Chapter Text
It wasn't a strange occurrence, it happens every now and then.
Minerva McGonagall looked around at the old and dilapidated buildings, she wondered what could have caused the scorch marks on the walls and just the pure destruction in general.
Obviously abandoned buildings, one of the destroyed ones was scorched black as if a fire raged for days on end, consuming everything while no one tried to stop it.
It wasn't magical, Minerva decided. Given the location of this stretch of buildings was located in muggle London and there was actual police tape strewn about it suggests this likely hadn't happened due to any wizard.
Still, she could be wrong since she's not an auror. Investigating crimes scenes wasn't the reason she came out here anyway. She looked down at the piece of mail in her hand.
To: Elaine Auceptin
13 Harrison Avenue, basement under the burnt building.
‘I can see why I was given this task.’ The owl sent to deliver this letter could not find a way to the child. Worry spiked through Minerva's heart at the idea that the child was trapped under the building.
What could have happened here? She doesn't know, but standing around won't do her any good.
Minerva walked into the building and looked around. There were no obvious ways to get to the basement which is exactly as she suspected. A flick of her want turned the broken walls and collapsed floors into something more hospitable.
Rubble turned into pillars to keep the roof from caving in. Out of the corner of her eye, Minerva saw a doorway.
‘This building seems to have been abandoned by the law enforcement.’ It's strange really. Did they not investigate for anyone still alive?
She glanced into the few rooms that have been opened up to her and luckily didn't find any corpses.
‘Was this building abandoned before it burned down?’ Likely it was four stories tall, now only the bottom layer exists while having everything else way down on what remains. Taking away the mountain of material in some of those rooms would result in the rest of the building collapsing.
Trusting the Hogwart's letter, Minerva continued looking for a staircase to take her down further.
As she walked by more rooms, it became clear that either the bodies were taken and the building was simply left to rot, or no one actually died when the building was destroyed. But to leave a child behind…
‘Maybe she came in after?’ That theory makes the most sense to her. Except that leaves the question of how this child managed to get to where she was and the owl couldn't.
Sighing at the mystery, Minerva decided to just ask the child when she found her.
After only a couple more minutes of careful transfiguration, a staircase finally let itself be found. As expected, the stairs leading up are covered in debris, but the ones leading down had some semblance of a path remaining.
‘It's small enough for a small adult to fit through.’ Minerva herself would not be able to walk down that way given her height, and crawling was out of the question for someone her age.
There's also the limitation of her surroundings that would be dangerous for the small child if she thoughtlessly transfigured everything around her.
Luckily for her, she had a better solution. With a slight step forward, her frame fell into something smaller. Gone was the witch in robes, now all that stands in the half destroyed stairwell was a cat.
Jumping into the hole, the cat made her way farther. Thanks to her night vision, she was able to avoid the small piece of glass on one of the walls. Her steps paused when she saw something dark red on one of it's edges. Given how old it might have been, it's already dried into a slight brown color.
Worry crossed the cat’s eyes.
How the child even managed to get into the building while it was in this state was an unknown to her. If she was here before it fell then she hopes she doesn't need to burry the girl.
If she was someone like Snape, she might have made a comment about how the girl was already buried.
In front of her was an opening. An old red door with a glass window. Said glass was broken so with a quick hop, Minerva was in the basement of the building.
With a quick step, her form twisted and grew unit it was that of a human once more. After seeing what was stored down here, she wouldn't be surprised about the child being down here before the building burned down anymore.
There was food and water in crates, probably meant for a kitchen of some kind although most of the perishable foods have definitely gone bad if the smell is any indication.
That was not her priority at the moment. Her head turned, and she moved throughout the basement until her eyes caught onto something.
Sprawled out on a couch, with an exasperated face was a small blonde girl with black eyes. While she was thin, it wasn't to the point of malnutrition. Her hair was chin length, and the clothes on her body weren't the best. Some low quality and mass produced black shirt and blue jeans.
The two of them stared at eachother. Minerva because she didn't expect the child to be in such a good state, and the child for what she believes are obvious reasons. Magic and all.
“You could have just knocked.”
Actually, Minerva decided Albus would have been best fit for finding this child if that's her reaction. For some reason she got the feeling the two of them would get along.
“I suppose I could have. However I was concerned for your wellbeing considering your living arrangements.”
The small girl looked around, as if just now seeing how bad her current home was.
“That makes sense. I've been stuck down here for a week anyway so could you help me get out?” The smile the small girl gave her seemed a little tired. There was no trace of fear in her eyes despite where she currently was. It's like she knew someone was coming to save her. That kind of behavior worried Minerva.
“I can, would you read this while I do that?” She handed the kid the mail in her hand then turned around towards the door which she only now realizes is unable to be opened from the inside.
…
Elaine looked down at the mail we was just given and huffed, amused at the description of where she lived.
‘How specific.’ She was not worried about her situation or potentially starving to death. After all, she came down to the basement that day because she didn't feel danger from it. It just felt right to go down there instead of walking outside.
She also did not feel danger coming from the woman who just took out a wand.
Magic flared to life and Elaine gazed at it's form. It was visible to her, she could see the energy if she wanted to.
Ripping out the parchment from inside the mail with a small smug smile on her face, Elaine read through it carefully before shock crossed her expression.
All the smugness she had quickly dissipated at the completely unexpected words she was seeing in front of her.
She was accepted into some magical school? Hogwarts?
‘What the fuck? Isn't Hogwart's something in Harry Potter? I don't know shit about that franchise! I knew magic existed but why couldn't it have been from some place I've watched or read about?! Actually, it's better than the alternative.’
Her heartbeat sped up at the other option. She knew about her powers the instant she woke up in this world, and she quickly put together which one it was.
One of the powers from Lord of the Mysteries, specifically the Sequence 9, Monster. This sequence gave someone a lot of spirituality which seemed to passively give someone a high intuition and danger sense. There's also the literal precognition that sporadically came to her when she ran tests.
All of that allowed her to stay safe.
Elaine sighed. This was completely unexpected. All of her small fantasies about abusing her powers to become rich fled her mind immediately.
‘It's not fair!’ She mentally whined. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. ‘Why do things never go my way?!’
“If you're worried about money, there is a fund provided to orphaned children.”
“Oh, uh thanks.” Elaine blinks at the older woman.
“Oh, my name is Minerva McGonagall dear.” The older woman added, realizing she never introduced herself. “Why don't we go and purchase your school supplies? We can also get you a place to stay at until school starts.”
Elaine really didn't like the idea of school. She managed to avoid it so far and now she's going to do more?
‘Well, it's a magical school I guess.’ That made her feel slightly better.
“Uh, sure? How will we be getting there?” Instead of answering that question, the older woman just firmly held her shoulder and suddenly it felt like space was folding in on the two of them.
Due to her spiritual intuition, Elaine knew she wasn't in danger but the feeling she got was extremely unpleasant. As if her entire being was being squished through a tube. When she next opened her eyes, the two of them were in a completely different place, and Elaine found herself on the ground trying not to throw up.
She didn't know she had such a weak stomach until now.
“It's always hard the first time. I didn't want to to be tense since that usually makes things worse.” Elaine glared at the woman from over her shoulder. Being seen this way was humiliating for her.
She stood up and managed to keep herself steady. Elaine looked around and saw some kind of tavern in front of her.
“I'm too young to drink.” She said but the woman just walked past her into the building regardless. “Oh yeah, just ignore me why don't you.” She muttered.
The arrogance and hint of narcissism in her tone was not heard by Minerva. The two of them simply walked through the building and left a back exit, reaching a brick wall. With a series of taps with her wand, Minerva opened an entrance that led to what looked like a completely different world.
“This is Diagon Alley, the biggest magic collective in the country. You can get everything you need here, and this is where we will be doing your school shopping. Since I know you are new to magic I'm willing to answer any questions you may have.” The older woman sent Elaine a polite smile before walking ahead.
The small girl was still shoving down her embarrassment about her misunderstanding about the bar. ‘She probably thinks I'm stupid.’ She tells herself.
“So, what do I need?” Elaine asks, keeping close to the older woman in order to make sure she doesn't get lost.
“Check the parchment you were given.”
Blinking, Elaine took out the paper and read it again. Her eyes land on a list of items that needed to be bought. Embarrassment flooded her body once more.
‘I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.’ Their first introduction went pretty well, she sat in that position all weak, waiting for someone to open the door. When she was in the middle of eating some of the only good food in the basement, she heard something coming close to the door and only just managed to run back to her position to make herself appear calm and cool. But then she opened her mouth and said a bunch of snarky things, now instead of looking like some nonchalant smart girl, she just looked stupid.
Oh how badly she wanted to scream into a pillow. Her image was already ruined.