Disclaimer: None of this stuff belongs to me.
Chapter 3- A Blissful Childhood Memory
Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione enjoyed the rest of the summer at the Burrow.
The summer ended all too soon when the day the Hogwarts Express arrived to take them
back to Hogwarts. They packed up all their belongings and traveled to Platform Nine and
Three Quarters by Floo powder with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. As soon as their belongings
were stored in the train, the four went to say goodbye to the Weasleys.
"Thank you for letting me stay for the summer, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Harry and
Hermione each said to the Weasleys.
"Your welcome," said Mrs. Weasley as she hugged all four of them goodbye.
"And Ron..."
"I know, I know," said Ron. "I'll send you an owl as soon as we get there."
They waved goodbye and boarded the train. As they looked for somewhere to sit,
they saw Professor Clark nearby. Her hair was arranged in a loose bun (which went
nicely with the dark blue robes she was wearing), was carrying a suitcase, and she looked
nothing short of nervous.
"Oh, hello," said Professor Clark when she saw them. "I wondered if I'd be seeing
you four on the train. How was your summer?"
"It was very nice," said Harry. It was the first time he had spoken to her. It
wasn't easy for him, especially because of the fact that he still had that strange feeling he
somehow knew her.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked Professor Clark. "You look nervous."
"Oh, it's nothing..." Professor Clark assured her. "It's just nerves. It's my first
teaching job. Tell me, are the other teachers friendly? I met Professor Dumbledore, and
he seems nice enough... but what about the teachers?"
Harry's first instinct was to warn Professor Clark about the Potions teacher,
Severus Snape. Not only was Snape the most cruel, sarcastic, and cold teacher at
Hogwarts, but he was also after the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position.
Harry and the others knew very well that Snape liked none of the past Defense Against
the Dark Arts teachers in the past (especially Lupin and Lockhart), but how would he
react to a woman teaching the job?
But before he could say anything, Hermione quickly said to the woman, "Oh,
they're very nice,"
"Really?" Professor Clark asked in a tone that sounded as though she didn't really
believe Hermione. "Well, I guess I shouldn't worry about it. I'm only teaching for this
year anyway."
"Why aren't you going to stay?" asked Ginny.
"I never stay away from my home for more than a year. Otherwise I get terribly
homesick."
"Where are you from?" inquired Harry.
A odd, dreamy expression crossed Professor Clark's face. "North," she replied
softly. "The very North... I guess I'll see you all later." With that, she walked away.
"Why didn't you tell her about Snape?" Ron asked Hermione, as soon as the four
sat in an empty compartment. "Everybody knows Snape is the worst teacher in
Hogwarts, not to mention that he's after her job!"
"I didn't want to worry her!" Hermione snapped. "You saw her! She looked so
nervous!"
"I'd be nervous too if I knew I was going to be teaching in the same school with
Snape," muttered Ron. "I'll bet he's going to make her year at Hogwarts a living
nightmare. Anyway, what do you think she meant when she said that she was from
north? I mean, how far north could she be from?"
"I don't know, Ron," said Hermione. "Maybe she's from Ireland. Fiona is an
Irish name... only she didn't sound Irish. And I don't even remember if Ireland is north
of Scotland or Britain..."
"All I know is that she could be a decent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher
and she's only staying for a year!" Ron grumbled. "That is, unless she turns out to be
like most of the other Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers..."
As the train started, the four talked scarce. There seemed to be not a lot to talk
about lately. Eventually, Harry grew so bored that he fell asleep.
He had a very strange dream. Actually, it wasn't really a dream, but a memory
from when Harry was about seven years old. It was before he knew he was a wizard,
before he knew about the wizarding world, and when he believed that his parents had
died in a car crash...
***
It was a usual day at Harry's old Muggle school, Stonewall Elementary. It was
recess, and his cousin, Dudley, and his gang were chasing Harry all over the playground.
Sometimes, Harry was fast enough to outrun the gang and was able to hide until recess
was over.
Unfortunately, today wasn't one of those days. Dudley and his game caught him
and beat him up to kingdom come.
By the time the teacher supervising recess found him, the gang run off, laughing
and congratulating themselves from what they had done, leaving Harry lying on the
ground, sobbing loudly, his glasses broken at his side. Cuts and bruises were all over his
body.
"Oh, Potter," sighed the recess teacher. She always said this as though him getting
beaten up was just another nuisance she had to put up with. "Come now," she said,
helping him up and picking up his broken glasses. "Lets get you to the nurse's office."
As she led Harry into the school building, Harry knew what would happen next. It
was a daily ritual he knew by heart. The nurse would look him over and also sigh as
though taking care of his cuts and bruises was a nuisance. The nurse wasn't a very
sympathetic woman. Then she would apply peroxide to his cuts that stung painfully,
hand him a bag of ice to put on the bump on his head, and send him back to recess with
the single message, "Stay out of trouble!" The thought made him even more miserable
than usual, but Harry was used to the whole spiel.
The teacher led him into the office where the nurse was usually waiting, but
instead of the nurse, there was a pretty young woman there. Harry managed to see her a
bit clearer by squinting his eyes.
The teacher left without a word. When the woman saw Harry, she took his broken
glasses and murmured a single sentence that he had never heard in his entire life, "Oh,
you poor thing."
"You're not the nurse," said Harry, surprised.
"She's out ill," the woman informed him. "I'm the substitute nurse for today.
Now, what happened to you, sweetie?"
Harry knew that if Dudley found out that he told on him and the gang, he'd make
sure that Harry wouldn't end up in the nurse's office, he'd end up in the hospital. So he
just replied, "Bullies."
"Why do they pick on you?" asked the woman while she taped his glasses
together.
"For a load of reasons," said Harry softly. It was impossible to tell the main
reason Dudley and his gang picked on him. They laughed at his taped up glasses and
baggy old clothes, they and everyone else thought he was strange.... there were a lot of
reasons why the gang picked on him.
"Is it because you don't fight back?" the woman inquired, handing back his
glasses.
Harry shrugged and put on his glasses. "Probably."
"What do your parents say you should do to handle bullies?"
"My parents died in a car crash when I was a baby. I live with my aunt and
uncle... and don't tell anyone, but they don't like me very much."
"Why? You're their own flesh and blood!"
"I dunno. When I tell them about bullies, they don't believe me."
"Doesn't sound like much of a family to me."
"Tell me about it," Harry murmured.
"What's your name?" asked the woman as she got up to get the first aid.
"Harry."
"Well, Harry, you're right not to fight back. Fighting back is the worst thing you
can do. Once, I had a friend who had the exact same problem with bullies. He chose to
fight back and..." She looked as though she was remembering something very painful.
"Well, he's not around anymore." She took out the bottle of peroxide. Harry winced.
"You don't like that stuff, do you?" she said softly.
Harry shook his head.
"Try thinking of something nice while I'm putting it on," she advised.
"Like what?" Harry asked.
"How about your favorite place to be... do you have one? The coast, perhaps?
I've been there, and its quite lovely."
"I've never been in other places. Every time my aunt, uncle, and cousin go on a
vacation or somewhere fun, they leave me at the neighbor's house."
"You've never been there?" she asked, in a not-so-surprised tone. "You mean
you've never walked on the soft white sand while watching the waves crash on the shore?
You've never seen the seagulls circle the water, searching for fish and other things to eat?
And you've never walked in the waves, feeling the cold water upon you as though it's
welcoming you in?"
And as the woman described the coast, Harry could actually see the sea on a warm
day. It was as though he was right there, playing in the waves and laughing, as he rarely
had ever laughed in his life...
"There, all done."
The woman's voice brought Harry out of his daydream. He looked down and saw
that all of his cuts had been cleaned up and bandaged. He didn't even feel the usual sting
of the peroxide.
"See?" the woman smiled. "It works. Now you'd better go back outside before
it's time to go in."
"Thank you," Harry said to her. He walked out of the nurse's office.
"I'm glad to have met you, Harry," she called after him...
***
"Harry! Wake up!"
"Huh?" Harry jerked awake. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were staring at him.
"We're almost there," Ron explained. "We'd better put on our robes. You must
have been having some dream, because it was really hard to get you up."
"Oh...yeah," Harry muttered absentmindedly.
As the four put on their Hogwarts robes, Harry tried to remember the details of
that memory he had. They were slowly slipping away from. He couldn't remember what
that young woman looked like, just the thought he had that she was very pretty. Harry
decided not to worry about it yet...
***
Meanwhile, in another part of the train, Fiona was nervous. She knew about all
the teachers and students at Hogwarts because she was watching over Harry during most
of his years (so far) there. Suppose that she doesn't do well as a Defense Against the
Dark Arts teacher? What if she got fired?
And what was the horrible thing Voldemort was planning to do to Harry that
involved the Ministry of Magic? What if she failed protecting Harry from it?
If anything, anything happened to Harry, just like it happened to... she couldn't
even say the first boy's name in her head, it was too painful. If anything happened to
Harry, not only would it cause her to lose her sanity, but she'd probably give up on
herself as well. If it did happen, the most painful part would be the poetic irony. The
two boys she was supposed to protect, lost at the same age. And they always called that
age "sweet sixteen"...
As the train started to halt, Fiona sighed, picked up her suitcase, muttered to
herself, "I won't fail," and started to walk towards the exit of the train, still wondering
about what the Ministry could have to do with Voldemort's plan...
Little did she realize, she was soon to find out.
To be continued...
Oooh, cliffhanger! Sorry, I couldn't help it. Up next: the teachers of Hogwarts
meet Fiona, and Snape seems to be *most interested*. Plus, the beginning of the year
feast is interrupted by a little visit from old Cornelius Fudge himself, and he's brought
some *old friends* with him... who or what are they? Stay tuned!
P.S.: I need your opinion about this story. Should Harry and Ginny have a
relationship in this story? I'm not really a shipper, but the thought did cross my mind.
Tell me in your reviews, okay? Thanks.
