Minerva appraised the two teenagers- a blond girl and a dark skinned boy, both perhaps around fourteen. "We picked them up near Edinburgh." Their escort, Dawlish, said. "They sent an owl." He shook his head disapprovingly. Owls as a form of post had fallen out of favor after Hydra had used them to locate Beauxbatons. All owls addressed to Hogwarts were directed far away from the castle, to a site with a small team dedicated to exactly this purpose- finding wayward children. "They say they grew up in a Hydra controlled area and managed to escape." By the looks of them, Minerva could believe it. Their clothes were ragged, and they were covered in grime. They'd have to be clothed in proper robes befitting a young wizard and witch.
"Sounds like quite the tale." She said.
Dawlish grunted disinterestedly. "They're yours to deal with now." Clearly, he felt he had better things to do than play babysitter.
The girl shifted self consciously on her feet, peering up at her with brilliantly blue eyes. "Is this… Hogwarts?" She asked in a small voice.
"Not quite." Minerva chuckled. Shacklebolt had called her out to Hogsmeade to meet Dawlish and the teens. She could still remember when it had been a quaint village. Many wizards had moved close to Hogwarts' protection, and so Hogsmeade had grown. Ramparts and towers encircled a large collection of sturdy stone and brick buildings. It was perhaps the most vibrant place left in the Wizarding World, yet it nevertheless felt like a bastion. "But you'll see it soon enough. What did Mr. Dawlish tell you of Hogwarts?"
"He… didn't tell us anything." The girl said. "While we were on the run, we ran into a wizard. He'd promised he'd take us to Hogwarts. He said it was in Scotland, and that term started in September. But then he…"
Minerva nodded heavily. "That must have been hard. It's a miracle that you've made it this far- oh, excuse me, I've forgotten to ask your names."
"I'm Tevin Boseman." The boy said. He seemed shy, which didn't surprise Minerva. If he'd gone through half of what she suspected, it would take some time for the boy to open up. "I always knew I was… different." He looked down. "I'm just lucky that I met L-Lisa, and that we were able to get out."
"Lisa Rushman." The girl, who seemed the more genial of the pair, held out her hand. "You're professor…"
"McGonagall." Minerva said succinctly, shaking Lisa's hand. Sometimes, some of the younger students second guessed having a woman as their professor. In a way it was refreshing to teach those born outside their world, who had fewer of those prejudices. "I'm the transfiguration professor at Hogwarts. Now, there are some complications, with your arrival." The two teens tensed. "Its nothing serious, just a quick screening."
"What sort of screening?" Tevin asked quickly.
"We've gone through this sort of thing before… with Hydra." Lisa said. "It… wasn't pleasant, trying to stay hidden."
"Well, this will be nothing so barbaric as what Hydra put you through." Minerva assured them. "We just need to ask you a few questions." There was a time where one could be completely sure of every would-be student's identity. Every child with magic on the British Isles was recorded in a book. Once, that book had been used to create the Hogwarts roles. Now, it was a mere curiosity. As schools around the world had been destroyed, children from across the world had begun flocking to the school. While no one seriously suspected that wizarding children would betray their own people, it was well known that Hydra had a form of brainwashing. Fortunately, it was easy to identify such cases with non-intrusive legilmency. The students wouldn't even feel a thing, she was told.
-----
"I have things to attend to, Minerva, I hope you didn't ask me here just to meet two brats." Snape said in a low voice.
While he hadn't been officially introduced to them, Lily instantly recognized the man from memories her dad had shown her. She placed a hand on T'Chone's forearm, and felt his nerves settle. He was jumpier than she was, mostly deferring to her when it came to talking. It was just as well, because Lily was finding that it was coming naturally to her.
"You have a particular set of talents, Severus." McGonagall said cryptically, though Lily could divine her meaning- legilmency. It was her turn to steady herself. "Besides, you will be teaching these two students soon enough."
"Very well." Snape said. "Be simple in honest with your answers." Before the words had even left his lips, she felt the subtle press of his legilmency at the edge of her mind. Her dad had given both of them a crash course on the mind magics over the past month. Neither of them was able to defend their minds from a direct attack, but then again defending directly would raise alarms regardless. Harry had instead instructed them in the art of deception, projecting selected, useless, or fabricated memories to the front of one's mind while leaving anything incriminating hidden away.
The memory he probed into was from earlier today, of Dawlish picking the two of them up. They'd, funnily enough, delivered a letter to Hogwarts via owl- not addressed to anyone in particular, and explaining the basics of their fabricated backstory. They hadn't expected such a quick response.
"Of course. Sir." T'Chone said.
"Your names." Snape said.
"Tevin Boseman."
"Lisa Rushman."
Snape grunted unenthusiastically, apparently detecting no deception from either of them. "How did you find out about Hogwarts?" Lily brought to mind a particular memory. She and her dad had gone back and forth, crafting it together, stitching it up using both of their memories. The product was a little disjointed, but the scene was a chaotic, deadly battle, one in which the wizard that had supposedly told them about Hogwarts died a heroic death. She gave them the same story they'd written in the letter. They'd met a wizard while on the run, and he had told them about Hogwarts, a fantastical wizarding school in Scotland. Tragically, before he could bring them home, Hydra ambushed them. The wizard- who they only knew as Stephen- escaped with them, but at the cost of his life.
The questions kept coming. How they'd made it to Britian- Stephen had given them a portkey that had taken them to England, they'd made their way up north by foot. Her dad had given them each a portkey ride so they knew what it felt like, it wasn't pleasant! What their time on the run was like- her memories from her actual time on the run were invaluable. What living with Hydra was like- her mum had provided the details on that.
Snape's legilmency probed into her thoughts, scanning her memories as they drifted past. For a minute, Lily thought she was in the clear. Then he took a stab. Her dad had warned her about that, that Snape was a vindictive bastard who enjoyed tormenting children. Well, if he wanted a tormented child, that was exactly what Lily was going to give him! In front of his thrust, she threw out one of her worst memories, a time she'd snuck off on her own and ran into a gang. Not even Hydra, just a group of men with guns on few morals. It had been a terrifying few minutes, in which her accidental magic had acted up and blown one of the men back, cracking his head on a rock. The others had let her go after that, leaving Lily to stumble away bloodied and in tears.
Now, Lily stumbled back, clutching her head as she cried out. McGonagall glared at Snape. "W-what was that?" Lily asked wetly.
"What did you do to her!" T'Chone barked, stepping in front of her. He didn't know that this was for show, but she was touched by his intervention.
"Just standard procedure." Snape said, appearing unmoved. T'Chone glared at him, unintimidated. Then Snape pulled his wand, causing T'Chone to tense up, shifting into a fighting stance. Snape rolled his eyes and murmured an incantation. Lily felt nothing, but when she looked down, she saw that her pocket was glowing. Wiping her tears on her sleeve, she pulled out her wand. "It was Stephen's." She explained. "But when I picked it up, it was like it was calling to me." She didn't need to fake that memory in the slightest.
"Very well. No signs of magic or electronics. By all appearances two normal teenagers." Snape said impatiently. That was true, Lily had nothing magical on her. Her hair was blonde because of hair dye, and her eyes were blue because of Vibranium contacts custom designed by Shuri. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a potion to attend to."
McGonagall shook her head, muttering. "That man, I swear."
"So he's… one of our Professors?" Lily ventured cautiously.
"Yes, that was Professor Snape. He will be your potions teacher." She answered. "He is excellent at his craft, but lacks patience with students."
"Somehow, I gathered that." T'Chone said, deadpan, and Lily could have sworn that McGonagall almost chuckled.
"Mr. Boseman, I see that you don't have a wand, is that correct?"
"Yes, Lisa lent me hers a few times, but it didn't feel right."
"It wouldn't." McGonagall said. "A wand only works properly for a wizard it has chosen. Borrowed wands just aren't the same. Not to worry, we'll have you with a proper wand." T'Chone perked up, a genuine spring in his step as they followed the professor out. Lisa let herself relax, just a little. They'd passed the first hurdles. They were in!
"Now, we have a program in place for older students." McGonagall began to explain as they walked. "You'll be on an accelerated path. It will be rigorous, but…"
-----
"Lisa." T'Chone hissed, barely containing his excitement. Lily's real name had almost tumbled out of his mouth. They'd spent days referring to each other by their cover names just to be certain they wouldn't slip up, and T'Chone almost had right out the gate!
The door opened, and Lily beamed at him. "You got a wand!"
"I got a wand!" T'Chone cheered. "Cedar and Dragon Heartstring!" Professor McGonagall had led him down a hallway into the dungeons. Nestled down there was a room filled to the brim with boxes of wands. The great wandmakers of old were dead, most killed in the first wave of attacks by Hydra. While younger craftsmen had stepped in to fill in the gap, knowledge had been lost, and the old wands were highly prized. Every wand from a dead witch or wizard was recovered, if possible, to be used by future generations. His had been one of those wands. Over half a century old it was, yet it hummed in his hand with a life that Lily had described for her own wand. Her words hadn't done it justice, but T'Chone didn't think he could describe it better than she.
"Nice!" Lily grinned.
"Now we can finally have a proper duel." T'Chone jibed. "You better watch out."
"Do your worst!"
They chuckled, letting the good humor dissipate. With a quick look behind him, he closed the door. They'd been posted in guest quarters until they could be sorted, and told not to wander off. Now they needed to figure out how to do exactly that.
"We need a good excuse." Lily said, T'Chone nodding along. "I say we ask to go to the library. It won't be our fault if we 'got lost'."
"You just want to go to the library." T'Chone teased, and Lily playfully bumped his shoulder. "I can't believe we just got past Snape like that, what did you do?"
"Just some good acting." Lily brushed her shoulder. "How did you hold up?"
"He barely bothered with me." He shrugged. "He seemed really focused on you."
"Huh." Lily said. "That's a little…"
"Creepy?" T'Chone suggested. "Apparently he is very into our grandmother."
"Ew." Lily wrinkled her nose. "That makes it even grosser! You don't think he was digging in my head for…" She blanched.
"I don't know, but I don't like him." T'Chone said. "Not one bit."
They startled at a knock on the door.
"Ah, I thought I might find both of you here." To his surprise, the voice wasn't McGonagall's or even (thankfully) Snape's. It belonged to a man he'd never met before, but had heard plenty about.
"H-headmaster?" Lily asked. "What are you doing here? Not that it isn't an honor, but I'm sure you have more important things."
"On the contrary, there are few things more important than raising the next generation of witches and wizards." Albus Dumbledore said. He looked no older than her dad did, but his eyes were ancient. His dad had once described him as an old man with a youthful soul. To T'Chone, this Dumbledore looked much the opposite. "To that end, we've decided that there's no point in making you wait for the start of term. We have a few days before your new peers arrive, and in that time, we're going to assess you." As if expecting objections, he held a hand up. "There isn't any shame in starting late. In many cases, our older students catch up very quickly. But we need to know your starting point, so don't try to bluff your way through this, it'll only hurt you."
"Of course." T'Chone nodded. "What do you need of us, Sir?" While Lily excelled at gladhanding, being deferential came second nature to him. It was just like speaking to his grandfather.
"To the point, I see." Dumbledore said. "The first step in your assessment will be perhaps the most important- your sorting."
"Sorting?" Lily asked, even though they both knew what he was referring to.
T'Chone caught the barest hint of a twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes, but it was gone in an instant. "Oh, you'll see."
-----
"Gryffindor!" The hat crowed. T'Chone leapt up from the stool and pumped his fist. The scene looked a little absurd to Lily's eye. The Great Hall was spectacular- utterly massive, medieval, and with an enthralling ceiling that Lily kept craning her neck up to see. It was also completely empty, save for Dumbledore and McGonagall.
"There's nothing for it Headmaster." The Sorting hat (it could talk!) insisted. "They must be sorted in the usual way." So, they trooped up to the empty hall to put on a charade of a sorting ceremony. The hat had even insisted on singing a song before they could begin.
And now it was Lily's turn to sit on the stool. "Another infiltrator, hm?" The hat's voice said into her mind. Lily, to her credit, didn't startle, much. "Don't worry, thankfully Godric enchanted me with a little moral leeway. I won't say a word. Now, let's take a look at you. Hm, yes. Very bright. A strong desire to prove yourself, and to find a place to belong. Plenty of courage to spare as well, sneaking into here made that obvious enough, but I have to say…" The hat chuckled, as if it was about to tell a joke only it could understand. "That you'd make a mighty fine… SLYTHERIN!" The hat belted that last word out.
"I suppose that's my cue." Lily turned her head at the new voice. He must have come in when she was being sorted. "Welcome to the house of ambition, Ms. Rushman." Tom Riddle said.
Fuck. "Thank you, Professor." Lily cast a wistful look at T'Chone. While he would be going up to Gryffindor tower with Professor McGonagall, she would be delving down to the den of snakes with Voldemort himself.
"You will be seeing plenty of your friend later." Riddle said. "Let me show you to your new quarters."
She followed in his wake, trying not to let her nerves show. What if he saw right through her? What if the moment they were alone, he confronted her? He slowed his pace leaving Lily no choice but to walk by his side. "So, what can you tell me about Slytherin?" She asked, grasping for something to deflect his attention.
"The House, or the man?" Riddle asked.
After a moment of deliberation, she said. "I think knowing about the man will tell me a lot about the House."
"Indeed." Riddle gave a ghost of a smile. "He was the most brilliant mind of his generation. Don't let the Ravenclaws tell you otherwise. Ravenclaw was book smart, but Slytherin, he was a mastermind. He was cunning, and talented in every branch of magic- enchanting, spellcraft, alchemy, even in magical creatures." He smiled at the joke he believed only he understood. Lily, however, had been told about her dad's adventures with the Chamber of Secrets, and the Basilisk within.
"While Gryffindor was born of privilege, Salazar had to work his way up from the bottom. That is a true Slytherin, not those entitled heirs who think their family name counts for everything, but those who were given a bad lot in life, and struggled and clawed their way to the top. That is what House Slytherin can offer you, Ms. Rushman."
"Was that you?" She asked.
"Perceptive." He said. "You should know that Professor Snape also rose up from humble origins. You are in good company, even if some in this house won't acknowledge it. So tell me, what is it that you want to achieve here?"
"I want to learn magic." She said. "I know that sounds cliché, 'Oh, I'm going to school to learn magic'. But it's true. All my life I've only seen scraps of what I could do. I want to do more, to be more."
"You should know that wizarding society has limits on what status witches can hold." Riddle said carefully. "Don't be fooled by Professor McGonagall's position. She's very much an outlier. Only a woman who displays massive power would be given the opportunity to prove themselves."
"Well, I'll just have to display massive power, then." Lily groused.
"Remember, you are a Slytherin, not a Gryffindor. You have more tools in your arsenal than brute force. You'll never know when an opportunity will present itself, be prepared to take advantage."
She didn't know why he'd taken such an interest in her, if it wasn't because he suspected her of subterfuge. After he led her down into the Slytherin dorms. The common room was eerie. It was deathly quiet and cast in a green glow by the lamps and the windows, which all faced out into the lake. Her room, though, was surprisingly cozy, and she didn't hesitate to ensconce herself in its privacy. Her mind turned over her and Riddle's conversation again and again, trying to make sense of it. He didn't suspect her, yet he was implying something, but what?
Oh. She realized in a flash. He was trying to recruit her.
-----
Natasha paced along the length of the room again, and again, and again. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor, sis." Yelena said.
Natasha scoffed. She wasn't in the mood for humor, even if it was just Yelena's own form of coping with stress. "You got anything, Shuri?" She asked. Neville had scouted out the perimeter of the castle, going as close to the wards as he'd dared. During his reconnaissance he'd laid out probes of Shuri's design, whose feeds were now displayed in the air around her.
"If I had something, I wouldn't be keeping it to myself." Shuri responded tensely. T'Challa put a calming hand on her shoulder. They were all wound tightly, they all had family down there, and they were all running low on sleep. It wasn't surprising that they were snapping at each other.
They'd put so much work into the details of the plan- the kids' backstories, the timing, and a month of unrelenting training. But Harry hadn't been prepared for just how unbearable it was to wait. It had always been him going out, leaving others to worry and wait for him. He didn't like being on the other side of it.
Never before had he sympathized so acutely with Mrs. Weasley. What he'd do to have her clock right now, he'd probably be carrying it from room to room too. They'd discussed ways of monitoring the kids' conditions from afar. Perhaps if Hermione were here, she could have done a little 'light reading' and whipped something up. But Hermione wasn't here, and everything they'd considered had seemed too risky. Just knowing that Lily and T'Chone were alive would be a relief, because right now they knew nothing. They could be dead, or being interrogated, and Harry would be none the wiser.
"I think I need to do it." Harry sighed.
"Do what?" Yelena asked. She hadn't been kept in the loop on this.
Nat, however, knew exactly what he was proposing. She sighed, appraising him, and finally said. "I trust your judgement."
They'd talked in circles about it, the risks and benefits. The last time that Harry had ventured into Riddle's mind, he'd managed to slip by undetected. However, the encounter before that had been an absolute disaster. They couldn't afford for Harry to slip up and reveal their plans to him. At the same time, they needed to know Lily and T'Chone's status, and it wasn't just his parental instincts talking. If they were captured and interrogated, they could be used to spring a trap on them, opening a passageway into Hogwarts… and straight into an ambush.
If it came down to it, if he learned that they'd been caught, Harry did have a backup plan. He didn't like it; it was risky in an entirely different way- a break all of reality again type of risk. But if it meant saving T'Chone and Lily's lives…
After all, what was the point in having the powers of the Time Stone if he couldn't use it to save the people he loved?
"Are you two just going to look into each other's eyes all day, or are you going to share with the class?" Yelena prompted.
"I'm going to sneak into Riddle's mind and see if the kids are alright." Harry pitched.
"Its crazy." Shuri said. "Do it."
"Good luck." Natasha said, kissing him softly.
"Stay with me." He told her. She slipped into his lap with complaint, lacing her fingers through his hair. "He won't be able to bear being in my mind when I'm feeling love."
"Oh my god, this guy's allergic to love?" Yelena rolled her eyes. "Comically evil."
Harry closed his eyes, letting the byplay wash over him, and reached out.
…
…
…
His eyes fluttered open, and he sighed in relief. "They're okay." He squeezed Natasha tighter. "They're okay."
He'd only caught a quick glimpse. T'Chone and Lily were in the Great Hall, the Sorting Hat had been perched on Lily's head as it proclaimed her a Slytherin. He could feel Riddle's thoughts, and there wasn't any suspicion in them. He saw her as a potential recruit if anything. His concerns were focused elsewhere, and though Harry was tempted to delve further, he didn't dare risk it.
Shuri jumped. "YES!" She caught herself. "I mean, I never doubted them for a moment."
Natasha buried her head into his chest, shuddering with relief. "They're alright." She repeated. "They're alright."