list. It had Hannah written down, and underlined five times. Then it had O'Riley circled.
"Wow." I said. "My name is underlined."
"Yes." Dumbledore said. "That means that the quill really wanted you at Hogwarts. I must admit, I was discouraged from trying to get you a few times. When your last name appeared, I tried to look you up on the Ministry's records. You are not listed there."
"I know." I said.
"I sent an owl to retrieve your file, and when it came back with a notice in it that you were a werewolf, I was a little bit nervous. A couple years back we had a werewolf loose on the grounds, and I was not eager to repeat the incident." Dumbledore continued.
"However, when I was sure that the Wolfsbane Potion was not flawed, and when I appointed Professor Lupin, I decided that I might as well look at your academic records. I almost went to get my eyes examined when I saw that you had a perfect score in every subject. I was a little bit hesitant again, you see, the last person I ever saw with perfect grades was Voldemort himself."
"I assure you, I will never go to the dark side." I said.
"Good, but I am not suggesting that you will." Dumbledore said.
"Good." I said.
"To get the perfect grades you have received it requires a lot of power, especially in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. I think you will be an excellent addition to the school." Dumbledore said.
We talked for a few more minutes about classes and how he thought that I might find them harder here than at my old school. I think he was trying to get himself to believe that I was not all that powerful. I decided that after I got to know him better I would tell him who I really was.
Dear me!" Dumbledore exclaimed after a few minutes.. "Lunch starts in an hour. I suggest that you go to your common room and unpack. The password is "penguin." It is behind the picture of the fat lady. Go down this hall, and up one flight of stairs. It should be right there. Good day, Miss O'Riley." he said, nodding his head to me.
"Good day, Professor Dumbledore." I said, imitating him. As I left, I heard him chuckle.
I went down the hall, and up one flight of stairs, and sure enough, there was a picture if a fat lady in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she asked me.
"Penguin." I said, and the portrait swung open. I was facing a big room, decorated all in red and gold. As I climbed through the hole, a girl I recognized as Hermione Granger came over to me.
"Are you the transfer student that missed the train?" she asked.
"That'd be me!" I said. "Someone forgot to tell me that there was a time difference, and I arrived an hour late. My name is Hannah O'Riley."
"I'm Hermione Granger." she said. "I'll introduce you to the other fifth years. "This is Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley." she said. "This is Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnigan. Over there are Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil. Everyone, this is Hannah O'Riley, the transfer student."
"Hi." I said. "Nice to meet you all."
"I'll show you to our room," Hermione continued. "All the fifth year boys share this one, and the girls share this one." she said. "Your trunk is there, by your bed. I'm in this one next to you. You can unpack, then meet me in the common room for lunch."
"Ok." I said to her retreating back. There was a wardrobe next to my bed. I changed, then hung my robes, and my muggle clothes in it. I left all my other stuff in my trunk, them went down to meet Hermione.
"That was quick!" she said when she saw me.
"I can't wait for some Mac and Cheese." I told her.
"That's a muggle thing." she said, shocked. "Hogwarts has never served that before."
"Oh well." I said. "Let's go see."
When we sat down, bowls of macaroni and cheese popped up in front of us, along with soup and turkey sandwiches.
Hermione turned to me, her mouth hanging open, and said "How did you know what we were having?"
"Not all divinators are frauds." I told her. "Our little secret, ok? I want to let people figure out for themselves."
"Sure." she said. "I almost wish I were still taking divination, so I could see the look on professor Trewlany's face when she notices!"
"I'll take a picture." I told her. "and give you a copy."
"Are you muggle born?" she asked.
"No." I said. "But I was raised near muggles, so we had to pretend to be muggles a lot. No obvious magic."
"Oh." she said.
By this time I was done with lunch, so I said "I need to talk to Professor McGonagall before class. See ya later!"
"Bye." Hermione said.
I went back to my room and got the books I would need for Transfiguration and D.A.D.A., and then went in search of Professor McGonagall. Sure enough, she was in her classroom.
I knocked on the door.
"Come in." she called, looking up. "Who are you?" she asked, as I came in.
"Hannah O'Riley." I said. You might know me better as Hannah Prewett." As I suspected, she turned white.
"Prewett?" she asked.
"Yes." I said. I believe you knew my mother." It was a statement, not a question.
"She didn't have a child." McGonagall said.
"She wanted to owl you." I said. But you were overseas, and it was too risky for everyone. You know my mother, she predicted when Voldemort would kill her. Right before he came into the house, she apparated me to an orphanage. She told Lily and James, but no one else. She predicted Voldemort going after them too."
"Why didn't they do anything?" McGonagall asked me.
"My mother had a plan, but something went wrong." I said gently. "I don't know what, but I'll find out on Halloween."
"Oh yes." she said. "You would be a Seer."
"Yes, I would."
"How do you know all this?" she asked.
I pulled my letter out of my bag, and handed it to her. She started reading out loud:
"Dear Hannah,
This is your mother, Elizabeth Potter, writing in red ink,
And your father, Billy Prewett, writing in blue.
We need to tell you everything we know, because we are going to die when you are a baby, and you will need to undertake a mission. I am a Seer, a very powerful one,
And I am an Auror, the head of the Voldemort case, working alongside Frank Longbottom. I am Albus Dumbledore's son. My mother died when I was born, and he changed my last name to Prewett so that Voldemort would not want to come after me.
My maiden name is not really Potter. The Potters are directly related to Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts. My family's last name was changed to Potter over the years. I went by Elizabeth Kettle. We are the only family left that is related to Godric Gryffindor. Hannah, you will be the most powerful witch in the world. You, Minerva McGonagall (my sister) Harry, and Lily Potter, and Albus Dumbledore are the only ones who stand a chance against Voldemort. You will need to combine your magic."
"As I make more predictions, and we learn more about what you need to do, we will write more in your letter. From now on, I am going to call it your book. If you need to explain something, this book will help you. If you don't understand something, this book will help you. You should let my sister read the first page of this book. You also can let Harry read some of it, if you want to. It is written in ink that is charmed, so that only someone with Potter blood can read it, and your father. Have faith in your prediction Hannah, they will help."
"Stop there." I said to McGonagall. "I just wanted you to believe me, and to get a chance to get to know me without first knowing me as a student."
"I believe you." she said.
I walked up to her, took my book and put it in my bag, gave her a quick hug, and sat down in a seat at the front of the room.
"I have transfiguration next." I said. "It starts in three minutes."
"Ok." she said. "Are you good at transfiguration?"
"I'm ok." I said. "I don't know how Hogwarts compares with the orphanage school, though. What will we be working on today?"
"Tuning desks into pigs." McGonagall said. "Can you do that?"
"I've never tried." I said. "Do you want me to now?"
"Go ahead." she answered.
I stood up, pointed my wand at my desk, and focused on a pig. A second later, there was a pig in the floor, right where my desk was.
"Excellent!" McGonagall said. "Can you turn it back?"
I pointed my wand at the pig, and it turned back into a desk immediately.
"Yep." I said. "I can turn it back."
McGonagall laughed, and sat down at her desk, just as the students were coming in. Then the lesson started, and I turned my desk into a pig and back a few times. The only other people that managed it right away were Harry and Hermione. Ron and Dean Thomas got it right towards the end of class.
As we were walking out, I whispered "Goodbye Aunt Minnie."
She looked at me, oddly at first, and then said "Good bye Hannah."
"Why was Professor McGonagall looking at you so weirdly?"
Hermione asked.
"What do you mean, weirdly?" I asked.
"Oh, I don't know, she just seemed a little off today. Maybe I'm imagining it." she said.
"Maybe." I answered. "I hope you're leading, because I'm clueless as to where we are." I said, changing the subject.
"Yes." Hermione said. "Actually, this is it, right here."
"Cool." I said. "Do we just go in?"
"Yes." she said.
We went in, and sat down, Harry on my left, then Ron and Hermione on my right. As I pulled out my D.A.D.A. book, my letter from my parents fell out, and landed right next to Harry. I knew he would be able to read it, if it fell open, so I grabbed it quickly. I tried to act casual, but just as I was sitting up, I realized that I had leaned over too far for my chair to hold me any more. I crashed onto the ground, and my letter skidded over to Harry's feet. While I was untangling myself from my bag, and trying not to laugh, Harry picked up my letter, and held out his hand to help me up. I gladly took it, and my letter. When I was safely in my seat again, I burst out laughing. Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined in.
I looked up, to find Professor Lupin smiling down at me. "Sorry." I gasped. "I fell."
"Right." he said. Ok, class. Let's take a test. I want to see what you learned last year.
He passed out the test, and I was surprised to see that I knew almost every answer. The only one I didn't know was 'Can you throw the Imperius curse?' I had never had it put on me, so I put 'I don't know, never tried.'
After everyone was done, Professor Lupin did the grading spell I had taught him, copied our grades into his grade book, looked at the personal part, and then handed them back. When I got mine, I was surprised to see that I had gotten all the questions about what we knew right. Next to the Imperius curse question, he wrote 'Oh, darn. Now I get, I mean have to put it on you :)'
"Great." I said, as we walked out of class.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I was just groaning about having the Imperius Curse on me." I answered.
"It's not too bad." Harry said. "As long as you don't try to do what he says, and try not to at the same time. That's painful!"
"That eases my mind a lot." I said sarcastically. "Thank you for the comforting thought of fractured kneecaps. That will make it much better."
"I never said I fractured my kneecaps." Harry said slowly. "But it did feel like I did."
He looked at me oddly. People seemed to be doing that a lot today.
"I, uh, well, that was the most painful thing I could think of happening with the Imperius curse." I said.
"Riiiiiiight." Harry said.
After dinner that night, all the fifth years were in a corner of the common room. *a/n Don't ask me why, but they were* They all had their schedules out.
"Oh, goody!" I said. "Divination tomorrow morning! Wait! On second thought, oh darn! Professor Trewlany's not a real Seer."
"Oh." said Lavender Brown, indignantly. "And I suppose you are?"
"Actually, yes." I said.
"Prove it. Parvati challenged me. "Tell me my parent's names, and what job they have!"
"Ok." I said. "Why don't you all stand in a circle, and I'll tell all of you. I don't know why you want me to tell you that, anyone could know. I would have asked for a prediction, but ok. All fifth years, stand in a circle, and prepare to be amazed." When everyone was in a circle, with me in the middle, I started.
"Parvati Patil, twin to Padma Patil, in Ravenclaw. Pure blood. Daughter of Paul Patil, a worker for the Ministry of Magic, in the underage wizardry office, and Polly Phillips, mother and wife."
"Lavender Brown. Pure blood. Daughter of Robert Brown, spell inventor, and Suzan Little, magical gardener."
"Seamus Finnigan. Half blood. Son of John Finnigan, muggle doctor, and Donna O'Kleery, magical doctor."
"Dean Thomas. Pure blood. Son of Kevin Thomas, a worker for the Ministry of Magic, accidental magic reversal department, and Stephanie White, mother and wife."
"Neville Longbottom."
"Hermione Granger. Muggle born. Daughter of Chris Granger, dentist, and Ellen Bright, dentist."
"Ron Weasley. Pure blood. Son of Arthur Weasley, a worker for the Ministry of Magic, Miss-use of muggle artifacts department, and Molly Hemphman, mother and wife."
"Harry Potter." I finished.
"Why didn't you say anything about Harry or Neville?" Lavender asked. "Don't you know?"
"Of course I know." I said. "In fact, I knew without Seeing, and I would have known even if I hadn't been a Seer. You should know too."
"Why don't you tell us, and then we will know." Parvati said.
I walked over to Neville, and said "Neville, how much do you want me to tell them? I won't say anything, if you don't want me to."
"You can tell them everything." Neville squeaked. "I would have sooner, but I can't talk about it."
"Why don't you all sit down.'' I said. "I have a long story for you." When everyone was comfortably seated, I started.
"Back when Voldemort was powerful, there was a team of Aurors who led the battle of defeating him. They were the most powerful and brave light side wizards in the world. They took one big team, and divided it into to smaller teams, the A team, and the B team, and reserves for both teams. The two most trusted and skilled Aurors led their team. On team A, those two wizards were Frank Longbottom, and Billy. They were in charge of the entire operation, and responsible for every wizard in it. If a wizard was scared of dieing, they left the team. A scared wizard was a liability to the entire project, and if you were scared to die, you didn't become an Auror. The Aurors were the first people Voldemort put on his hit list. The Aurors opposed Voldemort with all their being, and anyone who opposed Voldemort like that was going to be murdered, or tortured. The lucky ones were murdered, and the unlucky were tortured."
"The operation tried many different things, and finally discovered that Voldemort had done experiments on immortality. Voldemort thought he was too good to have all that power, and them die. A long life wasn't good enough, he wanted to live forever."
"The operation discovered that by this time, there wasn't enough human in him to just die. He would have to be hit with the killing curse an estimated twenty times, before he was broken down to enough human to be killed."
"Well, even the best light wizard can't do the killing curse twice in a row, or quickly enough to hit Voldemort once and live. Once one curse is shot at him, Voldemort kills anyone in sight. Voldemort can do up to 100 unforgivable curses in a day, and often did. Anyone weak enough to be put under the Imperius curse was, if they could be even the tiniest help to Voldemort."
"The Aurors sent team B out, one at a time, whoever was willing. It was mostly the people with no family that went, or those who's family were killed by Voldemort. No wizard from team B ever returned, and Voldemort only got hit 10 times. It wasn't enough. They had to start sending out team A's reserves. Team A was saved for the final battle."
"When all the team A reserves (which were like a team C) had been gone through, Voldemort was still only hit a total of 15 times. There was a team D, the team B reserves, but they were only good for research. Frank Longbottom and Billy had no choice but to start sending out team A, even though they were needed for the final battle. Frank and Billy knew a Seer, that never made a wrong prediction. The Seer told Frank and Billy to send five people. Frank sent those five people, and four of them hit. The fifth person missed, but there was a traitor with access to the magical log. That traitor was in the research team, team D. I will not name him, because only three people would believe me, and the rest of you would cause utter chaos. The traitor logged in that the fifth Auror had hit, even though he didn't."
"Frank and Billy, thinking that Voldemort had been hit the full twenty times needed, prepared the rest of the Aurors for the final battle. They were ready to go out, when the Seer made a prediction. She predicted that final battle would be delayed for seventeen years. She said that after Halloween, they would know for sure whether or not the final battle would be needed. Frank and Billy trusted the Seer, so they decided that they might as well save the twenty or so lives that they commanded until Halloween, to see if the final battle would be needed. Billy and his wife were killed by Voldemort, a week before Halloween."
"The final battle was not needed, because on Halloween, Voldemort met his downfall, however, because that traitor had modified the log, it was really like the twentieth time of being hit with the killing curse. Voldemort was alive, but barely. He fled, and waited fourteen years before he even had a body again. You have heard roomers about what happened at the Triwizard tournament."
"The Aurors who had been on team A were still not safe. Voldemort had many supporters, and the Aurors now had to capture them. It was no easy task, and there are still plenty out there."
"After about a month, people started to feel safe again. That is when tragedy struck. Billy had already been killed by Voldemort, but Frank was still a very powerful wizard, still helping the light side. Word got out that he was trying to locate Voldemort, to be done with him once and for all."
"This roomer was true. Many death eaters were trying to bring Voldemort back to power, and they were still killing people. Frank was very smart, and knew that if he found Voldemort, the death eaters would be captured much quicker. Frank finally had an idea of where Voldemort might be. All Aurors spend years to make themselves immune to truth potions, and the death eaters knew this."
"One day, four death eaters went to the home of Frank and Miranda Longbottom. Luckily, their son happened to be at his grandmother's house. The death eaters tortured Frank with the Cruciatus Curse, trying to get him to tell them where Voldemort was. After one minute with the curse on him, they lifted it, and said they would do it again if he didn't tell them. Most wizards would have given in at that point. Frank Longbottom didn't. He had already had his wand snapped, or he would have gotten them. Unfortunately, they had broken in and caught him by surprise. They cowardly cursed him from behind, and tied up his wife as well."
"They tortured Frank for two more minutes, and he still wouldn't tell. They tortured him for three minutes, and he wouldn't give in. They worked their way up to ten minutes, and he didn't give in. I have had that curse on me, only for a minute. It hurts more than almost any of you can imagine. The Death Eaters put the curse on Frank Longbottom for twenty minutes, long enough to drive you insane. In fact, it did drive him insane. The death eaters did the exact same thing to his wife, Miranda. They are now both at St. Mungo's hospital, and they don't recognize their son Neville when he visits."
"Goodnight all."
Every one stood up, and most people went to bed silently. finally it was only Neville and I left in the common room.
"Thank you for telling them that." Neville said to me. "I didn't know all of what you said, about the teams and everything. Who was Billy?"
"Oh, um, he was my dad."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Neville said. "No wonder you know so much."
"Yes." I said. "We're all in the same boat here. If you ever need help with anything at all, don't hesitate to ask me." I patted his shoulder, being careful not to touch his skin.
"I'm going to bed now." Neville said. "See you in the morning."
"Goodnight." I said. "I'm going to bed too."