I have this headcanon that I incorporated into this story that Regulus Black didn't die- he faked it and ran away so he could keep researching horcruxes and whatnot for Dumbledore. But by being 'dead', he didn't have any money and ended up a professor at Ilvermorny, safely far away enough that he could still use his own name, but not so far that news didn't still reach him of Voldemort's return in the mid 1990s...
It is fall 2000.
Chessie had to return to Hogwarts a week before the students arrived, leaving George with not one, but three children and a booming business. She had apologized, sort of, before running out the door elatedly.
As she walked through the massive wooden doors into the castle, Chessie found herself smiling.
"Chessie!" a woman's voice yelled out, and Chessie saw the plump older witch just before she barreled into her with a huge hug. "The curse is officially broken!"
"What?" Chessie laughed and shoved Pomona Sprout off of her. The shorter woman's hair was just as crazy as Chessie remembered, grey curls and flyaway strands all over, and the tip of her patched-up hat was just barely taller than Chessie's head.
"Did you never notice how Defense professors only last a year?" she said excitedly as Flitwick and Vector came in from the doorway where they had just arrived themselves.
"Okay, so no, I did not get myself fired," Chessie smirked affectionately. "Somehow. I did try."
"There was a curse on the position for decades, had to do with You-Know-Who. But when he finally was defeated, it lifted! And here you are!"
"It is nice to see that we may finally be able to keep the same Defense professor," Septima Vector pitched in, smiling as she approached. Chessie was looking forward to their arithmancy-centric teas this year.
"I'm not sure about all that," Chessie said, "But I am back for whatever reason. Honestly, a week to settle in and decompress after being in an apartment crammed with people sounds lovely."
"Oh, that's right," Flitwick said sympathetically, "How are the boys taking their mother's passing?"
"It was rough for awhile," Chessie admitted. She sighed. "George took it suspiciously well too, when we finally got rid of Fred's stuff. All three of them had a rough few weeks there in the middle, but I think they were generally okay by the time I left this morning."
Pomona patted Chessie's arm gently. "I am proud of you for helping them," she said gently.
They all chatted at once as they seated themselves around the staff table that afternoon, joined by the rest of the professors. The friendly-looking Muggle Studies professor sat next to Chessie, and it took her embarrassingly long to realize that she hadn't spoken to the woman all the previous year.
"You completely ignored me last year," the youngish professor jokingly chastised when Chessie confessed that. She was surprised to hear an American accent. "But I wasn't worried about it, we never really interacted. It was my first year teaching here last year too. You probably don't remember- I'm Angelica Black. I came from Ilvermorny. Taught there for ten years, fell for a British guy teaching over there kind of embarrassingly fast, and came back to England with him during the war. Actually I think our boys are best friends."
They shook hands cordially as Chessie frantically searched her memory for the Cenopathy twins' friend's name. They had told stories of their trio during the year but- Corvus. Corvus Black. How had she not recognized the name, and who was this professor's husband? All the Blacks were women or dead, Chessie had thought.
"Chessie Wharton," Chessie introduced herself awkwardly, "Um, so the surname-?"
"Regulus faked his death," Angelica said cheerfully. "I'm not sure how much detail I can go into, but it had to do with a secret society and he worked as a researcher in hiding for them. I've really started to realize the stigma associated with his family name on this side of the ocean, glad he didn't mention it beforehand or I probably would have sent my boys to Ilvermorny."
"Were... they... born in America?" Chessie wasn't sure how to judge when she had asked too many questions. She volunteered some information as a compromise. "My parents were- are still- very anti-muggle. I am not but my...fiance and I are both pureblood. I have a muggle sort-of-daughter."
Angelica smiled confidently. "My sons and I are considered half-blood, and proud of it. My parents were both wizards from no-maj- I mean, muggle- families. When my sisters or I misbehaved we had to do our chores the muggle way. We've tried to raise the boys to be more open-minded regardless of which country we lived in. Although we don't have this stigma about bloodlines over there, it still used to amaze me how little wizards know about muggle life. It's even worse over here. It's easy to be afraid of something you don't know. I figured I could help change that."
"That is what Chessie is trying to do for werewolves," By this point, Pomona, the staff's biggest gossip, had overheard enough to join in the conversation as they all turned to chatting about the various wizarding schools.
At the head corner of the table, Slughorn sulked. Nobody was talking to him. Flitwick started a conversation with him purely out of pity, since he was too far up the long table to join in the womens'.
The Friday before school started, Chessie was preparing for the next week's start of term classes when Slughorn knocked at her office door. She let him in her office, and sat down in the chair next to him instead of across the desk like she was used to. It was further away to her desk throne, and she was feeling too intellectually drained to make the effort to undermine Slughorn's authority.
"Evening," she said cautiously. Slughorn bowed respectfully.
"Good evening to you as well." he said magnanimously. "I was wondering if you were interested in a cup of tea. I have some burdens on my chest that I would like to get off before we begin our usual terse academic relationship."
Chessie frowned slightly but acquiesced. "Sure," she said. She pulled a kettle out from behind a false book shelf in one of the bookcases, and Slughorn quietly took over in preparing the tea. She sat back down, watching. She had forgotten, or maybe they hadn't been there before, how dark the shadows under his eyes were, or how deep the wrinkles around his eyes and hands were. It looked as though he had aged considerably over the summer. Or maybe she had just noticed?
"Chessie, I am not completely sure what I did to get on your bad side last year but I wish to make amends," he said, sitting back down as the water slowly came to a boil. "I am tired. I hadn't expected to come out of retirement in the first place, but with the war, and then the school being repaired and reopened, I felt obligated to see it out. But I feel that this year will be one of my final years teaching here, and since you are the only other Slytherin on staff, that would mean that when I retire, the Slytherin students would rely on you."
Chessie was silent.
"I would like to cultivate a relationship in which I can assist you as needed in learning about the responsibilities of the Slytherin Head of House, as well as quietly transfer my responsibilities over so that my final years here will be relatively stress-free. It is almost unheard of for a new professor to be lifted to the status of Head, but these are different times."
He rose, with difficulty, and removed the whistling kettle from Chessie's fireplace, pouring them both cups. She stirred a lump of sugar around hers pensively as Slughorn added cream to his.
"Are you settling for me or genuinely want me to succeed you," she asked. Slughorn chuckled.
"A bit of both, to be honest. I admit I was angry when I found out that students were coming to you with their concerns instead of me, but I found the quiet quite pleasant after a bit. And then I realized: our Slytherin students, pureblood, clever, conniving students, were beginning to treat you as an authority. You!" he exclaimed, before hastily backpedaling at Chessie's scowl. "Not that there is anything wrong with that, but a Slytherin putting their respect towards a werewolf is quite the oddity. Somehow though, with you, that isn't a barrier. They trust you. Not just the Cenopathy twins, bless them," he ignored Chessie's wince, "but even the descendants of the Great 28 at least tolerate you. It is quite remarkable!"
There was some quiet as they both sipped their tea and contemplated.
"I've only been here for a year," Chessie said eventually, "And I bullied you the entire time."
"You have a strong personal code," Slughorn said. "That stubbornness will benefit you."
She considered for several minutes. It was true that the students had taken to visiting her instead of Slughorn, on one memorable occasion coming up to her at the Head Table despite Slughorn being mere feet away. They fought on every issue, Slughorn preferring to pull connections and Chessie preferring discrete tactics to reach their goals. But maybe...
"You tried to get me fired last year." she reminded him.
"You were able, with minimal effort, to entirely thwart that plan. It was only then that I began to see your true potential," Horace admitted.
"If I said yes, what would happen next?"
"I would insist on you coming to tea more often, but instead of spending the time listening to you insult me, I would impart expectations for the role and advice to you on how to handle even the most difficult Slytherin students. But you really must start trying to view your career here in the long-term."
Chessie sighed and agreed, and they shook hands. She had never thought that far into her future before.
