Disclaimer:
I do not pretend to own the Harry Potter world or any character within it: that right belongs to the eminent J. K. Rowling, to whom I most respectfully yield.
Neither do I pretend to be an expert on the early legends of King Arthur and the fabled Isle of Avalon. They belong to posterity and my imagination.
If, in writing, I offend someone, I apologize, but stand by my opinions. I write this solely for my own amusement and for the appreciation of my audience.
I have no money, don't sue me, I'm not worth it, and there are bigger fish to fry.
Chapter Three
It was a sunny day as the Hogwarts Express pulled in to the Hogsmeade station. If it wasn't for Anna getting strange looks as they walked towards the coaches to be pulled to the castle, it would have been as picture perfect as the day could be. Hagrid wasn't shy though; he walked right up to Anna, in her pristine white robes, and grabbed her into a swinging hug.
"You comin' to be Sorted wit' th' rest of the firs' years?" as he spoke he herded the shy first years into the requisite boats for their trip across the lake.
"Aye, thank ye, but no Hagrid, I'm staying with Harry, you know that." She was short enough that she couldn't quite hold her own against Hagrid's enthusiasm and swayed, feet slightly off the ground, as he moved.
"Harry!" he called out, picking up Anna by the shoulders, "Keep ye're eye out for this one, lad. Mad as a hatter, this one. She'll keep ye crazy all year." He put her back down with a thump and gave her what was likely a very whiskery kiss right on the top of her head. "Firs' years! Firs' years, follow me!"
"You know Hagrid?" Ron asked, as Anna swished into the coach, just as it was taking off for the castle.
"Aye," she grinned fondly, "Me and Hagrid and Lupin, and…um, Snuffles," she gave them all a significant look that told them she was well aware of 'Snuffles' true identity, as Harry's godfather, the escaped criminal, Sirus Black, "spent the summer with the Lady Raven and the rest, getting all of this, stuff, together."
"Getting what together?"
"Lesson plans, assignments, projects, exams, in other words everything you need to run a class of, oh let's say, a thousand or so students."
"I thought you were going to be a student." Hermione said.
"I am," she grinned, "In everything but Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"Why?" asked Harry, curious.
"You'll see." Anna grinned, and suddenly her eyes went wide, "Wow, that's one heck of a castle." Hogwarts, the best magical school for Witchcraft and Wizardry in the world, came into view. The coaches stopped, let out their passengers, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Anna all bundled into the Great Hall. As was tradition the first years all paraded to the top dais to be Sorted. Professor McGonagall brought out the frayed and patched Sorting Hat, placed it on the three legged stool, and the rip in its brim opened to sing:
A thousand hundred years ago, when Hogwarts was brand new
Two wizards and two witches looked out upon the crew
Of students and their teachers, gathered at their feet
Waiting, watching, wondering, their deepest needs to meet
Some belonged with Griffindor, to whom courage rang true
If you are brave and daring, then Griffindor's for you!
Others went with Hufflepuff, where tenacity is king
If you work hard and do not shirk, then Hufflepuff's your thing!
Ravencalw for her own, gathered the most smart
Cleverness and ingenuity are Ravenclaw's true heart!
Wise old Salazar Slytherin gathered to his chest
Those for whom ambition makes the very best
They are gone; their names remain, as houses that do teach
The same ideals and values the founders themselves preached
Try me on, do not be shy, I neither bite nor hit
But I will tell, without a doubt, for which house you are fit!
The gathered students clapped, but the applause died as one by one the new first years were Sorted into their houses. Anna watched, apparently very impressed at the performance of the Sorting Hat.
Sitting next to Harry, she leaned over and whispered, during a lull in the applause "Is it ever wrong? Do people ever get miss-Sorted?" she looked curious and slightly anxious.
"Not that I've ever heard," Harry whispered back, "The Hat's always been right." Even if we don't think so, Harry thought guiltily of his second year fit of doubt during the crisis with the Chamber of Secrets. After the Sorting had been completed, Dumbledore stood to make his traditional beginning of term speech.
"Welcome! I trust you've forgotten everything over the summer in order to make room for the wonders of a new term, but first there are, as always, a few beginning of term notices that need be given."
"All students will be reminded that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all," Dumbledore gave the Weasley twins, Fred and George, the 'look' "there are a few new items that Mr. Filch has informed me will not be permitted into the dormitories a list of which, I believe, has been posted in the main hall. Let me now draw your attention to our new staff for this year. Students, may I introduce the Lady Raven, high priestess of Avalon." A smattering of applause sounded as she rose from her position at the head of the table to join Dumbledore in front of the gathered student body.
"Greetings," Raven looked like an older version of Anna, jet black hair, sprinkled with grey, white silken robes, and a wide, welcoming smile, "I, as your eminent headmaster as told you, am Lady Raven. I and my associates will be instructing you in the Defence Against the Dark Arts, a class I believe will become extraordinarily important given recent events." She paused, allowing everyone to call to mind the tragedy of last year's Triwizard Tournament. "May I introduce our Druids, who, although accompanying us, do not train on Avalon, but who are very much our brothers: the Lords, Adrian, Dimitri, David, and Gwyilim." The four men could have been cast from the same mould; all were tall, broad, and dressed in the same scarlet tunics and breeches with black capes thrown over their shoulders.
"And my sisters, the Ladies Rosebriar, Vivian, Wren, and Lark." They appeared, as suddenly as the men had, on Raven's left side. All were dressed in the same eye blindingly white robes, and bowed to their audience. "For the most part these will be your teachers; they will teach only to one house apiece, live in the dormitories and eat at the tables with you. Ask of them what you will, they will tell you truthfully what it means to be of the old order." As if on cue, one druid and one priestess stepped down to sit at the ends of each of the four tables.
"As for myself and my apprentice," Anna, who Harry suddenly realized was no longer sitting next to him, stepped out from behind her teacher, "We will float about and instruct some and learn some about the differences of the other disciplines from our own, for as we say on Avalon, there is no one true way. She will be joining you in classes, learning, as is your custom."
Anna turned to face her teacher and dropped to her knees. The Sorting Hat flew from its stool to Raven's hand, and she began to place it gently on Anna's head. Raven no more lowered it to her hair, than the hat screamed out in its loudest voice yet,
"GRIFFINDOR!"
Harry found himself yelling his voice hoarse as Anna walked back to her spot near his side, grinning and blushing slightly at the applause. She swallowed and spoke softly, barely audible in the din, "I didn't mean to set up such a fuss."
"It's not a fuss," Harry grinned, "it a feast!" for while they spoke Dumbledore summoned the feast. Masses of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, and everything else fit for a King appeared on the golden platters.
"Oh my" Anna exclaimed, "Do you eat like this all the time?"
"Yup" Ron said, mouth full of red potato, "The desserts are good too!"
Anna grinned at Hermione, sitting next to Ron, and Harry on her left "I think I should like staying at Hogwarts." A plate piled high with sausages was passed into her hands by an absent-minded Griffindor, she smiled again, widely, and said "I think I should like it very much indeed."
Settling into the dormitories, Anna sighed at the four posted draperies on the girly half of the Griffindor tower. Lavender and Parvati were chattering like the little hens they resembled, wondering non-stop about boys, magic, Druids, and anything else that came to mind. Anna leaned out of her bed and whispered to Hermione "Do they always chatter like this?"
"Yes," Hermione rolled her eyes, "They don't barely stop to sleep, and Lavender even talks in her sleep. It's annoying."
"But you don't." Anna observed, rolling to sit up, her silken nightdress bunching up around her waist. "Not sociable or just not interested?"
"They're brainless, nosy, gits, who don't seem to think of anything even resembling intelligence half the time." Hermione grumbled, "Do you think anyone sane would actually want to do that?"
"You don't," Anna recognized, "you hang about with Harry and Ron, even though all they talk about is Quidditch and chess. Why is that?"
"Because I do," Hermione said defensively, "and I don't see how it's any of your business." She too sat up, letting her eyes flare and temper, kept in check for the first day of term, come bubbling to the surface.
"I've read the tales of Avalon, and read between the lines. All of them said to be on guard around a daughter of the holy isle, you've plans and goals of your own that have nothing to do with what the rest of the world wants or needs." The slightly guilty look on Anna's face had Hermione ploughing ahead.
"I don't know what you want with Harry, but I'll tell you right now, if I think you're trying to manipulate him I'll get you off that personally, I don't care what kind of powers you have." Hermione glared, and settled the blankets around her, to cover the kilted up nightdress.
Anna smiled, even in the low light of the darkened dormitory Hermione could see it in her face, "You're loyal, Hermione, I admire that. You're also brave; there are few, even in Avalon, who'd say that to a Morgan. I admire that also."
She sighed, shaking her head so that the curly black mop of her hair fell about her face and shoulders in a tumble. "You are also right, I cannot promise you that Avalon won't use me to try and control the fate of young Harry Potter. That is, however, something I have no more control over than you do. I can no more refuse the wishes of the Lady of the Lake than I could stop using my magic, the two are irrevocably linked."
"That's the power of Avalon: you're all linked, magically. It's the blessing and the curse of the powers you wield." Hermione said, "I read it in A History of the Holy Isle. A priestess is bound to obedience to the island and the Lady of the Lake by the kiss of the goddess, whatever that is."
Anna laughed, with a disbelieving shake of her head, "It's not right that one not initiated to the mysteries know this much about the bond of a sister to her Goddess and her Lady. It should not be so."
"I'm right though, aren't I?" Hermione saw Anna nod and bow her head, "You're not a priestess though, why is it that you're here and not another?"
"I am a Morgan, I am even more bound to the power of the Holy Isle than any priestess ever would be." She frowned, "So it has always been, so is it now, and so it will forever be."
"What do you mean 'Morgan'? Why is that so important? What makes that more binding than anything else?" the eager face Hermione showed only to her books and teachers lit up the dark bedroom.
"Hermoine," Anna sighed, "will you accept that there are things that I have taken vows to protect and cannot now or will I ever be able to speak to you about?"
"Yes" Hermione agreed eagerly, agreeing to anything as long as she satisfied the wanting for an answer to her questions.
"Morgan is a title, like priestess, but different. I was born to fulfil this position, raised by the sisters to serve the Goddess. Because I am literally and physically bound to the powers of Avalon, through me the sisters can accomplish feats of magic impossible by other means. I am little more than a very valuable vessel, to run power through or take powers from at wish. It is something inborn, a trait that they treasure very much and usually do not let back out into the world. I am here to protect Harry,"
Anna made eye contact with Hermione and let her conviction burn into her eyes, "Understand this thoroughly Miss Hermione Granger, your friend Harry Potter will not die so long as I am near him. I will die first in his protection. That is my sworn duty. I will protect him at all costs, even my own life. It is that important to Avalon that he remains intact to see to the Dark Lord's last battle. He has nothing to fear from me. That is all the promise I can give you, though I think it is promise enough. Are you satisfied by that?"
"I suppose I have to be," Hermione agreed, "I'll accept that as your promise to keep him safe."
"Good," Anna sounded relieved, and lay back down on the featherbed, "Have you anything else you want of me?"
"Probably," Hermione joked, turning back to her own pillow, "but it's enough for tonight, thank you."
"You're welcome." Anna slid back under the blanket, "and good night"
"Night" responded Hermione and they both fell asleep to the humming of Lavender and Parvati, still chattering in the background, completely oblivious.