0858 In Britain
Alia felt a wave of panic surge through her chest like ice water flooding her veins. Her heart hamred against her ribs, and she had to force herself to keep her breathing steady.
It wasn't because she was currently being held at wandpoint by three young wizards though that certainly didn't help matters. No, what truly terrified her was that Remus had clearly warned her to lay low after entering the country.
She was here illegally, without proper authorization from the British Ministry of Magic, and if they discovered her presence in the country, things would beco extrely complicated.
Yet she hadn't expected her luck to be this terrible. Just barely having set foot on British soil, not even having had ti to place herself properly or find her footing, she'd been discovered by the locals before she could even go into hiding.
Hermione stared at the beautiful young woman who had suddenly appeared in front of them like a ghost, her heart was racing with belated fear that made her hands tremble slightly around her wand.
Ever since Voldemort's return last June, they had indeed maintained a high level of vigilance, prepared for serious incidents that could occur at any mont. But nothing had happened during these months, and the Ministry of Magic's desperate efforts to maintain an illusion of peace and normalcy was seductive enough to make them lower their guard briefly.
Otherwise, they would never have left the sight of the crowds in Hogsade's streets and climbed alone to this remote mountaintop where no one could hear them scream for help if sothing went wrong.
It had been foolish, really, in reconsideration.
'But who was this woman?'
Hermione's brow furrowed with concentration as she racked her brain, ntally flipping through her mory of faces and nas.
The woman didn't look much older than them, at most a year or two older than Percy. And she was undoubtedly a witch that much was obvious from the way she'd Apparated.
Which ant she might have attended Hogwarts at so point, perhaps during Bill or Charlie's ti there. Co to think of it, Hermione's eyes flickered with recognition as she observed the woman's face more carefully, there was sothing vaguely familiar about her face.
"I an no harm," Alia said, pressing her lips together in what she hoped was a reassuring expression.
Her voice ca out tinged with urgency despite her best efforts to sound calm and unthreatening. She had already caught sight of the castle of Hogwarts on the cliff in the distance. The sight of it gave her so small degree of comfort, at least she'd landed in roughly the right area.
"Hand over your wand first," Harry said in a low voice. His eyes were tough and suspicious, tracking her every movent with wariness.
Years of training, combined with his recent face-to-face encounter with his greatest enemy Voldemort, witnessing his resurrection in that graveyard and the series of cruel, terrifying events that had followed had transford Harry without him fully realizing it.
Were all the young wizards at Hogwarts of such high caliber these days? Truly worthy of being one of the world's oldest magical schools, the institution where Bryan Watson taught!
A flash of admiration crossed Alia's mind, but she quickly dismissed these scattered thoughts. The most important thing right now wasn't marveling at Hogwarts' magical education; it was to detach herself from these three young wizards without incident and get to Dumbledore before her presence caused an international situation.
Wild gusts of wind ruffled Harry's black hair, making it stand up even more wildly than usual, and inadvertently, his forehead was exposed to Alia's view. The lightning-bolt scar on his skin was distinctive.
In a mont of shock, she blurted out without thinking: "You're Harry Potter?"
A trace of helplessness flickered in Harry's eyes, accompanied by a faint trace of resignation. His mark was too distinctive, too famous and almost everyone in the wizarding world could identify him by the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead.
When he had first entered the wizarding world four years ago, this instant recognition had made him extrely uncomfortable. People staring, pointing, whispering behind their hands, treating him like so kind of celebrity when he didn't feel like one at all.
But after several years of constant attention, of being recognized everywhere he went from Diagon Alley to the remotest corners of Hogsade, he had beco immune to the awkwardness. It was just part of his life now.
Harry's indifference to her recognition only added to Alia's distress, making her situation feel even more precarious.
She couldn't very well draw her wand here and engage in a duel with the famous Harry Potter and his friends, could she? The international incident that would create would make her illegal entry look like a minor paperwork error by comparison.
Besides, she wasn't here to fight children.
Suddenly, an idea struck Alia like a lightning bolt of inspiration. She glanced down at the picturesque village at the foot of the mountain, where lights were beginning to twinkle in windows as evening approached, and made a plan.
"Why should I tell you my na?" Alia said, forcing herself to sound calm and even slightly indignant now, looking Harry straight in the eye with as much confidence as she could muster. "That's my privacy, isn't it? Unless you're Aurors from the British Ministry of Magic?"
"Uh—"
The question stumped Harry, and Alia could see uncertainty flicker across his face.
She'd hit the mark perfectly. They indeed had no official right to demand her na or interrogate her about why she had appeared in this wilderness. They had no law enforcent authority. They were just students.
It was just that her abrupt appearance, appearing out of thin air with the crack of Apparition had made Harry instinctively assu she was one of Voldemort's lackeys trying to attack him.
After everything that had happened, his first thought when seeing a stranger appear unexpectedly was always "threat."
'Wait, that could be an excuse!'
"Because you look suspicious, don't you?" Harry said sternly, trying to sound more confident. "Normal wizards wouldn't appear here out of nowhere. If they wanted to visit Hogsade, they should go to the village below, through the proper channels."
His wand remained steady, pointed at her chest.
"That was my plan," Alia said smoothly. "I just had a slight error in my landing point; my Apparition location was off by a few degrees. It was Simple miscalculation. If there are no other questions, I'll be leaving now."
She made her voice light, casual, as if this were rely an embarrassing mishap. "I apologize for interrupting your picnic."
With that, Alia placed her hands in plain view, holding them away from her body to show Harry Potter and his friends that she had no intention of attacking or drawing her wand.
She began to retreat slowly, carefully, taking small steps backward while keeping her eyes on them.
Well...
Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. His wand wavered slightly, and he exchanged uncertain glances with Ron.
This young woman really didn't seem like a Death Eater and her explanation was plausible enough. Apparition errors happened all the ti.
And if she was just going to leave peacefully, without causing any trouble, he seed to have no grounds to stop her. It wasn't illegal to Apparate onto a hillside, even if it was a bit unusual.
"You're an Arican wizard!"
Just as Harry was caught in this dilemma, wrestling with what to do next, Hermione's sudden exclamation startled him and caused Alia's expression to change dramatically. Her face turned pale as she stopped her slow departure.
"You're from the Magical Congress of the United States of Arica, aren't you!" Hermione said, looking at Alia with a mixture of shock, suspicion, and new understanding.
"The Magical Congress of States?" Harry took a step back instinctively, his wand still raised in a guarding position, but his lips moved as he whispered to Hermione: "What's that?"
"It's Arica's Ministry of Magic. Wait, Harry!"
Hermione glanced at Alia, whose face had gone blank, used her toe to flip up the canvas bag that had been lying forgotten on the ground amid their scattered picnic supplies, and quickly pulled out the copy of The New York Ghost she had been reading earlier in the morning. Her fingers fumbled with the pages in her rush.
The front-page story, across the top with a large photograph that moved slightly covered Bryan and Remus attending a joint review eting organized by MACUSA regarding the learning machine.
The photo showed them after the dust had settled on the negotiations, posing formally with Trask Graves and Marcelline White, two high-ranking MACUSA officials whose nas were printed in the caption. And there, standing behind Graves in the background, was Alia, her face was partially visible over his shoulder.
"Look—" Hermione's voice was tight with excitent and nervousness as she pointed to Alia's face in the photograph for Ron, who had shifted his position and leaned in closer to see better.
Then Hermione looked at Alia, who had stopped in her tracks again, frozen like a statue. "See, that's her behind this man: Graves. She's looking at Professor Watson and Remus. It's definitely the sa person!"
Alia hadn't anticipated that in another magical community across the ocean, thousands of miles away from New York, a young witch would not only subscribe to The New York Ghost but would actually read it carefully enough to recognize her from such an inconspicuous shot in the background of a photograph. What were the odds?
She looked at Hermione, and was impressed by the sharp-witted young witch's perceptiveness and attention to detail. But that wasn't the key issue right now, the key was that her identity had been exposed
Did she really have to take down these three young wizards?
Alia pressed her lips together, resisting the idea from the bottom of her heart. They were just kids, students, and they hadn't actually done anything wrong. But if Harry Potter and his friends started spreading the word everywhere about an Arican witch sneaking into Britain illegally, word would reach the Ministry within hours.
'Wait!'
Alia's eyes widened suddenly as a new thought struck her, and she looked at the whispering Harry with new hope.
"You know Remus?" Her voice ca out more eager than she'd intended.
"Well, what's so strange about that?" Ron said straightforwardly. He shrugged his shoulders. "Remus is our friend. He used to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor during our third year."
'Friend?'
Alia blinked rapidly, a flicker of hesitation crossing her face as she processed this unexpected information.
Harry lowered his wand slightly, though he didn't put it away totally. His tone softened significantly, losing so of its sharp edge. "You're from the Arican Ministry... well, Congress or whatever. But why are you here in Britain without going through proper channels? And do you know Professor Watson and Remus? How do you know them?"
Alia realized with a sinking feeling that she probably couldn't easily shake off these three young wizards now. And honestly, if they really were friends with Remus, maybe she didn't need to shake them off. Maybe they could even help her.
She nodded slowly, making a calculated decision to share at least so of the truth. "Yes, of course I know Bryan and Remus. When they were in New York for the learning machine negotiations, I was assigned as their security personnel."
She paused, choosing her next words cautiously. "As for why I'm here... how can you prove you're really Remus's friends? I need to be certain before I say anything more."
"Remus and Harry's father were classmates and friends at Hogwarts," Hermione said after thinking for a mont. "Jas Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, they called themselves the Marauders.
Remus ca to teach at Hogwarts specifically to protect Harry after Sirius escaped from Azkaban, though it turned out Sirius was innocent all along."
She took a breath and continued, "Last Christmas, we spent it together with Remus and Sirius at Grimmauld Place."
Alia's eyes flickered with recognition and sothing like relief. It sounded true and if that was true, it did prove that Harry Potter and his friends had an extraordinary relationship with Remus.
"Actually, it was Remus who sent to Hogwarts," Alia said cautiously, watching their reactions carefully. She kept her voice low, even though they were alone on the hillside.
'Sent by Remus?'
The three exchanged glances filled with concern.
Hermione frowned, her expression shifting from suspicious to worry. "What did he send you to do? They should be back in Britain by now, shouldn't they? I saw in the papers that they've reached an agreent with the Arican magical community about the learning machines. The negotiations were concluded successfully."
"The situation is far more complicated than what the papers are reporting," Alia said, breathing more easily now as she looked at Hermione. "They... anyway, Remus sent to see Albus Dumbledore to relay so information. Urgent information that couldn't be sent by owl or any other ans that might be intercepted."
"What information?" Harry pressed, taking a step forward. His eyes were intense behind his glasses, staring into her.
But Alia shook her head firmly, her expression becoming guarded once more. "I'm sorry, that's confidential. I can only speak of it when I et with Albus Dumbledore himself. You appear to be Hogwarts students, correct? If I were to ask you to help pass a ssage to Professor Dumbledore, would you be willing to help?"
————————————
For More Chapters; patreon/FicFrenzy
Reviews
All reviews (0)