chapters 4,5and6
Chapter 4 - what
“24 high quality telescopes ordered. Sev, can you take the old ones to storage please, and take that sad excuse for a solar system display too.”
“Anything else while I'm at it? or is that it?”
“That should be it for now, all I have left to do is sort out the ordering of the books and repainting everything, which can easily be done with magic. Though I would like to inquire about what colours to use. Blue, black and gold obviously, but I feel like there should be a few more, maybe a bit of white.”
“Geen and maroon?”
“Yes, yes that is it, thank you Sev, now be on your way to storage.”
“Which one of us is the older sibli-”
Closing the door behind him cut off what he was saying, but I could make an accurate guess. Sitting down to review the list of students after having only skimmed through it earlier, I was annoyed to see the name Weasley. If he was anything like his parents or siblings, I believe it would be very likely that he’d be my least favourite student. I just hope he at least knows boundaries.
~ Time skip ~
The repainting was almost done by the time Sev made it back, and judging from his annoyed grumbling, his way back was not unimpeded.
“What happened?”
“Dumbledore happened.”
“Ahh, ok. What did he do now?”
“Bloody b*stard was probing me for a good half hour about you. You’d think with him being the greatest wizard of the current time, he’d have the guts to just talk to you himself!”
“Anyone with half a brain would know that Dumbledore will either stay as far away from the chaos, or be right in the middle of it. And for some reason he decided to use you as the middleman in our case.”
“Hmm, oh thank you Tulip.”
“What is that?”
“A letter from Uncle.”
“Wait, you did tell him that you are going to start working at Hogwarts, right?”
“Sh*t”
‘’Dear Sileas,
It is a momentous occasion, our dear Shoji has made a friend and invited them over. It has been 6 years since I took him in, and this is the first time he has invited anyone over. Their name is Dominic and he's the exact same age as Shoji, so they will be attending Hogwarts at the same time next year! Isn't this just splendid! Shoji wishes to introduce him to you and Sev. So at your latest convenience, please drop by.
From your loving Uncle,
Alexander.’’
We both sat there for a good solid minute, soaking in what we had just read. Sev was the first to break our silence.
“What! Really?! Did I just read that right! Shoji invited someone over! He's never done that before. It took years for him to feel comfortable around us!”
“I know, right! Who the hell is this Dominic kid?!”
And they then proceeded to lose their minds for the next 3 hours.
Chapter 5 - i don't see the problem
Trying to figure out how to tell your Uncle about your new job was surprisingly more difficult than you would think. I had already crumpled up and thrown away my first 23 attempts. Deciding that a blunt straight to the point letter was the best way to go about this, I started to work on my 24th attempt.
Dear Uncle,
I have been offered a job at Hogwarts and was regrettably coerced into taking it, by none other than our dear Severus. We will gladly come over on the weekend to meet this Dominic kid. Please keep all of your questions for an in-person meeting.
Love Sìleas
That should be good enough right? Yeah, let's just send this before I change my mind. Passing the letter to Tulip, I watched as she jumped off the desk and seemingly disappeared. It was truly strange, the concept of a teleporting cat, but she was a gift from my parents and they were anything but normal, even in the bounds of the wizarding world. Not wishing to dwell on the memories, I got up from my seat to continue with the paint job.
“Sìleas, are you done yet? It is almost time for dinner, and I’m not going to let you skip out on a meal again.”
“Give me one more minute and I'll be right there.”
~ 10 minutes later ~
“Ok, that's it, I’m taking you there kicking and screaming, whether you like it or not.”
“Seeeeeeeeeeev come on, I am almost done.”
“I don't care, besides, you always say that and then never end up eating, but now that you are here at Hogwarts, you will eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
“Oh Sev, you sound like Uncle.”
“And he is an excellent caretaker so that is a compliment, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, yeah, stop dragging me, I can walk”
“Get to it then, the dining hall is quite the walk from here.”
“I understand the reasoning for not being able to apparate in and out of Hogwarts, but you should be able to apparate around the damn place, it is literally a castle for Merlin's sake.”
“You’ve been going at the same argument for years now. We both know that The Ministry is just too lazy and paranoid to do anything about it.”
“Curse you Ministry of Magic, you heathens.”
“Now those are some strong words there, you two. Best be careful about who hears you.”
“Oh shut it, ya pompous pr*ck, I ain't in the mood to hear your voice.”
“Sìleas! Shut up! Hi–Dumbledore, aren't you supposed to be in the diner hall?”
“... why yes, but you see I was just on my way to check up on you two. It had been around 10 minutes since you went off to retrieve your sister, and I couldn't help but worry.”
“You mean you were hmph-”
“Why thank you for your concern Dumbledore, but as you see we are quite alright. We will be on our way now, goodbye.”
~ Time skip ~
“What was that Sìleas? You can't just say that!”
“It’s not like I haven't spoken to him like that before, in fact it is the only way I have ever spoken to him, and so it would be weirder to not talk to him like that.”
“The last time you spoke to him was during your graduation, and you just stared at him until he gave you your certificate.”
“Yeah, and I would have liked to have kept it that way. The whole reason I'm here now is because of Harry, and if Dumbledore had just let Uncle take him in instead of giving him to those muggles, I wouldn't be here. So I feel like I have every right to be mad at him, and he knows it”
“Still, we are in a professional setting, and there are going to be students who will see your behaviour and think it is okay to talk to their teachers like that.”
“Exactly, There will be students here, and when they are here, I will do my best to ignore the ol’ wise-acre. But for now I will curse him out as I please.”
“Fine, just don't do anything that will get you into too much trouble.”
“I promise, and we're here, so let's just eat our troubles away for now.”
“Yeah I need a break from all this stress.”
Food is something that can solve all of our problems, even if only temporarily.
Chapter 6 - meeting at last
~ Way later on ~
“Hagrid, do you have a minute? I need to talk to you about something.”
“Ah, Sìleas, what is it that you need?”
“It's about Harry, you see. I would like to take your place in showing Harry around Diagon Alley, and before you say anything about wanting to meet him, you can still go and tell him about him being a wizard. The Dursleys have definitely been taking the letters away. It would be for the best anyway, Petunia would definitely recognise me or Sev, and I do not want to deal with that.”
“I suppose I can do that. I understand that you were friends with his parents and you must want to see him. You know Diagon Alley better than me anyway.”
“Thank you Hagrid, it means more than you know.”
“I don't doubt that. I'll tell him that a close friend of his parents will be helping him out with school shopping.”
“Thanks again Hagrid.”
~ Time skip ~
“Oh—Seeeeeev—-I have a surprise for yoooou—-”
“What in Merlin's name have you done now?”
“Nothing bad, I promise. Just that you now have to chaperone Draco whilst getting school supplies-’’
“you what!”
‘’-before you yell at me even further it is all part of my plan to liason a friendship between Harry and Draco.You see, I have just acquired the task of taking Harry shopping and whatnot, and thought that this would be a great time for you and Harry to meet, but I needed an excuse to get you in Diagon Alley and so, here we are.”
“I need a moment to process this.”
…
“Processing done?”
*Bonk*
“Ow! No need to throw a book at me.”
“When is this going to happen?”
“The day after tomorrow…. Don’t slouch like that, it's bad for your back.”
~ Time skip ~
“Looks like Draco arrived first. You lost the bet. Now Give me my 20 Sikles.”
“Uncle Severus, Aunty Sìleas,”Draco greeted ecstatically.
“Heya Pipsqueak, long time no see, I got you something. See it as a gift for your first day at Hogwarts.”
“What is it?”
“Open the box and you'll find out.”
“Whoa, it's beautiful.”
“Enchanted too. The gemstones used for the locket are really rare, and have the power to give one luck; it's like the Felix Felicis potion, but permanent.”
“Like the ones you and your family have?”
“Exactly. I actually asked your father to help with the design so that it would be more personal.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, this is the best gift ever!”
“We’d best get going now, or else we'll never get any shopping done.”
“We can regroup in a while for lunch then. See you later.”
“Bye Aunty, I'll make sure to pick clothes that compliment your gift.”
As the door closed behind them I turned back to my seat and continued drinking my tea in wait for my own charge.
“Um, you are Sìleas?”
“Ah, you're here! And yes I am. It's wonderful to finally meet you, Harry.”