The Harry Potter universe belongs to JK Rowling. I own none of her
characters - however, I own the few original ones in this story.
Thanks to my beta, PallasAthene17 - your insight is invaluable.
Chapter 1
I prefer summer mornings to any other type of morning. The warm sun wakes you up, the sky is crystal blue, the birds are chirping, and you can feel the freshness of the day on the breeze. Winter morns are very opposite: dark and bitter cold, I long to stay in bed under the covers until noon. It is also very quiet. No birds, no noise. The air is dry and the trees are barren. Nothingness.
It's funny how our internal clocks let us know the seasons, and when and where we are at times. I guess this is how I found myself out to be going from winter to summer in an instant. It is here where my adventure begins.
London, November 21, 2006
The first word I heard as I entered my flat that cold, winter evening was "Expelliarmus!" Next thing I know, a bucket of cold water is in my face and I'm sputtering for air.
"Damn, and here I thought you were dead and I could have the place to myself," Monique said as she put down the now empty bucket and attempted to help me up, amid the sea of destruction. "What happened here?"
"I think I have been knocked unconscious, what time is it?" I asked, noticing the wall clock that my mother and father gave me as a graduation gift from Oxford had been smashed to a million pieces.
"9:30" Monique said as she surveyed the damage in the room. "Do you remember what time you got in?"
"8 o'clock or so. Does the whole place look like this?" I asked, as I held on to Monique's arm for assistance.
"I think so - I haven't checked the other rooms, I was a little concerned with the well being of my roommate."
Monique is my sarcastic roommate from Oxford. She was studying Muggle Studies while I was doubling up in Charms and Potions. We became friends after meeting in a study group and discovering we were both muggles. Her father is a wizard originally from London, her mother a teacher in Boston. Monique was able to embrace both cultures, and attended Salem Academy. She is one of the few people who understood my need for learning and, in a way, to prove myself that I am just as capable, if not more, than purebloods.
"I wonder who would do such a thing -hmm, wait a second - could it be, Voldemort?" Monique dramatized as she flung her forearm over her head, "Alas, he has returned from the grave!"
"Oh do shut - up!" I always loved the way Monique could ease the tension in a room with a dramatic flair. "Besides, he's dead. The voice casting the spell was familiar though."
"Familiar you say? Recent familiar, old familiar or muggle familiar?" Monique questioned.
"I don't remember. I only heard one word. But that voice - I know I've heard it somewhere before.
"Perhaps at the Ministry?"
"Perhaps. Bugger! I've got to check to see if all my research is intact."
Monique gave me a curious look, and helped me around to our office. What Monique knows is that I work for the Department of Magical Maladies in the Ministry. What she doesn't know is that I am also working on a secret project that would revolutionize the Ministry's judicial system.
As I entered the office, I wasn't surprised at the site: everything was turned upside-down. The contents of my desk and file cabinets were all over the floor. I immediately ran into my bedroom and found more of the same. I grabbed my stuffed kitty Crooks, the one Ron & Harry gave me after Crookshanks died. My right arm reached into my left sleeve for my wand to spell it open, and I realized my wand was not there. Panic swept through me at the loss of my wand. It felt as though I lost an appendage. I looked at Crooks and ripped him open, giving a sigh of relief. The disk was there.
"So is this why our flat is turned upside-down? A lousy disk?" Monique queried.
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Do tell." Monique prodded.
"It's just not that big of a deal." I lied, "I am working with Neville on a cure for his parents. We're coming really close - Sephe has helped us a lot with the research . All our work is on this disk."
Sephe, or Persephone, is my muggle cousin. She always knew I was a little different, since the day when her older brother, Tristan, put slime down the back of my dress when I was 5, and I transfigured the jacks Sephe and I were playing with into spiders and sent them on him. We never did continue the game of jacks, and Tristan never teased us again. Sephe is now a chemist for a pharmaceutical company, and is brilliant in the field.
Monique looked at me in her serious manner and warned me, "You better find out if Neville and Sephe are ok. I don't like the look of this. I think we should call the Ministry - they should know about this Mione."
I half-heartedly shrugged my shoulders, nodded my head gravely, and started for the living room. "Do you see my wand? They must've taken it off me once they stunned me.
"Well, it's not like you can find a wand amid this heap. Let's look, shall we?" Monique replied as she followed me into the living room and began flipping through the remnants of our belongings that were destroyed on our floor. She soon added, "I wonder if you'll get anywhere with this" as she pulled my now-broken wand out from under an equally broken chair.
"Damn." I grasped my defunct wand from Monique, and replied, "See if you can find some floo powder."
After about ten minutes of dredging through the apartment, Monique yelled, "I think I've found it!" as she reached under the debris of our former couch. I grabbed the box from her and threw some into the fireplace and said, "Ron Weasley", leaving a very confused Monique behind.
Monique stared into the fireplace where Hermione just stood, "Bugger, methinks I need a new flatmate."
Hogwarts
Severus Snape was just settling in his favorite chair enjoying a glass of brandy after a long days work. 'Ahh, peace and quiet for three glorious weeks' he thought to himself as he kicked his feet up on the table. He had just received his monthly subscription to Potent Potions, and was looking forward to a night alone without having to babysit the brats when a gentle knock sounded on his chambers. 'Dammit Albus - I can't get one second to myself around here', Snape removed his feet from the table, put his scowl back on his face and replied to the knock, "Come in Albus".
"How is the brandy?" Albus asks, taking a seat in the chair opposite Snape.
"Abysmal, of course. You know me, only the best." Severus replied, perfunctorily summoning hot cocoa for Albus.
"I had an interesting visitor today. It seems that Thomas Greer from the Ministry's Department of Justice has been found dead."
"So."
"So, Thomas was the prosecutor for Lucius' trial."
"Have you heard from Azkaban?" Severus asked, leaning towards Albus, a bit more interested in this conversation.
"As far as we know, all is well there - everyone is accounted for."
"What about his precious son? Do you know where he is?"
"That seems to be the issue, no one knows where he is. He was last seen a week ago Wednesday, in Los Angeles, of all places."
"Los Angeles? Let me ask you, have you checked the number of casualties in LA during his stay?" Snape drawled. "Albus, Draco is just as big of a monster as his father. I know you had faith in him returning to our side, but open your eyes." Snape stood up and looked into the fire. "What are you keeping from me Albus?"
Albus took off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "I think I am going to need a glass of that brandy."
Thanks to my beta, PallasAthene17 - your insight is invaluable.
Chapter 1
I prefer summer mornings to any other type of morning. The warm sun wakes you up, the sky is crystal blue, the birds are chirping, and you can feel the freshness of the day on the breeze. Winter morns are very opposite: dark and bitter cold, I long to stay in bed under the covers until noon. It is also very quiet. No birds, no noise. The air is dry and the trees are barren. Nothingness.
It's funny how our internal clocks let us know the seasons, and when and where we are at times. I guess this is how I found myself out to be going from winter to summer in an instant. It is here where my adventure begins.
London, November 21, 2006
The first word I heard as I entered my flat that cold, winter evening was "Expelliarmus!" Next thing I know, a bucket of cold water is in my face and I'm sputtering for air.
"Damn, and here I thought you were dead and I could have the place to myself," Monique said as she put down the now empty bucket and attempted to help me up, amid the sea of destruction. "What happened here?"
"I think I have been knocked unconscious, what time is it?" I asked, noticing the wall clock that my mother and father gave me as a graduation gift from Oxford had been smashed to a million pieces.
"9:30" Monique said as she surveyed the damage in the room. "Do you remember what time you got in?"
"8 o'clock or so. Does the whole place look like this?" I asked, as I held on to Monique's arm for assistance.
"I think so - I haven't checked the other rooms, I was a little concerned with the well being of my roommate."
Monique is my sarcastic roommate from Oxford. She was studying Muggle Studies while I was doubling up in Charms and Potions. We became friends after meeting in a study group and discovering we were both muggles. Her father is a wizard originally from London, her mother a teacher in Boston. Monique was able to embrace both cultures, and attended Salem Academy. She is one of the few people who understood my need for learning and, in a way, to prove myself that I am just as capable, if not more, than purebloods.
"I wonder who would do such a thing -hmm, wait a second - could it be, Voldemort?" Monique dramatized as she flung her forearm over her head, "Alas, he has returned from the grave!"
"Oh do shut - up!" I always loved the way Monique could ease the tension in a room with a dramatic flair. "Besides, he's dead. The voice casting the spell was familiar though."
"Familiar you say? Recent familiar, old familiar or muggle familiar?" Monique questioned.
"I don't remember. I only heard one word. But that voice - I know I've heard it somewhere before.
"Perhaps at the Ministry?"
"Perhaps. Bugger! I've got to check to see if all my research is intact."
Monique gave me a curious look, and helped me around to our office. What Monique knows is that I work for the Department of Magical Maladies in the Ministry. What she doesn't know is that I am also working on a secret project that would revolutionize the Ministry's judicial system.
As I entered the office, I wasn't surprised at the site: everything was turned upside-down. The contents of my desk and file cabinets were all over the floor. I immediately ran into my bedroom and found more of the same. I grabbed my stuffed kitty Crooks, the one Ron & Harry gave me after Crookshanks died. My right arm reached into my left sleeve for my wand to spell it open, and I realized my wand was not there. Panic swept through me at the loss of my wand. It felt as though I lost an appendage. I looked at Crooks and ripped him open, giving a sigh of relief. The disk was there.
"So is this why our flat is turned upside-down? A lousy disk?" Monique queried.
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Do tell." Monique prodded.
"It's just not that big of a deal." I lied, "I am working with Neville on a cure for his parents. We're coming really close - Sephe has helped us a lot with the research . All our work is on this disk."
Sephe, or Persephone, is my muggle cousin. She always knew I was a little different, since the day when her older brother, Tristan, put slime down the back of my dress when I was 5, and I transfigured the jacks Sephe and I were playing with into spiders and sent them on him. We never did continue the game of jacks, and Tristan never teased us again. Sephe is now a chemist for a pharmaceutical company, and is brilliant in the field.
Monique looked at me in her serious manner and warned me, "You better find out if Neville and Sephe are ok. I don't like the look of this. I think we should call the Ministry - they should know about this Mione."
I half-heartedly shrugged my shoulders, nodded my head gravely, and started for the living room. "Do you see my wand? They must've taken it off me once they stunned me.
"Well, it's not like you can find a wand amid this heap. Let's look, shall we?" Monique replied as she followed me into the living room and began flipping through the remnants of our belongings that were destroyed on our floor. She soon added, "I wonder if you'll get anywhere with this" as she pulled my now-broken wand out from under an equally broken chair.
"Damn." I grasped my defunct wand from Monique, and replied, "See if you can find some floo powder."
After about ten minutes of dredging through the apartment, Monique yelled, "I think I've found it!" as she reached under the debris of our former couch. I grabbed the box from her and threw some into the fireplace and said, "Ron Weasley", leaving a very confused Monique behind.
Monique stared into the fireplace where Hermione just stood, "Bugger, methinks I need a new flatmate."
Hogwarts
Severus Snape was just settling in his favorite chair enjoying a glass of brandy after a long days work. 'Ahh, peace and quiet for three glorious weeks' he thought to himself as he kicked his feet up on the table. He had just received his monthly subscription to Potent Potions, and was looking forward to a night alone without having to babysit the brats when a gentle knock sounded on his chambers. 'Dammit Albus - I can't get one second to myself around here', Snape removed his feet from the table, put his scowl back on his face and replied to the knock, "Come in Albus".
"How is the brandy?" Albus asks, taking a seat in the chair opposite Snape.
"Abysmal, of course. You know me, only the best." Severus replied, perfunctorily summoning hot cocoa for Albus.
"I had an interesting visitor today. It seems that Thomas Greer from the Ministry's Department of Justice has been found dead."
"So."
"So, Thomas was the prosecutor for Lucius' trial."
"Have you heard from Azkaban?" Severus asked, leaning towards Albus, a bit more interested in this conversation.
"As far as we know, all is well there - everyone is accounted for."
"What about his precious son? Do you know where he is?"
"That seems to be the issue, no one knows where he is. He was last seen a week ago Wednesday, in Los Angeles, of all places."
"Los Angeles? Let me ask you, have you checked the number of casualties in LA during his stay?" Snape drawled. "Albus, Draco is just as big of a monster as his father. I know you had faith in him returning to our side, but open your eyes." Snape stood up and looked into the fire. "What are you keeping from me Albus?"
Albus took off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "I think I am going to need a glass of that brandy."