Chapter 1: A face in the fire.

As Katrina 'Kat' Smith sat at the old oak table reading and re-reading her tattered copy of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', Alina 'Ali'Daniels sat on the cold lino floor transfiguring the neighbour's cat into a coat-stand and back again, laughing at its severely pissed off reaction.

Once the cat had returned to its normal state for the tenth time, Kat sighed as it sharpened its claws on the carpet and stalked out of the room, swaying from the effects of the magic but tail held high in the air and fur bristled, literally saying 'I hate you'.

"How many times have I told you to stop torturing that poor creature? No wonder we get the neighbours round here in a flash if you insist on sending their cat home every night looking like it's had about four glasses of wine!"

Ali looked at her apologetically. True the Barrett's were stuck up and had to brag about their life when ever in conversation, but to Ali, that seemed like the perfect reason to find new ways of angering the cat that, in the Barrett's opinion, was so perfect that no other cat could even hope of coming near to its standards.

Kat returned to her book while Ali searched for other means of entertainment when the fire that had been emitting a calm orange glow turned a brilliant shade of green and started to hiss and spit, sparks flying onto the lino and then dying where the sudden coldness hit them. Ali flew to the fire side, Kat dropping her book in surprise and spinning around in her chair to see the familiar face of their former professor, Albus Dumbledore, protruding from the flames.

"Professor!" exclaimed Kat. Ali looked at her like 'what are you saying, we're 27 not 12!'

Albus' face broke into a gentle smile as Kat's cheeks turned bright red.

"Please, call me Albus; I am no longer your professor so there's no need for any sort of formalities"

Ali smiled. "Yep, still sounding like the BBC, old man!"

A puzzled look came across his face as Dumbledore had lived in the wizarding way for all his life, and was completely perplexed by the term 'BBC'

In seeing this, Kat playfully hit Ali on the shoulder and in answer to the question Albus had in his mind replied, "She means muggle news readers"

His face cleared and Ali took the chance to ask the question I'm sure had been on both the girls' minds.

"So, Albus, whatcha doin' here?"

Kat rolled her eyes in response to the lack of proper dialect in her friend's question but she too had been wondering what could have possibly brought Albus here after all these years.

"I have a proposition for you both. Two job vacancies have come up and seeing as no one was willing to apply and the two jobs, by mere coincidence, happen to be involved with your best subjects from when you were students, are you perfectly happy to apply?"

Kat and Ali looked at each other, jaws wide open in shock. Finally, a chance to return to Hogwarts! They both turned back to Dumbledore's smiling face.

"Oh Albus, absolutely, I accept" came Kat's immediate reply.

"HELL YES!" came the yell from Ali.

Dumbledore laughed gently and while explaining the details of their new jobs, a familiar voice came from somewhere in the fire. Kat and Ali looked at Dumbledore, eyebrows raised, when Minerva McGonagall entered the flames next to Albus.

Shocked briefly flooded through the girls before Ali pipes up, "Um, Albus, what is McGonagall doing in your house?"

Dumbledore smiled before putting his arm around Minerva's shoulder and saying,

"Girls, allow me to now introduce my wife, Minerva Dumbledore"

"…"

Kat suddenly clapped her hands and squealed "Oh Congratulations to you both. How come we never heard of this?!"

Meanwhile, Ali sat silently in her chair, eye twitching and the look of pure shock on her face before yelling at the top of her voice,

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

Minerva's face turned cold.

"Alina! Watch your language!" came the sharply voiced order. Ali's cheeks went red and she quietly mumbled,

"Sorry Professor, I, um, I didn't mean to…" She then dashed out the room yelling, "I NEED A SODA!"

Kat laughed and yelled after her, "They're in the fridge!"

3 minutes later, Ali came back with two cans of soda, one of which she chucked into Kat's lap, making her jump. Kat had been having a pleasant talk with Albus and Minerva about the wedding and who had gone. She had been surprised to hear so many familiar names.

"So, when do we start Albus?" asked Kat, coolly sipping her soda unlike Ali, who had decided to drink hers as fast as she could, followed by a loud burp.

"You start on Monday. That's the start of the new term so I deemed it fitting for you to start your posts then. The Hogwarts express leaves at 11 o'clock in the morning and I trust you still know how to get onto the platform?"

Kat and Ali nodded in silence. Albus smiled, small wrinkles appearing at the sides of his mouth.

"Excellent! I shall look forward to seeing you both. Goodbye girls"

With one final crackle of the flames, he was gone and Kat and Ali could do nothing more than immediately rush upstairs to pack their old school trunks.

"OH MY GOSH! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! WE'RE GOING BACK TO HOGWARTS!" yelled Ali but a warning look from Kat meant to tone it down otherwise the Barrett's would be round there instantly, moaning about the noise.

"I know it's all very exciting. Two days until we return to our old school!" Kat sighed with happiness. Ali looked at her.

"Don't be silly Kat, two days until we return to our home!" The two girls smiled. True they had been living in number 11 Grimmauld place for nearly ten years now but there was no denying it.

Hogwarts was, and always will be, their one true home

For the next two hours, the girls relocated everything they had taken to Hogwarts when they had been students in case they should ever be needed.

"Right, I think that's everything, what do you think Kat? Kat? KAT?"

Ali turned round to see Kat looking through her old journal where she had kept all her pictures. Ali walked over and saw that the picture Kat was looking at was their last ever class photo. Kat placed it in her trunk and then shut the lid, causing a cloud of dust to shoot up into the air, making the girls cough.

"I think we need to give these a good dusting Ali" said Kat between coughs. Ali mumbled something of an agreement and then climbed into bed, too excited to think about tea or even sleep.

Kat also got into bed and fell asleep almost instantly, exhausted by the excitement of the day's events. Ali sat up, watching the head lights of passing Muggle vehicles getting brighter and then fading away.

Two more days.