Darcy Lewis - Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. or How I got a High Paying Government Job without even Trying

A/N- A few people in the reviews didn't like the story being in first person, so I'm going to continue writing in first person, because screw you, I'll write how I want to write.

Chapter 7: Mourning or How to Handle Losing Everything

It had been three days since I had arrived back home in the United Kingdom. Of those three days, one had been spent exploring, trying to find her home, and her friends. The other two days, however had been spent, curled up in a small ball underneath the blankets of a small bed, in a small motel, in a small town in Scotland. Now, while spending two days crying may not seem like the most constructive of exercises, after finding out that everyone you've ever known or cared about, that everything you've ever loved and held dear, is gone, it suddenly becomes a much more understandable course of action.

Thus, I mourned. I mourned knowing I would never see my friends Hermione or Luna again. I mourned knowing that I was in a world that I knew so very little about. I mourned knowing that whatever the future had once held for me, whatever my destiny had once been, was now nothing more than a faded dream.

My time of mourning however, was not to go uninterrupted, but rather, was to be rudely intruded upon by a loud banging of fist to door, a banging followed by one of the most aggravatingly high pitched voices that I'd ever heard.

"Oi! It's time for payin' up! If you ain't in the lobby in five minutes, I'm calling the cops!" the aggravating voice yelled.

Startled, I tried to jump from the bed, unfortunately, forgetting that I was currently wrapped in the blankets, resulting in my attempt at rising from the bed, ending with me face down on the floor, dignity as broken as my newly shattered glasses.

"I'll...I'll be done in just a minute." I called to the unseen annoyance on the other side of the door, whilst cursing the inconsiderate bastard who had disturbed me and pushing myself up from the crumpled mess of sheets and blankets that had made the trip to the floor with me.

Slowly I made my way to the small bathroom, and splashed some water on my face, hoping it would wake me enough to face the day, all the while dark, and depressing thoughts, floated around my head.

"I'm alone, Luna, Hermione, Tonks, everyone is back home, and I'm here, alone. Do they even know I'm gone? Do they miss me? What do I do now? I've got nowhere to go, no one to turn to. I'm out of money, I'm out of ideas. I don't know anywhere else I might find magic users who could help me. What do I do? I'm alone. I'm alone. I'm alone."

Over and over, the same string of thoughts ran through my mind. Nothing else intruded on my inner monologue, just the same, endlessly repeating thoughts.

So consumed was I by my inner monologue, that to this day I have no real idea of how I made it from the small bathroom in the small motel, back to Hogwarts. I was relatively certain that I had snuck out somehow, as the money to pay for my accommodation was still safely in my pocket. But as I came to, freed for a time from dark, depressing thoughts, I look around to find I was back on the fourth floor of Hogwarts, looking at the three skeletons that had first alerted me to the dark history and tragic scenes I would find higher up. It was in that moment, that I felt something change in me. The depression, the despair was still there, but a spark was lit in me. I may be alone, I may be far from home with no way back, but I'm still alive. I'm alive and just like the people who died here, as long as I'm alive I can fight. I can move forward and build a new life, a new home here.

With a renewed sense of purpose I swore to myself an oath. One I would live by for however long I remained in this new world.

"I will survive. I will not lie down and give up, but stand and fight for myself and for my future until the bitter end."

With an oath sworn I committed myself to beginning my new life, but first I needed to close the door on my old one. Too do that, first I needed to bury the ghosts of the past. While those that died in this Hogwarts may not have been my people, not in the strictest sense at least, they were the closest there was in this dimension, and they deserved better than to lie as bones, broken and scattered. They deserved a proper grave that they might rest easily at long last.

It took me another two days, slowly forcing my magic through me into the muddy ground to dig graves. Slowly gathering up all the bones and laying them in the freshly dug earth. When all were gathered, I filled the grave, and found a great stone, fallen from one of the towers. Carefully I carved into it with my magic, a last message, an epitaph for the fallen.

Here Lie the Last of the Wizards and Witches

Gone before their time, brought low by the act of a madman.

Though they died alone, they fought for us all.

Alongside the stone I placed two smaller ones. Tombstones for the only two wizards whose names I knew.

Here Lies Professor Caius Gryffindor, Last Heir of the Gryffindor line, fourth and last Headmaster of Hogwarts.

He fought to the last, and died where he stood.

His bravery, and his blood given for us all.

Here Lies Antworth Black

He did the darkest duty, giving quick mercy to the innocent.

May we all be as strong when we must, and

May his next life be easier than this one was.

With that done I laid my hands on the stones exerting my will on my magic, pushing it to obey and form to my desires. Slowly I felt it well up inside of me. Building up and growing stronger, like a stream that becomes a river, and flows to the sea. I held it for as long as I could, until it grew to the point that I felt like I would explode, and then I released it, pushing it into the stones, willing them to become unbreakable. To last and stay as they were until the end of time. A slight flare of light, and a drain on my magic, was the only sign it worked, but I was unwilling to ruin my hard work by testing the stones strength. Happy that I'd done what I could, I turned back to the castle to say my final goodbyes. I knew I couldn't stay here, too many had suffered here, and too many had died. While the Hogwarts I was from was a school, this Hogwarts was a tomb.

Thank you Hogwarts, you gave me a home when I had none. While some who lived in you were anything but kind, you always tried to protect us. Goodbye. And with that, I left, apparating away to London.

Unknown to Darcy, as she left, the castle's wards flared, as if saying goodbye to what was likely the last person who would ever walk in its halls, and far away, Death, still watching, smiled.

Once back in London, I realised a small problem I now faced, once again I was without money, in a place where I knew no one, and had nothing to my name except the clothes on my back. The fact that in this universe I was an American citizen instead of a British one was just icing on the cake. So with a sigh, I set off in search of a café, where I could sit and plan my next move.

Three hours, and six lattes later, my planning session had born some fruit. Firstly, I knew that in this world, my best bet for not just surviving, but thriving was staying where I was known (in the legal sense at least) so that meant I needed to get back to the United States. Secondly, I knew that I couldn't rely on my magical education to make a living, so I needed to catch up on my non magical education. Fortunately, I had always tried to stay caught up with people my age in the non-magical world, so apart from finding out how history differed between worlds, it shouldn't be too difficult to get the equivalent of a high school diploma. Thirdly, I knew that without a degree of some sort, I was unlikely to get a job with any real career prospects, so I needed to get into university. Unfortunately for me, all of things I needed required me getting back to America, which meant money, and there was no way in hell that I was going to spend another six months working for minimum wage to get there, so I need to find an alternative revenue source. The simplest option was to use magic to steal what I needed. I had a bank account set up, so as long as I only stole small amounts at a time, I could deposit them without any suspicion (hopefully).

Plan set I left the table I had been at and made my way towards Kensington. Unless a lot more had changed between dimensions than I thought, it would still be the most affluent neighbourhood in London, and I felt much less guilt about stealing from the rich than from the poor.

I guess I get to play Robin Hood, rob from the rich, give to the poor…well to me, but I'm pretty poor so I guess it works… but how to go about robbing them, hm, magic is as usual the best answer, a compulsion to get them to drop their wallet maybe? No, someone else will likely notice the wallet on the ground before I can get it…maybe a Switching Spell…yeah that will work.

Plan set, Darcy sat down on a bench in a small park, and got to work.

A/N - Not overly happy with this chapter. I was trying to get past all the dark, depressing stuff, so I could get back to something a bit more lighthearted. Hopefully a new chapter will be up in a week or so, and should be a bit more fun.