A Magical Princess

Chapter 2

Harriet Potter was screwed. This wasn't anything new and exciting for her.

Actually, camping out in strange forests while avoiding enemies brought back some not-so-fun memories from a few years ago. The part where she had no idea where she was, didn't seem to speak any of the local languages, and kept being attacked by strange men and women with super-human abilities was new and exciting, though.

Harriet had selfishly wished more than once that Hermione had come along on this little adventure with her. Without her friend, she was starting to think she was stuck and that was bad.

The only real blessing in all of this was that she had been looking for their target in a copse of thick woods with her squad when whatever it was that happened...happened. Since she was the rookie, she had been stuck carrying their camping gear.

Harriet never did understand how she could simultaneously have such good and bad luck all at once.

The past few years after the defeat of Voldemort had been relaxing. She had gone back to school with Ron and Hermione for their last year, passed their NEWTS, then took some time off to help raise Teddy until he was old enough for preschool. She'd joined an anonymous support group with Hermione for survivors after the war, and focused on just being happy for the first time in her life. Harriet had gone to Weasley family dinners and been Maid of Honor and Best Woman at Ron and Hermione's wedding. She had babysat Fleur and Bill's child and for a while, it had been blissful. Until the restlessness settled in.

When Kingsley had come to her a little after her nineteenth birthday with a pamphlet titled Joining the Auror Corps, she had already known what she would say. The physical training and spellcasting had been easy. The rest had been difficult, frustrating, and also extremely fascinating.

She had learned how to pick up clues, both magical and mundane, from a crime scene. She'd discovered how to control her temper (something she still struggled with from time to time) while tracking and apprehending a suspect. Interrogation techniques, survival training, basic field healing, and first aid - these were all skills that made sense for an Auror to have, but that she'd never really considered before.

Eight months of training, and then she'd been put on the Ministry's new Dark Wizard Strike Team as the rookie. It wasn't her first choice despite the catchy name and the fact that she was working with the best of the best. The new team had garnered a lot of press and attention after Kingsley had dubbed it the first defense against the rise of new dark wizards.

The twenty-person team had been more than just heavy hitters. Five of them were for analysis alone, led by none other than Hermione Granger. She had spent three years getting a degree in muggle statistics and criminology along with her Masters in Transfiguration and Arithmancy before joining the team. Harriet still shuddered at the memories of color-coded charts and time turners.

Hermione's team had used their numbers and research to set up markers that would help identify groups of people and individuals that seemed to be causing the same sort of problems Grindelwald and Voldemort had at the beginning of their reigns. It was all very complicated and over Harriet's head but she understood enough to know it was groundbreaking.

Ron had been second-in-command of the whole squad - already a rising star for his strategies and steady hand. For once in their lives, it had been Hermione and Ron that were taking the spotlight and Harriet had enjoyed it immensely. They'd only tried to put her in front of the press once and it had been such a disaster that their squad leader, Hansley, had laughed himself silly for about thirty minutes before telling the higher-ups that they'd be going back to their original press liaison.

So Harriet's fear of being nothing more than a poster girl finally abated and after three months the rest of the squad had started to see her as Harriet instead of the Girl-Who-Lived. It was refreshing and she was as happy as she could be.

Then a dark wizard they'd been tracking for weeks had thrown that thrice-cursed statue at her right as she'd sent a stunner his way. When the two collided there was a burst of light, then she was being squeezed and pulled in a way that felt a lot like apparition except much, much worse.

When she had woken up she was alone, it was raining, and the landscape had completely changed. Its most distinguishing feature was the rocks everywhere, with barely any vegetation in sight. For a few days, she had stayed where she was, waiting for a rescue team while she studied the now-cracked statue that she assumed had brought her here. She had sent out her Patronus with a message twice a day but each time it returned, unsuccessful. Harriet didn't even want to think about what that meant.

The statue had been in the shape of a lion but was now blackened and cracked down the middle and completely mundane. Harriet had used every diagnostic spell she had been taught in training and it was, without a doubt, just a statue now. It was either been a one-use artifact or it had reacted badly with her stunner. It wouldn't be taking her back home.

On the fourth day, she was attacked by large, muscled men yelling at her in an unknown language. Her wards had protected her from their massive attacks of fire, lightning, and water but the amount of destruction they were capable of was mind-boggling. She had quickly packed up her belongings and then gotten the hell out of there.

They had attacked twice more before she'd given up on rescue and started putting Notice-Me-Not wards up at night.

The landscape had changed from rocks and mountains to flat, grassy land and that was where she had come upon a man and two children being attacked by more of the superhumans.

There was no way she could watch them kill two small children while their father sobbed and pleaded for their lives feet away. So now she had two terrified kids and their half-dead father in her tent. The children's eyes had widened in disbelief when they discovered the inside of the tent was larger than the outside. It wasn't anything too fancy - a bunker, really, with five beds, a small kitchen, and a bathroom with three shower stalls and a sink.

Thankfully, it was well stocked with first aid materials, and so after some quick cleaning spells which made the children gasp with delight, she set herself to healing the man's wounds as best she could. He was older, probably in his fifties, and in fairly good shape. He didn't have the muscle definition to be a fighter but he obviously did some form of exercise.

A blood replenishing potion was all she dared to give him since she wasn't sure of what could be paired with what without causing unintended side effects. Her healing spells were more for stabilization of a wound until somebody could be brought to a real healer but she used them to stop the bleeding of the ugly gash on his thigh before she gritted her teeth and added stitches. She'd learned how to do that at the muggle first aid classes Hermione had demanded their strike team attend.

Finally, she covered it with a paste to combat infection and increase healing speed and wrapped it before covering him up and turning to her two other charges. She knelt down and gave them a soft smile. They were adorable and obviously twins, with dark hair and eyes.

"Hello," she said. "My name's Harriet Potter. Who are you?"

The girl frowned and they turned to each other and spoke in their language. They then turned back to her and the girl said something in an urgent tone, but Harriet could only shake her head. Seeing that they were shivering from the rain and mud she motioned for them to follow her. She went to a trunk and rummaged around until she found two large sweaters that she thought might work for them.

Their trusting eyes followed her and she resolved to give them a stranger danger talk as soon as she figured out their language. She led them to the showers and turned one on. Their eyes widened and she mimed washing, showing them the soap, then made sure they saw her pile some towels and the sweaters and socks on a bench.

The little girl gave a determined nod and dragged her brother into the showers. Harriet turned to give them privacy while they bathed and moved into the other room to do her own cleaning up.