Chapter 6: A Very Different Hogwarts

I'd like to say Anna's theory was shot down over the next few days, branded as impossible. But after Melody missed a whole day of classes, Laine, Anna and I rushed to the Hospital Wing as fast as we could.

"Is Melody in here?" Laine gasped, getting to the doors before Anna and I, and flinging them open. Sun filtered down from the windows on the mostly unoccupied beds, and Madame Pomfrey was nowhere to be seen in the high-ceilinged room.

"Madame Pomfrey?" I called, wondering back toward her office as Laine and Anna began inspecting the faces in the beds.

"Miss Weasley!" She startled when she saw me, eyes flickering toward a bed whose curtains were drawn completely around.

"Is Melody Porter in here?" I gasped, hands clenched into sweaty fists at my sides.

"She is," Madame Pomfrey said grimly, but her eyes were flitting nervously back and forth nervously.

"She's suffered a severe allergic reaction to something she ate," Pomfrey said firmly as Anna and Laine joined in the conversation as well. "Her throat swelled up and she broke out into hives, she's going to be fine but she needs a couple of days of rest. The reaction was very severe. She's resting in that bed over there." She pointed to the bed with the closed curtains and then turned her head away, fiddling with one of the medicine vials on her shelf.

"What was she allergic to?" I pestered her. "When did she eat it? When did she come in?"

"I didn't know she was allergic to any foods," Laine chipped in, frowning. Pomfrey looked positively overwhelmed with all our questions.

"I can't tell you that!" She began to shoo us out of the hospital wing. "Patient confidentiality!"

"But she's our best friend!" I cried as she put her hands on the handles of the doors, preparing to close them in our faces.

"I'm sorry." Pomfrey really did look sorry, but she also wasn't reopening the doors. "But if she's your best friend you'll understand that she doesn't want to be seen at a time like this." Pomfrey's voice cracked, and she closed the doors quickly.

"Fat load of good that was," I snapped, punching the door with my fist. I was already extremely grumpy because Stefan and I were ignoring each other, and now Melody was suffering a supposed "allergic reaction." What kind of hippogriff dung was that?

"What potion is Pomfrey sniffing?" Laine exclaimed as soon as she found her voice.

"Obviously something hallucinatory because I saw in those curtains and there was no one in that bed!" Anna burst out in a high-pitched voice.

"Well there's only one thing to do," I said grimly.

"What?" Anna and Laine blurted, one voice tearful and one voice shaking with anger.

"We have to sneak in," I said firmly. "As soon as possible. Tomorrow. Today she'd be watching too closely."

They both nodded fervently and we went our separate ways.

"Al!" I blurted in surprise as I quite literally ran headlong into my tall cousin, who was grinning like an idiot. My heart sank; this could only mean one thing. Nadia.

"Have you been snogging that Durmstrang girl?" I accused, sticking my finger in his chest. His green eyes were lit up happily, and he pulled me into a crushing hug.

"Al!" I gasped in surprise, eyes popping out of my head. "You're-squashing-me!"

"Oh, am I?" He let go. "Sorry, I'm just so excited!" His beaming grin got even wider, and he did some sort of twirly pirouette where he leaped into the air.

"Why?" I asked warily, even though I was sure I already knew. I should have been happy for my cousin, but...it was Nadia. The girl was evil, I knew it. Underneath that shiny hair was a scheming, devious brain.

"Her name is Nadia, my dear cousin!" He announced. "And she will bear my children."

"Ack!" I exclaimed. "Did not need to know that. But Al, don't you think she's a little...horrible?" I asked tentatively.

"What?" His grin faded. "Roxanne, if you weren't my cousin I'd skewer you to death for uttering such blasphemy about my love! What's wrong with her?"

"Well, she's..." I trailed off. "From Durmstrang!" I exclaimed. "You know that a man from Durmstrang tried to get your father killed once, what would he say?" It was a pathetic excuse, but what else was I supposed to say? I had a feeling? Al would laugh me to China.

"Oh, but your little Durmstrang friend Stephanie is acceptable?" He asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"It's Stefan," I snapped, narrowing my eyes right back. "And fine, snog whoever you want. I was just trying to have your back, but you know, that's fine!" I shouted over my shoulder, narrowly avoiding running into the wall before I turned the corner.

I didn't make it far down the corridor before I got ambushed.

Yeah, I could safely say my life was a boat load of weird this year. A maybe pregnant Melody who didn't make the Quidditch team and then of course frigging Durmstrang, and that wanker Stefan whom I still hadn't spoken to, and his wanker sister Nadia, and their wanker headmaster Grigor Nikola and his glares...it was a right school full of apes that had come to Hogwarts, I tell you.

Oh, and then of course, that little voice in my head that nobody else seemed to bloody hear!

I still didn't have the foggiest what it was. Was Peeves somehow speaking into my mind and trying to drive me around the bend? Well, it was working.

Or maybe it was one of Al and Scorpius's stupid pranks, trying for retribution because maybe I accidentally put itch powder inside their Quidditch uniforms once in fifth year but in all honesty it was because they'd-

Roxanne.

"Oh, what?" I snapped aloud, stopping in my tracks. It was nearly time for dinner, so no one was in the corridors, lucky for me.

Roxanne.

"Yes-me, Roxanne. You are?" I slowly turned in a circle, trying to catch sight of-something. Anything. Proof I wasn't mental.

Roxanne, I want to show you something.

Well, that didn't sound good. Last time any of our family members got "shown something" from voices in their heads, Aunt Ginny had ended up possessed and almost dying in the Chamber of Secrets: I knew all about that one, because Mum and Dad would always tell us it when we'd been bad. It really was effective, but we'll probably need therapy when we're older. Then again, Fred and I'll probably be doing the same to our children because really, our family has a boat load of horror stories.

Anyway. Back to the ambush. I really get off on completely nonsensical side tracks sometimes.

Voice, why am I the only one who can hear you?

The voice let out a noise that sounded rather like a laugh.

You're special. Now, get ready.

"Wait. What?" I yelled, but already my voice sounded tinny and the stone walls and floor in front of me looked strangely fuzzy.

I opened my eyes and suddenly, everything was back to normal. I was in exactly the same place, but...

The torches in the walls were burnt out, and everything was awash in a gray light. Outside, the moon was rising in the early night and the air was filled with bellowed spells and screams.

Then, I heard the slapping footsteps of someone running down the hallway.

"Come on!" The boy was yelling, his face red with exertion. He was running right toward me.

"What are you doing there? Get out of there!" He was bellowing.

"I don't know!" I screamed. "What the hell is going on?"

"Hannah, there's a war going on! What are you doing?" The boy stuck his hand toward me, and then...

Right through me.

I looked down in shock and shock at the boy's arm which was thrust through my midsection.

"My sister!" Someone behind me was crying. "She's still in the Hufflepuff common room, I've got to get her-"

"Hannah we've got to move," the boy said grimly. "The kids are being evacuated, she'll be safe. I promise."

"Toby?" I blurted. The girl-Hannah-took a step forward right through me and the two began running, hands clenched together.

"Toby Longbottom, get back here!" I yelled, sprinting after them. "What is going on?!" They sprinted around a corner and I slowed to a stop.

The corridor before me was blasted to rubble; large chunks of ceiling were gone and scattered all over the floor; most of the wall facing outside was gone, completely open to the air.

There were bodies lying all over on the ground, students and-and-

"Oh, shit," I whispered as it dawned on me. "Bloody hell."

Somehow, some way, I had been transported back to the Battle of Hogwarts.

It hadn't been Toby Longbottom I'd seen earlier, it had been Neville.

I began to run.

I gripped my wand in tightly, although I wasn't sure or not if anyone could see me. In the dark grounds below, bursts of wand light were being fired and screams were growing louder. I could see the writhing movement of hundreds of students and Death Eaters running about in the dark, panicking.

Of all the times I heard my Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents tell this story, I never thought I'd see it.

I kept running along the mostly deserted hallways until I came down to the entrance.

"Crucio!"

"Stupefy!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Many colored lights were being thrown around everywhere, bouncing off walls and hitting bodies. With every missed spell more of Hogwarts was destroyed; chunks of rock and dust rained down from the walls and ceiling to join the rubble on the floor.

"Stupefy!" I screamed, pointing my wand directly at a Death Eater who was engrossed in a duel with none other than Neville Longbottom.

The burst of red light shot from my wand and toward the silver-masked man, but instead of making an impact it shot straight through his body and then through the wall on the opposite side.

I was completely invisible.

"Neville! Neville!" I screamed, jumping through the Death Eater and flailing my arms wildly. Neville let out an enraged yell and with one final, determined scream he stupefied the Death Eater, sending him flying back into the wall.

With a crash he slid down to the floor, unmoving. I turned back to look at Neville but he had already moved on, joining a fellow student in a duel.

A running girl jumped straight through me, and I turned just in time to scream and throw my hands up before another Death Eater leapt straight through me as well.

What if they saw me? What if I suddenly became visible?

My breath was coming in short gasps and I suddenly realized there were tears streaming down my cheeks. I angrily brushed them away and ran through the room, through the twisting bodies and pointed wands and firing spells.

"DAD!" I screamed, my voice breaking.

Dad was younger, and thinner, and had a head full of fiery red hair. A fierce expression was on his face as he stood back to back with another red-headed boy whose face was turned away from me; they both were expertly deflecting spells, turning in a circle slowly like they could read each other's minds.

"Ha ha, who taught you magic, your blind grandmother?" Dad was sneering at the Death Eater he was currently fighting. "Out of all the giant mistakes in your family Rosier, I'd say coming here tonight was only the second, the first being your mother's not getting rid of your ugly face-"

With a cry of rage the Death Eater yelled

"Avada Kedavra!"

But the second man who was back to back with Dad whirled around just after stupefying his own opponent, as one, they ducked to the ground and the curse sailed harmlessly over their heads. They shot their arms forward, identical jets of red light shooting from their wands and hitting the Death Eater in the chest, sending him flying backwards and hitting the wall with a sickening thud.

"Nice one, Freddie." Dad grinned, and suddenly I caught a glimpse of the other man's face.

Fred. Uncle Fred.

"DAD!" I screamed louder than I had in my entire life, my throat raw. "FRED! CAN YOU SEE ME!" I waved my arms but they were too busy looking around them for any others.

"Looks like we got them all, George." Fred grinned. "What d'you say we go and join Ginny, I do believe I heard her earlier-"

"-wasn't she supposed to stay-"

"-In the room of Requirement, yeah, but-"

"-she never listens!" They finished together, grinning, and by this point I wouldn't have been able to tell which one was my father, if it hadn't been for his missing ear. Their faces were both covered in grime and dust, and the both bolted forward.

"Wait!" I screamed, running after them.

But their legs were too long, and they were too fast; and it wasn't much later that they left me completely in the dust and in a completely different section of Hogwarts then I had been in.

I was breathing hard now, my lungs screaming for air and my legs burning. I collapsed to the floor, panting. I had just sprinted completely across the castle and seven flights of stairs. I barely even exercised. And by barely, I really mean never.

I stood shakily to my feet, my wand still clutched tight in my clammy hand. My robes were ripped and dirty, though I wasn't sure how that could be. Why could I feel the effects of all physical objects but people? I sure had felt it when I had tripped over a pile of rock on the floor and gone sprawling, tearing off layers of skin on my hands and knees.

A brown-haired man was running toward me, along with a black man in red robes-"Kingsley!" I yelled with happiness, even though I knew he couldn't hear me. A fresh wave of tears rushed down my face; the headmaster was here. We were in one of the towers, the highest point in the castle.

"Wait." The brown-haired man put his hand up to stop Kingsley. "Did you hear something?"

"I didn't hear anything but screams, Remus," Kingsley replied in his deep voice.

The second man examined the room carefully. His brown eyes held a deep sadness, and faint scars spoke of mysterious happenings in this shabbily dressed man's past.

I gasped loudly-what had Kingsley called him? Remus? Remus-

"Lupin?" I gasped, growing dizzy. My knees shook slightly. Now I recognized him from the pictures; this was Teddy's dad-

"Who are you?" Suddenly, Lupin's eyes fixed directly on me. "Are you a student? Why didn't I see you just a moment ago, how did you get there?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"Remus," Kingsley said in an odd sort of voice, pulling at Lupin's arm. "Remus, there's no one there. Come on, we've got to get to-"

"There's a student here Kingsley, can't you see her?" Lupin looked back for a moment, then fixed his eyes on me again, bending down so he was at my eye level.

"Are you alright?" He asked carefully, putting his hands on my shoulder.

Suddenly, everything rippled and Kingsley's eyes went wide.

"Remus," he whispered, pointing a finger at me. "Who is that? How did you do that?" Lupin made no move to answer him.

"Are you alright?" He asked again. There were shouts behind us, and footsteps that grew closer-Kingsley turned around and blasted a Death Eater, who screamed loudly on his way out the window.

"Y-yes." I finally found my voice. "Remus Lupin!" I gasped.

"Yes, that's me-we need to go," he said firmly. "Can you run?" Without waiting for a response he took my hand and again we were sprinting.

On the way down the stairs we passed Professor Sprout and several students chucking what looked to be Mandrakes over a blasted wall, laughing gleefully at the screams of Death Eaters down below.

We continued running.

"Where the hell have you been?" I heard a familiar voice shout, and I looked down the next corridor to see Harry Potter, and Ron and Hermione.

"Chamber of Secrets." I heard Ron say before we passed them.

"Remus, that was Harry back there-"

"We haven't got time," Lupin said shortly to Kingsley. "We've got to gather students and lead them to the grounds, the Death Eaters are pushing back the defenses there-students!" He yelled to a group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws who were clustered around a fallen Death Eater.

"We need you down at the grounds to fight!" He said commandingly, and without a word of argument our small group of three became twelve.

"Who are you?" One of the students asked me suspiciously.

"Laine Meadows." I blurted the first name that came to mind.

He didn't say anything in reply, just wiped at a trickle of blood running into his eye.

This wasn't supposed to happen! Came the panicked voice inside my head. Why are you solid, you're meant to only be a spectator-

And the next time I blinked I went stumbling over a chunk of rock for the second time that day, skidding and coming to a stop right next to a teenaged boy who was moaning and holding his head; in one area, his skull looked completely caved in. My stomach turned with nausea and I pulled myself beside him, narrowly missing a jet of blue light fired from a Death Eater's wand.

Steady streams of blood were running from his eyes, nose, and mouth; he let out a shaky cry, and fell forward onto me.

"It's going to be alright-what happened?" I cried, gently trying to steady him and hold him upright, though he was thrashing about and his eyes were madly rolling in his head.

"Trying to-save-Jeremy," he gasped, and shuddered. "He must be-dead."

"No," I whispered, cradling his face and shaking with silent sobs as well.

"I saw him up, up and fighting over there, he's winning against a Death Eater-you were amazing, you were so brave-" I was telling the boy. He looked like he was my age, or a bit older. "What's your name?"

"Austin," he gasped, a bubble of blood forming at the corner of his mouth. "Austin...Austin J..." his words faded and his head fell to one side; he was dead. I let out a cry and pulled him to the side of the room where he would be out of the way.

With a shaking hand I closed his eyelids and stood trembling amongst the rubble.

"Stupefy!" I screamed, aiming my wand at a Death Eater who was advancing upon a wandless student. The bolt of red light hit him square in the face as he turned, and he crumpled heavily to the floor. The girl turned her grimy face toward me, here eyes wide and pale.

"Thank you," she whispered, and then dove for her wand.

I took a step forward and was almost bowled over by a chinese girl, whose eyes were wide with terror.

"Run!" She screamed, pushing at my back and we sprinted together, turning occasionally to fire spells over our shoulder at the advancing Death Eater, who deflected them all easily. He was tall and without a mask; grinning cruelly he quickened his pace-

"ROOKWOOD!" I heard an enraged scream but could not look behind to see who it was that was sprinting after our pursuer.

"Listen to me-LISTEN, RON!" I heard someone else shouting, a female, with an extremely familiar voice. Hermione.

"I wanna help-I wanna kill Death Eaters-" Ron was shouting back.

I did not hear Hermione's response; we were already gone.

"Dive to the left on count of three," I murmured to the girl I was running with, who nodded, looking slightly hysterical.

"One-two-three!" I screamed and she moved to the left and I to the right. I rolled and tumbled and before the Death Eater had a chance to turn around, the girl, myself, and our savior, who I still hadn't gotten a good look at, had our wands pointed at him grimly.

"Ready, then," the man said from behind us.

"Stupefy!"

"Reducto!"

"Bomborda!"

We all shouted different spells, and the effect was chaotic. The floor exploded around the Death Eater as he slumped to the floor with the stupefy spell, and he was partially buried under the rubble.

"Thank you!" The girl and I gasped, turning around to meet-

"Uncle Percy!" I blurted. He looked at me strangely.

"What did you call me?" He wiped tears that were falling rapidly from his eyes.

"I mean-I mean-why are you crying?" I exclaimed. "No! Fred!" I answered my own question, falling to my knees. I was crying as well; I hadn't realized it until now, but I had been harboring some unconscious hope that I would be able to save my uncle.

There. I've got it. You're coming back. I am so, so sorry.

"No!" I screamed again, partially at the voice and partially at the Death Eaters, and Voldemort-

"No, I won't!" I screamed, and my vision once again began to grow fuzzy. I looked up just in time to see the ugly face of a giant grinning down at us, and Percy and the girl looking up in terror-

"Nooooo!" I screamed, and the scene went black.

The next time I opened my eyes I was looking up at the perfectly intact ceiling, laying on the stone floor of present day Hogwarts. I sat up, tears streaming silently down at my face. I looked at my hands; the scrapes were gone, and they looked perfectly clean. My robes were without the rips and tears they had collected-

"Roxanne!" I turned to see Stefan sprinting forward toward me, his wand drawn. "Was that you screaming? Are you alright?" He fell to his knees beside me and looked absolutely shocked to see me crying.

"Stefan," I sobbed, blubbering like a baby. "I was there!" He silently held his arms out, sitting on the floor next to me and I fell into them, gulping in breaths of air.

Here I was, knowing this boy for all of a month, and now suddenly I was crying my eyeballs out with him on the floor.

"What happened?" He asked gently, pulling back to look at me.

"I-was-at-the-Battle of Hogwarts," I gasped, wiping my eyes. Stefan gave me a strange look. "The voice-it took me there," I sobbed, putting my face in my hands. After a few moments he stood and offered me his hand, pulling me to his feet. He put his arm around my shoulder, keeping me close to his side.

"What voice, Roxanne?" He asked soothingly. I could tell he thought I was mental.

"I'm not crazy," I assured him, calming down slightly now. "All year I've heard it, it's been talking to me," I babbled, completely aware of how completely insane I sounded. "I don't know who it is, but it had to have been someone at the Battle of Hogwarts, someone dead...Stefan, I don't know what's going on," I moaned, very aware of his arm around me. My heart was thumping fast and I felt slightly weak, to tell the truth.

"So, let's figure this out. You think you've been hearing a voice...is it...Pabes maybe, trying to play a joke on you?" Stefan tried to rationalize.

"Pabes?" I asked blankly, looking up at him. His arm was still around my shoulder, holding me to his side. He looked down at me, equally confused. He really did have pretty eyes, I thought distractedly. Long lashes that a girl would be jealous of, and irises the color of deep chocolate-brown.

"You know, the Poltergeist who likes to prank everyone?" His voice raised in question.

"Oh! Peeves!" I exclaimed. "No. It's not him. Stefan, there's no...I can't tell how old the person is, or even if it's a boy or a girl. And just now, when you found me in the hallway...well, this has never happened, but I think I witnessed some of their memories. I was back in the Battle of Hogwarts," I said seriously. "I'm not making this up, Stefan, and I wasn't hallucinating."

He held his hands up. "Just say you really were there, for a moment. What sort of magic could possibly transport you back there? How could you even..." he trailed off, a very confused look on his face.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I can't explain it. The first time I heard it, it was completely random. It said something about...beans, I think."

"Beans?" Stefan now looked positively perplexed.

"Yeah...you don't think I'm crazy, do you?" I asked again.

"No," Stefan promised, winking at me. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

"Okay," I said, content for the moment. "What were you doing out this late, anyway?" I asked him.

"Oh-nothing," he said, suddenly removing his arm from my shoulders and shoving his hands in his pockets. My shoulders felt cold where his arm had been.

"Seriously," I pressed. "It's after curfew."

"Well, what were you doing out then?" He countered, meeting my gaze with slight suspicion.

"Er..." Got back from visiting my bed-ridden best friend from an "allergic reaction" then plotted to sneak back into the hospital wing tomorrow night... "Taking a walk," I finished lamely.

"So was I," Stefan insisted.

"You sure you weren't whispering with your evil Headmaster?" I joked, because that's what Stefan seemed to be doing a lot these days, whispering (while looking extremely dodgy) with Professor Nikola in dark corners. The man was evil, I knew it.

"Way to ruin a moment, Roxanne," Stefan snapped, glaring at me.

Whoa. Back up. Moment? He called that a moment? Maybe I hadn't had dozens of boyfriends but I was pretty sure my snotting all over his robes after being transported back from a battle caused by a bodiless voice did not qualify as a moment.

Besides, we were strictly platonic and I was determined to keep it that way. He was a heartbreaker, and that's all there was to it.

"What are you on about?" I asked angrily, spinning to face him. "I just got back from a bloody battle and-"

"Miss Weasley, Mr. Leonov."

Quite literally, Professor Nikola melted straight out of the shadows. I jumped in fright, barely biting back a scream that had jumped into my throat along with my racing heart.

"Profess-Professor Nikola!" I stammered, eyes jumping to Stefan on the other side of me, whose face was one of shock.

In the shadows, the Durmstrang Headmaster only looked more imposing, his face full of shadows and his heavyset body cloaked with black robes and fur.

Seriously, who wears fur in September, even if it was the end of it? It wasn't even cold yet.

He fixed his steel gray eyes on me.

"And how are the both of you on this fine night?" He asked quietly as if it were a normal occurrence to run into two students so late. And with a sudden force my ears began to ring.

No, they weren't ringing.

I was hearing the sound of an...alarm.

And with the feeling of water rushing in to fill a void, I remembered. And I knew this was the reason that I couldn't get a good look at the professor all month without a splitting headache.

Back in the portkey station in August, he had been the one to set off the alarms for dark magic.

But why?

"-understand me? Answer! You have just caused a level seven-" the security wizard had said.

"I do not speak English," Nikola insisted.

"Stop that. I heard you speaking English earlier to your friends here and you've got to give yourself up for questioning or-"

"I do not speak English," he said again.

"Dan, call the aurors," one of the wizards said quietly.

"You have caused a full evacuation of the station. You have been caught to be possessing level seven dark artifacts, which alone is a sentence to Azkaban for up to ten years. The caliber of these objects have not been seen since You-Know-Who himself," the security wizard's voice was hard and unforgiving.

"Well," Nikola began. "Perhaps you had best forget us, then." And then they stunned the security wizards; they dropped to the floor before they even had a chance to move. And then Nikola was standing over me.

"Hello there." In my mind's eye I saw Nikola and his wide smile. "Such a shame you had to see this." He raised his wand.

I burst out of the flashback, gasping. That was why I had those bad feelings about Nikola, and...and Nadia! She had been there too, I was sure of it!

Uncertainly crossed my mind. What about Stefan? Sure he was kind of a serial dater, but it wasn't like he'd curse anyone...whatever some of the others in his school were involved in, he certainly wasn't.

"Are you alright?" Nikola looked at me with false concern. Only his eyes gave him away. His cold, emotionless eyes.