The Empty Chamber (Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfiction)

Chapter 1: Alice

Alice Beck couldn't explain why, in fourth grade, when she tried to blow out the candles on her birthday cake, she caught her kitchen table on fire. She also couldn't explain why the neighbor's cats followed her around with oddly dedicated interest, or how she had once held her breath under water for ten minutes at a pool party. Alice could explain photosynthesis, metaphors, and other things she'd studied in school devotedly.

Alice was in love with explanations. Most everything she encountered she tried to understand, because leaving a question unanswered felt empty and quite frankly wrong, much like having glasses frames without lenses. The exceptions to her philosophy were her inexplicable accidents. Ordinary girls couldn't accidentally turn their hair blue for a day. While Alice never aimed to be completely normal, she didn't want people to catch onto the peculiar incidents that surrounded her. She would like to stay out of an asylum, thank you very much.

But someone, far way from her forested town in Somerset, silently had taken note that she wasn't typical. This woman had a stern expression and gray hair pulled back into a tight bun. After watching Alice's potential for years, McGonagall wrote "Alice Beck" at the bottom of her list.

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This particular June morning, Alice woke with uneven kinks in her long brown hair. It wasn't until after Alice had slipped into the embarrassingly flowery blue shirt and pink shorts strewn on her floor that she realized she had not risen naturally. Rather, she had awoken to the sound of a loud, articulate knock at her front door.

As she made her way into the hall and down the stairs, she wondered how long this patient visitor had been been knocking. Her parents were at her younger sister's horseback riding competition, and Alice knew she could have slept through a trumpet fanfare in her kitchen, so this guest may have been waiting for hours. It can't be a murderer, she thought to herself, because a murderer would have broken in if I took too long to answer. Well, really, a murderer wouldn't have knocked at all. As this was all that seemed to matter to her sleep-addled mind, Alice sighed and opened her red front door.

Standing before her was a tall, strict-looking woman with hair tied tight in a bun. She donned thin, rectangular glasses and billowing emerald robes. On anyone else, the get-up would have looked ridiculous, but this woman looked nothing short of severe. "Good morning, Ms. Beck," the lady said in a very formal tone. "My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall." Professor McGonagall looked expectantly at Alice, but Alice couldn't quite arrange her stunned thoughts into actions. "May I step inside?"

Alice took a startled step back and, too intrigued to say no, said in a rush, "sure." She cringed at her language. "Have a seat," she said this in an obviously uncomfortable tone, and scurried forward to show Professor McGonagall to the living room.

"Are your parents home?" the strange lady asked, glancing around the house. Now this wasn't a question Alice felt quite ready to answer, but as the woman was already in her home, she gave in.

"No, it's just me right now," she said quickly.

"Hmm," the tall professor noted with slight dismay. "I'd prefer to talk to them in person." She added quietly, as if to herself, "But this isn't the only family I have to talk today." Professor McGonagall shook her head, and looked Alice directly in the eyes. "Ms. Beck, this conversation will sound very strange, but I assure you everything I say is true. Now, have you ever noticed odd things happen around you?"

Was this some sort of test? Did this professor in green robes intend to lock her away? She'd tried so hard to fit in, she tried to be ordinary! "No," Alice said firmly, "I'm completely normal!" Although she sounded strong, her heart was pounding violently, and her head felt like it was filling with helium.