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CHAPTER 2
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Shari groggily opened her eyes and slowly sat up. It was night time, she could tell that much by looking out the window. She was on a couch, surrounded by strangers. No, not strangers, exactly. She knew these faces. Hadn't she been thinking, just hours before, that she wished she was a Hogwarts-trained witch? It would make her job so much easier.
She remembered a phrase from a movie she watched once. Or was it a TV miniseries?
When the gods
wish to punish us,
they answer
our prayers.
A matronly red headed woman, whom she knew to be the Weasley mother, sat down by her and handed her a cup of tea and a cookie. No, it was a biscuit, Shari thought to herself. Brits call cookies biscuits.
"I'm Molly Weasley." Then she pointed out and introduced everyone else. "What is your name?"
"Shari Borlosi. What am I doing here?" She looked warily at the people standing around her. Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley, Severus Snape, Kingsley Shacklebolt. She knew she could never let on that she already knew their names or how. Tonks sat down on the other side of her, wand out, glaring through reddened locks at the lavender robed man that Shari now recognized as Albus Dumbledore. As she looked around, she realized everyone but the old man looked angry.
She repeated herself. "Why am I here?"
"I have a very special task for you." She looked up at the man she knew to be Headmaster of Hogwarts. He was standing in front of her now and she got a sick feeling looking into his eyes. Tonks still had her wand pointed at him and Molly was pushing her back against the couch and leaning in front of her. She looked at both of them and then back at him. Whatever this task was, it apparently was not good. She cursed her wife for talking her into watching The Handmaid's Tale, because that was all that was going through her head now.
"You are descended from three powerful magical families, I suspect you are the sole surviving descendant of one of them. One of your ancestors was a very powerful dark wizard. Your great great grandfather cursed all his descendents into living as muggles, but we can restore your magical powers."
Shari narrowed her eyes. "That still doesn't explain why you kidnapped me and brought me here. I had a life of my own and was doing just fine as a muggle. In fact, I prefer to live as a muggle, thank you very much. Now let me return to my lowly little life."
"You're going to give me an heir."
That was all it took. Shari saw red.
"Oh, hell no!"
She clenched her fists and was on her feet in a heartbeat, running into the kitchen. Kreacher saw her and started to yell but suddenly stopped. A knife block sat on the counter and she quickly grabbed the two largest and stood with her back near a door that led to a hallway and what she guessed was the entrance.
It only took a moment before she was followed. She tightened her grip on her knives as the old man approached her. Everyone else was behind him. She sought out Tonks and Molly with her eyes and the witches walked up and stood closer to her.
"I'll go to jail or hell before I let you put your hands on me. You hear me? Jail or hell! What kind of Handmaid's Tale bullshit is this? I'll be goddamned if you think I'm gonna change my motherfucking name to OfAlbus. You're just gonna have to fucking kill me!"
She tightened her grip on the blades and pointed them both straight at Dumbledore. He took a step towards her and reached out to touch her shoulder. She swiped at him with the knife, slicing his robe and cutting his arm.
She looked around at the wizards and witches around her, wondering why no was disarming her with an Expelliarmus. Maybe it only worked with wands or maybe it was too dangerous with sharp weapons.
Albus was glaring at her intensely as he magically healed his arm. Tonks was glaring at him, wand extended. Molly had placed a brave but protective arm on her shoulder. Arthur was standing in front of both of them. Remus was next to Tonks with his own wand extended towards the Headmaster. Kingsley was in front of the old man, blocking his path to Shari.
Only Snape appeared unperturbed. He was standing next to Albus, wand in hand. When Shari looked closer, she noticed he was watching the other wizard very closely.
"If you thought you were getting a quiet, compliant little muggle, you were sadly mistaken. If you attempt to touch me again, one of us is going to jail and one of us is going to hell. Your choice, motherfucker." Shari's eyes were wild. "Jail or hell. I'm not afraid to die, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna be somebody's sex slave. You got me fucked up. Just fucking kill me."
"You're not afraid to die?" The tone of the old man's voice changed, setting Shari more on edge than she already was. She tightened her grip on the knives and held them closer to him.
"I've been resigned to the reality of my mortality since the start of the pandemic. Every time I had to put on a mask, gown and shield for an isolation unit, I knew I might not survive to see the end of this shit. What about it?" She backed up a little towards the hallway.
The dark haired professor stepped in front of the Headmaster. "I think you need to stop, Albus. She's coming with me. I can restore her magic if given enough time."
"No, she's not. She's coming with me." He again tried to reach her, but found himself blocked. Everybody else stood in his way.
"It's time for you to go, Albus. She's not going anywhere with you." Severus placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "First of all," he glanced over at Shari, "she'll kill you if you touch her as she has made abundantly clear. How many slices on your arms do you need? Second, have you forgotten who Scorpio was? He was very powerful, not just magically but physically as well. He was also known for sleeping with both of his brothers' wives, so she is most likely his direct descendent."
The Headmaster's shoulders sagged in temporary defeat. "This is not over by any means."
Shari mumbled under breath, "Like hell it isn't! Don't fucking try me, old man".
After he left through the front door to apparate back to the school, Severus held his hands out for the knives, so she handed them over.
Shari turned to the people in the kitchen with her. "Can I go back now, since we've established that I will in no way be having that fucking perv's baby?"
Molly placed an arm around her and gazed sadly at her. "No, my dear. You can never go back. You're here to stay. They believe you to be dead in your former world."
It was like being punched in the gut. She sank to the floor, gasping for air. "Oh my god…. My wife."
She began dry heaving and someone barely got a bucket in front of her in time before the Mountain Dew and cheeseburger she'd consumed before work reappeared.
She heard someone whisper "her wife?" and proceeded to glare in their general direction while continuing to throw up.
When she was done, Tonks conjured a rag and a glass of water for her. She wiped her mouth off and took a drink of the water. Then she closed her eyes and leaned against the cupboard behind her. The events of the past hour rushed through her mind.
'This is fucking insanity', she thought to herself. 'I better be in a goddamned coma and this is just a Propofol induced nightmare'.
When the gods wish to punish us indeed. She made a mental note to assess the status of her karma later. She was certainly being punished for something.
When she opened them again, hoping she would see either home or the ICU, she saw instead the same kitchen and only Severus and Tonks were with her. The witch was sitting next to her on the floor and the professor was standing nearby. Shari got a feeling he was standing guard in case the Headmaster tried to return.
Tonks handed her another glass of water.
"Thank you. I love your hair and how it changes color." Instead of fiery red, it was now pink.
The witch smiled. "Thank you."
"How old are you?"
"Thirty."
"No kids?"
"Nope."
"You were married in your old life?"
"Yes, to another woman. I can't believe I let that slip, but I guess the cat is out of the bag now."
"So you're a lesbian?"
"Erm...bisexual, actually."
Tonk's eyes lingered on her for a second then she stood up. "Well, none of us care about that. Are you comfortable going home with Severus and staying with him? He can protect you and Dumbledore does not know where his house is."
She glanced up at the tall, dark haired wizard and wondered why Harry had ever referred to him as ugly. He watched her watching him and looking him over and raised an eyebrow. The dark eyes burned into hers and she wondered briefly if he was using legilimency on her.
"Yes, I am okay with that."
He held a hand out to her and helped her up off the floor, which she was grateful for due to an old knee injury.
Severus wrapped an arm around her and she was surprised by the heat she felt from it. He walked her outside and then stopped.
"Now, for all intents and purposes, you're a muggle. Muggles do not do well with apparition. You'll feel like your head is spinning and that you're having the worst hangover of your life, but it doesn't last long."
Shari groaned. "I hate hangovers."
A moment later, she felt like she was being sucked through a tunnel and her insides were being suctioned out through her throat. They landed in the back yard and Shari promptly deposited the remnants of the water, tea and biscuit from her stomach onto the ground.
"And that's why we landed outside. Eventually, you'll learn to do this on your own." He started walking in the house and she followed him.
Severus sat down in a chair by the fireplace and gestured for her to sit in the chair opposite him. He pointed to a shelf next to his chair filled with liquor bottles. "Pick your poison. I'm assuming you need a stiff drink after the day you've had."
Shari leaned forward and looked at his collection, but unfortunately didn't recognize anything thanks to her ignorance of most Irish and Scottish liquors. "I'm a whiskey girl. You pick." His eyes raked over her and he picked out an Irish whiskey and poured her two fingers in a tumbler.
Shari sat quietly sipping her drink and watching the fire he had lit with a flick of his wand. She realized how amazing magic was when she considered how much a muggle would have labored over the fire to get it started.
"Knut for your thoughts?"
His baritone voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Oh, I was thinking about a coworker of mine that worked two jobs. She had a different daytime job and worked ours in the evening. One evening she came in and looked absolutely horrible. It had been raining the night before and their firewood had gotten all wet because her useless boyfriend hadn't brought any in before he went to work. She was up until 2 am trying to get a fire started because the house was so cold, then she had to be up at 5. Here, you just flick your wand and a fire appears."
"I grew up with a muggle parent, so I can relate to the difficulties. As I'm sure you can as well." He nodded towards her and she nodded back.
"Is it really true I'm descended from some great dark wizard or was the crazy old man talking out of his ass?" Shari raised her eyebrows at the wizard. "I'm not inclined to take anything he says at face value, considering his plan to kidnap and rape me."
"Scorpio Borlosi, your great great uncle, was a very dark and very powerful wizard. He was known for philandering, even with his sister-in-laws, so you may be a direct descendent. You also have Malfoy and Black family blood in you, two other powerful magical families. Your great great grandfather, his brother, cursed all his descendents to live as muggles for their protection. When we restore your magic, its likely to come back with a bang. Scorpio was very powerful and when your magic returns, it will be overwhelming. But I can handle you."
She narrowed her eyes and looked him up and down. "Oh, you think you can handle me, huh?" She raised an eyebrow and continued her slow visual assessment of him. "You sure about that?"
"Oh, I know I can handle you, Miss Borlosi." His eyes darkened as they drilled into hers. "But I've known you for precisely three hours and taking you to bed is not how I want to start this. My godson is sleeping in the room next to yours. It's time we got some sleep and then I'll start working on restoring your magic."
She stood up. "Where am I sleeping? I'm suddenly exhausted. I did work tonight, after all."
"Oh, yes. What kind of work do you do?" He stood up as well and started walking towards his spare room, so she followed him.
"I'm a registered nurse and I take care of long term care residents."
He paused in front of an open door. "Acchio, Draught of Peace." A vial flew through the air and into his hand, which he handed to her. "Here, it will help you relax so you can sleep."
She eyed the vial distrustfully.
"Miss Borlosi, I'm not trying to drug you so I can have my way with you. I merely want to help you get needed rest. As you said, you just came off of your work shift. I imagine your work is physically and mentally taxing."
She nodded, thinking of the isolation unit she'd found herself on that evening. Her facility had three positive cases in one day. "Yes, it is. You have no idea. I spent the shift in a plastic isolation gown."
He stopped and looked at her, puzzled. "What did you mean when you referred to a pandemic earlier? What year are you from?"
Shari glanced up at him, knowing instinctively that she shouldn't give away too much of the future. But then she remembered that he doesn't survive the Battle of Hogwarts and maybe she could tell him and he'd figure out a cure. Then she realized that maybe she had the power to change that.
"I'm from 2022. It's a virus that originated in Asia in 2019 and spread throughout the world in 2020. So far, it's caused millions of deaths. It lingers, it doesn't normally kill quickly. Those who survive are often left with months of respiratory and circulatory problems. It's nasty."
He stared down at her and she could see the Potion Master's wheels turning, formulating a concoction to counteract it. After a moment, he seemed to shift out of potioneer mode. He pointed to a spare bedroom.
"This is your room for as long as you stay here. I'll find you something to sleep in, since all you have is the clothes on your back."
She glanced down at the scrubs she was wearing. "Thank you!"
She walked in and surveyed the bed, window and desk. The window had a large sill she could sit on and look outside.
After he had brought her two pairs of pants, two tee shirts and a jumper, Shari sat down on the sill and looked up at the sky. The stars were bright overhead and she wondered if her wife was looking up at the same stars. Then she remembered that not only did her wife believe her to be dead, but this was now 27 years in the past.
She contemplated the glass vial in her hand. The liquid inside was turquoise. She swirled it a little and decided to go ahead and drink it. It tasted earthy and slightly bitter. She set the empty vial on the dresser near her door, then changed her clothes and laid down.
She thought about the conversation in front of the fire. What had caused her to come on to him like that? After tossing and turning, she came to a conclusion. She was sniffing him out, trying to determine if he intended to sleep with her in exchange for giving her a place to stay, clothes, food, etc. She sighed, realizing the jury was still out on that front.
The next morning, after a few fitful hours of sleep, she woke up while it was still dark and laid in bed until she heard voices down the hall.
She changed her clothes, freshened up in the bathroom, tied up her long red hair in a messy knot and started to walk towards the kitchen when she caught the conversation.
"So you said this woman is a distant relative of mine?"
"Yes, she has both Malfoy and Black blood in her. I expect you to treat her respectfully. She has no magical power right now, but I'll be restoring that as soon as I can research some old spells."
"Is she hot?"
There was a silence, during which Shari guessed Severus was scowling at Draco.
"She's thirty years old. I think she's a bit old for you."
"But not too old for you."
There was silence again.
"That is enough of that."
"Mmm-hmmmm. I saw that hesitation. You're attracted to her."
"That is enough, Draco, unless you want me to take away your broom."
"No, no, no! I'll stop."
"Thank you."
Shari bit her lip to keep from laughing, then took a deep breath and entered the kitchen. It was large, and a table with four chairs sat on one side of it.
Draco sat at it, across from Severus. His eyes lit up when she entered and he wiggled his eyebrows at his godfather, who glared at him. Then he turned to her.
"Shari, this is my godson Draco Malfoy. He lives with me full time. He goes to Hogwarts during the year."
She nodded at the boy, who nodded back. "Good morning."
"Good morning."
"There's coffee in the press and there's bread and butter for toast." Severus nodded towards the counter. "Help yourself to the bacon and sausage."
"Thanks." She retrieved some coffee from the French press and buttered two pieces of bread, then set them to toast on the skillet.
"There's cream in the fridge and sugar in the cabinet above the stove."
After fixing her coffee and pulling the toasted bread off the skillet, she sat down at the table.
She noticed Draco kept looking at her or looking between her and Severus. 'He needs a distraction', she thought.
"So how old are you, Draco?" She already knew, but wanted to get him talking about something.
"I'm 16."
Again, she feigned ignorance, knowing full well he played Quidditch. "Do you play any sports?"
The blonde boy started talking about the sport and about "Potter, Gryffindor's seeker" who shouldn't be on the team in his opinion. Shari let him talk, reacting appropriately when needed.
Severus looked at her over his coffee cup. "I'm going to go to the Hogwarts library today to do some research on magical restoration. I'll probably be gone most of the day. You are welcome to look through my books." He looked over at his godson. "Would you like to come with me and fly around the Quidditch pitch while I'm there?"
The boy's eyes lit up. "Yes!"
While they were gone, Shari paced around the house exploring but respecting the privacy of Severus and Draco. She stayed out of their bedrooms.
She got to know where everything was in the kitchen. She suspected a Potions Master would have a lot in the way of herbs and spices in his kitchen and was not disappointed.
Next, she looked over his book collection. Many of them were about potions, but there were also books about dueling and defense. She pulled one out about the history of Hogwarts and began reading it in her windowsill.
When the sun started to get lower in the sky, she went to the kitchen and looked around at what to make for supper. Cooking relaxed her and she loved to do it.
She found chicken thighs in the freezer and decided to cook them in butter, black pepper and garlic on the skillet. She also made a salad and steamed some broccoli.
Just about the time it was done, both wizards came through the door. They looked surprised to smell food and both came into the kitchen to see what she'd made.
Just as Shari suspected, Draco had a big appetite. After supper, he took a shower and went to his room while Severus invited Shari to sit with him by the fire.
He poured her a tumbler of whiskey.
"What else did you do while we were gone?" His dark eyes were piercing into her own and she squelched the urge to ask him if he was using legilimency on her. 'You're not supposed to know what that is', she scolded herself.
"I read the book about your school's history."
"All of it?" He looked surprised.
"Yes, all of it."
His eyes continued piercing into her own, so she decided to give him a run for his money to test if he was in her head or not. She pictured herself climbing on his lap and seducing him. She got her answer a moment later when he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
'I fucking thought so! Get out of my head and stay out'
Confusion momentarily crossed his face, but continued his stare at her. She stared back right at him and pictured herself giving him a blow job. He finally turned his attention to the fire so she did as well, happy to have chased him out of her mind. She didn't know whether to be super irritated with him or impressed.
"How did you know I was using legilimency on you? How do you even know what legilimency is?"
"Books." Shit. This wasn't good.
"Books," he repeated, glaring at her. "It's not in books, except in my school's restricted section."
Shari raised an eyebrow at him. "You sure about that?" She wasn't lying, it was in the Harry Potter books, which she had no intention of telling him about.
"The more you lie to me, the more I'm going to use it."
"And the more you use it, the more I'll try to seduce you."
His eyebrows went up and he pulled his robe tighter around himself. She snorted quietly to herself and trained her gaze on the fire. A few moments later, she drained her whiskey down and handed him back the tumbler.
"Good night, Professor. I will see you in the morning."
She felt his eyes on her until she closed her door.
