AN: This chapter is kind of depressing. I should mention that Charlotte generally doesn't act like this, but you have to keep in mind that seeing what she has would kind of make you react the same way.
"Reality continues to ruin my life."
―Bill Watterson,The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
Chapter Two: New Life
Warm... it's warm, Charlotte thought as she felt the sunlight hit her face. She opened her eyelids and groaned at the throbbing sensation at the back of her head, before pushing herself up so that she was sitting to view her surroundings. A forest. She was in a forest. In the middle of nowhere.
The sunlight had been filtered through the tree leaves, forming shadows all over the muddy floor. Much to her surprise, the forest wasn't particularly dense with trees as they were spread out all over the stretch of ground. The earthy scent of pinecones and wildflowers tickled her nose, and there was little sound to be heard. It was much too quiet; the sweet music of birds or of the wind could not be heard, only the sound of her shallow breathing.
She groaned loudly and dug her face into her sweaty (and now dirty) palms with a million thoughts and questions rushing through her head. Charlotte knew she couldn't just sit around and wait for a knight in shining armour to come and save her, that's not how the real world worked. Then again, with the things she had seen she was no longer sure that she could even distinguish what was real and what wasn't anymore. If it wasn't for the pain that hammered continually at the back of head, Charlotte would have just assumed that she was still in some hellish nightmare.
As she stood up a wave of sickness hit her stomach. Charlotte quickly leaned on a nearby tree for support, as she bent her head down and started to cough violently, her frame shaking as the pain in her chest erupted. Her lungs felt like they were being squeezed tightly, making it difficult for her to breathe and her knees were shaky, as if she would collapse under her weight at any moment. Charlotte pushed herself off the tree and vomited on the floor for a considerable amount of time, not knowing what was wrong with her body, until she had finally stopped. Taking deep breathes; Charlotte tried relax and calm herself but was having a hard time doing so. Cold sweat was trickling down her back and she felt like she could just lie down to sleep forever.
After a moment or so, Charlotte rested her back on the tree and sunk to the ground, before weeping loudly. The emotional turmoil was too much for her to handle. One minute she was at her friend's house, joking and messing around, and the next she was forced into another dimension. She was completely out of her comfort zone. Be strong, courageous and calm she thought, chanting the mantra in her head again and again, but her thoughts was suddenly cut off by a blast she heard in the distance.
The sounds were growing louder with every passing second, and it seemed to be getting closer to her direction. At this point voices could now be heard in the mixture of the piercing noises, as well as the sound of electricity flying in the air and objects breaking, echoing throughout the entire forest. Different coloured lights started to flash brighter and moments after, something hurled through the sky and crashed into a tree, smashing the trunk in the process. Charlotte, who was now controlling her breathing and hiding behind the tree, watched curiously and slightly horrified as the thing, which turned out to be a ginger haired man, try to get up.
A cloaked man emerged through the trees, pointing his wand at the figure before him and bellowed "Crucio!" The wounded man crumbled to the ground withering in pain and agony, whilst the cloaked man laughed insanely. He continued to shout "For Grindelwald's army!" terrifying Charlotte even more than what she thought was possible.
Whilst the deranged man was distracted, the other wizard drew his wand and roared, "Avada Kedavra!" green sparks shooting from his wand. Before the cloaked wizard could comprehend what the other man had done, the spell hit him in the chest, causing him let out a blood curdling scream and thus collapsing on the floor. When this had occurred, the forest grew silent again until the ginger wizard crumbled to the ground and started to pant. He rested his back against the broken trunk, his eyes focused on the dead body not far away from him.
Charlotte was once again at a completely loss on words. She had seen what the man could do and what he was capable of, which frightened her. I'll wait until he leaves, and then I'll get up, she thought. However, her plan had hit a rather nasty wall when she realised that she didn't know what to do afterwards. What could she do? Walk until she sees a random nearby town and say, "hey, my names Charlotte and I'm from another dimension." She shook her head at the naive thinking, knowing that she would have to be very careful.
All of a sudden, the wind picked up and blew past the area, carrying bits of dirt and leaves on the way. Unfortunately for Charlotte, she was hit in the face by a leaf, tickling her nose. She recognised the feeling on the nose and instantly knew what was going to happen. Quickly pinching her nose, Charlotte tucked her head between her knees and hoped that she wouldn't sneeze, but her body betrayed her. It wasn't just your average normal sneeze, but rather a loud one, immediately causing her to freeze. She silently prayed that the wizard hadn't heard her, but her stomach dropped when she heard a growl.
"Reveal yourself!" demanded the man, his cold voice ripping through air. She debated whether to comply or not by thinking of the pros and cons, after all he did seem fairly injured so he couldn't hurt her that bad (at least to her knowledge), however she decided not to risk it. Charlotte slowly pulled herself up, almost falling back down in the process as her body was still attempting to recover itself from the previous episode. She clutched to the tree for support, her hands feeling the thickness of the trunk. As she slowly stepped out of the shadows and into the light, she put both hands up to show that she wasn't carrying a weapon.
The wizard stared her intensely, making Charlotte flinch under his gaze. She inspected him and saw a lot of blood, cuts and bruises that was covering his body. He was covered in sweat and his clothes were torn, his pale blue eyes were tired and bloodshot. His wand was pointed at her, and more specifically her heart, although she could see his arm shaking.
His expression was guarded, "Are you a spy?"
If the situation had been not so serious and life threatening, Charlotte would have rolled her eyes and retorted something sarcastically, but she knew that she was at no position to do so at the moment. She felt that it was ridiculous for anyone to make such an assumption that she was a spy. Sophie would often refer to her as having two left feet or just born with the inability to walk or run long lengths without tripping on something.
"No," she answered simply, her voice wavering, but his eyes hardened and were still full of suspicion.
"State your name and motives," he commanded harshly.
Charlotte bit the bottom of her lip and thought deeply for a moment. Should I tell him? Maybe he can help me. But what he doesn't believe me? She frowned at the thought.
"My name is Charlotte Foster and I don't really have a motive. I was just here when this happened," she answered carefully, watching his face. She decided it was best not tell the whole truth, after all who knew how he would react if she told him the truth.
The man clenched his jaw, his body still rigid. He was sweating profusely, even much so than he did before, and his eyelids were struggling to keep up.
"...are you okay?" she asked softly. Although she knew that it was foolish to show weakness in front of this stranger, Charlotte couldn't help but feel concerned for him. He looked like he was going to drop dead any minute.
The wizard eyed her strangely, but continued to hold his wand up. "That's none of your concern," he muttered through his gritted teeth. He then started to cough, blood spraying all over his hand. His arm started to lower slowly as his eyes becoming less and less focused. Oh crap, he's not going to-
Suddenly, he dropped arm to the floor. His chest was no longer rising and his eyes looking blank and lifeless. Charlotte didn't move for a long time, only standing there staring at him shock. When she had finally snapped out of her trance, she stepped closer to him until she was directly in front of him, kneeling down on the damp grass so that they were both at eye level. As she did so, she hesitantly reached her shaky hand out and lightly closed his eyelids.
Charlotte started to take deep breaths, not knowing whether she was hyperventilating or having a panic attack. She bit back her tears and focused all her attention on her breathing, whilst moving her head back and looking at the blue sky.
"WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?!" she screamed, her dry throat feeling sore, "I'VE DONE NOTHING, YOU HEAR ME WORLD?" She bit her lip and dug her finger nails into her arms, not noticing that she had cut through the flesh. Blood started to ooze out from the wound, causing her to release her hold, "nothing..."
Time sat still for a long time, or at least that's it felt like to her. After Charlotte's mental break down, she shuffled away from the dead bodies, the revolting smell of blood made her gag and the sight of them was even worse. Her mind was still in chaos, full of unanswered questions that didn't make sense to her. Who was the boy from before? Why did I feel like death as soon as I got here? Who were those people and what or who is Grindelwald? Since when did magic exist? Where the hell am I? Although there was one thing that Charlotte was sure about. She had finally concluded that she was in 'Harry Potter World', or something equivalent to that.
A loud noise cut through the silence of the forest once again, breaking Charlotte from her dreamlike state. However this time she didn't look worried. From the things she had seen in the time since she had been here, Charlotte doubted that anything could surprise her anymore.
Something twisted and turned in the air until it formed into a person, a certain Albus Dumbledore to be exact. Well I didn't see that one coming, she thought, slightly relieved that it was someone she had recognised and dropped her guard down, teleporting must come in handy. Or whatever it's called...I really should have read the books.
Dumbledore however, was not looking how she was use to seeing him in the films. He looked younger, had a shorter beard and had darker, greyish brown hair. He was wearing a deep navy coloured suit, with a long black overcoat on top as if he had just come out of a meeting or someplace fancy. His blue eyes twinkled with interest as he saw her sat on the floor, but frowned when his eyes scanned the area, stopping on the bloody corpses.
Charlotte felt awkward, unsure of what to do or say. To be honest, she was somewhat expecting him to blame her for murdering them and getting her thrown prison or even worse, possibly killing her. Much to her surprise he did not look at her with accusation in his eyes, but rather concern instead.
"Are you alright, my dear? You seem rather shaken up," he asked softly. He inched a little closer, carefully examining her tear stained face.
"Y-yes," she spluttered, pausing for a moment to compose herself and thinking carefully of her next words, "This is going to sound really weird... but what's today's date?"
He looked curiously at her, "3rd September, 1942. I assume that you are from the future then?"
Shocked, Charlotte dropped her jaw, "1942? And how did you.."
He smiled at her loss of words, "Merely from the question you asked. And your clothes are rather unusual for this time era, wouldn't you agree Miss..."
She quickly recovered, "Foster. Charlotte Foster." Glancing down at her clothes, she realised that he was right. For the first time since coming to this dimension, Charlotte noticed how muddy her clothes were, it was almost as if she had decided to jump in a puddle of mud and rolled around it in.
"Albus Dumbledore," he said kindly, offering his hand out.
Charlotte gladly accepted it and pulled herself up from the ground, letting go and wiping her hands on her jeans. She glanced up at Dumbledore to see that he was still examining her. Although she wasn't sure why he was here, Charlotte knew that she was lucky. From watching the movies with Sophie, she had always liked Dumbledore and would often refer to him as 'that old kick-ass wizard who's kinda like Gandalf.' She knew that if there was anyone she could trust around this place, it would be him hands down.
"Professor, I know this is going to sound strange but I need your help," she pleaded earnestly. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, but nevertheless he nodded. As Charlotte explained her situation, Dumbledore's eyes surveyed her face to ensure that she was telling the truth. Every once in a while, he would hold up his hand and tell her that there was no need for her to tell him certain parts (like when she mentioned the books), stating that for the good of the time line, something's should not be known unto him. When she had finished he was looking at her wistfully, but he wore a solemn expression on his face. For some time he did not say anything, only stroking his beard pondering deeply.
"I'm afraid I cannot help you with getting back to your world," he said, his brow furrowed. Charlotte opened her mouth to say something, but he shook his head, "Miss Foster, it is not that I do not want to help. Your situation seems very unfortunate and believe me, I plan to help you to best of my abilities, but the wizard that you mentioned before was using a spell that even I have never heard of, or thought such a thing even existed. But I will do my best to look into." She looked dejected, but Dumbledore gave her a reassuring smile, "Do not worry though, in the mean time I know what you can do."
"Really?" she looked hopefully at him. Is he going to let me stay at Hogwarts?
"You can stay at Hogwarts for the time being," he simply replied, answering her thoughts, "Will this be your sixth year?" Charlotte inwardly cheered and started to smile, but she faltered.
"No, fifth year, but professor... I can't use magic. Magic doesn't even exist where I come from," she remarked miserably. Pessimistic thoughts started to creep up in her mind but were interrupted by Dumbledore's calm and soothing voice.
"Have you ever tried using magic?" Charlotte shook her head, "then how can you know? Although I'm not an expert at time and space, they may be a possibility that you can utilise magic in this 'Dimension'." Hmm, well I suppose that makes sense. It can't hurt to try I guess, she thought, butanother problem quickly arose.
"I don't have a wand though," she responded.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he spoke, "well I may have a solution to that problem."
He reached into his inner coat pocket and took out a wooden box, with a small white rope tied around it. He passed it over to her as Charlotte gratefully accepted it, studying the box.
The box was made from ebony wood, which she recognised from her Product Design lessons at school, and was fairly old. The sides and edges were worn out, and had intricate wooden carvings on the side of an unusual pattern. It looked like a family heirloom that had been passed through for many generations. Charlotte untied the rope and took the wooden lid off, staring at the wand that was encased in deep red velvet padding.
As her fingertips toughed the wand, she felt a tingly sensation in her stomach as electricity pulsed through her. Grinning widely, she grabbed the wand and firmly grasped it in her hand. The long wand itself wasn't anything special to be honest; it was thicker at the bottom and grew slimmer at the top, with a silver strip near the end of the wand.
"It's made from acacia wood, I believe, although I can't say for sure that I know what the core is. Do you like it?" he asked.
She nodded and smiled, her eyes still fixated on the wand, "It's lovely," she breathed. Tearing her eyes away from the object and looked curiously at Dumbledore, "Do you randomly keep wands in your pockets?" Charlotte joked.
To her surprise, Dumbledore looked away as if he wasn't able to meet her eyes. "Not particularly. This was a special case." She had planned to pry for more details, but was struck with another question; one she realised that she should have asked him in the beginning.
"Professor, I don't mean to be nosy," although she fully did, curiosity was one of the traits that got her in trouble when she got caught, which was rarely, "but why are you here? And when I mean here, I mean this specific location. Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts already?"
This time when his blue eyes met up with hers, they were unreadable, "I was actually on the way back from the ministry, after meeting an old friend. It was merely a coincidence that I came here," he answered with a firm voice that made it impossible for her to ask any further. Charlotte immediately understood why he became the headmaster in the future; he held such authority in his voice that anyone who heard it would obey his demands. Still, Charlotte felt rather troubled though; it seemed to her that everyone she had met so far was not telling her the full truth.
Dumbledore brought out his own wand and pointed it at Charlotte, muttering a spell under his breath. She watched in fascination as her muddy jeans and T-shirt transform into her new clean uniform with black robes. She hastily tucked away the box and wand into her robe pocket before glancing up at him.
"You'll need a story before we arrive, Miss Foster." She nodded as he continued, "You were born in Manchester on.."
"The second of March," she filled in.
"...1927, your father is called Michael Foster, who was a pureblood and an auror. Unfortunately he died in an air raid a year ago. Your mother is called Anna Foster, who is a muggle-born and homeschooled you until your father's death. The reason you joined Hogwarts now is because your mother felt that it was no longer safe you keep you at home. Do you think you can remember that?"
"I guess so." She replied.
"Very good," he smiled, looking rather pleased at her, "and do not worry about catching up with everyone in lessons. I will schedule you tutors every evening until it is not longer necessary." Charlotte moaned and cursed under her breath. Getting tutored meant a lot of effort on her part, and as she had to catch-up 5 years worth of work, she knew that she would constantly be busy.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, gaining her attention whilst holding his hand out, "It would be best if we got going now as I do believe that we are running a little late. If you come and hold my hand, I shall apparate us to Hogwarts and explain to Headmaster Dippet about your stay, sticking to the story of course."
Charlotte walked towards him but stopped halfway, "What do we do about the.. erm.. the bodies?" she asked, shivering involuntary.
He frowned a little, "I'm afraid there isn't anything we can do. In fact, it would be best if we quickly leave in case their companions notice that they're missing and decide to investigate their whereabouts."
Charlotte nodded and grabbed hold of his hand, tensing her muscles as Dumbledore counted down to three. As got to one, she saw the world go black and felt her body being twisted in so many ways that it made her feel queasy.
Disappearing into the air, the forest was once again eerily quiet. Unbeknownst to them, a tall figure had been watching them from a far, hiding behind a large tree and using a disillusionment charm for safe measures. The figure started to cough blood in his hands, before wiping them on his clothes.
He sighed out loud and whispered, "Be safe," to himself, before holding out his wand and casting a spell. A white light shone around the figure before completely enveloping him. As the light started to fade, the figure was no longer in sight, leaving the remains of the corpses to themselves in the forest.