Disclaimer: Fanfiction is fanfiction. If you recognize it, it's not mine.

Chapter 1

Sonora Stone looked up sharply at the quiet sound in the night. "Who's there?" she called in Arabic as she sat forward, her head scarf draped loosely around her shoulders. Her fingers gripped her wand in the folds of her robes. She'd chosen to place her hut away from the main encampment to protect her work, and never had a problem. She had enough wards around her that she should have had ample warning of another wizard approaching.

Two men stepped forward into the circle of light cast by her lantern. Her fingers relaxed and released her wand when she recognized them as two from Abar Mohammed's tribe. Muggles. "Good evening," she said, giving them a polite smile, and bowing her head in greeting as she stood and began to walk toward them. "What can I do for you…"

Her words were cut off by the first blow. "Infidel witch," one of the men hissed. As she was knocked to the ground, her wand slid deep into the folds of her pocket, out of reach of her now grasping fingers. Merlin help me, she thought dazedly as the shouts and curses of the two angry men began to rain down on her, followed closely by brutal kicks and blows. She tried to cover her head with her arms, but a searing pain in one made her gasp and stumble over the words of the spell that had sprung to her lips.

The next blow made the world go dim and dark.

~~~~~~~

Sonora woke to great pain. Pain like she hadn't felt in her entire life. It snaked through her, like a tide of fire. She gasped as it made her stomach roll in protest, and then there was a dry, cool hand on her head.

She forced her eyes open to see the stern but sad face of Amar Mohammed looking down on her. "You are awake, Daughter of Night," he said quietly. "That is good. We feared for many days that you would not."

"What…" she managed through lips that were painfully cracked and swollen.

His face grew grave and stern. "Two of my tribe believed you to be an infidel spy. They attacked you seven days ago. We heard your cries and stopped them." He bent his head. "I am sorry. You came to me and requested my permission, my protection, to live among my tribe, and I have failed you."

"Please," she croaked out, the Arabic coming haltingly. "Do not blame yourself, kind friend. You could not have known these two harbored such hate."

"But I should. A leader should know the hearts of his people," Amar said with a sad kind of dignity. "Rest assured, they have been punished for breaking my words." He studied her face, which from the feel of it, couldn't look all that attractive. "You will rest in my house, and heal."

Sonora thought of her research, of the items in her hut that should not be seen by Muggles, and resisted the urge to panic. "Kind friend," she said. "I have caused great trouble to you already. I will send for someone to take me away, so you may calm your people."

Amar studied her intently. "I know you think of the good of my tribe, as do I," he finally said. "So this you shall do. But you will not be able to leave for many weeks, Daughter of Night. Your injuries were grave."

"I shall send for someone who can bear me away with ease," she told him, wincing as the words cost her. "Have you paper, gracious friend?"

"Who will this letter go to?" He asked. "I will not release your care to a stranger." Sonora resisted the urge to sigh. She was fond of the man, truly she was, so now was probably not the time to explain her family-less state.

"I shall write to a teacher of mine, who will send my… brother," she said. She'd better remember to mention that fact in her letter.

She thanked the stars that it was not her writing hand that had been broken as Amar brought her a piece of paper and a stub of a pencil. Carefully, and not without a little effort, she printed her letter.

Professor Dumbledore,

I hope you remember me, as I am writing to you in need of a favor. I was recently injured while completing research in Pakistan, and am being cared for by Muggles. Unfortunately, my presence here can only cause more trouble among these people.

I know this is an imposition, but as I have no family, could you send someone to bring me back to England? I will need assistance, as I am in no condition to apparate. This person must present himself as my brother, as the village leader will release me to no other.

My grateful thanks,

Sonora Stone

Sonora finished the letter, her hand shaking badly with pain and fatigue. She could only hope Dumbledore would answer her plea. He would remember her, she hoped, he had written her recommendations that had allowed her to pursue higher studies in Potions.

Amar was waiting patiently. "I shall send a rider to the city with this," he said. "It will take several days."

Sonora barely shook her head. "I have a faster way, gracious friend," she said. An owl from her publisher still waited in her hut. Amar would keep quiet about it, and would even find it not so strange, she thought, thinking of the falcons used by the tribe to help hunt.

She gave him the letter. "If you would, kind friend," she said.

~~~~~~~

It was two days when she received her answer. The sound of shouts and angry men outside the house of Amar were what first told her it was here. She could hear the men shouting about intruders, foreigners, infidels invading their lands. She closed her eyes and prayed to Hecate that whoever it was would be calm and not hurt anyone.

Then the noise slowly quieted and she was able to hear the voice of Amar greeting whomever it was. "Your name, stranger," he said, his voice carrying through the dry streets.

A wonderful sound, the sound of another English voice greeted her, even as it stumbled over the words in Arabic. "I am Remus Lupin," it said. "I come for my sister."

There was a babble and uproar again, silenced by a shot being fired from what she suspected was Amar's gun. "Return to you houses," Amar ordered curtly. "This guest is mine and I will treat him with the respect he is due."

There was a general muttering and the tramping of feet as Sonora waited. Remus Lupin? She didn't remember anyone by that name…

Then the covering on the doorway was brushed aside and a tall, shabby looking man, dressed in old robes and of all things, wearing a turban like Amar behind him, stepped into the room. He smiled at her, although she saw his eyes widen. She must look worse than she thought. "Sonora?" he asked.

"Yes. Speak English please, Amar does not understand the language," she told him, pleased that she was not wincing with every word. Of course, she must still look as bad as she felt. It had only been two days since she'd woken.

Remus Lupin smiled ruefully as he crossed to sit by her bed. "And I don't speak any Arabic, except those handy little phrases Professor Dumbledore taught me," he said.

She reached out and took his hand, mindful of Amar watching. "You are supposed to be my brother," she said in an aside to him, before looking at Amar and switching to Arabic. "Gracious friend, my brother has come for me. Soon I will trespass on your hospitality no longer."

Amar crossed his arms and looked down at her. "Are you sure you are well enough?" he said.

Sonora bowed her head with a smile. Now that someone was here to get her things…? "I am, kind friend."

She turned back to Lupin and the English language. "I will need you to pack my things into my trunk. There is a small red bottle, with a glass stopper that will hopefully let me heal enough to walk."

"You could not heal yourself?" Lupin asked with a worried frown.

Sonora shook her head just a little. It hurt too much. "I was unconscious seven days, and they had already started to treat me."

He squeezed her hand. "I'll take care of it. I will be back in a little bit, then."

Sonora looked up at Amar as Lupin stood. "Kind friend, my brother does not speak your language. Will you show him my hut so he may gather my things? You need not stay, I know your people are restless."

Amar gave a slight bow. "They are, Daughter of Night. I shall show him the path and stand watch on it. My men will not cause more grief to your family."

Sonora watched as the two men left, Lupin looking back and giving her a smile that was faintly reassuring. She wondered where she'd go when she got back to England. Perhaps she'd rent a place in Hogsmeade, where she could heal among her own kind, at least.

~~~~~~~

Soon enough, Lupin was brushing the hanging back and stepping inside once again. "I've packed your trunk with everything that wasn't furniture," he said, coming to her bedside. "And I saved this for you, just like you said." He pulled out the ruby red bottle she'd requested, and removed the stopper.

"If you could help me," she said hesitantly. Her hands were none too steady still, and she did not want to spill a drop.

"Of course," he said gently, and held the bottle to her lips. Sonora swallowed and immediately began to feel a cooling go down her throat. Two more swallows and the bottle was empty.

"What was that?" Lupin asked, putting the stopper back and slipping the bottle into his robes.

"A potion I recently created," she told him, closing her eyes as it began to work. "For lack of a better name, I called it a Quick Heal Potion." The cooling began to work down her torso. "It will be affected by the fact that the Muggles have already set my bones, and I don't have enough to heal me completely. But I am hoping it is enough to walk."

The cooling sensation was creeping toward her arm and she willed it away, down to her leg. She didn't need the arm fixed yet. She needed to walk. To her delight, the potion obeyed the command of her body and the cool feeling slipped downward, gathering around her thigh and then stretching down her leg.

She opened her eyes and looked up at Lupin. "Not quite enough, but I think I can walk," she said. The potion had stretched thin, and her leg would be weak and not fully healed. But walking was what would matter. "Will you help me up?"

Carefully, Lupin supporting a great deal of her weight, she sat, and then stood beside the bed. She carefully tested her weight on each leg. It hurt, and she could tell the leg would not last long. "It'll be enough," she said. "How are we getting back?"

"You're in no condition to apparate," Lupin told her, keeping his grip on her arm as she began a slow, shuffling limp, leaning heavily on him, toward the doorway. "Dumbledore sent a magic carpet."

Sonora stopped and looked at him. "A magic carpet?" she echoed in disbelief. Then she laughed, and to her pleasure it didn't make her ache. "How very appropriate."

Lupin grinned. "Somehow I suspect he thought so, too."

Amar was waiting for them outside his home, and it was with many bows and blessings and prayers for safe passage that they were finally allowed to leave. Lupin guided her carefully along the path away from the village. Her leg began to shake as they moved slowly over the rough terrain.

"Just a little farther," he told her, squinting ahead. "Here." He stopped and reached into his pocket to pull out a small square of cloth. Sonora raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the sweat she'd worked up and the way her body was aching. Lupin smiled and then cast it in front of them with a flick of his wrist. As she watched, the square grew and grew until it was large enough for them both to lie on.

It floated two feet off the ground. "Come," Lupin said kindly, reaching to help her again. "England awaits."