A/N: I haven't written anything in a rather long time, but I hope my writing has improved. I appreciate all reviews, yes even flames, but bear in mind that Harry Potter is a Mary Sue.
Warning: I own nothing except maybe a few plot points. This story is compliant to all the books, except the end of DH. In my story Snape lives and it's not completely compliant to the Epilogue.
Chapter One – Prologue
I slowly walked up to the castle that held so many of my memories, good and bad, and doubted myself, though momentarily, for returning at all. The property I now owned would have sustained me through my life and then some without the need to seek employment. There was this emptiness tough, something I had been feeling since before the passing of my late husband, which urged me to find a higher purpose. It told me I needed to be doing something to help others and keep our fragile world from crumbling to the depths it almost did nearly 10 years ago.
Once upon a time I had been the 'brightest witch of her age', and many had said my talent had lain to waste for years when I married the Quidditch star Victor Krum. I felt the need to escape though, and a large estate in Bulgaria with every resource at my finger tips had been too tempting to pass up. I should have suspected something when I was proposed to via Floo, but I was much younger than I am now and, admittedly, much less wise to how the world worked. Oh, I thought I knew so much that any choices I made had to be correct. But books and equations can't hold the answers to life. I had thought that I could reasonably grow to love Victor who was kind and funny and always very charming. But when I never felt love happen and used the words as an empty joke in comparison to what I now know they mean, I knew I was trapped. Trapped in a society that forced me to rules and codes, doomed to late nights when all the Quidditch boys would come over and get utterly shit faced and end up breaking something. I knew I was meant for more than that. I knew that somewhere the man I was meant to love was waiting for me, perhaps in the same situation I was, maybe alone every night, but he was there somewhere.
When Victor had his accident I knew I should have been filed with grief. I was to a point, he had still remained very dear to me and I always cared for him, but I couldn't help the sigh of relief that happened when I was finally alone. I spent several months at the manor not knowing what to do from this point. All those nights of wishing and dreaming and I had been given my ticket out by an accidental bludger to the head accompanied by a fall from a few hundred feet in the air. I wanted, no, needed a challenge. I needed to feel intellectually stimulated the way that 'my place' had not allowed me to be. Honestly, the crock of it all, insisting that I stay home because it's 'socially expected'. The only hardship of leaving Bulgaria was Julia. She was the one friend I acquired who was the one who stormed into the estate and told me to 'get off your scrawny arse and do something!'.
Julia was a refreshing change to the Pureblood elite. She was about 5'6" with long red hair, pale skin, and big blue eyes. She explained that her mother was a Veela and her father was an Irish wizard. She still had all the charms of a Veela, but with the mouth an Irish. Her language often made me blush, but at least I laughed often. She also encouraged me to find my own way and 'bollucks to the society, it's flawed anyway!'. She had also married one of the boys on Victor's team, but she chalked that up to Summer Romance and lots of drinks. She really was entertaining and seemed to take life so easily. She had promised to visit though, which brings us to the present.
I had sent an owl to Minerva McGonagall and asked a favor. I had finally figured out what to do, it would very easily be a challenge, as it was something I had never been straight aces on. I had decided to apprentice in Potions. She had seemed shocked and wanted to sure that I was aware the Professor Snape had come out of his coma two years prior and resumed his position. I assured her I was aware and that I welcomed the challenge if they, and more pointedly He, would have me. I received an owl a week later instructing me to join the staff a week prior to start of term when the rest of the staff would arriving and that I was being put on a 30-day probationary period.
That's why I'm here, walking these familiar steps after almost 10 years after I had thought I left them for good. I saw Minerva at the door to welcome me and I adjusted my black robes to hide the dress I wore underneath which would not be suitable for a woman who is supposed to be in mourning as it was made of soft Garnet silk. I gave her the proper bow as I was taught in my 'etiquette classes' only to hear her sigh and grab me into a long and hard embrace. I stiffened slightly but relaxed into it as I remembered what it was like to be with friends, no not friends, family. And this was my home.
A/N: This is just the epilogue and I should have the first real chapter done within the next two days. Just needed to get characters and storyline established. Please Review, feedback helps me greatly. This will be a SS/HG fic I assure you and Julia will be a rather large part of everything. Let me know what you think!
Laylana
