Alexianna slept until 7:45 trying to fit in as much sleep as possible.

Shit, shit shit. Snape will have a fit if I'm late.

I threw on some black leggings and an old tie dye tee shirt and my chucks. Better to be comfortable on a day when we are doing cleaning and repair work. I brushed my hair to the best of my ability. I never really decided how I wanted to wear it, so I never cut it. Like ever. Other than trimming the ends. It's down to the back of my knees at this point. I don't know why I'm so indecisive about it. I used my wand to put it in 2 dutch braids and coil up the bottoms to keep it out of the way. Of all things my room doesn't have a coffee maker. I guess I'll be dragging ass until I find some. I stumbled over to Snape's office and knocked with two minutes to spare.

"Enter"

"Morng" ...I tried. Give me a break it's like 3am back home. I flopped in the chair opposite side his desk. Snape was at least more awake than I was, but he looked terrible.

"Coffee?"

"Ugh yes. You have no idea how much I love you right now"

He handed me a cup and pushed the cream and sugar my way.

"Nah I like my coffee black as my soul" I laughed "The time difference is kicking my ass"

He sighed and kneaded the bridge of his nose with his fingers

"Sorry. I promise I'll work on that. So what are we working on this morning?"

"We are meeting the rest of the staff in 30 minutes to start the repairs. I trust your charm work is sufficient"

"I do alright"

"Good. I also trust that your attire today is not reflective of your entire wardrobe"

"Oh. Um. No? I mean I figured I would just wear comfortable clothes today" I felt my face getting red.

"Good

"Just because you are the size of a second year doesn't mean you should dress like one"

"Ouch. Solid burn" What a dick. I can't help it

"Another thing. Occlumency. Have you ever tried it"

"Not really. Like I said, I have never really was around many Legilimens and when I was, they knew enough to stay out of my head"

"Unfortunately your stream of consciousness is too loud to ignore"

"Weird. No one has ever had a problem before."

"Yes. 'Weird' indeed"

We sat quietly and drank a few cups of coffee before meeting up with the rest of the staff.

"Alex, Harry, Neville, and Filius will work in the courtyard. Alex, Filius is our Charms professor."

"Thanks." Looks like someone wants to assess my skills at charms. Filius Flitwick was a small wizard with so much energy it seemed to be bubbling out of him. Out in the courtyard, he instructed us on how to rebuild the pillars and arches that had been destroyed.

"Miss Lee, I am not familiar with Ilvermorny's curriculum..."

"Oh I can do repairs. I have mastered nonverbal spells and am working on wandless spells, although I wouldn't attempt that here" I chuckled

"Splendid! If you want to practice wandless magic, you are working with the perfect person. Severus is one of the best I have ever known"

"Really. That's great to know. And please call me Alex or Lexi."

"Alex it is then"

"Thank you"

Harry introduced me to Neville, the herbology assistant.

"Nice to meet you Neville. I'm sure we will be spending a lot of time together... I'll be bugging you guys for ingredients."

"Sure thing Lexi. And don't let old Snape get you down. He can be a real git sometimes, but he's alright"

"Yeah I see the git part..waiting on the alright part" I laughed

We worked all morning in the courtyard. Harry's charm work was quit good. I gave Neville a few pointers and he picked them up quickly. I peeked inside their heads quickly. Neville was nervous about the upcoming year, but he seems to have a knack for herbology. Harry was thinking about his girlfriend who apparently is a 7th year this year. He's nervous about that since he's technically dating one of his students. Apparently he already spoke to Minerva about it. I enjoyed talking to Filius quite a lot. He was the All England Duelling Champion.

"Oh is there a Duelling Club here at Hogwarts?"

"Yes if there is enough student interest. Would you be interested in assisting?"

"Absolutely! Duelling Club was one of my favorite extracurriculars at Ilvermorny. I'd love to assist a former Champion"

"Splendid! Perhaps we could organize a few friendly duels between you and Harry."

"Oh I'm sure he's much better than I am. He just defeated one of the most powerful wizards of all time" I shrugged

"I had loads of help. There's more to the story than the rumors" Harry said quietly

I didn't want to pry. It was still so recent and everyone here had such a sadness. The last thing they would want is to relive the trauma.

By lunchtime, the courtyard was looking quite beautiful. Minerva was very pleased with our progress. After lunch, I met Snape in his office.

"So Harry is taking me to the Ministry to take care of my registration and help me open a bank account here. Neville is going to meet us later for dinner in...Hogsmeade?" Weird name for a village

"Very well. I expect you in my office at 8:00 tomorrow. The mornings will be spents assisting in the castle and afternoons will be spent working on lesson planning and brewing potions for the hospital wing. Tomorrow afternoon, however we will be taking a trip to Diagon Alley to visit the apothecaries to buy supplies."

"Ooh sounds fun! See you tomorrow. And look, I get the feeling you don't actually want me here, but I'm going to prove to you that you need me."

I showered and put on black pants and a white tank top with a sweater over it and some heels. I left my hair down for once. Keeping it pulled back was giving me a headache. I met Harry in Minerva's office to use the fireplace. I hadn't gotten a chance to really look around the first day. There were about 50 portraits on the wall.

"Those are all the old headmasters. They can give advice to the current one."

"That's kind of cool actually. So who is this Kingsley?"

"He's the Minister of Magic"

"Wait for real?"

"Yes." Harry laughed "He's brilliant. You'll love him"

We stepped into the fireplace and the green flames took us straight to Kingsley's office.

"Wow. Direct connection to the Minister"

"Well sometimes being me has it's perks" he laughed "Hey Kingsley!"

"Harry! How have you been"

"Alright. This is Alexianna Lee. She is the new Potions Assistant at Hogwarts. She is a registered Animagus in America and wants to transfer her registration here."

"Ok. Let me see your Animagus form and I'll make note and get that set for you"

"Wow. That's easier than I thought"

"Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine so you are getting some special treatment" Kingsley winked at me

I transformed into my Lynx form. I have to admit, I am a beautiful Lynx. Reddish brown coat similar to my own hair color, black markings, and I kept my own honey colored eyes. I leaped into Kingsley's desk and sat patiently.

When he was finished noting my features, I transformed back.

"How long have you been an Animagus"

"6 years"

"And your current age?"

"You know a lady never reveals her age" I laughed "But I'm 20"

"I thought so, but the 6 years threw me off guard"

"I got bored" I shrugged

"Most people get bored and read a book. Not perform difficult and complax magic at 14"

"Well I'm a weirdo, what can I say?"

"And you are assisting Severus?" Kingsley laughed

"Yep."

"Oh he's going to have his hands full"

I peered into Kingsley's head to figure out what that meant. Apparently Kingsley was impressed with my intelligence and wit as well as my ass. I really need to stop reading people.

After leaving the Ministry, Harry took me to Gringott's to open an account. Apparently here they have 'vaults'. I was able to transfer a few thousand galleons over and I took out some gold for pocket money. We went to a market and I bought some basic food for my kitchette. I do enjoy cooking. And of course some good whiskey and some beer for my fridge. The market had everything sent directly to my chambers. How convenient. Then we apparated to Hogsmeade.

"So this is near the castle?"

"Yeah. Starting in 3rd year, the students are able to come here on weekends."

"Really? That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, we will have to rotate chaparone duties"

"Oh that's fun! Weird to think about me being the responsible adult though" I laughed "I hope the students respect me. Most of them are going to be bigger than me."

"Try going to school with most of them. At least you are from a different school, so they don't know you as a friend"

"Yeah. That's going to be tough"

We arrived at a bar...pub...call d The Three Broomsticks. Harry waved to a group sitting at a corner table.

"This is the new Assistant Professor for Potions, Alexianna Lee. She's from New York"

"Call me Alex or Lexi"

You know Neville, these are my best friends Ron and Hermione" Ron was a tall, thin redhead and Hermione was a lovely girl with brown curly hair.

"So you're going to be assisting Professor Snape?" Hermione looked at me curiously "I'll see you in class then. I was off last year with Harry and Ron...but I wanted to take my 7th year anyway."

"Professor Snape probably won't be letting me teach much for his advanced student" I laughed. "He's keeping me to the younger kids"

After giving them a basically a run down of my resume, we ordered some drinks.

"Am I the only lush ordering whiskey?"

"Madam Rosemerta's Butterbeer is pretty famous. You should try it"

"Too sweet for me" Eventually I convinced everyone to do shots with me. I walked up to the barmaid and bought a round for the whole bar. While waiting for our drinks, a guy walked up to me and started chatting

"Hey beautiful. I haven't seen you around here before"

"Oh. I just moved here from New York. Im an assistant professor at Hogwarts"

"Well assistant professor, I am Myron Wagtail. Lead singer of The Weird Sisters" he kissed my hand

"I'm Alex. Nice to meet you. I have to say I'm not familiar with The Weird Sisters."

"You should come to one of our shows. As my personal guest"

"I'd love that! Just drop me a line up at the castle!"

A brought our drinks back to the table

"Was that Myron Wagtail?" asked Hermione

"Oh you know him?"

"I know of him. The Weird Sisters are the most popular wizard rock band in Europe!"

"Really? He invited me to come see his next show as his personal guest"

"Oh you have to go!"

I lost track of how much whiskey I had...I actually don't remember how Harry, Neville, and I got back to the castle or how I got to bed...