The Guardian

Caecilia Gaunt is finally a 7th year, she was excited for her last year at Hogwarts as a student. She knew she would be back soon as a teacher. Albus Dumbledore had told her many times when she was no longer a student he would have her come back as a teacher, for whatever subject she wanted, as long as she kept one promise: keeping Harry Potter alive. That’s all she had been told her entire life. Most kids know Harry Potter as the boy-who-lived, the only person ever to survive the killing curse. Caecilia grew up being told that Harry would be the savior of the Wizarding War and that she, at all costs, must keep him alive.

So, for the last 3 years that Harry had been at Hogwarts she watched over Harry. During his first year when the Voldemort tried taking the Philosophers stone, Caecilia found Harry and defeated Quirrell, when Harry passed out. In his second year, Caecilia spoke Parseltongue to take the eyes off of Harry being the heir of Slytherin. She had to deal with constant looks as people began thinking of her as the heir of Slytherin as she was a Gaunt and her family name had ties to Slytherin himself. Caecilia had sent Fawkes when Harry did make it into the Chamber of Secrets to get him and Ginny Weasley out. She later went back in to get the diary out and into Dumbledore’s hands. Over the summer, her training had been extensive. Snape taught her Occlumency, while Dumbledore had her practicing all kinds of new spells, mostly the Dark ones. He had once told her that although they were not dark wizards, she must be prepared if one were to harm Harry.

So, as Caecilia sat in her spot across from a sleeping figure, she looked through the window staring at the lake they were slowly passing by. The door slammed open and she saw her favorite third years.

“Caecilia! How nice to see you. Can we sit here, all the other compartments are full?” Hermione smiles at her while Ron and Harry both greet her.

“Of course.”

“Who d'you reckon he is?” Ron said.

“Professor R.J. Lupin” Caecilia remembered him from the day Dumbledore asked him to be a professor.

“You know everything. How is it she knows everything?”

“It's on his case”

Caecilia laughed at the duo and began cuddling herself and leaning against the window. She felt her eyes flutter close as the rain lulled her to sleep.

“Are they really both asleep?” Harry asked his friends worried that Caecilia and Professor Lupin were listening.

“Seems to be. Why? What is it, Harry?”

Harry tells them to close the door and explains what Mr. Weasley told him before they left.

“But they'll catch Black, won't they? I mean... eventually?”

“Sure -- Of course, no one's ever broken out of Azkaban before and he's a raving, murderous lunatic…”

The compartment began to shake, the lights flickered, and the train began to slow down. Caecilia jolted awake sensing something was occurring. She notices Harry sneak his head out of the carriage.

“Harry, get back inside.” Caecilia stands and pulls him back inside forcing him to sit. She looks out and notices the lights go out in the train.

“What's going on?”

“Dunno... Maybe we've broken down?”

“Ouch! Ron, that was my foot!”

“There's something moving out there. I think... people are coming aboard. Bloody hell. What's happening?”

Caecilia immediately caught on to what was happening. Dumbledore had told her there would be dementors protecting the school until Black was found.

“Get back guys.” She pulled the trio behind her.

“Don’t. Move.” Professor Lupin had woken up and looked towards the kids. They all slowly watched as a slimy, scabbed, black hand began opening the door. The figure opened the door and they were all met with a towering cloaked figure. Harry began hearing a women’s scream. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and Hermione caught him before he could slam into the floor. Caecilia and Lupin immediately stood up, both casting a Patronus. Lupin stared at the girls patronus- a three headed snake.

Lupin remembered her from the day Dumbledore came to his house to offer him the job of Defense Against the Dark Arts position. She stood quietly by his side, never moving an inch, until finally whenever Dumbledore had explained that the pay was good and he would get unlimited Wolfsbane potions. She didn’t say anything, but he saw her wince. Caecilia wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation Dumbledore was having with Remus, she was focused on fighting the pain that was shooting up her arm. It had been Moody’s turn to train her the week before and she had been sore from the curses that he threw at her, specifically the dark ones. She didn’t mean to wince when she did, but she noticed Lupins expression when she did, probably thinking it was about him being a werewolf. She internally cringed before speaking out.

“We have all the ingredients, and Snape has some prepared for you already.” She smiled kindly at the man hoping that he would forgive her. Remus didn’t say anything, but finally agreed to the position.

“Well, Miss Gaunt our work here is done. Would you mind heading back to the castle? I have something private to talk to Professor Lupin about.”

Caecilia nodded before apparating out of Professor Lupin's home.

“Now, I know you must’ve heard that Harry is at Hogwarts.”

“Yes, I have. How is he?”

“The spitting image of his father, with the intelligence of his mother.”

“So, I guess he doesn’t get into much trouble?”

“That he does get from his father.” Remus laughed remembering all of the trouble they used to get into when they were in school.

“The reason I mention Harry is because I know we both know that Voldemort is still out there.”

Remus nodded. Even when people said Voldemort had died that night in Godric’s Hallow with Lily and James, he knew Voldemort would be back.

“Now what I’m about to tell you must not be repeated to anyone.” Remus nodded waiting to hear what Dumbledore was bound to tell him.

“That Halloween night that the Potters were killed and Harry survived, I was on a mission by the Order, we had intel that Voldemort was hiding something in a house by Scotland. When Voldemort was weakened his magical defenses came down and we got inside. What we found was something that was never released to the public.”

“Well, what was it?”

“Voldemort had a child, she was found in the house by herself.”

“What did the Order do with her?” Remus asked fearing Dumbledore's answer.

“There was talk to hand her over to the Ministry, but eventually I decided to raise her.”

“The little girl is Caecilia isn’t it?” Dumbledore nodded. “Does she know?”

“She does. She remembers him, not well, but enough.”

“Her mother?”

“We assume it was a death eater, none of the death eaters in Azkaban gave her up, but we did get close, Mulciber mentioned she died in childbirth.”

“Why do you mention this?”

“Because it is her last year at Hogwarts and I plan on having her take a position next year. Now the Order was disbanded after the war, but I fear that it may be needed again. I’ve been training her to protect Harry, she’s done a wonderful job so far, but I need her to be at Hogwarts until Harry isn’t. I need you to teach her everything she doesn’t know. Spells, defense, and most importantly I need you to make sure that she is prepared to be a professor by the end of the year.”

Remus went to bed that night thinking of what Dumbledore had told him. The girl was basically raised as a pig for slaughter. He spoke of her as a weapon only meant to protect Harry. Remus had agreed to Dumbledore's proposition, but he felt that teaching this girl was going to be a lot harder than Dumbledore made it seem.

When Harry woke up, he was confused. He looked pale and was freezing. Caecilia immediately grabbed the blanket she was using earlier and wrapped Harry in it. Ron helped Harry sit on the seat and Lupin snapped a piece of chocolate for him. He handed it to Harry.

“Chocolate. Eat. It'll help.”

“Thanks.” Harry said before he took a bite out of it. “What was that -- that thing?”

“A Dementor. One of the guards of Azkaban. It's gone now.” Harry looked confused.

“It was searching the train, Harry. For Sirius Black.” Hermione said.

“I need to have a word with the driver. Excuse me. Eat. It'll help” Lupin got up and walked towards the door. Caecilia also stood up and followed the man.

“I need to make sure everyone else is okay.”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione met Caecilia their first night at Hogwarts. She was sitting with the Gryffindor students, specifically next to the twins: Fred and George. When they were all sorted, Caecilia had introduced herself to them. She was kind and nurturing. Throughout the year, she helped them when they were lost or needed any help. More than once she found herself helping Ron with his homework in the common room. During the troll attack, Caecilia immediately realized that Harry was missing and found them in the girls bathroom with the troll. She walked in right when Ron defeated it and managed to get them out of the bathroom when McGonagall and other professors walked in. She showed up to all of the quidditch practices to encourage Harry and his matches. When Hermione was having a hard time with making friends, Caecilia hung out with her and helped her be more outgoing. Harry had more than once been kept out of detention because of her. He specifically remembers the time she got him out of detention with Snape.

“Potter, class started 5 minutes ago. Can you please share with the class what was so important you had to be late?” Harry stared at Snape wide-eyed trying to come up with an excuse. Seconds later, Caecilia came running in.

“There you are Harry, you forgot the note Dumbledore gave you. Sorry Professor Snape, Harry was with Dumbledore this morning. He told me to give this to you.” As Caecilia turned away from Snape, she looked at Harry and gave him a wink. What Snape didn’t know is that Caecilia became very good at forging Dumbledore's signature and imitating his handwriting. Harry hid a smirk and sat down before Snape could find another reason to yell at him. Snape resumed class after she closed the door behind her.

As Caecilia checked up on the other students with everyone seeming okay, she made her way back to the compartment with the trio in it, when she bumped into someone. She looked up and realized it was Professor Lupin.

“Sorry Professor. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“We need to talk.” Caecilia gave him a puzzled look. He found an empty compartment and pulled them both into it.

“Okay, you better talk before I start screaming.”

“What? Oh no, Merlin, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to talk before we went back inside.”

“About what?”

“Harry.” Caecilia guessed that Dumbledore must’ve said something to Lupin.

“Dumbledore told you?”

“He did. Everything. Now what I don’t understand is why?”

“Why what?”

“Why you? The daughter of the dark lord. Why will you protect Harry?” Caecilia immediately jumped at Lupin covering his mouth with her hands.

“Don’t say that out loud.” Caecilia waved her hand and placed a silencing charm on the compartment. “Now, you can talk freely.”

Remus was impressed that she was able to wand less magic that flawlessly.

“I’m not my father. I know what he did and all the pain he caused. I have been trained since Dumbledore found me to protect Harry. That’s all I’ve been doing for the past 3 years. Even when Harry doesn’t realize it, I am there watching over him. When he ran away from home, I was the one to send the Knight Bus to his rescue. So don’t question my allegiance to Harry.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to anger you. I just… it's hard.”

“I am sorry for everything he did to your family and friends, but I’m not my father.” Caecilia stared at Professor Lupin waiting for his answer. He met her eyes and they softened. Caecilia found him attractive. He was tall, a lot taller than her, and his light brown hair had grays in just the right spots. His eyes were brown and she could see wrinkles beginning to form around them. Caecilia knew that Remus was still young. He was around her age when the Wizarding War started so she knew he was around 33 years old.

“Now, I know Dumbledore has me training with you and has me being your assistant during classes with the younger students. Do you want to go ahead and plan that?” Caecilia asked, there was a few hours left in the train ride and she doubted that the dementors would stop the train again.

Lupin smiled at her and they began planning their schedule.