With three scared eleven year old children her car, Anna thought the past two weeks were the strangest she has ever experienced. First, Conny had come back with her friend Minerva. They had told her that Aletta had magical powers. Before she could even wonder if what they've told her was some kind of joke, Minerva had turned into a cat. Conny and Minerva began to explain the details of the magical world and right when Anna started to get excited -all the possibilities Aletta would have, and maybe she could finally properly meet Connys' family- Minerva told her about the current state of the magical community. She even said there was a war. That confused Anna for a little bit; apparently wizards could be in a war in England, without the non-magical people (or muggles as Minerva called them). When she suggested that Conny and her just 'stayed out of it', the glance Conny and Minerva gave eachother told her that that wouldn't be possible. Conny then carefully explained that some wizards didn't want 'muggle born children' (as she called them) to become wizards and witches. That they've hurt muggle borns, muggles and squibs (Conny had explained that she herself was a squib) in the past. Then both ladies explained to Anna that they were going to bring more then a dozen eleven year old witches and wizards to France, because their school in Scotland would no longer be safe. They explained as well that unfortunately, for her daughter there was no option to evacuate at the moment. The Netherlands had a very strict stance on wizarding refugees; they only accepted witches and wizards that had been born there. Since Aletta was born in England, they stood no chance. Beauxbatons was only willing go except muggle born students between eleven and sixteen. Once the children turned seventeen they were considered adults and had to fend for themselves. Minerva told that she was still negotiating with the French ministry of magic (they had their own governments?! Anna had asked) but that they almost definitely wouldn't allow children under eleven. Anna, getting really anxious at that moment, was then a little reassured by Conny. Their home was magically protected and Aletta didn't have 'the trace' yet (Conny had to explain that as well). That rollercoaster of emotions was enough to make her decide to go to bed early that evening. By the next day, however, she decided that she would help Conny. Conny had helped her so much over the past few years and the teacher she once was couldn't bear that children could get hurt. So here she was, on her second trip to France. The first time Minerva went with her, disguised as a cat. She needed to show here where Beauxbatons was, as it was disguised for muggles. It was the strangest thing when they first showed up. Anna got the very strong urge to turn the car around. Also, all she could see was a very fragile looking edge of a mountain. Once Minerva told her that they were there, all of that disappeared and she saw two beautifully decorated golden gates. Now, she should be able to just drive up there herself. The Beauxbatons staff arranged for her to sleep in one of the lovely little cottages they've put on the grounds for visitors; driving from London to the south of France and back was a two day trip. She was happy she didn't have to teach during the summer break, because driving to and from France twice a week made her miss Aletta very much. Luckily Conny took great care of her.

August 1st 1997

Finally, Anna had dropped of the final muggle born children to Beauxbatons. The last few trips had been tense. After she had dropped off all the first years, Minerva came by again. She said the ministry was heavily infiltrated by people working for 'You-Know-Who' (Anna wouldn't dare use his real name after seeing Conny hardly be able to say it). Minerva said that they needed to bring more students to France in one trip. She still thought it was a good idea to use the least amount of magic possible. She magically enlarged Annas' trunk to be able to fit ten students and their luggage. In the backseat, she'd have two students and in the passenger seat another one. It was very intense to drive an enlarged car, as if the center of gravity changed. It made rest stops very stressfull; she needed to make sure no one saw the students going in and out of the car. However, the scariest part of the journey was leaving England. Minerva had warned her that death eaters could appear at the border checks to capture witches and wizards leaving the country. If they would check her trunk, they would notice it was magically enlarged and would find out she was smuggling muggle borns across the border. In every trip Minerva made sure to include children from different ages, so there would always be older wizards to defend themselves if necessary. Anna was very much relieved it didn't come to that. Now, she needed to drive back to the UK one last time. She had left at 4 in the morning, to be back in time to put Anna to bed. She was happy all of this was almost over. Anna put in a cd from the Beatles, one of her favourite bands, and tried to enjoy her journey. At 10 o'clock, she decided to have some breakfast. She left the highway and after she'd put some petrol in her car, she parked her car near a small bench. Right when she pulled in the parking space, she felt a bump and heard a hissing sound. She'd managed to drive to two nails and both of her front tires were flat. She silently cursed in herself. She had one spare tire in the back of her car, but not two.. She sighed and entered the petrol station. In limited French and with a lot of hand gestures, she managed to tell the clerk that she needed an extra tire. She was thankfull that she drove a French car. The clerk made a phonecall. He smiled and nodded to Anna while giving her the thumbs up. With an 'à plus tard', he hung up the phone. He smiled at Anna, pointed at the clock and put two fingers in the air. She hoped that it would only be two hours before the tire arrived and that it wouldn't be two o'clock in the afternoon..

Unfortunately, it turned out to be even three o'clock until someone arrived with her tire. She decided to call Conny; with traffic ahead of her, she assumed she would arive long past Aletta's and even Conny's bedtime. She walked to the pay phone in the petrol station, put in some Francs and dialed Conny's number. 'Hello?' 'Hi, it's Anna. I've got two flat tires. I've fixed them now, but I had to wait five hours for a new tire. In a few hours, I will most likely hit a traffic jam. I think I will be home after midnight. I also need to book a new ticket for the train.' 'I'm sorry to hear that,' Conny said. 'Aletta really misses you.' 'I know, I miss her too. Could you put her on for me?' 'Of course.' 'Mummy?' 'Hi sweety, mummy had two flat tires, I put on new ones, but unfortunately I'll be home really really late.' 'I can stay up mommy.' 'No sweetheart, that will be too late, it will be even past mummy's bedtime.' Aletta started crying. 'But I want you mummy!' Anna tried to console Aletta for the rest of the conversation. Ultimately, Aletta became cheerful again after Conny promised they would bake some cookies and could have a little teaparty later.

At midnight, Anna could finally board the train. She was exhausted. Being held up for so long, she had to drive the périphérique during rush hour, wich added another couple of hours to her journey. She put on some CCR, another one of her favourite bands, and sang along to 'Suzy Q' while driving her car on to the train. She noticed people wearing strange robes were watching the cars that entered the train. As Anna was the last one to enter, they pulled the door shut. She was stuck on the train now. A feeling of dread crept up to Anna. Those were the same robes as Minerva and Conny's parents wore..

Just after the train started moving, a loud voice echoded through the train: 'EVERYONE OUT OF THEIR CARS, HANDS IN THE AIR AND WANDS ON THE GROUND.' Anna started to tremble. If they opened her booth, she would be done for. Or didn't wizards know what cars looked like on the inside? Anna quickly got out of her car, and put her hands up in the air. The man in the car in front of her got out as well and looked confused. 'Did they say wands?' he asked. 'I possibly couldn't have heard that right.' Anna just nodded. The fear had crept up to her throat. It felt like she was standing there forever, bearly listering to the man standing next to her, rambling through a series of possible explanations. They were the only ones in this compartment, as the train probably hadn't been completly sold out. Anna started to tremble all over her body now, she was getting cold. She was only wearing some black leggings and a large oversized t-shirt, as she anticipated she would have been home long before nightfall. She felt sticky, smelly, cold and scared. Her dark brown eyes were bloodshot from staring at the road all day. She tried to get her nerves under control by telling herself that some 'pureblood' wizards as Conny called them, didn't know a thing or two about cars. On the other hand, any fool could probably tell that you're not supposed to fit a concert piano in the back of a small Renault. Anna got quickly pulled out of her musings when she heard screaming coming from a nearby compartment. The man had stopped talking and looked at Anna, as if she would know what they should do. Before Anna could mutter some words of comfort to the man, the doors to their compartment busted open. Two wizards marched in. One waved his wand, the trunks of the man and her car flew open. The man started to mutter: 'This... this isn't possible.. I must be dreaming...' 'Oh shut up, you stupid muggle.' one of the wizards shouted. He waved his wand and the man got thrown through the air and smacked against the wall. He seemed to be unconscious. 'He's all clear by the way.' the wizard continued. The other wizard stood at Anna's car, looking puzzled. 'Rodolphus, you have to come and see this.' 'Have you found something?' Rodolphus answered. He too walked over to Anna's car. They seemed to have forgotten about Anna. 'What is it Rabastan? I don't see anything.' 'Don't you see how big it is?' said Rabastan. Just look at the outside of her car. 'Are you sure?' said Rodolphus. 'But there's nothing in it. Why would a muggle..' His head jolted towards Anna and he shouted: 'COME HERE YOU FILTHY MUDBLOOD AND SHOW US YOUR WAND!' Without waiting for an answer, he pointed his wand at Anna and yelled: 'ACCIO WAND!' Anna braced herself, but nothing happened. 'ACCIO ACCIO ACCIO' Rodolphus seemed besides himself. 'STUPID LITTLE MUDBLOOD' he screamed and he waved his wand at her again. Anna grabbed her cheek. Rodulphus had slashed her cheek. 'STUPID. LITTLE. MUDBLOOD. WHERE. IS. YOUR. BLOODY. WAND. With every word, the wizard struck again and another cut appeared on her arms or face. Anna silently whimpered in pain and slowly sank down to the floor. Rodolphus, finally done, was breathing heavily. 'I think she's a muggle.' Rabastan said in a small voice, apparently scared of how Rodolphus would react. 'OOOH SHE'S A MUGGLE ISN'T SHE?!' THEN WHY IS THE INSIDE OF HER CAR SO BIG?! OR ISN'T IT? Rodolphus shooted again. 'You know what?' He said with a grin. 'You go and tell Severus. You'll deal with him if he shows up for nothing. I'm done dealing with this muggle filth.' And he angrily pased off. Rabastan sighed, mumbled something to himself and then started to walk after Rodulphus, but not before he told Anna that she had to stay right where she was, or that he would kill her. Anna, feeling now completly numb, looked at the blood trickling from the cuts in her arms. Next to her, she heard the man gaining consciousness and quickly enter his car. He probably didn't even see Anna sitting on the floor. After a moment, the train stopped. She heard engines starting and cars leaving the train. When it was the mans' turn, he left at full speed, tires spinning. Anna started started rocking back and forth, holding her knees with her arms. If Rodolphus and Rabastan seemed to get nervous from this Severus wizard, this would be probably the end for her. If these were her final moments, she wanted them to be happy. She started to think about Aletta, the most beautiful thing to ever happen in her life. And about Conny, the mother she never thought she'd have. The last two years had been truly wonderful. Anna smiled, grateful to have known this kind of love from a mother and a daughter. No one could ever take that from her. She stood up, not wanting to face the scary wizard sitting down. She heard footsteps approaching through the empty train. She heard Rabastan talk. 'I really think her car is magically enlarged. It just doesn't seem possible. However, I obviously never been inside a car, but you can most likely tell since your father...' Rabastans' voice drifted off. 'Since my father was what Rabastan?' A deep voice said with a cold undertone. 'A muggle?' He contined; 'And my mother? A blood traitor? Anything else you would like to ad?' They entered the compartment with Anna's car. Rabastan looked very uncomfortable. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I just thought that you'd know if the car is normal or not.' 'Just let me see.' Severus sighed. He looked at Anna. Anna looked back. Severus had the darkest eyes she had ever seen. Long greasy hair, black as well. Tall, in all black robes. Very white skin, as if he never came outside. He reminded her of a raven. It was as if he tried to stare in the depts of her soul. 'Where is her wand?' He asked. 'I don't know,' Rabastan replied. 'Rodolphus tried to retrieve it, but couldn't find anything.' 'And that's how she sustained those cuts I presume?' Severus asked. 'Indeed, as she rightfully deserved for being a filthy muggle.' Rabastan said defiantly. 'Of course,' Severus said. 'Once I'm done with her, she wished to be never born.' Anna's heart turned into ice. If this was it, she wanted it to be over quickly. Severus turned his attention away from Anna and opened the trunk of her car. He stared. 'You idiot.' He wispered. 'Did you really think this was magicly altered? My pathetic excuse for a father had one very similar. It looked just like this.' B-b-but how..' Rabastan said, quickly losing his confidence. 'Why do I care how?!' said Severus, raising his voice. 'It's just a normal bloody car! Now get out of my sight while I deal with this woman.' Rabastan quickly hurried of before Severus could change his mind. Severus stared at him walking away, until they heard a loud crack; Anna had come to regonise that sound as disapparating. He then slowly turned to the car, while ignoring Anna. He pointed his wand at the trunk of her car and mumbled a few words. He then closed the trunk. And started walking towards Anna. His face expressionless. 'Now... you tell me why you've been driving around with an enlarged trunk.' he said slowly. 'And don't lie to me. I can tell if you will.' 'I.. I don't know,' Anna said. I just bought this car, it must have been like..' 'Don't. Lie. To. Me.' Severus said, stepping closer to Anna. She could see her reflection in his black eyes. Anna's mind was racing fast. She should tell him the truth while protecting everyone involved in the plan. 'I smuggled people across the border,' she said. 'Who did you smuggle?' he asked slowly. 'Children.' Anna wanted to give him the least amount of information possible. 'What children?' 'The children I smuggled out of the country.' 'Why did you smuggled them out of the country?' 'Because they were in danger.' Severus expressionless face seemed to break for just a few seconds; he first looked surprised and then curious. 'Did you get them all out, the Muggle-Borns?' Anna nodded, bracing herself for the inevitable angry outburst that would soon follow. 'Basically,' she continued. She dared to look at his face, trying to look like she had nothing to fear. He almost looked.. relieved? Stunned? Both? 'How.. how did you do it? No, don't tell me, he quickly continued. I don't need to know. You are a muggle aren't you?' Anna nodded again. What type of dark wizard was this? Why wasn't he angry? Maybe she could go home to her daughter after all.. She decided to be bold; 'Can I go home now?' she asked. Severus' corner of his mouth slightly lifted, almost like a smile. 'You can and you may,' he said. He looked at the cuts on her arms and in her face. 'I can give you something for that. Do you have a map?' Anna nodded. Still unsure of what was happening, she walked around her car to the passenger side, took a map from her glove compartment, and gave it to Severus. He folded it out, and made a circle with his wand on the map. 'Meet me here in an hour.' And without any explanation, he disapparated and was gone.