Back To School
"What do you want Dumbledore?" I asked the old man as he was escorted in by Kreacher. I had never liked the old man no matter what Sirius said, on the odd time I had talked with my eldest brother, and having travelled the world to learn in different Magical Enclaves I knew he was a part of the reason Britain was a laughing stock outside of Europe.
"Hello Lyra, you're looking well from your travels." He said ignoring my question as he took a seat. Instead of answering I just stared impassively at him. Ten minutes passed and he sighed. "Sirius has somehow escaped from Azkaban. I believe you might be in danger."
"I would believe that if he actually got a trial and confessed to his so-called crimes. Sirius was never a traitor and the fact you believe that he was just goes to show you don't know everything." I said waving him off. Sirius had risked his life just to get to know me after he ran away from home. Unless I heard him confess from his own mouth I wouldn't believe it. "And if he were a danger I could take care of him myself."
"Nevertheless, I have persuaded the Board of Governors to add an Elective on Alternative Casting and I would like you to teach it as you are one of the few with the experience and patience to do so." He said with a twinkle in his eye while I rolled mine while I thought it over. It would be a good way to influence young minds into thinking for them selves instead of letting Dumbledore or Voldemort do it for them. The downside was having to deal with hormonal teens and be near Dumbledore for most of the year.
"I have complete control over what and who I teach. If I think someone is going to abuse what I teach then I will kick them out and if they do abuse what I teach them then I will ensure they will regret it, and so will you if you stand in my way." I said ignoring his disappointed look. "I will be expecting my students to buy and read my Basics of Magic book. If you know I can teach that class then you should already know about it."
"You'll only be teaching 3rd Years since it is a new Elective. There will be a staff meeting August 31st at two." I nodded with a smirk imagining how that would go down as he left.
"Kreacher, be prepared to search the Castle for another Anchor. I don't trust Dumbledore to deal with one properly should he find one." I said once I felt through the wards that he was gone.
"Yes, Mistress. Kreacher will continue Master Regulus's work." Kreacher said before popping away to prepare.
SLS
"Lyra, my dear. It is good to see you again." Flitwick said as I entered the Staff Room. I smiled at the man that acted more like my Head of House than my official one did. I blinked when he held up one of my books. "I'm glad to see that you've put what you've learnt to good use. I'm also glad that it has led to me learning new things."
"Thank you Professor, that is very high praise coming from you." I said forcing a blush down at the praise making him chuckle.
"It is Filius, my dear. We are colleagues now after all." He said as I sat down beside him and Sprout who gave me a smile. Out of all the Professors that taught me the only one not smiling was Severus Snape who preferred to glare at me. I returned it with an all too innocent smile.
"Now that we're all here we can begin…" Dumbledore said before getting straight on with it. It didn't actually take too long until we were done. "Before you are dismissed I need to warn you all. With the escape of Sirius Black the Minister has decided to increase security by stationing Dementors around the borders of Hogwarts."
"You can't be serious, Albus." McGonagall said looking scandalised as he shook his head.
"I can keep them from being allowed on the grounds but Hogsmeade is under the purview of the Ministry. I have no power there and Cornelius is adamant in having the Dementors protecting the school." He said as we all made various noises of disbelief or disgust.
"I doubt it will help matters, Professor, if Black has help from certain people in the castle." Snape said glancing not too subtly at me making me roll my eyes.
"I see you still haven't grasped what it means to be a Slytherin, Snape. You would think you would have learnt by now but alas…some people are just dunderheads." I said with a smirk causing more than one Professor to choke on their laughter while Snape turned bright red in anger. I turned to Dumbledore ignoring his disapproving look. "My first priority here is to the students and it will remain so. If he does approach me then I will ensure he isn't a threat before even thinking of helping him. I will take a vow to be impartial to him, as long as Snape does."
"Severus has my complete trust." Dumbledore said in his annoying 'that is the end of this discussion' voice.
"And neither of you have any of mine." I said shocking him. "I remember my time in his classes well and I doubt he has improved at all. The fact that you condone and protect him means that you can't be trusted. I will be at the Gates when the Express arrives in case the Dementors get any ideas. Until then I will be setting up my classroom."
SLS
"DIE!" I snarled as my arms moved in a blur sending Angelfyre from my wand and Circles at the Dementors as they swarmed around the train. The air was filled with the dying Dementors as they tried to get to the children or me despite the Patroni protecting us. As soon as the last student was in Hogwarts grounds I slammed the gates shut allowing the wards to keep the Monsters out.
"I never thought that Dementors could die." A familiar voice said making my eye twitch. Sure enough, as I turned around, there was Remus Lupin, the werewolf that was meant to be my Brother's friend and believed him to be the traitor.
"You'd be surprised what can happen when you're willing to actually do things, Furball." I said snidely making him wince. I hadn't been a fan of him when he was with Sirius and my opinion had fallen greatly after he was thrown in Azkaban. "Help me escort the kids up to the Castle." I didn't wait for him to reply as I had the House-Elves hand out chocolate, occasionally using a spell to ram it into the mouths of certain pureblood children.
"Wait till my Father hears about this!" One that was all too familiar spat out making me swerve to stop in front of the brat.
"Do you think I care what Lucius 'Bribe and Bribe' Malfoy says about what I do? The man is a disgrace to the Wizarding World, Slytherins and is most likely the reason that Fudge is still in office for putting those demons near children, many of whom are Heirs to their Houses. Listen well to me Draco Malfoy, you can bluster all you want but that won't change the fact that you're lacking in Cunning and Ambition, you know, Slytherin Traits. Complain all you want to him, I don't care. If he tries anything I will see to it he is in Azkaban or wishing he was once I'm through with him. Watch you back, boy, I will not have my House tainted anymore than it already is with useless Snape as its head." I ignored his bright red face and his stutter as I turned to leave him in the dust.
"That's him told." A boy with familiar red hair snickered. The rest were escorted without incident if you ignored the odd Gryffindor and Ravenclaw laughing at Malfoy. I quickly took my seat between Flitwick and Hagrid as the Hall filled.
"It seems your spellcasting has earned you quite the following." Flitwick said noting more than a few awed filled looks sent my way amongst the lust filled ones of the children suffering through puberty. "I take it that spell isn't mentioned in you books."
"It's the equal and opposite of Fiendfyre so the only way to learn it from me is directly from me. If you want I can teach you once we're settled into the term." I said firmly knowing how dangerous it was. "I've seen the two fires clash and I will never forget it." I shivered making him blink in shock. I wasn't easily put off after all. The Sorting went well and Slytherin got quite a few more than people thought it would, even if I did have to subtly hex the more idiotic of the older years into leaving them alone.
"For those that are returning you will see that there are some new faces amongst the staff. Taking over the Defence Against the Dark Arts position is Professor Remus Lupin!" Dumbledore announced loudly getting weak applause as the man bowed to the students. "Taking over Care of Magical Creatures is our very own Rubeus Hagrid." I barely kept in a laugh as the big guy almost knocked the table over when he stood up late and again when he sat back down. "And finally we have Lyra Black who will be teaching the new Elective, Alternative Casting. Perhaps you could say a few words to give them an idea of what is in store for them."
"For those of you that have taken my Class you will have no doubt realised that I wrote the book you were required to by." I said as stood up and ensured that my voice carried without any magic at all. "If you have read any of it you will realise that it speaks of magic as a whole which will come in useful for all of your classes. Alternative Casting itself deals with ways of casting magic without a wand but using some other medium or focus. These methods might not always be as convenient as wand magic but I doubt anyone will say no to a way to summon your wand if you've misplaced it." That got a few laughs and curious mutterings as Dumbledore started the feast.
SLS
"While some of you have focused entirely on your moderately comfortable seats the rest will have noticed that there is a crystal on the desk before you." I said to the first class of the term. It was a mix of Gryffindors and Slytherins which I was pretty sure was a subtle sabotage from Dumbledore. Unfortunately for him I was willing to enforce actual Discipline. "It is an Alignment Crystal."
"A Crystal made in Japan that is used to see what magic the user is aligned to." A bushy haired Gryffindor said making me roll my eyes.
"While I enjoy your enthusiasm don't speak out of turn again." I said making her wince. "You get a free pass this time but anyone that seeks to disrupt the lesson from now on will feel my wrath." I glared at Draco who was muttering to a floozy until I shocked him. "Detention after Dinner, Mr Malfoy. Don't make me come and get you." The black haired boy next to the bushy haired girl put his hand up. "Yes."
"Professor, how do you use it?" He asked making me sigh in annoyance at the girl.
"Take it in your hand and cast Lumos as if you had your wand." I said and watched as everyone did so before gaping as they all turned different colours. "It will have turned a unique colour, or if you're lucky two. The colour tells you what magic will come to you easiest not the only one you can do." A blonde Slytherin put up her hand so I pointed to her for her to ask.
"While interesting what does our alignments have to do with this class?" She asked making me smile, there was hope for Slytherin after all.
"You will be learning to cast magic in a way that goes against the instincts you have been learning for the last two years, more if your Family likes loopholes. Doing that is difficult so you will learn to do it with spells that are easier for your magic. No point in starting in the deep end. I will now go through the list of possibilities and name a basic spell, give its function and then a list of hand signs which will be explain in full after. Listen well and take notes of the spell for your alignment, both if you have two, and a note of any spell that catches your interest. Just because you aren't learning it first doesn't mean you can't learn it second or third." The black haired Gryffindor put his hand up again.
"I don't get how Incendio is Dark Magic." He said holding up his Alignment Crystal to show it was pitch black making a few people gasp and edge away from him.
"That's because it isn't. You have an Alignment to Black Magic like me. Remember these were created by the Japanese who catalogue magic differently. Black Magic to the Japanese is magic designed to do direct harm while White Magic is designed to Heal, of course there are a few exceptions such as the Angelfyre I used on the Dementors which is White Magic. Black Mages have an easier time with Magic that requires emotions. As a Black Mage I hope to teach you the basics of the Patronus Charm which is Black Magic and yet requires pure happiness to cast."
"So he's not a Dark Wizard?" A Gryffindor asked making look at her incredulously.
"Wow, just wow. Now we know why you aren't in Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff for that matter." I said with a sneer at the girl who flinched at the rebuttal. "Even if it was an alignment with Dark Magic that doesn't mean he would just start casting Dark Magic. I very much doubt he could cast the Unforgivables with any degree of success. If I find out you that you are shunning him or spreading untrue rumours then you will be serving detention with me. That goes for everyone!" I scanned the class and inwardly smirked as they all flinched rather than meet my eyes. "Potter, stay after class. I think it is about time someone actually dealt with that scar of yours."