Chapter Three
Emily stumbled slightly as the portkey landed her on the Hogwarts lawn. She turned around, wind blowing her hair, as she held onto the shoulder straps of her bag. This place was beautiful; she noticed a shimmering lake in the distance that looked like a perfect place to sit and read. She shivered slightly - it was cooler here than it had been in New York, and she wished she had worn pants rather than shorts. She renewed this sentiment silently when she saw Professor McGonagall approaching her, wearing quite solemn-looking robes and hat. Emily thought she must look like a child, rather than the hoped-for academic expert. Professor McGonagall did give her an appraising glance, but spoke kindly.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, Ms. Newport. I trust that your journey went smoothly? Very good, very good, let me show you to your rooms. The Task Force will be here tomorrow morning, and… you might want to rethink your wardrobe," she added with what Emily could have sworn was a small smirk.
Morning came soon enough, and Emily did indeed choose her outfit more carefully. She much preferred No-Maj clothing to robes, but fortunately she had packed some jeans and some shirts that made her look older than a teenager. A tray had been sent to her room with a lovely breakfast, presumably made by the house elves (Emily had managed to squeeze in a reading of Hogwarts, a History before she left). She found that she had little appetite though, and was consumed with nerves. It was unlike her to be so nervous before talking about her beloved research. But back home, her reputation had preceded her and her colleagues already knew what she looked like. Here, she was worried about being perceived as too young, unprofessional, or any number of negative things. Her rational side was quick to shut these thoughts down - this is imposter syndrome, and you know it, she thought. They wouldn't have asked me here if I wasn't qualified. Sometimes No-Maj psychology actually made sense.
Professor McGonagall accosted her as she came downstairs. "Everyone is outside, ready to begin. Are you prepared? I don't want any time wasted," she said, with just a hint of impatience. Emily gulped.
"Of course professor. It won't take long for me to get everyone started. The theory isn't hard to grasp and… " She trailed off as they emerged from the castle onto the lawn, and Emily saw a crowd of about 20 witches and wizards standing there, presumably waiting for her. As she had a chance to look around, she noticed that most of them were young - younger than her even. She had a suspicion that many of them had been members of the famed Dumbledore's Army. They had heard of this underground movement all the way back at MACUSA. They all had a look of determination about them, and seemed to be eagerly awaiting her arrival.
"May I have your attention please!" Professor McGonagall began, although there was no need - everyone's attention was already focused directly on Emily. "Ms. Newport is here to instruct us in her method of Magical Restoration, a new field pioneered by herself and her assistants at MACUSA. She comes to us with recommendations from our new Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and the President of MACUSA. I have reviewed her work myself and have found that she is more than deserving of these accolades, and I am elated that she is here to help us."
The Task Force members looked impressed. Emily got the impression that Professor McGonagall did not often hand out praise, and she felt her cheeks burning red.
"Furthermore, I want you all to remember what restoring this castle means to the magical community in our country. This task will help to safeguard our magical heritage for years to come. I want you all to take this seriously."
Emily felt this admonishment was hardly necessary. Everyone looked as if they were ready to fight another battle if it came down to it.
Professor McGonagall gestured to Emily, and she supposed that now it was time to begin.
"Thank you, Professor, for your kind words of welcome. Please, everyone, you can call me Emily. I'd like to jump right in and explain to you the most important spell we'll be using for the next few weeks. The incantation is 'primitus incantatem.'" She heard them mumbling the spell to themselves. "This spell will show us, similarly to the Reverse Spell effect, which spells were initially cast upon an object to give it its magical properties. This is more precise than the 'specialis revelio' charm, can anyone see why?"
A young woman with bushy hair immediately raised her hand. Emily nodded at her. "In this case, after a battle, 'specialis revelio' will show us all the spells cast upon an object, and won't tell us what its original spells were."
"Precisely. You must be Hermione Granger. We've heard of you all the way in America," Emily said with a smile. Many of the others chuckled. "Ms. Granger is correct - we needed a spell specific to the original spells placed on an object. The difficult step is knowing how to replicate the original spells after the item has been repaired. In many cases, we are dealing with ancient magic, some of which has been lost. This is why magical restoration is such a varied field - sometimes we are required to reinvent the spells necessary to restore an item to its former use. Many times we need transfiguration, charms, or arithmancy to produce the desired result."
Hermione was looking at Emily with so much excitement, Emily thought she might burst.
"I have some artifacts to practice with here. These are not particularly valuable - they are from our last project. These are items recovered from the remains of the Adena people of North America. Their magic was strong, and surprisingly consistent with many simple modern spells."
Emily began passing out the artifacts; a stone bowl, quite a few arrowheads, and many stone tablets. As everyone had a chance to practice, she had a chance to look around and make some guesses at who these Task Force members were. Since the Battle of Hogwarts, many reports had made their way through MACUSA and Emily had read as many as she could. She had guessed Hermione of course, and obviously it was Harry Potter and Ron Weasley who stood with her. The other redheads must be the older Weasley brothers, and Ginny the lone Weasley sister. As she was figuring this out, she caught herself noticing one of the Weasley brothers in particular. He was shorter, muscular, and covered with freckles. By process of elimination, she deduced that this must be Charlie. He hadn't been mentioned much in the reports she'd seen. She remembered something about his recruiting of foreign wizards… what was it that he did for a living?
She was abruptly jolted out of this reverie by Hermione, eager to show what she had discovered from her stone tablet. Emily realized that her eyes had lingered on Charlie long enough for him to notice. He gave her a confused glance, and she quickly turned to Hermione to discuss her work.
"Ms. Newport! I believe this stone tablet had a feather-light charm upon it at one time! Of course now it feels quite heavy, I suppose the charm has worn off."
"That's exactly right, Hermione. The Adena people used stone tablets to keep records and they obviously used one of their magicians to keep track of everything. Almost every tablet we've found shows traces of feather-light charms." She explained this to everyone, and then quietly added, "And please, call me Emily."
Hermione looked quite pleased with herself. Others were having success with their artifacts as well, so Emily briefed them on proper note-taking and organization, and sent them off to their assigned areas. They were to document any spell they couldn't recreate, and Emily and Professor McGonagall would be making the rounds to help fill in any gaps. And possibly Hermione, too, Emily mused. This sort of work seems perfect for her.
Emily watched as they all walked away. The demonstration had gone well, and she was happy to have made a good first impression. She noticed that Charlie Weasley looked back at her as he walked into the castle with his brother, Bill. Emily didn't quite know what to make of him. She felt her curiosity getting the better of her, and quickly pushed it away. She hadn't come here to make attachments.