home (reader at hogwarts)

two

"y/n?" harry says to you. you look at him watching as his face slowly seems to blur.

"harry i- i think i'm dying." you say slowly.

each of your words begin to slur as everything surrounding you changes, the castle walls shifting from a brown colour to dark green paint.

"y/n! y/n!"

you jump awake, lifting the blanket as you are faced with the irritated face of your mother's boyfriend, mike.

"get up, now. there's some freak at the door that wants to see you." he says, walking back to a chair propped up in your basement/bedroom.

he lifts up a big grey lump of fabric, tossing it at you. you catch it, then begin to rub your eyes.

"who is it? the person at the door?" you ask through a yawn.

mike looks like he wants to tell you to shut up but decides not to upon better judgement.

"i don't know okay? but he's probably from social services so don't you dare misbehave." he grumbles at you. "now throw that jumper on quick and come upstairs."

he leaves up the staircase, closing the trap door on the other side and leaving you to throw on the jumper.

it was grey and twice as big as you, probably belonging to mike. it couldn't have been yours- you never got new clothes and it smelled strongly of cologne.

you let your hair fall freely, it wasn't too long and was easy to keep clean when you were confined in the basement most of the time.

as you looked in the cracked mirror nailed on the wall you noticed your skin was greying by the day, and the new visitor was going to definetely going to notice.

you shuddered, thinking about what mike or your mother would do if the visitor got suspicious and promised yourself to act as normal as possible.

"remember," your mother had said, many times before. "you are fed, you are clothed, you are loved and you love living with us."

"y/n!" your mother shrieks down the trap door making your heart jump.

"coming!" you yell back, picking up your blanket and laying it neatly on your mattress before legging it up the stairs.

you make your way through the trap door and your mother nearly rips your scalp off, grabbing you by your hair and pushing you towards the living room.

you bite your lip and rub at your head to ease the pain before clearing your throat and walking into the living room.

you stare at the man sitting in the chair.

you had never seen anyone so peculiar. he was tall, and thin and looked about one hundred and ten years old with silver hair and a beard that reached his ankles. only- you couldn't see his ankles because he was wearing a long and baggy purple cloak.

he looked at you through half moon spectacles, bright blue eyes sparkling as he greeted you with a soft whispery voice.

"hello, there y/n. it's good to finally meet you."

you try your hardest to smile as you walk slowly to the chair opposite him. you stare at him intensely, something about him seemed insanely familiar.

you knew the man.

you felt it in your bones.

"do i know you?" you ask, your eyebrows furrowing.

the man seemed amused and even slightly surprised.

"i don't think so, y/n. you see, i'm from a school-" he introduced. "and my name-"

he held out a heavily jewelled hand, decorated with many golden rings and funky bracelets.

"is professor albus dumbledore."

your heart sinks, and for a second you feel a bit dizzy. your left hand grips the arm if the chair, turning your knuckles white.

"albus-" your finger shakes as you point it at him.

"dumbledore." he finished for you, his eyes patient and curious.

"no. i know your name," you whispered madly. you stared at him with wide eyes. "i know that your full name is albus percival wulfric brian dumbledore."

the man's eyes widened and his mouth opened but no words left his lips.

"you-" he stuttered. "how?"

"you're in those books, my harry potter books-" you tell him. "but you're not real. you c- can't be..."

"i can assure you, i am very much real and i have come here to take you to my school."

"hogwarts?" you blurt out.

he seems to be getting more and more confused, almost completely amazed of what you know.

his eyes glance to the door of the living room and he smiles slightly, lifting a bony hand and with a swiping motion shutting the door.

you look quickly between his hand and the door in shock.

"these books," he says grabbing your attention again. "can you go get them for me?"

"no," you shake your head. "my mother and her boyfriend mike don't know i have them. i-"

you blush a deep red, looking down shamefully. "i stole them from the library."

his eyes dropped to your fidgeting hands and he seemed to reminisce slightly.

"hogwarts is no place for thieves."

you look up, a glazed look in your eyes. "that's what you said to tom riddle. isn't it?"

dumbledore looked as though his heart stopped beating entirely. he cleared his throat and sat back, watching you intently.

"i don't like to steal-" you say trying to explain. "but the books have really helped me. that's how i know you-"

you glance at his fingers, now fiddling with a ring. "how i know riddle, and the weasley's and professor mcgonagall and professor snape."

"where are they- the books, y/n?" asks dumbledore, leaning forward.

"i told you, mother won't let us get them-" you try to tell him but stop when he lifts a hand.

"we have other means of getting to the basement." he tells you, standing.

you stand up, barely meeting his upper chest. dumbledore offers you his arm and you gasp as it clicks in your head.

"oh," you guess. "apparition."

"you know about that?" he asks, suprised.

you wonder how on earth he is surprised, when for the past eleven years you believed him to be a false character.

but then again, he probably came here assuming you would be a normal muggle girl and instead finding someone who appears to know everything about them.

you grab his hand and with a crack, the pair of you are in the dark dingy basement.