Author's note: This is the pivotal bit in this story. It should be
noted that this fanfiction is a continuing work with BookbatGoldenRose's "A new
student at Hogwarts…or two". This story began as a simple character insertion,
but eventually evolved into a continuation of an excellent story.
BookbatGoldenRose is an excellent author, and I highly suggest you read her
stories if you want to get the story behind this one.
The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher strode
into the room.
He had strawberry blonde hair, wispy and falling over
his face, and gray-blue eyes. He was tall and thin, with a sad smile, like
someone who knew sadness beyond boundaries, the ironic smile of a man who has
lost so much that he has lost himself.
It was my dad.
He nodded to the class. "Good day. My name is Jacob
Phoebus. I will be your teacher for the next year." He nervously looked around
the room. "Ah…I suppose I should start by taking attendance?"
I stared at my dad in shock as he recited the names of
the kids in the class. When he got to my name, he didn't even flinch.
Jenny passed me a note. I whisked it under my desk and
unfolded it. It said, in Jenny's uncertain handwriting,
Rachel, isn't that your dad?
I think I seen him in a pix with your aunt.
I caught Jenny's eye and gave her a nod.
When we got out of class, I was in shock. Emily and
Alyssa had to hold me up.
Erika was already down the hall, chasing Ron; Kirsten
was helping her. Erika and Kirsten had really taken to each other, for some
reason. Erika's mindless cheer did a lot to assuage Kirsten's aura of gloom, I
guess.
"Look, what's the matter with you?" Emily asked me. "I
mean, you look like you've seen a friggin' ghost or something. Besides the ones
we already have," she added.
I leaned against the stone wall, breathing heavily.
"That was my dad in there."
Alyssa shrugged. "So what?" She fiddled with one of
the rubber bands that held her ponytails. "Damn thing snapped."
"You don't get it," I said. "My dad lives in Los
Angeles! He's a Muggle. He's practicing law, for Moloch's sake. Why
would he suddenly decide to be a teacher at the school I'm going to? It doesn't
make any sense."
"I bet he got fired," Emily said.
I shook my head. "Nah."
"Hey," Jenny said, "I know what happened."
"Yeah?" Alyssa ran her fingers through her hair.
"Okay," Jenny said, "that chick you Dad ran off with,
Lannon, she a Dark witch, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah. She's such a slut."
Jenny nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah. So what she done,
is she made you Dad take the job here, so she can tell him what to do."
I stared at Jenny. "You are absolutely brilliant," I
told her. "I bet that's what happened."
Jenny grinned. "Yeah, I be a genius. Come on, we can't
worry about it. Let's go annoy the Quidditch players."
I slunk along the stone wall, holding my breath.
Alyssa, Jenny, and Emily had all gone off to bug the Gryffindors. I had other
things to do.
I had annoyed some prefect into finding a map of the
school for me, and had managed to pinpoint Dumbledore's office. I wanted to
figure this out. There was no real reason why my dad, a successful lawyer in
sunny California, would suddenly decide to go teach a magic class in England.
I leaned against the door, listening closely. I could
hear movement, but no voices. It sounded like there was only one person in
there.
I knocked.
Dumbledore opened the door. "Ah, Miss Phoebus. How are
you?"
"Look," I said, "I came here for one reason, and I
don't want any of your truth-and-light bull, okay? Why is my dad teaching the
Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"
Dumbledore sighed. "He applied for it."
I stood my ground. "No. I mean, why did he apply for
it? What's the story here?"
Dumbledore looked pained. "Come into my office and
I'll tell you."
He told me.
Of course I'm not going to tell you what it was. If
you want to know, then check out the story that Bookbat Goldenrose has already
put up. If she hasn't put up anything new yet, then you can either e-mail her
or just be patient. It's worth the wait, believe me.
In any case, Dad wasn't that much of a Muggle. He and
Aunt Tammy were the most powerful wizarding pair on the planet until something
happened (Dumbledore said he didn't even know what happened; they never told
anyone) and Tammy moved to Detroit, Dad to California.
So now that I was going to Hogwarts, he was scared. He
was afraid that Voldemort would see me as a target, to get back at Tammy.
I didn't see why. There is little love lost between me
and my aunt, especially lately.
Of course, he may have just been scared for her. But
she was safe in the US. And I can take care of myself.