-1Josie was heading back from Kayla's office after having a quick drink after dinner to celebrate Halloween, as was their tradition. She was half way down the stone staircase to the sixth floor when she heard a loud, blood curdling scream from somewhere above her. Pulling out her wand, Josie turned and bolted up the stairs and in the direction of the victims continued screams. She followed the sounds all the way up to Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady's portrait had been torn to pieces.
"What the bloody hell happened?" Josie asked, looking at the tears in the canvas. They looked oddly like claw marks. A group was beginning to form behind her. Teachers and students were all returning from dinner when they heard the screams.
"It's him! He's in the school!" Cried the Fat Lady.
"Who is?" Josie pressed. The Fat Lady's usually rosy face turned white and her eyes widened.
"Sirius Black!" she said. Josie froze.
"Get out of the way, children! Move!" Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore appeared behind her.
"Minerva, call the Heads of House and get all of the students into the Great Hall straight away. Have Madam Pince check the library for any students in there." Argus Filch appeared behind the three Professors. "Oh good, Argus, remove the Fat Lady's portrait and replace it with Violet's. Don't worry, we'll have you back to normal in no time. Josie, I want you and Kayla to help with the students." Josie regained her composure and nodded, hurrying off with Professor McGonagall.
After all of the students had been corralled in the Great Hall, they were informed that they would be sleeping there until they were sure the school was clear. Teachers moved in and out of the Hall all night, passing on information and discussing further actions.
Josie was standing against the wall beside the entrance to the Hall when Kayla entered. "Alright, Josie?" she asked, putting a hand on Josie's shoulder. Josie nodded.
"Yeah I guess. I reckon this means he really is here for Harry." She whispered, not wanting to clue the students in on their conversation.
"I don't know. The Fat Lady could have been mistaken at any rate." Kayla offered, trying to raise Josie's spirits. Josie gave Kayla a very weak smile.
"I think I should go and patrol the halls for a bit." Josie said, pushing herself off the wall and leaving the Great Hall. Before the door shut, Remus walked in.
"Have you seen anything?" He asked. Kayla shook her head.
"Nothing. He must still be in the castle, though. Josie said she was the first one up there after the Fat Lady was attacked. He couldn't have gone far." Remus nodded.
"Dumbledore's questioning the Fat Lady. She said that he attacked her when she refused to allow him into the common room." Kayla sighed and rubbed the signs of sleep from her eyes. "You should get some rest." He suggested. Kayla shook her head.
"I'm not that tired. I was just thinking." she said.
"What about?" Remus asked. Kayla was surprised to find herself answering his question without a second thought.
"How our group fell apart like this. Everything's changed so much. The last time this many of us were in Hogwarts, we were all stressing over exams, laughing at James playing with that stupid snitch, telling Sirius and Josie to go somewhere more private." Kayla's voice became very quiet so that Remus even had trouble hearing her.
"Life was much easier then, wasn't it?" Remus asked. Kayla was sure he wasn't only talking about their friends.
Dawn was approaching when Dumbledore informed the staff that there was no sign of Sirius in the castle. Kayla had sat down against the wall and had fallen asleep a few hours before. Remus had taken over her position and watched the students so she could sleep. Streams of sunlight filled the room and students began to stir. Once everyone had awoken, they were all sent back to their dorms.
The school was buzzing with rumors and talk of the attack. As mostly only Gryffindors had witnessed the Fat Lady after the attack, members of other houses began telling their own version of what had happened. By the end of the week, no less than six versions of the story were being passed around.
These stories were absent from Kayla's classes one afternoon, however, later that week.
"Snape's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts?" she overheard Ron asking Hermione in her first class of the day. She heard him groan. "That means we have him for two classes today!" He moaned.
"I wonder what happened to Professor Lupin." Harry speculated. The rest of the class poured in before he was able to ask Kayla that question.
Later on that afternoon, Kayla passed Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown talking in the hallway.
"Why would he have started us on werewolves? We weren't supposed to start on them for weeks!" Parvati asked Lavender. Lavender shrugged.
"I suppose it's an important lesson to have, though. I mean, aren't there werewolves in the Forbidden Forest?" That was all Kayla caught of the conversation. Changing her direction, Kayla headed toward the dungeons to have a word with Snape.
She knocked on his wooden office door.
"Come in." came his slow drawl of an answer. Kayla entered and shut the door behind her. "Afternoon, Baxter." He said after glancing up from a stack of papers.
"Afternoon, Severus. I was wondering if I could have a word with you about your Defense lessons for today." she said, taking a seat across from him.
"Yes, I imagine you would." he said, not looking at her.
"Are you determined to have him kicked out of the school? Do you know what would happen if students found out?" she asked, thoroughly annoyed that he wasn't looking at her.
"I wasn't aware that you would care so much, Professor. You've hardly spoken a word to him since he's been here." Kayla took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.
"What I do or don't care about is none of your business, Snape." she stood up and walked over to the door. She turned for one last word. "Perhaps next time you should use your own history for your next lesson, Snivellus." and with that she left the office. Snape's grip tightened on the piece of parchment he was reading over at the sound of his school nickname.
Remus returned to his class the next week to find very relieved students.
"Professor, why were you out?" Parvati asked. Remus was prepared for this question and had an answer ready.
"I was out for my help, Miss Patil. I'm afraid I wasn't feeling very well last week." he answered, pulling his wand and a few notes out of his briefcase.
"Was Professor Snape the only substitute?" Dean Thomas asked. Remus had his back turned to the class and was able to grin at the question without raising more.
"Why? Was he no good?" Remus asked, trying to sound curious and not entertained.
"Are you kidding? He was bloody awful!" Ron announced. Remus turned around, eyebrows raised.
"Oh? How so?" he asked.
"He didn't stick with your curriculum, Professor." Lavender stated. "He had us go over werewolves." she added as if this were a great insult. Remus tried to hide what he was really thinking when he responded.
"Ah, I see. That does set us back a bit, but we should be fine." He ignored a rather knowing look from Hermione and continued with that afternoon's lessons.
That evening, Remus received a knock on his office door. He was interested to find Kayla in his doorway after the door clicked shut.
"Evening, Kayla. Would you like to sit?" he offered as she was standing kind of stiffly by the door.
"I've spoken with Severus." she said, taking up his offer and sitting across from him.
"You have?" he asked, slightly surprised. Kayla nodded.
"I overheard Harry talking with his friends about it in my class yesterday. I couldn't believe he'd put your job at stake." Kayla said.
"I wouldn't worry, I don't think anyone caught on." Remus said, leaning forward on his elbows.
"Maybe not this time, but there are some very clever students here. If you go missing once a month, someone's bound to put two and two together." She said, lowering her voice for no particular reason. A crease formed between her eyebrows as a small grin formed on Remus's face. "What?" she asked. Remus shook his head.
"Nothing, nothing at all. You just seem more concerned about me losing my job than I am." Kayla opened her mouth slightly to retort, but couldn't think of anything to say.
"I'm not heartless, Remus. I don't want you to lose your job, but that doesn't mean anything else." she said, not sure if he was buying it. Remus sat back in his chair and folded his arms.
"If you say so. I'm not worried about it, Kayla." he said calmly. Kayla nodded.
"Alright. I guess I wont worry if you aren't, but that doesn't make what Snape did any better." Remus grinned.
"What exactly did you say to him?" he asked. Kayla smiled.
"I told him not to risk other people's jobs, to mind his own business…and to stick to his own history the next time." Remus laughed. Kayla couldn't help but join him, but put her hands through her hair, resting her palms on her forehead. "I can't believe I said that to him."
"Why?" Remus asked. Kayla shrugged, dropping her hands in her lap.
"We're not in school anymore, that's why. We're both teachers and I'm supposed to be setting an example for students. I wouldn't expect a student to speak to me that way, and I shouldn't have spoken to him that way." she said, still grinning, though.
"What he did wasn't exactly model behavior either, Kayla. I, for one, appreciate what you said. Maybe I should change my next lessons to ex-Death Eaters and how to spot them." he suggested with an evil look. Kayla laughed a little.
"Oh yes, I think that would be a very compelling lecture indeed." The two sat smiling at each other in silence for a moment. For a brief happy moment, Kayla forgot all about how angry she was at him. They were behaving just as they had done in school. The only difference was there was a desk between them. She forced that thought from her mind, and cleared her throat.
"Well, I just wanted to let you know I had spoken to him. Good night." she said, getting up. Remus's smile disappeared as she left his office. He wondered if she would ever spend more than just a few moments with him ever again.