Chapter 7
Curious
Leilani wouldn’t let the confrontation with a vampire bother her. Don’t get her wrong, she will be practicing Constant Vigilance from now on. Never going anywhere without her wand, and not going out after dark alone. Lei will not be caught off guard again, if she could help it. She decided to charm a piece of jewelry into a portkey to her home in case of emergencies.
She was going through her Mokeskin bag the next morning, looking through everything when Lei pulled out the Marauder’s Map. Lei was reminded of a conversation she had with Ron and Hermione while they were on the run. They had the map opened on the small table inside their tent, watching the students, particularly Ginny. The three had questioned if a map could be created for the Ministry of Magic, or possibly the British Wizarding World. “A map like that would ease our minds of everyone’s whereabouts whether good or bad,” Hermione said what the other two were thinking.
The idea to construct a map of Mystic Falls seems like a good one. Lei brought the map to Hermione in the library, “I have an idea.” Hermione set the book she was currently reading down and gave Lei her full attention. Lei handed her the map, “What if we built a Mystic Falls map? It would be almost identical, but when a person’s name is displayed it would be in different colors depending on their species. Black for humans, red for vampires, blue for werewolves, green for witches, and maybe purple for unknown.” Hermione sat back in her comfy armchair in thought. “That is a good idea but it will take a lot of work, and we would need to map out the entire town. Plus the additional spellwork for the species identification. I don’t know Lei,” Hermione said.
Lei sat down in the chair next to Hermione. “What if I got help from the students to map out the town? I could say it’s for extra credit,” Lei shrugged her shoulders. She already had a few students in mind. “That could work. At least speed up the process. We need the map first. While you’re concentrating on mapping out the town, I’ll do the research for the additional spells,” Hermione pulled her wand out of her messy bun and waved it over the book she was reading to put it back on its shelf. Then she waved it again to call forth all the books she would need for the spells to be cast on the map. Lei stood up to get ready for the day. She was going to start the map in the town center.
A small, grassy courtyard marked the center of the town. Making it conveniently easy for Lei to start the rough sketches of the map, as well as carving the runes needed to label each geographical location. The runes were carved into the base of a tree at each of the main compass points. Lei took her time with each task so she didn’t make any mistakes or gain any attention from passersby. She had finished the last rune and was putting away her sketchbook when someone grasped her wrist.
Looking at the hand around her wrist then up to who it belonged to, “Hullo, Stefan. How are you?” He didn’t answer her question, only asking one of his own, “What were you doing?” Stefan was walking to the Grill when he spotted Miss Evans carving a weird symbol at the base of a tree. Damon’s injury and what he said about Miss Evans has Stefan wondering who this woman really is? Lei answered after Stefan let go of her wrist, “I was sketching this park.” Stefan raised an eyebrow in suspicion, leaned down a little to look at the symbol on the tree, “Then what is that?” “A marking on a tree,” Lei gave a vague answer. “I see that. What’s it mean? I saw you carve it,” Now Stefan is really suspicious. Leilani was quiet as she thought about what she was going to say next. “Is there somewhere we can talk without someone listening in?”
Stefan turned to the Grill and saw Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie at a table outside trying to not look like they were spying on them. He focused back on the history teacher, his mind veering to his brother for a moment, knowing Damon would want to ask his own questions. Stefan didn’t say anything, he just grabbed her and sped to the front porch of his home. Stefan didn’t notice Elena standing from her seat and looking for him and Miss Evans. She grabbed her stuff, said goodbye to Caroline and Bonnie, and headed for the Salvatore Boarding House.
When they came to a stop he expected the woman to be nauseous or at least off-balanced from the speed, but she seemed fine. Now, he really wanted to know more about Miss Leilani Evans. Stefan opened the door and guided her inside. He spotted Damon pouring himself a drink, “Bourbon? This early?”
Damon just shrugged his shoulders as he raised the half-filled glass to his lips, his gaze fell to his brother and guest. Damon’s eyes narrowed, “What’s she doing here?” Stefan sighed, moving further into the house with Leilani following behind. “Have a seat,” Stefan gestured to one of the couches. Lei sat down with the brothers facing her on a couch opposite her. She was looking down at her hands, thinking of what she could and couldn’t tell them before remembering there’s no Ministry in this dimension.
Taking a deep breath, Lei begins, “What I am about to tell you both does not leave this room.” Both Damon and Stefan nod their heads, only paying attention to her. “Okay, I’m just going to come right out and say it. Hermione and I are witches, Fenrir is a wizard, and we’re not from this dimension.” Lei waits for some kind of reaction. Hearing laughter from the both of them wasn’t surprising. “I’ll prove it,” Leilani pulled her wand out of its holster and cast her Patronus. The massive buck shot out the tip of her wand and galloped around the room before stopping in front of Lei.
A feeling of happiness, warmth, and safety came from Lei’s Patronus filled the room. The bright, silver buck stood tall waiting for orders, “Send a message to Hermione.” The buck opened its mouth ready to receive the message, “Both you and Fenrir are needed for proper introductions at the Salvatore Boarding House.” Lei indicated she was finished, they all watched her Patronus disappear through the wall on its way to deliver the message. Leaving the room feeling colder, and dull.
Stefan and Damon were speechless, they didn’t know how to feel about what they saw. Lei looked at the brothers' stunned faces. She noticed the area on Damon’s neck where she scorched him. Lei stood up, reached into her Mokeskin and pulled out some bruise paste, and moved to sit on the coffee table in front of Damon. “What are you doing?” Damon was skittish about her being so close to him. Lei opened the jar, scooping a small dab on her finger, “It’s bruise paste. That mark will be gone in an hour.” Lei set the jar down on the table, using her free hand to lift his chin, and gently applied the paste to the bruise. “It’s not who you chose, it’s who you chose. Caroline Forbes is the cheer captain, popular girl who’s always on top of the latest fashion trends, and the daughter of the sheriff. If Caroline would have started to act differently, miss classes, and cheer practices, and started wearing scarfs that do not go with her outfit someone would have realized something’s up.”
Two loud, echoing cracks were heard outside the front of the boarding house, followed by a heavy knock. Lei got up, wiped her hands on her pants, and closed the jar, “That’s them. Would you mind?” Stefan snapped back to reality and answered the door. Lei could hear Hermione’s voice, “Hullo. May we come in?” Stefan nodded his head and stepped to the side. Hermione walked in first, Fenrir followed closely behind his wife. They all came into the room with Damon and Lei. Hermione gave Lei a look saying ‘what have you done now?’ Leilani moved back to the couch and sat on one side so the Fenrir could sit next to Hermione.
The vampires didn’t know what to say. Lei broke the awkward silence, “Hermione and Fenrir Greyback meet Damon and Stefan Salvatore.” They all awkwardly waved at each other. “Damon and Stefan are vampires. And like I said, Hermione and I are witches and Fenrir is a wizard. Questions?” Stefan asked, “A different dimension?” Hermione beat Lei to the answer, “Yes. We left our dimension.” “Did you choose to come to this one?” Stefan questions since Damon is still trying to process everything. Again, Hermione answered, “No, it was chosen at random.” Stefan was sitting on the edge of the couch now, “Why did you leave your dimension?” “That is a long story,” Lei quickly answered, and she was ready to go home. She had noticed Fenrir is uncomfortable around the vampires. Hermione agreed, “Maybe some other time we’ll tell you the whole story. For now, we have a map to build.”
“Map?” Stefan asked. Their guests are standing to leave. “Yes, that’s what I was doing. We are constructing a detailed map of Mystic Falls. It will be enchanted like this map here,” Lei pulled the Marauder’s Map out of her satchel. She handed it to Stefan, he unfolded the blank parchment. “It’s blank,” Stefan queried an eyebrow, his brother standing behind him. Leilani smiled then pulled her wand to the map, “I solemnly swear I’m up to no good.” The vampires watched as a map of Hogwarts manifested in front of their eyes. They watched a banner with a name written in it move above a pair of walking shoes down a hallway. Damon read the name aloud, “Minerva McGonagall.” Opening the map further to follow her path, another name came up, “Horace Slughorn.” Both banners enter a room labeled the Great Hall, “Too many names in this room to read them all.” Damon handed the map back to Lei, “Mischief Managed.” She folded it up and put it away, “Those two names were professors at our school, the many names were students in the Great Hall most likely.
“The map we’re constructing will be like that one. It would show the name and location of everyone in town, whether we know them or not. The longest part is going to be mapping out Mystic Falls. Which I was going to ask some students to help with to speed it up. Once that’s done, the enchantments won’t take long then we test it. If it works, we’ll be able to know who is where.” Lei looks over at the brothers, “Keep what you learned to yourselves for now. When we’re ready, we’ll tell you the whole story.” Stefan escorted the three of them to the front door. “We won’t tell anyone if you don’t tell anyone about us,” Stefan says, holding the door open. Fenrir kept quiet until now, “It’s not our place to say anything. However, keep the body count down, so you don’t expose yourself. Animal attacks can only be used so many times.” Fenrir looked over his shoulder at Damon, like he was directing that statement at him.
Stefan shut the door with a stunned expression from watching three people disappear in front of him. Damon had returned to the wet bar and poured two fingers worth in a tumbler for each of them. He was thinking about that map, if it worked he could find Katherine before even opening the tomb. Stefan came back into the room and sat down, his thoughts on what they just learned. Damon handed his little brother a tumbler of bourbon and sat in his spot. Neither wanted to disrupt the silence, when someone did it for them by knocking on the door.
Damon got up to answer, hiding his irritation with a smirk, “Hello, Elena. How can I help you?” She didn’t bother answering him, just pushed past him and approached Stefan, “Why were you with Miss Evans?” Stefan pinched the bridge of his nose while thinking of a lie, “She still feels like a newcomer here and wanted to get a tour of the town. So I offered to introduce her to Damon, thinking they might get along.” Elena didn’t buy that excuse for a moment, until she heard Damon, “Yeah, not likely.” Stefan quickly changed the subject and asked about Bonnie’s behavior towards him. Elena had asked Stefan over for dinner with her, Bonnie, and Caroline to try and lessen the tension.