Disclaimer:  Everything recognizable from the Harry Potter universe belongs to J K Rowling, no infringement is intended to any copyright holder

Beloved on this Earth

                                                                                                                   ~ 0 ~

Lois awoke the next morning to find a note propped on the small bedside cabinet next to her bed from the Headmaster she had met the night before, Albus Dumbledore.  After blinking in vague surprise at the signature – not Albert then, as she'd half recalled – she scanned the rest of the note, the narrow, loopy writing informing her Harry would collect her for breakfast at eight o'clock.  Raising herself slightly to squint at the clock on the bureau across the room, she saw it was only a little after seven now.  Groaning heavily, Lois flopped back down onto the bed, realising with relief that there was no need to rush just yet.

After taking careful stock of her injuries, she was happy to find that her mind was thankfully much clearer than it had been last night, although alarmingly, there were still one or two very large gaps.  She clearly remembered her reasons for wanting to check up on Harry and the surprise, which had quickly turned to annoyed distrust, after meeting Professor Snape. 

Everything was suddenly less clear however, after her refusal to allow Harry to go anywhere until she spoke to the Dursleys.  Her next real memory after that was of a quick glimpse of a large imposing castle, which she supposed must have been this – Hogwarts, Dumbledore had said the school was called, and then waking up here.  She could only assume that events had occurred as Professor Snape had described last night – it certainly made more sense than any other explanation she could come up with.  In any case, Lois reasoned, she would know soon enough whether this was in fact a boarding school as Snape had claimed.  If so, she supposed she owed him an apology for her behaviour yesterday.  She felt a strange, lurching, sensation in her stomach at the prospect of confronting him again; in her mind's eye she saw his sharp, intelligent face with its dark bottomless eyes and heard his soft silky voice as clearly as if he were speaking to her right now. 

Pushing away the disturbing emotions thoughts of Snape caused, Lois forced herself to concentrate on the problem at hand.  She would speak to the Headmaster, she decided, hopefully at breakfast and as long as everything was as genuine as it appeared, she could start making arrangements to head home and finally begin her holiday.  Once she left here, Lois realised, she would probably never see any of these people again.  She dismissed the pang of disappointment as nothing more than hunger.

Rising regretfully from the comfy bed, Lois examined her room and was pleased to find a small, but fully equipped bathroom behind a door on the far wall.  Before making use of it, she carried out a quick inspection of the rest of the room and was slightly disconcerted to discover the bedroom door was locked, with no discernable way of opening it from the inside.  Perhaps they just didn't trust her not to go wandering around what was probably an almost empty school, she thought and decided not to panic unless Harry failed to arrive as promised.   Thankfully her fears were groundless and she was freshly showered and dressed, unfortunately having no choice but to don her clothes from yesterday, when Harry's knock came at the door. 

'Hi, Lois,' he said brightly as he wheeled himself easily into the room.  'How are you feeling?'

'Fine actually,' Lois replied. 'My head doesn't hurt at all, although I am starving,' she said holding a hand to her stomach, which chose that moment to growl loudly. 

'You'll love breakfast here then; it's always huge.' 

As he spoke, Lois belatedly realised that Harry was dressed in similar robes to the ones she had seen Professor Snape and the Headmaster wearing last night. 

'Er, I know they look odd,' Harry said quickly, as Lois continued to stare, 'but this is our school uniform; I thought I might as well get used to wearing them now I'm back.  Besides they're much easier to put on with my broken arm and leg than normal clothes.' 

'I've never seen a uniform like it,' Lois said slowly.  'Do the teachers have to wear them too then?'

'Yeah, plain black for the students, but the Professors can wear any colour they like.'

'Your Professor Snape's were black though,' she noted, remembering that the Headmaster's robes had been a sparkling purple.  The thought that a deep moss green might better suit Snape's colouring popped into her head, but she decided against sharing that opinion with Harry.

'Hmph,' Harry muttered, pulling a face.  'He never wears anything else. Ron, my friend, says he looks like a giant bat sweeping down the corridors.' 

A soft chuckle escaped Lois as the mental image swept over her of the tall professor sleeping upside down, swooping menacingly on anyone who dared to disturb his rest.  Harry must have been having similar thoughts, for he wore an identical amused grin.

Lois's stomach suddenly rumbled hungrily again, and Harry obligingly led her out of the small room and down a long corridor towards breakfast.  Lois tried to get a good look around the dark and gloomy passages they passed, but Harry was fairly zooming along the deserted hallways and within less than a minute, they were outside a huge door in an enormous foyer, dominated by a large marble staircase in the centre.  Harry had pushed the wooden door open and was waiting politely for Lois to enter the room before him, when out the corner of her eye she saw something move and turned quickly towards it.  When she looked closer however, all she saw was a large, amazingly realistic painting of a jolly-faced woman. 

'Everything okay, Lois?' Harry asked in a loud voice.  Nodding, Lois turned reluctantly away from the strange painting and preceded Harry through the door. 

The room she found herself in on the other side was absolutely enormous; four long tables were positioned across the room and another large table faced them from a raised platform at the front of the massive hall.  The hall was exceedingly bright, and when Lois looked up to where she expected to see lights blazing, she was amazed to find herself staring instead at a dazzling blue sky.  'My goodness!  Is the ceiling glass, Harry?' she gasped.

'Er, yeah something like that,' Harry muttered and in a gesture reminiscent of Snape, guided her firmly by the elbow towards the front of the room, where a smaller table that she hadn't noticed when she first came in was set up.  The aroma of delicious food assailed her nostrils and she headed towards it, smiling politely as she saw Snape and the Headmaster she had met last night, along with another woman she didn't recognise.

Both Snape and Dumbledore stood as Harry and Lois approached them.  Once they had arrived at the table, Snape politely drew out the free chair next to him for Lois.  She was uncomfortably aware of the tall professor's closeness as he performed this task and she shied imperceptibly away as the sleeve of his robe brushed her bare arm.  Small though the movement had been, Snape obviously noticed, for he stiffened immediately and shot her a cold glare as he purposely let his hands slide away from the chair back and resumed his own place at the table.  Luckily, everyone's attention was focussed on Harry, who was struggling to get his wheelchair close enough to the table to comfortably eat, and the incident passed unnoticed.  Good mornings were finally exchanged and once they were all seated again, Professor Dumbledore invited Lois to help herself to the food set in the centre of the table and offered her a glass of something called pumpkin juice, which she accepted doubtfully.

'How is your head this morning, Lois?' the Headmaster asked with concern.

'Fine, thank you,' Lois replied, feeling slightly awkward.  'It was very kind of you to let me stay last night.'

'You're most welcome, it was the very least we could do,' Dumbledore said sincerely.  'Now, you met Severus yesterday of course, but I'm afraid you weren't introduced to our Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall,' he said, indicating the woman on his right. 

'Pleased to meet you, Professor McGonagall,' Lois said, shaking her offered hand.  Although the professor appeared outwardly rigid with her stern features and hair caught up in a tight bun, her slight smile and warm eyes hinted at her true nature. 

'Do call me Minerva,' she invited.

'What an unusual collection of names you all have,' Lois said.  'I don't think I've ever met another Minerva and I'm quite sure I've never even heard of a Severus or an Albus,' she continued, smiling at the two of them as she spoke.  She couldn't help but notice that Snape did not return her smile, and instead watched her impassively from his coal black eyes.  She wondered vaguely if he ever smiled; he certainly had none of the laugh lines normally associated with people of a sunny disposition.

Harry grinned over his pumpkin juice at her, interrupting her musings. 'I know, there's only me and you who have normal names.'

'I wish,' Lois laughed.  'I got teased dreadfully at school and eventually I refused to even tell anyone my real name.'

'Excuse me – Lois isn't your real name?'  Minerva asked sharply, while the rest of the table's occupants stopped eating and suddenly became very interested in the conversation.

'Erm, no,' Lois answered, surprised at her tone and the attention their discussion had garnered.  'Actually it's Achelois, horrific for a child,' she grimaced.

'Achelois,' Professor McGonagall repeated, a considering look in her eyes, which sharpened suddenly as she focused on Lois again. 'And is Scott your birth name also?'

'Well, no, as a matter of fact I was born Achelois Bell; Scott's my married name.'  Lois had her head turned towards Minerva as she spoke and didn't notice the stiffening of Snape's harsh features at her words, or the hopeful light that appeared in Harry's eyes. 

'Achelois Bell,' McGonagall said softly.  'A very pretty name – what a shame children always mock that which is strange or unfamiliar.'  She shared a pointed look with Dumbledore before standing abruptly.  'Please excuse me, my dear, I've just remembered something I have to do,' she apologised, making her way from the hall with a rustle of robes.

'Was it something I said?'  Lois asked, only half joking.

'Oh, most certainly not,' Dumbledore assured.  'Even when the school is empty of students there is always much work to be done.  To get back to your name though – Achelois is certainly most unusual; are you aware of its meaning?'

'No,' Lois confessed, intrigued.  'I asked my father once and he said my mother had chosen it, but he didn't know why.'

'Perhaps she had a premonition as to the type of career you would choose,' the Headmaster smiled.  'Achelois was a Greek moon goddess, it means, if I remember correctly, "She who drives away pain."'

'Really?'  Lois asked surprised. 'What a coincidence! Although I bet Harry didn't think I was driving away pain when I kept forcing all those vile pills and medicines down his neck,' she grinned over at the young boy, who smiled back before taking an enthusiastic bite from the sausage on his fork. 

'Trust me,' Harry mumbled, hurriedly swallowing his food. 'I've tasted worse,' he said with a dark glance at Snape, who appeared to be deep in some unpleasant thoughts of his own and hadn't heard.

Lois looked curiously at Snape and Harry, noticing the Professors distraction and Harry's scowling visage; these two obviously have some history she thought, before the Headmaster drew her attention again by offering her more pumpkin juice which, she had been pleased to discover, was actually much nicer than it sounded. 

While she was finishing her delicious breakfast, she heard Professor Dumbledore addressing Harry to ask if he was in any pain. Lois turned quickly towards Harry and was instantly annoyed with herself for not noticing sooner his pale features and heavy eyes.  She immediately pushed herself away from the table, but Dumbledore waved her back into her seat saying, 'Don't get up my dear, I'm sure Severus will be kind enough to take Harry down to the Infirmary.' 

Snape looked up sharply at this, fixing the Headmaster with a questioning stare.  Although Lois could see no answer in his eyes, the silent communication obviously made sense to Snape, because he stood up and placed himself behind Harry's wheelchair pushing him from the room, sparing Lois a cool nod as he did so.  Before he had taken two steps, Harry grabbed one of the chair's wheels with his good hand and turned beseechingly to Lois. 

'You won't go before I've said goodbye, will you, Lois?' he asked, his eyes momentarily swivelling to Dumbledore.

'I wouldn't dream of it,' she answered warmly, rewarded with his pleased grin in return.  Snape made an impatient sound and Harry lifted his hand to his lap, allowing Snape to push him from the room unhampered.

No sooner had Snape and Harry left the hall, than Minerva McGonagall returned via a small door set in the wall at the side of the raised platform.  Professor McGonagall's face was flushed slightly and she held something in her hands, which she passed to Professor Dumbledore as soon as she was close enough.  As the Headmaster reached to take it, Lois saw that it was a half open role of parchment, the kind of which she had only ever seen before in old films and costume dramas on television.  The parchment was tattered and slightly yellowing with age, and had what appeared to be a long list of names written on it in flowing green ink. 

Professor McGonagall clearly grew impatient with Dumbledore's slow study of the parchment, because she quickly unrolled it further pointing sharply to a name close to the beginning.  It obviously meant something, because the Headmaster blinked slowly and met Minerva's eyes with a questioning glance.  With a small nod, Professor McGonagall then handed him another object that Lois hadn't noticed before.  When he unfolded it she could see that it appeared to be a piece of normal notepaper.  This time however, she had no idea what was written on it, because the back of the sheet was blank and the paper too thick for any words to bleed through.  Professor McGonagall allowed the Headmaster to read uninterrupted and when he reached the bottom of the page, he let out a small sigh and muttered, 'Ah, I see.' 

Folding the paper precisely, Professor Dumbledore placed it face down on the table before exchanging a quick look with Professor McGonagall, who nodded slightly and left the hall again, smiling kindly at Lois as she left.      

'Is everything alright, Headmaster?'  Lois asked, as he turned his attention back to her

'Yes my dear, fine.  Minerva has just found the answer to a particularly perplexing puzzle that has had us all stumped since you arrived here last night.'

'Oh, that's good,' she said, unsure what else to say.

'Yes indeed.'  He looked closely at Lois. 'I suppose, Lois, that you have already noticed that Hogwarts is somewhat… unusual.  I realise we have all been less that forthcoming, but have you reached a conclusion as to what type of school it actually is?'

A very strange one, Lois immediately thought – a school housed in an honest-to-goodness castle with the teachers and pupils wandering around in robes.  Maybe it was some sort of weird monastery she thought, or perhaps a drama school?  Nothing else she could think of would explain the odd environment and how, well, eccentric everyone was.

'A stage school?' she finally answered diplomatically.

Dumbledore laughed at that.  'I suppose that would be my guess too in your position,' he chuckled again before becoming serious once more.  'Actually, Lois, I can think of no way to prepare you for the real answer, so I feel it would be best to just say it - Hogwarts is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  One of the finest in the world, if I say so myself,' he finished proudly.

'Really?'  Lois said pleasantly, swiftly deciding the best course of action would be to humour him until she could escape from this insane asylum to safety.

'Really,' Dumbledore repeated. He sighed when he saw the frantic look in her eyes as she searched furtively for escape, and drew his wand from the sleeves of his robes.  

Lois stood sharply, panic rising when she saw the small stick he held in his hand.  What the hell was he doing now?  'Look, Professor, it's really none of my business what type of school this is,' she said, an escape plan already forming - she would head to the nearest town and arrange for help for Harry from there.  There was really nothing she could do alone, and Harry didn't seem inclined to escape even if she could get the two of them out.

'Please don't be alarmed, Lois,' Dumbledore said and amazingly, given the evidence, Lois did calm slightly looking into his wise blue eyes and sat warily back in her seat.  'I can prove what I am saying is true.'

'Okay then, go ahead and prove it.'  Maybe Dumbledore was just a bit senile, she thought, relaxing further and deciding she had probably overreacted, although he did seem remarkably lucid.  If she could just find Snape or McGonagall, perhaps they would be able to explain this.  While she was still distracted by the hundred and one thoughts flitting through her mind, the Headmaster waved the stick he held in a swishing motion and the entire table cleared of the food that had been there seconds before. 

'Wha... What the hell was that!' Lois gasped.

'Magic,' Dumbledore replied.

Before she had regained the ability for coherent speech, Dumbledore was mumbling again.  This time when he spoke the room and tables were suddenly covered in a thick blanket of flowers of every kind imaginable:  Tulips, lilies, carnations, freesias, hyacinths, daffodils, violets, dahlias and hundreds of other more exotic varieties that she couldn't name.  The only free space in the room now consisted of two small circles surrounding her own and Dumbledore's chairs, allowing them both to continue sitting comfortably.  She drew a deep breath in shock, inhaling the fragrance of the fresh blooms.  Her hand reached out cautiously to touch a deep red rose, which was teetering precariously on the edge of the breakfast table. The flower appeared real and she lifted it towards her, sniffing delicately at its heady perfume and examining the velvety petals closely.  As she bent to lift a second flower from the floor, this time a huge yellow chrysanthemum, she felt the pollen from the thousands of flowers begin to tickle her nose and sneezed twice in rapid succession.

'I'm sorry, Lois,' Dumbledore apologized. 'Do you suffer from hay fever?'  He waved his stick again as he spoke, the flowers disappearing as quickly and as completely as they had appeared.  'I could, I suppose, have conjured synthetic flowers to be on the safe side, but to me however realistic they appear they're never quite the same, don't you agree?'  

Lois stared back at him, her mouth hanging open in amazement.  She didn't want to believe what had just happened, but she had seen it with her own eyes - unless it was some kind of trick?  Maybe they had used hologram projections or something.  Then again she had held that rose in her hand.  'Do something else,' she demanded jerkily, ignoring his question.  'Something I pick, so that I know you haven't set it up beforehand.'

'Very well,' Dumbledore said in the same even tone, his eyes twinkling merrily.

Lois looked around, thinking quickly.  Almost anything in this room could have been tampered with she decided and instead looked down at herself.  'My dress,' she said.  'Change the colour of it.'

'Any particular colour?'

'As long as it's not the same as it is now, you choose.'

Of course he couldn't really do it, but Lois nevertheless stared fixedly at her dress, refusing to take her eyes away from it as though she were expecting someone to replace it while she wasn't looking.  Out the corner of her eye she was aware that Dumbledore was waving his stick again and muttering what sounded like, 'Aurum in Loco.'

Lois watched, frozen, as her navy blue dress changed into a soft buttery gold.  When she was certain of what she saw, she blinked once and slowly looked up into Dumbledore's benign countenance.

'So,' she began, dragging the word out. 'You're a wizard then, are you?'

'I am.' 

'And Professor Snape and McGonagall?' she questioned dazedly.

'Them too.'

'Not Harry though,' she said – surely that young boy couldn't be a wizard.  If he was, why hadn't he saved himself from the accident with a spell?

'Oh, Harry is most definitely a wizard,' Dumbledore chuckled.  Lois was still struggling to wrap her head around the extraordinary turn events had taken, when Dumbledore dropped his final bombshell.  'And actually, Lois, so are you.' 

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A/N Phew, I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter! I was utterly convinced that I'd been too heavy handed with the clues and I'd be barraged with reviews saying "You're fooling no one – it's obvious she's a witch, stop wasting my time and just tell me her real first name damn it!" It's very hard, I've discovered, to view a story objectively when you know where it's going!

Also, a couple of people mentioned it, and I know it's taking a while to get to the romance, but it's coming I promise. The thing is, there's quite a lot of stuff with Lois I need to get into the story first and anyway, although we're up to chapter seven, within the confines of the story Lois and Snape only met yesterday so they're not moving too slowly.

And Brittanie – Achelois is pronounced A-kel-ois, but as for Lois, that's just Low-is (with is, sounding like miss).