Seeing the Invisible chapter 2
Disclaimer- anything you do not recognize belongs to me, whatever you do belongs to J.K Rowling. Please don't sue me because I am broke.
Through the bustling station, Farrell hastily pushed her trolley ( in which her long, extremely baggy, tunic-like sweater that Mrs. Fairfax insisted she'd wear continuously got caught) , on which balanced her navy blue trunk, large black owl in his birdcage, and small leather bag. Rhiannon, her new owl, was thoroughly fed up with people knocking into her cage, and was hooting unhappily.
" I'm so sorry, Rhee, but we're late, and we HAVE to make this train. Don't blame me, blame Martin for making us late, " murmured Farrell, looking down at her owl as she ran through King's Cross searching for platforms 9 and 10, angrily thinking about her slow old driver, Martin.
Unfortunately, this one moment of looking down caused her to run headlong into a boy who had been pushing his cart across the path of hers. The trolleys flew to the ground, as did their contents and the people pushing them.
" Aw blast it. Blast it all!" Farrell scolded herself as she started to get up. Then it occurred to her that there was an owl hooting. She looked to Rhiannon, but she was just sitting there looking aggravated. Then her eyes rose to the cage of a snowy owl, who was hooting and throwing a fit in its cage. Farrell suddenly remembered the boy and rushed to help him up.
" Oh, I'm so sorry- really, I should have been looking, but you see I was late and-" Farrell began, helping the dark haired boy up, but she seemed to lose her train of thought completely when he lifted his head.
He brushed himself off, head still down, and apologized for knocking her down, then he looked up and saw the shocked look on her face.
" what?" the boy asked, " am I bleeding or something?" he asked, wiping his face, blushing as he looked back at the very pretty girl he'd knocked over.
Farrell just stared and was finally able to say," well its…blimey…you're…"
The boy's glittering green eyes rolled sarcastically behind his round glasses. He extended a hand, " Harry Potter, nice to meet you."
Farrell smiled, blushing, and shook his hand, " Farrell Branwen, nice to meet you also."
" Are you going to Hogwarts?" asked Harry, loading his things back onto his cart as fast as possible.
" Yep- this'll be my very first day," replied Farrell, stocking up her things and racing through the station.
"You mean to say that you're 11?" asked Harry, thinking how unbelievable that would be.
Farrell paused at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 to turn to him and say, " Of course not, silly. I'm to be fifteen in October, and I'll be in the fifth year," before she disappeared into the barrier. Bewildered, Harry followed.
They made the train in the last few seconds it was able to stay and Harry ushered Farrell into a compartment that was already seating a tall, thin, redheaded boy and a shorter brown-eyed girl with curly brown hair and a large book in her lap. They greeted Harry, but stared at Farrell for a few seconds before the silence was broken.
The brown-eyed girl cleared her throat. " Harry, who's this?" she asked, nodding towards Farrell.
Harry grinned, " This is Farrell Branwen. I ran into her in the station."
At this, the redhead chuckled, " Is that how you meet girls, usually, Harry?"
Then he stood up and extended his hand to Farrell, " Ron Weasley."
Farrell smiled and shook hands with him, followed by the girl, who turned out to be named Hermione Granger.
The three of them sat down and began to talk about Hogwarts, and the houses and quidditch and such things until Harry remembered he hadn't really asked why Farrell was even here.
" Farrell, I don't mean to be rude, but how is it possible that you can just pop out of nowhere and become a fifth year student?" he asked.
" Oh, well, I didn't just appear, you know. I'm a transfer. I was all set to attend my fifth year at Brewer's Institute of Magical Education when I got this letter from professor McDonald or whatever their name is," replied Farrell, impatiently waving her hand as she spoke.
" McGonagall," said Hermione, slightly laughing.
" yes, that was it," said Farrell.
And so the talk went on. Farrell found out that it was best to be in Gryffindor over all the other houses, especially since Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in that house. She also learned that there were certain teachers to watch out for ( particularly a potions professor named Snape), and certain students ( such as a pale blonde boy named Malfoy and his two hulking cronies).
Farrell was watching the body language between Ron and Hermione and had to keep from laughing sometimes. It was like flirting without words. While Ron and Hermione were busy arguing about quidditch ( Aw COME ON Hermione! It's the BEST game ever! - Grow up, Ron. Don't be so fanatical…)
Farrell leaned over and whispered to Harry," are they dating? Or do they just act this way all the time?"
Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing before he could respond.
" No, but I'm sure both of them would love to be dating. They fight all the time, but it never means anything- at the end of the day they're laughing together."
Farrell laughed and smiled at Harry before looking out the window. She could see the lights of Hogwarts in the distance as they rounded the corner.
"wow," she thought, " this is amazing. Brewer's was just a large country manor- this is a palace."
" Hey, GUYS!" she shouted to get Hermione and Ron's attention. Their heads turned inquisitively, " we're almost there, we should change."
So Harry and Ron left, leaving Hermione and Farrell in the compartment. The silence was so awkward it was overpowering.
" so…what's your favorite subject?" said Farrell, trying to break the ice as she pulled off her brown sweater.
Hermione looked up as she slipped her black robe on, " Oh, I like it all, but Arithmancy is my favorite. What's yours?"
Farrell pulled her robe on, too and said, " Arithmancy? I took that a few years ago- very difficult. You must be quite clever."
Hermione beamed, hat in hand.
"My favorite subject is Transfiguration," added Farrell, putting on her hat and plopping down onto the seat.
Hermione was thoroughly interested now.
"Is it? That's one of my best subjects- you're going to love Professor McGonagall. She'll probably have us transfigure something smallish for review, she does every year."
" Really? Like what?"
"oh, nothing hard-we did a teapot into a tortoise before, a hedgehog into a pincushion, a beetle into a button, and such."
" hm…lets see," said Farrell, rummaging through her trunk. She finally stopped, pulling out a small white mouse.
" This is Mary. She's my transfiguration mouse. What shall I turn her into?"
" transfiguration mouse? What?" asked Hermione, confused.
" well of course, we always- oh wait. You wouldn't know. Sorry, but at Brewer's we use mice in transfiguration, our pet mice, and we not only have to turn them into things, we have to get them back to mice properly. So I brought Mary with me, not knowing what you did in transfiguration. If she's too much trouble in the dormitory I will send her back to my friend Clara- her mouse, Oscar, is very very old, and she'd be glad to have Mary around."
" Oh, no, I'm sure Mary won't be a problem. But what do you usually turn her into?" asked Hermione.
" well… aw forget it, I'll just do the first thing that comes to mind."
Farrell set Mary down on the seat, and being an obedient mouse Mary didn't move around at all. Farrell pointed her wand at Mary and closed her eyes in concentration. There was a pop and, upon looking down, Hermione found a brilliantly colored parrot sitting on the seat. Farrell gave her a grin and sat down, stroking the parrot that was Mary.
Hermione was very impressed. " You've already done animal to animal transfiguration? We only start that this year!"
"What? We started that in 3rd year!" replied Farrell, astonished. Then she remembered what had been told to her at school. " oh wait- Brewer's is an amazing school for transfiguration, but we're not exceptional when it comes to the other subjects."
" Ah, that's it then," said Hermione, laughing, " ok…what's your worst subject?"
" oh, Charms. I'm dreadful at Charms."
" yes!!" exclaimed Hermione.
" what do you mean, "yes!" ? are you making fun of me?" asked Farrell, confused and a little hurt.
" Oh no! look, I meant to say that it's a good thing that I'm good at what you're not so good at, because then I can help you learn charms and you can teach me how to do the animal to animal transfiguration so that we'll both look smart in charms and transfiguration. Understand where I'm coming from?"
" Yes! Thanks so much!"
At that moment, Harry and Ron walked in and were quite confused about the parrot that Farrell was holding in her lap. She quickly zapped it back into a mouse and put Mary back in her trunk, along with her wand. Then the four of them got off the train and into the carriages to get to Hogwarts.
Inside the carriage, along the bumpy paths, Ron and Harry sat opposite each other and discussed the homework over the summer and Hermione and Farrell stared out the window. Suddenly, the largest bump any of them had ever felt in a carriage jolted the small black car up into the air. Farrell, not being very heavy or big, flew into the air and came down right in Harry's lap. Shocked, he just sat there for a moment and they stared at each other, not saying anything. Then Farrell looked away, her face scarlet, and tried to get up. Her motion didn't help her much though, the moving cart made her almost fall into Harry again, but he helped her back into her seat. Then they both stared out their windows, blushing. Ron and Hermione raised their eyebrows in a shared glance.
~
At the door of the entrance hall, Professor McGonagall greeted the students, but when they started to walk into the great hall, Farrell could hear her name being called.
" BRANWEN! Which one of you is Farrell Branwen?"
Farrell stepped out of the line, bumping into about 3 people, and dropped her hat. She stooped down and grabbed it, but when she looked up through the many strands of her very long, thick black hair she saw a stern woman in forest green robes, staring down at her through square spectacles. For some reason the woman just seemed… familiar. As though she'd seen her before.
"Farrell Branwen, I presume?" said the woman, a tiny smile playing over her small lips. Farrell nodded. " Come with me then, we need to sort things out."
Farrell followed the woman to an office lit by a roaring fire.
" so, Miss Branwen," said the woman, settling herself behind the desk and pulling out a stack of papers, " I see you come from Brewer's."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, we're glad to have you here at Hogwarts for the last three years of your learning experience. I am Professor McGonagall, and I shall be your transfiguration teacher."
" Nice to meet you, Professor," said Farrell, trying to figure out where she'd seen this woman.
"Well," said Professor McGonagall, clapping her hands together, " we need to get you down to the Great Hall to be sorted."
They stood up, but before they left the room Farrell looked right into the Professor's eyes, " excuse me, professor, but do I know you? I could swear I had seen you somewhere…"
Professor McGonagall looked at her hard and said, " Come to think of it you also sort of…no. I'm sorry, Branwen, but I'm sure I've never met you before. Come now, or we'll be late."
With that, they headed down to the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall read names of children from a long scroll. When their name was called, the nervous eleven year olds sat on a stool and placed a hat on their head. The hat screamed what house they'd be placed in.
As the A's passed Farrell began to get nervous, and when the Bs were done she thought something was wrong. Maybe I'm really not supposed to be here. Maybe I belong at Brewers…
When they were all finished and " Zim, Morgan," was made a Hufflepuff, the rest of the students turned back to their plates, ready to eat. But Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.
" Branwen, Farrell Mona."
Farrell inwardly cursed Mrs. Fairfax for putting her middle name on the form as she stepped up to the stool.
She could hear the whispers and feel the staring eyes of the students in the hall.
" SHE's a first year?"
" They obviously messed up the alphabetical order."
" maybe she came late?"
Farrell sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head.
" Ah, Miss Branwen, here at last, " said a voice in her ear, "we've been waiting for you."
" we?" she thought, " who's we?"
"why your cousin and I, Miss Branwen, though she doesn't know it yet."
Farrell just shrugged it off.
" well, you're very quick witted, very strong…brave without a doubt. Ravenclaw? Gryffindor? Have you any say in the matter?" said the voice in her ear.
Farrell said nothing but just thought gryffindor gryffindor gryffindor over and over.
" Ah, can't bear to be parted with your friends. So I suppose that it shall be. We'll place you in GRYFFINDOR, " the voice said, shouting the last word to the entire hall.
Smiling, Farrell got up and went to take a seat next to Hermione at the Gryffindor table.
Ron and Harry gave nods of welcome, but before they could say anything, a man with long, silvery, white hair and purple robes stood at the top of the head table. His blue eyes twinkled behind half moon spectacles.
" hello and welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before our plates are filled with the delicious feast, I have a few announcements to make. First of all, I'd like to welcome back Professor Lupin to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, " there was an explosion of applause ( Harry, Ron and Hermione, in particular, stood up and cheered) directed towards a smiling, slightly young man with brown hair flecked with gray and very alert eyes. "I would also like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is exactly what its name hints- forbidden. Also, I'd like to welcome a new student in our midst. Her name is Farrell Branwen and she is a transfer from Brewer's Institute of Magical Education, and it was she who was sorted last just a moment ago. Well, Bon Appetit!" and with a wave of his hand, food appeared on the golden plates all along the tables.
~
After the feast, Farrell went up to her dormitory with Hermione early, eager to get some sleep.
Ron watched as Harry's eyes followed Farrell all the way into her dormitory.
" sheesh, she's hooked you, man, " laughed Ron, plopping into the chair next to Harry.
Harry looked sideways at him ," what? What are you talking about?"
" Oh, please Harry. You've only known her for about eleven hours and you can't keep your eyes off her!" said Ron, rolling his eyes.
" What? Who has?" said Harry, staring into space.
Ron walked over and knelt down so he was level to Harry's face, giving a snort of laughter. He placed each of his hands on either side of Harry's face and gave each cheek a good tap.
"Ow!"
" Wake up, Romeo! You know exactly who I'm talking about. Miss Farrell Mona Branwen, of course."
Harry tried to look astonished, " Farrell? Wha…" then he cleared his throat and looked Ron in the eye, " Don't be ridiculous, Ron. I've only just met the girl, " he said as he stood up and climbed the stairs to their dormitory.
" ' Don't be ridiculous Ron. I've only just met the girl'," mimicked Ron, trying hard to keep a straight face," He's the one being ridiculous, that's what I'm trying to tell him," said Ron under his breath as he too climbed the staircase.
~
A few corridors away, in a very different room, Professor McGonagall sat down on the edge of her bed a box she had received at sixteen and never opened.
" Minerva, what's that old box?" asked Remus, her husband, who was presently laying at the head of the bed reading.
" It was my mother's. It was given to me when she…passed. And I've yet to open it."
Remus raised an eyebrow over the top of his book, " why now, then?" he asked, placing his hand on top of hers.
" Because it occurred to me I know virtually nothing about my mother's family. I don't even know her maiden name. And … well… today I was startled by it."
" What brought that on?"
" oh…no reason…" said Minerva in a very unconvincing tone.
Remus gave her a skeptical look and she sighed, " all right. Tell me I'm crazy, but that new girl- Branwen- she looks just like my mother, minus the hazel eyes and small stature. So I thought maybe she was my second cousin or niece twice removed or something. I decided that perhaps I'd look, since I don't know if my mother had any siblings, or any family at all."
" okay, Min. well, let's open the box then, shall we?" said Remus gently.
Minerva nodded and took a deep breath. She lifted the lid of the box. She remembered this box. She'd seen it once as a child under her mother's chest of drawers while hiding a Christmas present for her father. Just as she'd reached to open it she'd been called for dinner and had never looked for it again. But now, as she placed the blue wooden lid on the bed beside her, she felt relieved somehow, though for what reason she did not know.
On top of the unorganized pile of pictures, records, mementos and photographs, sat a single photo, its vivid color looking almost unnatural. It must have been painted in due to the time period the photo was taken in. The picture was also most obviously taken by a muggle camera due to its lack of movement. In the picture, set in a grassy yard, stood four very respectable looking people.
Minerva picked up the picture and looked more closely. There was a tall man holding his top hat in hand, his bright blue eyes shining out from under jet black eyebrows and his jet black hair shone in the sunlight. Next to him stood someone who looked to be his wife, a small woman with long, straight, auburn hair and beautiful, cat shaped, hazel eyes. One of the woman's pale, slender hands rested on the wrist of a tall young woman of about nineteen or twenty with shoulder-length straight black hair and ivory skin, and astonishingly blue eyes. Minerva recognized this immediately to be her mother, Stella, and the golden engagement band on her pale finger only confirmed Minerva's recognition. To the left of her mother, a small child of about 3 years old stood. Her long, dark hair fell to the back of her knees, and it parted on either side of her beautiful thin face, revealing huge hazel eyes. Minerva gently flipped the photograph over, and written in a loopy, elegant hand, was, " The Branwen Family on the way to Stella's engagement party- Astor, Cicely, Stella and Betsy."
Minerva hastily dropped the box and ran to the small table in the corner of the room that she shared with Remus. On it were the records of the new Gryffindors. She picked out " Branwen, Farrell Mona" and found the birth certificate. The first line read, " Farrell Mona Branwen, daughter of Elizabeth (Betsy) Branwen and _______ ( no current husband ). "
Minerva just sat on the floor, dazed, a hand on her head. Remus sat beside her.
" what is it? " he asked softly.
Minerva looked up at him, and handed the folder of Farrell's records to him, " This girl, she's my cousin. The only family I have. And she has no idea."
Disclaimer- anything you do not recognize belongs to me, whatever you do belongs to J.K Rowling. Please don't sue me because I am broke.
Through the bustling station, Farrell hastily pushed her trolley ( in which her long, extremely baggy, tunic-like sweater that Mrs. Fairfax insisted she'd wear continuously got caught) , on which balanced her navy blue trunk, large black owl in his birdcage, and small leather bag. Rhiannon, her new owl, was thoroughly fed up with people knocking into her cage, and was hooting unhappily.
" I'm so sorry, Rhee, but we're late, and we HAVE to make this train. Don't blame me, blame Martin for making us late, " murmured Farrell, looking down at her owl as she ran through King's Cross searching for platforms 9 and 10, angrily thinking about her slow old driver, Martin.
Unfortunately, this one moment of looking down caused her to run headlong into a boy who had been pushing his cart across the path of hers. The trolleys flew to the ground, as did their contents and the people pushing them.
" Aw blast it. Blast it all!" Farrell scolded herself as she started to get up. Then it occurred to her that there was an owl hooting. She looked to Rhiannon, but she was just sitting there looking aggravated. Then her eyes rose to the cage of a snowy owl, who was hooting and throwing a fit in its cage. Farrell suddenly remembered the boy and rushed to help him up.
" Oh, I'm so sorry- really, I should have been looking, but you see I was late and-" Farrell began, helping the dark haired boy up, but she seemed to lose her train of thought completely when he lifted his head.
He brushed himself off, head still down, and apologized for knocking her down, then he looked up and saw the shocked look on her face.
" what?" the boy asked, " am I bleeding or something?" he asked, wiping his face, blushing as he looked back at the very pretty girl he'd knocked over.
Farrell just stared and was finally able to say," well its…blimey…you're…"
The boy's glittering green eyes rolled sarcastically behind his round glasses. He extended a hand, " Harry Potter, nice to meet you."
Farrell smiled, blushing, and shook his hand, " Farrell Branwen, nice to meet you also."
" Are you going to Hogwarts?" asked Harry, loading his things back onto his cart as fast as possible.
" Yep- this'll be my very first day," replied Farrell, stocking up her things and racing through the station.
"You mean to say that you're 11?" asked Harry, thinking how unbelievable that would be.
Farrell paused at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 to turn to him and say, " Of course not, silly. I'm to be fifteen in October, and I'll be in the fifth year," before she disappeared into the barrier. Bewildered, Harry followed.
They made the train in the last few seconds it was able to stay and Harry ushered Farrell into a compartment that was already seating a tall, thin, redheaded boy and a shorter brown-eyed girl with curly brown hair and a large book in her lap. They greeted Harry, but stared at Farrell for a few seconds before the silence was broken.
The brown-eyed girl cleared her throat. " Harry, who's this?" she asked, nodding towards Farrell.
Harry grinned, " This is Farrell Branwen. I ran into her in the station."
At this, the redhead chuckled, " Is that how you meet girls, usually, Harry?"
Then he stood up and extended his hand to Farrell, " Ron Weasley."
Farrell smiled and shook hands with him, followed by the girl, who turned out to be named Hermione Granger.
The three of them sat down and began to talk about Hogwarts, and the houses and quidditch and such things until Harry remembered he hadn't really asked why Farrell was even here.
" Farrell, I don't mean to be rude, but how is it possible that you can just pop out of nowhere and become a fifth year student?" he asked.
" Oh, well, I didn't just appear, you know. I'm a transfer. I was all set to attend my fifth year at Brewer's Institute of Magical Education when I got this letter from professor McDonald or whatever their name is," replied Farrell, impatiently waving her hand as she spoke.
" McGonagall," said Hermione, slightly laughing.
" yes, that was it," said Farrell.
And so the talk went on. Farrell found out that it was best to be in Gryffindor over all the other houses, especially since Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in that house. She also learned that there were certain teachers to watch out for ( particularly a potions professor named Snape), and certain students ( such as a pale blonde boy named Malfoy and his two hulking cronies).
Farrell was watching the body language between Ron and Hermione and had to keep from laughing sometimes. It was like flirting without words. While Ron and Hermione were busy arguing about quidditch ( Aw COME ON Hermione! It's the BEST game ever! - Grow up, Ron. Don't be so fanatical…)
Farrell leaned over and whispered to Harry," are they dating? Or do they just act this way all the time?"
Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing before he could respond.
" No, but I'm sure both of them would love to be dating. They fight all the time, but it never means anything- at the end of the day they're laughing together."
Farrell laughed and smiled at Harry before looking out the window. She could see the lights of Hogwarts in the distance as they rounded the corner.
"wow," she thought, " this is amazing. Brewer's was just a large country manor- this is a palace."
" Hey, GUYS!" she shouted to get Hermione and Ron's attention. Their heads turned inquisitively, " we're almost there, we should change."
So Harry and Ron left, leaving Hermione and Farrell in the compartment. The silence was so awkward it was overpowering.
" so…what's your favorite subject?" said Farrell, trying to break the ice as she pulled off her brown sweater.
Hermione looked up as she slipped her black robe on, " Oh, I like it all, but Arithmancy is my favorite. What's yours?"
Farrell pulled her robe on, too and said, " Arithmancy? I took that a few years ago- very difficult. You must be quite clever."
Hermione beamed, hat in hand.
"My favorite subject is Transfiguration," added Farrell, putting on her hat and plopping down onto the seat.
Hermione was thoroughly interested now.
"Is it? That's one of my best subjects- you're going to love Professor McGonagall. She'll probably have us transfigure something smallish for review, she does every year."
" Really? Like what?"
"oh, nothing hard-we did a teapot into a tortoise before, a hedgehog into a pincushion, a beetle into a button, and such."
" hm…lets see," said Farrell, rummaging through her trunk. She finally stopped, pulling out a small white mouse.
" This is Mary. She's my transfiguration mouse. What shall I turn her into?"
" transfiguration mouse? What?" asked Hermione, confused.
" well of course, we always- oh wait. You wouldn't know. Sorry, but at Brewer's we use mice in transfiguration, our pet mice, and we not only have to turn them into things, we have to get them back to mice properly. So I brought Mary with me, not knowing what you did in transfiguration. If she's too much trouble in the dormitory I will send her back to my friend Clara- her mouse, Oscar, is very very old, and she'd be glad to have Mary around."
" Oh, no, I'm sure Mary won't be a problem. But what do you usually turn her into?" asked Hermione.
" well… aw forget it, I'll just do the first thing that comes to mind."
Farrell set Mary down on the seat, and being an obedient mouse Mary didn't move around at all. Farrell pointed her wand at Mary and closed her eyes in concentration. There was a pop and, upon looking down, Hermione found a brilliantly colored parrot sitting on the seat. Farrell gave her a grin and sat down, stroking the parrot that was Mary.
Hermione was very impressed. " You've already done animal to animal transfiguration? We only start that this year!"
"What? We started that in 3rd year!" replied Farrell, astonished. Then she remembered what had been told to her at school. " oh wait- Brewer's is an amazing school for transfiguration, but we're not exceptional when it comes to the other subjects."
" Ah, that's it then," said Hermione, laughing, " ok…what's your worst subject?"
" oh, Charms. I'm dreadful at Charms."
" yes!!" exclaimed Hermione.
" what do you mean, "yes!" ? are you making fun of me?" asked Farrell, confused and a little hurt.
" Oh no! look, I meant to say that it's a good thing that I'm good at what you're not so good at, because then I can help you learn charms and you can teach me how to do the animal to animal transfiguration so that we'll both look smart in charms and transfiguration. Understand where I'm coming from?"
" Yes! Thanks so much!"
At that moment, Harry and Ron walked in and were quite confused about the parrot that Farrell was holding in her lap. She quickly zapped it back into a mouse and put Mary back in her trunk, along with her wand. Then the four of them got off the train and into the carriages to get to Hogwarts.
Inside the carriage, along the bumpy paths, Ron and Harry sat opposite each other and discussed the homework over the summer and Hermione and Farrell stared out the window. Suddenly, the largest bump any of them had ever felt in a carriage jolted the small black car up into the air. Farrell, not being very heavy or big, flew into the air and came down right in Harry's lap. Shocked, he just sat there for a moment and they stared at each other, not saying anything. Then Farrell looked away, her face scarlet, and tried to get up. Her motion didn't help her much though, the moving cart made her almost fall into Harry again, but he helped her back into her seat. Then they both stared out their windows, blushing. Ron and Hermione raised their eyebrows in a shared glance.
~
At the door of the entrance hall, Professor McGonagall greeted the students, but when they started to walk into the great hall, Farrell could hear her name being called.
" BRANWEN! Which one of you is Farrell Branwen?"
Farrell stepped out of the line, bumping into about 3 people, and dropped her hat. She stooped down and grabbed it, but when she looked up through the many strands of her very long, thick black hair she saw a stern woman in forest green robes, staring down at her through square spectacles. For some reason the woman just seemed… familiar. As though she'd seen her before.
"Farrell Branwen, I presume?" said the woman, a tiny smile playing over her small lips. Farrell nodded. " Come with me then, we need to sort things out."
Farrell followed the woman to an office lit by a roaring fire.
" so, Miss Branwen," said the woman, settling herself behind the desk and pulling out a stack of papers, " I see you come from Brewer's."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, we're glad to have you here at Hogwarts for the last three years of your learning experience. I am Professor McGonagall, and I shall be your transfiguration teacher."
" Nice to meet you, Professor," said Farrell, trying to figure out where she'd seen this woman.
"Well," said Professor McGonagall, clapping her hands together, " we need to get you down to the Great Hall to be sorted."
They stood up, but before they left the room Farrell looked right into the Professor's eyes, " excuse me, professor, but do I know you? I could swear I had seen you somewhere…"
Professor McGonagall looked at her hard and said, " Come to think of it you also sort of…no. I'm sorry, Branwen, but I'm sure I've never met you before. Come now, or we'll be late."
With that, they headed down to the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall read names of children from a long scroll. When their name was called, the nervous eleven year olds sat on a stool and placed a hat on their head. The hat screamed what house they'd be placed in.
As the A's passed Farrell began to get nervous, and when the Bs were done she thought something was wrong. Maybe I'm really not supposed to be here. Maybe I belong at Brewers…
When they were all finished and " Zim, Morgan," was made a Hufflepuff, the rest of the students turned back to their plates, ready to eat. But Professor McGonagall cleared her throat.
" Branwen, Farrell Mona."
Farrell inwardly cursed Mrs. Fairfax for putting her middle name on the form as she stepped up to the stool.
She could hear the whispers and feel the staring eyes of the students in the hall.
" SHE's a first year?"
" They obviously messed up the alphabetical order."
" maybe she came late?"
Farrell sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head.
" Ah, Miss Branwen, here at last, " said a voice in her ear, "we've been waiting for you."
" we?" she thought, " who's we?"
"why your cousin and I, Miss Branwen, though she doesn't know it yet."
Farrell just shrugged it off.
" well, you're very quick witted, very strong…brave without a doubt. Ravenclaw? Gryffindor? Have you any say in the matter?" said the voice in her ear.
Farrell said nothing but just thought gryffindor gryffindor gryffindor over and over.
" Ah, can't bear to be parted with your friends. So I suppose that it shall be. We'll place you in GRYFFINDOR, " the voice said, shouting the last word to the entire hall.
Smiling, Farrell got up and went to take a seat next to Hermione at the Gryffindor table.
Ron and Harry gave nods of welcome, but before they could say anything, a man with long, silvery, white hair and purple robes stood at the top of the head table. His blue eyes twinkled behind half moon spectacles.
" hello and welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before our plates are filled with the delicious feast, I have a few announcements to make. First of all, I'd like to welcome back Professor Lupin to fill the Defense Against the Dark Arts post, " there was an explosion of applause ( Harry, Ron and Hermione, in particular, stood up and cheered) directed towards a smiling, slightly young man with brown hair flecked with gray and very alert eyes. "I would also like to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is exactly what its name hints- forbidden. Also, I'd like to welcome a new student in our midst. Her name is Farrell Branwen and she is a transfer from Brewer's Institute of Magical Education, and it was she who was sorted last just a moment ago. Well, Bon Appetit!" and with a wave of his hand, food appeared on the golden plates all along the tables.
~
After the feast, Farrell went up to her dormitory with Hermione early, eager to get some sleep.
Ron watched as Harry's eyes followed Farrell all the way into her dormitory.
" sheesh, she's hooked you, man, " laughed Ron, plopping into the chair next to Harry.
Harry looked sideways at him ," what? What are you talking about?"
" Oh, please Harry. You've only known her for about eleven hours and you can't keep your eyes off her!" said Ron, rolling his eyes.
" What? Who has?" said Harry, staring into space.
Ron walked over and knelt down so he was level to Harry's face, giving a snort of laughter. He placed each of his hands on either side of Harry's face and gave each cheek a good tap.
"Ow!"
" Wake up, Romeo! You know exactly who I'm talking about. Miss Farrell Mona Branwen, of course."
Harry tried to look astonished, " Farrell? Wha…" then he cleared his throat and looked Ron in the eye, " Don't be ridiculous, Ron. I've only just met the girl, " he said as he stood up and climbed the stairs to their dormitory.
" ' Don't be ridiculous Ron. I've only just met the girl'," mimicked Ron, trying hard to keep a straight face," He's the one being ridiculous, that's what I'm trying to tell him," said Ron under his breath as he too climbed the staircase.
~
A few corridors away, in a very different room, Professor McGonagall sat down on the edge of her bed a box she had received at sixteen and never opened.
" Minerva, what's that old box?" asked Remus, her husband, who was presently laying at the head of the bed reading.
" It was my mother's. It was given to me when she…passed. And I've yet to open it."
Remus raised an eyebrow over the top of his book, " why now, then?" he asked, placing his hand on top of hers.
" Because it occurred to me I know virtually nothing about my mother's family. I don't even know her maiden name. And … well… today I was startled by it."
" What brought that on?"
" oh…no reason…" said Minerva in a very unconvincing tone.
Remus gave her a skeptical look and she sighed, " all right. Tell me I'm crazy, but that new girl- Branwen- she looks just like my mother, minus the hazel eyes and small stature. So I thought maybe she was my second cousin or niece twice removed or something. I decided that perhaps I'd look, since I don't know if my mother had any siblings, or any family at all."
" okay, Min. well, let's open the box then, shall we?" said Remus gently.
Minerva nodded and took a deep breath. She lifted the lid of the box. She remembered this box. She'd seen it once as a child under her mother's chest of drawers while hiding a Christmas present for her father. Just as she'd reached to open it she'd been called for dinner and had never looked for it again. But now, as she placed the blue wooden lid on the bed beside her, she felt relieved somehow, though for what reason she did not know.
On top of the unorganized pile of pictures, records, mementos and photographs, sat a single photo, its vivid color looking almost unnatural. It must have been painted in due to the time period the photo was taken in. The picture was also most obviously taken by a muggle camera due to its lack of movement. In the picture, set in a grassy yard, stood four very respectable looking people.
Minerva picked up the picture and looked more closely. There was a tall man holding his top hat in hand, his bright blue eyes shining out from under jet black eyebrows and his jet black hair shone in the sunlight. Next to him stood someone who looked to be his wife, a small woman with long, straight, auburn hair and beautiful, cat shaped, hazel eyes. One of the woman's pale, slender hands rested on the wrist of a tall young woman of about nineteen or twenty with shoulder-length straight black hair and ivory skin, and astonishingly blue eyes. Minerva recognized this immediately to be her mother, Stella, and the golden engagement band on her pale finger only confirmed Minerva's recognition. To the left of her mother, a small child of about 3 years old stood. Her long, dark hair fell to the back of her knees, and it parted on either side of her beautiful thin face, revealing huge hazel eyes. Minerva gently flipped the photograph over, and written in a loopy, elegant hand, was, " The Branwen Family on the way to Stella's engagement party- Astor, Cicely, Stella and Betsy."
Minerva hastily dropped the box and ran to the small table in the corner of the room that she shared with Remus. On it were the records of the new Gryffindors. She picked out " Branwen, Farrell Mona" and found the birth certificate. The first line read, " Farrell Mona Branwen, daughter of Elizabeth (Betsy) Branwen and _______ ( no current husband ). "
Minerva just sat on the floor, dazed, a hand on her head. Remus sat beside her.
" what is it? " he asked softly.
Minerva looked up at him, and handed the folder of Farrell's records to him, " This girl, she's my cousin. The only family I have. And she has no idea."