Accidents of Circumstance

Chapter 18: The Portal

It was an average Wednesday when it happened. Regina had actually been marking quizzes happily when the pain began at her wrists and traveled up her arm. She shut off her radio and peeled back the sleeves of her shirt. Bright red lines were forming, angry welts rising along the insides of her forearms. "Shit," she muttered, knowing exactly what it meant.

She ran to Dumbledore's office at top speed. "Jelly babies!" she shouted, and the door opened. She ran up the curving staircase two at a time and fought to catch her breath once she saw Dumbledore and McGonagall in conference. They turned to look at her, concerned. Regina could hardly make a coherent sentence. "Death Eaters... coming... the wards..."

They saw her reddened forearms, and stood. Dumbledore nodded, and then pulled out a magic device he never had to use since the Second World War. It was a simple glass globe, about the size of a fist, with a small white sphere inside. He simply let it fall from his hand to floor, and the glass shattered. An alarm sounded throughout the halls of the castle, the greenhouses, the yard where Care of Magical Creatures was held. It was an alarm that had only been whispered about, but had never been heard. It was the panic alarm, the whispers went, and everyone had to head straight to their House common room once they heard it.

"You'll be missing four Gryffindors, Minerva," Regina panted. McGonagall nodded as she left, and Regina slid into her empty seat.

"It has begun," Dumbledore said quietly, sitting down himself.

"They're twenty miles or so out, at least. They only hit the beginnings of the ward."

"I did not want to believe Miss Versant's prediction would come to pass. But as with all true Visions, it has."

"Albus, Selphie wouldn't leave us here if we didn't have a chance of winning."

"Better than average, wasn't that her term?"

"The polite one," Regina said with a grin. "She also said I'd be a complete fucktard if I let us lose, but that's a more personal thing."

The door to the Headmaster's office opened, revealing Harry, Ron and Hermione. "We saw Professor McGonagall... she said to come here," Hermione said uncertainly.

"Come in, come in, you need to be here, certainly."

Regina pushed herself out of the chair, and they gasped at the sight of the forearms. "Is that from the spell a few months ago?" Ron asked without thinking. Harry and Hermione groaned as soon as Regina's mouth dropped open.

"How did you know about that?"

"Er... um... Well, you see..."

"Harry has an Invisibility Cloak," Draco announced from the doorway. He nodded at Regina and strolled into the room as if he had every right to be there. "It lets them see all sorts of things they shouldn't."

The three teens glared at him. "What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ron spat angrily.

"Children," Dumbledore began calmly. "Now is not the time for fighting amongst ourselves." He eyed Regina, holding the back of the chair with a death's grip. "Indeed, it is much too late for that."

"I was told to come here," Draco said almost petulantly, facing Regina and Dumbledore, pleading with them. "I can't stay with the others."

"Indeed, you cannot. Of course you should feel safe...."

"Oh good, you're here!" Ginny cried, running into the room. She grabbed Draco in a tight hug before Ron's stunned eyes. "I was hoping you made it safe."

"I suppose I have you to thank for Mr. Malfoy here knowing the password?" Dumbledore asked mildly. Ginny flushed and nodded. "Miss Weasley, I understand your concern. You could have just asked me."

"I'm sorry, sir," she squeaked.

"Gin, what in Merlin's name is going on?" Ron cried. "What are you doing?"

Ginny let go of Draco slowly and deliberately. "I'm hugging my boyfriend to say goodbye, Ron. It's what you do when you don't see people in a while."

Ron made a strangled noise and pointed. "It's fucking Malfoy!"

Hermione elbowed him in the ribs as both adults in the room cleared their throats. Harry moved to block Ron from making a run for Draco. Ron was snarling at Draco's smug face, pulling at Hermione's hand, but she held fast.

"You don't understand, Ron," Ginny began softly, cutting off the adults when they would speak. "You only see what you want to see. You see your little sister, the one you have to protect. But you just feel guilty, like it was your fault about me getting hurt first year. And you never noticed when I grew up. You don't see me, Ron, you never did. No one ever did. Nobody saw how unhappy I was when I got here, nobody thought to ask me how I was feeling. And nobody noticed when things went so terribly wrong, nobody noticed the changes in me. Nobody wanted to see that I was changed. Everyone wanted me to be the littlest Weasley again, everybody's baby. Nobody wanted to see the truth."

Harry noticed that Draco had taken a tight hold of Ginny's hand, giving her silent support. He was sure that if Hermione hadn't done the same thing, or if Harry wasn't positioned partly in front of him, Ron would grabbed Ginny and dragged her away from Draco.

"What truth?" Ron asked, hurt. "You're my sister, that's the truth."

"You can't protect me from everything," Ginny said patiently. "You can't, when you don't know everything's that happened. You see the parts you want to see. You don't see the darkness left over. You don't see inside me, Ron. That's the part that needed protecting, that's the part that needed to be saved. But it's too late for that now, it's a part of me. I've become something else than just your little sister. I've grown in ways you won't understand because you didn't live through it. It marks, Ron. It leaves scars."

"Harry saved you from the basilisk," Ron said, his voice pleading. He didn't notice Regina letting go of her death grip to reach for the cell phone in her pocket, to begin making the chain of phone calls they had planned on making to save the children.

"It's here, Ron. Inside me now. You can't take it inside you and expect it to leave you alone. You always carry a piece of it with you."

"Why him?"

"Because he knows. Because he's like me. Because he understands, and it helps me to know that he does. Because I love him, fully and truly, in spite of everything he's done." Ginny looked up at Draco and smiled warmly. "Because I know what he can be."

Ron turned and curled up around Hermione. He could see that Ginny was serious, that she actually seemed happy. He wanted to cry, but it wouldn't help anything. It wasn't right, a Weasley and a Malfoy. It shouldn't happen.

Dumbledore turned from the unhappy children to Regina. She was still shaking slightly, too much adrenaline in her system. She held out her hands in front of her, saw the wobble in her fingers. "You can't begin this way."

"I'm calm," Regina said slowly, forcing her breath even. "I'll be just fine. What about Draco? He'll need to get back."

"He can stay," Dumbledore said in his usual mild tone. He looked over his half moon glasses at her. "He isn't like the others."

Regina sighed. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Of course. They still have much to talk about."

Ginny was next to Ron now, talking to him softly. Regina didn't envy them at all. It was the least of their problems.

She raced through the castle, deciding on the top to bottom approach. She reached Gryffindor Tower, and the stairs decided to cooperate. She eyed McGonagall, who nodded at her, indicating that all students were accounted for. Regina closed her eyes and began chanting under her breath. Her hands moved in circles, and then the floor began to shake slightly. The students all moved to the center of the common room, where the magic wind that was rising wouldn't touch them. A glowing white circle began to form, and the students looked up at Regina or McGonagall in fear. Symbols began to appear in yellow, and they began to brighten. McGonagall was unsure if it was safe to even say that the students would be safe, in case it interrupted Regina's concentration. She raised her hand in farewell, keeping her expression peaceful.

The students disappeared.

Regina gave a sigh. Three more to go...

The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were sent off without any more of a fuss than the Gryffindors were. The Slytherins were in an uproar, demanding to know what was going on, where Draco was, what kind of teacher was she to confine them all this way.

Snape was his usual dour self. "And where is Draco? Everyone else is accounted for."

"He won't be going with the rest."

"Since when?"

"Since twenty minutes ago."

Snape nodded his head, but she could see his jaw set. He didn't like not knowing what was going on. "Proceed then."

Soon enough, the Slytherins were sent off as well.

Snape followed her back to Dumbledore's office. "How much time is left?"

"How the hell should I know? I only know how far out they are. They're waiting. Maybe for nightfall. They'd want to come in under the cover of darkness."

Snape didn't ask any more questions.

Ginny was finished talking to Ron by then, and was quietly talking with Draco. Ron had reddened eyes and was sniffling, but didn't look as though he'd been in a fight.

"Is everybody ready?" Regina called.

Ginny and Draco kissed, then separated. "I'm ready now," Ginny said, voice firm.

Dumbledore held out a small box with red floo powder. Ginny took a pinch and smiled at Dumbledore. He seemed to twinkle at her. She threw down the powder, shouting "Genevieve!" and then was gone.

The three Gryffindors and Snape seemed confused, but didn't ask. Draco seemed to sigh in relief, and looked at Regina expectantly. "I guess I'll take you with me," Regina said, rubbing the side of her face. "I wasn't expecting you to come with me."

"Severus can go with you as well."

Regina's expression darkened at Dumbledore's statement. "I don't think that's a good idea, Albus."

"On the contrary. It's a very good idea. You will need help imparting all that knowledge."

"I won't be teaching them potions."

"For cooperation," Dumbledore replied in his mild tone. "I insist."

Regina's mouth twitched. "I need to put a glamour on you kids... You're too memorable as you are." At her insistence, the four teens stood near each other. She waved her hands a little, and they felt a little static run over their skin.

Hermione stepped away from the others as Regina approached Dumbledore to speak in a low tone of voice. With a shock, she realized that they all had black hair, and that Harry's scar was missing. He looked different without it.

Snape approached Dumbledore and spoke softly. Not wanting to pry, Hermione turned to take a good look at Draco. He didn't seem all that smug anymore, not since Ginny had left by floo. "Where did Ginny go?" she asked him quietly, not feeling too comfortable with using his first name.

"Genevieve's going to help train her," Draco muttered, looking at the fireplace instead of at Hermione. He didn't seem to notice that he was now a pale boy with black hair.

"What for?" Ron asked, sniffling. "Why didn't she tell us herself?"

"Do you know anything about seventh daughters of seventh daughters?"

"They're supposed to be Seers," Hermione said.

"But Ginny's mum isn't..." Harry began.

Draco turned on him, eyes glittering. "Yes, she is. Ginny's a Seventh of Seventh. She's been having visions for years, and they've been getting worse. She's even had seizures, but she made me promise not to tell you!"

Ron looked as though he had been hit in the stomach, and Hermione pulled him half into an embrace. He'd had too many shocks in one day.

Suddenly it was silent. Dumbledore now held a perfect glass sphere in the palm of his hand, and Regina looked very tired. "Just a little farther to go, everyone," he said cheerfully. "And soon we will have everything in hand."

"Take a pinch of the powder, and say 'Inner Harbor,' then wait. Don't leave the room, don't say anything, just wait until we're all there." Regina's voice was firm, and Snape just glowered at her while the teens nodded.

Wherever the Inner Harbor was, the room was dingy and dark, with boards nailed over the windows. Harry had gone first, wand at the ready, just in case there was anything waiting for them. So far, nothing was. Ron and Hermione followed together, hands clasped. Next came Draco, then Snape and finally Regina. She didn't look happy. She threw a sliver of rose quartz into the fireplace they had just come from, and it shattered, revealing a puff of smoke. "Now no one can trace that fireplace," she said as an explanation.

Five faces stared at her expectantly. "Everybody take hands. Stand in a circle." The others complied, and they linked hands. Regina looked everyone in turn, then closed her eyes. It seemed as though the air around them began to shimmer, and the dingy room began to fade from view. It was as if a sphere of light had been formed around them, almost blinding them.

And then the world resolved itself, and they weren't in a dingy room.

It was still early afternoon, by the looks of the light slanting in through the large bay windows. They were unshuttered, casting plenty of light around. They were standing in a large room that almost seemed like a common room. It held two couches, a low table, a fireplace and plenty of pictures hanging on walls. There were a few family portraits with people that looked oddly familiar. It wasn't until everyone noticed the hallway, stairs and main door that they realized they were in a living room.

"Let me take you on a tour," Regina said, her voice sounding thin and feeble. "This is my house. I grew up here. Mom painted those." She didn't even point to the paintings, all signed ERV in the lower right hand corner. Regina was already walking through one of the archways into a hallway. There were two sets of doors on either side of her. She opened one, and it revealed a couch, entertainment system larger than Regina's had been, and several shelves filled with books. "This is the den. Don't make a mess or break the equipment, okay?" The door across from it led into a bathroom. Another was a dining room, and the other resembled an office. It was promptly declared off limits until she was feeling up to explaining things.

The end of the hallway led to the kitchen, which was large and airy. Harry and Hermione recognized that it was well taken care of. "It's spelled, I'll explain later," Regina said. Just inside the kitchen was a door leading to a dark stairway to the basement, which contained the laundry room, play room and exercise room.

Upstairs were the bedrooms. From the landing was a curved hallway with doors all shooting off from it. They turned out to be four bedrooms, a bathroom, and then the master bedroom. Hermione had been fascinated by the bedroom closest to the bathroom. The other three had looked as though sports-mad boys had lived there. All it needed was a collection of banners rooting for the Chudley Cannons, and it would seem like the Burrow. The fourth, however, was obviously the haven of a girl. It wasn't excessively frilly, or pink, but the room unmistakably belonged to a girl. It had a solemn kind of peace to it. There were awards, trophies, posters that moved and some that stayed still. There were photo montages, book shelves and a large bed near the window.

"That used to be my room," Regina said in a low voice, leaning against the doorjamb. "I moved into my parents' room a while ago. You can use it, Hermione. The boys can pick one of the others. I can't... I'm tired. It took a lot out of me to bring you all in. I'll explain everything, just please don't leave the house, don't break anything, I just need a nap."

"We'll be fine," Draco said softly. "We won't disturb anything."

Regina nodded, then staggered off to the master bedroom. She shut the door behind her, then it sounded as though she staggered a few more feet and collapsed.

Snape looked down at the four teenagers. If anything, his expression soured even more upon seeing them. "Perhaps you all need rest yourselves. I'll be downstairs keeping watch. Don't break anything."

He swept down the stairs regally. Ron waited until he was out of earshot before saying "What's gotten into them?"

"Don't you get it?" Hermione asked archly. "Have you seen what we look like?" The three boys looked at her blankly. "Oh honestly..." She dragged them all into Regina's old room, in front of the large mirror on the wall. "Look."

"We all have black hair!" Ron cried, scandalized.

"My scar is gone!" Harry said, leaning in as he held his bangs up. "I look so strange... My eyes aren't green anymore!"

Draco saw it, Hermione could tell. He was silent, and met her eyes in the mirror. "You see it, don't you, Malfoy?"

"It's hard to miss," he said, voice low. He didn't seem to be making fun of her.

"What are you going on about?" Ron asked, straightening up. He looked between them all. "We all have black hair. So? Most people do."

"We look like what their children would look like if they had gotten married sixteen years ago," Hermione said gently. "Black hair, dark eyes, no scar. Almost the right ages, too."

Ron looked back into the mirror. "Cor, you're right. I didn't see it."

"We're what she wanted," Draco said, looking at the four of them in the mirror. "This is what she always wanted."

They watched him leave in silence, wondering what was going to happen to all of them.

***

Ron decided to stay with Hermione and look over the pictures on Regina's walls. Harry decided to leave them alone and explore one of the other rooms. They would need time alone together; Hermione was now the only familiar thing to Ron that could give him comfort. Harry didn't feel up to comforting anyone, only feeling snappish and useless. He was sure he would take it out on them if he stayed too long.

Draco was sitting in the bedroom farthest from the stairs, looking out of the window with his hands in is robe's pockets. The glamour was fading slowly, leaving his normally blonde hair a muddy color. Harry thought it was strange that he was so quiet; he was still used to nasty remarks being flung his way with a twisted sneer.

"Are you doing anything important, standing there and watching me?" Draco asked without turning to see Harry.

"Anything out there interesting?" Harry asked, entering the room cautiously.

"A Muggle backyard."

Harry moved to stand beside Draco at the window. "Some things never change," he murmured, looking over the backyard. Trimmed grass and a perfectly painted picket fence only served to remind him of the Dursleys and their endless competition to outdo the neighbors on Privet Drive.

Draco turned away from the window. "So... Everyone's paired off, have they? So you're to be mine now?"

Harry sputtered as Draco laughed at the expression on his face. "Malfoy, you git!"

Draco shrugged. "Well, if not that, why else are you here?"

"Looking around. I like knowing where I am."

Draco watched in silence as Harry stalked around the room, eyes never keeping still. "Are you sure there's nothing you want to ask me?" Draco asked after a moment.

Harry whirled to face Draco. "Why are you even here? What do you care if Voldemort dies? Aren't you only out for your family's interest?"

Harry watched as Draco's face seemed to close in on itself. "You'd think that, of course."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What are you about, Malfoy?"

His expression remained neutral. "I don't answer to you, Potter. I never did, I never will."

Harry was prevented from replying by a knock at the door. Regina was standing there, rumpled and still looking exhausted. "Before you decide to kill each other, go on downstairs. I owe everyone a talk."

***

"It's an easy enough trick to bring myself here, maybe one other person. But six people through the Portal..." Regina shrugged. "I'm still tired, but I owe you an explanation. The easiest way would be to start from the beginning.

"You know I went to Briarwood at age seven. It wasn't for just breaking things like I let on. I lost control, and my mother couldn't train me anymore, not with all of the foster kids in the house. After me, she couldn't have any other children. I was a difficult birth, and it nearly killed her. But my parents agreed that they had wanted a big family, since they were both only children, and became part of the foster care system in New York. My mom and dad told them that they'd be willing to take the most troublesome kids, and the city took them on their word." Regina began pacing, and pointed in the general direction of the pictures mounted with care on the wall of the stairs. "I met my best friends there, and we're still close. Now, according to Selphine Versant of the Jelisan clan..."

"That's one of the mermaid clans!" Hermione cried. All eyes swivelled in her direction, and she bristled. "It was in Dark Realms of the Universe."

Regina gave a weak laugh. "That damn book is the death of me." She rubbed at her jaw tiredly, then took a breath. "The High Daughter of the Jelisan of the Gera, Keeper of the Sacred Vision and the Holy Chalice of Yarix, Defender of the Leram, Heir Apparent to the Throne, yadda, yadda, yadda. That's her. We met on line, waiting for our schedules as first years. I had a portkey, since I was so young, and I had dispensation to take the portkey back and forth to visit home and spend time with my family. After a while, Selphie, Jessica Durant and Claire Feather would come with me. We were the Four Musketeers.

"One year, I had a foster brother named Neil Latter. It took a while before we realized he had magic, and the four of us decided to use our first year books to teach him. He used my wand, since I had already started going wandless sometimes, and this is a Wizarding household, so no one would notice the magic. When Mom caught us, she said it was a marvelous idea. She was glad we cared enough, and if we got him caught up with us for third year, she'd try to see if Briarwood would take him, too."

"But he'd be a Mudblood," Draco said, his nose wrinkling.

Regina eyed him with an eyebrow raised. "And I'm a halfblood."

Draco pursed his lips, but quieted down.

"They gave him an entry exam, and he passed it, entering fourth year with us." Regina tapped on a picture on the wall. "Neil graduated with us, actually, and we all went on to Muncan University together. I had decided by sixth year that I wanted to start a school for kids like Neil, the ones with magic but never knew it for one reason or other. Mom created an account that Dad handled for me. Between the two of them, by the time I got out of college, I was able to buy a townhouse outright, and pay a salary for a few teachers. It was just me, Selphie, Jess, Claire and Neil for a while. Then I started getting sponsors and donors, some with money, some with time to teach. And it grew on from there.

"In the meantime, traditional wand magic isn't all I learned." Regina rubbed at her jaw again, and stared at a spot over their heads. "Selphie is a mermaid. Born with fins and everything, cocooned at three to have her vision. Only she woke many years later to start her growth, so that she could meet me. She was to make friends with me, teach me magic, and bind us together. Her clan was dying out, slowly. Over fishing, hunting and just plain low birthrates were putting a lot of pressure on the Gera clans. I didn't know it at the time, but Selphie knew to look for me, knew exactly what sent me to Briarwood...

"I spent some weekends here, some in Florida. Her clan spends time there if they need to be in human form. From the age of seven, I started learning mermaid magic. It started slow, with the mythology and coordinations. Then once I turned thirteen, their Age of Transition, the learning really took place. I don't have the patience to go that slow. We've made this house unplottable, and out of time. Time doesn't pass while you're here, not in the outside world or for you. I could take the slow route, but I'm not going to. We're going to start with the mythology, but I'm not going to wait for it to slowly sink in. You're going to learn the magic so you can come back to Hogwarts and fight, plain and simple."

"Those were battle plans you were going over with Professor McGonagall," Harry said, looking at Regina's face. "You knew the Death Eaters were coming."

"The Sight isn't infallible, and sometimes you don't see clearly. But Selphie gave us a good warning of when and how. Unfortunately, she was exactly right. We knew we had enough time to get the kids out of the way so they wouldn't get hurt or be used as shields, but you were all important. Harry, for obvious reasons, Ron and Hermione because they wouldn't ever leave your side. Draco... Ginny wanted you here, safe. I didn't prepare for you."

Regina had them follow her to the office. On the desk were four envelopes, each with a name written in perfect copperplate hand.

"Goddamn... Selphie knew you were coming, Draco."

Draco took the envelope with his name on it. There was a letter and a ring inside. "What's this for?"

Regina watched as the other three teens took their envelopes. "The portkey I had as a kid would bring me here. I don't need it anymore, since I can open an interdimensional portal and bring myself here. But in case you ever need a place to hide, those rings contain parts of that original portkey. You twist the top counterclockwise and say 'home,' and you'll wind up right here in my parents' office. You'll be unplottable, and out of the stream of time."

"Do you think we'll really need these?" Ron asked quietly, looking over his ring.

"Selphie told me you would."

***

***