Severus sat behind his desk, bored and brooding. He couldn't keep from thinking about Amy. He had had to watch her leave, again. She had been out of his life for years and in just a couple of months she'd made it seem almost as if she'd never left. But now she was gone, again. A knock on the door tore him from his thoughts.
"Enter!" he barked, more from habit then anything else, there were no students around for him to yell at anymore and most of the staff would enter anyways if they knew he was in there. Dumbledore stepped in, followed by Professor McGonagall.
"Good afternoon, Severus," Dumbledore said pleasantly.
Severus merely grunted in return, anytime Dumbledore and Minerva both came down they were probably going to try to get him to do something he wouldn't like.
"It has come to our attention that Professor Flitwick will no longer be among us in the coming year, and we are need of both a Charms and a Defense against the Dark Arts Professor."
Severus scowled, if Dumbledore said they were looking for a Defense against the Dark Arts Professor then that meant he would be teaching Potions, again.
"I don't see what this has to do with me," he said evenly.
"I have a Charms Professor in mind, and I believe that you would be a very valuable asset in the process of convincing them to agree." Snape narrowed his eyes, who was this person? And why did Dumbledore want him to come along? He sighed once again, there was no arguing with Dumbledore, and besides, now he was curious.
"Very well," he said, standing up. Dumbledore smiled, and, taking a small book from his pocket, motioned for Severus and McGonagall to take a hold. As soon as they touched the book the room began to spin and vanished, and then a new room came into view, spinning slower and slower until they stopped suddenly.
It was beautiful; the room was adorned in silver and gold swirls; accenting glass ornaments were scattered around the office; Glass sculptures were placed around the room with gold name plates under each one, each a previous Headmaster or Headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy. There was only one door. Across from it one whole wall was devoted to a glass window, and in front of that, behind a rather large decorative desk, sat Madame Maxime.
"You are most welcome," she said grandly, "I 'ad not expected to 'ear from you so soon, Dumbly-dorr. Please, sit. 'ow may I 'elp you?"
Dumbledore sat himself in a delicate looking chair, indicating for Minerva and Severus to do the same. He linked his fingers together and looked at her over his half-moon spectacles at the rather large woman.
"Thank you," he said politely. "I'm afraid I am here to steal one of your teachers from you."
Severus nearly gasped, they were here for Amy.
"You 'ave come to take my Professor McGonagall, 'ave you not?"
"If I may, I'm in a bit of a pickle and she is the most qualified person I can find, and having experience at Hogwarts certainly doesn't hurt."
Madame Maxime sighed and looked away and out the window, looking thoughtful. She raised her wand and flicked it towards a large cabinet, summoning a small blue folder to her desk. She held it in her hands for a long moment before looking up at them.
"I was going to retire, and appoint Amanda 'eadmistress in zee coming year, you will 'ave to convince 'er to come if you want 'er." Dumbledore nodded, he was prepared for that. "'Owever, I believe that 'ogwarts is better for 'er, it iz obvious that she is 'appier zere. But if you wish to add Amanda to your staff, then zere are a few things you should be aware of."
Madame Maxime continued to stare at the folder in front of her, as if unsure whether or not she really wanted to show them, or instead just put it away and throw them out of her office. She eventually sighed and handed the folder to Dumbledore, saying, "Before ze Triwizard tournament, during Christmas break, Amanda vas attacked… by a werewolf."
Professor McGonagall gasped and Dumbledore's brows knitted together, Snape however, just sneered.
"She is not a werewolf," he snapped.
"No," Madame Maxime said heavily. "No one knows 'ow she managed zat, even Amanda vill not say. But it 'as affected 'er in other ways."
Dumbledore had proceeded to open the folder, and had stopped immediately on the first page. Professor McGonagall looked sick. Severus peered of their shoulders and wanted to hurl. It was Amanda, barley recognizable under all the blood that covered her. She lay, slightly curled in some building, her eyes were closed and she didn't seem to be breathing. Her pants were unzipped and her shirt was in tatters, though all the blood prevented them from seeing any of the skin beneath.
"Zat is where zey found her, in an old hospital building," Madame Maxime supplied.
Dumbledore moved on to the next picture, one that was nearly as frightening as the last. Amanda was now lying in a hospital bed, her skin obviously gray and the circles under her eyes plainly visible, even in the black and white picture. A dark bruise covered her cheek. Her wrists were covered in half healed scars and the blanket had been pulled down to reveal the bandages that covered her chest and stomach. Amanda herself looked feverish, and a wizard off to the side could be seen monitoring her breathing. Oddly though, her eyes were half open, and her hand twitched in the moving picture every now and then.
"When the hospital first contacted me, zey had no idea what 'ad attacked her, and Amanda wouldn't be awake to tell us for another few months. But we noticed that she kept 'waking up' on zee full moon. After thees happened twice, zey gave 'er a powerful sleeping potion, and it worked, sort of. Amanda fell asleep, but somezing else woke up. She transformed and went on a rampage, attacking anyone she could. Zee wizards managed to subdue 'er, and when she awoke Amanda could only remember bits and pieces of what 'ad 'appened," Madame Maxime paused, "I believe it is 'er deepest shame.
"After that they stopped giving 'er zee sleeping potion, she never transformed again, but every full moon she continues to be unable to sleep."
Snape thought back to that night she had rescued him from the werewolves, she had seemed so tired, so weak, and yet, with a simple potion, she could have been the one trying to kill him, instead of protecting him.
"Zee attack 'as affected her in other ways, it has been a year, and yet her 'ealth has still not recovered. Amanda becomes ill more often, her scar sometimes bleeds if she does something strenuous. She almost lost herself, she was silent for weeks and her actions didn't make a lot of sense. I thought she vould never return. But she did. One morning she just seemed to put herself back together and zat was zat."
Dumbledore's eyes flashed dangerously when he heard that Amanda had almost lost her sanity. Professor McGonagall was still staring, transfixed, at the photograph. Her voice was hoarse.
"Why did you not contact me?"
"Ven Amanda was hired it was under the condition that no one from Hogwarts would be contacted about 'er, zee term vas accepted because we were, at the time, rather desperate. Since then she has proven herself to be one of ze best Professors this school has ever seen, even with her rather unorthodox style, and so no attempts to pry into her past were made."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, finally tearing his eyes from the folder below him and looking up.
"Unorthodox?" he asked, sounding surprised.
Madame Maxime looked somewhere between irritated, highly amused, and slightly awed by her Professor.
"Zere have been several incidents involving various students running from her class in tears, and once as a peacock."
Dumbledore's lips twitched slightly, and he glanced at Severus for just a second.
"I think that is something that we can handle." Madame Maxime leaned forward, looking at them all grimly.
"I trust zat you vill all exercise a certain amount of discretion with this information. I doubt very much zat Amanda would have chosen to share thees much with you all."
Dumbledore nodded and passed the folder back to Madame Maxime, who sent it back into the cabinet.
"May we speak with Amanda?"
Madame Maxime stood up, towering over them and blocking much of the sunlight that had been filtering through the window. She moved to a small table where a sort of mirror object was resting. It was circular and had a large silver and blue decorative bird painted in the middle. A compass was painted around it, in glowing white paint.
Madame Maxime raised her wand and tapped the bird, whispering, "Amanda McGonagall." The bird burst from the mirror in a shattering of glass, it flew into the air and hovered for a moment, sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight. Then it gave a shrill screech and flew from the room like a shot, speeding down the hall and out of sight.
But they could still see it; in the mirror where it had previously rested they could see the birds surrounding. It flitted through hallway after hallway before flying out an open window and soaring upwards.
"Where is it going?" asked Professor McGonagall.
Madame Maxime turned from the glass long enough to answer.
"It is going to find Amanda," she answered, "if she is still on zee grounds then it will find 'er."
The small group of Professors watched the bird soar higher and higher and soar over the rooftops, rising and circling a tower. They heard her long before they saw her, music filtered through the mirror, seeming to radiate from deep within it. It was soft and lilting; seeming to dance along the very wind it was carried on. A moment later the bird rose above the rooftop and she came into view. Amanda was sitting on the purple rooftop, her dark hair curling down her back and her pale fingers whizzing carefully along the dark fingerboard of a violin, a soft smile gracing her features.
She stopped and looked up, having noticed the bird circling closer. It swooped above her head and let out a shrill whistle. It swung past her and in the split second in which Amanda could no longer be seen there was the sharp sound of shattering glass and the bird sped towards the ceiling. The last thing they saw was the purple tiled rooftop before there was another shattering sound and the view vanished, only to be replaced a moment later by a new painted bird.
Madame Maxime leaned away from the mirror, chuckling softly.
"She always doz zat," she explained.
They leaned back to wait quietly, each wondering how Amanda would react. They didn't have to wonder long. There was a soft knock on the door. Amanda entered, speaking rapidly in French, she sounded a little irritated. Madame Maxime cleared her throat and Amanda looked up, stopping immediately, she furrowed her brow.
"Why do I feel like I just stepped into an intervention?" she asked. "Should I be running?"
Dumbledore stood and offered her his chair, which she took, looking at him wearily.
"Depends on how you feel about Charms," he said, taking the seat to her left.
Madame Maxime stood up, saying "I vill leave zis to you," and left, exiting into the white hallway and making the room feel much larger than before. Amanda watched her go before turning to face the three Hogwarts professors. Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Firstly, congratulations are in order, I believe, I heard you were offered the position of Headmistress."
Amanda looked mildly skeptical, and more than a little confused.
"Thank you, I am looking forward to it."
Perhaps not, thought Snape. But Amanda continued.
"I believe you said something about charms?"
"Yes, what do you think of them?"
"They are very useful?" she said, as if trying to figure out what he was getting at.
"How would you feel about teaching them?" Dumbledore asked, sounding for all the world as if this were exactly what she should have been thinking.
Amanda blinked, and stared, and then blinked again. There wasn't another sound in the room aside from a small clock in one corner that ticked away the seconds while Amanda just stared at them all.
"Perhaps I shouldn't assume," she said, as if hoping what she was going to say would be wrong, "but it sounds to me as if you want me to decline the position of Headmistress and go teach Charms at Hogwarts."
Dumbledore smiled brightly and said, "Is there somewhere we can talk in private?"
She nodded and stood, walking over to a statue of a previous Headmaster. Amanda put her hand on his forehead and whispered his name, "Aldrich Cyrille." There was a grinding noise and the statue started to glow. It ended as soon as it came and Amanda walked over to the door, opening it to reveal a small study carpeted in rich greens and browns. She motioned for Dumbledore to follow her and stepped inside.
Once the two were gone Severus turned to Professor McGonagall.
"Why, exactly, are the two of us here?"
"Dumbledore said he would be talking to her and our presence would help drive home some of his points," she said, clearly doubting that their presence would do anything to make her daughter accept the position.
Inside the green room Amanda and Dumbledore arranged themselves comfortably in large green armchairs. The walls were a deep brown and the carpet was a green so dark it was almost black, the armchairs were Hagrid, or rather, Madame Maxime sized. Amanda abruptly spoke up.
"So," she said suddenly, "what's the real reason you want me to come and teach Charms?"
"What makes you think there is another reason?"
Amanda narrowed her eyes, fond as she was of Dumbledore she didn't enjoy playing his games all the time. He knew something, and she wanted to know what it was. She just stared at him, deciding that he would either tell her or give up and leave. She was wrong, of course, Dumbledore would not have left, but he did decide to tell her a few things.
"You are an animagus, a white wolf, if I am not mistaken."
"Well," she said dryly, "there's one cat out of the bag."
"And, I believe you have the ability to enter my mind and reveal my every emotion, my every memory."
Amanda straightened, looking at him with her mouth slightly agape. How had he known that? No one knew that except her and the other unicorns of the Forbidden Forest. Obviously she was wrong, again. Amanda felt her mouth go dry.
"How… how do you know about that?"
Dumbledore looked at her over his half moon spectacles, pleased that he had been right.
"It was more of a guess," he said, "I had read about the unicorn's ability to communicate telepathically, and when I saw how the young unicorn reacted to you, I guessed that he could, at least, hear your thoughts. I noticed that you returned to the forest many times throughout the school year, although I'm sure I didn't know about all of them – you weren't as predictable as others – and I followed you. I saw you with the unicorn, apparently speaking without words. I assumed that meant you had gained their ability."
Amanda sighed, there goes the other cat, she thought.
"What, may I ask, are you planning with this information?"
"I want to get you inside the Death Eaters circle, and I want you to take a memory from Lord Voldemort."
Amanda stared up at him, was he serious? He wanted her to wander up to Voldemort and take one of his memories? Did he have any idea how long it would take her to break into his mind the first time, and then to sift through all his memories until she found the right one? It would take weeks, months maybe. And there would be nothing to keep the memories of Voldemorts victims from becoming her own memories, memories that she would have to relive for years afterwards.
She looked deep into his crystal blue eyes, mirror images of her own. He knew what he was asking, that was why he had provided her with a reasonable excuse to back out, she could tell the others that she didn't want the position, that she wanted to stay and become Headmistress. But then, why bring them? She thought about Severus and her mother. How would they feel if she declined coming to work with them, Severus would lose out on someone to talk to, and her mother would probably assume it was because Amanda was trying to avoid her, which was what Amanda was good at, after all. She would not, in good conscious, be able to back out. That's why they were there, Dumbledore was crafty.
"Alright," she said quietly, "tell me your plan."
Professor McGonagall and Severus were sitting quietly while they waited. Minerva took the opportunity to look around. The walls on either side of the door had large plants blooming with radiant and sparkling fruits of various sizes and colors. On a small table, not far from the mirror with the bird painted into it lay a large book.
Upon closer examination Minerva realized that it was a photo album, it lay open to a picture that seemed to have been taken near Christmas time, there were wreaths of holly and small glass ornament hanging from every available space. The picture had been taken in this very office. There were merry people dancing around and drinking colorful drinks with frosted rims or candy canes sticking out of them.
She recognized Amanda, sitting in the back corner with a quill and parchment before her, writing quietly. Periodically she would glance up and glare at someone, he looked just like the statue Amanda had spoken to and Minerva assumed it to be the previous Headmaster. Professor McGonagall checked the date at the bottom, it had been the first Christmas after Amanda had left.
She turned the page, in this picture Amanda wasn't sitting in the background, instead she was just walking by, when a nearby professor grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. He pointed above them, where mistletoe was hanging and, to Amanda's horror, tried to kiss her. There was another picture next to it, the professor was lying on the ground, rubbing his jaw, whilst everyone else laughed and Amanda sulked from the corner.
Minerva chuckled slightly and Severus looked up.
"What is that?" She brought it over to him and he snorted, looking mildly as if he approved. Professor McGonagall turned the page.
The next scene started with a snitch, zipping around the room and the professors all moving around to try to catch it, some of them a bit tipsy and falling over. The picture after it showed a large dog pile, with a single white hand reaching out and clenched tightly around the small fluttering ball. Someone had added a golden arrow to the picture, with curly gold writing that identified the hand as Amanda's.
On the next page everyone was running around and several seemed to be screaming in delight and fear. Small black shapes zipped around, biting people viciously; Minerva recognized them as Licorice Snaps. Amada had managed to scale a small bookshelf and sat at the top, wide eyed but safe from harm.
The next page was much more peaceful. Amanda was sitting in a seat with the reset of the professors leaning in over her shoulder. There was a baby in her arms that couldn't be more then a few months old. Amanda had a soft smile on her face as she cradled the child to her chest. Minerva had a moment where she wondered if the child could somehow be hers but Severus, in a moment of great insight, pointed to the caption. It read: Amanda McGonagall and her namesake/god-child, Amanda Cyrille.
The door opened before they had time to look at any more. Dumbledore stepped out, followed by a rather grim looking Amanda. She looked at them, staring but not really seeing what they were looking at at first.
"What are you doing?" she asked softly.
"Blackmail," said Snape, before he could stop himself. Amanda smirked.
"If you intend to blackmail me with that, Professor Snape," she said lightly, "I think you will find that I can do far more damage." At the end of her words the grating sound was renewed, and a moment later the door opened, this time leading back from the hallway, and Madam Maxime walked in.
"'ave you decided?" she asked. Amanda grinned sheepishly at her.
"It seems that you will have to remain Headmistress for awhile longer, and train your replacement again." Madame Maxime scowled for a moment, before smiling once again.
"I 'ate training replacements, you know zat." Her expression softened. "Zere will always be a place for you 'ere, Amanda, should you ever 'ave zee need to return." Amanda smiled.
"Let us up that I will not need to," she said. What she was thinking, however, was, Let us hope that I live long enough to get the chance.
I would like to take the time to say that Amy is growing up, and so this story is going to get a bit more mature. To put it bluntly there's going to be sex. Nothing too graphic, mind you. If you guys want I can put little warnings in places before it's going to happen, but I just thought I should warn you all that it's coming. Soon, I think. Also thank you for the reviews, they're much appreciated. And sorry if my characters change too much, it's been ages since I started writing this and my minds is getting a bit fuzzy about things.