Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the characters within its covers... those belong to the one and only J.K. Rowling.
"Remind me again Harry, why do we have to go back? I mean I love Hogwarts don't get me wrong but wasn't last year our seventh and final year of school?" Ron whines as he rolls his cart towards the red train known as the Hogwarts Express.
Hermione rolls her eyes as if his question was the stupidest one ever asked, "Well Ron, technically we never attended Hogwarts last year because we were busy finding Horcruxes and saving the wizarding world as we know it. So if we are wanting to find decent jobs we have to finish our final year; that is what Professor McGonagall said in her letters to each of us. I, for one, am excited to go back now that everything is back to normal. I missed the library immensely."
"I hope your right about this year being normal, Hermione... I don't think I could last another year like the past few years." Harry replies sullenly. "I just don't understand why Professor McGonagall couldn't just vouch for us. I mean after all we have done for Hogwarts... she couldn't just tell the Ministry. 'Alright these guys are good to go for any job they are highly qualified for any and all jobs that they want."
"You know that is not how things are done, Harry." Hermione sits down on a booth in the first empty compartment. "And besides I would never ever allow her to do such a thing as that for me. It would feel as if I hadn't earned anything... I want to be able to go through the N.E.W.T.S and say this was my score and this is the job that I can get with it. Besides since that toad of a woman, Umbridge, took over as the new Minister of Magic; you know, she would never allow McGonagall to do that."
Suddenly the door to the compartment slides open and Ginny appears on the other side. "Hi guys, I just ran into Luna and I was wondering if it was cool if she sat with us?" The blonde Ravenclaw waves absentmindedly towards the others while concentrating more on something in the hallway.
Harry smiles at seeing his girlfriend, even though they had arrived at King's Cross together, "Of course Luna can join us all. Come on in. Uh... Luna..." Harry stares at the blonde who stood outside the doorway after Ginny had sat down beside him. When he realised he couldn't catch her attention he speaks alittle louder. "Hey Luna... Is there something the matter?"
She snaps out of her reverie and turns to face Harry. "Oh. Hi, Harry. No there is nothing wrong... I just thought I saw a wood-elf on the train, but my mistake, it was just the new professor that Headmistress McGonagall hired for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class." Luna moves into the compartment. "I hear this new one is related to Professor McGonagall. Dad and I had a very busy summer... we had to help a woman who had been brought to us that had been injured in one of the battles against Voldemort. How was everyone's summer holiday?"
Everyone was stunned at the variances of Luna's conversation; Ginny was the first one to snap out of her confusion and asked. "Luna why did you think you saw a wood-elf... they have been extinct for four hundred years."
Ron stares at his sister incredulously; "You've heard of a wood-elf? I thought she was making it up like those Nargle things. The only elves I have ever heard of our house-elves." At his remark Luna gets up and leaves the compartment in the direction she was staring at moments before.
Ginny slaps her brother upside his head and rolls her eyes. "Really, Ron? Why do you always do things like that? I honestly don't know what Hermione sees in you to have dated you this long. I'm going to see if Luna is okay." Ginny gets up and leaves the room in the same direction the blonde had left in.
Rubbing the spot where his sister had just slapped him, Ron asks his friends. "What she do that for?"
"If I have to answer that one for you, I think I might have to leave from here too; and have Harry deal with you the rest of the trip. You should know what you did... you hurt Luna's feelings. I know most of what she says seems like a load of junk to you but she is our friend and is a very very sweet girl and you can't say things like that in front of her and not think she is going to be okay by it. I think I am going to follow anyway and see if Ginny has found Luna. There isn't many places for her to go on this train but I swear sometimes I think she makes her own world in here so no one can find her." Hermione gets up, staring vehemently at Ron, and leaves the two boys by themselves.
Once the door shuts behind her Harry decides to speak, "I wonder if what Luna said is true?"
"About the wood-elves?"
"No Ron... about the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher being related to Professor McGonagall. I wonder what he will be like; especially after seeing McGonagall in action during the battle. I bet he is even better."
"Well whoever they are, let's hope they can last longer than our other DADA teachers. I mean the poor sods couldn't even last over a year in that position without quitting, dying, having their memory erased, or being chased away by centaurs. I think that position is cursed."
Harry laughs at his friend, "You always say that mate."
"Well it's true look how many professors we have had during our time at Hogwarts for that class; we had a new one each year and of course none of them lasted. How long do you think this one will last? I mean being related to McGonagall and all they should last for a long time, just look at how long she has been at that school. She taught my mum and dad. Hey, I just thought of something Harry... I wonder who Luna was talking about that her and her father had to help take care of over the summer everyone we know that was in the Order that lived was taken care of at St. Mungo's and have been out of hospital for quite some time."
"I don't know Ron... but whoever it was, Luna will eventually tell us. Now let's have no more talk of Luna and her crazy talk... she is a great person don't get me wrong but... I have to agree with you Ron. She can say some of the strangest things. Oh look the trolley is coming." The two boys get their money together and wait for the sweets trolley to pass by their room.
Further up the corridor of the train, Hermione and Ginny still searched each compartment in order to find their slightly flighty Ravenclaw friend.
"Where do you think she's gotten off to?" Hermione asks as she looks into random compartments on her right, while Ginny searched the left-side rooms.
"I wish I knew otherwise we wouldn't be searching everywhere for her. I wonder if she knows parts of the train that we don't?" Ginny muses aloud.
"With Luna... who knows." Hermione holds her arm out to keep Ginny from moving any further. "Hey... I think the new professor is in this compartment. She looks so small in comparison to even most third years!" Hermione exclaims barely over a whisper.
A slight woman with reddish-blonde hair appears in their view as the two girls leaned closer towards the door to view. "Is she talking to someone or is she talking to herself into that mirror?" Ginny breathes, trying to keep the woman on the other side of the door from noticing someone spying on her. "I wish we had Harry's cloak so we couldn't be spotted doing this."
Hermione places her right index finger over her mouth, indicating for the red-head to keep quiet; then she slowly points towards the door for the other girl to listen closely.
'Yes I am aware what is going on in the Ministry, my love. I promise I will be careful... I don't want to lose you again either.' The two girls hear a voice coming from the mirror but can't not hear what is being said. 'No... I won't forget to keep an eye on Draco for Cissy, I promise. But are you sure he will be alright with me keeping an eye on him because I remember the type of temper you said he has..."
"Draco?" Ginny mouthes to Hermione. Hermione shrugs her shoulders unsure of what they had overheard was accurate.
'But a promise to anyone from the Black family is a promise... and any promise to my soul is a promise that I shall keep. But I believe with the way Umbridge is running the Ministry I am going to need more watching out than Draco would ever need. Your whole family is pure-blood where she thinks I am nothing but an abomination on the wizarding community. Besides Minerva is running the castle now; so I believe no harm will befall anyone within its walls, you know how much better she is than Dumbledore was. I believe that it is almost time to get off the train. I promise I will send you more details on everything that goes on while I am here by owl and also I will of course see you during your nightly visits to my quarters via floo network... I know I wish you could have came on the train with me too, my dear. I think I will have a talk with Minerva to see if you can stay in my quarters, I'm sure Cissy would like to have her manor all to herself now that Lucius is gone to Azkaban and Draco is back in school. I love you and stay safe... I don't want anyone to try and take you away from me again. I spent too long away from you to lose you again. And give Cissy my best and tell her not to take anymore of Lucius's whining. There is nothing more pathetic than a man who whines and complains about every little thing. He is in prison for Merlin's sake, he needs to enjoy what visiting time he does get. Talk to you later my dear.' The woman kisses the mirror then carefully tucks it away into her pack and gazes out at the horizon awaiting the stop at Hogsmeade station.
The girls on the other side of the door stare at each other wondering what the whole conversation was all about and who was on the other end that they could not hear. Suddenly a voice comes from behind them, "You know it's not wise to eavesdrop on other people's conversations." Luna stands behind them and stares into the window that Hermione and Ginny were just looking into.
"Where were you Luna? Hermione and I were looking all over for you." Ginny says as she tries to regain her composure after being startled so thoroughly just moments before.
"If you had looked everywhere you would have found me... I was in the baggage car. I had to leave out of the room you guys were in because even though we have all been through a lot last year I still believe your brother and Harry don't like me much. So I decided to give you all space and go talk to the animals in the baggage car to keep them from being lonely. Then I decided I would come up here and talk to Professor McGonagall, the younger one that is. Even though she is related to the Head Mistress; I know she is going to be lonely here. She is used to living in the forests amongst the animals and of course with her recently reacquainted soul mate."
"But there are so many people in Hogwarts... how can someone be lonesome in a place like that?" Ginny asks, wondering if this is one of Luna's crazy sayings again.
"I think that I understand what she is saying Ginny. The professor is so used to being alone and is comfortable with it that all the people will kind of set her off a bit and she will not act as she normally does." Hermione suggests and breathes a sigh of relief when she sees Luna nodding her head in agreement.
"Hermione, are you sure you weren't supposed to be in Ravenclaw? Well anyway I will see you two when we get to Hogwarts until then I will be in here." Luna knocks on the door and is greeted warmly by the shorter woman that is occupying the room. The woman wasn't dressed as a normal professor would nor as a regular witch dresses. She was wearing tight black leather pants with black boots that came past her knees and a black corset. Her hair, the girls had only caught a glimpse of the colour of it ,being red-blonde with a stark white streak down the middle, before but now they realise that it is tied in a loose ponytail that went halfway down her back and covered her ears. They stared a moment at Luna and the professor for a moment until the woman went back inside and Luna turned to face them. "You know, you two should really be more careful on who you eavesdrop on because she realised that you two were out here . She found it quite amusing that you stood by and listened to her private conversation. Professor McGonagall is a very attentive person... I guess that could be because she was a hunter for a long time before the other Professor McGonagall asked her to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts." She lowers her voice before speaking again. "I think that once we get to the Great Hall and the festivities have passed that you two should owe her an apology." She turns and walks back into the room and closes the door.
Hermione and Ginny look at each other stunned. Wasting no more time they turn around and walk quickly back to their compartment, where Harry and Ron were waiting for them. Opening the door to allow themselves in the girls noticed that Harry was quite distraught and Ron was trying to get him to calm down. "What happened to Harry?" Hermione asks as she slips into the bench beside Ron.
"That blonde git, Malfoy was just here. You would think that after we saved his mangy hide last year he would be a bit nicer to Harry. But he went in on how there was going to be some changes in Hogwarts and that Harry should have stayed away because now he no longer has anyone to baby him.
"Well, I would keep trying to hex Draco down to a minimum since he has another protector in the school." Ginny says as she puts an arm around Harry's shoulder to comfort him.
Harry looks at her questioningly. "Why do you say that Ginny? Who would even want to pay attention to him now that his parents are at the bottom of the totem-pole since Voldemort's demise?"
"Well, from what we heard when we were listening in on Professor McGonagall's conversation while we were looking for Luna, Narcissa has personally asked her to watch out for little Draco." Hermione submits when Ginny looks her way.
Ron looks on confused. "Why would Draco's mum ask the headmistress to look out for him?"
"No, the new professor for our DADA class is female and is related to Headmistress McGonagall. Well it wasn't his mum she was talking to..."Ginny looks for Hermione's approval before continuing. "We saw her talking into a mirror and the person she was speaking with had mumbled something but of course we couldn't hear it. But the new McGonagall basically told the other person to tell 'Cissy' to relax and that she knows to keep an eye out on him. Also what was strange is she said, 'But a promise to anyone from the Black family is a promise... and any promise to my soul is a promise that I shall keep.' It was really strange guys... also she mentioned that she was aware of what the Ministry is trying to do and that she would be careful." When she finished, Ginny looked from her boyfriend to her brother and back again; trying to gauge their reaction to her account of what she and Hermione had witnessed.
"Wow... What do you think that all means, Harry?" Ron asks as he stares at his best friend, hoping he would have all the answers.
The bespectacled dark haired boy sat for a minute contemplating what Ginny had told him transpired. "It is a bit strange... I would like to know who else is in the Black family that's left besides Andromeda and Narcissa. I know it isn't Andromeda. She was basically disowned by the rest of the family when she married Ted Tonks. And there is no one else I would know that would be that close to Narcissa to call her 'Cissy' . The only person I had ever heard call her that was Bellatrix." Ginny and Hermione cringe at the name of the dead Death Eater, who on more than one occasion had tried to kill both of them. "But of course it couldn't be her... she's dead. Ms. Weasley killed her. Another things that makes me wonder though... is why did she tell the person on the other side of her looking-glass that she would be careful about the whole thing with the Ministry. The Black family never consorted with muggle-born and hardly ever had dealings with half-bloods besides Snape and Voldemort. So why is this mystery person afraid for Mcgonagall to get into trouble with the Ministry, from what I know that is a Pure-blood family as well. Am I right Ron?"
"Yeah. Harry that is right. You don't suspect that she's a half-breed do you? Like Lupin was? What did she look like Hermione?"
"I don't think she is a werewolf, Ron. But there was something about her that did seem odd. McGonagall was very short for one... not Flitwick short but she only barely came up to Luna's shoulder. But I don't see were that would make any cause for concern. There has to be a reason though... nothing is ever said like that. Not for no reason anyway. You don't think it is because how Professor McGonagall treated Umbridge when she worked here that year, do you?"
Everyone is quiet for a few moments as the train rumbles closer to their destination. When they notice the speed of the Hogwarts Express finally slowing down, Harry voices his opinion. "Well there is nothing we can do right now... we will just have to wait and see what this year brings before we can act on anything. And besides... she is related to a woman that we have known and trusted for several years now. She can't be a bad person now can she?"
