16,17&18
Chapter 16 - Home.
Apparition is a quick and effective way of travel. Especially useful for visiting those who live in the countryside. Evangeline lived in a cottage surrounded by flower fields circled within a forest. A nice and quiet abode. A cobble pathway leading to the front door. Smoke coming from the chimney, a sign that Evangeline had already started cooking in anticipation of my arrival. Opening the door I was greeted by a wave of warm air and a purring cat wrapping round my ankles, it was Reathian (re-ay-th-e-an). Placing my coat and hat on the hall tree (a coat/hat rack) before leaning down to pick him up.
“Evangeline, I’m here.”
“Right on time, I’m almost done. Would you be a dear and set the table for me?”
“Why of course, my love.”
Navigating round the kitchen while making sure not to get in her way, was a familiar and comforting routine, placing the porcelain plates delicately on the table with practised ease. Cutlery and glass perfectly in place. You would assume I was an experienced maid with how precise I was.
“What have you made? It smells delicious.”
“Tuna pasta-bake with garlic bread, your favourite.”(It’s my favourite. But it's my story, so.)
“We just need to let it cool down for a few minutes and it’ll be ready to eat. In the meantime, do you want to tell me what's been going on with your new job?”
“Where do I begin? Let's see? It all started when Sev sent me a letter with a cryptic message about Lily and James's son Harry. He was the kid with glasses at the cafe with us. So I said yes, and now I'm a teacher. Had to almost completely redo the astronomy tower, it was honestly a joke. Then we met Dumbledore, had a spat, Sev dragged me away. Convinced Hagrid to let me chaperone Harry. Took him to gringotts to get his inheritance And then we went shopping, introduced him to Sev and Draco, then got his ears pierced, then went to the cafe, and you know what happened there, afterwards I walked Harry home, had a one sided shouting match with Petunia, and here I am. So not much as of now."
“Sounds like a lot to me.”
“Yeah but this all happened in a few weeks, so.”
“How did Alexander and Shoji react?”
“I don’t know, I sent them a letter and organised a date to visit, but beyond that, not much communication. They knew I was planning on proposing since they made the rings. But get this, Shoji has a friend and invited them over, the kid's name is Dominic if I recall correctly.”
“Really? Well that sure is unexpected, how long have they known each other?”
“This is the first time I've ever heard of the kid, so I ain't got a clue.”
“Hmm, well they're probably a kid with similar experiences for Shoji to feel comfortable bringing him home, maybe they bonded through that?”
“Maybe, I think they met at that old shrine. I used to take Shoji there whenever we needed a bit of space, I'm pretty sure he still goes there. It’s his safe spot and it might have been that of the kids too.”
“Probably, the food should be ok to eat now. Let's pick this conversation up again later.”
~ Time Skip ~
1st of September 1991
The time has come for all the students to return to the halls of Hogwarts and to welcome the new ones, but one stands out from the crowd. Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts is about to begin.
“I’m heading out to pick up Harry, see you on the weekend for our visit to Uncle and Shoji.”
“I’ll be waiting for you my dear, now have a good time and try not to kill Dumbledore, no matter how much he deserves it.”
“No promises.”
Before long, I was making my way down Privet Drive, a place that was even louder during the day. Spotting Harry waiting in the driveway, I called out.
“Looking forward to your first day at school?”
“Absolutely! I don't think I have ever had this much energy before. I’m ready to leave this place.”
“That's good news. Now follow me to your new home for the next 7 years of your life.”
With that, we made our way to Kings Cross Station. Jam packed with more people than should be humanly possible. With just enough of a gap around station 9 and 10 to be inconspicuous, but still usable. Why they had to put the entrance of the train to Hogwarts in the middle of a very public, and very busy muggle train station is beyond me, but you’ve got what you’ve got. Just before stepping out of the crowd I noticed a very familiar head of bushy ginger hair.
“Great, it just had to be the Weasleys.”
“The What’s?” Harry asked in blatant confusion.
“The most annoying and intrusive people ever. Will not take no for an answer. They’re just an ordinary wizarding family also attending Hogwarts, but I’d steer clear.”
“Will do.”
“Let's just wait for them to go in first.”
But to my dismay, the twins just had to call me out.
“Hey, isn't that the cool lady we met that time in Diagon Alley?”
“Who on earth are you blabbering about?”
I didn't have time to hide behind a column, Molly had already turned in the direction Fred was pointing in.
“Sileas, is that you? Why, I haven’t seen you since graduation? How are you doing?”
“Better, until you showed up.” I muttered under my breath “just fine, now if you can’t see, I have business to attend to, so I'll be on my way. Harry, you see that wall right there in between platform 9 and 10, it's just an illusion and you can pass right through so please follow me.”
Walking right past Molly and her gaggle of hellspawn. With Harry following closely behind, we passed through the wall with no problem, most likely as a result of the fact that Harry was too startled by the interaction to question my words.
“And here we are, the train to Hogwarts. I will be on the train with you as it would be unnecessary to take a Thestral carriage.” Harry looked at me with a questioning gaze, but I didn't elaborate. He will find out on his own.
Quickly making our way to the back of the train, we found a vacant compartment and took our seats. There was close to no foot traffic as we had grabbed the nearest compartment to the back, but there were a few who showed up back here. One expected and welcome, one not welcome at all, and one a surprise. The first was Draco, who undoubtedly knew I would take a compartment at the back, taking up shop next to me. The second was Ron who closed the door immediately after opening it and then the third was Hermione asking if we had seen a toad only to nearly pass out after seeing me. This was going to be a long ride.
Chapter 17 - Hogwarts
“Draco, Harry, the trolley witch is gonna come by soon so have your money ready if you want to buy something.”
“The trolly witch?”
“She comes by each compartment with a cart of sweets and you can take as much as you like, as long as you pay.”
“What would you recommend?”
“Whatever catches your eye, I hardly ever took anything from the trolley and whenever I did I just got the lemon sherbets. The only good idea Dumbledore has had.” After that I returned my head to the window, watching the fields and plains that flew past letting the boys get to know eachother better. Around half past twelve the trolley witch arrived and Harry, having not seen any of the sweets before, decided to get a few of everything. The amount of sweets made me feel rather sick. I never understood the childlike wonder of them. They were always too sweet for my taste. By the time I came back to the conversation Harry and Draco were having, they had already made their way down the line by a reasonable margin. They were now on the chocolate frogs. Having just explained the concept of the collectible cards to Harry, they both opened them to see which cards they had gotten.
Harry read out.
“Sìleas Douglass. Currently head of Ravenclaw and teacher of astronomy at Hogwarts. Acknowledged by all to be the greatest astronomer of modern times. Sìleas is particularly famous for her discovery of the Lumine Trigram in 1872, a set of three stars that only appear once every 200 years, and are seemingly connected to the existence of magic, giving an extreme boost to magic during the 24 hours they are visible for. She is engaged to Evangeline Locket, owner of the famous Nine Lives Cafe. Sìleas enjoys flute music and rainy days.”
There was a short pause after Harry finished talking.
“Well that information sure spread fast. Though I suppose having proposed in a very public and very popular cafe, I should have expected the news to spread like wildfire.”
Harry turned back to the card only to exclaim moments later. “You’ve disappeared!” I merely replied with a “yeah they do that,it's a wizard thing.” “Oh, you're back and with a cup of coffee?”
After going through the remaining packets, Harry had gained a sizable collection. Draco gave Harry all of his since he had already collected them all. The next to try out were Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans. “You'd ought to be careful with those, when they say every flavour they mean it. You get the popcorn and chocolate flavoured ones sure, but there's also earwax and pepper. You can't even guess based on color. It's a hit or miss.” The next few minutes went by with Harry and Draco trying every flavour beans. Slowly the countryside was becoming wilder, the neat fields had gone, becoming woods, twisting rivers and dark green hills. There was a knock on the compartment door, and a round faced boy they had passed on platform nine and three quarters came in. He sounded dejected when he said, “sorry but have you seen a toad at all?” When we responded in the negative he wailed, “I've lost him he keeps getting away from me!”“He’ll show up” said Harry. “Yes, well if you see him.” He left.
“I don't know why he’s so bothered.” said Draco, “if I'd brought a toad I'd try to lose it as quickly as I could.” Not even a minute into the new topic the boy was back, but with a familiar girl. “Have you seen a toad? Neville’s lost one.” “We've already told him we haven't seen it,” said Draco, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at me. She had frozen. She then proceeded to faint and almost took the boy out with her. As much as it wasn't my fault I still felt a bit responsible. Besides, I couldn't just leave her there. We were going to arrive at Hogwarts soon and her being unconscious would be no good. I sent Neville on his way, and sat her down beside Harry. A few taps to her temple woke her up, but she was still clearly in shock.
“Hermione, are you ok, do you need medication?” “You, you remembered my name” she whispered. “Yes you made quite the first impression, now are you ok?” “I'm fine, I was just surprised to see you here is all. Um, why are you here?” “I'm going to be working here as the astronomy teacher and Head of Ravenclaw.” “You're going to be teaching at Hogwarts!” she looked like she was going to faint again. “Let's go, I'll take you back to your compartment. You two get changed into your school robes, we’re almost there.” Only a few seconds later a voice could be heard over the tannoy:
“We will be reaching Hogwarts in about five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train. It will be taken to the school separately.”
Luckily, Hermione's compartment wasn't that far away and I was able to make it back before the hallway became too cramped.
“You two done in there?” They opened the door and excitedly made their way out of the train door. It was cold and dark outside. Then a lamp came and towered over the students and a familiar voice called out. “First years, first years over here - alright their Sileas?” Hagrid's towering form could be seen smiling over the sea of heads, “come on follow me, anymore first years? Mind your step now, first years follow me.” A short walk down a narrow path in relative silence later, “you'll get your first sight of Hogwarts in a sec, just round the bend here.” There was a collection of ‘oh’s!’ as the narrow path opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the night sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
“No more than four per boat,” Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats bobbing in the water by the shore. I made my way onto a boat followed by Harry and Draco, seeing as I was an adult, I basically took two spots so it remained just the three of us. “Everyone in!” shouted Hagrid who had a boat all to himself.
“Alright then forward!” The fleet of little boats moved all at once gliding across the lake which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent staring up at the great castle overhead.
“Heads down!” yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff's edge. We all bent our heads and the little boats carried us through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. We were carried along a dark tunnel that seemed to be taking us right underneath the castle until we reached an underground harbour, where we got out and stood on rocks and pebbles.
“Oi, you there - is that your toad?” said Hagrid as he was checking the boats. One person had stepped out of them, “Trevor!” cried Neville blissfully holding out his hands. Then we climbed up a stairway following Hagrid’s lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. We walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge oak door.
“Everyone here? You there, still got your toad?” Hagrid raised his gigantic fist and knocked on the door three times.
Having split off from the group of first years, I made my way to the main hall and silently walked by the walls until reaching my seat at the teachers table. I sat down next to Sev doing my best not to be noticed, knowing that after all of the first years were sorted into their houses, Dumbledore would make a show out of my introduction just to piss me off.
“Coffee?” Sev offered with a pitying smile.
I took it from his hands with annoyance, but gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Chapter 18 - the story finally starts
The primary door to the main hall swung open with Mcgonagall at the front, followed by the new years. Many looked nervous as they looked around, no doubt the ghosts had given them a bit of a fright. They made their way to the front of the hall standing in a neat line with their backs to us, facing the other students. Mcgonagall brought out the old four legged stool with the sorting hat placed atop. We all turned to the ragged looking thing and after a few seconds of silence it began to sing.
“Oh you may not think I'm pretty, but don't judge on what you see, I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me, you can keep your bowlers black your top hats sleek and tall for I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat and I can cap them all. There's nothing hidden in your head the sorting hat can't see so try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be. You might belong in Gryffindor where dwell the brave at heart, their daring nerve and chivalry set Gryffindors apart. You might belong in hufflepuff where they are just and loyal, those patient hufflepuff are true and unafraid of toil. Or yet in wise old ravenclaw if you've a ready mind where those of wit and learning will always find their kind. Or perhaps in Slytherin you'll make your real friends, Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends. So put me on, don't be afraid and don't get in a flap your in safe hands though I have none for I'm a thinking cap.”
The whole hall burst into applause so loud I winced, it was a song you heard every year and how they hadn't gotten sick of it was beyond me. Mcgonagall stepped forward with the parchment that held the names of all the new years.
“When I call your name you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.” she said “Abott, Hannah!” A moment's pause “Hufflepuff!” the hat shouted. “Bones, Susan!” “Hufflepuff!” shouted the hat again. “Boot, Terry!” “Ravenclaw!” The first student sorted into my house, Brocklehurst, Mandy was sorted into my house too. “Brown, Lavender!” “Gryffindor!” “Bulstrode, Millicent!”... “Slytherin!” “Finchfletchley, Justin!”... “Hufflepuff!”...“Finnigan, Sheamus!”...“Gryffindor!” “Grainger, Hermione!”... “Ravenclaw!” “Nebuline, Petronella!” “Ravenclaw!” “Sandwood, Delphini!” “Hufflepuff!” “Ra Young-Soon” is a foreign name, Korean perhaps? “Gryffindor!” “Longbottom, Neville!” he tripped ...“Gryffindor!” He ran off with the hat still on his head and had to run back amid a gale of laughter to give it to Mcdougall Morag.
It was now time for Draco to get sorted and before the hat even touched his head, it called out “Slytherin!” He looked very proud of himself as he turned back to give me and Sev a smile, before walking over to the Slytherin table where he was greeted with a large round of applause. There weren't many people left now, Moon, Not, Parkinson, then a pair of twin girls, Patil, Parvati and Padma, then Perks, Sally, Ann, and then at last Harry.
As Harry made his way to the stool whispers erupted all over the hall. It was to be expected, after all he was ‘the boy who lived.’ After what seemed like a minute, the hat called out “Gryffindor!” While I was happy for Harry, the agonisingly loud cheer that followed was quite unnecessary. The Weasley twins, to no one's surprise, chanted ‘we got Potta, we got Potta!’ He was at least getting a warm welcome. He seemed to be able to see the high table now and after spotting me, I gave him a quick thumbs. Harry grinned back. And now there were only three people to be sorted.
Turpin, Lisa joined Ravenclaw, and then it was that blasted Weasley's turn, he was sorted into gryffindor. Then lastly Zabini, Blaze who was sorted into Slytherin. Mcgonagall proceeded to roll up her parchment and take the stool and sorting hat away, before taking her own seat.
Dumbledork had risen to his feet with his sickeningly fake smile and said “Welcome, welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin the banquet, I would like to say a few words. Here they are: nitwit, blubber, oddment and tweek. Thank you”
After his random assortment of words, we all turned to the newly appeared food. I was never much of a talker when it came to eating so I merely sat there in silence enjoying my food, content while listening in on others' conversations. It wasn't much longer when the banquet came to an end and the old man rose from his seat once again. The hall fell silent.
“Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest in the grounds are strictly forbidden to all pupils, and a few of the older students are well to remember that as well. I have also been asked by Mr Filch, our caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. I must tell you that this year the third floor corridor on the right side is out of bounds to anyone who does not wish to die a very painful death. And finally I would like to introduce the newest member of staff, Sileas Douglass, who will be the new Head of Ravenclaw and astronomy teacher here at Hogwarts, for the foreseeable future.” After a round of shocked whispers and excited cheers, they calmed down enough for Dumbledore to continue with his speech.
“And now before we go to bed, let us sing our school song.” Everyone at the table stiffened in dread. No matter how many times he may try, I would never sing that accursed song even if I am now a teacher.
“Everyone pick their favourite tune and off we go.”
“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please, Whether we be old and bald, Or young with scabby knees, Our heads could do with filling, With some interesting stuff, For now they're bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff, So teach us things worth knowing, Bring back what we've forgot, Just do your best, we'll do the rest, And learn until our brains all rot.” Everyone finished at different times, the last being the Weasley twins who were singing along to a very slow funeral march. “Ah music, a magic beyond all we do hear.” he said wiping away non existent tears.
“And now bedtime, off you trot.”
The new years followed their respective house prefects out of the main hall. Left in silence without the presence of students we all rose from our seats and separated into respective groups leaving for our room’s.
The next day came and since I was a new teacher, I found it reasonable to go to the Ravenclaw dorms, and make sure that they were all doing well on their first day.
A long walk later, I finally made it to the dorms having left Sev to his own devices. After answering the riddle the door provided me with, I made my way up the spiral staircase, and then through a short hallway lined with beautiful stained glass it was quite the entrance. Opening the doors to the common room hit me with a wave of nostalgia. The students inside had two different reactions: excited silence, or oblivious silence.
“Hello, and welcome to or back to Hogwarts. I will do my best to be a good teacher and head of house. Are there any questions, complaints and/or suggestions you have about the dormitories?”
It was silent for a minute before a 2nd year student spoke up, “can you sign my books?” “I can but that will have to wait till a later date. My biggest concern is your comfort in the dorms, as you will spend a better half of 7 years here.” It took a bit of prodding to get any of them to mention any complaints they had, but I made sure that they would all be taken care of.
It was now time for the first lessons of the day, and since I had none until later on, I made my way to the library to do a bit of lesson planning. Not even halfway there, I had to give directions to at least 4 students, one of which wasn't even a first year student. Then deducted 4 points from Gryffindor after catching the Weasley twins trying to prank Filch. And then break up an argument between two ghosts that had started to get a bit out of hand, seriously you'd think that after being dead for 100 years they'd stop having things to argue about.
Finally, I made it to my favourite spot and took a seat, placing all my papers onto the table with a surprising thud, I began to work. The plan was simple, I would have to completely lay out all of the basics in a way that could be understood by eleven year olds. The very first thing would be how to correctly use and maintain the telescope, and then start introducing the individual stars and constellations which would take some time for certain students, and come rather naturally to others. I would need to split the students into groups and adjust the curriculum accordingly, spending time with each group separately. I would also sprinkle in days where they would simply watch the night sky and document their observations in order to evaluate their progress, and teach them how to use these insights to study the stars' relationship with their individual magical specialities. The stars can reveal just as much about a person as divination can, you just have to know what you're looking for.