Chapter 7

" ... and so that's what happened, professor. I didn't mean for things to turn out like they did, but it just happened." Having finished her rather lengthy story, Imogen lapsed into silence. There was only stillness in Dumbledore's office, as he and Professor McGonagall contemplated Imogen's detailed account of events inUmbridge's class. At McGonagall's bidding, Imogen had gone to see her after dinner, to let her know how her first day at Hogwarts had gone. The Gryffindor head of house had been very interested in Imogen's account of events inUmbridge's class, and had immediately decided that Dumbledore should also hear it first hand. Eventually Dumbledore spoke, but it was only to dismiss Imogen, while assuring her that while the misadventure inUmbirdge's office was most unfortunate, there was no doubt that the Defence against the Dark Arts instructor was certainly within her rights to assign detention, especially to those who ask for it.

"Oh I understand Sir," replied Imogen. "I am not asking you to overrule the Professor on my behalf or anyone else's - the only reason I told you is because it was just part of the things that happened today." Dumbledore indicated to Imogen that she was free to go, and she left the office, relieved that at least she had not landed herself in trouble with her head of house and the headmaster, both of whom had been so kind andaccommodating.

Once the door closed behind Imogen, Dumbledore permitted himself the smile he had been resisting throughout Imogen's narration.

"I think, Minerva, that perhaps Imogen did the Sorting Hat an injustice - perhaps she should have given it a chance."

"Yes!" said McGonagall excitedly. "The way she conducted herself today was, if I may say, in the best traditions of Gryffindor house, although it is unfortunate that she earned herself an indelible black mark in the books of Professor Umbridge. Perhaps in the Ministry's books, as well. Imagine volunteering for detention, when expecting that the punishment would be a week's torture with an illegal artifact."

Unknown to Imogen, her use of the time turner earlier that day was not in fact her first. She had been subjected to its use the night before after the feast, when in the company of Dumbledore and McGonagall. She had been given repeated doses of the truth serum, and had been taken back many, many hours with the time-turner. But even with so many hours available for Dumbledore to question her, the summary she provided of the last three books had been cursory at best. At least Dumbledore had been able to learn the principle events and the circumstances surrounding them. The recitation had taken a very long time, and when she was done, Dumbledore's attendance at hispensieve was lengthy indeed, so much did he have to preserve. He and McGonagall had a rather good guide to where events were headed, or at least would have been headed, had not Imogen arrived at Hogwarts.

Having known him for over three decades, McGonagall knew that conversation with Dumbledore on occasion involved long silences while he thought things over, and she too lapsed into quietness as Dumbledore turned over in his mind recent events. He idly stared about his office, observing the Hat on its place high on a shelf. The Hat had been rather miffed to find that a student had been sorted - had actually been placed in a house! - without having first worn the Hat on her head. What were things coming to, the Hat had wondered aloud, suggesting that perhaps he should be replaced, if the school had lost confidence in it. Dumbledore had assured the Hat that the reason it had not been used on Imogen was not because it was thought the Hat would err, but rather that the "right" house for Imogen was the "wrong" place. Eventually the Hat had decided to accept this rather confusing explanation.

Despite his age, his wisdom, his position as the most powerful wizard in living memory, Dumbledore had not yet achieved Olympian detachment - he could not but wonder whether Imogen's recent actions would mean he was now fated to live longer than the end of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. The previous evening he had been rocked by the girl's account while under Veritaserum. Indeed, he was no where near having absorbed the full implications. The girl's narrative had been full of revelations of the most astounding kind, but naturally the one that kept coming to mind was the manner of his death. If his understanding of Imogen's mission was correct, it meant that either he must ensure his own survival, in order to help dispose ofVoldemort's heir, or alternatively, help effect changes which would allow the rest of the Order to successfully continue the fight after his death. Like Imogen, he too felt at a loss, uncertain what to do. Finally he spoke up, and shared his thoughts with Minerva.

"Albus," she replied, "it may be that despite all the trouble we went to in order to learn the girl's story, that we shall more or less have to ignore it. Assuming what she said is a reliable account of what was to have happened, obviously it is not going to happen now. Much of what you did in Imogen's account of what was supposed to happen, you will still have to do. TheHorcruxes must be destroyed, and Voldemort must die. But we must also insure that his heir too is defeated. All we can do is fight on, and perhaps Imogen's memories of what was to have happened will provide us with a way of improving the result. There is no way to know."

The two conversed for some time, but inconclusively, no definite answers being possible where there were so many variables that neither could even venture what questions needed to be asked. The two parted, both troubled and apprehensive about what was to come.

The students at Hogwarts were soon immersed in their new routines, and in no time had adjusted to the sudden termination of a summer without responsibilities. Classes, assignments, homework, more classes, the gain and loss of house points - soon all this was normal, and indeed it was as if the students had known no other existence, theirpre -Hogwarts lives fading to a distant place. For Imogen, the process was rather different. For her, everything was so new that it took longer for the newness to leave her. And unlike her fellow students, she had no memories of a life outside the walls of Hogwarts, something that continued to baffle her. As she learned more about the wizarding world, she came up with different notions about what had happened to her to cause her to lose four years of her life. But without evidence of any kind to support one theory or another, Imogen still had no idea of what had happened to her. With difficulty she banished this question to a remote corner of her mind, and while it still resurfaced from time to time, the intervals were becoming longer as she settled into her life at Hogwarts.