Disclaimer!

I do not own Harry Potter, but the books inspired me to create a character of my own to exist in the world J.K. Rowling created. I hope you enjoy my first attempt at Fanfiction :)

Professor Branson Comes to Hogwarts

Vanessa Branson double checked her letter from Dumbledore as she approached the column between platform nine-and-three-quarters. His instructions were clear and concise. She marched straight forward ignoring suspicious frowns from the no-mag's around her. A spacious terminal opened up before her with a shiny red train parked on the tracks. She had made sure to arrive early just in case of a mishap so her footsteps echoed across a deserted floor. Vanessa hauled her bag up the steps behind her and knocked into a curvy witch pushing a food cart on the threshold, spilling a stack of pumpkin pasties onto the floor. "No worries dear! I can handle this, no trouble! Just find yourself a compartment and get comfortable. And welcome to the Hogwarts Express Professor!" The witch chattered as Vanessa knelt to gather the pasties. With a bashful apology, she continued down the hall to the compartment at the end. She shoved her bag into the cubby above and plopped down on the velvet cushion below.

If the train was any indicator of how luxurious Hogwarts would be, she had high hopes for this new position. Vanessa had applied for the job listing posted in the Daily Prophet looking for a new start. Working freelance jobs decoding runes for the ministry had been lucrative, but extremely dull work. Dumbledore had quickly endeared himself to her in the interview. He had expressed a sincere interest in her professional and personal history. She was gratified to find that such a renowned wizard was impressed by her abilities. He did his research and was already familiar with her work. The prospect of teaching at Hogwarts was extremely exciting. Vanessa did not know exactly what to expect at a magical boarding school. Back in America, the high school she had attended was a small private school that taught magic to mainly pure-blood, wealthy families. Now she would be teaching hundreds of wizard teenagers about the magic of ancient runes and the occasional foreign magic lesson.

Just as she began reading a crime article in the Daily Prophet about a dangerous fugitive from Azkaban, the door to her compartment slid open. A slim man with tired eyes jumped slightly when he noticed her sitting there. "Oh! Hello there. Er- I'm Remus Lupin. How do you do?" He blurted, inching back through the doorway. "Excellent! Please feel free to have a seat. I'm Vanessa Branson." His eyebrows twitched upwards briefly at her accent but he made no comment. Shuffling forward, Lupin collapsed on the opposite seat with a weary exhale. Vanessa watched her colleague curiously and thought about starting a conversation, but before she could venture a question, he had transfigured his parcel into a lumpy pillow and began his much needed nap. She took a break from her paper to watch students trickle through the barrier with their parents. It was a sweet scene to see the children dragging their bulky loads of trunks and cages along as they hugged their anxious parents farewell. She smiled unconsciously as an older student shrugged off his mother's hand from tousling his hair. As the trickle grew to a crowd, the hallway became noisy and she returned to her paper. "- extra security placed around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while Black is suspected to be at large in the area." Vanessa looked at the picture of the laughing man over the article. He was pale and unhealthy-looking with a miserable look in his eyes. His long, dark hair hung limply around his face, yet somehow she suspected that his strong features would be handsome if the expression was a happier one. That was a stupid thought, she chided herself. Murderers are disgusting, not attractive.

Once again, the door opened and a group of four students barged in. They shyly turned to leave when they noticed the two professors sitting inside. " Don't mind us, come along. I'm sure the rest of the train is full by now, just take a seat," Vanessa said warmly. They cautiously wandered in and put away their trunks. "Are you the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor?" asked the girl with thick, curly hair. " No, I am going to be teaching ancient runes this year. I'm Professor Branson, it's a pleasure to meet you, all of you." she beamed at them. Play it cool, she thought, stop being so smiley. Her expression must have became a little too severe, because the boy clutching a toad became visibly sweaty from tension and avoided making eye contact. She could see that her presence was putting a damper on the mood so Vanessa took a leaf out of Lupin's book and settled into the corner for a nap.

The night air was ice in her lungs but she had to keep running. The footsteps behind her grew closer and she felt a chill of terror cloud her mind. A mocking howl filled the air, "Aaaoooooooo!" She tripped over a broken bottle on the ground and scrambled back to her feet. She was already too slow, now she was doomed. Quick, she lunged through an alley at the spur of the moment. If she could shake him in time she was almost home. But there was a hill in the way, and the sliver of moon visible did not give her much guidance out of the city. Her feet hurt as they slapped the hard asphalt street. Suddenly a strong hand clasped her arm in a grip like a vice. He has her now...

"NO!" She shouted herself awake. The air was still freezing, but she was on the train in her compartment. The students stopped their nervous conversation and stared at her. " S-sorry everyone, just a bad dream," she muttered lamely. What had come over her? These nightmares had long since stopped. Or so she had thought. Then they heard a commotion in the hallway. Startled shouts and muffled crying brought Vanessa to her feet. The students grew restless and exchanged worried looks. The door slammed open and she yanked her wand from her robes in half a second. The huge, ugly form of a dementor filled the cabin with an awful gloom. Scenes of a dark and dreadful night so many years ago flashed in her mind, but she swatted them away grasping for a happy memory. The boy she had recognized as Harry Potter fell to the floor faint. Lupin was stirring now, but she was ready. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" She bellowed and a white rabbit sprung from her wand into the dementor's chest. It writhed back in pain and swept back up the hallway. She asked the toad boy, Neville, if he was ok because he looked very green in the face. Lupin was welcoming Potter back to consciousness and passing around chocolate. Once the boy was set to rights, although still very pale, Lupin turned to her.

"Are you ok Professor Branson? That was a terrific patronus. If you will handle things on this end, I am going to go look after the rest of the students and see what this is all about." Gathering her wits, Vanessa nodded. He kindly grabbed her hand and wrapped her fingers around a chocolate frog. "Thank you." As he left the red-haired boy said to no one in particular, "With beasts like that floating around the place, the whole castle is going to be on house arrest this year. Reckon that means Hogsmeade is off limits now." No one bothered to respond, but Vanessa thought he was probably right.

They arrived without further incident, and Vanessa stopped to take in the scene in front of her before hopping into the black carriage drawn by thestrals. The castle was beautiful with spires jutting into the star-strewn sky. A massive hairy man shouted for the first-years to join him by the lake. She wondered if he was a teacher too.

The students gave her plenty of space as she wandered with the crowd into the entrance hall. If she could describe Hogwarts in one word, she would have said it was awesome. She immediately felt at home among the portrait-hung walls and the cozy floating candles. She thought a dementor had come in with them for a moment, until she realized that the chill she felt was actually a ghost of a crying girl passing through her. In the great hall, she watched the students seat themselves at four long banquet tables. In front of the room, Dumbledore was seated among other professors. A gentle older woman introduced herself as Professor Sprout and invited her and Lupin to join them at the table. Vanessa found a seat between Dumbledore and a man with a striking, hooked nose. "Vanessa! How are you? Glad to see you made it here all in one piece! I must apologize for the unfortunate dementor incident on the train. While that was not the most inviting introduction to our school, I hope the delicious feast from our kitchens will make up for the lack of hospitality," Dumbledore greeted her. She assured him that she was not put off in the least and very happy to be there. "And this is Professor Severus Snape. He is our gifted potions master," he continued with a small bow towards him. Snape, who had been glaring intensely at Lupin, seemed to just notice her. "Severus, this is Vanessa Branson, our new Ancient Runes teacher." Snape tried to make a polite smile that turned out more of a grimace, "How do you do?" Vanessa's interest was piqued when she heard that he worked with potions. Maybe he would be able to work with her on solving her little problem… "Couldn't be better, thank you."

"You're an American?" He asked in surprise. "Yes, I moved here several years ago. I've been decoding runes for the ministry and I thought I would try my luck teaching." That sounded like a good enough explanation to prevent further questions about her past. He offered a thoughtful grunt in response, then returned his attention to Lupin. Once all the teachers were seated and the first years had arrived, Dumbledore stood to welcome everyone. The newest students performed a strange tradition of trying on a wrinkly old hat and receiving their house placements from it. She noticed Snape clapping whenever the hat called out "Slytherin!" "Do teachers have house assignments too?" She asked him. "No, only those who are assigned as heads of each house. I am over Slytherin house," he answered brusquely. She knew from the song the hat had sung that each house had specific attributes. Vanessa wondered if Snape was in charge of Slytherin because he was the most cunning and ambitious professor. She was almost certain of it from what she observed. Time would tell. After the sorting, the table filled with steaming dishes of food, some of which she didn't recognize. Dumbledore offered her something called tripe that looked like a strange type of webbed meat. "One of Minerva's favorites!" He chuckled at the face she made, but she actually enjoyed it very much.

After she had gorged herself with as much food as she could stomach, she listened contentedly to the conversations around her. Dumbledore was discussing the dementors and the fugitive Sirius Black with McGonagall and Flitwick to his left. Vanessa turned to Snape, who was in a hushed discussion with Sinestra. "- that it is not entirely safe to have a werewolf in the castle. I mean no offense to him personally, but it seems hazardous. How effective is that potion you are brewing, what was it called, -"

"Wolfsbane. And it is very effective, however the timing is the issue. If he were to miss a dose by accident or lose track of the time it would be catastrophic. I say-"

"Excuse me!" Vanessa said in alarm. "Sorry to interrupt, but did you say there is a werewolf in the castle?" Her voice cracked on the word werewolf, against her will. Snape turned to her, intrigued. "Yes I did. Professor Lupin is a werewolf. Didn't you know? We were just discussing the wolfsbane potion he will be drinking to negate the violent effects of his full moon transformation. We were saying that - Are you ok?" he asked. She had suddenly dropped her fork and gone white as a ghost. "I-I...need some air," She said hurriedly and stood up. Without another word she left the hall, walking fast. Snape looked shocked and more than a couple faces turned to watch this sudden exit. "Is Vanessa ill?" Dumbledore inquired. "I'm not sure. I was telling her about Professor Lupin's…condition and she seemed very upset." Rubbing his temples, Dumbledore sighed, 'Oh dear, I knew I should have sent her an owl… afraid she might not have shown up." He signaled McGonagall over to him and whispered a request. She left the hall. Snape smirked. Things were starting to unravel for that brute Lupin before he had taught even a single class. This was more than Snape had hoped for.