Chapter 4
The four Pevensies and Hogwarts professors did not go to bed at the same time as the other students the night of the Welcoming Feast.
Peter was pulled into the warmest hug from Professor Pomona Sprout. Minerva rose wizened hands to the pale cheeks of Susan Pevensie.
"You look exactly the same. You haven't aged a bit," the Transfiguration teacher marveled from Dumbledore's private study. A roaring fire lit the room as they stood.
Susan smiled warmly, "You've grown up Minerva! You have to tell me all that's happened in your life."
The pair of instructors also gave kind greetings to Edmund and Lucy.
"Are we to sit here while you reenact a family reunion?!" Snape thundered.
Dumbledore raised his hands to calm the man. "It is a long story. One that even my memory has failed me. Lucy, if you please."
The youngest in the room gazed upon each professor as if reading their hearts and minds. Her dark eyes fell on the large man with the magical eye roving the room. To the headmaster's surprise, it was Moody who broke eye contact first, retreating to the back of the room with his arms crossed and feet upon the desk.
"Peter, Susan, Edmund, and I were born in London in the midst of a war."
"Yes, you and all of the children currently in Hogwarts right now. We are in a war with the Dark Lord," the Charms teacher, Flitwick interrupted.
"We were born," Lucy continued ignoring the speaker, "in the late 1920's and early 1930's just before World War 2, and what you wizards called the Global Wizarding War."
The stunned silence in the room was the only sign of her revelation.
She freely spoke of their evacuation to Professor Kirke's house in Scotland, and their battle in Narnia against the White Witch.
"We ruled from Cair Paravel for fifteen years before we were abruptly sent back to our ordinary lives and our original ages. We thought it was over, but the Lion called us back to Narnia, now centuries later to again save it. My brothers, sister, and I were always returned to England, no matter how much we begged to stay."
Snape noticed Susan flinch at her younger sister's statement.
Lucy met the eyes of all in the room again.
"We were never sure why until the owls came. We enrolled at Hogwarts during Minerva's second year, and Pomona's fourth, when Dippet was headmaster and Dumbledore was the transfiguration professor."
"My parents weren't even born yet," Charity Burbage, Muggle Studies professor, muttered." The herbology instructor groaned at the reminder of her ancient age.
"The White Witch had been resurrected by the giants and attacked Hogwarts. We helped to fight them off with the help of all of the students."
"How come I've never heard of this?" shrilled the History of Magic Professor. Cuthbert Binns had especially prided himself on everything about Hogwarts.
Dumbledore stroked his long beard. "Wilhelmina Tuft specifically kept it out of the newspapers. She didn't want worried parents pulling their students out from Hogwarts just after we stabilized from Grindlewald's war. In that, she has much in common with Minister Fudge."
Minerva nodded, "We students told our families it was just another one of those giant rebellions that popped up occasionally. None of us wanted to be forced home again. Staying indoors at home during the war was bad enough."
The dark haired Pevensie gave a loud bray of laughter. "Try huddling in a basement with bombs falling without a lick of magic."
"It's a miracle you survived," Flitwick surmised. "Although, I don't remember your names from the graduation list. Did you finish your studies at Hogwarts, or did you prefer to stay in the Muggle World?"
Four sorrowful eyes glanced amongst each other.
It was Edmund who voiced the news.
"We died in a train accident in Finchley. Not just us four. Our parents, our cousin, and our friends. Narnia was destroyed too." He wiped a tear from his face. The young man took a deep shuddering breath controlling his emotions while Lucy engulfed him in a hug.
Moody looked on with furrowed eyes.
The dark haired Pevensie took up the narrative again.
"We found ourselves in Aslan's country, all of us. We were happy, but Aslan came to us saying we were needed at Hogwarts and to be prepared for a battle. Minerva said that someone named Harry Potter dreamed of the White Witch and Tash."
Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank, Care of Magical Creatures, perked up. "Oh, is Tash what the large animal with a bird's head and four arms is called? I scoured all through Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and I couldn't find a word about that creature."
Edmund frowned. "Professor, he is not an animal. Tash is a god."
Silence, then a small "oh" came from Dumbledore.
"He is a false god however. Peter has defeated him before."
The eldest brother blushed at the instructors' incredulous looks.
"What are you Pevensies?!" Snape exclaimed.
Edmund waved him off. "Children, we're merely children, but capable of thinking for ourselves. Please remember that. From what I hear of Harry, you have been hiding him from any scrap of information he could use to fight his battle with Voldemort."
Several teachers flinched at the name. Moody to Edmund's surprise merely grinned.
The new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor finally spoke. "Harry has been failed by all of the adults around him. Once Voldemort marked him, we should have spirited him away to be trained to the fullest extent of his magical abilities. Instead, everything's been given to him in dribs and drabs until he never knew what was the truth and what was a lie."
Edmund nodded, "He deserves to know everything, so he can listen to us and make the best decision with all the answers in front of him."
Moody barked a harsh laugh. "Do you mean to ask if he'll obey us? Asking a teenager to obey is probably more difficult than fighting a Deatheater, but yes, let him know the truth. He can't fight what he doesn't know, and with one hand tied behind his back."
The younger Pevensie grinned. "I never did what I was told when I was his age, but I know now what the cost of the consequences are. Harry will have me and my family's help."
A roving magical eye met his straight on, "He'll have mine too. Yes Edmund, you really know what is right and just."
I had to make Dumbledore forget the previous story, and McGonagall and Sprout 30 years older in order to fit my narrative. Tash being a god with a small oh is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Grignard
