Chapter 68 - Reunion with Natty

***** Regular Chapter ***** A/N: Forgot to mention last chapter, but I took a Weekend break, as I was out in the country visiting my parents. Long time readers know already, but they have terrible internet ahaha... Even just liking and replying to comments on my story was like a 30 min affair lmfao. But ya I'm back and landed in the city again, Posting from my phone and back to regular releases. Oh and ya, regarding the story... you guys will see soon, but things are gonna start heating up *****

"NATTY!?!"

Khan called out in happy surprise.

Although he knew that his friend was Dumbledore's mentor, he was still quite surprised so see her here during the school year!

He had intended to visit her in Africa the following Summer, as he figured she would be too old to make the trip.

Looking at his friend however, as she slammed open the door and strode in ahead of her protégé Dumbledore, heading straight for him and Fleur, he saw that she did not appear too old to make the trip, and on the contrary, looked quite good for her age. Looking her over, Jordan noticed that she was clad in African Robes making her appear as if she was African Royalty.

The robes itself were dark green in color, with decorative gold patterns highlighting her African heritage. Matching this robe, Natty looked to be wearing complimenting Golden necklaces, adorned with giant emeralds, complete with a Golden headpiece also adorned with giant emeralds, covering her hair, and completing her 'African Royalty' look.

* A/N: Think like Black Panther and Queen Ramonda *

Looking like an older version of her mother, Mudiwa Onai his old Divination teacher, Natsai funnily enough still looked younger than Dumbledore, even as his mentor.

Other than the wrinkles present on her face, it seemed she had aged quite gracefully, appearing to look more like a middle-aged witch, rather than a senior one.

Similar to her mother, she had a commanding presence demanding respect from any room in which she entered.

Carrying a giant staff, adorned with a horned antelope skull, it seemed she had also acquired the skill to cast spells with powerful battle staffs, and not just wandless/with a wand.

She strode powerfully and with purpose, looking even more imposing with Dumbledore marching behind her.

Dumbledore himself, appeared quite different, and not just because of the appearance of his mentor. He had given himself a haircut, trimming not just his long head of hair, but also his beard. Wearing a ministry suit, with his 'Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards Robes on overtop, he appeared decades younger, looking quite professional, walking in behind Natty.

The entire student body fell silent, with the sudden appearance of their missing headmaster accompanied by this unknown witch, watching the spectacle occur before them.

Natsai and Dumbledore strode right up to Khan and Fleur, who were still standing in the aisle, close by the Gryffindor table where Hermione and Harry were seated, before coming to a stop.

"Natty! You're here!" Khan was excited to actually meet someone from his past. Although he had slowly gotten used to this current era, and even made some close friends, it was still quite comforting to actually re-meet one of his best friends from his previous era.

Fleur meanwhile, was looking at Jordan in pleasant surprise from his side. She was previously in the middle of calming him down due to his rage at Rita's fraudulent article.

But now, suddenly, with the appearance of Headmaster Dumbledore, and this unknown witch who Jordan somehow knew, his mood had appeared to have flipped on his head, going from upset, to visibly happy, his face wide with a handsome smile.

Who was this 'Natty' woman?

* TAP TAP *

Fleur and Khan watched, as Natsai proceeded to tap her Staff twice, casting some sort of spell, proceeding to create a translucent barrier to pop-up, keeping the 4 of them in some sort of transparent dome.

'What is she doi-' He cut himself off as he grew wide-eyed looking through the dome, towards the students outside. He figured it was some sort of privacy spell, but needless to say, he was not expecting that.

"Holy shit!" Khan looked through the transparent done in shock, as it appeared that the students outside were all frozen in time, all of them stopped mid motion.

Khan even saw Ron stopped mid-shovel, proving that this must be a time stopping spell, knowing that nothing other than magic, would be able to stop the gluttonous boy from his next bite of food.

He turned back to his friend, about to compliment her powerful display of magic, before he noticed the look on her face.

* TAP TAP *

Fleur watched from the side, in slight shock now, as Natsai tapped her staff twice more, binding Khan in some sort of invisible binding spell, his 4 limbs pulled by imaginary ropes, lifting him up in the air in front of her, making him look like a human star.

"Who the hell are you? You dare to use my dearest friend's form in front of me, you fiend?" She bellowed, yelling directly in Jordan's face.

She had originally come with little Albus, since he had insisted that she would have a nice 'reunion' with an old friend, if she came to Hogwarts.

She figured it was Poppy, finally reappearing after going underground. Natty had confidence in her old friend, that she wouldn't lose to some two-bit wanna-be hack dark lord like this Tom Rid- Voldemort.

To see that it was her dead friend..... was an unpleasant surprise.

"Natty.... Its me... Jordan!" Khan struggled attempting to get out of his bindings, to no avail.

"You cannot be him....." She replied simply. "Your magical signature is not the same."

Natty was quite the powerful witch still, even in her retirement from headmistress of Uagadou, and as a result, was very sensitive to magic and magical signatures.

She would never forget her best friend Jordan Khan, and his magical signature, and being close enough to feel his magic, she could now tell that it was not the same.

If she had to describe the feeling, while Jordan's magic felt like 'orderly' wave of power previously, this magic she felt now, off this 'Jordan-lookalike', felt much more 'chaotic' in nature.

"Now, who are you, and why are you imitating my closest friend?" Natsai demanded, looking quite intimidating, raising her staff about to tap the floor twice more in what Khan assumed would be an activation of another spell.

"It's me Natty I swear! I rescued you and Mr. Rabe from the Ashwinders!" Khan hurriedly replied. "You left me your wand on the docks as a clue when they took you, since you could do wandless magic!"

That appeared to halt the descent of her staff, with Natty raising her eyebrows in recognition of the story.

She had never told anyone that particular story, as she felt quite ashamed that she had been captured and had to be rescued, like some damsel in distress.

"Jordan? Is it truly you, my friend?" She asked hesitantly, her African accent around the words 'my friend' reminding Jordan strangely of old times. "I had a view visions, but I thought it was just my grief resurfacing..."

She walked up to him, hesitantly raising up her hand to his face.

"Ms. Natsai... it's really Lord Jordan Khan." The forgotten Dumbledore, decided to finally help and reassure his mentor. "Fawkes and I have even met his phoe-."

Khan watched as Natty displayed her seniority, cutting off Dumbledore with a simple turn of her head, glaring at him, before turning back to Jordan.

Khan decided to further prove himself to his old friend, knowing that his sudden appearance might shock her. "It's me Natty.... The last time we spoke, you had just taken a Cruciatus curse for me, and were recovering in the Medical wing."

Thinking about that heartfelt epitaph he had read from his three best friends, he could understand her hesitancy to believe it was truly him.

"We had even discussed your father's death at the time, and you not blaming yours-"

*SMACK*

Natty reached out suddenly and slapped Jordan right on the face, cutting him off and subsequently knocking him out of his binding spell, resulting him in falling in a heap on the floor.

"You stupid bastard! I mourned you!" Natsai cried out, now believing this to really be her old friend. "Who asked you to go and sacrifice yourself?"

"I'm Sor-"

"Don't you know that we would've helped you?" She cut him off, clearly intent on finishing her rant. "You had at the very least, Poppy, Sebastian, and myself available! To say nothing of the numerous other students you have helped over that year!"

"I get out of the hospital, happy that we finally dispatched the leader of the Ashwinders, only to find out that you had gone off on another adventure!" Natty continued. "I couldn't even wish you good luck!"

"And then, a few days later, I am being informed from my own mother, that my best friend, who just helped me get over my own father's death, is now dead, defending Hogwarts against invading Goblins."

"I'm Sor-"

"How do you think I felt? How do you think Poppy and Sebastian felt? You just dying on us! Without so much of a message. Couldn't even think to even say, 'Oh ya guys.... by the way, there's a force of goblins invading Hogwarts. I need to help defend the castle.'"

"Why the hell are you here anyways? Do you know how much your appearance will complicate things? How did you even get here?" Natty finally finished her rant in a huff, questioning the wide-eyed Khan.

Needless to say, Natty was quite upset as evidenced by her rant just now, with over 100 years of pent up feelings finally gushing out of her.

"I'm truly sorry, my friend." Khan had finally gotten to his feet, after his fall from his bindings, Fleur helping him up of course, holding on to his arm.

"But You were still recovering in the Medical ward from the after effects of the cruciatus curse, and Sebastian was not in his right mind still after his uncle passed away. I simply did not want to worry you or Sebastian, while the two of you were recovering." He explained.

"And as for how I got here.... well, that's an interesting story."

*****

"Slow down.... You're going to choke!" Fleur attempted to slow to Jordan, who was currently shoveling food into his mouth like an animal.

Fleur, as she stated earlier that morning, had come to pick him up from his last class of the day, and was now accompanying him to dinner, as expected.

For Khan, well.... he was quite impatient and was feeling like the rest of the day had passed by quite slowly.

After his reunion with Natty earlier that morning, and his subsequent explanation of the unique set of circumstances that led to him stuck in his magical coma, she had released her spell over the rest of the students, and left towards the Headmaster's Office, accompanied of course by 'Little Albus', as she so lovingly called him.

She and the headmaster, apparently had some important work to get to, and that he should join them after his daily responsibilities were completed, since 'his appearance would now throw in some previously unknown variables', as she put it.

Khan, unfortunately, could not skip classes as he was a Full-time replacement professor while Moody recovered.

Luckily he was finishing his classes earlier that day with his last period being a 'free-period' for Khan.

Jordan was looking forward to finding Natty after his classes, but Fleur had picked him up as she said she would.

And while this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, Fleur had become quite forceful, even going to far as to sit down and force him to study for his upcoming OWLs first.

And now she was forcing him to eat dinner!

He just wanted to find his old friend and catch up with her.... was that so wrong?

As a result, he was currently giving Ron a run for his money, with how quickly he was eating, in his haste to finish his food and join his old friend, & the headmaster.

"Jordan..... She's not going anywhere. She just arrived." Fleur placated her husba- Khan. "Just finish your food, and we'll go find her ok? No need to ru-"

"Done!" He slammed down his fork, in announcement of his completion. "Can we go now?"

Khan looked over to Fleur, smile wide on his face, in expectation of seeing his old friend again.

She just shook her head in slight amusement of Jordan's childlike tendencies. Maybe it was her love for him, but she found things like that endearing.

"Alright.... Let us go then." Fleur rose to her feet, finally acquiescing to his desires and agreeing to find his friend.

She watched as he grew more excited, springing to his feet, even taking initiative to grab her hand, holding it tightly.

"Come along Fleur!"

Khan summoned out Sol, as she flashed into existence directly on his shoulder.

Khan was indeed very excited to see Natty again, even summoning out Sol, to directly teleport them to Dumbledore's office.

He couldn't help but wonder how powerful she had become over the past 100 years, especially with that powerful display of magic in the Great Hall just that morning.

"Time to find out what she's been up to!"