Harry Potter was quite excited as he followed Rubius Hagrid (just call him Hagrid) onto the Tube. While he had heard of it before, he had never had the opportunity to ride it on his own. And Hagrid was so interested in everything 'Muggle' as he put it.
That was when the boy felt like someone was watching him. It was a tall girl down about thirty feet away. She seemed young, but he would have placed her at about fourteen years old wearing jeans and a large jacket. Hagrid's next question distracted him and then he put it out of his mind.
The girl followed them to the Leaky Cauldron where she watched in amusement from the shadows.
"What are you doing here, dearie?" a truly hideous old woman asked from a nearby table.
"Looking for magic, of course," the teen asked.
"Oh, is this your first year at Hogwarts?" the hag asked curiously.
"I haven't decided," the blonde said evasively. "Though I really may need to do so to get home." The specter in the Tower of London were not affected by anything physical she could do to them. She needed to learn something that would allow her to banish or destroy them to get to its special touchstone. Then she would be able to get back to her quantum reality and the fight against the Titans of myth as one of the children of the gods. Having been stranded here weeks was starting to frustrate her.
"Don't you worry, Helga will take care of you," the woman said with a truly horrifying smile. "What's your name?"
"Sheila."
As Harry 'The-Boy-That-Lived' Potter was having his hands shaken and his back patted much to his discomfort, Sheila trailed cautiously behind the witch as she started to loosen up her muscles.
The hag waved her hand mysteriously over a wall, causing it to open up magically. She led the young Scion deeper into the archaic alley, keeping to the shadows. As soon as they were out of sight, she turned while holding up her wand. "Now, dearie, you are going to fetch me a princely price-"
The hag's wand was kicked out of her grip, surprising her greatly. It landed perfectly in Sheila's held up hand.
"You are going to tell me what I want to know about Hogwarts and how to enter the school."
"You don't know?" the hag asked in surprise.
"I wouldn't be asking if I did," she replied.
"You will need a lot of money and magic to enter Hogwarts." The hag's bulging left eye seemed to radiate anger.
"I can get money."
"Then you will have to go to the Ministry of Magic and apply for the new year, but you are almost out of time," the hag said with a cackle.
"What is going on here?" a man demanded.
"I was protecting myself from this hag who lured me into this alley," Sheila immediately said.
"Oh, really? Second time in a month, eh Helga?" the red-robed wizard said. "It's a good thing someone mentioned you dragging off this girl." He quirked an eyebrow at the girl. "How'd she get the wand from you?"
"She kicked it out of my hand," the hag grumbled.
Sheila lazily waved the wand, sending off random sparks. "Interesting."
"Must be muggleborn. Didn't know a lick about Hogwarts or anything," the witch replied, licking her wart-encrusted lips.
"Helga, you're under arrest. Young witch, if you could hand me that wand? It's going to evidence," the Auror ordered.
"She had not cast any spells on me yet," she noted as she handed it over.
"We might get her for casting an illegal spell earlier."
Hours later, Sheila walked into Gringotts with a suitcase and got into line. She put it onto the counter as the goblin sneered at her. With a small shrug and smile, she wiped off a smudge of white powder off the corner. "I'd like to get this transferred over to galleons," she asked as she unlocked it and spun it so the goblin could open it.
His eyes widened with avarice at the sight of stacks of bills. "That's going to be expensive," he replied.
"I know how much money is in there and how much the exchange rate is, cunning goblin," she warned coldly.
The goblin widened his eyes in shock at the intense danger she suddenly radiated. "Ah, well then."
Several heavy bags of galleons were counted out and handed over to her and were put into her jacket. Whistling, she wandered back into the alley and then back to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Excuse me, sir. What is the fastest way to the Ministry of Magic?" she asked.
"You can wait for the Knight Bus or you can pay a few sickles for the Floo," the gnarly, old bartender said with a frown.
"Floo?" she asked.
Old Tom explained how to use it with uncommon eagerness. For some reason, she got the impression he did not want her in his pub.
"Thanks. Ministry of Magic," she called out and stepped into the flames.
Without a stumble, she tapped to her feet in a swirl out of the green fireplace in the Ministry of Magic. Two wizards sniffed harshly as they walked past in their archaic robes, heading to a desk where a security wizard took their wands.
With a shrug, she followed them over to security.
"Your wand please," he asked gruffly.
"I don't have one yet. I am trying to see about enrolling in Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry," she replied politely.
"You think you are magical?" he asked.
"I know I am magical," she replied archly.
"Oh?"
"Helga's wand sparked quite nicely for me after she tried to kidnap me and I took it away," Sheila replied.
"You look a little old for Hogwarts," the security guard said dubiously.
She sighed. "I'm tall for my age. I'm only eleven."
"You're kidding?" The guard goggled at that. She'd be a giant eventually at that rate then.
"Of course, I enjoy lying continually. No, I will turn twelve in a few months." She started tapping her toes.
"Well, let's see about getting you signed up for Hogwarts then," he said slowly.
Sheila was walking to the train station, upset at how long the taxi had taken after getting stuck in traffic. Off to side of the Platform 9 and ¾s, she saw a desperately worried boy her age asking after it. The same boy from the Tube that she followed into the Leaky Cauldron a month ago.
"Over here!" she called out. She wondered if it were fate meddling in her skein of destiny.
"Um?" Harry walked over nervously.
"Must be magically hidden," she said conversationally. She started clucking her tongue. "Ah, right here."
"How did you know?" the tussle-haired boy asked.
"Magic!" she replied with a wink as she knocked on the illusion. Without even looking around, she just closed her eyes and walked through the wall.
"Hey!" Harry called out, going up and starting to tap on the wall. So when he was pulled through, he was quite surprised.
Sheila finished pulling his dropped trunk and cage. "And my, isn't that a brilliantly-red coal train? Someone is enamored with the classics, I think."
"Thanks! I was certain I was going nutters," Harry said. "I'm Harry Potter."
"Sheila Henderson. Come on, let's get on the train."
They both dragged their trunks as Hedwig started to just stare at the girl. They found a compartment and stacked up their trunks.
"So you're going back to Hogwarts?" Harry asked the taller girl.
"No, just starting," she replied with a woebegone look.
"Um, you're eleven or twelve?" he asked.
"Eleven, actually." She smiled and showed off her dimples. "I've been reading up a little bit. We'll have to see how it stacks up against the 'real world' of the Wizarding sort.
Harry had to laugh. "So your parents are Muggles?"
"My mother is... quite magical and I don't know my father. I was raised in the mundane world by my foster parents with their son." She seemed to be laughing internally at that, like she was telling a private joke.
"Are you going to miss your television?" he asked wistfully.
"I'll miss my computer more. I'll have to see if I can figure out how to get my portable computer to work."
The train soon filled up and a lonely looking red-head opened the door. "Is there room here?"
Sheila nodded. "Sure. I'm Sheila Henderson."
With a wince, Harry introduced himself. "Harry Potter."
"Ronald Weasley. Are you really? Do you have the scar?" the red-head asked.
"Because he would like to stared at like a monkey in the zoo," Sheila drawled out. "Yes, he has a scar on his forehead. Don't stare."
"Oh, sorry. It's just... you're famous!" the youngest boy of the Weasley family started to natter on.
"And seems uncomfortable when people bring it up. Sorry, Harry. I'm talking for you. I'll shut up now," Sheila said.
"No, that's all right. I don't feel comfortable being stared out. I'm just Harry," the black-haired boy complained. "Just don't talk for me all the time." He took the sting from his comment with a grin.
"Sorry, I thought you were just going to let him walk over you a bit until he really became rude," she said.
"Oh, ah, sorry." Ron's face was turning nearly the same shade as his hair. "So what house are you looking at getting put into?"
"I'm not really sure," Harry replied.
"My family is always Gryffindor," the pure-blood explained.
"I could probably fit into any of them," Sheila replied.
"What? Even slimy Slytherin?"
Even Harry raised an eyebrow at her for that. "Why do you think that, Sheila?"
"Oh, I'd like to think I'm loyal to my friends, that I can be brave and very studious. And isn't trying to make the world a better place very ambitious?" She shrugged her shoulders.
"How are you planning on making the world a better place?" Harry asked curiously.
"By working on a cure for AIDS, making better engines that use less fuel, creating alternate fuel sources, correcting pollution and fixing social inequalities," she said as if it were just simple things.
"Blimey, if you are as brave as you are ambitious, you can stare down a troll. Like the ones my brother says you have to wrestle to be sorted. But I think they might have been pulling my leg," Ron explained at that, neatly changing the conversation.
"I'm almost sure they were, Ronald," Sheila said. "Most of the children do have to survive the sorting for the population to continue."
Harry had to chuckle at that. "She's got a point."
"Oh, hadn't thought of that," Ron said in a muted tone.
"Why the glum face?" Harry asked suddenly.
"Well, Fred and George are always pulling pranks on me like that," he complained.
"Ah, you either need to become defensive about it or join them," Sheila said after a moment of contemplation. "It'll probably take a while to really do that if they are used to excluding you, you will have to put some effort into it."
"I'm not sure I'd be able to keep up with them. They are two years ahead of me," Ron admitted.
"Then you will always have to be two steps ahead of them in planning to defend yourself. And keep aware of what they are doing in a general sense too," she thought aloud.
The door suddenly opened, admitting a slightly plump boy. "Has anyone seen a toad?" he asked pitifully.
They all shook their heads. "We'll be sure to keep our eyes open though," Harry promised.
Ron was starting to show them his pet rat and the spell that his brothers 'taught' him when the door opened again.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville has lost one- Oh! Magic?" the bushy haired girl said in surprise. "Can I watch? I've only tried a few spells but they all worked. My name is Hermione Granger."
Everyone introduced themselves quickly and Sheila's glare at Hermione when she started to bring up Harry's fame caused her to falter.
"Show us that spell," Harry said quickly.
Sheila groaned at the horrible pun and limerick. "Ron, they got you again. Though you probably could do a coloring spell. That's very basic transfiguration."
"Well, I'm going to continue looking for Neville's toad." With that the bushy-haired girl closed the door.
"Mental that one," Ron said.
"I wonder what grade she was in?" Sheila murmured to herself.
"In muggle school? Why should that matter?" Ron asked curiously.
Sheila sighed. "There's nothing wrong with learning a bit of science and technology. It won't eat your magic."
Harry found that funny and had to stifle a guffaw. "I have to admit liking the tele. And I think a movie show would be great!"
Sheila and Ron both raised an eyebrow at that, for two totally different reasons.
"Harry, you're muggle raised, right?" Sheila asked quietly.
"Um, right." Harry was suddenly quite defensive.
"Fred and George say the movie shows are quite a riot, but I'm not sure I can believe that they are that good," Ron espoused his young wisdom.
Sheila was giving Harry a hard, appraising look. Then she nodded to herself. She turned back to Ron abruptly. "You do realize that there are some amazing movie shows that are really quite incredible. It gives a possible hint at how 'cool' science can be."
"Rubbish. Magic is much better," Ron said with a snort.
"You have never seen Star Wars. Philistine!" she retorted.
Harry just gave up and started laughing at the two of them.
The door slid open again, admitting a boy with long, blond hair and his two, large and chubby flunkies.
"I heard that Harry Potter was on the train," the boy said in a very smug and superior tone. "I am Draco Malfoy."
Harry nodded very uncertainly. "I'm Harry Potter."
Sheila actually raised an eyebrow at that. "Who told you that?" she asked, curious about if Hermione was telling everyone about Harry.
He looked a bit confused. "And who are you?"
"I'm Sheila Henderson." She immediately held up her hand as proper for nobility, which confused Draco.
He finally ignored her and narrowed his eyes on the red-head. "You must be a Weasley. Too little money, too much family and red hair."
Harry's eyes turned a bit more unfriendly.
"You'll find out that there are certain peoples that are better than others," Draco said in a cool tone.
"I think I can tell what sort of people are decent," Harry replied in an unfriendly tone.
Sheila stood up. "It is time for you to leave," she said as she towered four inches over all of the boys.
"And if I wanted to stay?" Draco asked being slightly intimidated.
"Then I might ask that gentleman coming down the row with the badge to nicely ask you to leave us alone," she replied as her eyes flickered to the left.
Draco stood up taller and then tried to look down his nose at her (and failed miserably) turned and then walked off in a huff.
"What a jerk," Sheila said as she sat down heavily.
"She gets to face off against the troll first," Ron said with a grin.
They all burst out laughing at that.
After the trolley had been buy and they had bought real food to go with their candies, the chatted while Ron and Sheila played chess. Ron was really feeling the pressure and was glad when the signal came that they were arriving.
"Sheila, what level do you play at?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I think Grandmaster. I think Ron could be a grandmaster if he applied himself," she replied with a shrug.
Ron frowned in thought. "Eh, its not like you can make a living at this." He stood up to pull open his trunk enough to get a natty robe out.
"Um, Ron? You do realize professional chess players can win enough prizes that they don't need a normal job, right?" The scion looked at him in surprise.
"Say what? I thought Bill was just joking that I should play professionally?" The young pureblood looked totally surprised.
"The best live fairly wealthily on the winnings," Sheila said as she grabbed her robes. "I'll be right back."
Harry and Ron quickly changed and then all three of them walked out in the throngs of the students.
Hagrid's call for the First Years was quite nerve wracking for some of the young kids, but he managed to get them all loaded into the tiny little boats carefully.
"Interesting. Hagrid should have capsized by now," Sheila noted aloud.
"Probably a charm to make the boats more stable," Ron said with a shrug. That was when Neville fell into the water.
Sheila was about a half-second from leaping in after Neville when the giant squid put him back him into his little boat.
"You were going to go after him?" Harry asked quietly.
"Oh, uh, I have had water safety training. So it would have been okay," she replied glibly.
At Hagrid's warning, they all ducked their heads (though only the huge man was in any real danger from hitting his) as they floated into the cave-docks.
"Excuse me, Mr. Hagrid? Why do the First Years come through this dock?" Sheila asked curiously.
"Tradition," he replied with a smile. "It's been that way fo' a long time."
"Was it to smuggle in students during a siege or something?" she muttered, actually starting to get a few kids thinking.
"I could see that," Hermione said excitedly as she considered the matter. "Under cover of the night across the lake to a secret cave entrance into the castle. It must be in a book somewhere."
Ron rolled his eyes, while Harry just grinned. They all followed Hagrid up the stairs and up to a door where a stern, older matron took charge of the children. She soon left them in a small anteroom and told them she would be back soon.
"I say that we have given Peeves enough-" a ghost was saying to another when they were interrupted.
"EXPECTO PATRONUS!" Sheila shouted as she pointed her wand at the ghosts, only managing a few silver sparks. "Damn." The sparks stopped abruptly. What was she doing wrong?
Everyone was staring at her, including the ghosts.
"Sorry, I had a run in with a bad ghost. So I've been edgy since then," Sheila quickly explained as she put her wand away into her wrist holster.
That was when the Deputy Headmistress arrived back to lead them into a main hall, full of students and the head table with its staff looking on. The hat sang its welcoming song and 'Abbot, Hannah' started off the sorting.
"You were right, Sheila. They were just pulling my leg," Ron mouthed next to her.
"Good thing, I really didn't feel like wrestling a troll again," she muttered back to him quietly. She just smirked at his outraged and confused look.
"Henderson, Sheila," the stern professor said.
She walked up and put the hat on her head.
Ah, now this is interesting. And is there a reason I should not be screaming that you are the daughter of a goddess? Or blindingly insane? the Sorting Hat asked.
Because I'm not planning on being a threat to the Wizarding or Muggle world and I just want to go home? Besides, I am eleven and need magic training. This is just a... different magical training than I was expecting, Sheila replied mentally. Drat, her attempts at Occulemancy were totally circumvented. Two things she had failed at spectacularly today, she thought morosely.
Point. In that case, it better be, "Gryffindor!" it shouted. And do try to stay away from any trolls in the future, the hat said with more than a tinge of humor.
She joined Hermione at the Gryffindor table, much to Ron's dismay as he suddenly was swept over by an unexpected case of chills up his back.
Sheila joined the table in the thunderous applause when Harry was sorted into Gryffindor after quite a while. The rest of the meal was mostly idle chatter and listening to announcements. After the meal they were trundled up to the Gryffindor Tower and then their dorms to rest.
The only one awake was Sheila, reading her books in the dim night light.
The next week went fairly quietly, by Sheila's standards. Even Harry was starting to be treated as 'just Harry' by the kids in the house.
Lavender, Parvarti and Hermione shared the first year girl's dorm with her. The two more social girls had tried to snub the bossy girl, but Sheila had managed to keep her from being brushed off. Hermione quickly found out that Sheila was more than a match for her intellectually.
"You really are widely read," Hermione said with a tinge of envy.
"Reading isn't learning or knowing. Books can lie," Sheila replied as she read through her potions book on Thursday night.
"I think Hermione is trying to find her outraged voice," Lavender said from her bed where she was reading a fashion magazine. Indeed, Hermione did look outraged.
"Books are written by people. People lie." Sheila looked up at the even more upset girl. "Hermione, there are famous adages about books not being fully accurate."
That stopped her. "What sayings?" she asked suspiciously.
"History is written by the victors," was the quick reply.
Hermione seemed to think about that for a long time. "That doesn't mean all books lie though."
"No, but you have to be slightly skeptical. Did you know that there are over three hundred and fifty two differences between the same chapters in Hogwarts a History from a two hundred years ago?" Sheila shrugged. "For some reason, the Dark Arts is being retroactively renamed to Defense against the Dark Arts."
Parvarti looked up from where she was practicing a finger-nail charm on her toes. "Really? So you are saying there is a conspiracy to cover up that Hogwarts taught the Dark Arts?"
"Political Correctness, actually. They still teach the 'Dark Arts' so to speak, they just try to cover it up as 'defending' against it. Binns, on the other hand, seems to be sabotaging our learning on purpose," Sheila said in an angry tone.
"What can we do?" Hermione asked.
"I think I'm going to see about starting a petition to have him investigated as a malicious spirit," Sheila replied as she continued to read the 3rd year potion's book.
Only Hermione had noticed that and wondered why she was reading so far ahead. "What will that do?" the bushy-haired girl asked.
The Indian descent girl looked interested. "He'd have to be exorcised from Hogwarts as a threat, wouldn't he?"
"I heard from the other years that he's always that bad," Lavender said, looking up from her magazine.
"Let's get started on that petition then," Sheila said, putting her book away and writing up a short and succinct legal description.
The next morning found all of the Gryffindors in the dungeons and sitting down in the potions lab with the Slytherins. Hermione and Sheila were sitting together, with Ron and Harry right behind them.
Snape entered the classroom in a flutter of his cloak just as the class was to start. He took charge of the class, having them hang on his on his every word until he got to Harry.
"And our celebrity, Harry Potter," he said coldly.
Sheila raised an eyebrow at that as the teacher verbally assaulted the young boy. Very carefully, she kick-tapped Hermione's heel. When her dorm-mate looked at her, she shook her head and got Hermione to lower her hand.
After Snape had finished lambasting Harry, he turned to the class. "Well, what are you waiting on? Start writing it down!"
The rest of the class was undisturbed except for Neville melting his cauldron. Sheila managed to pull him out before he was greatly hurt.
"Hmm. I guess this is why they don't recommend this as a beginners potion in my alternate books," Sheila said as she watched the sludge melt a hole in the ground.
"Three points from Gryffindor for you cheek," Snape called out from the back of the class.
Sheila just raised her eyebrow at that again as she walked back to her seat.
"That wasn't fair," Hermione whispered.
"He doesn't care about fair." Sheila turned to her potion to continue mixing the rather tricky potion with no instructions excepting the list.
Ten minutes later, Snape looked down at the potion dismissively. "It's too watery and the color is wrong," he said as he pulled out his wand.
"It needs another three hundred seconds of simmering for the color to change, sir." Sheila's voice was incredibly bland, but stopped the teacher for a second.
"We will see," he said with a sniff.
Five minutes later, the color had changed and it was turning thicker. Delicately, Sheila finished stirring and then carefully removed the fire underneath it.
"Adequate," Snape proclaimed as he swished off to the Slytherin side of the class. After pronouncing Draco Malfoy's off-color potion quite perfect, their teacher moved up to the front of the class.
His eyes moved from one student to another until locking with Sheila's own eyes. She felt a probe into her eyes as he pulled her latest birthday from the recesses of her memory.
A rage suddenly welled up within her in a tidal wave of fury as she stood up. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" she screamed out incredibly loudly.
Snape was sent staggering and then collapsed. Sheila slammed her books into her bag and then stomped out of the dungeon. Everyone was shocked as the nearest Slytherin hopped out of his seat and checked on their head of house to find him stunned and incoherent.
"She's a menace!" Snape was shouting an hour later in Professor McGonnagal's office. "She should be expelled!"
"Is expelling the victim of mental assault the normal procedure here at Hogwarts?" Sheila asked blandly from her seat across from McGonnagal's desk.
"Indeed it is not. What were you doing practicing Legimancy on one of our students, Professor Snape?" the old matron asked scathingly.
"I did nothing of the sort," he retorted. "She wandlessly knocked me over-"
"-A First Year casting advanced charms wandlessly in her first week, Professor Snape?" the deputy headmistress asked in a deceptively calm voice.
The young girl sighed. "There is, of course, quite an easy way to resolve this. We can summon a member of the Wizenmegot like Professor Dumbledore to have him review our memories in a Pensieve or offer to submit to Verasitum. Although, I would request that it come from a third party stock and not from Professor Snape supplies," Sheila replied.
Both of the professors gave her an odd look. "Where did you read about those options?" McGonnagal asked quietly.
"Oh, I was reading the Filthbane's Law Encyclopedia to get a grasp of Wizarding law and happened to run across a few ways of offering witness," she said in a demur tone. It was just one of the many, many books that she had bought at the Wizarding book store.
Snape, on the other hand, looked like he had just swallowed a bitter lemon. "Nonsense, she is just trying to be a show off and demanding attention."
That was when Professor Dumbledore knocked on the door, entering when the deputy headmistress waved the door open. "Ah, good morning all. I understand there has been a disturbance?" he asked.
Sheila waited while Snape got his first word in.
"This scamp is assaulted me and knocked me senseless and is now accusing me of invading her mind! She's a menace to Wizarding society and should be expelled!" Snape almost shouted out.
"And your side of the story, Miss Henderson?" Dumbledore asked.
"After submitting to a scathing class where we were taught little about potions, Professor Snape invaded my mind to steal a memory of my last birthday. This infuriated me enough to eject him from my mind violently," she replied stiffly.
"I'm sure this has to be some sort of accident or misunderstanding," Dumbledore assured her.
"I'm sure that the Unmystifying the Mind was quite succinct upon memories being pulled to the forefront of your ordered mind with eye contact was almost always the use of Legimancy upon you," Sheila said almost as stiffly as before.
"You are studying Legimancy?" Dumbledore asked as he stroked his beard, while McGonnagal and Snape just looked flummoxed.
"It's magic," she replied looking surprised.
"Do you intend to learn every type of magic possible?" the headmaster asked.
"What I have an aptitude for," she replied as her hands loosened slightly.
"What is the most advanced magic you have discovered or learned?" he finally asked.
"Hmm." She thought for a second. "Probably the Rubinous Octangle Runic Ward. The Arithimancy on that is impressive."
Snape frowned as he tried to remember anything about runic wardings, while McGongangal just looked confused. Dumbledore on the other hand actually looked surprised.
"I dare say that's a bit advanced for a First Year. We don't normally even teach runes until the third year," the oldest staff member present said blandly.
"I'm an advanced student with a lot of time on my hands. Studying occupies my mind. And I've taken university level mathematics already," she replied.
"University level maths?" McGonnagal asked. "I wasn't aware that Muggle math would be useful in Arithimancy."
"Math is math, really," she replied.
"Be that as it may, I would mediate this dispute. There will be no talk of expelling students, Professor Snape. We must put this regrettable incident behind us," Dumbledore said in a placating tone.
"So students are not to be protected from professors invading the privacy of our minds?" she asked carefully.
"I am sure that Professor Snape regrets the circumstance and we must learn to all work together," the headmaster said while looking intently at Snape.
"I will be keeping an eye on you, Miss Henderson." Snape was staring down his nose.
"Of course." Her face was flat without a hint of expression and she did not raise her eyes to meet anyone. "May I leave?"
She walked back to Gryffindor, ignoring any attempt from any people passing by to talk to her.
"Sheila!" Hermione called out worriedly as the other girl entered their dorms.
"Hermione. I'm afraid I would be terrible company right now. I think I'm going out for a run," Sheila said as she started to strip out of her robes.
"Is it true that you are going to be expelled?" Lavender asked breathlessly from her bed.
"No. Though Snape tried."
"Professor Snape-" the bushy-haired girl tried to dictate to her new friend.
"That man deserves no respect and I will not show him anything beyond what is required to function in class. No, Hermione, that is not up for discussion. He's a mean, petty, vindictive bastard of a man that invaded my mind." Sheila stopped for a moment. "You might want to mention that he can glean things from your mind by eye contact. If anyone asks, tell them he knows Legimancy."
Sheila finished changing into shorts, a cut-off t-shirt and trainers; then penned a quick note and then walked down the stairs to the common room, shocking a lot of the more conservative at her scandalously tight and modern garb.
"Blimey," Ron whispered from about twenty feet away to Harry. "What is she wearing? That's less than Ginny's swimsuit."
"Looks like she's going jogging," Harry said thoughtfully. "Come on, let's go get lunch and then we can go over to Hagrid's like I mentioned.
Just minutes after Sheila had left McGonnagal's office, Dumbledore and Snape were sitting in the headmaster's office.
"Quite a remarkable young girl. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone displaying quite that much magic at a young age. Even Voldemort," the headmaster said thoughtfully as she watched the silver instruments on his desk carefully.
"She's nothing more than a braggart that feels the need to exaggerate her intelligence. At least she's less annoying than that other girl in her year," the gloomy potion's master said, his dark eyes glittering in anger.
"I am not sure," the aged wizard said as he thought carefully. "I think this bears careful study."
"I can't believe she's only eleven. She's taller than most third years," Snape muttered.
"From her records, she will be turning twelve in just a few months. Some children get their growth spurts early." Dumbledore smiled as his pet phoenix, Fawkes, trilled.
Snape nodded and then stood up. "I have to get ready for my next class," he said sourly.
After the door had closed and the grinding noise of the stairs had stopped, Dumbledore looked over at a ratty hat on the shelf. "I know you will not tell me exactly what you find in their minds to sort them, but I must know if young Sheila Henderson is a threat to this school."
The hat's patchwork eyes scrunched to activity. "No more than any threat you do to her. But beware, if pushed I fear the consequences against those that would be her foes."
"Would she attack them?" the headmaster asked.
"She would defeat them appropriately. She is probably far smarter than you know," the hat declared.
"OWL level Arithimancy and Runes in her first week? I doubt I would do that," the old man said with a wry grin.
The hat went back to its contemplations.
Sheila panted as she stopped her run, frustrated at the short distance. Around her the trees were draped with white threads. Next time, she promised to herself, she would run down the train tracks for an hour.
A dog sized spider chittered at her.
She looked at in in unconcern. "Attack me, spinner of webs, and I shall have no mercy," she chittered right back.
It chittered a laugh.
She snapped off an eight foot branch and had it denuded into a large club almost instantly.
The spider leaped, along with its six others from the trees above. The club whirred like a propeller blade, scything through the monsters to gruesome, crushing effect.
A much larger spider, the size of a pony, then appeared from the depths of the forest's shadowy webs. It chittered in great anger.
"It appears there are many monsters that need destroying in this forest. That will give me something to do on the weekends," she said conversationally. She suddenly leaped over forty feet up and over to the surprised arachnoid and crushed its head. "But not today. I have letters to write."
She dropped the club and ran back down the valley towards the castle. She wondered if her mother would be angry. Probably not, as Athena created a spider as the punishment for Arachne.
When Hagrid found the bodies in the coming week, he assumed incorrectly that it must have been a troll that wandered into the forest.
The next large event was flying lessons (of only one day, so Sheila assumed it must be absurdly easy).
"Neville, Hermione; you need to relax and focus. Bewitched items respond to the clarity of thought, will and power of the person trying to command the item," Sheila explained to the very nervous housemates in a soothing tone. "Any one of those traits will easily command the broom in this case."
"Two points to Gryffindor. Not many people know that," Madam Hootch called out. "Everyone line up command their brooms up into their hands with vigor and determination."
Hermione's broom actually floated up steadily, being the third to arrive after Harry and Ron.
"Up," Sheila called after everyone had their's at least moving. It snapped into her hand as if it had teleported. "These really are a bit ragged, aren't they?"
Ron grinned at that even as Hermione beamed at her broom. "George and Fred are always complaining about the school brooms."
"All right. Everyone mount up and on the count of three, lift off like I explained earlier," Hootch called out. "One-"
Neville lifted off out of control, panicking and losing what little cool he had learned. He tried to push down, but accidentally leaned forward and zoomed forward as fast as the broom would allow to smash himself into a tree.
"Neville!" Hermione called out in horror.
Sheila's chest had tightened for a long moment, then she relaxed. "I think he'll be okay. I think he just knocked himself out."
Hootch warned everyone to stay put or they would be expelled faster than they could say Quidditch as she levitated the young boy behind her on the way to the infirmary.
"Hey, that's Longbottom's Remembrall," Pansy Parkinson called out, scooping it up off the ground.
"Toss it here," Draco called out. "I'll put it someplace useful, like up a tree."
With a shrug, Pansy tossed it at Draco, only to see Sheila intercept it easily in a fast skitter forward. "Really, how childish can you be?" she said to Draco. "What are you? Five?"
Draco narrowed his eyes, but sniffed and turned away. The memory of her knocking out his godfather had made him a bit cautious about her. She obviously had a lot of raw power.
They were all waiting fairly calmly and then allowed to actually get up on their brooms. It was immediately evident who was very, very good and who was merely mediocre on the brooms. Surprisingly, Malfoy was in the top three. It was Harry and Sheila that wowed everyone as they started an impromptu game of chase.
All of the other First Years just gaped and even Madam Hootch just looked on in shock as the two rocketed around in perfect control. Sheila was only slightly egging Harry on, but he really did have superb natural ability.
As they landed on the grass in front of their tower, Ron could only exclaimed, "Merlin, that was amazing. Harry, why didn't you tell me you had used a broom before?"
"I don't know about Harry, but that's the first time I ever flew a broom," Sheila replied casually.
"But-" Ron tried to protest.
"Me too. I just knew what to do. It was incredibly cool." Harry was very happy with this magic he could just do.
"Really?" Hootch said. "Well, get off you lot. You're free to go." Professor McGonnagal would love to hear that she had two potential Seekers.
"Seeker?" Harry asked in confusion that afternoon when McGonnagal had summoned the two of them to her private office.
"I thought First Years weren't allowed brooms or onto to the teams?" Sheila asked in surprise.
"I'm willing to see about getting some rules bent. Slytherin totally flattened us last year. I couldn't look Professor Snape in the eyes for over a week," the elderly professor said with a frown.
"So this is to make sure that Gryffindor has a proper chance in the matches?" Sheila asked intently. "Then I'm in, even if it is just for a reservist spot."
Harry looked confused at the thought, but then nodded. "Me too." Flying had been wonderful, in his opinion.
"Well, I will let Wood know that we have a new Seeker then. Madam Hootch informed that either of you would do an admirable job.
Half an hour later, they were out on the Quidditch pitch with an older, slightly tough looking boy.
"I understand you two are supposed to be fairly good," the older boy asked dubiously.
"Harry's an amazing natural flyer and I'm very athletic," Sheila replied with a shrug.
After ten minutes of throwing golf balls at them, his mind was completely changed. He could not wait to field his secret weapon.
Though he was surprised when Sheila offered to be a reservist for any spot. Just to make sure the team continued.
And she was going to make Slytherin and their head of house eat crow.
A week later, in the morning, Sheila was reading a book while nibbling on some toast at the Gryffindor table when Ron and Harry arrived.
"Morning, Sheila," Harry said sleepily. He was just putting the spread on his toast when the owls arrived.
"Mails here," Ron said in a droning voice.
Sheila just rolled her eyes. She frowned as she saw two broom-shaped packages heading towards them. Her eyes danced around and then with a snap of her wrist she flicked the sugar spoon to knock over a picture of water on the table next to them to cause a distraction as pumpkin juice spilled everywhere.
Ron blinked at her, then turned to look at the angry shouting on the Hufflepuff table. The owls dropped four letters on her plate that she neatly slipped under the plate and then in a surprising blur to Harry, had both of their brooms under the edge of the table.
"Good grief. Is she trying to get everyone envious of us?" Sheila whispered.
"Whatcha talking about?" Ron asked.
"Professor Flitwick, Harry and Sheila have two brooms!" Malfoy said as he trotted up, timing it perfectly with the small, gnomish professor just walking past.
"Oh, yes. Professor McGonnagal mentioned that she was getting you two brooms. What sort do you have?" the charms professor asked with a happy tone.
"We haven't opened them yet. I was trying to avoid a scene, professor. I really didn't want to cause anyone to envy us for managing to get on the team," Sheila replied. Malfoy must have been watching them specifically.
"Hmm. I can see that. Good idea. I'll disillusion your packages," Flitwick said, tapping both packages to cause them to shimmer and fade into invisibility, much to Sheila's delight.
Draco's mouth was agape in shock. "First Years aren't allowed brooms though."
Hermione blinked at that as she finished pouring her pumpkin juice. "Brooms?"
Sheila nodded. "Let's get this up to our dorms, Harry."
"Take care, kids."
Everything seemed fine until that afternoon when Draco and his goons managed to corner the four of them.
"So, Harry, think you are special for getting on the Gryffindor team?" Draco taunted in the side corridor off the main hallway next to the great hall.
"Gryffindor really needs a Seeker and they think I'll do a good job," Harry said honestly.
The heir of Malfoy sneered. "So, the pity spot."
"You take that back," Harry snapped back angrily.
"Oh? Sounds like a challenge," Draco said nastily. "Wands only. Who is your second?"
"I would be happy to be his second," Sheila interjected quickly before Ron could offer.
"Who's your second?" Ron piped in, hiding his disappointment.
Draco quickly looked over his two goons. "Goyle," he replied.
"Carlotte rules or Spindlecore tourney?" Sheila asked. "I'm thinking Carlotte, as you specified seconds, but to the death seems excessive."
Draco and Ron both looked at her in surprise, while Harry just looked confused.
"Spindlecore, of course. The seconds are only if the primary is unable to duel at the appropriate time," Draco said, looking at her carefully. "I thought you were a muggleborn, Henderson."
"Oh, no. I'd probably be considered a halfblood, but my mother has roots to ancient Greece." She smiled mysteriously. "I was raised muggle though. Tonight, then."
"Tonight," Harry and Malfoy agreed at the same time. The Slytherins retreated then, looking at them carefully once the location was decided.
"I'm doomed," Harry finally said. "I don't know how to duel."
"Well, let's look at teaching you a stinging hex quickly. And that will probably be more than he knows or expecting," Sheila said. "After all, look at what Flitwick has all of us learning."
"She's got a point," Ron noted sourly.
"You are going to get us all into trouble and lose the house points," Hermione said hotly.
"But that's our choice to make. And to stand up to jerks like that. Standing up to bullies is important," Sheila said to her. "And we can't go to the teachers all the time."
Hermione looked torn. Sheila had been her one person she could connect to and was really interesting to talk to. "But being out after curfew..."
"Is something all student eventually do. Well, if you go by what the older girls say about wanting privacy with their boyfriend." Sheila shrugged as she walked over to an open patch. "This is the stinging hex," she started to explain to all of them.
"That isn't going to hurt anyone," Ron complained as Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Oh, I think enough stings will hurt him. And win the duel," Sheila said with a gleam in her eyes.
"Well, I'm coming," Hermione said. "Harry's a Gryffindor. And Malfoy is just a jerk."
"Rule number one," Sheila said to the assembled trio to quell the upcoming argument in the Gryffindor common room. "We talk in low tones and do not whisper. Rule number two, follow my directions. I have very keen ears and I should be able to hear Mr. Filch and his familiar coming."
Harry blinked at her. "You've done this before?"
"Oh, I don't sleep a lot, so I sometimes go for a walk or read in the library at times," she replied, trying to make it sound like insomnia. Not having to sleep for weeks in a row was really boring at times.
Hermione looked as surprised as the boys did. "I didn't know that."
"I don't want to disturb anyone, so I sneak out quietly." Sheila shrugged at that. Like they would ever believe she was the daughter of a goddess and almost did not need sleep.
They breezed through the dark passageways in relative silence until they got to the Trophy Room, which Sheila led them away from to a small cubbyhole.
"Why aren't we going in?" Harry asked as he checked his watch.
"Malfoy isn't here and I don't want to be trapped in a room with only one exit if he snitched on us to Filch," she replied with a shrug of her robed shoulders.
Five minutes later, Filch showed up while muttering to himself in glee at the thought of catching children out of bed. His mangy cat was leading the way to their dueling room.
Sheila sighed even as the three kids behind her started to panic. With a swish, she jinxed a trophy to fall over in the trophy room. "Follow me carefully." She calmly led them down the hallways towards the stairs that would lead them up to the Gryffindor common room.
They were walking up one of the stairs that none of them ever saw moving when it... moved.
"Oh, come on," Ron complained.
"Who knows how long this stair will be here. We'll have to find a different way," Sheila said with a sigh. "I did not know this one even could move."
Hermione was muttering under her breath angrily, but Harry and Ron were having a fun time. Sheila turned to look to her left. Holding up her finger so they could see her shushing them, she led them to the right.
That led them to a dead end and a locked door, which Sheila frowned at. That's when they heard Filch coming towards them quickly.
"One side," Hermione demanded. "Alohoroma!" The door popped open and they tumbled into the room, closing the door behind them.
"Harry," Ron said urgently.
"Not know, I'm listening for Filtch," the Boy-That-Lived replied with his ear up against the door.
"Cerberus?" Sheila said softly as she was concentrating heavily. Very carefully, she started singing a lullaby.
"What are you doing?" Ron whispered, frozen at the sight of the huge, three headed dog. The three-headed dog slowly slunk down and started drifting off to sleep as she continued to sing softly.
"Filtch is gone," Harry said softly. They all slipped back out and starting to walk down the dark hallways.
"How did you know to sing it to sleep?" Hermione asked in breathless enthusiasm. "And do you know why it was guarding a trap door?"
"That's just classical mythology. I learned that before I knew of the magical world," Sheila replied, looking in surprise. "Orpheus put him to sleep with music. I certainly wasn't going to try Hercules feat and overpower it physically, thank you very much. No idea on the trap door though."
Hermione's mouth dropped in surprise as she started to think.
"They're scary mental, Harry. Both of them," Ron said as they finally made it back to Gryffindor entrance.
"What are you doing out of bed?" the Fat Lady asked with a sniff of disdain.
"Being stood up. I feel so violated," Sheila said with a grin.
The other three kids snorted in laughter and with the password were still in bed fairly early.
Malfoy's face in the morning was quite stunned. He had been sure that his trick would get them expelled.
"Oh, right. I'll be back." Sheila walked over to the fairly full Slytherin's table.
"We don't want your sort, Mudblood," one of the older girls sneered.
"I'm not here to speak to you, inbred cretin. I'm here to speak to that inbred cretin," she replied with a totally happy smile.
The whole table looked stunned. Had she just insulted their entire table while smiling?
"What do you want, Henderson? Come to complain about some trivial matter?" Draco called out as he took a moment to buff his nails on his robes. He was not nearly as unworried as he looked.
"Draco, you're a bastard and have no honor. I will never accept a duel from you again for failing to show up last night." She turned and then walked back to the table, leaving a firestorm of whispers from both the Slytherin and the Ravenclaw table behind her.
"Honestly, she's a nightmare. It's no wonder she has no friends," Ron said at the end of Flitwicks class on Halloween.
Hermione burst past Ron, tears streaming down her face.
"Aren't you ashamed?" Sheila asked hotly. His lack of answer was all he had to say as she stomped past him to try to track down her dorm mate.
And hour later (and totally ignoring going to the last class) Sheila finally found her on the second floor loo. "Hermione?"
"I don't know why you are here. Ron is right. I don't have any friends. Even you aren't," the young girl sobbed from the stall.
"Ron is a jerk. You do have friends-"
"You are not my friend. You don't talk about yourself or what you want to do and you make me feel so stupid. You even let me win sometimes," Hermione called out. "Just leave me alone."
Sheila sighed and sat down in the corner. She had thought that Hermione had noticed that she was letting her or another student occasionaly 'beat' her to answering a question in class.
Two and a half hours later (and a few visits by the other Gryffindor girls that half-hearted tried to talk to her down) Hermione walked out of the stall to head to the sink. "Why are you still here?" Hermione demanded as she started to try and clean her face in the sink.
"I'm trying to be here for you. Come on, the feast is going to start soon." Sheila hesitated, but then stood up to go to the next sink and wash up. "Look, it's a bit complicated. I don't want to hurt your feelings when I have to leave."
"Leave? When are you leaving?" Hermione demanded, sounding even more hurt.
"I'm not from England, you know." Sheila shook her head at Hermione's shrug. "I'm actually from a lot further away. And as soon as I learn some spells for affecting a specter, I have to leave. This is taking too long." Sheila clenched her fist.
"It took me a while to realize you are playing us for fools. You should be at least two grades ahead by now," Hermione snapped.
"At least three, actually," Sheila said mildly as she turned off the sink.
"So why are you pretending that you didn't know magic?" the bookworm demanded.
"I didn't really know magic. I'm just... very talented."
"Another evasion." Hermione glared. "No more lies."
That was when a troll opened the door. His beady eyes took in both girls as drool dripped down his chin.
"It appears you get your wish. I hope you don't hate me after this." Sheila then walked up to the troll. "Leave here or I will hurt you badly," she snarled out in a voice that the troll would understand.
It looked at the little girl in consternation. Then roared deafeningly.
"I am Sheila, Scion of Paellas Athena. You bring this upon yourself," she said very simply.
The troll just roared again and then swung its club at her. She bent backwards below to dodge it it and then lashed out a jab at its wrist, only to frown in consternation as the thick hide defeated her nerve strike. "Great."
"Um, Harry?" Ron asked from right behind his friend out in the hallway. "Why is Sheila hitting a troll?"
"She's using karate?" the Boy-That-Lived muttered to himself.
Sheila hopped backwards to Hermione. "It's too strong." She had her wand out now. The stunner she sent out almost sizzled, but merely made the troll wince.
"Impedimentia," she shouted, stopping the club mid-swing. "Come on, Hermione. Move."
The two girls ran back past the troll that was trying to swing his inertia-challenged club.
Sheila's white wand swished, changing the water from a sink into a yellow, translucent color and splashed it on the ground.
Harry just looked at that in shock as the smell hit him. "Motor oil?"
The troll slipped as it tried to follow them, flipping onto its back and dropped its club with a deafening boom and shattered tiles.
Ropes exploded from the tip of her wand and wrapped it up.
"Ah, that's tougher than I expected. He'll be able to break free in a moment."
The troll was starting to rip loose when three voices shouted and wrapped the troll up in layers of ropes.
"I dare say, I'm sure there is an interesting story here," Dumbledore said.
"We were just heading up here because we heard that Hermione and Sheila were still up in the Loo," Harry explained in a rush
"There were up here because of me, Professor." Ron looked like he had swallowed something intensely nasty. "I said something very unkind to Hermione and couldn't let her get hurt because of that."
Sheila and Hermione looked surprised at Ron's comment.
"That's quite brave, admitting your failure young man. And you four seemed to doing all right. What is that smell?" McGonnagal asked while wrinkling her nose.
"Motor oil. Quite slick," Sheila explained blandly. She did a wave of her wand and then turned it back to water and pushed it into the drain.
"Ten points for admitting your mistake, Ronald, and then trying to correct it. And two points from each of you for trying to fight a troll." The severe deputy headmistress looked pleased, even if she did take some house point.
They were sent off to their dorms as the adults investigated the troll.
"So, daughter of Athena?" Harry asked curiously.
Ron looked scared. "So you only look twelve?"
"No, I ameleven, thanks." Sheila rolled her eyes. "I may be super-smart thanks to my mother, but that doesn't give me a free pass on learning things. Even magic."
"So how advanced in schooling were you in the Muggle world?" Hermione asked curiously.
"I had almost finished my Bachelors degree in Medicine, Engineering and Chemistry," she'll reply with a shrug. "That was before I could remember everything I've ever done. After I was... visited I became much, much smarter."
"So you were a genius before and afterwards... insanely smart. That's really not fair," Hermione pouted, much to Harry and Ron's amusement.
"Well, it also comes with the enmity of monsters just about everywhere alongside distrust or ridicule from everyone else. Yay."
The other three chuckled at that.
"So, any way to rub some of that off on us?" Ron asked jokingly.
"Who says I haven't been helping? It only took a month to break your bad study habits," she retorted.
Harry snorted at that.
"And don't get me started on Mr. Slacker that wasn't applying himself at all. He's almost as smart as Hermione but unless you prod him he slows down to the slowest level of the group."
"I do not."
She just gave him a flat look, while Hermione just nodded her head defiantly.
"Okay, maybe I do a little." Harry only looked a bit abashed about being caught out.
"Now what?" Hermione asked.
"Well, Hermione and I are going to have a long talk tonight and then tomorrow we are all going to have to figure out who let a troll into the castle," Sheila replied seriously.
That stopped the others as they started thinking. They shared a worried look as the thought that someone let the troll into the school sunk in.
Unfortunately, the trail was far cold by the time they could investigate.
Sheila, Hermione and Ron were all looking in shock as Harry's broom seemed to become possessed high above the Quidditch field. That caused Sheila to blink and look around, noting two professors that were rapidly chanting. Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell over in the Slytherin stands.
"Hermione, go tell Professor McGonnagal that Snape and Quirrell are both jinxing Harry's broom," Sheila ordered as she stood up and started walking to the highest part of the stands.
"What about me?" Ron demanded. "I want to help!"
"Try to keep up then." With that she took ten steps in a rapid rush and then leaped over fifty feet to the next stand over (which happened to be mostly occupied by Hufflepuffs) and was trotting at a rapid pace to the far end along the empty, back row.
"Hey! No running!" the Hufflepuff 5th year male prefect yelled out, looking put out because of being interrupted while kissing a girl. "Wait! Don't- jump?" He blinked as she took the next edge without breaking a stride, landing in the back of the mostly Slytherin occupied stand.
She sent out two hexes faster than most 5th years could cast one, surprising Snape and Quirrell while still moving quickly. The stings she had given them would only raise a serious welt but had the desired effect.
Harry's broom had started reacting correctly.
"Hey, what's the Gryffindor mudblood doing here?" one of the older Slytherins asked.
Sheila glared at him. "I'm at least a half-blood, jerk."
"What are you doing up here?" Snape demanded, holding his shoulder.
"Looking out for my friend," she replied mysteriously.
"And Potter has caught the snitch!" Jordan called out from the commentators booth. That set off a roar from the students.
Sheila just smiled at Snape and Quirrell's angry stare.
It was breakfast the next morning when a group of wizards and witches appeared and walked up to Professor Dumbledore.
The lead witch was wearing a dragon-hide shoulder guard that had carved runes. With a stern look nodded to him. "Professor Dumbledore, I am here by authority of the Governor's board to remove Binn's from that class room or to seal it off so that no student will ever be endangered again. Do you intend to continue your arguments?"
The old wizard seemed to deflate, the normal twinkle in his eyes missing entirely. "No, even though it goes against my wishes as headmaster, it is within the rights of the Governor's Board to act against threats they see in the school."
"From what I understand, he died in the teacher's lounge. We can not banish him from that location, but he will not be leaving it for at least a decade."
"Who are they?" Harry asked curiously.
Hermione and Sheila just shrugged, while Ron looked excited at knowing something that they did not. "Ghost hunters. I don't know why they brought so many people though."
"Binns is a Category XXX Specter," Sheila explained.
All three of them were now looking at her, understanding still lacking. "What's that have to do with anything?" Hermione asked.
"Binns has been growing more powerful for centuries by failing to teach entire generations of wizards and witches. Each action that is greatly enabled by their ignorance feeds more power to him. The sad thing? He would just use it to feed their ignorance even more. He's reshaped this whole country by his actions. That makes him very dangerous."
"So why did they allow him to teach?" Harry asked in a whisper.
"Laxness and greed. They don't have to pay him anything and he's 'always' been there." She stood up just after the Ghost Hunters had left the room. "I want to watch them."
Harry and Hermione were but a moment behind her. Ron dithered, because he was not finished, so he jammed two pieces of toast in his mouth and ran quickly to catch up.
They just spotted the Ghost Hunters when they found ex-professor Binns as he was leaving the teacher's lounge.
"I'm sorry, what is going on?" the befuddled professor asked.
"Binns, please come with us quietly while we bind you to a fetter. No longer will you taint the schooling of children," the lead witch called out.
"You are taking me away from my students?" His ghostly and slightly chubby face faltered, then turned horrific. "How dare you speak out of turn in my class!" the powerful spirit shrieked.
The target of his ire, the lead witch, suddenly had white hair and was shrieking from the blast of insanity.
"Category XXXX! Category XXXX! We read it wrong! Move people!" an old wizard with an eyepatch shouted. He sent out a yellow spark at the ghost that sizzled its ectoplasm.
The four students froze. "Oh, crap," Sheila said. "He can cause insanity with a whisper and age people years with a glare. I have to help them." She dashed forward, wand at the ready.
"What do we do?" Hermione asked Harry.
"Get Dumbledore," he ordered instantly.
"I don't have my wand," Ron suddenly exclaimed as he patted the pockets in his robes. "I must have left it in our dorm."
"Go get it and warn any professors you can find." Harry drew his own wand, but realized he had not the foggiest of what he could do to help the gaggle of wizards and witches that were slinging spells at the dodging ghost.
Sheila shouted one of the same spells that the Ghost Hunters were using as she slid under its gaze. She almost ran up the wall, then pushed off to blast it in the back. But not powerfully enough to stop it from whirling around and shrieking in her face.
She dropped to her knees, sobbing and moaning. "I'm not a failure, mother. I'm not." That was her last coherent thought.
Sheila swam back to consciousness, finding an unfamiliar ceiling above her and white curtains on rods about her. "The infirmary."
Madam Pomphrey pushed the curtain back. "You gave us all quite a scare."
"The last thing I remember was Binns going spare and attacking the Ghost Hunters." Sheila frowned. "My memories are muted."
"Your memories should be nonexistant. We had to obliviate its attack from your mind to fix your sanity," the healer said primly. "Now the more interesting question is why you weren't aged."
Sheila pulled some of her hair down into her view. "I didn't? That's quite odd."
The healer sighed. That was not the reaction she expected. "We did try to dose you with a youth regeneration potion to counter the magical aging, but that only had a moderate affect. You seem to shrink slightly. Only an inch."
"What happened to Binns?" Sheila finally asked curiously.
"He had to be destroyed for the safety of the castle. His Malice was too strong otherwise. All of the ghosts are walking on eggshells as the Ministry investigates them," she explained.
"What day is it?" Sheila asked finally.
"It's Thursday," Harry said from the end of her bed. Hermione and Ron. "That was pretty foolish to run into the middle of that fight."
"It was my fault. I had to do something," she replied simply.
"That's not your fault. You were just perceptive enough to notice that Binns was teaching us rubbish and strong-willed enough to do something about it. All of us students that signed that petition saw it after you pointed it out," Hermione said with a sniff.
"But people got hurt because I wanted a better teacher," the blonde girl said sadly.
"You were behind that petition?" Madam Pomphrey asked incredulously.
She just nodded. "He wasn't teaching us anything. Everyone that passed their history OWLs and NEWTs had to do it on their own or with their friends."
"Well, that won't happen again. Professor Dumbledore is searching for a replacement teacher right now." How she had been infuriated to find out that students were expected to succeed in spite of Binns.
The rest of the hour was set upon by getting Sheila 'caught up' on her studies.
The winter holidays had finally arrived. Harry blinked as he realized that Sheila was also staying over in the icy castle.
"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one late Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home." He was giving a snubbing look at Harry and Sheila about that.
Sheila gave a raised eyebrow at Harry as he continued to pour the powder into their cauldron. "I'm sure that you will get many fabulous, yet worthless presents again that only show how much money can be spent on you rather than actual caring, Draco."
Draco gave her a glare, while Harry just chuckled. They finished up and headed out of the dungeons, seeing a huge Christmas tree on legs.
"Hello, Hagrid. I see that artificial or transfigured trees aren't part of an ecologically friendly Christmas," she said with touch of distaste.
"Huh?" Ron asked.
"Er, sort of a muggle thing. It is a bit wasteful to chop down all these trees every year." Harry could barely hold back a snigger.
They followed Hagrid into the main hall where the other professors are enchanting things with floating candles.
"Well, we need to get back to the library. Unless you have a hint, Sheila?" Hermione asked.
"Library? With the Holidays tomorrow?" Hagrid asked.
"Yes, we are researching Nicholas Flamel still. Unless you wanted to tell us about him? Sheila won't." Hermione glared at Sheila about that.
Hagrid stared at the taller girl aghast in worry. "You know who Flammel is?"
"Doesn't everyone?" she responded tartly.
Hermione looked ready to kill. "We don't have a perfect memory-"
"Which you can be very thankful for. You need to look up alchemy and older alchemists. He's even in muggle history books." Sheila shook her head.
That stopped Hermione as she started to think. "So I can continue to research at home then! Great."
That got Hermione off her back for a bit, though Harry gave Sheila a disapproving look.
Harry and Ron were having a grand old time on Christmas morning. They were thinking of dragging down the twins when the portrait swung open letting Sheila drag herself in.
"Um, hello." She winced as they took in her mussed up appearance.
"You look like you've been wrestling trolls!" Ron exclaimed.
Harry was moving over quickly. "You're hurt."
"You should see the other guy," she tried to joke. "I'll be fine in a day, but that trap hurt."
"Trap? Other guy?" Ron looked confused as he came over.
Sheila nodded. "You know there are monsters in the woods, right?" At both of their nods, she continued. "Well, I found out that there are dozens and dozens of Acromantula. They're a banned species outside of Africa. For a good reason. They are a people eater."
Fred and George tromped down the stairs. "The spiders in the forest? Right menaces they are," the first twin said.
"Right you are, Fred." George frowned. "I didn't know they were banned."
"That's because they only respect things bigger and more physically powerful than they are. Though I wonder who set the magical bear trap. That hurt." Sheila winced as she moved the broken bones in her arm while focusing her legend into healing it a bit. It was painful.
George blinked and then paled. "You got hit by a Troll Trap? And you have all of your limbs?"
"It broke my arm, but It's getting better." Sheila was watching them as they exchanged presents and shrug on their sweaters. "What's that, Harry?" She pointed out the silvery material.
"Oh, it is my invisibility cloak. Someone returned it. It used to be my fathers," Harry said happily.
Fred and George's mouths were agape in shock. "Harry has a-"
"-cloak of invisibility?"
Sheila whistled at that. "May I see? That's supposed to be powerful magic."
Harry put on the cloak, disappearing for a moment. He then handed it to her. "It's very wicked and cool."
She frowned as felt the fabric, the started looking at it closely. "This is not made of hair. And the enchantment is still very strong." Suddenly, without any warning, she disappeared without putting on the cloak.
It fell from her nerveless fingers in shock, causing her to reappear. "Relic! This is no mundane cloak, this is an item of divine power."
All four of the boys were a bit freaked out, but only because she was freaking out.
"It's a holy invisible cloak!" Fred exclaimed in sudden jest
George actually frowned. "Isn't there a story about an invisibility cloak? That dad told us a long time ago?"
Even Ron was thinking hard. "Not that I can remember."
Harry carefully picked up the cloak, noticing a few drops of blood. He suddenly glared at her in worry. "Are you really all right?"
"I will be." She smiled even as she thought furiously. "It's a Hallow. The Third Hallow."
"No way-" George shouted.
"-is that possible! It's just a-" Fred continued.
"-myth!" Ron exclaimed.
Sheila reached out and touched the cloak again, concentrating furiously. She then looked around, then her eyes dropped on Harry and her face paled. "Gods above. Harry, your scar!"
His hand clasped up to it. "What?" he asked in a grumpy tone.
"There's a death within it. Part of a soul. What are you, Harry?" Sheila asked seriously.
That stopped the Weasley boys.
Fred and George shared a look. "We should talk to Dumbledore."
Dumbledore stared at the five children in amusement. "I dare say that most children try to avoid authority figures on Christmas Day."
"I received a very unusual 'gift' and we are worried about it," Harry said in a cautious tone. "It's an invisibility cloak."
"Yes. I wanted to return that to you now that you are old enough. Your father entrusted it to me for safekeeping while they were hiding under the Fidelius charm." His eyes were twinkling.
"So you knew it was a Hallow?" Harry exclaimed in surprise
Everyone was surprised when Dumbledore started in shock. "Where did you come up with that idea?" he asked in quickly controlled worry.
"I read about magical items and how they were made. And Harry's cloak is not made from Demiurge hair or enchanted normally," Sheila explained, narrowing her eyes. "And then I felt in its magic that was... unusual. It's some sort of Relic. Maybe the Invisibility cloak from the old legends of the Percivel brothers." She shrugged at that. "Of more worry is the soul shard in his scar-"
In a blinding blur, his wand was out and shouted out, "Obliviate!" His spell put the four boys into the trance to work on their memories.
Fast as he had moved, somehow Sheila had disappeared before the charm had hit. He was busy removing all of the boys memories when the young girl dropped from the rafters above that she had leaped up into.
She sent a stinging hex at the headmaster, only to see him flick it away onto the wall.
"That was not human." Dumbledore narrowed his eyes as he kept his wand pointed at her. He had never seen someone dodge quite like that.
"I didn't think you were bigoted with your half-giant groundskeepers and part-goblin charms teacher," she replied as she flipped back behind the boys and near the door.
"No, you look remarkably human and I was just surprised." Dumbledore was so focused that he did not see Harry's eye clear up from being placed under the charm.
"I will repeat myself; What were you doing?" she asked harshly.
"I was protecting you from a dire and dangerous secret. They are too young to be dragged into that secret," Dumbledore lied carefully. Dumbledore sat down heavily. "Interesting. Well, Miss Henderson, it appears you are more formidable than I expected. I would ask that you not mention the soul fragment that you somehow saw in Harry's scar."
The Weasley boys shook themselves awake and followed her out with Harry with a swish of Dumbledore's wand.
"Mental, the both of you. Bothering Professor Dumbledore because someone gave you a cloak," Fred complained.
"True, that. I'd have hidden it. Of course, that would not have worked out well considering he gave it to you," George continued.
"It is just an invisibility cloak," Sheila said light, taking in the nods of the Weasleys.
"Right."
"But-" Harry looked confused.
Sheila smiled at him as they stepped off the stairs. "After all, how dangerous could a cloak be? It's not like someone would attack you over it," she said blandly.
That stopped Harry as he realized what she was saying. "Right," he replied back blandly.
Ten minutes later, Sheila had convinced Ron to follow his brothers up to wash up in their dorms. "So, Harry..."
"So my scar has a bit of Voldemort in it." The fires of the common room had shrouded the room in soft shadows. "What will everyone think?"
"They will have to never find out."
Harry looked very serious at her pronouncement.
Sheila was much recovered that afternoon and was moving one of her projects into the main hall were only one dining table was set up for a festivities. She was studiously ignoring Hagrid as her wand floated woodcarved boxes with runes engraved over their surfaces were laid out.
"What are you doing?" Snape demanded.
"I'm helping provide some entertainment for the evening. It should be a good test of my project," she replied simply.
"Those look like muggle devices."
She just shrugged passively as she continued to work.
Several other teachers wandered in, along with the smattering of students that were staying over the holidays.
Ron wandered over. "What's that?"
Sheila finished levitating a box up onto the wall. Her fingers pushed a few buttons and with clicks; soft music player started to play Christmas jingles. "Entertainment."
"Wicked cool!"
Party favors were pulled out and a scrumptious dinner was quickly devoured and small gifts handed out.
Dumbledore looked around quizzically as a slightly louder song came on. "You really outdid yourself on your music charms, Flitwick."
The small, gnomish looking professor frowned. "These aren't mine, Professor Dumbledore. I thought you had started the music early."
Sheila coughed. "Sorry, I sort of hijacked the music for my personal charms-runes-arthimancy project. Is it too loud?"
"Just a mite, my dear." Dumbledore's blue eyes sparkled through his half-moon glasses.
"Harry, could you turn down the music on the stereo? I'd do it with a charm, but it doesn't interact well with the wards around the main unit," Sheila asked the boy on the other end of the table.
Harry quickly trotted over and twisted the volume nob, turning the music down. "Oh, a CD Player? Very nice."
Everyone but Sheila and one of the Hufflepuffs gave him a blank look.
"Are you telling me this music is coming from an infernal muggle device?" Snape asked in a hissingly angry voice.
"I doubt it is possessed, but yes that's a muggle electronics device," Sheila replied lightly, then took a bite of a wonderful triple-chocolate cake.
"And that was your entertainment?" the potions professor sneered.
"Not at all. I was going to offer A Christmas Carol for us all to watch on a movie screen. A little bit of Muggle entertainment," she replied calmly.
"Muggle electricity does not work in Hogwarts, there's too much magic," the potions professor said with another sneer.
Quirrell nodded hesitantly. "H-H-he's right."
"Electricity works perfectly fine, as you can cast a good shock or lightning bolt, but it is quantumly randomized by the wards interfering with everything. Can't carry any meaningful signals, they get randomized," she explained, totally losing almost everyone. "It's technical." That left her to sigh.
Flitwick and McGonagal shared a look. "And this is a project of yours?" Flitwick asked.
"Yes, I'm looking to expand this into a NEWT level thesis to explain the interactions of magical fields upon electromagnetic forces." She seemed quite pleased.
"I would be interested. It's been many years since I saw A Christmas Carol," Dumbledore said with an interested nod, thinking back to a Christmas long ago after the second World War.
Sheila was up and moving some switches, then turned to an open area in the shadows. "Fifty-two feet, two-point-five degrees with an angle declamation of Pi times-"
"Quit babbling," Snape called out.
With a wave of her wand, a curtained wall appeared. "Professor Flitwick, can we dim the lights a bit?"
"I'll handle that," Dumbledore offered as he pulled out a strange thing that he clicked to summon different candle lights within it, impressing all of the children.
As the lights dimmed, the curtains opened and the movie started. Everyone was quite involved with watching the show and only Quirrell and Snape seemed to actively dislike the show.
The table had been cleared and everyone had spread out the few chairs so that no one was blocking any views. After the movie, Professor Dumbledore released all the candle lights back out.
"A very engaging movie, even better than I remembered," the professor said with a soft smile.
"I do have a few more movies, but that was the only Christmas themed one. I have Steel Magnolia, but I doubt most of you would like that." At their looks, she flushed. "It's a chick flick. But if you want the real muggle experience, I have Star Wars."
"Well, I won't be bothered with rubbish," the potions professor snapped out, standing up and then leaving. Quirrel and Sinestra followed.
Sheila was actually impressed with the numbers that did stay.
The Hufflepuff twisted in her seat. She had been introduced earlier in the night as Theresa. "Maybe we can watch that later. It's one of my favorites."
"Star Wars?" Harry asked uncertainly. Wasn't that science fiction?
"I wish we had popcorn," the young scion bemoaned sadly.
With that, she started the next movie. The science-fiction classic roared to life as yellow lettering started spelling out the rebellion against an evil galactic empire.
Most of the wizards and witches gasped as they realized that this was a bit beyond their normal experience as spaceships, aliens and a far off desert world was laid out. Sheila noted, sadly, that Harry was more enthralled than anyone else in the crowd.
It was his gasping breath that caught her attention as the site of the blasted homestead with Luke's dead aunt and uncle that she realized something was wrong. Sheila reached out and touched his hand in a quick, friendly grip. That seemed to pull him out of his reaction.
The scenes with Mos Eisley were met with a laughter and shocks as Obi-wan cut off the arm of the murderous alien. Their escape into hyperspace was cheered.
The scene on the control room of the Death Star was stunning to the wizards. The destruction of the world in such a manner would never have occurred to any of them. The capture and escape of the heroes only to set the battle of tiny fighters against the impossibly huge enemy had them on edge.
Finally, at the end of the movie as the credits were running, the candles were released again.
"My word, what the muggles can imagine," Flitwick said. "I've heard that movies are magical, but this was more than I'd have dreamed."
"A little dated by todays standards. They can do much more advanced special effects," Sheila explained, causing the wizards to blink.
"Do you have Empire Strikes Back?" Harry asked eagerly.
The dark-haired Theresa laughed at that. "Blimey, Harry, you would think you've never seen a movie before."
Sheila intervened quickly before Harry could be embarrassed by his muggle upbringing. "Of course, Harry. And Return of the Jedi too."
Fred and George shared a quick look. "What do you-"
-think?"
"That we have to see these movies!" the chorused back and forth.
"I'd love that chess on a circular board! That would be wicked!" Ron exclaimed.
"I'd suggest a small break and if we could get a small exemption from the Professors to be out beyond curfew under one of their guidance, we could watch all three."
"I have a slightly better idea. You can all stay here in the great hall. I can conjure you all sleeping pads and blankets." Dumbledore seemed quite pleased, yet he hid from their view a worry again brought up by this young stranger.
The Weasleys and one Harry Potter thought it was the best evening ever at Hogwarts, even if the other students and faculty did not stay the night. Sheila watched the movie while ruminating over the possibility of a light saber, both muggle and magical.
Sheila was sitting in the library very late that night when she heard someone enter the restricted section. How had she missed the bobbing lantern light at first? It must be some ability of the cloak. Interesting. She had to stifle a grin at that. At least Harry was quieter than Filch. "Harry?"
That was when he dropped a book, opening the charmed writing that immediately started screaming.
"Ah!" the boy said under his invisibility cloak, slamming it shut and looking around. "Sheila? What are you doing?"
"Studying, of course. But I'm sure that is what you were doing. I already gave you some hints. That should have told you that the Restricted-" she was saying when she cut herself off. "Filch."
Harry grabbed her and dragged her off quickly, much to her surprise. Considering that he was doing an all right job of getting them out of his predicament, she let him.
It was several hallways later and into a disused room that Harry finally stopped, dropping her hand.
"Well, at least it wasn't a closet," the young blonde said with a quirky grin. Her eyes took in the view of a mirror with a carving on the top. "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi?" Ah, mirror writing. "I see, a mirror that shows you your heart's desire."
"Really?" Harry led the way up to the mirror. Here he did see his greatest desire, his family in all its glory about him. But most importantly, his mother and father. He started crying as he realized that it was but an illusion.
"Harry? Harry!" Sheila finally pulled him around and slapped him lightly on his back. "Harry, please calm down." Could she really believe that she could defeat all the Titans and lead the world benevolently like a Goddess Queen?
"Sorry, I just saw my Mum and Dad. But they aren't really. They are just what I want." He pushed his glasses up on his nose to sniffle and rub tears out of his eyes.
"That's not a bad thing, but you have to be careful about your greatest desires, Harry. If someone knows them, they can use them make you do anything." She shuddered. Now that she was looking away from the mirror, she had to admit that she was having very strange thoughts on the mirror.
"I would have never thought of it." He suddenly frowned. "Do you know of this mirror?" he asked as he stood back up.
"Actually, I do a bit. Magic mirrors are potent items. This one is insidious, in that it traps you with what you want. It's lightly cursed. Each time you visit, you become more enamored with those desires." Sheila led him back out. "Well, I'm headed back to the library. I was in the middle of reading two books. I have a special present, Harry. But I couldn't give it to you until everyone else was gone."
"Oh? What is it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow into his unruly bangs.
"Take off your glasses." Her hand reached out and touched his forehead.
"I can see. Perfectly," the young boy said in sudden wonder.
"Bad vision is a small failure of the body. Happy Christmas, Harry." She turned and walked back to the library.
Harry dropped his glasses from his numb fingers and made his way back to the great hall and his sleeping pad.
"You knew!" Hermione declared angrily.
"Quite likely. What did I know?" Sheila asked as she looked up from her scribbling in the common room. The plushy red and gold cushions of the couch had her books stacked up next to her.
"That Flammel was an Alchemist!"
"Yes, that's true. Even the muggles have him in some of their history books."
That was what was galling to Hermione. "And creator of the Philosopher's Stone!" she whispered angrily.
"That's merely one of two artifacts that I know are in this school. Most boys don't expect to receive a family one on Christmas Day."
"Artifacts?" Hermione breathed.
"And all having to do with Death or Immortality. How interesting. I think there are threads of fate that are tightening about us."
"What are you two on about?" Ron asked as he led Harry down. "See Harry, Hermione could make it back to the common room on her own."
"Harry! What happened to your glasses?" the young bookworm asked in worry.
"I, uh, don't need it any more. It's so very neat to be able to see things now." He smiled nervously, causing an uncertain reaction in the bookworm.
"Well, I want to talk to Sheila privately," Hermione declared. She started picking up Sheila's books, then with one hand started dragging the startled girl off.
"What is behind this sudden need for privacy?" the other girl asked.
"What did you do?" Hermione demanded.
"I cured his eyes. And I have a book I want you to read." Sheila walked over to her immaculate bed and opened her trunk to pull out a book she had ordered from Obscurus Books in Diagon Alley. "I think you should read this very, very closely."
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard?" Hermione asked in confusion.
Lavender Brown looked over from her bed where she was bewitching her toenails different colors quite expertly the moment she had been back in Hogwarts. "Baby stories?"
"Wizarding bedtime stories for children. But not something that I think Hermione would have seen before," Sheila replied coolly.
Hermione gave her a very weird look. "More important than Flammel?"
"Vastly."
Now Hermione gulped. How could a bedtime story for children be more important than a stone that could grant immortality and infinite wealth?
After she had read the story of three items given to three brothers by Death himself, she no longer had to wonder.
"You shouldn't fly," Hermione declared.
"You could say that you broke your leg," Ron noted. He considered it a moment. "Or really break your leg."
"Like Madam Pomphrey can't fix that with a swish of her wand," Sheila countered. She could do that herself, but that wasn't with her wand.
"Did we ever figure out which one of them were jinxing your broom?" Hermione asked.
Sheila and Harry shook their heads. "Though Snape is a more likely suspect," the Boy-That-Lived said.
"I have to agree tentatively, but we don't have any real reason that either of them want to kill Harry." Sheila silently slathered her piece of toast with some spread. "I doubt that either would attack you again during the game. It would be too obvious."
"Obvious?" Ron asked.
Harry and Hermione slowly nodded. "That makes too much sense," Hermione finally said. "They will probably try some other way to kill him."
"The only connection I could find between Snape and you, Harry, was that he and your parents were in the same year at Hogwarts. So he might be holding a grudge because of your mother or father."
Harry blinked at that, then narrowed his eyes. "Really? At least he's let up a little since Binns' Malice was removed from the school."
"I heard that a few teachers are doing better. Mostly the 3rd year classes and up," Hermione said.
"Harry, I could give you a protection that might help during the match. It shouldn't affect anything other than how sturdy you are to taking a hit. And there's no rule against it, I checked. You just can't cast magic during the match." Sheila grinned over at Ron.
"I wonder why the match is so late?" Harry grumbled.
"I think it had to do with Dumbledore wanting to be there," Sheila said shrewdly. She had overheard two professors talking in the lounge. The new lounge was now down on the lower floor where all students now knew where it was.
"Then you will be perfectly safe. No way would Snape try something." Ron seemed quite pleased.
And it seemed to be true, as the game lasted for several hours into the night. But when Harry caught the Snitch, it clinched the Gryffindor lead over the other houses, though Ravenclaw was now ahead in points over Slytherin.
Then all they had to do was unfreeze the poor boy, as it had been awfully cold at night at the end of February.
"Revising already? We have loads of time," Ron complained in the library a month after the game.
And indeed they did have months before the end of term and their tests.
"Some of us are studying important things for more than tests," Sheila replied. She stopped and looked over at Hagrid. "What is he doing over on that shelf? There are only books on dragons over there."
"Dragons?" Harry whispered urgently. Hermione looked just as interested.
"Why would he be interested in that?" Ron asked.
"Not that dragons are not interesting. Even muggles are incredibly fascinated, even though they 'know' they are fake." Sheila was rubbing the tip of her nose in thought.
"Why's that?" Ron exclaimed, getting a shush from the librarian.
Sheila narrowed her eyes at Ron. "You do realize that Muggle have historians and those histories they have mention magical creatures? So they are being told a lie, even when the truth is staring them in the face."
"So?"
Hermione raised her hand suddenly.
"We aren't in class, Hermione." The young scion was still giving Ron a glare.
"They only don't believe in magic because the wizarding world is hiding it from them. Not because it isn't rational!" She was beaming.
"Right, they think that ancient humans were superstitious. Instead of it being real, it was merely make believe. Fake." Harry frowned suddenly. "They basically think ancient people were insane."
"I wonder if that is adding to their belief in madness when they do hear of impossible things?" Sheila muttered to herself. "And then madness infected recursively?"
"But about Hagrid?" Harry prodded.
"I'm no seer, Harry. You'll have to ask him about why he took the book," Sheila replied.
"Tea on Friday after potions then," Harry declared.
Ron grimaced, while Hermione tried to not frown. Hagrid could be very intimidating to them.
"Why hullo," Hagrid said as he opened the door. Fang was whining on the ground behind him, then ducked under the huge bed.
"Hi, Hagrid! We just thought we'd see how you were doing." Harry felt bad that they were essentially 'checking up' on his oldest wizarding friend.
"Fine, fine!" The huge man's black-beetle like eyes skittered over to look at his fire. "Just a bit busy."
Sheila blithely plowed into the room. "How is the reading? Rearing dragons is a very interesting subject, isn't it?" She plopped down on the coach.
"Um, what 'at?" Hagrid looked quite confused. "What made you think I was readin' somethin' like 'at?"
"Oh, I'd read that months ago! Quite interesting. I have to keep myself interested- Oh, Hagrid. That's illegal. And you're endangering it," Sheila said sadly as she noticed the egg while Harry, Ron and Hermione were all sitting down.
"Illegal?" Hermione blurted out. "What is it?"
"It's a dragon," Harry suddenly said. "Hagrid, how could you?"
"What? I just won it in a friendly card game," the huge man exclaimed, moving over to the simple fireplace where the mottled egg was sitting in a pot.
"Someone just happened to have a dragon egg for some casual betting? Don't eggs have to be kept specially warmed to hatch correctly? At least that's what I remember from my biology class in school," Harry asked as he thought hard.
"Ah, hadn't thought o' that." Hagrid said worriedly.
"May I?" she asked, looking over at the egg. She put her hand on it. "Hot. Actually, it's actually a little too hot. But the dragon is doing fine right now. You should get an industrial thermometer. Or better, a good ostrich egg incubator that we can charm to work here."
"Hagrid, who did you win the egg off of?" Ron asked curiously.
"Couldn't right say. He was all cloaked up, you see. Down at the pub where I was wettin' my tongue with a bit o' fire-whiskey." The big man tried to smile, but it was obvious that he was starting to see the same problems the children were.
"What else did you talk to him about?" Sheila asked suddenly.
"He was right interested in critters, he was. So I told him all about 'em." Hagrid beamed, looking quite happy. "He thought Fluffy was quite interesting."
"Was he quite generous and even bought you a few drinks?" Sheila asked sadly. Fluffy must have been the Cerebrus.
"How'd you know?"
The four students shared a worried look.
"Hagrid..." Harry started to say, then looked helpless.
"Yeah?"
"You were used. And possibly set up to take a fall. But probably only after the item you picked up from Gringotts is stolen from Hogwarts," Sheila said softly, trying to be up front but not hurt the ground keeper's feelings.
"Now we aren't going to have you wheedle more information about Flammel from me," Hagrid warned.
"About the Philosopher's Stone? Why? We already know that. It isn't exactly secret information that he created a stone that confers immortality and unlimited wealth," Hermione stated curiously. She had suddenly started seeing the muggle literature as not wholly useless, especially the older books.
Hagrid looked gobsmacked.
"Hagrid, do you have any enemies that would want you sent to Azkaban?" Sheila asked seriously.
"Er, not that I'm aware. 'eck, the worst that ever happened to me was I was accused and sent to Azkaban because of a monster attack in Hogwarts. They snapped my wand fer that."
"Riddle." Sheila looked at Hagrid in shock. "Tom Riddle accused you of killing a girl with a monster?"
"Nah, he was a friend. He wouldn't have done that," the big man said with a small grin as he remembered back.
"Hagrid, Tom Riddle is Voldemort." Sheila's eyes where hard, a sea-green glint of frozen ice.
That stopped everyone. Harry looked confused, then angry; while Ron and Hermione were slightly shocked and scared. Hagrid just looked upset.
"That's not true."
"He's the last surviving of the Slytherin line through the Gaunts. He matches all of the significant mental traits from before Voldermont arose publicly and all of his major followers were good friends of his at school, though most would have called them lackies if they were pushed. McGonagal was only a few years behind of him. I've done a lot of research on that Half-Blood and I've been putting the pieces together." Sheila had been going a massive amount of research into Voldemort since the beginning of the year. Luckily the truly outstanding students (and those with a Mastery of the Dark Arts) were well documented.
"Voldemort sent me to Azkaban... framed me for Myrtle's murder?" the huge man asked softly. "He unleashed Slytherin's monster, didn't he?"
"And blamed it on a monstrous, illegal pet that you had but that you managed to get free. If you had actually come up and been upfront, they would have had to realize that they were different monsters."
"How do you know about Aragog?" Hagrid asked finally.
"We've come to an understanding and we talked afterwards."
Hagrid suddenly stood up. "You were da one killing his children!" His face was quite angry.
"They kept trying to eat me on my 25K runs. And you, Mr. Hagrid, have been very remiss on your duties as Keeper by letting an infestation overrun part of the forest. Without any of its natural predators, the Forbidden Forest has been changing as the Acromantulas feed an the supernatural fauna," she said back harshly. "And they felt threatened by me. So they kept attacking."
"But there are only a dozen of them left!" Hagrid protested.
"Eighteen out of one hundred and eighty, that is correct. That is a very reasonable herd outside of Africa," Sheila pointed out.
Ron passed out at the thought of so many man-eating spiders that close to Hogwarts.
"Ron!" Hermione and Harry cried out.
Sheila started rubbing her brow, as if she had a headache. "Hagrid, you have to tell Professor Dumbledore. He would want you to let him know, so you can change the protection on the 3rd floor door."
"I couldn't," Hagrid bemoaned, his bearded face twisted in anguish.
"Hagrid, would Professor Dumbledore want you to not act bravely like a Gryffindor?" Harry asked. "By not acting, you are letting Voldemort win."
Hermione's nod of approval was matched by the other two conscious students.
Hagrid sagged, looking suddenly old. "Yer right. I'm Dumbledore's man. I should show it right by my actions."
Sheila (and the others, she was sure) wished they had the Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid had been allowed to have a waiver to let 'Norbert' hatch, much to the delight of many students who got to see the baby dragon for the week it was here after it hatched. Then it had been shipped off to Romania to be raised properly by the dragon preserve rangers.
Sheila shook the wool off her mind, looking around to see if there was anyone around on the top of the outer wall near the Forbidden Forest. She wrapped her cloak about her a bit tighter and then flung herself off the wall down to the ground thirty feet below.
She landed with a muted thud and then moved into the darkness. Her olive wood and pegasus feather wand was in her hand even as she drifted through the dark gloom. After ten minutes, she stopped as an acromentula the size of a bread box departed very quickly. Hopefully she had curbed the spider population enough that the bowtruckles would recover, along with other minor sprites.
"Mars is bright this evening," a figure said in front of her as he stepped out of the shadows.
"Greetings, watcher of the stars," Sheila replied carefully. "Though I think that's the first time I've heard him referred to bright. I did always think it was unjust that Athena never had her own planet or moon. All she has is an asteroid." Though it might be interesting to add 2-Pallas to the horoscopes.
The centaur chuckled. "Perhaps she did not wish to let people see her plans. I am Firenze. What are you doing so far from Hogwarts, young girl?"
"I sometimes go running with the unicorns when I find the need to get out. Unfortunately, they are the only things that are a good race." She shrugged at that. For some reason, she felt no need to hide what she was tonight.
"Something has been attacking them. Something dreadful," the centaur warned. He stepped closer, showing that he was easily twice her height.
"I see why my uncle listened to your people, even if it did lead to his downfall," she said sadly. "It is Voldemort, then. Or one of his agents. He must be desperately injured."
"Yes, he seeks that which is hidden within Hogwarts so that he might return."
"Charming." She nodded at the stargazer and moved deeper into the forest.
It was a dark hour later that she found the droplets of silver blood that led ever deeper into the forest. She found a foul, cloaked thing drinking the blood of a barely resisting unicorn.
Sheila's silent stunner almost caught the slurping creature unaware.
"Potter's friend. The one that could not even defeat a troll," the wizard said, his eyes glowing redly in the dark, his features disguised by the cloak.
"That was months and months ago. I've had a lot more time to study. But first, I think I'd better save that unicorn before it finishes bleeding out." She gestured with her open hand, her amulet held between her fingers and the necklace held tightly.
"It's too far gone. I guess I will have to hide your body," Voldemort muttered.
Sheila conjured a shining sliver spear, eight feet long. "I don't intend to die."
Voldemort just laughed, sending out a barrage of spells at inhuman speeds. His laughter chopped off as she seemed to dance between the attacks, striking back with spells far above her first year of schooling.
"Oh, let's see if we can crash this party well," Sheila called out, sending a huge gout of red sparks into the air. "Now I can be serious."
"Fool! You will get in trouble!"
Sheila raised an eyebrow at that. "I'm dueling with a dark wizard. I think Professor Dumbledore will be more interested in that fact than that I race unicorns in the woods." She set out a cutting hex, letting him dodge it. But he also dodged the tree branches that would have fallen on him.
Their battle continued non-stop, but finally Sheila's luck failed her and Voldemort paralyzed her wand arm.
Sheila then raised her other hand. "You should not have done that." She concentrated on her birthright within her, as she could almost feel him sneer at her. "The healing hand is a most potent weapon." With a snarl, she unleashed her immortal power of healing in its most twisted manner, willing terrible wounds to erupt across his body.
"How?" the shade asked in pained confusion.
"You won't learn of that before you die," she replied as she fought against the paralyzation.
With a howl, Voldemort fled while he dripped blood; scampering into the darkness. Sheila narrowed her eyes as she stared into the darkness. It would be too dangerous to chase after him. She had hoped to strike him down, but it looks like she would only drive him off.
"Still alive?" she asked the unconscious unicorn rhetorically as she pet him fondly. Looking around, she decided that she did not want to be out here visibly. She leaped up into a tree to wait for Hagrid or the centaurs to show up.
Dumbledore looked over at the young girl on the opposite side of his desk. "It does appear that we are meeting rather more often than expected."
Sheila just shrugged. Hagrid had left her here just a few minted ago, after finding her her and the wounded unicorn. "It does."
"Would you mind explaining why you were out of bounds in the Forbidden Forest?" the old wizard in his night robes asked.
"I was... drawn, would be the best word. Firienze then told me of an evil that was attacking the unicorns. That's when I went into the forest and confronted Voldemort." Could that have been Fate, conspiring for the confrontation to occur?
"All of the gates are closed. How did you leave the castle?" Dumbledore asked.
"The walls are only thirty feet high at points. I just jumped down." And could jump right back up.
"Fascinating. The wards that would have alerted me to the use of levitation at those points would have missed that."
Sheila nodded. "Yes, those Etruscan Runes were quite interesting."
"So you faced off against Voldemort..." The old wizard let his voice fade out.
"And nearly died. If that is his power on death's doorstep, I would not have lasted a moment at his best."
"The fact that you lived and are unharmed is most remarkable even so. But, be that as it may, you will be spending the next two weeks with Mr. Filch in detention and have lost Gryffindor fifty points. The rules are there to protect you," Dumbledore said.
Sheila sighed. The rest of Gryffindor was going to be insufferable over the lost points.
The end of the year was rapidly approaching and everyone was actually a bit busy, even Sheila with her advantage of only needing a few hours of sleep a week. Hermione was fairly frantic, studying at all times.
"You do realize that you need a proper rest and frame of mind to get the absolute best out of yourself, don't you?" Sheila looked up from her book across the library table from Hermione.
"You are just saying that because you are smarter than me," Hermione said in a grumpy tone.
"No need to be snarky. You are just spinning your wheels here. And poor Ron and Harry. Let's go out onto the grounds and play some football. It'll probably irritate the snot out of the Slytherins and it will get you thinking of something else. And Ron could do with learning something of the muggle world."
Ron was not looking too thrilled. "Why would I want to learn it?"
"Muggle like to have fun too! Come on!" Harry argued, grabbing Ron and starting to drag him out.
Outside, they ran into the first problem which was quickly corrected by Sheila conjuring a football. Then she started to get them into playing. Several muggle-born or half-bloods joined in and soon they had a decent game with two goalies and a green marked out. Sheila had dropped out to referee the game.
"So you are bullocks at muggle games? You can only teach, you can't play... mudblood?" Malfoy catcalled out from the side-line where the pure-bloods had been heckling the game.
"Gee, Malfoy, that was almost creative. A few more years and you might actually be able to have an original thought or two. Of course, kissing your father's arse over the holidays will probably cure you of that," Sheila called back.
"I'd call you a liar, then. Put up or shove off, Henderson."
"Sounds like you need to put something to back up your big mouth, Malfoy," she shouted back.
"Like what?" he asked suspiciously.
"How about a bet? If I can score a goal against all of the other players, you have to swear an oath to never utter the word Mudblood. If I fail to make a goal in five minutes, I have to be your servent over the holidays. Outside interference nullifies the bet," she called out.
"Sheila?" Harry asked a bit worriedly. She seemed very, very confident.
"Fine." So Malfoy was quite surprised when she walked over to him.
She held out her hand, causing him to curl his lips in disgust, but he finally stood up and shook her hand. "Deal?"
"I agree to the bet." Malfoy immediately wiped his hand on the grass, much to Crabbe and Goyle's laughter and Pansy's piggish sounding snorts that were her form of a giggle.
For the next three minutes, Sheila had all of the other ten kids give it their all as she dashed back and forth with perfect control of the ball.
The Slytherin's mouths were all agape as even they could tell that everyone really, really was trying to stop her.
"Merlin's Balls! Is that possible? She's running rings around all of them!" Goyle said, his mouth in a large danger of allowing him to swallow passing flies if he wasn't careful.
Malfoy smirked. "She let herself be pushed back to the far end of the ruddy muggle field. She's lost-!" Every eye watching could only blink as Sheila suddenly sped up, almost a flicker to her movement as she dribbled the football down the half the field in mere moments, past all the defenders quite quickly. She even once grabbed the ball by her feet to jump over Seamus land on her hands. She landed so smoothly into a forward cartwheel that only Ron was near close enough to intercept.
Her eyes glittered in anger as the very air seemed to still as the ball slipped past the startled red-head. She suddenly pirouetted into a triple spin that allowed her to lash out with unbelievable speed for her last kick. The ball rocketed down the field so fast it caused the grass to ripple and smashed the goal off the ground by its net. It landed thirty feet away in a crumpled pile.
The goalie was suddenly very glad that he had not been able to stop that.
"I guess I win, right Malfoy?" Sheila said from across the field.
"You cheated!" he shouted. "You used magic!" He was suddenly quite panicky.
"Only my natural skills and physical abilities, honed to a inhuman level," she replied carefully as she walked over.
"That wasn't human!" Pansy screeched out.
"True, but I'm only half-human. So I used that part," she replied, then shrugged.
That shocked the students and caused Malfoy to flush in anger. "And your other half?" he asked dangerously.
"I'm adopted and barely learned of my mother."
"Filthy half-breed!" he snapped out.
The rest of the half-bloods and muggle-born students had to grab Harry and Ron quickly before they acted on their murderous thoughts.
"You bloody jerk-!" Harry ranted as Seamus and Lavender held him back.
So Sheila's response to start laughing at Malfoy startled everyone. She was laughing so hard that she collapsed onto her hind and then started rolling on the ground.
Suddenly, Hermione started giggling and then laughing. "Oh, that's too funny. Harry, think who he just insulted!"
Ron looked confused even as the realization dawned on Harry. Then Ron caught it.
"You know, he's lucky that her mother isn't here. She likes to throw her father's lightning bolts!" Harry said, sending him off onto another laugh.
Everyone looked at the quartet in confusion. What was so funny?
Sheila led the way into the dungeon where they were about to take their potions final for the year.
Snape was standing at the front of his class. "Well, here we are to see if you learned anything. This will be a practical." With a tap of his wand, the name of a potion appeared on the board. "Get started."
The young scion was actually the last to start her potion of befuddlement, as she was carefully laying out items on her desk.
The professor looked at the runes on the little stone tablets, frowning in thought. He raised an eyebrows as the young girl started to chop, dice and mince the different items.
Twenty minutes later, she was finishing up her potion, a purple goo that shone with a yellow, oily layer. She poured several vials and sent one floating up to Snape's desk.
"You think you are so good, Miss Henderson? How about you try a challenging potion? Pick whatever you want, but it must be done by the end of the period." Snape had a sneer on his lips at his pronouncement.
"Of course, professor." She suddenly had a small smile of victory on her lips. The runes were rearranged as she started to mix potions in a most exacting manner.
The rest of the students were finishing and handing in their final for grading. It was within the last two minutes of the class that Sheila finished as the potion turned vivid pink and started to simmer at the top of the cauldron. She stoppered a very small bottle and then put the rest into some vials that she kept. She floated the small vial up to the flummoxed professor.
"One vial of the Potion of Peace, Professor Snape."
The gasp of shock came from Hermione and (strangely) Malfoy.
"How did you know how to make that potion?" Snape asked suddenly.
"I read it in one of the books of the library." She shrugged.
"That is a restricted potion. Have you been stealing into the restricted section?" the professor asked, his black eyes trying to bore through her mental defenses.
"Not at all, sir. But someone must have copied it and left it in a book on ingredients. And, well, once I read it I know it."
"Excuse me, Professor? What is the Potion of Peace?" Harry asked courteously. "It sounds terribly interesting." He had found that be unfailingly polite seemed to work best with Snape. Something he'd picked up from Sheila.
Snape was almost beside himself. "It is exactly what it states, a potion that grants the imbiber a great measure of peace."
All of the students were now very interested.
"It's also a potion that only Fifth Years even attempt to learn." Malfoy looked quite cautious all of a sudden. It was one thing to be good within your year, but to be so far ahead was worrying.
"Indeed. Five points to Slytherin." And he knew something that only one of those students here knew, that the potion usually took a two days to brew. So it became a battle of endurance while making sure to make no mistakes on the finicky potion. "Get out of here."
"Did you hear?" Neville said to Seamus behind the quartet out near the lake later that afternoon.
Seamus just shrugged to show he did not know what the other boy was saying.
"Professor Dumbledore was called to the Ministry of Magic on an emergency, according to Nearly Headless Nick," the slightly tubby tween said.
"An emergency?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling a large worry.
"And Dumbledore hasn't replaced Fluffy on the 3rd Floor." Sheila sighed. "Let's go talk to Professor McGonnagal."
"Do you think that he's that easy to get past?" Ron asked as he dusted of his trainers before he stood up.
"Ron, it is incredibly easy to bewitch a musical instrument. Fluffy's no more of a threat than a tame kitty now."
"Wait, how do you know that Fluffy is still on the 3rd floor?" Hermione asked as Neville and Seamus followed them cautiously.
"Oh, I play ball with him some nights. He's quite cute. Just needs a very strong bath." Sheila was stared at by the others like she was mad.
They found their head of the household in the castle, near her classroom.
"Professor McGonagal!" Harry called out. "We wanted to let you know about a worry we had."
"Oh?" she asked, her eyebrows rising behind her squarish octagonal glasses. She was, as always, dressed severely and her hair pulled back.
"We have reason to believe that Voldemort's agent within Hogwarts is going to attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone now that Dumbledore has been called to the Ministry of Magic. It would be about the best and last time for this year," Sheila explained.
Professor McGonnagal dropped the books she was carrying. Only Sheila's lightning fast reflexes caught the books before they hit the ground. She flipped the two books she had caught with her left foot back up to her hands.
"How do you know all of that?" the professor exclaimed as she composed herself.
"It wasn't that hard to figure out, but Professor Dumbledore ignored our warning that Fluffy had been compromised. And I bet that Snape or Quirrel has been figuring out how to get past any other defenses all year." Sheila shrugged as she handed the books back.
"Nonsense, they both created their own protections for the... item." McGonagal looked affronted at the very thought.
"But one of them was definitely jinxing Harry's broom in that game. So one of them is not trustworthy," Sheila said in a hard voice.
"But that is not a matter for you to deal with."
The quartet shared a small look with each other and then headed off.
"You know, being young doesn't mean you can't be capable or have important information," Sheila groused.
"But what can we do?" Hermione asked. "It's not like we could defend the stone."
"If it comes down to it, we can attempt to thwart him. I've got a few vials of Ultimate Solvents-"
"What?" Ron almost shouted. "How the bloody hell did you get a hold of those?"
"Ron, I made them."
"I take it these are special potions?" the Boy-That-Lived asked.
"Very, but not the important thing right now. We have to stop Voldemort from regaining a body." Sheila seemed very, very intense. "We'll have to interfere with his own attempt to enter the protections."
So with that, they were now waiting.
Four hours later, the door was opened and a little silvery instrument started chiming in the boy's dorms. They all looked up from their distractions of choice. Hermione and Sheila were reading books, while Ron and Harry were playing Exploding Snap.
"Whoever it is, they are making their attempt. You three, under Harry's cloak." Sheila had out her Olive-wood wand. With a wave, she faded from view. "I'll follow you."
All four children wandered carefully to the third floor, which they found open. A harp was quietly playing, keeping poor 'Fluffy' asleep. With a tap of her wand, Sheila renewed the magic of the harp, even as Harry pulled out his rough flute that Hagrid had carved for him.
"Guess I didn't need that," the young boy said with a ruefull grin.
"You didn't know I could do that. Let me go first," Sheila said, dropping through the trapdoor.
The other three came down, though Ron nearly dropped Hermione at the bottom.
"Sorry, Hermione," the redhead said with a shrug.
"I'm down and safe, that's the important part. What's with all the dead vines?" Hermione asked as she pointed at the brown and dead thing.
"Devil Snare. We learned about this months ago. This would not be a serious barrier." Sheila had her eyes narrowed in thought.
Harry shared a worried and thoughtful look with Hermione. "You're right, light or heat would have dealt with it easily."
They continued down a corridor and into a larger room.
"Flying keys and a locked door. And even brooms provided? This isn't a barrier, it's a test," Sheila muttered angrily. She did not even need to use her solvents to burn through the door.
"Your right. Harry could probably easily get a flying key. It's just about like chasing a snitch." Hermione shared a worried glance with Harry.
Sheila suddenly leaped up, snatching a key from the air. All of the keys then zoomed towards her, only to bang off a hastily raised impedimentia shield.
"Through the door." Harry grabbed the key from Sheila as she continued to shield them.
Ron and Hermione pulled Sheila through the door, closing the door behind them. They all stared at the massive checkered board of chess.
"You have got to be kidding," Sheila said, kneading her forehead. She pointed her wand and started to rapidly cast a spell at each of the chess pieces.
"Why didn't we play across? We are both champs at this game," Ron asked curiously.
"That would be playing to their strengths. Besides, a permanent sticking charm will negate this challenged quite handily. Think outside the box." Sheila led them to the edge to skirt around the stuck statues that tried to swing deadly stone implements at them in vain.
The stink of the troll announced the next, defeated threat.
Hermione and Sheila shared a quick look. They both raised their wands and masses of ropes erupted and tied it up thoroughly.
"Right, not leaving a monster behind us," Hermione said with a determined nod.
They stepped into the next room, where walls of fire erupted before and behind them. There was a table with seven bottles in a row and a scroll.
"The vial with the way to pass is almost empty. Just enough for one use," Sheila said plucking the smallest bottle up with only a quick glance at a riddle. "There's enough in the go back bottle for at least two."
"I should go. It has to do with Voldemort," Harry argued, putting his hand on her hand that was carrying the vial.
"Someone should go back and warn the teachers," Sheila said.
"I'll go. I'm not as brave as you two," Ron explained his decision in soft words.
"I'll stay here, hidden behind the table. Maybe I can trip him up," Hermione declared.
Ron took a swig of the go-back vial and stepped back through the veil of flame.
"Drat, I was hoping that you and Ron would go back." Sheila sighed. She then attempted a tricky bit of transfiguration to try and create an arch out of the floor that pushed the fire back.
"What was that supposed to do?" Hermione asked.
"The stone much be resistant to transfiguration," the blonde muttered. "Let's try this. Can't have fire without fuel."
Her wand was dancing, creating a modified bubble-head charm that walled off the flames. Another set of flicks and swishes and the fire died out.
"Keep under the cloak and hold your mouth and nose closed," she advised as she pushed through the bubble that was filled with only nitrogen.
The bushy-haired girl blinked as she realized that the potions and poisons were entirely unneeded. "Why not Harry?"
"Because this is part of his fate or destiny," Sheila replied in a mysterious tone, while Harry just gulped. The duo slipped back under his invisibility cloak and slipped through the opening.
"Professor Quirrell, in the dungeon with a wand. How droll. At least you aren't the butler," Sheila said with jocular humor as she stepped out around a corner as she saw the man in front of the mirror.
"You again," the turbaned professor snarled. "You don't seem surprised."
"It was either you or Snape, and he is a bit obvious in his dislike of Harry." Sheila was carefully walking around the disused room with its rubble piles. "Oh, the Mirror of Erised."
"Yes, I can see the Philosophers stone within it and giving it to my master. But how do I get it out?" Quirrell demanded.
"Don't really care, myself. And I'm not thrilled with the idea of a reborn lord of dark magic," Sheila said casually.
"He is immortal and will return," Quirrell exclaimed.
"So he's a god now? I thought he was just an evil wizard?" she replied snidely.
"Use the girl to get the stone," a voice called out from the direction of Quirrell.
Sheila gripped her wand tightly. "What?" That had come from Quirrell somehow.
"How-?" the evil professor asked.
"I wish to confront her," Voldemort said, forcing Quirrell to turn around and remove the turban that had been covering the nightmarish face of Lord Voldemort on the back of his head.
"Hello, Tom. You look like crap," Sheila said in a barely controlled voice.
"So, you know even that? What are you, girl, that can so disrupt my carefully contrived plans?" the thing wheezed in question.
"I think I won't tell you, because it will annoy you to no end," Sheila finally said as she tapped her wand on her cheek.
Voldemort tried to disarm her, but the wand snapped about with a shield. "Sorry, not this time. I've been practicing my dueling."
"You are a prodigy, but still yet a First Year student. I am Voldemort, Master of Death itself." Ropes exploded outward from Quirrell's hands, but missed her as she was suddenly twenty feet away in the blink of an eye, her robes cracking behind her with a snap.
"I'm far more than a First Year, but even you know that from our fight in the forest, Tom." Sheila sent three cutting curses at Quirrell, forcing him to dodge.
Under the cloak, Harry and Hermione were moving to crouch behind the mirror.
"Harry! What are you planning?" Hermione hissed.
"Stealing the Philosopher's Stone so Voldemort can't get it," Harry replied softly. "He said it was in the mirror." The teen stuck his cloak-covered head to look into the mirror.
He saw himself sticking his head around the corner. The reflection winked and put the red stone into his pocket, where Harry felt the weight appear.
"Okay, that was way too easy," Harry said.
"What was?" Hermione asked.
"Hold onto this," he replied as he pulled the red stone out of his pocket and slipped it to Hermione. "Don't let Voldemort get it no matter what. Destroy it if you have to."
That was when Sheila sent a blasting hex at the mirror. She instantly decided to try to convince him that the stone was destroyed once she heard that Harry had it. "If it is gone, you can't come back," she bluffed.
"It's immune to spells to destroy or damage it," Voldemort said with a sneer that broke off into a cough.
"Sonorus!" Sheila cast on her own vocal cords as she spun and danced between the ancient pillars. Spells splashed on the walls around her or against pillars that she ducked behind.
"You're going to shout at me? How pathetic!"
That was when Sheila rang out a magically amplified vocal note that caused everyone to wince. Then the mirror started to vibrate in resonance.
Voldemort suddenly realized what she was doing. "NO!"
The mirror shattered as it was subjected to the matching harmonics frequency, just like an exceptional cabaret singer and wine glasses.
"I'm dead," Quirrell said in a defeated tone.
"Kill her. Kill her now!" Voldemort raged in the back of his head.
"Yes. Let us kill her," the professor said, lashing out with a purple spell that spattered off her shield.
Sheila sent three cutting hexes and then a charm to animate all the glass.
"You'll have to do better than that," her foe said with acrid venom.
Her free hand waved, sending hundreds of shards at his back... or so she thought. She had missed the confounding jinx, sending the wave of deadly crystals into herself. She was lacerated and smashed over, leaving a smear of bright red on the ground.
"Sheila!" Harry shouted as he appeared from behind a pillar, sending out the disarming jinx to send Quirrell's wand flying from his pocket.
"Now I will have my revenge upon you. Your bodies will lie in this room forever," Voldemort said in a sibilant hiss. With a wave of his hand, Quirrell summoned Harry up to him. "I'll watch as your life leaves your eyes as the ultimate triumph over Dumbledore."
That was when his hand clamped down upon Harry's thin neck... and started to smolder in contact with Harry's skin.
"It burns!" Quirrell screamed in agony, letting the young man go.
"Kill him! Kill him!" Voldemort screamed, forcing Quirrell to grasp Harry again.
It came down to who would outlast the other, but Harry collapsed almost dead as Quirrell's body crumbled to dust. The shadowy essence of Voldemort lifted to whirl around the ancient dungeon and then swooped towards the groggy boy when a a beam of black energy hit it.
Sheila was standing again, ignoring the shards of glass in her face and arms as blood dribbled down her wounds. Her wand was directing silver sparks into a the smoky mass that were burning the shade. The howls of the dispossessed spirit faded as it fled at utmost speed. "Harry, are you all right?"
"Been better," he admitted. "I thought he was about to kill me."
"Harry!" Hermione came out from under the cloak, tackling him fiercely for a tight hug.
"I have something like that in my head?" the ashen-faced boy asked, remembering what Sheila had said about him during the winter holidays.
"Yes. Darkest necromancy and a botched affect of some sort," she replied curtly. Already one of the runes was starting to curl and warp at the edge.
"Can you get it out? Can you remove it?" the Boy-Who-Lived asked desperately.
"I-" She stopped herself, thinking hard. "I do not think so." She heard someone walking up in the room with the troll.
"Professor Dumbledore. You made it," Sheila said to the headmaster without turning around.
"I see I was too late. What has happened here?" he asked as he watched Hermione hold Harry's hand.
"Tom Riddle was possessing Professor Quirrel, seeking to steal the Philosopher's Stone. We arrived in time to stop him and I destroyed the Mirror. He attacked us in anger for having destroyed what he thought was his only hope of resuming human form. Then Harry somehow burned Quirrel when they grappled." Her tone was bland and indistinct. "Oh. And I'm hurt too, but I think I've mostly stopped bleeding."
The old wizard nodded sadly, his white beard bobbing. "Indeed, let us get you both into Madam Pomphrey's tender care."
Sheila whispered into Hermione's ear as she helped her up to keep the stone 'safe and hidden' from everyone.
Hermione looked over at Sheila as they clambered up into their dorm after the visit to the mediwitch. A thankfully empty dorm. "So why didn't you tell Dumbledore that I had the stone?"
"I wanted to look at it first. And it is a valuable artifact that we can return to the Flammel's on the sly, with only the three of us wise to the fact that it was not destroyed," Sheila said, suddenly grinning. She had bandages covering her arms and face. "Besides, it's an artifact. Who wouldn't want to see it?"
"Point," Hermione said ruefully. She pulled out the Philosopher's Stone. It was a strange, dull stone. Like some sort of huge, uncut ruby.
"Odd. If it was created by Alchemy, why hasn't anyone ever made another recently?" the other girl asked, carefully touching it. "I wonder if it has to do with the twelve uses of dragon blood that Dumbledore did with Flammel?"
"So it's magically enchanted dragon blood? That's not that uncommon though. Ron's brother works at a dragon preserve, after all." Hermione was already thinking ahead.
Sheila frowned as she looked at it closer. "It is blood. But not dragon. Ichor? But... how?"
"Ichor? Divine blood. Like yours!" the bushy-haired, buck-toothed genius exclaimed.
"Exactly." Sheila suddenly concentrated as she layed her hand on the stone. A small mass of gold appeared in her hand. "I see. This is god's blood. Persephone or Hades, I'd assume. Interesting. No, that's his cloak and wand."
"He was the god of death that the Perceval Brothers met?" Hermione asked in curiosity.
"Quite possibly. Most gods of death aren't very pleasant. And Hades was known to use a cloak or helm of invisibility against the Titans." Sheila was humming. "I could probably make a potion of longevity quite easily with this, though it would be expensive."
"And the lead to gold?"
"It can make gold from the air itself. I'm very tempted to devalue gold a bit. But not tempted enough to mess around with global economies."
Hermione looked outraged, but at a total loss of words.
"Gold is too expensive unfortunately for all electronic connections. I'm not planning on sabotaging the world economy to try to remake the worlds governments. Sheesh." Sheila then started to press the gold into a rough shape like it was clay.
"Well, that's okay then," the other girl said with a nod that sent her hair flying.
They walked down to the main common room, huddling in a corner with Harry and Ron a bit later.
"Is it safe to have the Philosopher's stone without any protection? Maybe we should destroy it?" Harry thought after they had a long conversation.
"Maybe it should. I could potentially use the Ichor in it to craft an item like my amulet," Sheila said as she was lost in thought.
"Your amulet?" Ron asked curiously.
"It was made by my mother and allows me to channel some of my power almost innately. I can heal, talk to owls and even wage mighty war if needed."
"Heal?" Harry asked.
"Yes, like your eyes. But that's all it can do for right now."
The Slytherins were quite upset at the last feast, as Gryffindor had soundly trumped them even with Snape's unfairness in taking points. Red and Gold dominated the banners and everyone else was quite happy that the Slytherin's had not won yet again.
In no time at all, however, they were back on the train to head 'home.'
"This might be goodbye for forever," Sheila said as the train was pulling up. "I'm going to attempt to traverse the portal back to my home."
"Well, if you can't, let us know. Ron's already invited me over to his place for part of the summer," Harry explained.
"Good enough. I can get to Diagon Alley if I need to send an owl," she replied.
"Let me give you my telephone number. You can come stay for a week or so at least before we go on vacation," Hermione said with a sad smile. She gave her that and her home address and had already shown her some pictures of her house. Now she knew where it was physically located.
They all dragged their trunks out, though Sheila had an older student shrink hers so she could fit it into her day pack. Sheila took a moment to say her goodbyes to Hermione privately and shake the Granger's hands. Then she was outside and flagging a cab.