Chris Carter and 1013 Productions own the X-Files. JK Rowling, Warner Brothers and Scholastic own Harry Potter. All I own is this story line, every Harry Potter DVD and an almost complete collection of X-Files DVD's.

A/N This story is set anytime during Sorcerers Stone through Prisoner of Azkaban of HP (although it contains information in all the books) and after X-Files episode "Emily", but before "Requiem".

SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE

Dana, reminiscing: You will not be able to find any record of this assignment; not in any newspaper, not under the auspices of the Freedom of Information Act, not by by any other means. I confess here, that I falsified my original field report, then what I submitted to the FBI was further altered by the bureaucrats, and eventually it was buried in some stack of random files. Furthermore, we were asked by our "host" not to bring back any physical evidence, a request with which we complied.

THE GREAT HALL

HOGWARTS

The agents were to be formally introduced to the school at dinner that night. Scully had changed and was waiting by herself for instructions in the back of the foyer. She was watching the students file in, and some of them smiled at her shyly. She smiled back, but she was not looking forward to taking her meals at the head table, so much in everybody's view. She was missing the nice, anonymous lunch room at Headquarters where it was easy to blend in, or even better, when she and Mulder would order something sent to their office.

Mulder caught her up and pulled her aside.

"So, Scully, what do you think of this place?" He asked quietly.

"I'll admit Mulder, it is a step above the 'quarter-behind-the-ear' trick."

"Scully, I've been waiting my whole life for proof of something like this. I almost expect this whole place to disappear one night and leave nothing but a scorched circle in the Highlands as evidence."

Scully was amazed. "Mulder, you're not thinking we're dealing with EBE's, are you?"

"Extraterrestrial Biological Entities? I don't know, Scully, but whovever we're dealing with, they are complex, highly organized and know how to hide effectively from outsiders."

Mulder moved away from her to have a word with Hagrid, and Scully inched toward the door of the Great Hall, pondering what Mulder had said. As she peered inside, she saw the ceiling for the first time. Or maybe the lack of a ceiling? Whatever it was, it was beautiful, and Scully was transfixed, looking at the evening sky.

While she was standing, she sensed a movement behind her, and turned around to see Snape. She smiled briefly at him, then continued her study of the ceiling. Could Mulder be right? Could Professor Snape and all the rest of these people be EBE's?

As she stood, thinking, and admiring the dining hall, Snape studied her appearance a little more closely. Dressed in a severely cut, knee length dinner suit, as opposed to the long, flowing robes of the witches he knew, and her hair not hidden under a pointed hat, she almost seemed exotic, especially to someone like him, who spent virtually all his time in the wizarding world.

Scully asked him as she gestured towards the ceiling, "Professor Snape, I have never seen anything like this. This is beautiful. Did you have something to do with the construction of this?"

He almost gasped at the question. How old did she think he was? He didn't think he was that much older than she, maybe five years. Yet, Snape was pleased, in spite of himself at this muggle thinking he had helped build this dining hall. Snape took all this for granted, but now he looked at it again through her eyes. For the first time in a long time, he was appreciating it, too.

Snape replied, "Agent Scully, this ceiling was constructed long before I was here as a student."

Scully nodded. More students were filing in, and she stepped back to let them pass. Snape took a step backward, trying to avoid contact. However, an idea occured to him. He tapped her on the arm, and when she turned around, he was holding a coin in his cupped hand and he whispered a quick incantation. The coin transformed into a tiny rose. "Here's something I made."

Scully smiled at him. "May I see it?"

She delicately took the rose out of his hand, examined it closely on all sides. Scully still wanted to believe that it was just some kind of a trick, like something you'd see in a nightclub act in Vegas. Then she decided it didn't matter right now. She fastened it to her jacket. Neither Scully nor Snape were aware of the pair of eyes observing them at close range. A young witch looked away quickly and glanced at her friends, but they hadn't noticed anything. That was the problem when your two best friends were boys. She smiled to herself, anyway. She would file this observation away along with all her others.