Chapter 3: Unicorns and Rainbows

"Alright, Ms. Swan. Tell me your full name." Polonius Burke, the resident Potions Master sat across from Bella with his arms folded.

She gave him an odd look. "Are you sure this is supposed to make me tell the truth? I don't feel any different."

"Ms. Swan, your name. What is your name?"

She glanced at Neville and Professor McGonagall, the former of whom gazed at her with concern and kindness and the latter of which with wary shrewdness.

Her mind drifted back in time to Edward and how he hadn't been able to hear her thoughts. She recalled the tourists who mysteriously remembered nonexistent appointments. She thought back to how surprised Neville was when she had seen a glittering castle instead of an old ruin. At that moment an incredible possibility occurred to her.

Was it possible? Could Bella's mind be protecting itself somehow?

That gave her two options – she could lie and let them believe the serum was working, or she could tell the truth.

Taking a deep breath, Bella knew there was really only one thing to do.

"My name is Isabella Marie Swan, but I didn't have to tell you that."

Surprisingly Professor Burke looked unconvinced. "You say you divulged the information of your own accord, Ms. Swan, but perhaps it is you who are mistaken."

Neville rose from his chair, his mind clearly in the same frame as Bella's. "And what if she's telling the truth? Can't people with strong enough wills – or an occlumens – can't they negate the effects?"

"Are you trying to tell me that this...muggle is an accomplished occlumens?" Professor Burke scoffed at Neville. "Let a real expert do his work, and go back to the greenhouses, Longbottom."

Bella stared at the potions teacher in disbelief. Neville looked like he wanted to argue, but gradually he clenched his fist and sank back into his chair in silent humiliation, and she felt a pang of empathy for him.

"Back to the point," Professor Burke rolled his eyes. "Isabella Swan, where are you from?"

Bella bit her lips together as a blossoming plot entered her mind. She was going to turn the tables on that arrogant Potions Master.

"Antarctica." She cleared her throat to keep a straight face. Professor McGonagall's face snapped up in shock, but her interrogator seemed none the wiser.

"And what brought you from this 'Antarctica' to Hogwarts?"

"Well, the penguin...robot army was starting to take over, so I chiseled this rowboat out of ice and rowed until the ice melted off the coast of...Swizzlestick Land." She internally squealed with glee when she noticed Neville coughing into his fist to keep from laughing. Even the headmistress was fighting back the hint of a grin. "Then I hitched a ride with some...unicorns, and they flew me to the...rainbow bridge."

Professor Burke's mouth fell open, and Bella burst into laughter.

"But – unicorns don't fly."

"Oh, these ones do, because they...eat magic corn." She was dying!

At this Neville could contain his laughs no longer, and even Professor McGonagall elicited a surprising snort.

"That's quite enough, Miss Swan. I'm certain the Potions professor has been entertained long enough."

"I don't understand." The Professor Burke turned to the headmistress. "The potion was brewed flawlessly—"

"Hardly..." the painted portrait man interjected.

"Severus, please," Minerva cut him off. "The potion is adequate, as it has successfully worked on other subjects. Therefore the only reasonable explanation is that this girl has somehow managed to override its effects." She turned to Bella, "Miss Swan, you must understand the delicacy of this situation. We cannot simply allow strangers to come prancing past the protective barriers of this school on a whim. We must verify your identity, and if necessary, modify your memory to ensure that every ensuing action has been done in accordance with the Ministry of Magic's Statute of Secrecy."

Bella sat in silence for exactly five seconds. Modifying her memory was not an option, so the only thing left was to cooperate fully and hope for the best. "My name is Bella Swan. I'm from Forks, Washington, but I've been attending school in Scotland."

McGonagall studied her response carefully. "Have you ever come into contact with our kind before?"

"No."

Clasping her hands together, the headmistress leaned forward ever so slightly. "Why venture into the forest when the clear and logical option was to leave it?"

"I just...had to find out what was out there. I suppose I have been called a danger-magnet in the past. If it hadn't been for the thestrals who knows what could have happened."

"We know what could happen," Neville murmured with a distant look in his eyes.

"Miss Swan, do you consider yourself like other muggles?"

"Maybe? I still don't know for sure what a muggle is."

"People without magic," Burke burst out from his new seat across the room. His tone was almost scathing, and Bella couldn't help but wonder if he was that nasty all the time.

"Well, I look like everyone else I guess." Except for the Cullens, or Jacob's pack, but did they even count as muggles? Probably not. "I just always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Thank you, Miss Swan. You have been exceedingly helpful. Polonius will escort you to an Obliviator to have your memory modified, at which point you we will make sure you are found by the proper muggle authorities."

"Please, I won't tell anyone." Somehow in the chaos of her brain, Bella's eyes found Neville's, and she could see the hesitation clear in his expression.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I wish we didn't have to."

"Oh for Merlin's sake," Professor Burke spat, "she won't even remember this conversation in a few minutes."

Bella stood in a swift sharp motion. "Don't do this, please!"

Before she could blink Professor McGonagall pulled a thin, wooden stick from her robes and pointed it directly at her.

"Petrificus Totalus."

Suddenly Bella couldn't move. It was like every muscle in her entire body was frozen solid, and yet she could still hear and breathe.

"In view of Miss Swan's unforeseen complications, I feel it would be best if we handle this immediately. Polonius, are you still adept at memory charms?" Bella spied the headmistress turn to the Potions professor out of the corner of her eye.

"Of course, Minerva," he replied smugly. "I'd be happy to oblige." He then pulled out a thin stick of his own.

Bella braced herself, wishing there was a way to hold on to this place for just a moment longer.

"Obliviate!"

A curious thing happened at that moment. Whatever incantation had been directed at her seemed to rebound back onto the Potions Master, and in turn he was blasted backwards across the room.

"Good Heavens! Get Poppy at once!" Minerva cried at a portrait Bella couldn't see, and she rushed toward the fallen teacher. "Is everything alright? Professor Burke?"

The man named Polonius Burke peered up at the headmistress. "I'm sorry, who are you?"