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

Chapter 2

After Sonora had gotten over the novelty of riding a carpet from Pakistan to England, she had fallen into an exhausted slumber, and had missed most of Western Europe passing beneath them. Lupin finally woke her, and she sat up slowly to see the greenness of England below.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to bring you to Hogwarts," Lupin told her.

Sonora sighed. "I'll have to find a way to thank him for this," she said. "He was the only one I could think of to get me out of that mess," she found herself confessing.

Lupin gave her a slight smile. "He has that effect on people," he said. "So you have no family?"

She shook her head. "None. My parents were killed when I was eight. Since Hogwarts, I've been traveling and studying, doing research."

Lupin was quiet for a time after that, before he seemed to shake himself and turned to smile at her. "Here we are. Hogwarts," he said, gesturing at the castle in the distance.

Sonora gazed at it, getting closer every minute, and was suddenly glad that Professor Dumbledore had asked Lupin to bring her there. It had been her only home for years, she thought. It would be nice to see it again.

~~~~~~~

Lupin brought her right up to the doors of the castle on the carpet. Classes must be in session, Sonora mused as she looked around the empty courtyard. Otherwise students would be out and about on this fine autumn day.

Lupin tucked a hand under her arm. "Let's go see if the staircases are cooperative, shall we?" he said cheerfully. Sonora smiled, remembering.

They had only made it down one corridor and a staircase when her leg, stiff and aching from being still, and trembling from the pain and weakness, decided to give out. Lupin barely managed to catch her as it crumpled beneath her.

"Drat," she gasped as she caught the stone balustrade with her good arm to try and break her fall.

"Easy now," Lupin said, a worried look on his face.

"Now who are you dragging around, Lupin?" a voice drawled from above them. "Not another one of your friends?"

Lupin looked up at the speaker while Sonora tried to catch her breath and her balance. "Severus. If you are not teaching right now, would you tell Professor Dumbledore that Miss Stone is here, and that I am taking her to the hospital wing? I don't think she can manage the stairs to his office."

Sonora managed to look up by the end of that speech, to see a familiar face. "Professor Snape," she murmured.

His eyes snapped to hers. "Do I know you, Miss Stone?"

She managed a faint smile. "I'm not surprised you don't remember me. It was a long time ago."

His eyes narrowed on her and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but she made the mistake of taking another step forward and having her leg crumple beneath her again. Her gasp of pain echoed around the stone.

"You'd better get her to Pomphrey before she does herself any more damage," Professor Snape said in a dismissive tone. "As I am going that way myself, I'll mention Miss Stone's arrival to the Headmaster."

"Thank you, Severus," Lupin said in a serene voice, as he battled to keep her from falling. Between the two of them, Sonora managed to get herself propped against the balustrade.

"Well," she gasped as she caught her breath. "I'm sure I impressed the good professor."

Lupin chuckled. "Nothing impresses the good professor, my dear Miss Stone. Severus Snape is notoriously, ahh…"

Sonora managed a chuckle. "You don't need to say any more," she said. "I do recall that." She sighed. "So how to get up the stairs to the infirmity?"

~~~~~~~

Severus Snape swept along the stone hallways, robes swishing behind him. He paused at the door to the Headmaster's office. "Peppermint Patties," he said, and the door opened.

He climbed the stairs and tapped lightly on the office door. "Do come in, Severus," Dumbledore's voice called.

Severus resisted the childish urge to roll his eyes. Dumbledore always seemed omnipotent here at Hogwarts, and it sometimes made him wonder what the purpose of his various errands were. Then, of course, he would remind himself that Dumbledore was still only human, and had to rely on the assistance of others just like any other mortal.

Still, Severus reflected as he entered the room, it would be nice to someday be one step ahead of the man.

"Headmaster," he said as Dumbledore looked up from his desk with a welcoming smile. "Lupin has arrived," he could not quite keep the curl of disdain out of his voice. He might have changed and grown from that dark teenager he had been, but some things a man did not forget or forgive. "He requested me to let you know he has taken a Miss Stone to the hospital wing."

Severus was intrigued when a worried look entered the headmaster's eyes. Who was this Miss Stone? Dumbledore got up.

"Thank you, Severus," he said. "I shall go down and see Sonora immediately."

Severus' eyes narrowed. Stone… Sonora… "Sonora Stone?" he said, finally placing the name. "The researcher?"

Dumbledore nodded as he came around his desk. "The same." He tilted his head and studied Severus for a moment. "I believe you had her in class for a year or so, " he said.

Severus mistrusted the twinkle in the other man's eyes. "I do not recall," he said, drawing himself up with cold dignity. What did Dumbledore want with an expert in Potions research?

Dumbledore chuckled. "It was right when you began teaching," he said with a smile. "She went on to quiet fame, didn't she? How very like the child she was." He sighed. "And now this unfortunate incident… I had best go down and see how she is."

Severus narrowed his eyes again at the headmaster's words, but the old man had already started down the stairs and he was forced to follow or remain standing in an empty office like a fool. Sonora Stone… so that had been the woman weaving on her feet next to Lupin. Funny, he'd not matched her with his first year of students.

Advanced Potions, he recalled… a very quiet, serious girl who tended her cauldron in the back of the room with near perfect hands. He grimaced. A Gryffindor, in fact. How delightful. The castle was positively teeming with them, now that Lupin was here as well. Severus scowled. All he needed was for that idiot Black to show up and make his day complete.

His mind once again turned to Miss Stone as he made his way back to his dungeons. He did not recall a great deal about her from his class, but since then, she had done well. The Nerve-Control Potion, that had been one of her early triumphs, he recalled. Later used by others to develop the Wolfsbane Potion. Severus scowled. No wonder Lupin had been so cheerful around the woman.

Now that he thought on it, he had never seen a great deal written about her. Her discoveries, her research, that had garnered attention in a rather subdued way. More so among scholars and academics than the general public. But the woman herself… he pictured her in his mind, as he had just seen her. Dark hair, dark eyes, face pale to the point of grey with what he would suspect was exhaustion and pain. Dumbledore had mentioned an incident…

Severus decided he had been spending far too much thought on a woman who was most likely passing through. What did he care about having a noted Potions researcher in the castle? He scowled once again and threw himself into his desk chair, reaching for a stack of student essays. He still wanted to know what she was doing at Hogwarts.

~~~~~~~

In the end, Lupin had pulled the magic carpet back out and Sonora had ridden in style, painful style, to the infirmary. Madam Pomphrey had greeted them with clucks and tsks and had fallen to examining her with narrow eyes and mumbled words under her breath.

"Been in the care of Muggles, haven't you?" she tsked yet again. "It rather interferes with what I can do, you know," she said disapprovingly.

Sonora resisted the urge to sigh. "I didn't have much choice," she said yet again.

There was a tap at the door. "Madam Pomphrey?" Sonora smiled to hear the familiar voice of her old headmaster.

"Just a moment," the woman called before bustling around, setting things and Sonora to rights. "Come in, Professor Dumbledore."

The familiar figure of the Headmaster, barely changed from what she remembered, entered the infirmary. "My dear Miss Stone," he said with a smile, coming over to where she lay propped up on one of the beds, dressed in borrowed robes. "I am glad to see you looking fitter than expected."

Sonora smiled gratefully at him. "Professor, I cannot thank you enough for helping me, I know it must have been a dreadful inconvenience…" she started.

Dumbledore held up his hand. "Now, now, my dear, none of that. Actually your request was very convenient for me and presented itself as a possible solution to a rather pressing problem." Sonora raised an eyebrow and Dumbledore just twinkled his eyes at her. "Poppy, is Miss Stone able to be moved?"

Madam Pomphrey bustled back over. "I've done what I can, sir," she told the Headmaster, "Miss Stone, here, was treated by Muggles for long enough that she started to heal the slow way. And I'm afraid with regards to her leg, in particular, I cannot do more without risking undoing what has already been done. Although," and here she turned on Sonora, "I would like to know more about this Quick Heal Potion of yours. It seems to have helped without causing more damage."

Sonora smiled. "I'll write out the recipe for you," she said.

Madam Pomphrey beamed at her. "Thank you, my dear, that's most generous. Well, Professor, I think Miss Stone can be trusted to walk now. I have splinted her leg up nice and tight, and she will have to use this," she said, handing over a crutch. "Take it as easy as you can, my dear, and sit as much as possible."

"Thank you," Sonora told the woman gratefully as she carefully slid off the bed, the crutch tucked under her arm. She carefully tried taking a step, putting her weight on the crutch rather than her bad leg. The crutch immediately adjusted to the proper height, and she found herself able to move easily. At least her arm was healed. Madam Pomphrey had been able to do that without risking anything.

"Well, my dear, let us make our way to my office, shall we?" Professor Dumbledore said with a smile. "And I will endeavor to put your mind at ease about what my plan for you is."

~~~~~~~

Ensconced in the headmaster's office, her leg propped on a cushioned ottoman and a cup of good English tea in one hand and chocolate macaroons sitting easily by her other, Sonora couldn't think of the last time she was so content.

"Heavens, you don't realize how much you miss some things," she sighed as she sipped her tea.

Professor Dumbledore twinkled at her, relaxed with his own cup behind his desk. "Indeed," he agreed. 'Why, I recall in my youth, I once was in Angola for a good six months, and longed most dreadfully for a large scoop of pistachio ice cream the entire time."

Sonora chuckled and sipped her tea. "Oh, where did Mr. Lupin go?" she remembered to ask. "I'd like to thank him for all his assistance."

"Unfortunately, I had to send him off on another errand of mine," Dumbledore smiled ruefully. "These are troubling times and Remus is of great help to me."

"Then I am doubly grateful you spared him to rescue me," Sonora said, setting her cup down with a small frown. "I hope I didn't disrupt anything important."

Dumbledore set his own teacup down and looked at Sonora. "My dear," he said after a moment. "Might I ask how much news from England you received over the last few years?"

Sonora shook her head. "Very little. I have been in Pakistan nearly a year, before that I was in Siberia. All very isolated places."

He sighed and steepled his fingers. "Then I must bring you up to date," he said. "It is with great regret that I must tell you Lord Voldemort has returned."

Sonora just stared at him, in shock and disbelief. Of all the things he could have said, she hadn't expected to hear that. "I beg your pardon?" she asked, still not quite believing her ears.

"The Ministry denies it, and I fear most of England does not believe, either." Dumbledore suddenly looked old and tired. "People do not see that which they do not wish to see."

"But… sir… How?" Sonora finally managed. She'd been a girl at Hogwarts when Voldemort had finally been defeated at the tiny hands of the child, Harry Potter. And she, like the rest of England, had believed him gone for good. She remembered the fear of those dark days, and shivered. May the gods help them all if he was truly back, she thought.

"It is a long story, but suffice to say he was never really gone," Dumbledore said, rousing himself. "And this past spring, he managed to regain his human form. Now he seeks to resume his former activities."

"Good heavens," Sonora finally said. "And the ministry denies this, you say? Why?"

Dumbledore spread his hands. "Cornelius Fudge is minister now, if you were not aware. He does not want to admit things have changed. Aspersions have been cast on the word of young Mr. Potter, who witnessed Voldemort's return to his bodily form."

"The ministry discredits Harry Potter?" Sonora couldn't believe her ears. Of all the people to choose to disbelieve… the Boy Who Lived?

Dumbledore chuckled just a little. "Indeed. As it is, there are those of us who will see preparations made, and this evil defeated once again."

Sonora felt his keen eyes on her and she looked up to see that brilliant blue gaze. "Sir, just say how I may be of service," she said quietly.

He smiled at her, with gentle approval. "I had a feeling you would say that," Dumbledore said. "You were ever a true Gryffindor, my dear, despite your claims of a lack of courage."

Sonora was a little uneasy at that, but managed to shrug and smile. "I know enough not to shirk a task that needs doing, sir, even when it is unpleasant."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Hopefully what I will ask of you will not be unpleasant," he said.

"Anything, Professor," she said. And meant it.

He smiled. "I would like you to become the assistant Potions Master," he said.