Unquiet Slumbers
Part Two: An offer of a new post
(Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter is the creation of JK Rowling. Quotes from "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë)
Every time she closed her eyes he was there. When, by some miracle she did manage to fall asleep she dreamt of him. She couldn't quite remember what had happened in the dream but she would wake with a start, her heart threatening to burst out of her chest.
So she gave up. Putting on her slippers and cloak she padded silently to the kitchen.
Megan had been renting the flat above the apothecary shop in Hogsmeade village since she had left home a year ago. At first she had been extremely lonely and had sent her parents, who lived miles away in the country, around five owls a day. The smell coming from the shop beneath was something she had had to get used to as well. The strong aroma of medicines and potion ingredients had been the main reason the rent of the place was so low. Megan made herself a cup of tea and sat down at the small wooden table in the tiny kitchenette. She had never been a good sleeper but just lately it had got a lot worse. Her mind was so full of dreams, hopes, fears and fantasies she found it impossible to empty it sufficiently to fall asleep. "Oh for a Pensieve"! She thought ruefully remembering the one she had seen in Dumbledore's office only a few days ago.
After Snape had swooped off, leaving her gazing after him, Megan had gone with Professor Flitwick to the head masters office. Dumbledore had been very pleased to see her and had taken her hand in both of his and warmly told her how pleased he was to see her again. Megan had been amazed that he'd even remembered her considering the amount of students he must have seen pass through Hogwarts over his years as headmaster. "It's good to be back sir, even for a short visit" she had responded as Dumbledore had ushered her to a seat in front of the huge claw-footed desk. Flitwick had perched on the edge of a large chair near the fireplace, his feet dangling about a foot from the floor. "You were one of the most naturally gifted witches ever to come to Hogwarts." Dumbledore had told her, smiling. "I remember your skill with a wand and your natural abilities in transfiguration, not that you were a model student in every respect," he added with a twinkle of humour in his eye. "No" smiled Megan suddenly looking at her feet "My concentration left a little to be desired, I know". "Except when it came to books, I seem to remember" Dumbledore continued. Again, Megan had to marvel at the headmaster's powers of recollection. "Are you happy working at Hardbroom's Megan? I saw your employer not too long ago, nice fellow. He seemed to believe you were thinking of leaving. Is this true"? Megan was stunned. Had her restlessness really been so obvious to Mr Hardbroom? She didn't know what to say. Dumbledore continued. "Madam Pince has been ill recently and has spent the last day or so in the school hospital under the ever vigilant eye of Madam Pomfrey. I believe she has been working too hard, and so despite her emphatic 'cri de cœur' I have ordered her to take a holiday". The portraits of old headmasters of the school were all smiling as Megan as if they knew something she didn't. "I have also suggested to her" continued Dumbledore "that when she returns, she may need some help running the library, which, of course, is where you come in Megan." He smiled at her, as if awaiting her response. "Would you like to come and work for me at Hogwarts?" Megan had been a little taken aback; she had not expected a job offer. Flitwick jumped out of his chair in glee. "What a wonderful idea Headmaster! What do you say Miss Harvey?" Megan gazed at Dumbledore's Pensieve, which gleamed from behind the half open door of the black cabinet. The headmaster had evidently been relieving his mind or a few excess thoughts before she arrived; or else he had been reliving past memories from within the shimmering stone basin. Megan's mind was whirling just like the Pensieve's silver, misty contents. "I don't quite know what to say headmaster," she had said looking wide-eyed between Flitwick and Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore had not expected her to give her decision right away. He had told her to go home and consider his offer and to send him an owl once she had made up her mind. However, it had not even taken the time it took to fly back to Hardbroom's for her to make her decision; she would take the job. Working in a library was not how she intended to spend the rest of her working life but she definitely considered it a step up from working in the little bookshop. Taking the job also meant she could leave this hovel and live in one of the rooms at the castle as most of the people who worked at Hogwarts did. But there was something else that had made her decision easy, something she did not want to admit to herself.
Since her morning at Hogwarts and her startling encounter with Professor Snape in the library, Megan had not been able to think of much else besides the potions master. She remembered his domineering presence, the look of wicked amusement in his glittering black eyes, the way he always seemed to make her feel at a disadvantage, and yet she craved to be in his presence again. To feel the tingling sensation down her spine, which she always felt when he looked at her, or even, whenever she thought about him.
The smell of potion ingredients coming up from the apothecary shop beneath her did not help in her efforts to think about something, anything else. And so she consoled herself in the half-hearted belief that when she was working so near to him at Hogwarts, her fascination for him would eventually wear off.
Informing Mr Hardbroom that she would soon be leaving him and the shop behind was more difficult than she thought. Megan hadn't realised how attached the shopkeeper had become to her. He had asked her if there was any chance she would reconsider. "Mr Hardbroom, you know I never intended to stay here long, and you know I'll miss you and the shop awfully, but I will come back and visit often, I promise." Mr Hardbroom sighed and Megan felt sorry for him, knowing he had hardly any family and that he had come to look upon herself, quite as his own daughter. "Well at least I know where you're going, so I won't have to worry about you, not with old Dumbledore there to look out for you". He gave her a sad smile "I've got a present for you" he said getting up to go behind the shop counter and opening a box he kept under lock and key. "I was planning on giving this to you for your birthday, but I feel it might be an appropriate leaving gift". He handed Megan an old dusty book. She examined the cover and exclaimed "Goodness me"! "It's a first edition" Mr Hardbroom smiled at her obvious delight, he knew how fascinated Megan was with muggle literature, particularly the old classics. "Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, published 1847" Megan read "I shall start to read it as soon as I get home, thank you so much Mr Hardbroom" Megan had hugged her old employer before going back to her flat to begin packing away her things. It would take her a long time to pack all of her books, and even longer to get the trunks down the stairs in the morning. She decided she would have to put a 'Feather-light' charm on it and float it down. Using a bit of magic here and there made the job of packing a bit quicker, and after an hour all of Megan's belongings were neatly packed away in three large trunks (two contained her books). She lay on her bed and began to read the muggle book, which Mr Hardbroom had given her. She read until it got dark out side and the noise of people shopping in the street outside died down. Megan used her wand to light the torches on the crumbly walls of her -soon to be- ex-flat. She also lit a small fire in the grate, as the nights were getting colder as November approached. Megan could feel herself falling asleep, as her unquiet slumbers of the previous night had deprived her of much needed rest. Before her eyes closed she read a line from her book:
"Tell me now, fairy as you are,-can't you give me a charm or a philtre, or something of the sort to make me a handsome man?"
"It would be past the power of magic sir, a loving eye is all the charm needed: to such you are handsome enough; or rather, your sternness has a power beyond beauty"
Megan's eyes closed and her book fell from her hand as she slipped, yet again into her disturbing dream world.
Coming in part three; The Halloween Ball.
