***
It felt like it was hours that I was sitting there, left alone with my thoughts. I was already out of tears as I sat there motionless, gazing at nowhere.
Night had embraced the sky and everywhere was dark, that a voice behind me called, "Miss Hooper?"
Turning my head weakly, I saw Professor McGonagall. She looked pale and no longer had the stern glim in her eyes.
"Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office." she said and I nodded feebly, standing up.
The grounds of Hogwarts seemed quieter than ever, no one was out in the halls, and if they were, they either were sitting in silence or talking in hushed voices.
I didn't have to ask how Harry was doing, or what had happened to Barty Crouch Junior. Because I knew it all, and that was why I was feeling so sick.
Because I knew as I was now walking towards Dumbledore's office, I was going to come upon a dead man, and that thought was enough to make my sight go blurry with tears again.
I don't know how I got up to his office due to my shocked state, but when I entered the room and saw Dumbledore behind his desk, I somehow felt calmer.
"Sit down, Miss Hooper, if you please." He beamed at me, gesturing at a chair near him. Even Dumbledore didn't look like his usual self.
"I assume you already knew this was going to happen?" He asked and I merely nodded, looking down at my feet.
"I could've stopped it." I said in a small voice.
"I'm afraid not." he sighed. "Sometimes, there's no escaping the future. Who knows what more terrible things would have happened if the Dark Lord hadn't revived this same night, with Harry by his side. And I'm sure you know why."
I nodded, still not looking up at him. "Because in order for Voldemort to kill the part of himself which is within Harry, he had to make the blood connection with him tonight. Otherwise..." my voice trailed off.
"Otherwise Lord Voldemort may never have been defeated." he completed me. "I'm not a seer, Miss Hooper, and I don't know whether we've won this fight in the future which you come from or not. I don't know what's going to happen, but one can only hope. Yet I ask you, once again, not to try and stop anything from happening which may lead to Lord Voldemort not attempting to kill Harry at the right moment."
Maybe he meant his own death. Maybe he meant Snape. Either way, it could've meant that other innocent lives could be saved. Or at least, I hoped so.
"Then... why?" I muttered, mostly to myself.
"Why what, Miss Hooper?"
"Why was I sent here if I wasn't supposed to change anything? Was it just an accident?"
"No," Dumbledore shook his head without hesitation. "It wasn't an accident. Someone did send you back, and there must've been a reason behind it."
"Then... why me?" I questioned. "Why an ordinary Muggle?"
Dumbledore smiled down at me. "You're not ordinary, Miss Hooper. No one in this world is. We are all special in our own way."
"But who? Who would send me back?" I was growing frustrated at asking the same questions for the hundredth time that year. "And why? What did they want me to change?"
"When the time comes," he started calmly, "we will know. But for now, we must wait."
"Maybe it was a family member of mine?" I asked hopefully. "Maybe I have distant Wizard relatives?"
"I asked myself the same question. So I did a little inquiry; you're the daughter of Lisa Goldman and Roger Hooper. I even dug deep into your family history," he started. "There is no drop of magical blood in your mother's side. And as understanding, your father used to be an orphan?"
"Yes, he was." I nodded.
"Well, I even tried to find out everything about his family. But there was no recollection of Magical history on the name of Hooper, either."
I didn't reply. I just looked away, wondering. Seeing the look on my face, Dumbledore said, "You will return back to your family and your own world when everything's over. You don't have to worry."
But that did worry me. I was torn between the two worlds that I knew. I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave this behind, yet missed my family like never before.
"Will this all disappear when I'm gone?" I asked.
"Of course not. This is all real." said Dumbledore and I finally looked up at him hopefully. "When it's your time to return to your future, you will go straight back to the moment you ran towards the platform 9 and 10 in king's cross station. For them – your parents and friends – not a second would've passed. Yet for us, it would be like a ten years difference."
"Won't I look older, then?" I wondered. "I mean... they will notice."
"You may look older, yes, but it's nothing we can't fix with a nice Confundus Charm around you; that way no one will notice that you look different."
My eyes glimmered with excitement. "So does that – does that mean that I can come to the Wizardry world if I want?"
But when Dumbledore gave me a sad look, my smile disappeared. "You know it's against our law for Muggles to come upon all this, don't you, Miss Hooper?"
My heart sank. Would they Obliviate me after all this? Because I was, after all, a Muggle. What if I went back to the moment at the King's Cross station and not be able to remember all this?
"I see the glint of hope and faith in your eyes, Lexi. I've seen it before. Long time ago." Dumbledore whispered. "But for now, let's not talk about neither the past, nor our future. For now, I want you to join The Order of Phoenix. Surly you already know about that?"
"Yes, sir." I nodded more strongly this time, even though my mind was still wondering. "I would be honored to join, Professor."
"Thank you, Miss Hooper." he smiled again. "That would do for now."