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 ~

'What?!' she squawked.

'Technically of course, I mean a witch.  A rose by any other name, eh?' he smiled.

For a stunned moment Lois was incapable of speech.  When she was finally able to form words again, her voice was croaky, but still clear enough to be understood.  'If I'm a witch, why can't I do spells and stuff, and why didn't I go to school here?' she managed, waving her hand vaguely around the room.

'Well actually, Lois, you did have a place at Hogwarts,' Dumbledore murmured softly, all humour vanishing from his face. 

'So what happened, because I'm pretty damn sure there was no 'A' Level Disappearing Crockery at Brookfield Comprehensive,' she said gesturing clumsily to the now bare breakfast table.

Dumbledore winced slightly at her harsh question, but his voice when he spoke was calm and reassuring.  'I'm afraid when your letter was sent inviting you to Hogwarts, your father wrote declining on your behalf.'

'My father?' Lois said in confusion.  'No!  He would never have not told me something this…' Her words of instinctive denial petered to a slow halt as an arrested expression claimed her face.  'Oh my God,' she breathed softly, her eyes unfocussed and glassy as she sat staring into the past.  'He knew.' 

'Lois?'  The old man prompted gently when she continued staring vacantly into space, seemingly no longer aware of his presence.

'My dad, he… died,' she said jerkily, the memories of that terrible time still painful.  'Three years ago.  Cancer.  He was sick for a long time and towards the end he became very confused.  Normally he was an extremely intelligent man and had an excellent memory, but as his illness progressed…' She felt her eyes sting, experiencing again the torment of watching her beloved father disintegrate into a pale shadow of his former self as the dreadful disease ravaged his once strong mind and body.  'He was in a lot of pain,' she continued softly, in control once more, 'and taking so much medication, it was no wonder he got so mixed-up.  During his worst periods, he often didn't make any sense at all; he would confuse me with other people, forgot where he was, when it was – that type of thing.'  She looked up into Dumbledore's kind face to see if he understood and received a sympathetic nod in return.

'One night he became terribly upset and kept saying how sorry he was for not telling me about my mother's world, for holding me back. It didn't make any sense – I don't really remember my mother, but he'd told me all about her, or at least I thought he had,' she murmured, immediately forcing herself to set aside that particular subject for a moment. 'Anyway, when he was like that there was no point trying to reason with him – I kept telling him that of course he hadn't held me back, but he still wouldn't settle.'  Dumbledore patted her hand comfortingly and Lois gained a little strength from his touch.  'My mother was a… a witch wasn't she?'

'Yes,' Dumbledore replied. 

Lois nodded, expecting that.  'He said he'd been wrong and that she wouldn't have wanted me to deny my heritage, but he couldn't bear to lose me too.  I thought it was the ramblings of a dying man, so I told him I forgave him and didn't blame him for any of it.  He seemed to calm down then and he never mentioned it again.  He died two days later.'  Lois lapsed into silence for a moment, lost in thought.  'Oh,' she said, as another memory struck, 'he said he'd kept all of her things for me in the attic, that I should see them.'

'Did you never look, Lois?' 

'No, as I said, he was drifting in and out of consciousness and towards the end he was barely lucid.  He spent an entire afternoon at one point, utterly convinced I was a stranger who'd broken into the house - how could I have known any of it was real?' she asked plaintively, lifting her shoulders in a bewildered movement.

'You couldn't, of course.'  Dumbledore apologised immediately.

She shook herself slightly, dislodging the pain in her chest enough to continue.  'After the funeral it upset me too much to go back to the house – Dad and I were very close.  My mum died when I was only eighteen months old and from then on it was just him and me – we didn't have anyone else you see.  For the longest time I couldn't stand to go home, knowing he wouldn't be there.  David, my husband, cleared the house and stored most of the personal belongings; I couldn't even do that. Afterwards we rented it out, David and I had a flat in London because of our work.  It wouldn't have been practical for us to live there ourselves.  We didn't sell it because we planned… we planned to move back later, after we started a family, when the memories weren't so upsetting.'

'Where is your husband, Lois?'  Dumbledore asked curiously.

'He died too, six months later in a motorcycle accident,' she said painfully, seeing again her beloved David with the laughing blue eyes and wavy blond hair.  For the longest time she had considered herself cursed, not sure that she could go on without her father and husband.  Slowly the raw wounds of her loss had begun to heal and it was only very recently that she had started enjoying life again instead of merely enduring it.

'I'm sorry, my dear,' the Headmaster said sincerely.

'Yes,' she managed in a watery voice, 'me too.  He was a wonderful man, far too young to die.'  Lois raised her hands to her eyes scrubbing at them furiously; she wasn't going to cry, she had done all her crying a long time ago.  It was silly to get so upset just because this insanity had been dropped in her lap out the blue; she had suffered far more heartbreaking news than this during her life.  And anyway, this didn't even qualify as bad news, not really, it was just very, very, bizarre.  Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered vaguely if the blow to her head had caused permanent brain damage; perhaps she wasn't here at all, perhaps she was lying in a hospital bed somewhere, hooked up to machines and monitors dreaming all this up.  Pushing the unsettling thoughts away, she sat a little straighter in her chair.  'So, did you know my mother, Professor?' she asked firmly. 

Dumbledore studied her closely for a moment.  She met his concerned stare dry-eyed and after a minute he nodded, a look of respect in his eyes as he spoke.  'A long time ago, yes, when she was a student here.  I had heard that she'd married a Muggle, but of course that was long after she had left Hogwarts.  When I knew her she was Niahm Eadon.  A charming young girl as I recall, very intelligent too – a Ravenclaw, as was her twin, your uncle Niall.  Ah, were you aware your mother was a twin, Lois?' he asked cautiously, seeing her dumbstruck expression.

'No,' she said stunned.  'My father never mentioned him; he said he and my mother were both only children.'

'Oh,' Dumbledore said heavily.  'That wasn't true I'm afraid.'

'Is he still alive?' she asked eagerly.

'I'm sorry, Lois, no.  All off the Eadon family are long gone now, except you.'

Lois felt a pang of anguish as she realised she had just discovered a family member that she would never now have the chance to meet.  She didn't know what was worse, knowing or not knowing he had ever existed. 'What were they like?' she asked softly.  'My mum and her brother.'

'Well, as I said, both were extremely bright.  Your mother though was by far the more outgoing of the two.  Niall was somewhat shy as I remember, never one to push himself forward.  I suppose your grandfather had a lot to do with that - Conall Eadon was not an easy man,' he said with a rueful smile of remembrance.

And a grandfather too, Lois thought reeling from one bombshell to the next.  'Why was my grandfather so hard on him?' she asked, trying valiantly to put the shock to one side, aware that Dumbledore was monitoring her closely.  She had no doubt that if he thought this was getting too much for her, he would stop the story until she'd had time to calm down and she couldn't bear to delay hearing his explanation, even for a short while.

'Your family were quite well known in the wizarding world; the Eadon bloodline goes back a great number of years.  I imagine Conall simply set high standards for Niall, being the only boy.  Unfortunately, Niall did not have the temperament to handle the type of pressures your grandfather placed upon him; it made him very nervous and highly-strung.  Luckily your mother never had any difficulty standing up for herself, or those she considered in need of her protection. Something you seem to have inherited from her,' he smiled, his eyes twinkling merrily.

Lois gave a half laugh at that, feeling the tension that had been holding her body taught lessen slightly.  'Why were they well-known?'

'Well the Eadon's had a long history of producing very powerful healers, mediwizards as they are now called.  In fact, Lois, they pioneered many of the techniques used in medical magic today.  There's even an Eadon wing dedicated to them within St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.'

'Oh,' she said, slightly shocked.  'So was my mother one of these, mediwizards then?'

'Yes, she and Niall – they both went into the family business so to speak.'

'How did my mother die?' she finally asked the question that had been nagging her since Dumbledore had begun this incredible story.  Her father had told her that her mother had died in a boating accident during a family holiday.  Given everything she had discovered this afternoon, it seemed doubtful now that that was true.

Dumbledore sighed sadly.  'I'm afraid, Lois, she was another casualty of the war with Voldemort.'

'Who?'

'Voldemort.  He was an immensely strong wizard who wanted to take over the world and rid it of all those he deemed unworthy.  During his struggle for power he killed thousands of witches and wizards as well as Muggles – that's what we call non-wizarding people,' he explained seeing her confusion.

'And my mother was fighting him?' Lois asked surprised.  'I don't understand – I thought you said she was a mediwizard?'

'She was, and an extremely good one at that.  A team of mediwizards, including herself and Niall, were attending the aftermath of one of Voldemort's attacks.  Unfortunately after the area was declared clear by the Aurors, a few Death Eaters - Voldemort's followers - returned.  They killed everyone left alive,' he said regretfully.

'Was my grandfather there too?' she asked, bemused by this unbelievable turn of events.

'No, Conall wasn't a mediwizard at all.  Much to everyone's surprise at the time, he went straight into the Ministry of Magic once he qualified as a wizard.  He died only a few months after your mother and uncle.  At that time Voldemort had only just begun really making his presence felt; he had been targeting senior Ministry officials and by that stage your grandfather was quite high up in the Department of Mysteries. Their work is exceedingly hush-hush, so very little official information was released other than the fact he was killed following a Death Eater raid on his home.'

'And all this is why my dad wouldn't let me go to school here, why he never told me about my mother.  He didn't want to risk losing me too,' she realised, understanding now the reasons he had kept her mother's world from her.

'I'm afraid so.  Voldemort was actually defeated the year you were invited to attend Hogwarts, but your father felt the chances of his returning were too great.'

'This is all so strange I can barely believe it,' she murmured, still dazed by the huge amount of information she was having to process in such a short space of time.  'I suppose the most amazing thing is that I ever found out at all – I mean what are the odds on me running into Harry and ending up here?'

'Probably not as great as you would imagine,' Dumbledore said smiling again.

'What do you mean?'

'Well my best guess is that Harry is the first witch or wizard you've had long-term exposure to since your mother died; I would imagine the magic part of you recognised the same in Harry.  Did you feel a connection to him straight away?' 

'Well yes, I suppose I did,' Lois said slowly. 'I mean I often get attached to the children I nurse, but this was different, stronger.' 

Dumbledore nodded.  'Not only that, Lois, the Eadon's often had empathic abilities, that's partly what made them such skilled healers.  Being around an injured wizard may have awoken similar skills in you that were previously largely dormant.  I would think that would have made the connection to him all the stronger.'

'Empathic?'  Lois questioned warily.  'What does that entail exactly?'

'Don't look so suspicious, child,' Dumbledore said, amused.  'As I understand it, it's a great advantage which some healers possess, allowing them to hone in on the cause of an illness or disease in order to cure it.  After all, it would be extremely useful to be able to sense your patient's pain when you are attempting to heal them.' 

'I'm pretty sure I can't do that,' Lois said nervously. 'I think I would have noticed if I could.'

'Never had an uncanny knack for soothing fretting little ones?'

Lois hesitated, unwilling to confess that she had always had what an old ward Sister had called a 'golden touch' when it came to comforting babies too tiny to explain where their pain was.

'Let's not worry about it now,' the Headmaster said kindly, seeing her troubled expression. 'Whatever the reason, the important thing is you've finally found your way here.  Something that's fated can only ever be delayed, Lois, it cannot be denied forever – you were obviously meant to discover you are a witch.'

'I suppose so,' Lois said hesitantly, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. 

Dumbledore smiled reassuringly.  'Well, Lois, while there are decisions to be made, they don't have to be made right now and I'm sure you're tired of hearing me blathering on. Would you perhaps like to talk with Harry about any of this?  He discovered he was a wizard in circumstances similar to your own, he may be able to offer you a viewpoint I cannot.' 

Lois gave his suggestion some thought, but finally shook her head no.  'I think… I think I need to be alone for a while, to take all this in.  Would that be all right?'

'Certainly, my dear, I understand completely.  Let me walk you back to your room.'

'Don't you trust me not to run screaming out the front door?' Lois asked, seriously tempted by that very thought.

'Not at all, it's just that Hogwarts can be a little unsettling to the uninitiated and I wouldn't want to leave you to your own devices so soon.'

'This place is a little spooky, I even thought I saw a painting move on my way down to breakfast this morning.'

'Really?' Dumbledore asked looking chagrined. 'And after I specifically warned them all to be on their best behaviour.'

'You mean it did move?'

'You will soon come to discover, Lois, that very little at Hogwarts is as it seems.'

Lois nodded nervously and followed Dumbledore back to the small room she had used last night.  Although she eyed all of the paintings and suits of armour they passed with a wary eye, everything that should be still remained so and the short walk was accomplished without incident. Once safely inside the room Dumbledore turned to Lois again. 'Are you sure there is nothing I can get for you?'

'No, I'll be fine, I just need a little time.'

'Very well, I'll send someone to collect you for lunch in a few hours, if that will be long enough?'

'Perfect, thanks. Professor wait!' she called as the door was about to close behind him. 'Do you have any books that I could read, you know something nice and simple and not too scary so that I can get a bit of background to all this?'

Dumbledore paused for a moment, a thoughtful frown on his face and then muttered a few words Lois couldn't make out.  Within seconds, two books came hurtling through the open doorway and screeched to halt above the old wizard's right hand.  I will never get used to this, Lois thought, dazed.  'I think these are the type of things you're looking for,' Dumbledore said, passing them both to her. 

Lois looked down at the books she held; the first was a large, heavy hardback covered in red silk called, The Encyclopaedia of Wizards and Wizarding:  A Complete Revised and Updated Handbook to our Magical World, by Orville Smolley.  She placed the heavy volume on the bed and turned her attention to the second, smaller book.  This one was a thin paperback with a picture of a round-faced witch wearing garish purple robes and winking knowingly from the cover.  Lois stared in amazement for a few seconds at the moving picture, before glancing down at the title written in flashy red writing underneath - So you Think you're a Witch: 180 Easy Tests and Quizzes, by Theola Thrum.

'I know,' Dumbledore said, wincing slightly when Lois looked up at him.  'A dreadfully title, but a surprisingly good read. Oh, one last thing, Lois,' Dumbledore continued as she slumped onto the bed, still staring at Theola Thrum's grinning visage.  'Knowing Harry as I do, I'm certain his curiosity will have reached epic proportions by now, and I'm afraid having to wait another few hours to speak to you himself will finish the poor boy off.  May I have your permission to tell him what has happened?'

'Oh, yes, yes,' Lois said absently.

'And Professor Snape?'

Lois's head shot up at the mention of his name.  'Will he be dying of curiosity too?' she asked her stomach tensing, not unpleasantly, at the thought of him.

'I would imagine so,' Dumbledore said with a small smile.

'Then by all means tell him.'  Lois said as casually as she could.  Dumbledore nodded and closed the door quietly behind him as he left.  Finally alone, Lois breathed a huge sigh of relief and flopped back onto the bed exhausted.

***

As soon as they were clear of the Great Hall, Snape abandoned his position behind Harry's wheelchair and stalked ahead of him towards the Infirmary with long strides.  Harry, having no desire to chat with Snape either, slowed the chair and quickly lost sight of the Potions master around a corner. He sincerely hoped that Snape would veer off at some point towards his dungeons, leaving him to speak to Madam Pomfrey alone. 

Despite the pain in his bruised body and broken limbs, Harry was fairly brimming with excitement. Now that they had discovered Professor McGonagall had been looking for the wrong names in the archives, he was hopeful once more that Lois could be a witch.  His excitement dimmed slightly as he recalled that Professor Snape's spell had shown no evidence of magic on Lois.  Still, there was more of a chance now than there had been last night, he decided firmly, hastily guiding the wheelchair down another corridor when he caught sight of Peeves ahead of him.  He didn't dare risk an encounter with the annoying poltergeist the state he was in at the moment.  His newly optimistic mood was soon dampened unfortunately, when he arrived at the Infirmary minutes later only to be met by Snape's looming figure with no sign of the Hogwarts matron at all.

'Drink this,' Snape said, holding out a steaming goblet towards Harry and foregoing any explanation.

'What is it?'  Harry asked suspiciously, making no move to take it.

'Unless both the Headmaster and I are mistaken, you appear to be in pain, Potter, despite your impressive Muggle medication,' he sneered.  'While I do not possess a healer's skill for soothing aches and repairing broken bones, this potion will reduce your pain and speed your bodies own healing abilities.' 

'Isn't Madam Pomfrey going to treat me?'  Harry asked in a half-panicked tone.  He hated to think what Snape might have brewed up for him, especially when he knew there were no witnesses around to see the results.

'As she is currently visiting her sister in Australia, I would think that highly unlikely,' Snape mocked.  'What?' he asked at Harry's crestfallen expression.  'Did you imagine the entire Hogwarts staff spent their holidays here, Potter, on standby to sort out any problems you may or may not experience?' 

'N... no of course not,' Harry stammered, 'but couldn't she just Apparate back for five minutes?' 

'Madam Pomfrey refuses to use any form of magical travel other than broomstick, which also rules out the possibility of a Portkey I'm afraid,' Snape said, sounding not the slightest bit sorry. 

Harry looked distrustfully at the large goblet the potion was in.  'Why is there so much?' he finally asked.  'The Pain Potion you gave Lois last night was tiny and it didn't smell like this,' he remembered, scrunching his nose in distaste as he got a strong whiff of something foul smelling.

'Miss Scott had merely sustained a blow to the head; she did not require the type of ingredients that are necessary to deal with the pain associated with broken limbs.  In addition, her potion also contained a light sleeping draught, which yours does not.  What is it, Potter?' Snape asked a cruel gleam in his eyes.  'Don't tell me the Boy Who Lived is frightened he's about to be finished off by a simple Pain Potion administered by a professor from his own school?'

As Harry continued to hesitate, Snape suddenly ran out of patience and thrust the goblet forcibly into his left hand. 'Oh for goodness sake, boy, either drink the potion or dispose of it as you will, it really makes no difference to me.'  And with that and a swish of his black robes he departed the main room, heading to Madam Pomfrey's office where he began replacing bottles and jars he had obviously used to make the potion Harry now held.

Harry stared down cautiously at the bubbling brew.  It was bright green and steaming gently, in fact the goblet itself was becoming warm to the touch.  Reminding himself that Professor Dumbledore trusted Snape, Harry took a deep breath and drank back the liquid in one large gulp.  It tasted vile and for a second he was afraid he was going to bring it straight back up again, but thankfully the feeling quickly passed.  Then something amazing happened; a tingling heat started in the tips of his toes and travelled slowly up his legs spreading throughout his body, leaving a pleasant warmth behind.  Within minutes his entire body was free from pain and deliciously relaxed.  He breathed in deeply, something he had been unable to do comfortably with his damaged ribs, and exulted in the feeling of bliss that flooded him. 

Until this moment, Harry had become almost unaware of the constant nagging pain he had been in, but now he was free from it he felt wonderful.  He thought guiltily of his rudeness to Snape about the potion, but only for a minute; he was entirely too warm and cosy to worry about anything for long.  Anyway, he reasoned, if Snape wasn't such a git all the time, he wouldn't have had cause to doubt him.

Harry relaxed back in his chair and tuned out the sounds of Snape apparently packing the potion ingredients away without magic, judging by the loud banging and crashing noises he was making.  Harry wondered vaguely what had put him in such a bad mood; he doubted it was the little disagreement they had just had, that was relatively mild for them.  Then he remembered Snape had become even more miserable than usual during breakfast; he hadn't even picked up on Harry's little dig about the potions he tried to test on him on a regular basis. 

Brushing the irritating thoughts aside, Harry concentrated on his sudden feeling of well being and indulged himself in the improbable fantasy of Lois, no, Achelois, suddenly being revealed to be not only a witch, but also his long lost aunt.  He was jerked out of his pleasant daydreams, which by this stage had moved onto the even less likely scenario of Sirius being acquitted of all crimes, meeting and falling in love with Lois and inviting Harry to live with them forever, by Dumbledore's entrance into the Infirmary.

Harry snapped to attention and moved eagerly forward, anxious to find out what had happened. 

'Feeling better, Harry?' Dumbledore asked, peering down at him.

'Heaps, thanks,' he answered quickly.  'Is she a witch then?' he blurted out before he could stop himself, realising as he said it that Snape was now standing by his side, a watchful expression on his thin face.

'Yes, Harry, she is.' 

'I knew it!' 

'How is that possible, Headmaster?'  Snape asked, a disbelieving note in his voice.

'Lois is the granddaughter of Conall Eadon.'

'Eadon?' Snape said in surprise. 'I wasn't aware there were any Eadons still left alive?'

'Well, Lois would have been only a baby when her mother was murdered.  Her father was a Muggle and understandably loathe to have anything more to do with the wizarding world after his wife's death.  If Conall had lived I imagine it would have been a different story, but as it was Lois was raised never knowing she was a witch,' Dumbledore said heavily. 

'Her mother was murdered?'  Harry asked.

'Yes, she was a mediwizard and had been called to treat the survivors following a Death Eater attack.  Both she and her brother were killed when the Death Eaters returned unexpectedly.'

Snape flinched slightly at that, his eyes glassy and hard.  'I take it then,' he said in a suddenly cold voice, 'she will be rushing home to break the news to her husband as we speak?'

'Sadly, Severus, that is not possible,' Dumbledore said quietly. 'Lois is a widow; her husband passed away not long after her father – she seems to be quite alone in the world now.'

'Poor Lois,' Harry murmured in commiseration.  'Is she okay?'

'A little stunned, obviously, but I think she will be fine given time.  Well, let's have no more of this doom and gloom,' Dumbledore said bracingly, seeing Harry's quiet introspection at the mention of the loss of a parent.  'Lois has returned to our world – this is a cause for celebration!'

Harry smiled at his words, the haunted expression he had worn leaving him as he did.  'I'm glad you won't have to Oblivate Lois's memories.'

'So am I,' Dumbledore assured him, his blue eyes twinkling merrily.  'Now, Harry,' the Headmaster said, eyeing Harry's plaster casts.  'I realise that you've had a bad experience in the past with unqualified professors attempting to repair your broken bones, but in the absence of Poppy, are you willing to trust an old man to the job?' 

Harry grinned, holding out his heavy right arm with alacrity.

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A/N Rosmerta – Glad you liked Lois's full name - it is Greek and no, I definitely don't know Greek! I just wanted Lois to have a name that had some significance and was unusual enough that it wouldn't be obvious it was short for something. I searched some mythology sites with name meanings and luckily happened upon Achelois, which fitted perfectly.

And to Margie Potter - Actually Snape wasn't disturbed by Lois's real name – it was the fact she was married that caused his reaction.