3: Dreams Come to Life
Harry was snapped half-heartedly out of his stare at the woman he seemed to know from his dream. 'Oh stop it, Potter, she wouldn't be interested in you, it's only your hormones running away with you.' Sitting up straighter, Harry turned a curious look to Mr. Weasley, the look in his eyes pleading with him to explain.
"Well, Mr. Potter, it's nice to meet you again." The woman extended a friendly hand to Harry, taking no obvious notice of Mr. Weasley's slightly bewildered expression. After the men composed themselves, Mr. Weasley delicately pushed himself back into the conversation.
"Yes well, you two have met before?" Harry nodded to Mr. Weasley, not taking his eyes off the woman beside him, although he did shake her hand back. Before Harry could explain that day on the train, the woman cut in sweetly.
"Well I was pushed from my compartment and Harry was kind enough to help me with my things and let me stay with him while we got to platform nine and three quarters." She smiled at them both and crossed her obviously long legs. Harry struggled to pay attention to her words and not any other of her breathtaking features. He heard a cough from in front of him and vaguely turned his attention to Mr. Weasley.
"Yes well I never got her name, I was actually going to mention meeting her with you Mr. Weasley, but I never quite got around to it." Harry kept his eyes on the red headed jolly sort of man so as not to stare at the uncomfortably close woman next to him.. Feeling the sweat beginning to accumulate on his forehead, Harry tried to forget she was sitting there, but it was growing increasingly difficult for him.
"Well her name is KyLiegh Grant." Harry looked momentarily thoughtful at the last name. Seeing this, KyLiegh smiled.
"Its Scottish. Grant is the French word meaning 'grand' or 'big'. I'm not positively sure about it but the original bearer of the surname was called this because of his size or possibly his height." She paused and looked at both of them. "I'm sorry, I was babbling," KyLiegh said innocently.
"Well I know of one person in particular that would love to hear about your family," Mr. Weasley piped. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than they heard the familiar sound of the fireplace flaming up with green fire, and someone stepping out of the fireplace. Hermione dusted the front of her cotton shirt and looked quite disgruntled.
"Hermione!" Harry yelped, purely from having a distraction from the closely sitting woman. "Speak of the devil." Harry gave a small smile and hugged her, then turned back towards the two still sitting figures mumbling something amongst themselves. Harry tried to take the opportunity to sneak out of the room but heard Mr. Weasley stand up.
"Harry, I'm sorry, but we still have more to discuss here, so I'm sure that Ginny, who I know is listening at the kitchen door, will be more than happy to help Hermione, and catch her up on things upstairs." Mr. Weasley smiled as they all heard a small cough from the door to the den and Ginny slowly helped her friend with her things. Hermione's face registered confusion. With a few quick words from the red head, they both scrambled up the stairs. When Mr. Weasley was satisfied they were no longer being listened to he sat back down and waited for Harry to retake his spot.
"Well Harry, I know that you do not appreciate the sudden guest and I know that you think you have things under control, however I can guarantee that Miss Grant is very knowledgeable in ancient text and the origin of the Horcruxes." Harry could see that Mr. Weasley was not quite comfortable with having to tell Harry that he was going to have a babysitter.
"Harry, I know that you are a very capable young man and are very unsure of taking help from someone you don't know." Harry rolled his eyes inwardly at KyLiegh's words. He seemed to know her very well from his dreams but kept his face as neutral as possible as she went on. "Nevertheless, I assure you that I won't get in your way or try to force you into something you don't want to do. I am only here to help." She placed a hand on his knee gently, keeping his eyes locked with hers. "If you need anything I want you to be able to come to me with it." With that she stood up and picked up her bag and an empty cage.
Mr. Weasley called for Fred and George to come in the den, knowing well enough they had extendable ears and were listening to everything, probably put on by Ginny. When he heard scurrying footsteps and saw them almost fall through the entryway, Harry tried to stifle a laugh.
"Fred, George if you would be so kind as to escort Miss Grant to Charlie and Bill's old room? There she can have SOME privacy, since the rest of the house obviously is not." He shot the twins a mock glare as they batted their eyes back innocently, making Harry fight to not laugh aloud.
"Why father we're insulted."
"We would never cross into someone's privacy just to gain something for ourselves." Fred put a hand over his heart as if Mr. Weasley had insulted him deeply. Harry snorted involuntarily at that and they both gave mischievous grins. Before KyLiegh started up the stairs, she turned back to Harry.
"Well I suppose there's no reason to stall on getting into the books I have brought, you come up to my room after dinner and we'll get started." With that, she turned and followed the now arguing twins up the steps.
KyLiegh followed the red headed twins up the long stairwell and finally to a door on a second floor. There she nodded and waited for them to stop bickering long enough to take her own bags and unpack, but to her irritation they didn't even look at her as they pushed past her and set her things on the floor. Rolling her eyes to herself she stepped inside and noticed them staring at her openly. Cocking an eyebrow at the two grinning twins, she decided to talk.
"What is it?" she asked, unsure but still ever so sweet.
"Well me and my brother here," Fred began.
"Were just discussing a new product we are trying to release,"
"But the desired effects aren't happening." They traded their sentences smoothly and with ease.
"Yes, and, well, we happen to know that you're good with different foreign plants and such, just though you could give us some advice." KyLiegh waved her hand as she sat down and gestured for them to continue, these two were definitely interesting.
"Okay well we are working on a head-expanding pastry." They continued to explain to her about the pastries and what they used. Nodding her head, KyLiegh continued to listen as she pulled out a well-worn book.
"Well there's just something wrong with the formula causing the vict- umm I mean customer to break out in pink itchy blotches." They sat there and watched her as she thumbed through her book. Although it was unmarked, she seemed to know what she was looking for.
"And you say you used Essence of Sumac for the expanding effects?" They both nodded as she pursed her lips slightly and rubbed her bottom lip gently, lost in thought for a minute.
"AHA!" The boys jumped in unison, and KyLiegh jabbed the book. "There's your problem, do you know what Sumac is?" she eyed them seriously. When they looked away not really wanting to admit they didn't, KyLiegh sighed. "Sumac is a Muggle plant coming from the poisonous sumac plant. Now if you use Kalama Root-" pausing she turned to her trunk once more and rummaged through a series of vials, finally pulling out one, "ah ha here we go. Use this and I promise the object will expand, not break out. It's naturally sweet and has a nutty flavour to it. However, I have to warn you, some may be allergic, having adverse effects, so be careful with it and make sure you package the product with a clear warning. I know it would be funny to see someone with a bloated, spotted head, but the allergy effects could cause the person to die if not treated." With that in mind she handed the contents over to the nearest twin. They smiled at her, their pale freckled faces beaming.
"Thank you so much," George said with a wink, and then was followed by, "we owe you one." As they stepped to the door they both turned around.
"If you need anything from our store we'll open a free line of credit just for you." Fred gave her a lopsided grin. When they both finally left she shook her head. KyLiegh knew perfectly well about the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, and although she found them childish she couldn't help but like their mischievousness. KyLiegh heard a soft tap at her window over the desk; hastily she opened the window to see a steely-eyed hawk glaring at her. KyLiegh pulled on a protective glove from her trunk and let him crawl onto her arm. As tame and loyal as the hawk was, his sharp talon, despite its carefulness, would cut her arm up. Softly she rubbed her finger between its eyes and crooned at him.
"How have you been my sweet Fawn?" He gently nibbled at her fingers until she gave in and gave him a hunk of sweet roll from a snack pouch she kept handy. Letting him down to enjoy his treat, KyLiegh pulled off her glove. She noticed there was a piece of fresh parchment on his leg. She waited patiently for the sentry hawk to finish or. The woman sat down gently and brushed her long hair from her face, tossing it over her shoulder. When Fawn was done he obediently held out his leg and waited until he was free of his load. KyLiegh unfurled it slowly and read the contents, which simply stated, 'REPORT '
Raising an eyebrow, KyLiegh pushed on Fawn's tail feathers to move him away from her parchment, ink and quill. Finally, she began to write.
My lord,
I have made contact with him and we will be moving out in a couple of days for number 12. The Ministry has arranged for Muggle transportation. There, the next part of the plan will take place, and I will report again then. If there are changes in the current plans, I will report them immediately.
-KyLiegh
Re – reading the letter, she knew it was simple but it explained enough. Knowing that no one intercepted the fast sentry bird, she sealed the letter and handed it to Fawn, then whispered, "To the Dark Lord and be quick, and remember to not be seen." Giving a soft cry of understanding, Fawn bent slightly and with powerful wings swept out the window as quickly as he came in. Leaning somewhat out the window, a cool and refreshing breeze swept through the summer's humidity. KyLiegh closed her eyes and stayed there for a moment, letting the wind cool her face, finally finding the resolve to pull herself inside.
She took her wand out and carefully pointed at the parchment her master had sent her and muttered a charm making the small scrap of paper smoke and then make a light pop as it gave a final puff, disappearing. With the final events of her day almost over, she went to the low bed and lay down softly, pulling the pillow close to her. She could finally relax for a moment. Surprised at how tired she was, she didn't fight the looming sleepiness and only fell into darkness letting it wrap her up secure and tight like a blanket.
KyLiegh woke with a start, a fire burning fiercely in her chest. She gave a weak cry and grasped her chest feebly; her nightmares were becoming frequent and harder to ignore even with Occlumency. She jumped at the sound of a knock on her door, the contents of her dream becoming fuzzy and wandering out of her mental grasp. She heard another knock, this time a little louder, and she croaked a command to enter. KyLiegh gave a small cough to ward the sleep from her voice. When she looked up, she saw a concerned Harry Potter looking at her.
"Are you okay?" His face was etched with concern but his eyes held up a mental guard.
"Yes I'm fine." KyLiegh smiled and patted the spot next to her on the bed. Harry walked over to the bed and sat down, handing her the tray of food. "Mrs. Weasley thought you would be hungry from missing dinner so she sent me up here with a tray seeing as how you wanted to talk with anyway." Harry's voice trailed off as he tried to look anywhere but at her smiling face. She knew she made him nervous. KyLiegh took the tray gently and set it in her lap, and she became aware of the state her hair was in; slightly bed ruffled from sleeping.
KyLiegh wondered how long she happened to be asleep, but gave the thought a shake to clear it from her head. She crossed her long legs at the ankle over the side of the bed. Still smiling at herself, she sat there and ate comfortably as she watched Harry squirm from discomfort beside her. Trying to keep her laughter inside she watched him from the corner of her eye. Suddenly Harry coughed and stood. KyLiegh looked at him openly and placed a hand on his leg.
"Hmmm? Going somewhere, Mr. Potter?" he looked at her, bewildered for a moment, then sat down again. KyLiegh stood and placed the tray on the desk and turned to him. "I know that you have many questions for me Mr. Potter," she stated simply, and waited for Harry to go on. She knew that she could be quite intimidating.
"Well yes I do. I just don't understand why the Ministry thinks it fit to send somebody to watch me and why they think I can't do it on my own." KyLiegh held up her hand and laughed a little, a sweet smile on her face.
"Whoa, wait a second, take a breath. For one, the Ministry sent me because they know that you are interested in being a Auror. Second, I'm the best they have, and last, they know you can do it yourself, they just want you to have someone here to help with a little more experience. I'm replaceable Harry, you're not." Her last words came out soft and she could see slight shock on his face. Harry looked down at his hands,
"Well I just needed to know." With that, he stood again and headed for the door.
"Yes you did Harry. I think that should be all for tonight, but I would like to talk to you more tomorrow, maybe after breakfast, about what we will be going over and learning together." Harry gave one more nod and left her room rather quickly. Smiling to herself, KyLiegh got up and finished the tray. She gratefully drank the pumpkin juice down.
She hadn't had anything all day and the home cooked meal quieted her stomach that had growled angrily at her only a few moments earlier. KyLiegh didn't have the energy to walk down to the kitchen to put the plate away so she left it there and got undressed and ready for bed. Once more, she fell into the bed and pulled the covers over her shoulders. Sleep wasn't done with her that evening and it quickly took over.
