Authors Note~! Poor planning on my part has resulted in me combining two short chapters into one. XD Dunno exactly how this happened but it did. So this is two chapters in one, they will be separated by the name in Italics and bold. Sorry bout the weird mix-up. :3 I hope you enjoy~!
DISCLAIMER: Oh, and because I have to I DON'T OWN ANYTHING BUT "Aurora" and her character attitude and actions -and some of the plot. (things that vary from the book/movie)- :3
The speech given at the beginning of the year to the students, and Dumbledore and Peeve's conversation during the fat lady incident is taken from the book. They are marked with a number at the beginning and end to indicate that is is taken from the book. Ex: (1) (2) (3)...ect.
Oh and there might be a surprise for you at the end...
A New Year
"Professor Sinstra" Dumbledore said softly "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine…What happened…?" she asked, pulling the sheets up to her nose feeling rather awkward seeing the headmaster in her room while she was in a night slip. He just smiled at her and rested his thin boney fingers on each other and glanced at the ceiling.
"You overslept, and no one had seen you. I came up to make sure you were okay...With all the news flying around…many of the staff are worried about you." Aurora's smile had fallen when he mentioned people being worried about her. She hated the idea of people worrying, or thinking she was going to run off to find Sirius. She would never abandon her post as a professor, even if it meant she could find Sirius. Shaking her head she sat up in her bed, the movement caught Dumbledore's attention. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes.
"They don't need to be worried about me. I'll be fine." she smiled sweetly at Dumbledore who just nodded curiously as she smiled sweetly at him.
"I'll leave you so you can get ready, the others are waiting for you downstairs." he said as he started out of the room. Aurora slid off the bed and found her way to her closet pulling out her robes. Once Dumbledore was gone she threw her clothes on the bed and peered out the window onto the school grounds, eyes wondering to places that brought back memories of her old school life. Staring at the Whomping Willow she sighed once again, it was then out of the corner of her eyes she saw a black blur run into the woods. Her eyes snapped to the forest trying to locate the black blur. After staring at the woods for a good five minutes Aurora tore her blue eyes away and returned to getting dressed determined to forget what she saw and go about the day normally.
The week had moved slowly, each day comprised of waking up, breakfast, cleaning a different part of the castle, lunch, planning for classes and free time if they could squeeze it in. Then repeat. It was Sunday, the night the children would arrive, and the school was in a panic. Teachers were running around to every room making sure they were spotless, checking up on the rules, security and their schedules.
Aurora rushed to Dumbledore's office. As she spoke the password the stone bird rotated upwards, she slid onto a step and waited till it came to a jerking halt. Quickly ascending the steps she knocked on the door, which flew open.
"Professor Sinstra." Dumbledore said his back to her as he fed Fawks.
"Hello Headmaster, What did you need me for?"
"I need you to assist Professor McGonagall in making sure the elves are comfortable and ready to cook."
"Yes sir. Anything else sir?" she asked hands lacing together in front of her.
"Nothing besides making sure you are prepared for this new year."
"Of course Headmaster." Aurora nodded bowing her head slightly then turned quickly and vanished out of the room. As she headed towards the kitchen she heard the familiar footfalls of Snape.
"Good morning Professor Sinstra…" Snape said still speaking in harsh formal tones.
"Good morning Severus." she replied confused, her eyes darted to him as they walked and she ignored the urge to ask him what was wrong. "Are you ready for the new first years?"
"Of course." he stated simply. "Where are we headed?" he asked suddenly.
"Kitchen. I must help McGonagall." She sighed "What are you supposed to be doing?"
"At the moment. Nothing."
"Well I'd love to continue this awkward conversation...but I must check up on the elves." Aurora chuckled as she tickled the large green pear in the fruit bowl painting. Before Severus could respond the pear laughed and turned into a door handle. She quickly grabbed the door handle, threw it open, climbed in and slammed the door behind her. McGonagall looked over at her raising an eyebrow.
"Everything okay Miss. Sinstra?"
"Things are fine. Thank you." she smiled sweetly and walked up to the professor, "How is everything with the elves?"
"They seem to be moving smoothly, though they would like us to-" she was cut off by a high pitch voice saying something about "taste." The two women looked down to see a small female elf tugging on Aurora's deep purple robes. "Taste things." McGonagall finished, Aurora bent down to taste the soup.
"Delicious." A few moments later another elf rushed up to the two and thrusted a fork up in their direction. Aurora bent down and bit the cake, her eyes lit up happily.
"That's amazing!" she smiled at the elf, "Very nice." The elf looked at her, his eyes wide he seemed to almost cry in happiness. This continued for a few hours, while the elves cooked the two women chatted happily about life and school, sometimes hinting at Sirius's escape but Aurora changed the subject to other things rather quickly.
Finally it was time for the students to arrive, the two had finished up in the kitchen a few hours before and now Aurora was wondering the halls looking for something to do. As she rounded a corner she spotted Hagrid as he grabbed a lamp trying to keep his curly brown hair away from the fire.
"Hey Hagrid!" she called out quickly running up to him. "Mind if I tag along?"
"'Sure" he said "'Twod be me' plsure'" They walked to the line of carriages and threshalls, he offered a hand so she could climb in. A smile flashed over both their faces as she got in. The ride was short and consisted of all the new things Hagrid was excited about teaching. When they arrived Hagrid slid out of the carriage quickly and offered his hand once more for Aurora to take. Happily taking it she climbed out and then looked to the train station which was a few minutes' walk away.
"Hav' ya seen 'Arry since he was ah' kid?" Hagrid asked as they walked to the station.
"Yes and no" she started Hagrid looked at her confused. "Yes in the sense I've seen him at the big meals the past few years, but No in the sense…that I haven't seen him up close or talked to him. She smiled standing up hearing the sound of the horn of the train growing closer.
"He is a 'ery good kid." he said picking up the lantern and quickly checking all the boats. Aurora pondered how to help him and then noticed a few boat's lights being out, quickly she pulled out her Black Walnut wand and lit them. Hagrid smiled when he saw what she did, he opened his mouth to thank her but it was drowned out by the train's horn.
"'Ere we go!" he said, the train came to a screeching halt and the doors flew open. Students poured out of the train quickly; the first years looked around confused standing in a tight little group, the others walked to the carriages chatting amongst themselves. Aurora let out a sigh watching them, her mind racing back to when she was a first year student. She remembered standing there staring at the others then looking to caretaker who lead them to boats and the feeling of terror as they glided over the deep blue water.
"FIRST YEARS OVER HERE!" Hagrid bellowed which made Aurora jump slightly, snapping her out of her memories. She spotted Lupin, once she regained her footing; he was stepping off the train looking rather annoyed.
"So what happened?" Aurora asked surprising him greatly. He grinned and hugged her tightly.
"With the boy? It took a while to get him out, but we got him out, then the parents insisted on taking me out to dinner."
"What? That would have only taken a little bit right? Like a day or so?"
"Yea, but then the Ministry called, needed some help with things. Oh! The train!" he gasped. "I need to tell you about that!" he took her hand leading her through the thick wall of kids to the carriages once inside he shut the door and looked to her, the two were sitting across from one another. "Well, see, Hermione, Ron and Harry came into my cabin whilst I slept. About half way through the ride, the train stopped. Dementors boarded the train. One came to our compartment and started to drain Harry." Aurora's eyes flew open wide staring at him.
"You stopped it right?"
"Oh of course...but the really weird part was that after Harry had passed out, when he woke up that is, he claimed he heard someone screaming..."
"Screaming? Really...I wonder who he heard..." she shook her head pondering the idea for a moment, "It boarded the TRAIN. I can't believe that." She said her mind continued to go back to the fact that it was on the train. They sat in silence for a few moments then she spoke again. "Why...Were they there though…. searching for Sirius?" her voice was shaky as she thought of a dementor draining Sirius.
"Yes. They were..." he said the rain poured down on the castle the threshals ran at a very quick pace to get to the castle's shelter. Upon arrival the two professors darted into the Great Hall and took their seats at the table, Lupin smiled at her then started to chat with some of the other professors. A few minutes later the students entered the hall. After sorting they were serenaded by the chorus of the school. Aurora smiled, humming along with the song. Dumbledore took his stand up at the podium clapping for the choir students, and then continued his speech.
(1) "Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…"
Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic Business." Dumbledore paused. "They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises- or even Invisibility cloaks. It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementor." He said. (1)
Aurora bit her lip. 'Dementors…' she thought. 'How pleasant.' Lupin patted her on the hand, and she looked to him a small smile on her lips then to Dumbledore.
(2) "But on a happier note!" he continued "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our school, Professor RJ Lupin as our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher" some applause then he continued "Well I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired last year to enjoy his time with the rest of his limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid." The place seemed to erupt in applause.
"Now, Let the feast begin!" Dumbledore said with a clap of his hands and the food appeared. (2)
Halloween Hopes and Devastation
Lupin and Aurora were on their way up to the Gryffindor common room, hoping to introduce Aurora to Harry for the first time since he was a baby, when they noticed Percy pushing people out of the way of the Fat Ladies portrait. Lupin nudged Aurora and pointed up to the panting which, from their angle, they could only see the top corner of.
"No one is going into this dorm till it has been fully searched" Percy said, the two professors pushed their way through the crowd to see huge claw marks cutting through the center of the portrait. Both of their eyes grew huge as they stared at the rips, the same thought seemed to race through both of their heads as they looked to one another.
Lupin shook his head angrily hoping what they were thinking was just an overactive imagination. Dumbledore strolled up, his hands running along the canvas that hung down, his eyes seemed worried and he looked to Professor McGonnagall.
(3)"We need to find her," He said, "Professor McGonagall, Please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."
"You'll be lucky!"
"What do you mean Peeves?" Asked Dumbledore
"Ashamed, your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the forth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful" he said happily "Poor thing" he added.
"Did she say who did it?"
"Oh yes, Professorhead" Peeves said smiling. "He got a very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves did a flip "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."
"All students report to the great hall" He bellowed, sending them all quickly down the stairs to the hall. (3) Without second thought Aurora rushed off, Lupin went to grab her arm but failed. Pushing through students she held back tears, they watched her confused as she dodged between them, finally she arrived to the door and threw one open quickly slamming it shut seconds later. She stared out at the grounds looking around for Sirius, her eyes darted to a black figure near one of the trees, and she slowly made her way down there only for the figure to disappear.
"Sirius!" She yelled out loudly. "Where are you? What are you doing!" she said tears welling up in her eyes and anger bubbled up inside her as she stared out on the grounds. He was being idiotic if it really was him. "Sirius..." she whispered "Where are you?" she sat down in the grass looking out at the lake. "If you got away from Azkaban...why haven't you come to see me?" she tried to ignore the rain soaked ground but it was rather hard, "Why won't you come to talk to me?" she said unable to hold back tears at this point, after a moment she pushed herself up whipping away tears with her sleeve. A bark came from behind her, she whipped around to see a large black wolf like dog staring at her about 15 feet away.
"Snuffles..." she muttered shocked he bowed his head a bit in recognition she took a step toward him but he turned and bolted. Without hesitation she started to follow him only to trip over a root from one of the trees. "Snuffles!" she called out hoping he'd stop, but he continued to run. Pounding the ground with her fist she flung mud onto her face. Shaking her head she pushed herself up and watched him climb over the wall and vanish into the forest. Looking down at herself she brushed off the caked on mud and sighed heading back towards the castle.
Once all the professors, many had ran outside to make sure that there were NO students out there, and students were accounted for and inside they locked the castle up, Aurora slumped off and cleaned up. Once clean she found Lupin searching the hallways.
"What...do you think is going on?" she asked looking to the portraits, all of the people were watching the halls yet staying high enough up so that they wouldn't be attacked by Sirius as well.
"I don't know," he said hugging her. "What...happened to you though?" he said as they arrived on the first floor and walked down a hallway lined with windows on their left.
"To put it simply, I went out there called for him, and then saw him, he nodded when I called him Snuffles. Then he bolted." she sighed angrily, Lupin looked at her sympathetically and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm surprised he would do that. I would think he would come and talk to you" He held her close as she stopped crying.
"Thank you Lupin" she said looking up at him, he stood a good foot and a half taller than her. "For what?" he asked tilting his head confused.
"For always being there, someone I can always count on and talk to" he smiled and she rose on her tip toes to kiss his cheek.
Sirius
Sirius lay down under the bushes near by the tree and watched Aurora talk aloud to herself, or to him really. He resisted the urge to run over and hug her, tell her everything, and assure her it would be okay. But instinct, and experience, told him not to show himself in human form. Standing up he started over to her, his black pelt moved smoothly and almost effortlessly he strode up behind her, and then barked.
When she turned and spotted him, she spoke his nickname and bowed his head slightly, but as she took a step forward he turned to run. He knew that if she caught him things would have to end right there. It killed Black to run away from her, but it was for the best, once over the wall he waited until he heard the door slam shut again. Quickly he scrambled back over the wall and watched her disappear to clean up.
He sat patiently waiting and watching the professors look through the halls for him. Then he spotted her and Lupin coming down the stairs. As he gazed through the row of windows he couldn't help but smile seeing the two. 'Lupin' he thought 'how I missed you...' he watched the two converse and felt horrible seeing her crying but a little happy that at least Lupin was there to comfort her, they were partly hidden in the shadows making it hard for Sirius to really see them. His smile suddenly faded when he saw Aurora rise up and kiss Lupin. A growl escaped the massive dog's vocal cords.
"At least...she is happy" he thought head and tail hanging as he trotted off "He can provide for her...In ways I never could" He paused one last moment glancing back to see Aurora smiling at Lupin dragging him by the hand to the great hall. He thought of the two together letting out one last sigh he bolted into the woods, moments before the dementors ascended on the school.
