Estrangement

January 13th, 8:30 a.m., Great Hall

Harry lay in his dormitory on his bed, staring at the ceiling, mind turning over the events of the previous week. Harry sat up and pulled a piece of parchment towards him. On it was all the information he had gathered during the past week on the mysterious girl who called herself Sapphira.

Harry scanned the mostly inconclusive list. Not much to go on.

Harry pushed it away from him, making a mental note not to get too excited: this could all be a false trail, as many had turned out to be over the past few years. He needed help which meant one thing: swallowing his pride and making up with Hermione.

"No proof," Hermione said, as they ate breakfast together in the Great Hall. "I checked the Potter family records and found no evidence of a girl to Lily and James."

"That's impossible," Harry said, stunned. "Dumbledore knew of her existance. Even Sirius did as well."

"Yes and that's why," Hermoine said. "My best guess is her birth was never registered with the Ministry."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Harry said, remembering what Dumbledore had told him two years ago.

"Look. Just telling her all this without proof probably won't work. Based on what I've heard about her, she's pretty closed off. Lavender called her an a**hole. Claims she cursed her when she tried to talk to her about her 'Divination Skills'."

Harry shrugged his shoulders: it sounded exactly like what Sapphira would do. He was jerked out of his thoughts as Hermione slammed a large book on the table. "Two other things."

"Hmm," Harry said.

"There is a way to tell paternity," Hermione said, getting Harry's full attention. "But it requires blood. Fresh blood from two people and then you have to send it in for magical testing within 48 hours. And I saw her flying the other day when I was going down to Hagrid's. She's quite good on a bro..oh, no Ron."

"Run for it Hermione, I'll catch up with you later," Harry urged.

"Will..."

"We will," Harry explained. "Ron can be an idiot sometimes, you know that."

Ron came into the Great Hall as Hermione bolted for the exit.

"What?" Ron asked, confused.

"Oh nothing," Harry lied. "That girl who I thought we might be related I'd need a blood sample to establish any sort of a family link. And based on what happened last week, it won't happen."

Ron stared at Harry for a moment before swallowing.

"Why bother Harry? Just ask her."

"Ask her? She'd blow up. Did you hear what she did to that Goldstein boy who asked her out?"

"No."

"Rumor has it he ended up in the hospital wing."

Ron backpedaled. "Okay. What are you thinking though? She won't respond to anything you do."

"Not if I involved brooms or Quidditch someone. From what I've just been told, she flies quite well."

Dumbledore clinked his glass, attracting the attention of all the students on this morning.

"As you all have known, changes have been in the works at Hogwarts for a while now. Here I'm going to announce two more that will be standard going forward for this next semester."

Dumbledore nodded to Professor McGonagall.

"The points system, though centuries old, has been used for a lot of abuse in recent years."

Snape tried to avoid Minerva's glare.

"Therefore, after much discussion, we have decided to reform the points system. Points will only be given for academic achievements from now on. Interhouse efforts by students will be recognized more points awards to those efforts. Points will only be taken for the greatest of transgressions."

Dumbledore paused, allowing his stunning announcement to sink in. "The second change is that the position of Caretaker has been abolished."

There was a lot of applause at this with many a student not caring to see Mr. Filch again.

"Instead, Mr. Filch has accepted the new role of School Disciplirian instead."

The applause died instantly.

"All punishments and detentions will be his to decide from now on outside of detentions. Rest assured, that won't include manacles."

Filch's face seemed to darken for a moment, but a smile reappeared on it as Dumbledore finished.

"But be warned, rule breaking will bring serious consequences. According to my information, two students (the Weasley twins cringed) this will be brushing the Great Hall with toothbrushes tonight for at least three hours."

When Dumbledore had sat back down a babble of talk broke out amongst the students again as they began to leave for morning classes.

"Tonight, I'll ask Sapphira if she can teach me some technique or something," Harry whispered to Ron as they left for Transfiguration.

"Some change, about time," Sapphira said to Lisa. "One area Hogwarts is behind in."

"I don't know," Lisa said, chewing on the end of a pen Sapphira had lent her. "I'm thinking about teaming with some Hufflepuffs on an inter-school project."

"I did that a few times, " Sapphira said, earning a disbelieving look from Lisa. "I mean it. It was back before..."

Sapphira bit her lip.

"Before..."

"Nothing," Sapphira said, her tone making it clear she wasn't going to discuss it.

"By the way. Lavender told me she heard Potter at breakfast today. He's planning on asking you to teach him some broom techniques. What up with him and you?"

"No idea," Sapphira said, trying not to sound more annoyed that she already was. "Just last week he interrupted my work in the library. Why?"

"Oh nothing," Lisa said with a mysterious air about her.

"Don't you dare gossip," Sapphira warned her. "Defense is next. See you afterwards."

Not much happened that day except for Lupin's Defense class.

"Remember, no fancy dueling. Someone who really wants to hurt you will fight dirty."

He stopped as two witches went at it.

"Protego," Sapphira roared, sending Cho Chang's muttered Jelly-Legs back onto its owner.

Cho could only mutter in displeasure was she wobbled around for a minute or two until Lupin came to the rescue.

"Finite," Lupin said, restoring Cho's legs to their normal state.

"Good job Sapphira," Lupin said. "Ten points..."

"Give it to Ravenclaw, for Cho being a good sport," Sapphira hastily added, getting a wink from her dueling rival.

"Why did you do that?" Lisa asked as they left.

"Don't want to make too many enemies, do I," Sapphira pointed out as they approached her quarters.

5:30 p.m., Staircase, Lower Floor West

The day went by rather quickly with Sapphira dreading what was coming. She half considered locking herself in her quarters or going to Preston early for the weekend, but it was only Thursday and evening hadn't arrived yet. She hadn't been outside in awile and she had already played enough SNES to last her for the night.

As she was walking through the Great Hall, she heard her name.

"Sapphira."

She groaned. It was Harry again.

"Hey. I heard you are good at flying."

"Yes. What if I am?" she snapped, subconsciously pulling her sleeves down and her neckline up to prevent him from seeing scars.

"Can you teach me?"

"Teach you? You already play Quidditch. What can I teach you?"

"Wronski Feint."

Sapphira was taken aback. "No. It's inherently dangerous and I nearly killed myself learning it. It's only for professionals."

Harry looked hurt. "I am a professional."

"Professional Quidditch or Quodpod players."

"I am."

"No you're not. You're still in school."

Harry decided to cut his losses.

"Sorry. Can't we just be friends?"

Sapphira blinked. She'd never encountered anyone so interested who didn't have a romantic or a similar motive.

Harry decided to go for it. Maybe he should just try. "I think we might be related."

"What?"

"You resemble some of the members of my family."

"I'm a Cook, not a Potter," Sapphira said, trying to keep panic out of her voice.

"Still you..."

"I'm not related to you in any way."

Sapphira slipped into the crowd and escaped before it could escalate further. It would only attract attention, something she didn't want. Once Harry was out of sight she bolted for her room.

She slipped inside and locked the door. She flattened herself against the door and slid down to the floor, letting her bag fall off her shoulder. She said a silent prayer, pleading for helping to keep calm as she shuddered involuntarily.

I need out. Sapphira wiped her tears away and opened the door heading to Professor McGonagall's office.

Argus Filch couldn't be happier. Years of prodding had finally come to fruition, not exactly in the way he'd wanted.

Six months prior...

"Hi Argus," Dumbledore said.

Filch jumped: Dumbledore had never visited his office since hiring him almost twenty years prior.

"I know you aren't happy," Dumbledore said, getting right to the point.

"Yes," Filch said, happy at finally getting to voice his. "The students get off far too easy. The punishments are far too light."

Filch went on for ten more minutes while Dumbledore sat there and listened.

"I have a proposal for you then and I think you will like it. We are retiring Caretaker (a look of panic crossed Filch's face) and creating the new post of School Disciplinarian."

"School Disciplinarian?"

"You will set all punishments, subject of course to me-no manacles. And don't worry about students cursing you. I will take care of that."

Filch could't believe it. "Sure. I... don't know what to say.

"We'll start implementing it this school year and it will become official in January."

"Yes sir, but what about the punishments?"

"Well Argus. I let myself get creative, cleaning the bathrooms from top to bottom with a toothpick. Or brushing your hearth with a toothbrush. You don't want praise from the students, you only want to be equal to the staff, so this way we both get what we want."

Filch smiled. "Thank you, sir, for alway..always believing in me."

Argus smiled looking over at the drawer Fred and George Weasley had all to themselves. As they continued to foul up, the ultimate punishment he had in store for them would end their prank ways forever.

Again, I ask for everyone's patience as the story will start get going from this point on. This, I feel is the last of the start-up chapters where the stage is set for what is to come. See you all in another week.