Notes:

I had to change the summary as I could tell the whole Celine Dion/Heart thing was going to be a problem. I must say that I did listen to the original version by Heart and there was a whole different feeling to it and even though it was the same words, it just didn't seem to fit with my story.

Chapter 7

The night before Ava had been shown to what was to be her room while she stayed at the castle. She had followed Dumbledore down so many winding staircases she was starting to get dizzy. She hadn't remembered going up so many flights from the ground floor to his office so they must have been going farther down than that and by the way the air was getting colder she could only imagine how unpleasantly chilly her room would be. Finally when she felt like she couldn't take one more staircase they arrived at a wooden door with copper trimming that looked like it had serpents carved into it but it was too dark to see it clearly.

"Since this is to be your room, Ava, you must choose the password and we will be the only two to know it. I will tap the knocker three times with my wand and then you must speak the word you wish to use," Dumbledore told her. Ava nodded her head in understanding and said the first thing that came to mind after his three taps. "Endure," she blurted out. It was the best and last advice Jonah had given her. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows but didn't question her, thankfully. When the door opened, he bid her goodnight and told her that she would be sent for early in the morning. Upon entering the room Ava was pleasantly surprised that her trepidation of it's interior was completely unfounded. There was fireplace but the room was just as warm as Dumbledore's office had been. Soft candlelight illuminated every corner of the stonewalled room and the mahogany furniture was nicely accented by dark green velvet that covered everything from the bedspread to the heavy drapes. The room wasn't large and the four-poster bed took up most of it but there was still enough space for a writing desk, a chair and an armoire for her belongings. Another door to the left she knew would contain a private bathroom. Not bothering to unpack her bag, she tossed it onto the chair and crashed onto the bed fully clothed. In minutes, she was in a fitful sleep.


Jonah had sometimes joked that slayers slept with one 'ear' open and never was that more useful than when they were being tracked by the Bringers. Thanks to them she had gotten plenty of practice in waking up ready to fight so when a soft 'crack' sound came from inside her own room early that morning Ava eyes flew wide open. She immediately threw herself into a backwards somersault on top of the bed and landed in a low crouching position on the soft sheets with her hand near the small dagger strapped by her ankle. Her battle-hardened green eyes scanned the room but found no threat. Then small, gray and pointed ears appeared over the edge of the bed followed by large, frightened brown eye

"Please don't hurt Nissy. She's only a house-elf that was sent to wake up the new Miss and give her a map of the castle," came the little voice.

Ava honestly felt bad for scaring the pathetic creature so badly and she relaxed her posture until she was sitting bow-legged on the bed. Assuming the house-elf had been referring to herself she attempted to soothe her, "I'm sorry, Nissy. I didn't mean to frighten you. I was just having a bad dream, that's all." Unfortunately, that wasn't a lie. She often had nightmares about the Bringers but this dream had been different. They had had eyes this time and they looked like snake eyes, yellow and piercing straight into her soul. She mentally shuddered and decided that she liked the eyeless bad guys better.

Nissy long fingers crept onto the bedspread and deposited the map she had mentioned. Ava picked it up and pretended to be studying it while she snuck glimpses of Nissy who was now cautiously making her way towards the drapes. House-elves were definitely the strangest creatures she had ever seen and Ava had seen many odd things so that was saying a lot. When Nissy pulled the cord on the plush, green drapes the entire room was changed. Ava had been wrong about her room being underground; it was actually under water. The entire room was bathed in a soft, shimmering yellowy-green light that gave the impression that she-herself was underwater. She wasn't too far under the surface because she could see the sun like a ball of fire rising into the sky and it's rays created moving lines of light on the walls.

Having sufficiently done her duty, Nissy came back to the bedside. "Headmaster Dumbledore would like to see you in his office as soon as you are ready, Miss." With that, Nissy gave a quick curtsy and with the same 'crack' that had woken Ava up, the little elf completely disappeared.

She had longed to take a relaxing soak in the beautiful claw foot bathtub but instead she had quickly showered and dressed. The map made it very easy to find the headmaster's office and after a night's rest, it didn't seem as far away is it had before. After being introduced to the two professors in the office who had obviously already been filled in on her background, she had had the surreal experience of seeing her twin face to face for the first time. Ava hadn't known how to act or what to say so she just hadn't said anything. She didn't want Harry to continue thinking they were going to have a close relationship, it just wasn't possible given the life that was chosen for her but she didn't know how to make that clear without hurting his feelings. She decided that her game plan would be to avoid him as much as possible.

Now she was sitting in the great hall after being shown to a chair at the end of the professor's table. The room lived up to it's name and she couldn't help gazing around in awe, especially at the ceiling where puffy white clouds covered most of the blue sky. The wood on the table she was seated at was scrubbed to such a high polish she could see her on reflection in it and she sighed. She would have no problem appearing older than she was, her face looked tired and her eyes looked cloudy like a person who had seen too much for her age. The students began to drift in, pointing her out to their friends as they noticed her until every student in the school was seated and staring at her, curiosity plainly shown on every face. On the rare occasion when she had actually been in a crowd, she had been able to blend in to the background so as not to call attention to herself. Learning this skill had been essential to her training as a slayer and helped immensely to identify and stalk vampires without them realizing she was there. And now she was sitting at the front of the room with the attention of a couple hundred people and Ava couldn't have felt more out of place if she tried.

Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat, briefly diverting all the eyes in the room to himself, "Before we eat this morning I have a small announcement. As you have noticed, we have a new face here at Hogwarts. Ava Emerson has just graduated from the Salem Academy of Magical Education and has come to Hogwarts as an apprentice professor to observe and assist Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall with the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. Not only is she at a new school but she is in a new country and I trust you will all make her feel welcome here." He paused to throw a smile her way and she tried to reciprocate but she was still getting over the surprise of him using Jonah's last name as her own. "Let's eat!" the headmaster announced before raising his glass. Trays piled high with breakfast foods of all kinds, some she couldn't even recognize, appeared on all the long tables. Most of the students directed their attention to filling their stomachs but some still stared at her intently, including one boy about her age with hair so light, it practically glowed. He said something to the larger boy sitting next to him and Ava tried to use her slayer-enhanced hearing to make it out but the only words she could hear above the din of clinking flatware was 'pure blood' which just left her more puzzled. The smell of the food filled her nose and her stomach rumbled. She had completely forgotten when the last time she ate was but all of a sudden it felt like years and she went about filling her plate. She kept her head down so she would become less interesting to anybody still watching her.

Back at the trio's table, Ron was noticing Draco's interest in Ava as well, "Look out Harry, even Malfoy's checking out Ava. Wouldn't he just die if he knew she was your sister?" he whispered.

"If Malfoy even goes near my sister, I'll put a hex on him that will send him to the infirmary for a week," Harry whispered back through gritted teeth. He didn't mention that that same hex would also be used on any of the Gryffindor boys that were also talking about the new arrival like she was a piece of meat.

Hermione leaned closer to them, "Watch it guys, we're not suppose to know her remember? Try to act like it or you might call attention to us."

"Oh yeah, you're right," Ron agreed. "Oi Seamus! The new chick is hot right?" he announced loudly.

"Yeah! Wicked hot!" Seamus replied, laughing as the two boys reached across the table to high five each other.

Harry who had been taking a drink of pumpkin juice slammed his cup back on the table with a scowl on his face and the students nearby stopped eating to look at him.

"What's your problem, mate?" Seamus demanded.

Hermione kicked him under the table and Harry quickly collected himself, "Nothing. Just realized we have Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts with Snape today. Rotten luck."

Immediately, the mood at the table plummeted as the new girl was forgotten and the students began to brood to one another about the unfair decision Dumbledore had made to give Snape two classes where he could torture them and praise the Slytherins.

"That was close, Harry," Hermione spoke quietly to him. "I don't care if Malfoy is snogging Ava in the hallway, you have to control your temper so you don't blow her cover."

"I know, I know! It will help a lot if you don't use my sister and snogging together in a sentence again, k? Listen, I forgot my potions book back in my room. I'll meet you two in class." With that Harry was gone and out the large double doors following the other students who had only the time to grab a quick muffin off the table this morning.