Wishes

By: Airelle Vilka

Chapter 8 The Second Gryffindor

The beckoning trees of the Forbidden Forest called to Airelle as she knocked on Hagrid's door. It had been so long since she had entered the woods with Snape back in her student years, that now it seemed almost creepy. But inviting nonetheless. Just like Snape himself…

All right, where the heck did that come from? she thought, shaking her head as if she were expecting it to rattle. How many times, Vilka? You have got to cut the doses of Gadlee's Giggling Ice-Cream. The warning spell says "Liable to make one hyper," but do you listen? Oh, no…

A light streamed from the crack under the door. "Who is it?" a gruff voice called out.

"It's me, Hagrid," she said. Immediately, the door handle rattled and a bright yellow light washed over her face, causing her to squint.

"Why, if it isn' Airelle Vilka 'erself!" boomed the half-giant from the doorway, and before the Illusions professor had time to emit a single word, she was choking in a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm--eeeeehhh--happy to see you too," she gasped, trying to get her feet down to the floor again.

"Yer cold," said Hagrid, "come on, get 'nside an' warm up." Airelle, grateful to be released, followed him into the little cabin. It still looked the same as it had been years ago. Hagrid was one of the few people who had been her friend even though she was friends with Snape. And back in those days, he'd always invite her in for tea, and those horrid rock cakes that she'd always politely refused--

"So, how's it feel to be back at 'ogwarts?" asked Hagrid heartily, closing the door, but not locking it. "Still can' believe yer here after all these years! Thought you'd want to leave, after yer argument with Snape—"

Airelle sighed. She had told Hagrid that Snape had left after Graduation. But she had never said why. He'd just assumed they'd had an argument. Argument, indeed…

"But we're all back together now," she laughed, taking a seat at the same place at the table she had always occupied. "You, myself, and even Snape. All teachers now."

"Yeh, isn' that a riot?" grinned Hagrid from under his bushy beard. "So you two are friends agin?"

Airelle looked away. "You could say that, yes."

"All righ' then, nothin' to worry about," said Hagrid, setting a pot of tea on the fire. He had not even asked if she wanted it; he just knew. "Say, Airelle, have you decided what group you'll be lookin' after fer the ball?"

She looked up. "…Ball?"

Hagrid made a 'you're-being-forgetful-again' face at her. "Yeh… you know, the Yule Ball?"

Her voice was a whisper. "Yule…Ball?"

Rubeus Hagrid nodded, smiling in a way that now reminded her of Lupin and Dumbledore. All of them looked like they were plotting, or knew something she didn't. Not again…

"That's righ', Airelle. Decemb'r 17th, as usual."

"But… that's in… less than two weeks…"

"So?"

She was silent for a while. "The Yule Ball still goes on here?"

"Why shouldn' it?" asked Hagrid, handing Airelle the smoking teapot. "They're expectin' all the teachers to be there. An' this year, they wan' certain teachers to look after some groups outside, so's they don' get in trouble." He smiled. The predominant way to get in trouble at a ball, Airelle knew, was to snog your date behind a bush in the gardens outside the Great Hall. And get caught.

She took the teapot and began to pour. "So, everyone has to be there?"

"Come on, you know the rules," said Hagrid, walking to the doorway as several noises approached. "This year, who knows… they migh' require all the teachers to dance, too!"

Airelle stared at him. The last time she had danced was at a Yule Ball-- or at least outdoors-- in her seventh year, with Snape…

"Airelle?"

"Yes?"

"You migh' wanna put the teapot down now," laughed the gamekeeper. Airelle looked down and saw that her cup had overflowed long ago and the tea was creeping along the table in waves. She banged the teapot down and blushed furiously. Why had this news affected her so much? So what if there was some silly ball? It was for students anyway… not the teachers… but then again…

She glared at the table and began to mop up the mess.

The noises beyond the door got louder, and Hagrid opened it. A shovel-worth of snow flew in, accompanied by a gigantic ball of fur on four legs, followed by a rope with three figures latched onto it, all wrapped in thick black Hogwarts robes.

"Sorry, Hagrid," breathed the person closest to the enormous boarhound. "Fang smelled a pair of tracks and dragged us--"

He stopped in mid-sentence, but only briefly, because Fang, still bound with the rope, wrenched him towards the table where Airelle sat. She barely had time to yelp as the huge dog pounced on her, licking her face with a tongue the size of a wet towel.

"Fang! Good boy," she sputtered, trying desperately to get the dog away from her. Hagrid called out a sharp word and the dog sat down on the floor obediently. Airelle's ponytail was beyond repair, and she loosened it from its strap and headband, meanwhile taking a good look at the three people who had just barged in.

She stopped in mid-defastening. The only one still holding onto Fang's rope was none other than Harry Potter.

Airelle blinked. In the light of the cabin, the boy looked so much like his father. Indeed, she had very often surprised James Potter and his friends in Hagrid's cabin years ago, having tea and talking merrily. They had always been awkward situations, with Airelle hastily saying to Hagrid that she'd visit him later, while Potter would look at her warily… They were good friends with Hagrid, and so was Airelle. It was amazing how the intimidating-looking gamekeeper was such a sociable and likable person.

"Professor!" said a voice, snapping Airelle out of her lightspeed-fast thoughts. She turned towards the other two people as they shook out their hair from the snow.

"Hello, Miss Patts, Miss Tylon," she said, smiling. "Hello to you too, Potter."

"Hello," returned Harry, looking at Hagrid inquiringly with 'should-we-leave' eyes. Hagrid, however, seemed unperturbed.

"Ah, good, yer all here," he said. "Come in, sit, we were jus' about to have tea."

"Great!" said Alica Tylon, flopping down next to Airelle and taking a cup. "Not as good as butterbeer, but it'll do." Her friend Tracy, laughing hysterically, joined the group assembled around the table. Now the only one standing was Harry Potter.

"Go on, Harry, sit," said Tracy, sliding a chair towards him. "Or else you'll have to eat the rock cakes without any tea to wash them down!"

Harry looked at Airelle some more. She raised her eyebrows. Could James's son possibly have inherited his mistrust of her?

Finally grinning, Potter sat down, and Hagrid asked cheerfully, "How was the walk?"

"Fine," laughed Tracy, smoothing her shiny black hair back over her shoulders. "Especially that last part, with Fang dragging us like rag dolls." At this, everyone burst out into laughter. It was strange, but in Hagrid's cabin, reserve melted, and they were just people, not students and teachers, not adults and children. Just people who happened to be at the same place at the same time.

"So, Harry," asked Airelle after the giggles subsided, "where are Ron and Hermione? You three are inseparable, I noticed."

"Harry's forced to be with us underdogs tonight," chortled Alica good-naturedly, spilling some tea on the table. "Ron and Herm are in Hogsmeade. But we're not upset… they'll bring us sweets, they promised."

"And butterbeer," Tracy added happily. "We three, by the way-- well, we're in detention, technically."

"Not again," groaned Airelle, smiling at Hagrid simultaneously. Doubtlessly, walking with Fang was his way of giving detention while everyone else was at Hogsmeade. "What did they do this time?"

"Alica and I," said Tracy proudly, "have succeeded in repeating the infamous Weasley twins' bathroom prank. Nearly exploded the prefects' bath, too, soap bubbles and all. Oh, glorious!"

"And I happened to witness it, so Snape-- err, Professor Snape-- accused me as well," added Harry, petting Fang.

Airelle realized that she was smiling when she should have been, as a teacher, scolding them. But then, she decided that Snape had already given them enough threats on his part, to be sure. And yet here they all were, having tea in Hagrid's cabin. Snape would have a fit if he knew…

The smile did not fade from her face until Harry suddenly said, "Professor?"

"Yes?"

The green eyes looked into hers. Faintly, Airelle could see the lightning scar—a mark of Voldemort that was left on the Gryffindor boy-- behind the tangled mane of black hair. So much pain was caused in one second. She had seen people die by the Avada Kedavra curse, and it was not pretty. She wouldn't wish that on her worst enemy. It had been described in the books, but no written word could compare to seeing the real thing. She had known exactly what had happened to Harry's parents, the same people she had seen smiling and talking at Graduation. It was almost surreal to know that she'd never hear their voices again. Airelle remembered, crystal clear as daylight, the very first time she'd seen one of her fellow Aurors get struck by the Killing Curse:

He never had time to scream. But others did.

"Avada Kedavra!" Airelle yelled, shrieking out the same words towards the Death Eater who had uttered them a second earlier. The Death Eater fell, but Airelle did not care. She hurtled past him and slid on her knees, stopping by the side of the fallen Auror. His limbs were twitching like a dead insect's, and the eyes were glowing green as the spell swirled inside them.

"Oh… oh, no…" she mumbled, trying to prop the man up. "Come on, don't you dare die on me…"

But it was far too late. There was no defense from the Killing Curse. His eyes had become like green stained-glass windows, perpetually frozen. Airelle put her face up to his, and heat emanated from his eyes – the remnant of existence – his soul was leaving.

The Auror pounded her team member's chest in anger and frustration. "Don't die, damn it!"

But the body let out a final shudder, and stiffened.

In the deathly silence, Omar Fauks put a hand on her shoulder. "It's over. Let him go, Airelle."

"This was all my fault… I let him down. I was the leader, I should have protected him." She had never seen a person die like this before. It was ghastly, and her eyes stung.

"But he chose to protect you instead," said Omar, pushing the dead man's lids shut. "Both of you are heroes."

Airelle leant her forehead on her palm and bent down. "Some hero I am… my God, what am I doing here?… what have I become?…"

"Did you know my father and mother well?" The voice sounded so distant. Airelle had to blink twice rapidly in order to shift her vision back to Harry Potter. By now, everyone in the cabin, including Fang, was staring at her intently. She coughed and drank some tea, which had become cold.

"Yes," was the professor's response. "Not as well as you'd think, but well enough. We were in the same year together. You look very much like him. James and I were not friends, but I admired him for his bravery." She had no idea why she was saying the truth to the boy. Perhaps it was the atmosphere of Hagrid's cabin that acted like a confessions booth, in the hopes that nothing would ever travel outside of it. Or maybe she had wanted to get this off herself for a very long time.

Alica leaned on the table, eyes shining. "Really? You were in the same year as Harry's mum and dad?"

"Yes," said Airelle, setting down the cup.

Harry suddenly looked up, as if he'd had an unpleasant realization. "That means you and Professor Snape were in the same year too…"

Airelle nodded; it was no use denying. But how could Harry have known about Snape's being in the same year as James Potter? Perhaps he was even aware of the grudge between the elder Potter and Severus Snape… just how much did that boy know?

Now, Tracy and Alica looked at each other and grinned. "I told you so," said Alica to her friend.

"Well, I knew it before you, you were too drunk on butterbeer," Tracy shot back, while the rest stared at them quizzically.

"What're you two talkin' about?" asked Hagrid, putting another plate of rock cakes on the table, without taking notice that the first one had not been touched yet.

Alica smiled again. "Well, Professor Snape had to do a great feat of rescue at Hogsmeade last weekend. Gilderoy Lockhart" -- Harry groaned at the mention of the name-- "had cornered Professor Vilka, and Snape got her away from Lockhart's little self-obsessive interview. Dunno what happened, but Lockhart looked pretty upset when he ran after them. It was funny," she added after a while.

Airelle sighed. The last thing Harry needed to know about was her friendship with his most hated teacher and mortal enemy of his father. "You see," she tried to explain, taking a rock cake and rolling it absently around on the table, "Professor Snape did a very good thing. It seems he is not too fond of Lockhart, and spared a fellow teacher the discomfort…"

"Oh," said Harry, although he did not look fully convinced. They all sat there for a while, until finally, Airelle thought, Screw it, and said, "Professor Snape is a good man. I've known him for a very long time, and both Hagrid and I can vouch for it. You see, Harry, for some people, you have to look deep inside to find what you need."

Tracy muttered something that sounded like "Yeah, mine-shaft deep."

"What?" Airelle asked.

"Nothing," Tracy and Alica quickly replied.

"Well," said Harry, rising from his chair, "it is late, I think our detention time is up. We should go, there's a Quidditch game tomorrow."

"Yes, you'd better," said Airelle, putting the rock cake back on the plate again. She was happy they were leaving; the conversation about the Potions Master had made her rather uncomfortable. The whole way Harry was growing suspicious about her and Snape… She had never realized that this could ruin her relationship with all the Gryffindors, not to mention the Hufflepuffs, and even members from her own Ravenclaw house. And she thought the House rivalry was over when she'd stopped being a student. In truth, it was just beginning. Moreover, just speaking of Snape in front of others had become similar to a pet peeve. What if she said the wrong thing? Did she even believe what she said? What if Snape found out…?

Airelle, when all these thoughts had been somewhat sorted in her head, found herself with a mammoth headache, and decided it was time for her to go and get some sleep as well. Tomorrow was another day; perhaps clearer things would come to mind.

If she weren't so preoccupied with her own thoughts when she bid good-night to Hagrid, Airelle Vilka would have noticed that the gamekeeper was shaking his head from side to side and smiling knowingly.

To be continued…