(Emily's Story)
Authors note: I don't own any characters (except Alana). JK Rowling is the mastermind.
------Chapter 1--------
She stumbled through the dense forest, ignoring the rips and tears covering her weather-worn cloak. Blood trickled down her face as she went head-on into a low hanging branch. Even though she knew they weren't far behind her, she couldn't risk revealing herself. She ran as fast as her tired legs would carry her. No one could ever know who she really is and what she is capable of. It would be disasterous if they caught her...
Her grandfather's last words rang constantly through her head. She knew what she had to do. Her only thought was " I have to get to Hogwarts".
She could hear voices behind her growing steadily louder. " I can't hold out much longer", she thought to herself. " If only there was a way to get out of this forest..." Very cautiously, she withdrew her sun crystal from her pocket, using as much light as she could without letting them see.
It was one of the few items she salvaged from her home, which was now nothing but a pile of bricks. She hurriedly glanced around, finding a very suitable hiding place in the high branches of a red oak tree.
Scattered footsteps echoed in the dark shadowed night. She was afraid they could hear her heart throbing inside of her, like a constant drum. " Where'd she go?" she heard a man hiss.
"She must have ran further through the brush when you were wasting time trying to get us into search parties!" a woman snapped. " We would have gotten her by now if you hadn't held us back!" The man growled fiercely and pointed his wand at the woman, who's face was even darker than midnight.
"Hah!" she shrieked, " There would be no reason for you to be coming after me, Lucius. You know that he is going to be very angry when we have to report back to him. You wouldn't want there to be another reason for him to punish you, do you? There might not be any of you left!"
The stangers in black cloaks hustled back to the others, still arguing, while Alana silently sighed with relief. Her hands suddenly starting tingling again, and she shoved them in her pockets quickly. She didn't want to be sighted, not after she had just gotten away.
Alana was a very smart girl, age of 16 with wavy blonde hair and startling blue eyes. She had a knack for attracting attention, but in this case, she didn't want any of it. She also had a knack for getting into loads of trouble, which probably is what led to this encounter.
" What do they want with me?" she thought shuddering as a cold breeze blew through the pillaring trees surrounding her. It was a good thing they had all apparated away, because if not, they would have heard her crying very softly up on her ledge.
"There's no way that they know about my abilities...right?And even if they did know about them, why would they care? It's not like I'm the only one who has them...there are tons of people just like me, aren't there?"
Alana sighed deeply and sniffed."If only my mother was here... no, if only my father had been there for us!"
Her mother had hidden so much from her. She would always find her mother and grandfather whispering about her when they thought she wasn't around. She never could figure out what it was they had kept from her.Even when her mother died, her grandfather wouldn't tell her anything. It was as though he wanted to tell her, but something was holding him back.
After a couple of hours of restless waiting, she finally deemed the forest to be safe. She climbed down the old tree, silently thanking it for helping her with a quick escape. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then focused on Hogwarts once again.
She closed her eyes and focused hard just like her grandfather had taught her. Her thoughts fluttered to her grandfather's lessons and she felt a deep sadness sinking through her whole body. A single tear fell down her flushed cheeks.
"East," she whispered finally, heading in that direction with hope of acomplishing her task. She remembered the instructions clearly; they kept running through her mind like a repeating tape recorder.
"Where the hell am I?" She looked around, wondering why she hadn't found the castle yet. "I've never been wrong with my directions..."
She heard a rustle of leaves and turned around quickly, fearing they had finally found her. It wasn't them, thankfully, but was the largest man she has ever seen in her life walking towards her.
She had the instinct to run, but her feet wouldn't let her. She held up her hands, ready to attack, when the giant spoke.
"Wat'd'r you doin' out here in the fores'? You shou'd kno it's not safe!"
"I... I'm... well..." She stuttered, in shock. She couldn't believe just how massive this rugged man was, especially up close. "Wait, do you know where Hogwarts is?"
"I should ruddy well think so! Wat'r you talkin' bout? Did'ya hit yer head or somethin?" he grunted, staring at her in disbelief. "Yer a student aren't yeh?"
"Yeah, umm... of course, I... I felt like taking a walk." The man continued to stare with an odd look on his bearded face.
"Wow," she thought, " that sounded so incredibly stupid. He will never believe that, I just ruined my chances of finding out where it is!"
"Yeh do realize this here is the forbiddin forest?" he said, still staring blankly at her. " Well, let's get yeh bac', yeh don' wanta' be found out here by Filch or his stinkin' cat." She breathed deeply, following the giant man out of the dark 'forbidden' forest and into an open ground.
"Wait, why'r you cover'd in blood?" The man shouted, now able to see her clearly in the moonlight.
"I... umm... I tripped," she started, thinking hard. " Yeah, and then a branch got me in the face." He showed her the lake, and she washed the blood and muck off her face. "Yeh don want tuh go into Hogwarts wit yer face all messed up like tha'!" He then showed her to the front of the Hogwarts grounds.
"Well here we are and yeh bloody well hurry to yer house 'r Filch will be aft'r yeh. Hurry now go!" he said, rushing her to the front gates. She walked inside and gasped. "Hogwarts is HUGE!" she thought, scrutinizing every aspect of the grand hall she was standing in.
"What are you doing out of bed!"Alana heard a voice call out. Out of the shadows stepped a tall, handsome boy with silvery blonde hair, wearing a sneer on his pale face.
"Well, what are you doing out of bed?" she asked, trying to throw him off.
"I happen to be a prefect and I'm allowed to be out after curfew, but in your case, you are not. I guess I'm going to have to take off 50 points from... wait, what house are you from?" he questioned, while she stood there in panic.
"I am in your house, you know that," she said, trying to buy herself some time to think up an explanation.
" Oh no your not. I would have noticed if a girl like you was in my own house," he replied, stepping closer to her.
"A girl like me, huh? No, you probably wouldn't have noticed me because I'm, uh, really shy," she retorted, knowing that he wouldn't for a second believe that.
" Well, I guess I am just going to have to take you to Professor Snape. He will know how to deal with ' a Slytherin'," he said smirking.
" Look, I don't have time to talk to you, even though I am really enjoying it," she said sarcastically. " I have to get to the headmaster immediately." She ran past him into an unknown hallway, hearing his footsteps close behind. She felt for the headmaster, sensing him ahead of where she was.
She took a couple of turns, hearing the pale boy's shouts behind her. She finally reached a statue of a gargoyle, certain that this led to the headmaster.
"Hey," the boy panted, his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. "You can't go in there, and you don't even know the password."
She stared at the statue of the gargoyle and held out her hands. She hesitated, "Should I do this in front of him? Well, too late now, this is way too important to be dawdling."
Her hands glowed, and the gargoyle sprang to life, yawned, and stared right back at her. He seemed to think she was okay because a second later, the gargoyle moved out of the way to let her through.
The panting boy, shocked and confused, followed her inside. "How, how did you...?" he started. " She glanced sideways at him and then stated simply, "Just forget you saw anything alright? It's nothing." She turned her head and walked briskly toward the room ahead of her.The blonde boy hesitated and then followed Alana into the office.
"Now, as I was saying Harry,..." a man said, as Alana walked through the door, closely followed by the blonde boy. A very old man with a long white beard and sparkling blue eyes hidden behind half-moon spectacles was discussing something with a boy with very untidy hair and vivid green eyes.
" How did you get in here?" the boy, who she assumed was Harry, questioned, looking at her with curiosity, while the blonde boy was tugging at her sleeve to make her leave.
"Headmaster?"Alana said, ignoring both the blonde boy and Harry. " I have a message for you and it's really important," she inquired, then looked sidways at the two boys. "I was instructed to only tell you about this." she said.
Dumbledore looked at the two boys and then smiled, his eyes twinkling."Of course. If you two would be so kind as to stand outside the door while I hear this young lady's story."
Harry and the blonde boy sulked out of the room, obvious that they both wanted to hear what Alana had to say. The headmaster cast a silencing charm around the room, just in case anyone was trying to listen in.
"Alright," she started. "This message-and you are going to have to trust me on this- is from Merlin. I'm not supposed to tell you just yet how I got this message,but here it is.
The dark lord is growing stronger (you are already informed about this but he insisted that I say it anyways), and there are two people who are going to vanquish him. One of them is Harry Potter, which you already knew as well,because there was a prophecy written about him before, but the other one is not known to us yet. I have been told that it is my job to figure out the other one.
These two are going to be the strongest students in the school, and that is all the information I am supposed to tell you now. He said to leave the rest for another time. Merlin also said that you need to strengthen the wards around Hogwarts, because there is rumor that an attack will be happening in the spring but no one knows the date of the attack yet."
"Is that so," the headmaster muttered to himself, pondering over what had just been revealed to him. His eyes glazed over for a few minutes, losing their usual brightness. His thoughts were interupted by Alana clearing her throat.
I would also like to also ask you a favor if that's alright," she said slowly, dropping her formal manner and looking at the headmaster a hopeful expression.
"And what is it?" he asked kindly, still deep in thought. "Would, would it be okay if I stayed here a while? In Hogwarts? They are...I mean, I don't think it would be the best idea for me to go, go home yet. I was accepted into Hogwarts when I was eleven but my... my stepfather wouldn't let me go..." She paused for a second and then continued. "I would work really hard and I promise you won't regret it," she said, looking at him with determination in her eyes.
"Very well," he said, " I have much to think about, but if you would see me in the morning, I don't see why you couldn't stay here."
"Harry, Draco,"Dumbledore called out once he had taken off the silencing charm. They came into the room looking at Lyrana in wonder. "Would you please lead Miss, I'm sorry I don't think you have introduced yourself yet."
She hesitated a moment, then said, "My name is Alana."
Dumbledore and the two boys looked at her, waiting for her to continue, but when she didn't, Dumbledore smiled at her knowingly and then said," Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, would you escort Miss Alana to Professor McGonagall's office. I think she will be comfortable there untill we can sort her."
"Thank you, sir!"Alana cried, hugging a very taken aback headmaster. "See you tomorrow morning!" she sang happily, as she followed the two boys out of his room.
"There is something very special about that girl," the headmaster said to himself, thinking over everything that he had just witnessed. " I guess we will find out about her later on."
I hope you liked my first chapter I'm really new about this kind of thing! Please review! I would LOVE to hear from you! Yes, this story I had started awhile ago, and now I've decided to change it all around. I still have almost the same plot, but what goes on and some characters I am going to change. So, enjoy!
-Emily-