Anything that you recognize belongs to JKR. Anything you don't is mine.
Prologue
An Unexpected Letter
A ruffle of feathers was heard outside a small house on a dead end street. A woman sitting at the kitchen table stood up and opened the door and peered out. She saw a barn owl perched on the porch bannister with a large letter in its beak. Reaching inside, she grabbed a piece of bacon from the counter and fed it to the owl as she opened the letter. Quickly scanning the contents, she grabbed a scrap of parchment and jotted a note. She gave it to the owl and told the bird to take it to his master after resting.
Later that evening, another woman entered the house and sat down at the table with a cup of tea. Her pale blue eyes scanned the premises and a sixth sense told her that something unusual had happened that day.
"Fee," she called out, "can I talk to you for a minute?" She watched as her roomate entered the room in her bathrobe.
"You bellowed, Skye?" Fee asked, drying her hair carefully with a towel. Skye smirked and indicated a few brown feathers on the porch. Fee glanced over and smiled. "Dumbledore wrote. Asked me to take the Dark Arts position again."
"I assume you told him no."
"I accepted..."
"You WHAT? Fee, have you lost your mind? What is the council going to say?"
"I don't care, Skye! Voldemort is nearly too powerful for anyone outside the council to defeat. The only chance anyone has is a sixteen year old child that is so powerful, no one there is willing to train him to his fullest potential. I am not going to stand by and watch that happen. Dumbledore knows this, and that is why I am going."
"Then I am going with you, for if what you say and what my instincts indicate, my...services will be required. When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow evening."
