the boy who lived
The first week of the school year whisked by peacefully.
Romeo got to know most of his students a little beyond their first and last names as he watched them work hard on their first assignments and he made himself busy by planning classwork (and the occasional lesson, though with magical arts there wasn't all too much to teach.) for the upcoming months.
He found himself having daily conversations with one student in particular; a sixth Slytherin girl named Lemony Catwhirl. She had dyed red hair and what Romeo once called a "Killer fashion sense" that consistently slipped a dress code sheet into her pockets. Lemony enjoyed art and had even contributed a painting to the walls of the grand staircase back in her fourth year. On the surface it was simple, a portrait of the previous magical arts professor. But the closer you looked at it, perhaps during free periods or right before curfew, the more small details you would notice. Romeo found himself walking by the silver framed painting at least once a day and each day the eccentric, curly haired woman pictured had a new accessory adorning her cheerful demeanor.
It was from Lemony that Romeo learned of Harry Potter's presence at Hogwarts.
His first thought was "Has it been that long since I was being forced to go through the belongings of witches and wizards who had been recently murdered by the dark lord and his followers?" and his second thought was that he should no longer think about those days even if they only felt like yesterday.
Romeo made it his personal goal to avoid Harry Potter at all costs. He couldn't think of anything worse than surviving he who shall not be named's killing curse and then being forced to interact with death eaters like it was normal.
While early September tuned to mid September, the leaves around the school turned pretty shades of browns and reds and oranges, sparking that creative spark in Romeo's mind. Only a little, though.
It was one of the chillier Sundays and Romeo was sat underneath a large tree that provided plenty of shade from the mid-afternoon sun. He stared directly upward, trying to commit every new color he spotted to memory so that it would transfer right to the notepad sitting in his lap. He felt plenty focused on a particularly slow moving caterpillar until he heard the familiar flapping of Anubis' thick wings.
Sitting up swiftly, he offered Anubis a half-hearted smile. The elderly owl was holding a letter in between his golden claws and flying at a calm pace.
Romeo stretched out his legs and winced as his left leg protested against any movement. A few years ago, he'd gotten a pretty nasty (life-threatening, but he won't admit it) wound on that leg and no matter what spells or potions he's thrown at it the injury just won't budge. He wished he remembered to bring his cane outside with him.
The owl dropped the letter into Romeo's lap and turned around- probably to book it back to Romeo's quarters so he could go back to sleep.
Romeo recognized the seal on the back of the letter immediately; this was a letter from Professor Dumbledore.
He cut the letter open with the tip of his wand and read through the few words neatly written above that familiar signature.
"Dear Professor Hypnix,
Please meet with me in my office today after dinner in the great hall. I have something of utmost importance I wish to discuss with you. I hope your owl reaches you safely."
After supper while the sun completed its setting, and the moon clocked in to light up the night Romeo made his way to Dumbledore's office with a small bit of worry.
Was he being fired? Had he broken a rule unknowingly? No, that couldn't be possible. Romeo spent plenty of time playing around Hogwarts' rules as a student, there was no way he'd forgotten any, much less one that would still get him in trouble as a teacher-
Mid-thought he crashed into what felt like a hard, velvety black wall. He braced himself on the wall's wide, chilly shoulders.
Ah, one of the two people Romeo was trying not to interact with. Professor Snape stood towering over Romeo (Even though Romeo is quite tall himself) with an absolutely disdainful expression on his uniquely handsome face. Before Romeo could so much as mutter an apology Professor Snape had him shoved into the nearest wall. Romeo instinctively reached for his wand in his pocket but waited to give Snape a chance to explain himself.
"Professor Hypnix." Snape drawled. "How interesting it is to see you here...teaching."
Romeo blinked a couple times, trying to figure out how Snape's memory was so good. The only times before his teaching career that he and Romeo had seen one another was when Romeo had special artifacts or nice pieces of artwork to submit to the dark lord. In the later years of the dark lord's reign, Snape stuck to his side like a strange stray cat.
"I could say the same to you, Severus." Romeo deadpanned. "Doesn't that mark still burn? I'm quite intrigued to know Dumbledore's reasoning behind hiring such a rat like you."
"You-"
Footsteps echoed from the other end of the hallway. And as quickly as he had appeared, Snape vanished.
Romeo brushed off his clothes and rushed up to Dumbledore's door, he didn't want to keep the great wizard waiting. Once inside the office the headmaster's absence became very noticeable. It was as though the magic of the objects he kept inside dimmed just a bit when the man himself wasn't sat at his desk, quill in withered hand.
"I didn't mean to keep you waiting, Professor." an old voice came from behind Romeo. Romeo turned around and nodded with an oddly shaped smile.
"No worries, headmaster." He replied. "You said you had something important to discuss with me?"
Dumbledore smiled in a way that told Romeo that he looked just as awkward as he felt inside. "Yes, have a seat."
The two sat across from one another at Dumbledore's large desk. Fawkes peered down at them from his perch, his eyes full of wisdom and what Romeo thought was judgement.
"I apologize. For I should have discussed this with you earlier..." Dumbledore paused dramatically. "You can feel it, can't you, Romeo?"
"Feel what, sir?"
"His presence. The Dark Lord."
Romeo's heart skipped a few beats. "Excuse me?" he said with a little more attitude than he meant to.
"Do you truly believe he died the night he tried to cast the killing curse on Harry Potter?"
Romeo thought for a moment. Did he think the dark lord was gone? Did he think a baby was truly the one to banish him from the realm of the living? No. That was preposterous. In that moment he realized he had been lying to himself all these years...telling himself that the dark lord was weak enough to disappear just like that...Especially when he himself knew of the powerful dark magic the man got himself deeply involved in.
"No, sir."
"Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts. And I fear the dark lord has done the same...I must ask for your assistance with protecting something, Professor. You are very gifted in charms and hexes, after all."
"Me?" He murmured, glancing at Fawkes. His dark mark itched impatiently, as though waiting for Dumbledore to spill secrets that he could communicate to the dark lord. "What is it?"
"Please, Professor Hypnix...give me your assistance in protecting...The Philosophers Stone."