Author's Note: This chapter's song is Back to School by Dee Clark.
June - August 1991
The rest of the summer passed in a far less dramatic fashion. Dumbledore returned soon after Snape and Danielle's trip to Little Whinging, and since Danielle now had a proper wardrobe, he had her join them at meals in the Great Hall. This introduced Danielle to Hagrid and Filch, the only other staff members remaining on grounds that summer. Danielle was a little nervous they would recognize her as a Muggle rather than as a Squib, but neither man seemed to notice anything was amiss. Filch, a real Squib, seemed shocked that a Squib could become a faculty member, and he seemed bitter that he was not the first Squib to teach at Hogwarts. He was generally so unpleasant, Danielle avoided him.
Hagrid, on the other hand, was a delight. He warmly welcomed Danielle, and by the end of that first breakfast, he and Danielle were fast friends. Danielle would often come and visit his cabin for tea, although Danielle always swung by the kitchen first and collect a plate of snacks for them to avoid eating his cooking. Hagrid became like a trusted older brother. He even taught Danielle how to navigate the Floo network so that Danielle could visit London on her own, although she would accompany Hagrid if she knew he was going into the city for Hogwarts related errands.
Danielle also enjoyed occasional afternoon teas with Dumbledore and occasionally Snape. When she was just with Dumbledore, they usually discussed her preparations for the upcoming school year. Dumbledore was quite impressed with her plans and Danielle's approach to Muggle Studies. Although he offered occasional suggestions, he encouraged Danielle's out of the box thinking and was thrilled to have such a capable Muggle Studies teacher on staff. Dumbledore also worked with Danielle to improve her story about being a Squib and give her a believable background, as well as helping guide her through the intricacies of the British wizarding world.
Snape attended far fewer of these teas than he had previously, and when he did he was often silent unless pushed to speak by Dumbledore. He also left to spend most of the month of July at his family home in Spinner's End. Danielle wasn't exactly sorry to see him go, as his glowering presence was not a great addition to afternoon tea. She got the impression he was avoiding her, but that was fine by her.
On July 10th, Danielle had a conundrum. That was the date of her birthday, but she had already celebrated it five days before she had come to Hogwarts. But Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Lulu solved the conundrum for her by surprising her with cake and a few small gifts. Danielle was touched, and decided she would count this day as her twenty-seventh birthday.
When August 15th arrived, the faculty returned to Hogwarts for training and preparation for the upcoming school year. Danielle was incredibly nervous. This would be the first time to test out her back story with a large group of witches and wizards, as well as meeting numerous well known characters from the books. When she dressed for the welcome dinner, she went through her wardrobe about a hundred times trying to figure out what to wear. Lulu finally took pity on her and handed Danielle a set of smart navy blue wizarding robes. Although Danielle was not crazy about wearing robes, she decided it would make a good first impression. She added a pair of black high heels and some subtle makeup, and felt prepared to take on the faculty.
Danielle arrived to find about half of them already there. She instantly recognized Minerva McGonagall l and Filius Flitwick, who were in a deep conversation. She also noticed two teachers she did not recognize, who were Professors Vector and Sinastra. Professor Binns ghost floated in, followed by a woman who turned out to be Bathsheba Babbling, the Ancient Runes professor. A small, scarred looking man must be Professor Kettleburn, who would retire in two years and allow Hagrid to get the Care of Magical Creatures position. Danielle entered and nervously took a seat.
"You must be the either the new Muggle Studies or Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," aid McGonagall.
"Muggle Studies. I'm Danielle Katz," Danielle said as she offered her hand.
"An American," exclaimed Professor Sprout, who had just arrived as Danielle introduced herself. "We've never had a Yank on our staff before. I'm Pomona Sprout and I teach –"
"Herbology," Danielle blurted out. Sprout looked a little surprised, but then laughed.
"I can't ever hide that fact, not with these grubby hands," she said as waved her hands with dirty fingernails about.
Danielle took time getting aquainted with the teachers, as more of them kept arriving. Once all the faculty and staff had arrived, Dumbledore urged them to take their seats at the special table set up for them.
"Welcome back, Hogwarts faculty and staff. Let us save speeches for later, and tuck in," he announced as the food appeared. Danielle found herself seated between Hagrid and Sybil Trelawney. As she sat down, Trelawney did a huge double take.
"My goodness, a visitor from another world has joined us," she exclaimed as she examined Danielle.
"Um, yes. I suppose the United States is kind of like another world," Danielle said, desperate to cover up her origins. Although most of Trewlawney's prophecies and predictions were bunk, the woman did have the troubling capacity to make some correct predictions on occasion. Now would not be a good time for one.
"My dear, another universe is more like it," Trelawney continued.
"Sybil, really," whispered a scandalized McGonagall. Hagrid just laughed, as he was used to Trelawney's ridiculous predictions and ignored them.
"She will have the power to change our world," Trelawney insisted stubbornly. But no one seemed to be paying her any heed, and Danielle turned to Hagrid to ask how the injured bowtruckle he had found the other day was doing. Dinner was a pleasant getting to know you type of affair. The only real issue was Danielle trying not to pay too much attention to Professor Quirrell.
Quirrell had been one of the last people to arrive, and he was dressed in his purple turban. Danielle knew Voldemort lurked under that turban, and it drew her eyes like nothing else in the room. She feared either Quirrell would notice her attention, or worse, Voldemort himself, so she did her best not to stare. But Minerva, who was seated across from her, noticed.
"I hope he stops wearing that ridiculous turban before the students arrive," she sniffed. Danielle smiled sadly, knowing this was not going to happen.
When dinner was over, Dumbledore stood and made his speech.
"Once again, welcome everyone. I would like to take a moment to introduce, our newest faculty members. First, many of you might remember Quirinus Quirrell from his days here as a student. He is newly returned from his world travels to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Everyone politely applauded, although Danielle noticed Snape refraining from doing so. He was seated at the end of the table by Professors Sinastra and Vector. However, this made sense, as Snape's desire to teach D.A.D.A was well known. Of course he could not be happy to see someone else get the job he wanted. Danielle had to hide a smile at this. She hadn't told Snape he'd get the job six years from now, and she figured there was no need to let him know.
"And all the way from America, we have Danielle Katz, who will be taking over teaching Muggle Studies," he said as applause broke out. Hagrid was by far the most enthusiastic, and she couldn't help but grin at him.
"Just so everyone is aware, Professor Katz is a Squib who has worked extensively in the American Muggle educational system," he continued. "Although she cannot perform magic, she offers valuable insights to the way Muggles live, and I want you to all make her feel welcome as she is so very far from her home."
Danielle glanced around to see everyone staring at her curiously, and she knew she would face a great deal of scrutiny from the staff. But Danielle knew she could take it. If she could teach inner city kids in East Los Angeles, she could handle the Hogwarts staff.
"And since Professor Katz has never attended Hogwarts, she must be sorted to know which House she will have associated responsibilities to if a Head of House is not available," he said, conjuring the Sorting Hat and a stool.
Danielle panicked for a moment. Would the Sorting Hat be able to sort a Muggle like herself? Silently she rose and made her way to the stool. She sat, her stomach dancing around inside her like crazy. Danielle hoped she didn't throw up in front of all the staff. Dumbledore lowered the hat and the Sorting began.
"My, my ," said the Sorting Hat. "Your head is positively stuffed with brains. And Salazar thought Muggles were ignorant," he said to Danielle, increasing her panic. The hat laughed at this.
"My voice is only heard by the person I sort. No need to fret, Danielle," he reassured her. Relief washed over Danielle when he said this. The Sorting Hat continued to work.
"Hmm…you're also being quite brave, even in the face of the things you fear. And you have great cunning, up to Slytherin standards, but I feel odd sorting a Muggle into Salazar's House. So what to do?"
Whatever you do, please hurry, Danielle thought, which caused the Hat to laugh.
"Okay, but before you go, remember no matter which House you end up in, no matter what you do, your defining feature is your heart. So…Ravenclaw," said the Sorting Hat, shouting the last word out loud for all to hear. The applause were much louder this time, as her Sorting into a house known for its intelligence caused Danielle to rise in their esteem. Danielle returned to her seat, relieved that the ordeal was over. As she sat, she glanced at Snape, gave a subtle nod and toasted her with his wine glass.
Dumbledore resumed speaking, announcing the training schedule, planning sessions, and other events for the next week and a half. One thing of note was that new teachers were assigned a mentor. Danielle's would be Professor Flitwick and Quirrell's would be Snape. Danielle wondered if Snape had been Quirrell's mentor in the original book, but there was no point in pondering that now. Either way, a mentor would help the new teacher with advice and support over the upcoming year.
Then, Dumbledore ended by saying everyone should make sure they get a good night's sleep and be ready for tomorrow. With that, the dinner was over. Flitwick approached Danielle and invited her for a night cap, which Danielle accepted. Over brandies in Flitwick's office, they got to know each other. Flitwick was actually impressed with Danielle's Muggle academic credentials and was incredibly kind. Danielle knew he would be a good mentor and she was happy to be assigned to him.
The next few days were intense. There were sessions on learning Hogwarts rules, House rules, castle tours, scheduling meetings, meetings about extracurricular activities. Danielle found she had some difficulties. Since she could not perform magic, many of the things they did had to be slightly modified for Danielle. For instance, a team building activity Dumbledore selected, an obstacle course through Hogwarts castle, was nearly scraped because Danielle could not use a wand. Danielle solved the problem by asking her teammates to allow her to run through the fire section. She had them conjure her a pile of blankets which she carefully wrapped herself in. She steeled herself and ran through, shedding burning blankets as she went until at last she made it through with minor singes. Her team, which was composed of herself, Sinastra, Kettleburn, and Sprout, placed second, which pleased them all, especially since it was by a hair's breath.
Danielle learned which nights were hers to patrol corridors, how to give and take points from Houses (with Dumbledore creating a device Danielle could use to do so instantly, despite her lack of magic), and how to deal with problems common amongst magical students. It was a lot, and there were moments Danielle thought her brain would explode.
The last few days were spent setting up classrooms and lesson prep. Danielle had already done most of this over the summer, and other than a few modifications suggested by Flitwick, she was basically done. So she went around to other teachers offering her help, whether hanging up pictures or filing lesson plans. Although her Muggle ways took longer, most of the teachers appreciated her help.
Two days before the students arrived, Danielle found little to do. She wandered about looking for teachers to help, but most were very involved with writing lesson plans and this was not something she could assist with. She wandered until she reached the dungeons. She had not helped Snape previously, as she had always found someone else on the higher floors who needed help first. But he was her last shot. She knocked on his door and he called for her to come in. He was busy chopping up potion ingredients, and when he looked up he seemed very displeased to see her.
"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.
"I was looking to see if you needed any help getting ready for the students. I could help you chop ingredients," Danielle offered.
Snape scowled and looked as if she had offered to remove his wand arm.
"You'd do nothing but ruin expensive items that would be difficult to replace," he told her.
"Than give me something cheap to start with, cause I am bored shitless and I desperately need something to keep busy with," Danielle snapped.
"Fine, try to roots on the table over there. I need them finely chopped," said Snape as he glared at her.
Much to his surprise, Danielle quickly and neatly dispatched the roots. He came over and examined her work and could find no flaw with her work. He nodded and gave her other ingredients to cut up. Danielle smiled smugly, glad she had taken the knife skills class offered at her local Williams Sonoma. It had improved her cooking, and obviously the Potions Master found it acceptable. They worked together in silence for quite some time, and Danielle allowed her mind to drift a bit.
"Are you ready for the students to arrive?" Snape asked, startling her out of her reverie and causing her to scatter the asphodel she was cutting into long, even strips.
"Other than my night before the first day ritual, yes," she told him.
"And what is that?" he asked incredulously.
"A long bath with a good book and bottle of wine. It relaxes me right before I have to face a room full of crazy kids for the first time," she told him. Snape wished she hadn't, because it put a very clear picture in his mind of Danielle naked, and he had no such wish to imagine that. Still, once she did that, he couldn't shake it.
"That should be enough for today," he told her dismissively. Danielle nodded, knowing this was her cue to leave. She was surprised how almost human he had been this afternoon. She bid him good day and left.
Snape sighed with relief. This woman was becoming an even bigger nuisance than he had feared. She'd spent the summer turning his whole life upside down, and now she was putting less than pure thoughts into his head. It was bad enough she had shown him Harry Potter's home life.
Ever since his visit to Privet Drive, Snape had been contemplating how miserable Harry's life must be. He'd even gone back many times to watch how things were going for Harry. The contempt and disdain from Petunia, the beatings from his uncle, the bullying of his cousin all made Snape feel slightly sick. Although he was James Potter's son, Snape could see in no way how Harry deserved the treatment he was getting. Unbelievable as it sounded, he felt bad for the kid.
Worse, he was finding himself thinking less of the boy as James', and more of him as Lily's. The boy certainly had her eyes, but he seemed personality wise more like a masculine version of Lily. This was sort of unsettling, seeing Lily live within another. He was fascinated and repelled in equal measure. All he knew was that Danielle was right. He would have to rethink how he planned to treat the child when he arrived soon.
_AN: Thanks to my mom, who suggested this song! I was at a loss, and she was a lifesaver. So things are getting ready for the school year, and Quirrell is already Voldemort's stooge. In the next chapter, Harry and his year will arrive and be Sorted. Speaking of which, did I do the right thing putting Danielle in Ravenclaw? Review me please!
