Just a short one.

Chapter 2

After Elphaba and Severus had left the Headmaster's office, Minerva turned to Albus. So many questions were running through the Deputy Headmistress's mind. However, one thing in particular was on Minerva's mind.

"Albus, why is she here? At Hogwarts. Aren't you afraid he might have sent her?" Minerva asked.

Albus hesitated only briefly. Should he tell Minerva about the prophecy? The prophecy that he himself had misunderstood. Back then, when Sybil Trelawney had made the prophecy about Harry, she had made a second prophecy, one about the green one, that would play an important role in the battle between good and evil, he had thought of a Slytherin. Perhaps Severus Snape or Draco Malfoy. But not a woman with green skin.

"She has a task to fulfill," was all he said. That said, Minerva understood what he was saying or not saying. The young woman would also become a chess piece that Albus would push around at will - playing on the board that was the fight against evil, against Voldemort. Just as he did with everyone else - Severus, Harry and herself. It was a game that Albus knew best.

"What task?"

"All in good time Minerva," was all he said. And there it was again, that damn twinkle in his eye. Albus knew more than he wanted to admit. And he kept his knowledge hidden from Minerva. His knowledge about the green witch. Just like he kept many other things secret.

She and Severus had just arrived in her new quarters at Hogwarts. Her new temporary home.

And it seemed as if the castle had sensed that Elphaba was coming. The room Severus had led her to reminded Elphaba of her room in Shiz, the place where she had found her first and only friend. Elphaba shook her head, as if she wanted to get rid of the thought. The thought of Glinda. Of Fiyero. Of everything she had left behind in Oz. However involuntarily.

Elphaba walked slowly through the room, taking in all the details of the room, there was a door on the wall next to the fireplace. Elphaba assumed that her bedroom was behind it. And when she opened the door and took a quick look inside, she realized that she was right. But unlike back in Shiz, there was a four-poster bed in the room.

"I'll pick you up in an hour and accompany you to the Great Hall - at the Headmaster's request," Severus then said, leaving Elphaba alone. There was no reason for Severus to stay here.

Elphaba didn't notice any of this, however. All her attention was focused on the painting hanging above the fireplace. Elphaba knew the woman in the painting - Melena Thropp.

"Mother," she whispered softly.

Elphaba couldn't believe it. What was a painting of her mother doing here at Hogwarts? This place was getting stranger and stranger by the minute. Well, this whole place was strange. First she woke up in this grassy meadow. Then the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall, who looked so much like her, and now the painting of her mother.

Elphaba turned around and wanted to ask Severus what that could mean, but she was alone. So she turned her gaze back to the painting. Her mother. Would the painting move like the others she had seen? She had also heard some of the paintings talking. She had heard the whispering as she had followed Severus.

But her mothers painting wasn't talking to her. The painting remained silent. She wondered why it wasn't talking to her. Elphaba would have to ask the Headmaster. Well, Elphaba didn't know what to make of this wizard. Or of Hogwarts.

Elphaba dropped onto the armchair in front of the fireplace with a sigh. She placed the Grimoire she was still holding in her arms on the small table next to her.

Elphaba closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. A lot of questions were running through her head.

Why was she here? What had happened? What had brought her here? And would she ever find her way back to Oz? So many questions and Elphaba didn't know the answer to any of them. For a moment she wondered if the headmaster knew the answers. Elphaba had the feeling that this man knew more than he was saying. And he kept Elphaba in the dark. For now. But she would look for the answers. And only stop when all her questions had been answered.

For a moment, Elphaba wondered if she might find something here at Hogwarts that could help Fiyero. Something that would bring her beloved back to her. However, did she really deserve his love after she had condemned him to death? Only because she existed. Because she was born. She who brought only misfortune and death to everyone.

Severus, meanwhile, had arrived in his own quarters.

He could clearly feel the throbbing in his head, a headache looming. Since the moment the Headmaster had sent him outside to fetch their guest. He suspected what was to come. Voldemort would call him to his side, very soon.

He should distract himself, relax until then. Maybe patrol the halls and deduct points from Gryffindor. Because that would make him happy.

Or he should keep brewing his potions. The hospital wing was in need of some skelegro. Oh and he was in need of a drink or two. But he would not give in to the call of alcohol - not now. Severus had to keep a clear head - now that the green witch was at Hogwarts. He had to keep all his senses sharp until he knew if Elphaba posed some sort of threat. Whether she was friend or foe. Although - Severus had no friends.

Severus was just making his way to his private lab when he felt it. He felt the pain in his arm. The Dark Lord was calling him - earlier than he had anticipated. And he suspected what questions he would ask him. Enough students had seen Severus when he had walked through the halls to the Headmaster's office with the green witch. And Severus had been crucio'ed enough times to know that he couldn't lie now.

He had to tell the Dark Lord about Elphaba.

But what was there to tell? That a green woman had literally fallen from the sky? That the Wicked Witch of the West was now a guest at Hogwarts? That Dumbledore had been expecting the witch's arrival?

Severus did not know. But he knew that he would feel the crucio more than once today. That was the price he paid for his role as a spy. The price to redeem his guilt for the death of Lilly Potter.