Arthur sighed as his forehead met the surface of his desk with a thud, and started to wonder ,'do I even have feet?' Since he sure as hell couldn't feel them , he was exhausted , the last two weeks had been non stop raids and putting out fires. Ever since the twins got their wands last year , they had become really trigger happy and developed a taste for arson. At this point he just needed a break whether that was from work or this mortal plane, he didn't care.
So when his coworker asked him if he could host a playdate with their daughter , he saw a chance to escape, and sure it was probably or perhaps definitely morally dubious to sacrifice a young child to the symbols of terror known as gred and forge but in his defense he hadn't slept in 4 days and had more Wide-Eye potion than blood at this point. It took 3 hours to convince Molly of his ingenious idea and if he , a grown man, resorted to the use of puppy eyes to win his case ,no one needed to know.
As soon as his wife agreed ,he owled Patricia , just in case Molly changed her mind and after a bit of scheduling it was decided that Hannah Abbott would come over Friday of the following week. I think it goes without saying that she was elated, not only because she was going to meet the Weasleys , but it also meant she would be one step closer to killing canon. Allow me to explain.
The Weasleys live in Devon on the outskirts of a village called Ottery St Catchpole, coincidentally near the Lovegoods and the Diggorys. While it may not have much to do with the rise of Voldemort, the death of Pandora Lovegood was nevertheless a tragedy , and Hannah wanted to save everyone because what's the point of having magic powers if not to do whatever the hell you want, consequences be damned, although she wasn't quite sure how she would go about this other than claiming to be a seer which Hannah couldn't do since it would backfire spectacularly in the long run. She could only hope it works out, she'd wish fate was on her side if it wasn't the very thing she was working against.
Her days flew by in a rush of studying and brief glimpses of triumph as parts of magic theory began to make sense and things started to fall into places. When Friday morning finally arrived ,worry started to bloom in her abdomen as her brain began torturing her with all the 'what ifs' of her plan ,which wasn't really a plan at all . It went something like this ,1) pretend to get lost at some point in the day and hope that a house owned by an eccentric magic family is easy to find and 2) try to not die through sheer stupidity.
Upon reviewing her 'plan' Hannah didn't exactly feel confident about her chances of success but decided if the feces hit the fan ,she'd owl them and hope for the best, with a backup plan at hand she felt slightly more optimistic and started the process of getting dressed.
She spent a good 5 minutes rifling through her draws until she settled on a set of light blue denim dungarees and a mustard yellow jumper to protect her from the frigid English weather . She pulled her hair into a tight bun , no stray hairs escaping her scrutiny. After donning a pair of maroon wool gloves that felt like the equivalent of hugs for her hands . She pulled out a backpack that she prepared last night filled with…essentials , which included and was not limited to an enchanted compass (a gift from Patricia for Robert whom had no sense of direction, bless his soul ), 2 jam sandwiches and a bottle of water because god knows what would happen if she ate food that had come in contact with the twins.
Before she could follow that disturbing train of thought ,she heard Patricia's voice call out for her.
"Hannah hurry up, we're gonna be late!"
Hannah hurried downstairs, almost tripping over air in her haste, excited to set her plan in motion.
Patricia stood in the centre of the living room checking her nonexistent watch as a way to showcase her irritation but couldn't help but smile at her daughter's excitement as she came running through the house ,tackling a few innocent lamps in the process.
"I'm glad you're excited but stay still for a moment, okay? I just need to go over the checklist with you." said Patricia trying not to laugh at Hannah's irked expression at being forced to wait.
"Do you have your sandwiches? " She inquired
"Yes"
"What about your water?"
"Got that too"
"Okay and remember what we said about floo powder "
"You say the name of your destination before you throw the powder unless you want a closed casket " Hannah drawled , already having been told this 17 times.
"I didn't say it like that" Patricia huffed , checking over Hannah's bag to make sure she had everything despite having already asked her.
After a few minutes of checking and rechecking passed before Patricia was satisfied. Hannah stepped into the hearth embedded in the red brick wall with her floo powder in hand, so soft and fine, practically slipping through her fingers.
"THE BURROW!" She bellowed and then threw the fine powder at her feet , which quickly turned into tall green flames that swallowed her whole.
HANNAH's POV
Transportation via floo powder was an …experience. It felt as if I'd been thrown in a blender and reassembled by a drunk fairy, overall surprisingly unpleasant. Once the green flames died down , my eyes were met with the sight of multiple heads of fiery red hair , one of which belonged to a middle aged woman who was currently beaming at me. I'm going to jump the gun and guess that's Molly.
"Welcome dearie, come on. Don't be shy now "
Mrs. Weasley said, still smiling at me.
"Hello", it almost came out as a squeak although I had no idea why I was so nervous, I think it was a combination of the realization of my reincarnation hitting me full force because I was meeting some main characters and the fact that the identical twins behind Mrs. Weasley ,were looking at me ,rubbing their hands together mischievously, giggling like madmen.
Mrs. Weasley pulled me out of the safety of the fireplace and towards the gaggle of redheads and began the introductions.
"That's Ron , he's your age actually so you two will be in the same year which is nice, who knows you might even end up in the same house". She gave Ron a pointed stare until he let out a "hey" mumbled under his breath, Mrs. Weasley must have been content with his response because she continued without missing a beat.
"Oh and these are the twins, Fred and George, if they offer you something don't take it, especially if it's food" . The twins opened their mouths to protest their innocence but were silenced by a glare that'd put a basilisk to shame.
"And this is Ginny" the girl in question gave an awkward wave. A few seconds past before I realized they expected me to respond like a functioning human being.
"Uh hi. My name is Hannah, it's nice to meet ya, um I like animals and chess" I said swallowing the urge to ramble but grimaced knowing I kind of did already. The chess bit was a lie but Ron didn't know that since he was already dragging me to a board set up on a wooden stool in the far corner of the cozy room. There were exposed brick walls, a window to my right cast light upon the patchwork of brightly colored rugs that covered the floor , it really was lovely.
An hour had passed since me and Ron had started playing chess and he won all six games,. I tried to console myself with the fact that I was distracted by the twins putting transfigured snails in my hair but I actually like snails so the self-deception felt extra hollow. Plus Ron would have probably won anyway.
While Mrs. Weasley chewed out the twins for the snail prank , I managed to sneak away mumbling something about going to the toilet, an excuse that I think only Ron heard since the twins were busy facing judgement day and Ginny was content reading her Harry Potter Biography in the corner despite the shrieking. I ran off before Ron could tell me where the toilet was but it wasn't like I was going there anyway.
It took Hannah a good two minutes to find a way out of the Weasley home, since it was bigger on the inside to accommodate the large family. Having successfully located the exit , she quickly ran outside , her satchel slung over shoulder, not stopping until she was far away enough that the Burrow was a mere speck in the distance.
Hannah opened her bag and pulled out the compass. It was made of brass with runes carved into swirling patterns on its rim , the needle was intricately shaped like a Cupid bow, she could almost feel the warmth of its magic buzzing in her hand, she pulled it to her lips and whispered "Pandora Lovegood".
The compass needle spun so fast it blurred , twitching every so often releasing small bursts of blue sparks. It finally stopped after a minute of fizzing. Without a second to spare she started walking in the direction the needle was pointing in.
—-Elsewhere in the ministry—-
"Patricia?"
"Robert . What are you doing in my office?" Patricia gasped, baffled by his chaotic appearance. His hair was covered in glitter. The edges of his robes were either singed or ripped off completely and he was sporting a black eye with a sickly purple colour.
"I seemed to have misplaced my compass".
"And the glitter?" Patricia asked, trying not to laugh.
"Unicorn vomit, please stop laughing and help me find my office." His pleas went unheard as his wife doubled over laughing . After a few minutes , Patricia wiped the tears from her eyes, letting out a low chuckle and proceeded to help her husband find the way to his office, wondering how he could have misplaced a compass that she placed in his pocket.
One thing people don't tell you about the countryside is that it's. Bloody. Huge. Hannah passed at least twenty fields and no sign of the Lovegood home. She worried her fears might have been confirmed. An enchanted compass should have made the task easy and it would be if the Lovegoods were muggles but it's possible they might have security wards or anti-detection spells. In an effort to circumvent them , Hannah set the compass to track a person not a place in the hopes of finding a flaw in their security.
Hannah pressed these worries to the back of her mind along with memories she didn't want to relive and bad jokes. After a few hours , her muscles were screaming in protest so took a break on a hay bale , one of many in the expansive green field in which she found herself. She inhaled her jam sandwiches with a speed unknown to man and carried on her journey.
The sun began its descent and the sky turned a pale pink hue, it was then as it happens that she found what she had been looking for. In hindsight the giant radish patch should have been a clue. Hannah would let out a cry of joy if she didn't feel so exhausted.
The house itself was made of onyx black brick that took a cylindrical form resembling the turret of a tower. Despite its simple design it was embellished in colorful drawings of fanciful creatures in crayon, seemingly all the way to the top. Vines wrapped around the edifice while an orange tree grew next to the umber brown door. Stealing her resolve, she approached the door and gave it a tentative knock, a few seconds passed before someone opened the door, a frazzled woman with a mass of platinum blond hair, wearing a set of patched up brown overalls, a teal jumper and a pair of welding goggles hung around her neck. She had a kind face and a sort of down to earth air about her that contrasted greatly with her husband and daughter's manner.
At this point Hannah's nerves skyrocketed because what was she supposed to say? 'Hello I'm a reincarnation from a world where you're a side character and your death is used as a plot device , I'm here to try to help you avoid killing yourself in front of your daughter by accident'.
Hannah ran the likelihood of that working though her head and it came out depressingly low and she didn't want to claim she was a seer because that would backfire spectacularly. Hannah reasoned that if people knew about her 'future knowledge' she would be killed in her first year at least because people who are up to no good have an annoying tendency to kill witnesses and being known as a seer would make her a possible witness to a lot of things, the problem would be more acutely felt if she was considered a good seer which she knew she would be, even if she threw in some fake predictions, it was a plan that would blow up in her face and draw way to much attention. It didn't help that the line up of her future DADA teachers would include-
1) a man who was literally in a symbiotic relationship with Voldemort.
2) a fraud who was quite happy to scramble kids' brains when they discovered his secret.
3) a escaped convict with a plan to resurrect a mass murder aka professor No1.
4) a pink obsessed sadistic who had a thing for torturing children and persecuting muggleborn.
Which begs the question, what the hell was she supposed to say?
Pandora didn't know what to think of the little blond girl with dirt smudged on her face and snail trails in her hair but after dragging her over the threshold through to the comfort of the kitchen for a cup of tea, she discovered that she liked her quite a bit. The subject of conversation shifted away from why she was here (a question to which Pandora didn't receive an answer), to snail mating and then classical jazz. It went on like this for a while until Pandora remembered what she meant to ask the girl in the first place after a particularly long sip of her beverage. She cleared her throat.
"So why are you here?, not that I don't enjoy the company but you look like you walked for miles" Pandora wasn't exactly far off. Whatever semblance of calm Hannah had gathered over the course of their conversation deserted her, her throat felt dry as she opened her mouth to answer.
"I need you to make a promise, an unbreakable vow actually but I can't really tell you why, it's incredibly important that you say yes." Hannah held her breath waiting for the woman's answer , she knew she had no reason to believe her and could only hope she'd agree. It was at this moment that Hannah felt truly helpless and the reminder of all the people that would die if she did nothing, bore upon her with renewed vigor (a burden no child should bear, chosen one or not).
She vowed at that moment she would work hard at Hogwarts so she'd never find herself in a similar position again. A traitorous voice in the back of her mind told her that something similar had happened before and someone had died because of her inaction but she didn't hear it as it was buried along with knock-knock jokes and monochrome memories in the depths of her mind. A few more agonizing seconds passed before the woman in front of her answered.
"Sure, depends on what the vow is." Pandora replied, shrugging. Meanwhile Hannah was shocked at the ease with which the woman responded , it took a second for her to collect herself before she answered her question.
"Well I need you to promise not to do any magical experiments ."
"*sigh* fine but on the condition that you tell me why ,in the future"
"Deal"
One day far in the future Pandora would tell Hannah why she trusted the little blond girl with snail trails in her hair but that day was not this one so Hannah just sat there slack jawed as Pandora left to find her husband to officiate the vow. The rules of an unbreakable vow were simple, two parties swore on their life or their magic , someone had to officiate and bind the parties involved with their magic which formed the link that binds you to the agreement.
After the matter was dealt with, Hannah got distracted and ended up having a fascinating conversation with Xenophilius about the undeniable cuteness of cats which lasted 2 hours that ended in her letting out a shriek as she looked outside, only to find out the sun had been replaced by a crescent moon and a smattering of stars.
"Oh Merlin, Patricia is gonna kill me" .
Arthur Weasley was not usually a self-congratulatory person but getting two full hours of sleep at his desk at work made him feel pretty damn smug , that lasted a glorious five minutes before he received a howler from Molly.
"Oh Arthur dear it's terrible, the Abbott girl ,I can't find her anywhere. I think she ran off and I can't leave the bloody twins for a second it seems, some foolproof plan this was .Honestly . GET BACK 'ERE THIS INSTANT!."
He didn't need to be told twice, he scrambled out his office to find Patricia, whom he was sure would hex him into next week when she found out what had happened. He shuddered at the thought. Thankfully it took him no time at all to find his coworker. Once they had apparated to the Burrow and explained the situation, Patricia cried. And then cried some more, eventually she managed between heart wrenching sobs to ask Arthur to fetch her husband which he did without delay. If not to be helpful than to escape the red headed woman who was trying to hex him.
Once Arthur had brought Robert over , they ended up with two crying adults instead of one.
It took a few handkerchiefs and endless cups of tea for them to calm down , by the time their hysteria had passed, it was nighttime which threatened to bring it right back. It was after a few minutes of hyperventilating that they heard a tentative knock at the door, all eyes turned towards the entrance.
HANNAH's
To my immense surprise , I was not violently hacked to death for running away without telling anyone but suffocated with hugs and doused with tears , which was not how I pictured dying the second time round. After lots of crying ,hugs and proclamations of parental love, we returned by floo ,leaving the twins subject to the wrath of Molly Weasley. I'm pretty sure, I saw them cowering in a corner, I made a mental note to make it up to them in the future
It seems that everyone assumed I had run away because the twins put snails in my hair . Upon returning to the house ,I was witness to an impassioned rant from Mrs. Weasley about how I was a victim of tragic circumstances. I was absolved of all guilt before I could say otherwise.