THE WITCH

By: Misuto

Set: HP&HBP and Chrestomanci, about a month before Conrad's Fate.

Disclaimers: Based on the works of J.K Rowling and Diana Wynne Jones.

Length: 5 chapters

A/N: This is one of a 3 part series titled The Enchanter, the Alchemist and the Witch. but I warn you it will be a while before the other parts are finished and this one is by far the most light-hearted of them all. I'd also like to point out how incredibly difficult Christopher is to write. I just don't have the wit and sarcasm that Jones is capable of to do him justice but I tried.

I did my best at catching spelling and grammar mistakes but if I missed any, please let me know!

PROLOGUE

Christopher stood in the snow on the edge of the property and contemplated the ruins with a critical eye. The place was so heavily laden with misdirection spells that he could actually see them. It was a wonder they didn't squash the place flat.

The gypsies had stopped just outside of a small village.

We leave in five days! The bearded man had told him roughly.

At least, that's what he thought the man had said. To be honest, Christopher was still getting a grasp on their language. He knew right away that Millie wasn't here and had never been here and was eager to move on but they were not travelling by his schedule so he just had to wait. But waiting was boring.

So he went exploring instead.

Despite being worried for his friend, he was loving every minute of his new found freedom. He felt like a kid again, when he used to go explore the Anywheres at night. It was great to do the things he wanted to do without dry, old enchanters breathing down his neck. He made a face at the thought of his mentor.

De Witt can go stuff it!

He spotted the ruins from the village and just had to check it out.

Now, standing by a pile of stones he guessed had once been a gate house, he could see that it wasn't really a ruin at all. That was just an illusion and a rather weak one at that.

He figured most of the security came from the misdirection spells. They were woven together into a sort of blanket in quite a masterful way and he could see bits of other spells worked in as well. Suggestive spells, displacement spells, memory spells and others that he couldn't quite tell what they were for. He knew one thing with certainty, though. They were very old spells. And decently powerful as well.

Still, he put his hands out cautiously and taking a handful of the spell blanket in both hands, ripped it gently with ease. Once the tear was big enough, he slipped through and stitched it back up from the inside. Christopher made a face at his crude stitching and hoped that nobody would notice.

WEDNESDAY

The Hufflepuff Boy

They stood in a huddled half circle in the snow and watched as Professor Hagrid explained to them the proper way to treat an injured thestral's wing. Luna paid close attention, even if she was only sketching the animal instead of writing notes. She remembered things better that way anyway.

Her classmates, on the other hand, were less than impressed. Less than half of them could actually see the thestral and those that could looked repulsed at what they could see. She tried to ignore the mean things the students behind her were whispering to one another. She knew that most of them were thinking of the warmth of the Great Hall and their dinner, which would be served in an hour.

Professor Hagrid was slowly losing coherence as his students looked back at him with blank faces and bored expressions. She felt sorry for him, a little. She knew he was a good caretaker. He loved animals and was always very gentle with them. He was very knowledgeable of the subject of care of magical creatures but not especially good at teaching.

"Right then!" he said clapping his massive hands together. "Who wants ter volunteer?" he asked. No one moved. He scanned their faces desperately and his eyes landed on Luna.

"Luna, why don't you come up here and give me a hand!"

The students parted to let her pass, giggling behind her back. Hagrid often chose her for this sort of thing because she was easily the best student in this class. She smiled kindly at him and did what he asked. As he continued his lecture, she scanned the faces of her classmates dreamily.

There was one Slytherin and a couple each of Ravenclaws (not including herself) and Gryffindors with Hufflepuffs making up the bulk of the class. The four houses were scheduled together this year because, Care of Magical Creatures being an elective, there were less students taking it. It was a small group overall, maybe a dozen.

Her eyes swept over their familiar faces and one face that was not so familiar. She locked eyes with a tall, dark haired boy at the very back of the class and for a second, she could have sworn that he was wearing an expensive looking pale blue coat with a soft ivory scarf and matching mittens. But when she looked again, the boy was wearing the black and yellow robes of his house.

And she wondered why she had ever thought he was anything but a Hufflepuff.

When the lesson was over, the group began trudging their way back to the castle, eager to get out of the cold. Her eyes found the tall boy, who was sticking close to the group of Hufflepuffs, watching them closely. She shook her head. Surely she had imagined the look on his face that made him seem as if he had no idea what he was doing there.

He sat with them at dinner, chatting amiably and Luna watched him thinking there was something off about that boy. But then her thoughts wandered away again. She noticed that the Headmaster was absent again and wondered if he was ill.

She ate her dinner lost in her own thoughts and no one spoke to her. She had potions after dinner with the Gryffindors. She actually liked potions this year, now that Professor Slughorn was teaching it. By the time she made her way up to the Ravenclaw common room that night, Luna had quite forgotten about the boy entirely.