"I think I know what Anna is… I think she's an angel."
Harry thought it over, hand straying to his neck where Slytherin's Locket had tried to choke him. Now he thought of it, Anna had shown up at the same time as Ron and had held a blade that looked too big to hide in her sleeves and she hadn't been wearing a sheath on her sodden jeans. She'd also shown up as he thought he was going to die in that pond, either from strangulation, drowning, the cold or a combination of the three and had prayed to some deity that he wouldn't die that way.
"She can't be an angel, 'Mione." Ron spoke up, looking like he didn't believe it, "Wouldn't she have had to die first?"
The two muggle-raised wizards looked at Ron as he shrugged, "Dad took us to a place in Saint Ottery-Catchpole once when I was younger. I believe it was a church? The man at the front said something about some Gates being pearly."
"The Pearly Gates of Heaven, Ron. The gates you go through to enter Heaven when you die." Hermione explained, nodding to Ron who looked impressed.
"Now we just need Anna to confirm it." Harry found himself saying, his friends glancing at him, Hermione's mouth open as if she were about to explain more before a gentle knock came at the door and Fleur stuck her head in, looking at the teenagers before she was saying, "Dinner is on ze table, you three. Please come down and eat something."
"We will, Fleur. Thank you." Harry answered, nodding and causing the French woman to smile before she was disappearing and closing the door behind her. He waited a couple of minutes to be sure that she had left before he was looking at his friends and adding, "We need to ask Anna to come back."
"We don't have her phone number, Harry."
"I'm not talking about a phone, Hermione." The girl looked confused, as did Ron before he explained, "We can pray to God and just maybe she'll turn up here? I don't know."
"Will that even work?" But Harry was mouthing something under his breath, Anna's name in the mix before he was saying, "Amen." and looking at them as he said, "Now we wait?"
"In that case, we may as well get something to eat." They all laughed as Ron got up from the seat and headed for the door, just as something flapped outside. He opened it to find a hand was raised in a fist, about to knock. A fist that belonged to a young woman with red hair and a regretful look on her face as Ron jumped back, stepped on Harry's foot and tumbled into Hermione sending them all to the floor in a pile and books cascading around them.
Anna cleared her throat as she stepped in and pulled Ron to his feet, followed by Hermione and then Harry. Her facial expression didn't change as the books somehow moved to their previous positions, some perching precariously on the edge of the bedside table as they watched.
Neither of the four said anything, just stared at each other, the three wizards looking at Anna fully for the first time since they'd all travelled together. It soon got to the point where Anna's expression changed to discomfort and she turned to walk out of the door, saying over her shoulder, "You should go downstairs and eat something. Humans do need sustenance."
She didn't wait for a reply, walking out of the room and turning the corner to go down the stairs as they looked at each other before Harry was leaving the room, trying to catch up to Anna, only to find her head bobbing in between the slats of the bannister.
"Anna." He heard himself calling her name as he got to the top of the stairs and standing there, watching as she stopped, turned and looked up at him, her eyes scanning his face before, "Yes?"
Harry hadn't thought what he'd have said as he stuttered along the line of, "How come you didn't tell us?"
"Tell you what?" Anna answered, just as Bill, Fleur and Luna came out of the dining room, wanting to know what was taking the Trio so long to come down to eat and Ron and Hermione came up behind Harry, heading downstairs. They too stopped as Anna turned and, in a blink and a rush of feathers flapping, she was at the bottom of the stairs, facing Bill and Fleur with her voice turning stern but keeping a gentle undertone, saying, "You have nothing to fear from myself or my siblings, William Arthur Weasley. While we are powerful, I do not wish Harry Potter or any of his ally's harm."
"And these Winchesters? Will we have to fear them?"
"They are embroiled in a situation in America which is taking up most of their time." Anna replied, looking at Fleur and adding, "Sam and Dean Winchester can and will help if they are needed."
"And when our war is over? What then?" Bill asked, his arms folding while he leaned against the bannister, "Muggles aren't meant to know about the Wizarding World. The Ministry won't like the fact we've allowed Hunters to know about us."
"I can't say but I can guarantee that they will act if they see fit to. And while this Dark Lord is at large, they will find out a way to cut him down." She stepped forward and gently brushed past the two adults, heading into the dining room while the wizards all looked at her in surprise, the Trio included. Bill and Fleur glanced at one another before they were shooing the teenagers into the room Anna had disappeared into.
Dinner was a quiet affair, the only sounds being the sounds of cutlery hitting pottery and the occasional compliment to Fleur and her cooking skills. Sat next to Anna, Dobby kept looking at her, eyes wide and almost looking scared out of his mind at what she would do if she found out he'd given her secret away; Anna kept looking down at him, a gentle smile on her lips as they ate and she passed the gravy to Bill when she'd used a small amount. Harry also looked up when she complimented Fleur's food, using fluent French, surprising them all when Fleur looked up from her plate and opened her mouth to ask how the American knew the language.
Anna only gave a gentle smile as she answered, "I was taught French in school." (1)
Everyone looked impressed as Anna seemed to turn pink and looked down at her plate, her fork playing with the pork. After that, nothing much was said as they all began to eat again and one by one finished their food. Luna seemed to be in a world of her own as she daintily finished nibbling her last roast potato and set her cutlery onto the plate, thanking Fleur for the food and the teenagers all began to help clear everything for washing. Anna had taken the leftover food, wanting to preserve it for another meal and was putting a plate into the sink when Harry came through with a stack of plates and crockery to wash.
She gave a slight smile when she looked up at the sound of a door closing and saw Harry standing there, watching her intensely before he was saying, "Anna, we know what you are."
A raised eyebrow was the only answer before Anna was leaning against the worktop, her arms folding as he hastily added, "And I want to thank you for coming back."
"So that's why Dobby looked like he wanted to shit himself?" Harry gave a nod to Anna's question before she sighed and asked, "What would you like to know?"
Harry looked surprised at the calmness she held and how quickly she seemed to acknowledge that he now knew what had felt to be a secret.
"You're not gonna…"
"Deny it?" Anna finished for the boy wizard before she was shaking his head, "Honestly don't see the point in that. Especially if Dobby is the one who told you. House-elves gave their word to Heaven that they would not tell of our existence after the last Goblin War. Plus, I trust that little elf."
"Well, thank God you do." Harry blurted out, just noting the slight nod Anna gave before she was turning to start on the washing up. Only to pause as the dishes started washing as Harry came up behind her and chuckle.
[1]: Ok, I have to mention this. I don't know what it's like in other countries but the schools I went to did do language classes, mainly German and French. In Cyprus, Greek was also part of the curriculum so... yeah. Let me know what languages you learned in school.
Hermione x
