A Harry
Potter Fan Fiction Piece by
Megaella
Ballanche Viewlard
Note: With
the exception of the Sinagtalas and a number of characters ranging from ickle
firsties to Hogwarts alumini/alumnae who will be cropping up, all characters
are the property of JK Rowling/Bloomsbury/Scholastic – not mine. I'm not worthy…
Hogwarts
was the sort of place where you could walk through a corridor, turn a corner,
and probably find yourself face to face with the child you used to be.
At least, that was what Starlight
thought as she listlessly walked through the school she'd grown up in. It was two hours before the Sorting Ceremony
and she could not seem to sit still. It
was as if something within her, some sort of desire long kept suppressed, was
compelling her to traverse through the halls.
How old was she when she first came
to Hogwarts? Twenty-three days short
of my eleventh birthday, Starlight thought wryly as she passed the
dungeon-level classrooms for Professor Snape's Potions classes. Dad had just been made ambassador so we
had to move. Dad and Mom would be
taking most of us along, but KuyaD Makisig,
AteF Sining, and Ate Marilag wouldn't be going.
Mac, the eldest and only son who was fourteen years older than Starlight, was
already done with college by that time and working. Sining, two years younger than Mac, had also finished school and
had just gotten married. Marilag, the
third daughter, was already a junior at university so a move would have been
very hard on her. Only the two younger
girls came along: Amihan (Starlight) and her twin sister Alapaap. Of the two, only Starlight had received a
letter from Hogwarts. Alapaap was, much
to their parents' chagrin, a Squib and was sent to a posh private school – a
move that never could quite salve Mrs. Sinagtala as it was, nevertheless, a Muggle
school.
As she walked, Starlight seemed to
hear long-ago conversations about classes, dormitory frolics, practical jokes
played on the unsuspecting, grades, Quidditch matches, owls from home, and – as
they grew older – trips to the nearby village of Hogsmeade. Most of Starlight's classmates lived their
own lives now though some, alas, had been killed, executed, or imprisoned for
serving the Dark Lord.
And only I have returned
to Hogwarts… But there was no
bitterness in the idea though Starlight's sentiments regarding the matter were
bittersweet.
She paused before a huge painting of
a plump woman. It was a painting so
familiar that Starlight really had to stop and say hello to the Fat Lady who
guarded Gryffindor Tower.
"What are you doing here?" The Fat Lady was surprised at seeing
Starlight grinning up at her. "I
thought you'd left ages ago!"
"So I did", Starlight nodded. "But there was a vacancy in the faculty so I
applied for the job." Underbreath, she
muttered, "Sure beats looking for one back home." Talented as she was, she had a very hard time adjusting to her
homeland especially after spending most of her life abroad.
"What happened to your accent?", the
Fat Lady asked her. "You sound like an
American, a New Worlder!"
"Spent two years after Hogwarts at
NYU and spent the next four years spanning the globe", the young witch
admitted. "Say, um, is it okay if I
came in for a bit? I mean, I don't know
the passwords and…"
"Say no more!" The portrait swung itself forward to reveal
the circular entrance to the Tower. "Come on in. Oh, by the way, the
new Headmistress is already inside checking on a few things." The Fat Lady giggled. "Doesn't care to admit that she just misses
being Head of House after being one for about twenty years!"
Starlight eased herself over the
high threshold and found herself in the cozy red and gold common room of the
Gryffindors. There was a fire burning
brightly in the grate and there was a tabby cat with spectacle markings around
its eyes. It was staring into the fire,
sitting on one of the throw pillows off one of the squishy armchairs. It turned its head and meowed to the
newcomer in greeting.
"Good afternoon, Headmistress." Starlight inclined her head politely before
settling into one of the armchairs. She
pushed back the hood of her cloak as she sat back and sighed deeply. "Great to be back", she murmured.
There was a loud pop and the
cat turned into Minerva McGonagall, sitting tailor-fashion on the cushion by
the fire.
"Surely you weren't unhappy in your
travels, Amihan", she said, addressing her by her real name.
"No, I wasn't, ma'am. But…" Starlight could not put it in words: that strange compulsion for looking
for something that she didn't even know. She hunched forward, hands clasped on her lap and sighed again. "Mom says I'm probably at some sort of
crossroads where I have to decide where to go next."
"And Hogwarts is where all those
paths converge before parting again?"
"I… I guess so."
McGonagall got up and sat in the
chair next to Starlight's. "You were
always one of my best students", she said. "I had very little to complain about you, though there were times when
you went out of your way to be a most exasperating little git." She chuckled as her mind's eye saw
Starlight, aged fourteen and absolutely furious, going ballistic over the mark
she got in one of her classes. "Professor Quirrell's a lucky man he's dead; otherwise, you probably
would have chewed him out by now."
Professor Quirrell… The man's name was enough to set Starlight's
blood to a slow simmer. Absently, her
hands clutched the arms of her chair. Nothing could ever banish the memory of the day when her record was, in
her eyes at least, tarnished…
"Exam
results are in!"
The fourth-years all looked
apprehensive as the results of their final examinations were posted by subject
near the different classrooms. Those in
Gryffindor House held their breaths as they checked each list, exulting in the
fact that one of their number had been getting perfect grades in every subject
since they were in their first year.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!", Harry
Eastville declared with aplomb as they traversed the halls en masse. "I give you the shining star of the House of
Godric Gryffindor: the unassailable, unattainable, nigh-on-impossible Starlight
Sinagtala!"
In the middle of the cheering group
was a fabulous-looking girl with exotic features, honey-toned skin, and
blue-black hair that fell in shimmering waves to her waist. Her head was held in a confident manner, but
not so confident that she looked smug. The boys in her class and even older ones could not help but stare at
her speculatively as she passed. The
other girls gazed at her enviously. She
was top in all her subjects and would be Prefect come the next term.
Prefect is just a misspelled version of perfect, she
thought, smiling benevolently as she passed them.
Perfection…
It was a dream, a goal for Starlight who, even at fourteen,
had already gone through a number of hard knocks. Her mother's attending doctor and her Muggle-born father's mother
had declared her abnormal because of the unusual color of her eyes – as yellow
as those of an owl – the minute she was born. The kids at that Muggle school she'd been to before entering Hogwarts
had been no better, hurling epithets at her 24-7-365, making her life a living
hell. She'd reciprocated discreetly, of
course, with any number of horrid hexes and spells she could learn on her
own.
You guys were just jealous, she thought with an ironic
smirk. The whole bloody lot of you
always were – just because I have powers and you don't! If only you could see me now…
"100% in Potions – wow,
Starlight!" Kit Thatcher, Starlight's
best friend, had whistled admiringly as they made their way out of the dungeon
classroom where Professor Snape held sway. "They say that no Gryffindor has ever aced Potions since Snape took
over!"
"So Snape himself says", Starlight
grinned. Severus Snape was a regular
ornery cuss in the classroom, a former Slytherin who had no love lost for those
in Gryffindor. His hatred for them was
such that he was not above taking points from them for even the pettiest of
reasons. Starlight, however, was an
exception from the very start when she opted to work alone instead of
with a lab partner. Her work had even
surpassed the surly professor's and had earned her his rather begrudged
admiration.
"You should've been in Slytherin,
Sinagtala", he'd grunted after she aced a particularly grueling practical
quiz. "You've got the proper lack of
scruples for it; you'd stoop at nothing to get what you want."
"Sir, the measure of what's good or
bad differs from person to person and I do believe that if you really want
something you ought to do anything in your power to get it", she'd replied
somewhat coolly, returning his stern gaze. "Besides: it was not my decision to be in Gryffindor. It was the Sorting Hat's."
"You'll go far, Sinagtala", Snape
had grinned approvingly.
"I should", Starlight had shot back,
her face set and her eyes bleak. "I have
to." Snape did a double-take when
he heard her final words: they were not the words of an average
fourteen-year-old – witch or Muggle.
The teachers admired her drive and her unflappable spirit,
the way she aced her classes and played Quidditch. Her own House captain, Charlie Weasley, had suggested that she
try Quidditch as a career when she finished school; she was the only girl in
Hogwarts who had ever played Beater and had frightened all their opponents with
her ruthlessness in clubbing the dreaded Bludgers after them, giving Charlie
ample room to chase after the Golden Snitch. It seemed that there was nothing she could possibly be second best
in.
That is, until the fourth-year
Gryffindor class stopped at the door of Professor Quirrell's Defense Against
the Dark Arts Classroom.
The Gryffindors had been told when they started at Hogwarts
that their House had the honor of having been home to the only student in
nearly 500 years who got perfect grades in the subject for seven years running:
a boy by the name of Remus J. Lupin. Not even the legendary James Potter ever came quite close to rivaling
his expertise in the subject. Rumor had
it that Lupin was now an Auror working for the Ministry of Magic: he was said
to be that good. Starlight meant
to match – if not surpass – Lupin's record.
However, Snape had scoffed that Lupin was good at absolutely
everything but was an almost complete dunce in potions. When she'd been told that, Starlight's
ambitious streak grew stronger. She
hoped to become the first Gryffindor to ace absolutely everything Hogwarts
could throw at her.
That year, Quirrell had been
teaching them about curses and counter-curses. Starlight read everything that she could about them and practiced her
counter-curses every spare minute that she had. Quirrell had warned them that it would be difficult to get a
perfect grade in his subject that year as curses and the countering spells were
beyond the league of the other things they'd discussed over the past few years.
"Remus Lupin nearly died
countering the dreaded Avada Kedavra", Quirrell had told his class
darkly. Quirrell had been a Hufflepuff
and they had DADA with the Gryffindors in their fourth year; Lupin had been his
classmate. He told them of how a
slight-bodied fourteen year old valiantly stood up against the curse twelve
years before – that very same curse Voldemort had used upon the many he
massacred in the dark days when he thirsted for power. Quirrell went on to say that the whole thing
was the result of a practical examination item gone horribly wrong: how the
curse had been aimed at a friend and how young Lupin had jumped in to counter
the blow. "He ended up spending the
last week of the term in the hospital wing", Quirrell went on with a that's
that tone and a shrug. "The rest,
of course, is history."
"How'd he do it?", Starlight had
asked, her voice and manner filled with awe at Quirrell's story.
"I seriously don't know, Miss
Sinagtala", Quirrell had replied as he wrote the day's assignment on the
board. "But a gift like Lupin's is
rare; I have yet to see another."
Starlight had meant to be that other
person who was uncommonly gifted in countering the forces of darkness. The examination Quirrell had given them was
a written one wherein they were asked to describe how they would deal with a
number of annoying hexes and dangerous curses. The honey-skinned girl had worked on her scrolls most thoroughly and
methodically, writing the methods she thought would be most appropriate. She was sure that she would pass with flying
colors: didn't she always?
It should be mentioned at this point
that Quirrell's examination was one of the most difficult ever done at
Hogwarts. To the other students, even a
barely passing mark was heaven given the grueling set of questions they had to
go through.
At last, the exam results were
posted outside the DADA classroom. Everyone else sighed in relief when they saw that they had managed to
scrape through by the skin of their teeth. Starlight, however, was livid.
Her name was on top, all right. But her mark was merely 75%. It was quite high – exceptional, even –
given the degree of the exam's difficulty. To Starlight, alas, it was not good enough.
"Seventy-five percent?",
she'd hollered, bursting into Quirrell's classroom in a fury. "Do you honestly think I'd settle for
a measly seventy-five percent?"
Her classmates had to drag her out
of the classroom before she could pounce on Quirrell who had tried his best to
explain to her how risky the methods she'd chosen were if put into
practice. For once, even their normally
unshakable Head of House Minerva McGonagall was taken aback by the girl's
sudden rage and was at a loss as to how they could console the furious
Starlight.
She'd fled from them, ashamed of
being less than perfect, and had gone weeping to Professor Snape who was,
himself, shocked to see his favorite student shaken so. He'd fixed her a calming potion that, alas,
elicited some pretty sharp words from her. Tears still running down her face, she'd slapped the goblet out of
Snape's hands, proceeded to empty the cauldron into the sink in the corner, and
stirred up her own batch.
"You call yourself a Potions
master?", she'd roared at her abashed teacher. "You're supposed to add the Saint John's Wort last!"
Snape wearily dragged a hand over
his face and regarded her half with annoyance and half with sympathy.
"You're driving yourself too far,
too fast, and too hard!", he'd scolded her when he regained his composure.
"And it's perfectly obvious that I
didn't drive myself hard enough!"
"Sinagtala, why must you be so
bull-headed about being perfect when you know damned well you're only
human! Not even us wizards are exempted
from such a fate and you – of all people – should know that."
"Yeah?", she'd snorted
contemptuously. "I don't suppose there
was anything special about Remus Lupin that allowed him to ace DADA – along
with everything else, lousy Potions grade notwithstanding?"
Snape's eyes narrowed at that; there
was a look filled with sheer malice on his sallow, unpleasant face. "Now that you mentioned it, yes", he said,
slowly pacing the room. "Lupin was
human enough, I'll give you that – sickly little wimp that he was. But there was something about Lupin that
enabled him to understand the darkness better than most wizards." He did not even bother to choose his words
carefully and threw the brunt of the truth at Starlight. "Sinagtala, Lupin was – and still probably
is as there's no cure for it – a werewolf."
Starlight had gasped, eyes widening in horror at the
idea. Snape, however, was nonplussed by
her surprise. "Unless one was actually
working for Voldemort, you don't get any closer to the darkness than that."
Snape's already frosty demeanor seemed to get colder as he
spoke about Remus Lupin, as if some long-hidden hatred was being unleashed in
the process of pacing back and forth. "Yes, I remember it well, too well as a matter of fact. I nearly got myself killed after his beastly
friends tried to lure me to where he was being sent whenever he
transformed. If that wretched James
Potter hadn't dragged me back, someone else would have been your Potions
master by now!"
It seemed that Starlight, who by
this time had calmed down considerably, had curled up into herself. Her golden eyes were like topazes set in a
golden mask contorted with anger, anger that she was good but not good
enough. Anger because she got top marks
– but they were not high enough. Anger
because she turned out second best and someone who wasn't even entirely human had
beaten her. It was unfair.
"Nothing in life is ever fair,
Sinagtala", Snape was saying, but Starlight was no longer listening. The shame of being imperfect – no matter how
hard she tried not to be so – weighed heavy on her soul. In tears, she burst out of Snape's office.
She did not remember what direction
she ran into on that terrible day. All
she would be able to recall much, much later on was that she found herself in
the room where the graduation portraits of Hogwarts' finest students lined the
walls. The portraits had been talking
quietly among themselves but had fallen silent upon seeing a living person
entering the room.
Starlight looked around her and
demanded in a furious voice, "Which one of you is Remus Lupin?"
The portraits all stared at her for
a bit, then murmured among themselves until a slight cough made Starlight
turn. It was the portrait of a youth of
about seventeen or eighteen, androgynously pretty because of delicate features
and the fact that he was quite thin. The portrait had light brown hair lightly speckled with gray and gentle
violet eyes. The face in the portrait
looked kind and gentle, its voice low and soft-spoken.
"You were looking for me,
Miss?" He tilted his head to one side,
a shy smile on his sweet face. "Well,
here I am."
"See here", the irate student now
yelled at the portrait who looked crestfallen at her vehemence. "You'd better start hiding now, you regular
hindrance! When I finally get out of
this school, I'll make sure I have a silver bullet with your name one it!" She stormed out of the room, leaving the
portraits to babble excitedly, nervously about that implied threat…
And now he's
Head of Gryffindor House…
Starlight also remembered
that a second person had also weathered the dreaded Avada Kedavra and
lived to tell about it. Harry Potter,
son of the legendary James Potter who was – to her chagrin – one of Lupin's
closest Hogwarts friends. As she
clambered over the high threshold that led into the dim hallway, Starlight
pulled her hood over her face once more.
"I wonder why you keep doing that",
the Fat Lady told her critically. "I'd
understand if you were as ugly as a monkey's bottom, but you're not – far from
it, as a matter of fact. So, why do you
keep doing it?"
A lump seemed to form in Starlight's
throat at that question. "Force of
habit", she muttered.
"I'd break that habit if I were
you", the Fat Lady advised her. She
shook her head incredulously. "Why
would such a pretty girl want to try and hide such perfect looks, I wonder…"
Perfect…
Starlight's breath caught on the
lump and she forced herself to gulp down her nervousness, a nervousness that
mounted when she realized that the Sorting Ceremony would start in the next
fifteen minutes. Trembling in every
nerve, she doffed her hood and pulled off her cloak, slinging it over one arm.
"That's my good girl", the Fat Lady
called after her.
Okay, Starlight, the young
professor thought apprehensively as she made her way to the Great Hall. It's show time.
"Do be a
bit more careful, Neville!", Parvati Patil cried, snatching her hat out of
harm's way. "You nearly dented my hat!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Parvati", Neville
Longbottom apologized. "But has anyone
seen Trevor? I think I've lost him
again."
"Neville", came Lavender Brown's exasperated
reply, "aren't you always losing your toad?"
"Very sorry, Lavender." Poor Neville's round face was a rosy red
now. ""But I misplaced my Remembrall
and…"
The entire sixth-year Gryffindor
class groaned at that.
Seamus Finnegan stared at him, not
knowing quite what to say except, "Neville, how could you possibly
misplace a Remembrall?"
Spirits ran high in the Great Hall
that evening as the older students poured into it. All of them were clad in the black robes and tall pointed hats
that were the uniform of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As the teachers entered the room, the babble
of young voice grew even more excited.
"Oh, gods! It's Professor Lupin!
"They weren't kidding: he's back!
"He really is!"
There were all abuzz at seeing
familiar faces at the High Table: severe Headmistress McGonagall, tiny
Professor Flitwick and stodgy Professor Sprout, gentle-faced Professor Lupin
(back after a couple of years fighting Voldemort, his horrible secret spilled
by Professor Snape's malice) and sallow-countenanced Professor Snape. A number of other teachers also appeared but
the frowzy Divination teacher Sybil Trelawney was not among their number. (Come to think of it, she never bothered to
appear at school feasts as she claimed that they clouded the All-Seeing Eye –
duh…) The presence of Sirius Black,
ex-escaped convict and hero of the Order of the Phoenix, made for even louder
buzzing among the students, his bold and brash good looks and towering
reputation setting more than a few hearts aflutter. Rubeus Hagrid, the massive gamekeeper who handled Care of Magical
Creatures, was still out leading the first-years into the school.
But that was not what got the
students so curious. It was the seeming
absence of the new face they had been told about, the teacher who would take
over for the dearly departed (for ages) Professor Binns.
Remus tried not to think
about Professor Sinagtala who most obviously didn't like him on first sight the
first – and only – time they'd met. His
concentration was more focused on the goblet of Wolfsbane Potion set before
him. Grimacing at the prospect of the
stuff's horrible taste lingering in his mouth, he drained the goblet and set it
down, still smoking, upon the table. He
shuddered visibly as the thought of the dreadful flavor made itself real upon
his tongue. As beneficial as the potion
was, he fervently wished that it had tasted better.
"I wouldn't mind so much if it
didn't taste so bitter", he murmured glumly to himself. "But sugar just nixes it. Oh, well…" Better to have a mouthful of the bitter stuff than go about marauding
innocent lives once a month.
"Think of it this way", Snape
advised Remus as he slid into his place beside him at the High Table. "If all medicines tasted good, people would
get addicted. That's why most remedies
taste so vile: it's motivation for the patient to recover." He stopped when Remus's pale face went
blank. "Oh, my. I forgot about that. I'm sorry…"
Recovery… Remus's face clouded over with pain. The best the potion could do was suppress
the more violent aspects of the werewolf state, particularly deadening the
beast's intrinsic appetite for human flesh. Alas, a full cure for lycanthropy had yet to be discovered. Remus tried not to think about it, but a
pang of envy hit him whenever he saw his friends, family, and colleagues living
normal wizards' lives. It was a
particularly depressing thought that dampened the Welcoming Feast for him.
I ought to be used to it
by now, he thought morosely. But… He sighed deeply, thinking about how nice it
would've been to be normal just like everyone else.
There was a commotion at the
entrance to the Great Hall – and it wasn't the presence of the first
years. The students all fell silent as
a newcomer made her way in, walking – no, strutting – towards the High
Table. Remus gasped when he saw a pair
of amber eyes flash his way.
Oh, gods!, he thought, shaken
at the sight of such beauty coming his way. That's what was under her hood?!?
"That's the new teacher?", Dean
Thomas, all agog, gasped.
"Guess so", Seamus agreed with him,
also wide-eyed. "She sure is a babe!"
The newcomer was a stunningly
beautiful woman in her mid-twenties with exotic features that were a mix of the
best that could be bred in the east and west. She had tawny, flawless, honey-colored skin and glossy blue-black hair
that was intricately braided to form a coronet about her head; the hairstyle
made her look like a queen and her bearing emphasized her looks. She was clad in a tight leather bodysuit and
boots covered with a soft robe in dark blue velvet held in front with a silver
chain closure wrought in the shape of a chain of rosebuds. Instead of the traditional pointed hat, her
coronet of braids was topped with a blue velvet skullcap embroidered with
magical symbols from the mystical east. As if none of that were breathtaking enough, a tantalizing fragrance
reminiscent of rare damask roses emanated from her – and her eyes…
Those glorious golden eyes…
"That's Amihan Sinagtala!", Hermione
exclaimed in whispers to the others. "The witch anthropologist!"
"Wasn't she in the Prophet a
few weeks ago?", Harry asked, scarcely daring to take his eyes off her. "Something about her doing research on
fantastic beasts?"
Hermione nodded. "I knew she was here", she said, "but I
never counted on her teaching at Hogwarts!"
"She's a goddess…", Ron sighed
dreamily. Irritated, a jealous Hermione
cuffed him on the head to make him more rational. "Though she's definitely not in your league, dear." Far from it, though!
Ginny was glaring at Harry
in a similar fashion, but stopped when he laughed and pointed at Sirius.
"Look at Sirius!", he chortled,
pointing to his astonished foster-father. Ginny looked at the High Table and squealed with laughter at what she
saw.
"He's absolutely gobsmacked by her!", she guffawed.
Sirius Black nearly stared his eyes
out at the glamorous apparition before them. He gazed upon her in blatant admiration and unabashedly wolf-whistled as
she took Professor Snape's hand as he helped her up the dais. The young witch affectionately shook hands
with the older professors and was delightedly swept up into a shaggy bear hug
by Hagrid when the giant gamekeeper entered the Hall. As for Sirius, she smiled somewhat slyly at him and lightly
slapped his shoulder as he passed.
"Quit that, you dog", she said.
"I'm no dog, Miss!", Sirius declared
with aplomb. "I'm a wolf: a big, hungry
wolf – and I'm gonna eat you up!"
The newcomer smirked wickedly at
that frank declaration and rested a hand on Remus's thin shoulder.
"You're no wolf, mister", she said
with finality. She gazed boldly into
Remus's startled violet eyes. "I know a
real wolf when I see one. Don't
I, Professor Lupin?"
Sirius's jaw dropped as Remus smiled
up at the lovely young witch and said, "Perhaps you do, Professor
Sinagtala. By the way: this is
Professor Black. Sirius, this is
Professor Sinagtala."
"Enchanté, Professor
Black." Starlight's face had a look of
satisfaction as she mannishly shook hands with the still stunned Sirius before
taking her seat – between Severus Snape and Remus Lupin! To make matters worse, Hagrid sat between
the two friends. In effect, it
prevented Sirius from interrogating Remus about the new teacher, about why he
didn't tell her that they'd already met. Sirius sincerely thought it was the worst day of his life.
The nervous first-years entered the
Great Hall in a shaky albeit orderly line.
"You will please excuse me, won't
you?" Professor Snape apologetically
looked Starlight's way as he rose to handle the Sorting; he was now Deputy
Headmaster, after all. He clasped
Remus's shoulder as he passed. "I trust
you'll keep Starlight occupied, Remus?"
"I'll try my best, Severus", Remus
replied apprehensively. He looked at
Starlight as if she were a venomous snake poised to strike. How can I strike up a conversation with a
girl who's probably spent part of her life getting ready to kill me?, he
thought worriedly.
He did not have much time to worry
about that as the Sorting Hat had begun the song for the year. It sang about its usual topics: the virtues
of the four founders and the qualities that made up the characters of the
residents of the four Houses that bore their names. Professor Snape gave the directions for the first-years: that
they were to come forward as they were called, put on the Hat, and just let the
ragged little piece of magical headwear place them in the House it felt best
for them.
"I always thought it made a mistake
in Sorting me", Starlight chuckled wryly, half to herself and sotto voce to
Remus.
"Because it put you in Gryffindor?",
he wondered.
She nodded, a rueful smile on her
lips. "Actually, I always thought I was
more a Slytherin than anything else", she admitted.
"So Professor Snape has told me, but
he never quite explained why."
"Two adjectives and a descriptive
phrase, Professor Lupin: ruthless, vicious, and no-nonsense. People have been using them to describe me
since I was very young. Not quite the
words you'd use to describe a Gryffindor, huh?"
"I'm afraid I can't judge for myself
on that score", Remus admitted. "Seeing
that I don't know you that well, of course." He suddenly grew somber. "But
really: a vicious, ruthless, no-nonsense Gryffindor is a lot better than a
manipulative, two-faced, and treacherous one."
"You mean Peter Pettigrew, I
suppose? I take it you knew him."
"Knew him?" The snort of laughter Remus gave took
Starlight aback as it was rather contemptuous – something she didn't quite
expect from the kindly professor. "I thought
I did until a few years ago when it turned out that he'd framed Sirius to cover
up the fact that he was one of Voldemort's Death Eaters!"
Starlight studied him in
silence. A werewolf… In her travels and studies, werewolves were
usually violent both as beasts and men. Why is this guy so meek and so pleasant and so… She frowned with great disapproval at
his frayed, patched, and darned robes, comparing them wordlessly to the
spanking best robes of the other teachers and her own elegant outfit. …shabby?
Snape had begun to call the roll:
"Ames, Faye!"
A pretty, dark-haired girl with blue
eyes scampered forward.
"RAVENCLAW!", came the Hat's shout.
"Arisugawa, Juri!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Well, that's the first of our
newbies", Starlight murmured.
"Yup", Remus agreed. He chose his next words carefully. "Um, if it isn't too invasive, Professor
Sinagtala, but what has Professor Snape told you about me?"
"I was wondering why you were so
tense." Starlight pursed her lips
thoughtfully for a bit, then began talking in a very soft voice. "When I was younger, he'd tell me what a
dunce you were in Potions." When Remus
winced, she managed to giggle wryly. "He said he hated you like the plague, especially when your friends
nearly got him killed." Remus held his breath,
fearing the worst. But, "He never gave
the details, but it must've been pretty hair-raising as the grudge he bore you
guys lasted for ages." Remus sighed in
relief. More seriously, Starlight went
on to say that he was the only student in Hogwarts to have passed the DADA
subject with perfect grades for seven years running and that he was always so
nice even after having been beaten up by Snape and a number of bigger
Slytherins. They both laughed at that. Then, "He also said you were a werewolf." Starlight turned to him with apprehension on
her face. "It isn't true, is it?"
The look Remus gave her was neither
angry nor reproachful. However, it was
sad and grave and he looked away almost immediately, pale cheeks flushed.
"I will deny any number of things people have said – and
will say – about me", he told her calmly. "But I will not deny the fact that I am a werewolf."
Neither of them spoke any further as
the Sorting Ceremony ended amidst thunderous applause and Professor Snape
joined them at the table once more. The
new Headmistress rose for the traditional welcoming remarks. "Vintage McGonagall" was how the alumni
among the faculty described them: short and straightforward. She told them that she was glad to welcome
the newcomers to Hogwarts and extended her welcome to the returning
students. There were the usual
advisories on not going into the Forbidden Forest and to avoid the Whomping
Willow at all costs. (Remarks that,
alas, elicited mischievous grins from Sirius, Remus, Harry, and his friends
that everyone was at a loss to explain.) Those in the upper five years were told to give their Hogsmeade slips to
the Heads of their Houses as soon as possible: to Sprout for Hufflepuff,
Flitwick for Ravenclaw, Snape for Slytherin, and Lupin for Gryffindor. That last name brought thunderous applause
that was only silenced when Remus smiled benevolently at his House from the
High Table.
"Speaking of which", Headmistress
McGonagall went on, "we are so happy to have you back, Professor
Lupin. We're probably the only
wizarding school in the country to have a werewolf teaching!" As most of the students and all the faculty
were aware of this, they burst out into peals of good-natured laughter. The first, second, and third-years' eyes
however went round with a sense of foreboding. The sly wink Remus threw their way, however, put them at ease. I may be a werewolf, he seemed to
say, but I'm pretty harmless as werewolves go, never fear.
"Which brings us to the newcomers
among our faculty!" The Headmistress's
normally severe face broke into a rare smile.
"I love it when she does that!",
Hermione declared.
"You would", Ron chuckled,
gently nudging her in the ribs. "You're
probably the only one who ever gets a smile out of her!"
"No, I'm not, and you know it!"
"Yeah, right…"
"Everyone knows Professor Sirius
Black who has kindly consented to replace me as Transfiguration teacher", the
Headmistress went on. Awed whispers
followed that announcement as Sirius's reputation had long since preceded his
actual presence at Hogwarts.
Sirius looked pained at what she said. Kindly consented? Why, Remus and Harry had to drag me
kicking and screaming to accept it for crying out loud!
"Our second new member of the faculty is another Hogwarts
alumna." The Headmistress gestured to
Starlight. "Professor Amihan Sinagtala
will be taking over Professor Binns's History of Magic classes for the first to
fourth years and Cultural Magic for those in the last three levels. She's gone quite far from Hogwarts, teaching
first in the Philippines where she was born and then studying all over the
world. We are more than proud to have
her with us this year." Starlight
smiled at the cheering students in response to their applause. "Now, without further ado, let the feast
begin!"
The plates magically filled with food the way they always
did and everyone heartily dug in. In
the middle of dinner, Remus excused himself from the High Table and went down
to where his House was pigging out. They roared their approval and made room for him at the table.
"Nice of you to join us, Uncle Moony", Harry grinned,
calling him by the name he was referred to back home in London.
"Thanks, Harry." He
slapped high-fives with his exuberant House students and asked them what their
expectations for the year were before telling them his. In closing, he smirked at the sixth years,
recalling the unfortunate, er, incident that happened during the summer. "Of course, if I catch any of you blowing up
taffy-filled cauldrons again, I will wash my hands of the lot of you." They all laughed, but it was filled with a
bit of fear as none of them wanted to remember that horrid double-dose of
Wolfsbane Potion. However, he winked
slyly at the shaken lot. "Just
kidding."
Starlight's face was unreadable when he returned to the High
Table and neither of them said anything. By the end of the meal, however, Remus had an odd feeling that the young
witch was going to give him a pretty formidable year. She made that perfectly clear with just one eyebrow raised.
So that's what he's like!, Starlight thought as
they all parted ways for the night. Not
like what I expected at all. Definitely
not what I expected at all…
D Kuya – the
Filipino honorific for older brothers; derived from the Chinese.
F Ate – the Filipino honorific for older sisters; also derived from the Chinese.