INVISIBLE STRING

3.THE ARRIVAL

"Uhm... Yes, that about sums it up", she nodded, a little embarrassed about her favorite teacher seeing her like this.

"Okay. And you don't know her?"

"No, Professor", Lily shock her head as if only her words weren't enough to express how she truly didn't know that girl.

McGonagall's expression was unreadable, but Lily thought to see worry twitch over her face for a second.

But it might have only been a play of the lights, with McGonagall you never know.

As they arrived before the great hall, the doors having been temporarily sealed shut as to not alert any more students, Madame Pomfrey was already there - the hospital wing was way closer to the great hall than the transfiguration classroom which is why Lily was so out of breath from running through half of the castle.

Pomfrey was examining the girl, before she lifted her up with magic and made her fly behind her to the hospital wing.

"You girls stay here! And open up the great hall again, Miss Mcdonald!", Minerva quickly followed behind her colleague, both of them taking in a hushed whisper with each other.

The three girls stood next to each other in silence for a minute, before Mary moved again and actually broke the spell she cast over the doors of the great hall.

Students began piling out immediately, but it seemed like none of them had noticed the way the door had been sealed shut just moments ago.

"I told you you just need to press tighter, and see, it worked", some third year Hufflepuff was telling his friend as they walked away from the girls, who still stood frozedn to the same spot they had found the girl in.

"Well that was... Strange", Marlene started, running a hand through her blond hair. Lily never understood how she got it to be so soft and while the girls eagerly shared beauty secrets and tips with each other, that was one secret she'd never tell.

"Strange feels like an understatement", Mary added, her voice a pitch higher than usual, adrenaline still rushing through her body.

Lily was too speechless to answer, her eyes still trained on the corner McGonagall and Pomfrey disappeared behind.

"Do you think she'll make it, Poppy?", Minerva asked, her attire now not as much under control as it had been before, when students were still around.

"Of course she will. I've got everyone to feel better, haven't I?"

Minerva nodded, but her eyebrows still betrayed her worry and fear.

"But you're not only worried about her well being, are you, Minerva?"

The direct question seemed to pull her out of her thoughts as McGonagall nodded again.

"Were in times of war, it's hard not to be."

And that was all that needed to be said. Still, Minerva added: "Despite all the protection charms we've put up, she was still able to enter the grounds of Hogwarts. She wears a tie of my house but Miss Evans was right, I have never seen this girl in my entire life. In times like this you need to be careful, I just don't want to risk the wellbeing and safety of my students, who knows where she came from?"

It was quiet for a minute, both of the witches just staring at Hermione, the strange girl they just recovered, and trying to make sense of this.

"How about we just ask her once she wakes up?", Madame Pomfrey said and although Professor McGonagall knew the way her question was intended, she couldn't help but focused on the slight mockery in Poppy's voice.

Normally, Minerva would have scolded the teacher - not matter who - and told them to show her some respect as a colleague.

But Poppy and her had been friends for so long; Although their playful banter didn't often see the light of the day, when it did, it came natural to them.

"Then let's just hope she wakes up tomorrow", Minerva sighed, rubbing her temple as she stepped away from the hospital bed and toward the door.

"I'll have to tell Albus about this. Keep an eye on her and don't let her do something unseen."

"Sure, Professor", Madame Pomfrey turned around to give Hermione some kind of medicine she had placed on the bed site table before.

As Minerva walked through the halls of Hogwarts to find the headmaster, her heart was racing more than it had done ever since she was a teenager.

Was she paranoid for not trusting that girl? After all, she could only be a helpless girl, barely eighteen, who just happened to somehow turn up in Hogwarts.

And didn't Albus always say, that at Hogwarts, help was given to those in need?

But on the other hand, the girl could also be a death eater spy and she just let in the destructor of Hogwarts. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't.

Minerva hated that in these times, she couldn't tell right from wrong, black from white and up from down anymore.

She hated that she had to be so careful all the time, every single one of her decisions being able to change the outcome of the war and decide about win or failure.

'But well, I have a feeling that won't change for a while', Minerva thought as she was walking up the steps to Dumbledore's office.