The Dark Arts Professor
The second day passed by in a whirlwind. Much to her word, Cassie took Letti to the top of the Divination Tower, where she showed her all the different tools and resources Professor Lapithes was giving her to hone her Seer skills. There were crystal balls, tea leaves, special herbs she had to grind together in a mortar and pestle. All of that was interesting, but the most memorable part of the day was Professor Lapithes himself.
Letti had never seen a centaur before. From far away they seemed unreal, like a hazy memory. Up close, though, Professor Lapithes was terrifying. He stood seven feet tall, easily, and dressed himself in blue mesh that surrounded his horse-torso. His human torso was covered with a black shawl, which was adorned with stars that seemed to twinkle all their own. Letti had no difficulty believing that this was a being of magic.
Lapithes did not coddle his star pupil. The first thing he said to Cassie when she brought Letti to see him was, "Have you been practicing your meditation skills?"
Her shoulders had slumped immediately, and her joy vanished in an instant. "Erm...not really."
He shook his head, speaking in a slow, calm voice. "You must practice, Cassandra. You will never realize your full potential as a Seer. Come, let us meditate together." And thus Letti had found herself sitting in a cold, dark room with this terrifying magical entity for over two hours, Cassie all the while moping unhappily.
When she awoke on the third day - the final day before classes began - Letti swore to herself that she would have a happier day. She felt confident that she could find her away around without getting completely lost now, and Lorcan and Lysander had promised to show her some really cool magical creatures that Hagrid and Professor Irwin cared for in the Wild Zone. Maybe Cassie would even join them and for once not be pining after Albus, who Letti hadn't seen since he embarrassed her in the common room. She dressed herself in the robes that were already beginning to feel like a part of her, checked briefly on the burning egg (nothing new there), snatched up her wand from its place at her bedside table, and strolled out confidently into the common room to check the day's password.
It was there she noticed the schedule.
She smacked her forehead. Drat! She had forgotten she had signed up to meet with Professor Malfoy. All the day's plans suddenly vanished in a sea of hopelessness. She wasn't sure why she dreaded meeting with the Head of her house, but something about him irked her.
Part of it, she realized, was that she had grown uncomfortably familiar with disappointment. Since arriving at Hogwarts, she had tried desperately to discover information about her mother, to no avail. Professor Longbottom had avoided her at every turn, and even after spending several hours in the library scanning through various ledgers of past students, she found nothing. Professor Malfoy was perhaps one of the last sources of potential information that she knew of - if he wouldn't tell her anything, how would she ever discover the truth?
That wasn't all, either. All the stories she kept hearing about him made her shiver: how he had used to be a Dark Wizard, serving under Lord Voldemort in the Second Wizarding War; how, after losing his wife to a Calamity creature, he had redeemed his name by becoming a legendary fighter, saving thousands (if not millions) from disaster; how he had retired himself to teaching at Hogwarts and become a revered professor. Each story only compounded the aura around him; how on earth could she expect him to tell her anything? Truthfully, he intimidated her, more so than even the mysterious Headmistress Patil.
She hastily ate her breakfast in the Great Hall and raced back to the dormitory, where Cassie was just waking up.
"Quick, how do I get Professor Malfoy to tell me about my mother?" Letti asked, her face inches from her friend's nose.
"Zzwhat, oh, hey," Cassie snorted groggily, wiping her eyes. "What's going on?"
"Professor Malfoy. I'm meeting with him today. How do I get him to tell me about my mom?"
Cassie stretched and let out a wide yawn. "I 'unno, Letti. Just...talk to him?"
"Just...talk to him?" Letti sat back on her bed. "How can I just talk to him? He's like...a wizarding hero. What if he says no?" Her hands started to shake a little.
Cassie snapped into awareness. "Whoa, slow down, girl." She put her hands on Letti's shoulders. "Just breathe, just breathe. It's not the end of the world. You're just gonna talk to a teacher, okay?"
"But what if-?"
"Okay, time to calm down, homegirl. Hey, y'know what? I had some really good dreams with you in them last night. As a Seer, you know what that means?"
"Doom and destruction?"
Cassie chuckled. "Surprisingly, no. It means you're gonna have a good day. Just talk to him. I promise you, you'll like Professor Malfoy. He's scary at first, but he's really a nice person."
Letti's breathing slowed. She felt better already.
"When's your meeting?"
"In about twenty minutes."
"Oh!" Cassie seemed surprised. "Okay then, well you gotta get going! You don't want to be late."
"Right!" Letti started walking toward the door. Then, she paused, turning back to her friend. "You just made all that up about the dreams, right?"
Cassie laughed. "Oh, absolutely."
Letti let out an exasperated sigh and made her way up to the common room. It was empty now - everyone was enjoying their last day outside or sleeping in, she reckoned. The only sound was that of the lake outside the window, of some seaweed slapping against the glass.
Professor Malfoy's office was also in the dungeon, she had learned yesterday. It was next to his classroom, which used to house the old potions class many years ago. While the part of the dungeon just outside the Slytherin dormitory was bright and well-lit, the further down one went (and thus the closer to Professor Malfoy's office) the darker and more ominous it became. The temperature dropped significantly, and even the lights seemed a little more dim than normal, flickering and creating creepy shadows to dance along the walls. She clutched her arms around her torso, shivering with both fright and cold.
She had become so focused on the shivering that she nearly walked right into Headmistress Patil.
"Oh!" Letti said. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention and I-"
"It's okay, it's okay." The headmistress looked flustered, straightening her robes. "Ah, you are Leticia Lunetti. I've heard quite a lot about you from Miss Hazelwood. I look forward to seeing your progress this year. Are you going in to see D- Professor Malfoy?"
"Yes, ma'am." Letti nodded fervently. She was glad it was too dark for the headmistress to see her blushing.
"Excellent. Well, he is just in there." Headmistress Patil pointed towards a large steel door. "Have a wonderful rest of your day, Miss Lunetti." With a swish of her robes, she was down the hall before Letti even had a chance to thank her. She thought it odd how so many of the adults seemed to be in such a hurry to get away from her.
She walked up the large steel door and knocked on it thrice. A few moments later, she heard someone shout, "Come in!" Hesitantly, she opened the door.
The office was larger than she was expecting, being almost the size of one of her old public school classrooms. Compared with the part of the dungeon immediately outside, the room was bright, with bright green drapes and Slytherin flags adorning the walls. Short bookshelves lined the walls flanking the door, and were filled to the absolute brim with tomes of various sizes. Atop the shelves were various objects - old photographs, ancient spyglasses, and even a stone tablet. A giant oak desk sat at the back of the room, and sitting behind it, reading from a rather large tome, was Professor Malfoy himself.
When he looked up from his book and saw Letti standing there, his eyes lit up. "You're early!" he exclaimed. "Very good, very good. Punctuality is exceptionally important. Please, sit." He motioned towards the two smaller chairs that sat in front of the desk.
Letti hesitantly stepped across the ornate green rug and sat in the chair. It was more comfortable than she had expected.
"So, Leticia Lunetti," Professor Malfoy said. "Do you prefer Leticia? Or do you go by something else?"
"Erm...Letti, Professor."
"Letti? Fantastic. I will remember that." He set the book down on the table and leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "Well, Letti, do not be intimidated. This meeting is just a formality I take at the beginning of each year, to check in with you and see how you are adjusting."
"Oh." Despite the warmness of the room, Letti felt herself shiver.
He frowned. "Is everything okay?"
"Erm, yes, sir."
There was a pause as Professor Mafoy gazed at her. She felt like he was reading her mind. Then, he leaned back with a heavy sigh. "I promise you have nothing to be afraid of, Miss Lunetti. While there are many, many rumors out there about me and my actions during the Calamity, trust me when I say that if even half of them were true I would probably be off living in a fancy mansion doing nothing with my time." He paused. "Granted, that's actually what I was doing before the Calamity, but that's neither here nor there." He focused his attention back on Letti. "My job is to be your support and to help you be successful during your time here at Hogwarts. Part of that means making sure you're doing okay. Have you been able to find all of your classes?"
"Yes, sir. Lorcan and Lysander and Cassie helped me find everything."
"Good! And you're making friends already, I see, which is fantastic. Even students from different houses, which is better."
"Sir?"
He sat back and chuckled. "A slip of the tongue, I'm afraid. As I'm sure you've noticed, our student population is rather small - far smaller than when I attended over twenty years ago. It's a basic fact: fewer children were born during the Calamity, and so there will be fewer students attending school, even prestigious magic ones like Hogwarts. Par- Headmistress Patil and I have tried to bolster a sense of communal camaraderie. We want students to interact with their peers in different houses, work together."
"Oh. Okay." Letti fidgeted in her seat. He had not become any less intimidating.
He seemed to sense this, the edge of his lip curling into a slight frown. He ran a hand through his white hair and set it against his chin. "I can see that you're still uncomfortable, and I think I know why."
"You...do?"
"I think I do. You are not unknown to me, Letti Lunetti. Miss Hazelwood made sure to tell me about everything that happened leading up to you arriving here. She had plenty of questions for me, and she warned me that you would, too." He leaned forward. "So. While we have the time today, allow me to give you this chance to ask any question you might have. I pride myself on being honest with my students, and I shall be the same with you. Ask me whatever you want, and I will give you the truth that I know."
Letti's fidgeting stopped. "A-anything?"
Professor Malfoy nodded. "Anything. I've seen in the past how hiding the truth only leads to more problems. I'd rather that not be the case here."
Letti paused for a moment, thinking. Then, in a sudden flurry of words that seemed unending, the questions spewed forth. "Do you know who my mother is? Do you know who my father is? Why would they abandon me with that woman? Why can't anyone find out who they are? Why is Luna Lovegood's name carved into my vault? Why was there a weird egg left in my vault? What is the weird egg? What happened during the Calamity? Why are you so terri-" She slapped her hands across her mouth, forcing herself to stop.
Professor Malfoy was, as best as she could tell, genuinely taken aback, his eyes wide with surprise. He sat back a little in his chair and rested his chin on his hands, deep in thought. Letti wondered whether he was about to laugh at her or tell her off.
"That was...quite a lot more than I was expecting," he said. There was a faint ounce of humor in his voice. Letti relaxed. He wasn't mad at her. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where to start...actually, no. I do."
He looked her directly in the eyes. "Letti, I wish I could tell you who your parents are. I wish I had that information, because I know it must be eating you alive. Unfortunately, I haven't the foggiest idea."
Letti's shoulders slumped. Her search for knowledge wasn't off to a great start.
"However," Professor Malfoy added, "there are some questions I can answer. Some of this is just speculation, mind you, and I'll try to explain as I go along. You were born in the midst of the Calamity, at a time when good witches, wizards, and Muggles alike were being slaughtered by many numbers of foul, corrupted creatures. It was a dark era in human history. If I were to hazard a guess, I would assume that at least one of your parents was a powerful witch or wizard - Miss Hazelwood told me of your magical feat while in Gringotts."
"My mother."
"Sorry?"
"My...mother. She was a witch. At least, that's what Luna said. My adopted mom."
Professor Malfoy's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Was she? Interesting, Miss Hazelwood didn't mention that." He stood up from his chair and began pacing around the office. "As I said, it is quite likely that your mother then was a powerful witch. At that time there was still much speculation as to whether or not magical and non-magical folk would be working together or fighting each other - the wizarding community had only just become publicly-known, and there was quite a bit of contention between the groups. More than likely your mother, worried about what might happen to you, gave you up to Miss Luna, in the hopes that you could live a normal, safe life. Being a powerful witch, it is most likely that she died during the Calamity. Hmm?" He stopped talking - Letti had raised her hand.
"Erm, sir...what was the Calamity? Everyone always talks so vaguely about it. Even the textbooks in my history class barely said anything…"
Professor Malfoy paused in his pacing - which he had continued even while she spoke - and became lost in thought. She could tell he was choosing his words wisely. "The reason the Calamity is spoken of so vaguely is for good reason," he began. "The truth is...well, the truth is rather terrifying, if I'm being honest." He looked at Letti regretfully. "I'm afraid this is where I have to go back on my promise just a little, Miss Lunetti. The reality is that there are some details I cannot share with you, not yet."
"Is there anything you can share with me?" Letti didn't mean to snap at him, but she was getting so frustrated. How is it that nobody could ever give her the answers she wanted?
If Professor Malfoy was displeased at her outburst, he didn't show it. "What I can share with you is very little. The Calamity was...well, it was a war of sorts. It started out small: a few isolated attacks, a few world leaders going missing or turning up dead. Then it got bigger: assaults on major cities, the ruin of entire areas. It got so bad that the wizarding community was forced to go public for the first time in well...ever, as far as I can tell. Millions of lives were lost.
"There's more to it than that, but that information is...to be honest, part of the reason I am loath to share it with you is because I understand it so little myself. But suffice it to say that it is best left unsaid for now." He paused for a moment, giving Letti a moment for the information to sink in.
It didn't take long. "So, you think my mother fought in the Calamity? And died?"
He nodded. "That seems most likely. For you to be able to do what you did means you have powerful magical blood. The only reason she wouldn't have come back for you would be because, well…"
"She couldn't." Letti fell back in her chair.
There was a part of her that, ever since she found out she was a witch, had always sort of known that simple truth: her mother, and probably her father, were dead. Yet she hadn't wanted to believe it. After all, who would? There had always been a chance that she might get to properly meet them, to have a life with them…
"I'm sorry." Those simple words from Professor Malfoy caused her to burst into tears. She put her hands over her face, embarrassed. Thus far at her teacher she had vomited questions, snapped bitterly, and now begun to sob. Not an especially promising start.
Professor Malfoy sat back down in his chair and slid a box of tissues toward her. "If it's any consolation, sometimes knowing magically-powerful parents isn't always a good thing. I did, and it made me a right little monster when I was your age."
Letti sniffled. "A monster?"
He leapt at the chance to change the tone. "Oh, yeah. I even sided with Lord Voldemort during the Second Wizarding War. Didn't really want to, but it was part of my parents' legacy, you know?" When she didn't seem overly surprised, he sighed. "Ah, figures you would've heard about that already. Nevertheless, know this: your parents don't have to define you. You are the one in control of your own image."
She nodded, wiping her nose with a tissue. She was starting to see why he was liked by so many other students.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and began speaking again. "Letti, I know you still have many, many questions, and unfortunately I do not have enough answers. Promise me that you will still try to focus on your schoolwork while you are here."
She sniffled and nodded. "Okay." Then: "Wait. When I was getting my wand, Mister Ollivander said you knew a lot about Dark Magic and stuff."
Professor Malfoy chuckled. "That might be a bit of a dig at my past, but...yes, I suppose I have become fairly knowledgeable in that sort of thing."
"Do you know what this is?" Letti held up her right hand, showcasing the mark.
He nodded solemnly. "I am aware of it. It actually cropped up quite a bit during the Calamity."
"Really? What does it mean?"
"That, unfortunately, is something I do not have an answer to. We saw that symbol show up any time after a victory - it would be graffitied on walls, carved into roads, burned into fields. Nobody knew who was making the marks or what they meant, and in all honesty I thought it was just some random rune non-wizards were putting up. But to see it on you like this, and to hear from Miss Hazelwood how you did magic without a wand and caused it to glow...I certainly think there's more to that symbol than meets the eye." He lifted up the giant book he had been reading when she came in. The title read Runes of the Ancient World. "I've been reading up to try and find out what I can."
"Oh." Once again, she was left with more questions than answers.
Professor Malfoy read her disappointment. "Letti, I know things have not gone the way you wanted them to. Please understand that you are not alone in this. Miss Hazelwood, myself, and even Headmistress Patil are all trying to find out as much as we can. I guarantee you that whenever we discover anything, we will tell you."
"Okay. Erm, thanks."
He smiled warmly. "Unless you have any more questions, I'm afraid this is where our meeting will have to end - I believe your friend Cassie is scheduled to see me next." He paused. "My schedule is set so that I can host meetings like this each week. I would recommend you sign up for at least one slot a week. We can check in and see how you're doing with your classes, and I can fill you in if there's anything new to tell you about, well...anything. Deal?"
"Erm, yes, sir." She stood up awkwardly.
"Fantastic. Now go! Enjoy your last day of pure freedom. Tomorrow, the real work begins." He waved her away, a slight smile on his face.
She left, carefully stepping out into the dim hallway. As she began making her way back to the dormitory, she felt her shoulders fall and a calm breath pass her lips. The meeting had certainly not gone as she had intended, and she had not really learned much of anything. And yet, she felt better now than she had before she entered. She stole a glance back at the steel door. Though she had never really thought about it, Letti realized that, ever since she had learned of her magical nature, she had more people supporting her than ever before.