So this is my first fanfiction. First attempt at anything like this really. This won't have any action/adventure really like the books. Set after Deathly Hollows.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 1
A new school year. A fresh start.
After a long summer after a very long school year, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was able to open its doors again, right on schedule. Hundreds of returning students had never been so relieved to go back to school. Many peered out of the windows of the train as the rebuild castle slowly came nearer. New students were audience to many unique accounts of all the events of the previous year. And, surprisingly, most stories stuck to the truth, and the rest were closer to the truth than expected from verbal story-telling of school children.
A few days before, it was the homecoming for the faculty. And the first day for incoming staff, including a certain new teacher. Whether it was the skill and training mastered or the fact that there was no other applicant, no one knew for certain. Miss Sarah Evans suspected both, but held no contempt for her former professors, especially after the year they all had. In fact the only resentment she had was for herself, because she wasn't there when her school and the ministry needed her. Granted she was abroad studying to be a magic professor (and having more than the required practice with offensive and defensive techniques thanks to the war) and England had been basically cut off from the reset of the world which left her with little option than to stay where she was, her guilt was still there. So of course Sarah spent the entire summer with the restoration team and traveled all over undoing the damage caused by the Dark Lord and his followers. And when Professor- when Headmistress McGonagall talked about not having a Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher, Sarah eagerly offered, despite the position's unfortunate reputation. "Professor, there is no need to worry!" she had pleaded, "I have the necessary degrees, the teaching experience, and I will make it through the year, I promise!" Finally the staff gave in and allowed her to apply. And this was the result.
Standing in the familiar classroom of her schooling days gave her a feeling of nostalgia greater than any of her old relics she saved could give her. Some of the ghosts even recognized her, which made her happy. Now she walked up and down the empty rows of desks and chairs. Only now did her nerves start bubbling with anxiety. Was everything in place? How are the students? Being short a House master, Sarah was offered to be Slytherin House master as well. How would they take to her? How would she take to them? Sarah remembered her own years, and only a few of the troublemakers were Slytherins. Maybe there were more and they just didn't get caught. She knew she was vastly different from their old House master, Professor Snape. Professor McGonagall- no! It's Headmistress! Get it right Sarah! She shook her head. Headmistress McGonagall said not to worry and not to compare herself to Professor Snape and she'll be fine. Well she hoped she would be fine. Sarah's degree professors always said that the first day is the most difficult mentally and emotionally, but physically it is just like every other day she'll have in the future, just with more introductions. She looked at the time. 9 o'clock. The railways would have just departed for Hogwarts. The final countdown has begun. Sarah took one more survey of the classroom, her classroom, and went to join her new colleagues for the final preparations in the dining hall.
And that was the first chapter. If you could tell me what you think, that would be great!