(By the way I don't own any of this. I didn't come up with any of the characters (except Pat) and I'm not responsible for the way things turn out. That's up to my weird and wonderful (!) imagination.)
Chapter 2.
History
The new professor of History of Magic was better than the last.
The teachers were almost as glad as the students when Professor Binns decided that his talents would be better served writing a book about the History of Magic, rather than boring the students to death with it. When Dumbledore was informed that he needed a replacement, he didn't have far to go. Since Sirius was cleared of all charges of being a deatheater. Surprisingly, he had also been the only student to choose to have extra studies with Binns. He was the perfect choice. Sirius chose to do it so he could keep an eye on Harry.
Sirius actually made the History of Magic seem interesting. You could tell because all the students had moved from the back few rows of the room, to the first two rows. They were also all awake. The first lesson of Sirius Black's class was all about his favourite section. Famous Wizards and Witches throughout history.
Aiming seemingly random questions at various members of the class, he judged how much of Binns' sermons his students had actually learnt.
"Hermione, what's your take on the acts of Morgan Le Fay?"
Sitting up even straighter in her seat (as if that's possible), Hermione started to recite everything she had ever read about Morgan Le Fay to Sirius.
"It is unknown when she was born or died. However we do know that she lived during the Medieval stage of our history. She was the elder half-sister of King Arthur. They shared the same mother, but different fathers due to the fact that Merlin used a Transfiguration Spell on Arthur's father to make him look like Morgan Le Fay's Father. She was a dark Sorceress, and Merlin's enemy. Due to this she was…"
"Okay, okay Hermione. We've just got rid of Professor Binns, we don't need another lecture!" He smiled as he was making this speech, making sure Hermione knew that he was only joking.
"That indeed was the history of Morgan Le Fay, but I asked for your opinion of her."
Hermione was flustered now.
"Oh, oh… ummm… She was bad??"
"Was she?" He gave her an encouraging smile. 'You can do this.' He thought.
"Oh, ummm…. No? No she wasn't. She… ummm… she was driven insane by the thought of Arthur, and Merlin's involvement so ummm It is my opinion that she was trying to get back at Merlin. She wouldn't have been a bad person, had it not been for Merlin. However, we control our own destinies and she chose to be a dark sorceress, using her powers against people. She was… ambitious, and that ambition was her downfall."
Hermione looked up at Sirius, begging him not to make her say anymore.
"Well done!" He took pity on her. "10 points for Gryffindor! And a worthy lesson. LISTEN to the question!"
She sagged in relief Ron leaned over. "Well done!" he whispered sarcastically in her ear.
"Ron," Ron sank back down in his chair, knowing that Sirius had heard what he'd said. "Tell me about Tilly Toke."
"Ummm… I… Ummm…" Ron was stuck, and Sirius knew it.
"Okay, here's a clue. She was involved in an incident in 1932."
"Ummm… 1932… ummm… She ummm.."
Hermione took pity on him; after all she was merciful to her friends.
"Dragons" she hissed.
"Ah, yes." He shot Hermione a grateful look. "She was awarded the order of Merlin 1st Class when she saved the lives of a beach full of muggles from a dragon."
"That's the right answer. 10 points to Gryffindor for Hermione's quick thinking. Ron I'd advise you to read up on your History."
Draco Malfoy sniggered at Ron.
"And that goes to anybody who didn't know that last answer." He shot a dark look at Draco.
"Now, Neville, what's Uric the Oddball well known for?"
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Pat watched them through the open door for a while. Not one student noticed her, they were all absorbed in whatever Sirius was telling them, and she didn't blame them. If she'd had a history teacher that looked like that when she was here, she wouldn't have failed her O.W.L.s. Today he was wearing beige corduroy trousers, and a light sky blue shirt, his flowing robe in the deepest blue only seemed to compliment the wardrobe. She wondered where he got his muggle dress sense from, as most wizards couldn't even work out how to put on a glove, let alone a shirt! She smiled at the thought of one school trip they had had in Care of Magical Creatures. They had gone to Scotland to meet the animal muggles knew as "Nessie". Professor Dumbledore had worn combat trousers with a camouflage design of greens on, combined with a bright pink tie-dye t-shirt kitten heeled shoes and a bright yellow mackintosh.
"This is not the time to go into the past." She murmured to herself, and started eyeing up Sirius again.
"He's definitely dangerous alright. There should be a warning tattooed on his head. "Warning: Ladykiller. Will win your heart with one smile. Then destroy it with one act."" She smiled saucily. "Or maybe it should be tattooed to that butt of his!"
Realising what she had just said, and the fact that she had been staring at him for a good 10 minutes, she shook her head in anger, and stalked away from the room. Firmly she told herself.
"Well he won't get his hands on this lady, or her heart."
Then gasped as she seemed to wander through a deathly cold fog.
"I'm sorry dear lady, I tried to avoid you." Nearly –headless Nick apologised when she spun round and realised that she had just walked through him.
"No, no, it was my fault. My mind was on other things." 'Get a grip' she told herself after the wave of embarrassment had passed.
"Of course dear lady. Your quest for the animagus. I hope you have convinced yourself that, on a lengthy look, it isn't in Sirius' classroom?" He asked. No hint of irony or sarcasm in his transparent face.
"Uh, no. No animagii in there. Ummm… you wouldn't mind not telling anyone that I've been looking there, would you? It's ummm… because… I don't want to alert the animagus if I'm… getting close." She finished lamely, knowing full well that both Nick and she knew why she didn't want anyone to know.
"It could be dangerous if the animagus knew what you were up to." He agreed, nodding his head, then accidentally swinging it round so it hung by the inch of mist left by his assassin. He started wandering in the opposite direction.
"Nick!" She called after him. "You haven't seen or heard an animagus around here?"
"No M'lady. I have not had that pleasure. I will inform you if I do hear of something." He turned and told her his head still dangling on his shoulder. The bell rang signalling the end of the lesson.
"And umm Nick?" She yelled over the bustle of students. "You wouldn't mind telling me how to get to Filch's office? He sent me a note by owl post this morning saying he might know something."
"It would be an honour for me to escort you."
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Sirius sat in Dumbledore's office softly murmuring to Fawkes the phoenix, when Dumbledore arrived.
"You wanted to speak to me Sirius?" Dumbledore sat at his desk and offered a lemon drop to his guest.
"Yes, I did." He waved away the sweets. "Last night I was wandering the grounds when Filch saw me. I'm not sure how much he saw, but he's arranged to meet Miss Carver."
"Ah." Dumbledore popped a sweet into his mouth and began to suck at it. "I take it you were… different to how I see you now."
"Yes." He confirmed what Dumbledore had guessed. He was in his animagus state. They both knew that the walls had ears, and so they never mentioned anything about this.
"Ah." He leaned back in his chair. "You do know that she is here to arrest the animagus, who is here to kill Harry."
"KILL HARRY?" Sirius leapt from his chair. "WHAT?"
"Yes." Dumbledore motioned him to sit back down. "The Ministry of Magic believe that the unregistered animagus works for Voldemort, and is here to kill Harry."
"This is serious." Sirius told himself, a frown appearing on his face. "What happens when she catches this animagus."
"He… or she will go to Azkaban."
Fear flooded Sirius. He had been to Azkaban and had no plans to go back. Ever. Dumbledore noted Sirius' panic, and was glad. He had thought up till now that he was hiding his fears and not letting go.
He continued speaking.
"Miss Carver will be going to Hogsmeade tomorrow to pursue some leads. Perhaps she might need a guide?"
Sirius, having been drawn out of his terror-induced trance, agreed.
"I have no classes tomorrow, perhaps I could take her?"
Dumbledore smiled and relaxed in his chair. There was something going on between those two, and he was happy to encourage it.
"Yes, that's a good idea." Sirius turned to leave. "Sirius? Do Lunar and Andromeda still work at the Ministry? Perhaps they could get some information about our new visitor. I know I would like to know more." Dumbledore was more than gratified to see the sparkle of interest in his new professor's eyes.
"Yes, yes they do. I'll send an owl right away."
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
Filch's office was a dark place, full of assorted confiscated possessions. For a moment Pat swore she could see a yoyo that he had confiscated from her years ago. Filch was sat at his table, full of folders, but she could only see the label on one, the largest one.
Fred & George
She smiled, she had already met these two at the last Ministry of Magic dinner social. They had put spiders in sandwiches, charmed the punch bowl so it slid away from you when you wanted a drink, and had kept tying people's shoelaces together whilst they were dancing! She watched Filch go to his extensive filing cabinet and retrieve a folder.
Animals on the Grounds
"I believe this is what you are after." He sneered. He obviously didn't like the fact that an Auror was snooping around his school, but Pat didn't mind. It wasn't like Filch could do anything to her.
"Thankyou. May I take this away?" He curtly nodded his consent. "And may I ask you if you've seen anything suspicious?"
He narrowed his eyes at her and looked around as if there was another person in the room.
"Last night, one viciously attacked Mrs Norris. She was doing her patrol around the school when it pounced on her without provocation. She could have been killed" He said, pointing to the cat in the corner sipping at double cream. Looking at the cat Pat couldn't believe that it was entirely innocent in the matter, but she kept quiet.
"Tell me, did you see this attack?" After asking this question Filch shifted nervously in his seat.
"No, but I saw her attacker when it chased her around the school."
'This is more useful.' She thought, and dug into her pockets to get her notebook and pencil.
"Tell me, what did it look like? Did it have any distinguishable traits?"
Filch moved closer to her and dropped his voice. She resisted the impulse to back away from the foul breath and yellowing eyes and faced the man.
"It was a big evil thing, it had eyes like the devil. Obviously it's in league with He-who-must-not-be-named. You can tell, it's the eyes."
"Yes?" She said getting impatient. "And what kind of animal was it?"
"It was a big black dog."
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
"I thought there was something strange about that dog! Blacky indeed!" she muttered to herself on her way to Dumbledore's office. She stopped suddenly when she saw Neville, backing away from her.
"What?" she growled at him. He went white and nearly fell over one of the floorboards that kept coming loose just as students walked over.
"You… you're talking to nobody."
She looked around and saw that all the students she had passed were silent, dumfounded by the Auror savagely talking to herself. She shook her head again. 'What am I doing. I'm one of the calmest people on the force?' She thought to herself. Then she heard the answer.
"The 2nd bell has rung, shouldn't you all be in class?" The students scattered thankful that someone was there protecting them as they turned their backs on the crazy Auror.
"Sirius!" She snarled, and suddenly it all made sense. He was the one who riled her. He was the one who made her mad. She wasn't like this until she met him.
"Yes, Patricia?" he smiled sweetly, Making his voice as soothing as possible.
"That's not my name." She growled. "and you will never know what it is. Do you have any idea what you are doing to me?"
He looked confused.
"Your name's not Patricia?"
She started towards him.
"Oohhhh, I don't see why I'm attracted to you ! You're an insufferable, unbearable, dreadful….."
She trailed off recognizing what she had admitted. He walked towards her.
"You're attracted to me?" He saw the flare of panic in her eyes as they shifted about looking for a route of escape. "You should have said before. I could have done something about it."
"Really?" She laughed a hollow laugh, backing up until she was against a wall that hadn't been there before. "I didn't realise you were the potions master here."
He laughed.
"I had a different remedy in mind, one more….. hands on, if you'll forgive the pun."
His lips swooped down and claimed hers. She had no time to struggle, no time to utter the curse she usually used on unwanted admirers. 'Is he unwanted though?' a voice in her head argued. Then there were no thoughts, nothing just a sweet passionate kiss that seemed to lift them from the floor. She tried to push him away but all her defiant hands could do was run down the length of his torso. The pressure of his lips deepened and her heart quickened at the sensation. She tasted a faint trace of mint.
"Sirius. As soon as you've finished I would appreciate a word with you about your next class." Professor McGonagall whisked round the corridor, her footsteps clattering on the hardwood floor.
He reluctantly let her go. She straightened her clothes, and picked up her notebook, the one she had dropped when she lost control of her fingers. He stood looking at her for a few minutes, but she couldn't meet his eyes. She couldn't face the fact that to him that would have been fun, and to her it was developing into much more.
"I'll see you at dinner." He half whispered, when after an stretch he left.
'No you won't.' Thought Pat. 'I can't keep up with you.'
She went into the nearest girls' bathroom, to tidy her hair and compose herself before her meeting with Dumbledore. Her clasp was missing. Her favourite, the ruby red butterfly that she had bought for herself when she first got into the Ministry. She would have to look for that, but now she was late for her meeting.
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
"There's something you're not telling me Professor."
Dumbledore shifted in his seat and put a lemon drop in his mouth.
"I don't know what you mean, Miss Carver."
She met his eyes with hers. "Why were you disturbed when the dog interrupted us yesterday?"
"I don't know what you mean." Dumbledore had never been the greatest liar in the world.
"Okay, fine. If there's a dog on campus it must have an owner, right? So who owns Blacky?"
Dumbledore sucked his lemon drop pensively. You could see the cogs working in his mind.
"Well I suppose it won't hurt anyone. The dog belongs to Sirius Black."
~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~
A/N
Thanks to everyone who has read my story so far! When I started writing this I wasn't sure if I was going to post it or not. Luckily Squizz (as of Martha and Squirrel fame!) convinced me.
Thankyou esp to:
S'angel, Siriuslyinlove (love the name by the way!), Mrs Grim and Gargoyle Girl.
I'll try to answer some of your questions in the story, and live up to your expectations!
Mrs Grim – Sirius' past will become clearer later. Currently I have no idea how he was acquitted of his crimes. My fingers do the typing and my brain just sleeps!!
Of course I can't forget Martha and Squirrel, my two biggest fans who are the best people in the world.
(I have to write that. They know where I live! Help Me!!)
Must go… Martha is hammering on the door with a shotgun, and Squirrel is scratching her nuts!
Love to you all.