One Is the Loneliest Number
Disclaimer: I do not wish to seek any profit from the books or the characters. This is just zany and delightful fun. Once I find the Resurrection Stone, wherever the hell Potter dropped it, then I will be a galleonaire…er, until then…
Chapter 1: Of Gilderoy and Goblins
The day started off just like any other Wednesday since I left my job with Gringotts Bank and started at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
I had only been here a few months but everything was going swimmingly. I loved the school, Dumbledore was truly a kind, decent man, wonderful to work for, and I had already made friends on the staff. I had not gone to Hogwarts so I didn't know many people, but a few like Dumbledore and McGonagall were so exceptional and well-known throughout the British wizarding world, that I had heard of them before I came here.
Professor Flitwick was friendly as well as Professor Sprout. The Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor was the Gilderoy Lockahrt, known by everyone, and beloved secretly by my fast friend when I came to Hogwarts, Aurora Sinsitra, though he did not know it.
And then there were a few people that I didn't get to know very well until later in the year.
Argust Filch because I suppose I would listen to my gut feeling on that one and refrain from doing so.
Sybil Trelawney, as well, because I'd rather not, after a very strange run-in with her crystal orb…
I think at 28 I probably had a decent shot of many full years ahead of me despite what she told me when I sat for her once.
And Professor Binns was dead, but I still wouldn't mind having a chat if he were agreeable. He was the longest tenured professor at Hogwarts; alive or dead.
And then there was Severus Snape whom I didn't know very well because he liked it that way…with me and everyone else as well.
He tended to talk to most of the older professors who Aurora had told me he knew from when he attended Hogwarts with her.
She had gone to school with him but really hadn't discussed it with me.
But I would find out a lot more than I cared to after today.
Because this is the moment that started it all…
The Staff Room…a rainy Wednesday afternoon…
Somehow a little girl talk started in the staffroom.
Aurora was a little sad because she really wanted to find somebody. She had only told me that she was madly, irrevocably in love with Gilderoy Lockhart. I somehow suspected thought that some of the staff might have had an idea, however.
Sprout talked about her dead husband and how much he had meant to her.
McGonagall talked about some man that had burned her and she decided to commit her life to learning and the magical education of youth.
I said that I once had a serious boyfriend in Wales but it fizzled once I went to work at Gringotts. And I hadn't dated much since then.
The later part I left out.
There was one male in our number, however, this afternoon. Snape sat in a corner reading a textbook, most likely perusing and prepping for his next class. He did not indicate that he had heard anything that we had just discussed. He had his nose close to his book which he held in both hands very near his face, so if he had overheard anything, nobody knew. His long black hair was in his face, so his expression was indistinguishable. Sometimes he read in the staff room and then would close his book sharply and leave abruptly. He didn't enter into any given conversation much. Unless it was of an academic nature or his opinion was asked by the elder staff members. He never spoke; he spoke today. Nobody really had talked this openly about their personal lives since I had arrived here, kind of funny that he from what I observed would interject.
"A bit of advice, Sinistra… perhaps you are not looking in the right places," he intoned silkily. "I may be able to offer some assistance. I thought of you the other day."
Several jaws dropped in awe, Aurora's more so than the other two women because they had gone to school together and I surmised that they hadn't quite gotten along or didn't really run in the same circles back then.
Who knew? I'd know later…But at the time I knew Aurora was thinking of Lockhart. I would soon find out that Snape didn't care for him much either, to say the least.
"Highly auspicious that I did my banking just yesterday after your previous comments…do not tell Trelawney I used that word." His lip curled.
I assumed he wasn't a fan of her either.
He closed his book firmly and rose to his full height. He was tall and imposing and he glided smoothly over to where we sat together on a small couch. He handed her a card wordlessly that he had taken from an inside pocket of his robes which said Gringotts Bank on it, but I instantly recognized it because I used to work for them.
I failed to see the connection until.
"What is this?" she looked at him quizzically.
"I have just the right suggestion for you." He gave her a dour smirk.
"Really," she breathed.
"Yes, turn it over." He gestured languidly with a long, rather pale hand.
It said Griphook.
Her nostrils flared in indignation. "Are you trying to set me up with a goblin?"
"Might I ask why not? One can't be too, ah, choosy, Sinistra. He may give you a shot, you know…if he is desperate. And from what I hear he makes quite a decent salary. Even more than professors…"his low, deep voice trailed off.
"Leave me alone…really…" She turned bright red.
He raised a mocking eyebrow and shook his head slightly. "And this is the thanks I get. Remind me never to offer my services again. Such a lack of appreciation, I shall never go out on a limb again."
McGonagall and Sprout who knew him for ages gave him an amused but reproving look.
He did look at them and sort of communicated a smirk that said that though he didn't entirely agree with them, there was an unspoken respect.
He nodded at the both of them. "I will see you at dinner I imagine." He swiveled on his heel with ease.
And then he turned in my direction and nodded. "Vector."
Most likely the fifth time he acknowledged my presence all year.
I really should have had the foresight to keep it at that.
Aurora he altogether ignored as he swept out of the room, with his long, cascading black robes trailing behind him.
Sprout and McGonagall both rose as if on cue and made to leave.
"Aurora. Please don't pay attention to him. He means nothing by it," offered a sympathetic Sprout.
"I have known him since he was a boy as you know. He can be difficult. He would have no idea about how to cut a silly light-hearted joke," huffed McGonagall.
"Sure. Remember I went to school with him too and…" started Aurora, miffed beyond belief.
"Don't pay attention. We will see both of you at dinner." And they left.
"So, implying that I should seek out a goblin for a love interest is okay?" Aurora shook her head in anger.
"He seems odd. I don't know him very well but, even when he said goodbye he gives this mean look and nods "Vector." What the hell is that all about? What have I done to him that I'm not aware of? Merlin, really…"
"He is an awkward fool. You should have seen him in school. And in retaliation I will tell you all about it. Nobody liked him. Well, some did but I will tell you about them another time too. He couldn't get a girl if his life depended on it," snorted Aurora.
"But he seems so calm… so self-assured, at least the little I have seen of him…"
"You think so? I can't see it. Maybe I just know him too long and too well from our youth. The least he could do after some of the nonsense he pulled with me and others years ago is to try to help me with Lockhart." She crossed her arms and seemed to think of him as she did it.
"How does anyone really know what he does on our days off or after dinner? I never see him after he leaves the Great Hall at 8. And never on the weekends either."
"You don't suppose… Is it possible that old Snivellus, I will also tell you about that later, might have a secret love?" It looked like something had dawned on her.
"Er, I don't know."
"No, you don't, and neither do I, and I bet the staff doesn't either. But I am going to find out. And depending on what my findings are, he will regret the day he ever tried to hook me up with Griphook. If he can't mind his own business, than neither will I."
And speaking of regrets…so would I.
"Would you help me look into this, Septima? It's harmless, I'm just curious that's all."
"All right…fine. But I don't want to get on his bad side. I hardly know him and he, er, frightens me."
"He frightens us all, especially the students…"
"And cheer up, Aurora. Lockhart barely talks to us to, but maybe I can help you break the ice with him. He is so busy with his books and now being a professor."
"Isn't he wonderful? As if he even needs to work at Hogwarts. It's all just to share his experiences with younger witches and wizards. Merlin, I love him, Septima. And can you imagine with all of his promotional obligations as well. He is divine…"
And so our story begins…
