Chapter 3- Carolyn Anne Trottree

McGonagall opened the heavy doors to the castle and they entered the Great Hall.
"Well, welcome back. I'll go get Dumbledore, he'll meet you in the common
room. Go get settled."
Harry walked through the empty corridors. The quiet was unnerving.
Soon enough, he had reached the familiar picture of the fat lady. She was quietly
snoozing, looking slightly tanner.
"How did you get tan, don't you just sit in your frame all day?" Harry asked
suspiciously. She awoke suddenly, and was rather irritated by the unwanted disruption.
"I have friends near windows, don't be surprised I have a social life. And what
are you doing back so early?"
"I suppose you want a password?" Harry said nonchalantly.
"Password… oh the password…. Never mind you can just come in I can't be
bothered with passwords. After all, this is my vacation too." She swung open. Harry
stepped inside and turned around to get his trunk. After about ten minutes of wishing the
house elves had come to help, he got it inside. He looked around the common room and
was surprised at what he saw.
Books, quills, and stray papers scattered the familiar floor. Tables and chairs
were barely visible under all the mess. As he looked farther around the room, he saw
something large and living hunched over in the corner. His knees began to shake as he
stepped closer to it.
Quietly he inched over, afraid that it was something that would attack him. He
took out his wand, various curses and hexes running through his head. Figuring that he
would get the best of it before it could get the best of him he continued walking towards
it. Suddenly, he tripped on a stack of books and he went crashing to the floor, his wand
flying out of read. The loud noise had woken the thing up, and he could see it begin to
move. He palms went sweaty.
The thing groaned softly, and then what seemed like a head peeked up. "What…"
it said sleepily. The thing sat up, obviously seeing Harry lying on the floor. Harry
covered his head, afraid of what it could possibly do to him. He had known run into
enough magical creatures at his time at Hogwarts to know that he could easily be
destroyed with the wink of an eye. The thing came closer…
"Harry! I didn't expect you here for ages! What are you doing here?" Harry
peeked an eye out from under the protection of his arm to see Hermione standing over
him.
"I…er…"
A loud noise came from behind a chair in the same corner Hermione had been
laying. "I'm awake! I'm sorry, Herm, I must have dozed off. Where were we?" An
unfamiliar looking American girl stood up from behind the chair and looked over and
Harry. The girl had long blonde hair tied messily into a ponytail and endearing brown
eyes. Harry didn't recognize her, even though she must have been about his age. She
was a very stunning young girl, but Harry did not notice this because the same thought
was running through his head. 'Herm? Since when is she Herm?' The girl gave a
quizzical look to Hermione.
"Oh! Sorry, this is Harry. Harry Potter. You know, I've told you about him,"
Hermione said to break the uneasy silence.
"Of course!" the girl said. She jumped up and began shaking his hand violently.
Harry realized then that she was quite a bit taller than him, practically the size of Ron,
Harry's other best friend. "Harry, finally we meet!" Harry looked back to Hermione.
"Oh my goodness, Harry what time is it?" Harry just sat looking at her. His mind
was in a state of complete confusion. Before he could answer, however, the portrait door
opened. Not wanting any more surprises, Harry was afraid to see who it could possibly
be.
"Hello, Professor," the girls said in unison.
"Ah, Harry! So I see you have finally arrived and met our new project," said
Dumbledore as he climbed into the common room.
"Actually…er… what's going on?" Harry finally said. At this, everyone
laughed. But Harry didn't find it quite so funny.
"I'm sorry we've left you uninformed. I can imagine that you are feeling quite
confused right now." 'Yes, I can imagine that too,' Harry thought to himself. "This here
is Carolyn."
"Carolyn Anne Trottree to be exact," said Carolyn from behind Harry.
"Now Carolyn here will be joining us here in the fall for school." Everyone
paused at this and looked at Harry. With the feeling that he should have some reaction,
he looked back at them all and said, "Oh." He waited for a few seconds, but was rescued
by the opening of the common room door. Inside stepped a very tired looking man who
was looking as if he had just come over some sort of illness.
"Professor Lupin! What a surprise! I surmise that you are feeling much better?"
said Dumbledore.
"Yes, thank you. Actually, Professor McGonagall just informed me of Harry's
arrival. Apparently, she felt that I should explain why he is here, although there isn't
much to explain. Would you care for tea in my office, Harry?"
"Er… sure." Harry vaguely waved goodbye to Hermione and Carolyn. He and
Lupin exited the common room and walked down the hallway with the fat lady screaming
behind them. "Don't expect to be let back in! I've had enough of the likes of you! This
is my summer holiday, why can't you just stay home like every other normal person?"
But they ignored her and continued walking until they reached a little office that used to
be Lupin's.
"Hungry?" Lupin asked.
"Starving."
"Here, have some sandwiches. I had the house elves bring them up before I came
to get you. With so little to do around here, they get a little over-excited with work as
you can see." Harry looked down at an enormous plate of sandwiches. His eyes passed
over many different varieties, including the common 'ham and cheese' and turkey on rye
to some that he had never even seen before. One looked suspiciously like yogurt spread
in a pita, but he quickly overlooked it and reached for a safe-looking peanut butter and
jelly.
"So, had enough commotion for one night? McGonagall told me what happened
back at your relatives house. I'm terribly sorry, I feel responsible. It was my idea for her
to make a purchase from your Uncle. I guess that wasn't really the best way, was it?"
Lupin said as he slowly sat down in his big chair, sandwich in one hand and pumpkin
juice in another.
"Clearly. But that's okay, I doubt that they will care. Maybe they won't want me
back next summer. But I must admit, I am a little confused as to why I am needed back
here. I mean, three hours ago I was looking at another uneventful summer with the
Dursleys and now I'm back here with Hermione and some new girl I've never met. Plus,
seeing you back on the grounds. By the way, what are you doing here? This is just too
much- I don't think my brain can handle it."
Lupin laughed lightly and gulped down a glass of the juice. "Well… let's see…
this is a bit of a long story, so how about we start from the beginning and then I'll explain
where you work in?"
"Fine by me," Harry replied as he grabbed a second half of a sandwich.
Lupin took a deep breath. "Carolyn grew up in the States, but like you, she never
really knew her parents." Harry flinched at this, but urged Lupin to continue. "She was
born here in Britain, but was brought to the US at an early age where she grew up in
different homes provided by foster agencies and such."
"Wait, so then did her parents…die?"
"No- well, not exactly. It's not known exactly who her parents were. She was
left very early in life, her parents may be dead or the may just be hiding. One cannot be
sure. But, somewhere along the line she inherited the blood of a wizard, and came to find
that she had powers beyond her control. The American School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry would not accept the poor girl because she wasn't an American citizen but
rather was British. This, of course, she did not know.
"About a year ago, in September after I had resigned from the school Dumbledore
contacted me and told me about her. He wanted to educate her, rather than have her
roaming around the States as an untrained wizard." Thoughts raced through Harry's
mind. Why would Dumbledore care to take her in? Certainly, there are hundreds of
wizards out there who are untrained and not aware of their powers. She cannot be the
only one. And yet, he felt it was necessary to pick this one girl out of the crowd. Harry's
thoughts were interrupted as Lupin continued the story.
"I was sent to fetch her and teach her magic to a certain extent. She lived with me
in my house until last term here ended and I could take her to where there were the proper
resources for her to learn. It was Dumbledore's idea to bring Hermione in to help, and I
admit I didn't think Carolyn would be ready to join classes with students of several years
more teaching than she has had. But now it seems that they will be prepared."
"So how exactly do I work into this story?" Harry asked. It all seemed so…
peculiar.
"We need you to help Carolyn as well. With my monthly…well…illness I can't
do as much as is needed. Hermione and Carolyn have been working as hard as possible,
but it's not going to cut it. By the request of Hermione, your presence was requested as
well as Ron's."
"Ron's coming?"
"Yes, but I can't be sure exactly when. Last that I heard, Arthur had a business
trip and decided to take Molly with him, so the kids were all at home together. And I can
just guess how that's turned out." A vision of the Burrow practically jumping off its
hinges came into Harry's head, and he laughed at the thought.
"Wait, I have one more question," Harry said. "I don't mean to be rude,
Professor, but how exactly have you been taking care of your…er… condition while
Carolyn's been staying with you?"
"It was simple enough. I had Snape make me an enormous batch of the potions
before I could teach myself how to do it. For the first few months, I made it myself and
for the week when I would transform, I'd just curl up in my room. Carolyn took care of
herself during those times; she's been doing it for years. Then, after a while, I didn't
have to make the potions anymore." Harry leapt out of his chair at this.
"Can you possibly mean…?"
"No, no, no. I had someone make the potions for me. I had quite a skilled girl
living in my house, she is an incredible cook which made her especially talented at
making potions." Harry laughed at his own stupidity. To think that Lupin was no longer
a werewolf was purely idiotic, for Lupin had been bitten so long ago. "And now, Harry, I
think it's time for you to be getting to bed. If you haven't noticed, it's all work, no play
around here and you've had a big night. I must say, I could go for the rest myself."
Harry looked at his old father's friend. Indeed, he did look exhausted.
Harry excused himself and slowly walked up to Gryffindor tower, thinking over
what Lupin had said. It all didn't make sense.