Disclaimer All characters from the Harry Potter series belong to J K Rowling. I have acquired (Slytherin for stolen) them for a short time and fully intend to return them unharmed . I am in no way making any money from this.

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Hogwarts ~*~

Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk, thoughtfully stroking his beard as he considered the letter before him. He was pleased with the letter and qualifications listed therein by Miss Lorien Desjardins. Hopefully, the interview would confirm that she was suitable, and then there would be one less opening to fill for the upcoming school year.

One less. That left one to fill with only a few weeks of summer left, and no promising applicants. Actually, no one had applied to teach Defense this year. He sighed. It was such an important subject for the students, now more than ever. He wasn't actually surprised that no one applied, since each year it had been more and more difficult to find an instructor. And the previous instructors! Hopeless. Well, most of them. But not all of them.

Dumbledore grabbed a quill and checked the time. He had thought that it might come to this, and he was more than willing to do what was necessary, but he thought it best to dot his I's and cross his T's. He wrote two letters before summoning the owls. One was a very lengthy one to the Ministry of Magic, explaining the difficulty of the situation and why he was taking the steps he felt were needed. He didn't hesitate to point out ahead of time the positive spin that the Ministry could put on the situation should the need arise.

The second letter he wrote was much briefer.

Dear Remus,

I hope this letter finds that you have been doing well over the past few months. I find that at present I am in awkward position of requesting once again that you consider returning to us at Hogwart's. I am somewhat desperate for a D.A.D.A. instructor and you have more than proven yourself qualified. I know about your concerns with the Ministry, and with safety, but I believe that these can be readily addressed. Please consider returning, my friend. I would like very much to not have to come to find you to beg on my knees but if needed I may. I look forward to hearing from you.

Warmest Regards,

Albus Dumbledore

The headmaster sealed both letters and sent the summoned owls on their ways with a word of thanks. He checked the time. Minerva would be greeting Miss Desjardins any time now and then would show her up to his office. Of course he would have her meet with Poppy as well, but both interviews were a formality, really. She had excellent references, and unless she was a complete quack the job would be hers.

He gazed out the window that the two owls had flown through. "Well, Fawkes," he said to the striking bird, "all I can do now is wait and hope that the good professor realizes that I really do need him." The bird answered with a melodious reply. " Yes, Fawkes, Hogwarts needs him."

~~o~~

Lorien had only been a little nervous until she stepped inside the castle. That changed when she saw the stern-looking witch stepping forward to greet her. The woman was much older and dressed in dark robes, her hair was pulled together tightly under her traditional witches hat, and Lorien had the impression that the woman was about to scold her for being early. She was surprised when the older witch suddenly gave her a warm smile and extended her hand.

"Miss Desjardins, welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress. I hope you had a pleasant trip."

Lorien took the offered hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor McGonagall. My trip was fine, thank you. I hope I haven't kept you waiting."

"Nonsense, my dear. You appear to be quite punctual. If you'll come with me, please, I will give you a brief tour of some of the school, and then we'll meet with the headmaster."

Lorien followed McGonagall while the older woman punctuated the tour with history and trivia. Much of it the younger witch had read in her recently acquired copy of Hogwarts, A History, but she found the narrative and the walk were settling her nerves.

"...and that leads down to the dungeons," McGonagall added.

"Is that where the students are sent to be tortured when they are out of line?" Lorien asked wryly.

"No, but it is where the students, out of line or otherwise, are sent for their potions training."

Lorien thought she noted that a small smile crossed McGonagall's face as she turned back up the hallway. 'Odd,' she thought. Was there something amusing that she missed?

"Now, tell me. Which was your house, my dear?"

"Ravenclaw," the younger witch replied.

"Hmm, acceptable,"pronounced the older woman with a slight smile.

"And yours must be Gryffindor?" Lorien indicated the lion-crested brooch at the professor's throat as the teacher nodded. "I thought so." Lorien smiled back.

"Here we are," McGonagall announced. "Marshmallows."

It took Lorien a moment to realize that this must have been the password that caused the stone gargoyle to reveal the staircase behind itself.

"Follow me, please. The Headmaster will see you now."

Professor McGonagall ushered the other woman into the office at the top of the stairs.

"Ah, Minvera, there you are. And you must be Miss Desjardins." The older wizard smiled as Lorien shook his hand. "I'm Albus Dumbledore."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, sir," she replied, noting the twinkling blue eyes.

McGonagall excused herself and the headmaster motioned for Lorien to have a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Safe trip?" he asked.

"Yes. No problems, thanks."

"Well, then. Let's get right down to it, shall we?" The white- haired wizard gazed at the blonde witch over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "It appears that you have need of a position at present, and that we have a position available."

Lorien merely nodded, letting the older mage continue.

" I have found your qualifications more than adequate, and contacted several of the references you provided. Both Madame Ettinger, and Professor Blakemore wrote you glowing recommendations. I see no reason why I shouldn't hire you immediately."

Smiling, Lorien addressed the headmaster. "I'm glad that everything seems satisfactory. I have a few questions, if it wouldn't be too forward of me?"

"Certainly," Dumbledore replied, leaning forward on his elbows.

"May I ask how long you anticipate the position to last?" she inquired.

He smiled. "As I'm sure you know, Madame Pomfrey has served as Hogwart's resident healer for many years now and has tirelessly provided excellent care for both the students and staff. She has a younger sister that has recently been widowed, and is soon to deliver twins.

" Poppy has decided to take a leave of absence to go and be with her sister for the delivery and stay on for a while after. She has indicated to me that this will probably be for several months, but does not know at this time how long her sister may need her help. She feels that it she will be gone at least through the holidays, so I can guarantee that we shall need your help until at least the first of the year. Beyond that I do not know."

Lorien considered his answer for a moment. "That should be fine," she said in reply, smiling back at the headmaster.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Dumbledore added quickly. "I had another recommendation...Perth Taber spoke very highly of his former protégé." The older wizard's face had not changed it's pleasant countenance, but he watched her reaction as her eyes widened slightly and her smile slowly faded.

It took her a moment to reply. " I hope he was well when you spoke to him," she replied finally.

"He was." Dumbledore smiled.

" Professor, may I...that is..."

"I know. Taber was not on your list of references. I little bird told me." The twinkle remained. "Miss Desjardins, just out of curiosity, why didn't you list your time spent studying with him?"

"I..."she started.

"Please, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No, it's ok." She sighed, deciding that being forthright was best. "The time I have spent with Perth Taber as an apprentice is some of the most important time in my life. I am very proud of the fact that he has been my mentor and friend."

"But?"

"But, I am sure that you realize not everyone has an open mind about many of the old ways. My experience has been that Nemorosi philosophy and healing practices are typically ridiculed in academic circles, and in order to avoid unnecessary... no, sorry, unwanted skepticism, I simply chose to omit certain things."

Dumbledore thought she looked relieved.

"I hope, Mistress Lorien, that you will find many minds open here at Hogwarts, mine included."

She smiled again, and definitely looked relieved.

" Well then, come with me and I will introduce you to Madame Pomfrey. I have made up my mind, but we'll at least let her have a look at you first, shall we?" he chuckled. "I'm sure that you'll like it here. It's always...er...interesting to say the least.

"By the way," Dumbledore started as he led her to the hospital wing, "what do you know about Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Poppy, this is Lorien Desjardins, the witch I was telling you about. Lorien, may I present Poppy Pomfrey."

"Nice to meet you, dear." Pomfrey was carrying a box with several types of jars and potions in it to the supply cabinet. "Just doing a bit of restocking before the school year starts," she said with a warm smile.

"It's very nice to meet you," Lorien said, smiling back politely.

"I'll leave you ladies alone for a bit, shall I?" Dumbledore held up ten fingers to indicate he'd give her about ten minutes and headed out the door.

"So, I hear you know Emily Ettinger. One of your professors?" began Madame Pomfrey. "She was a classmate of mine. Hufflepuff. How is she, anyway? Is she still teaching?"

Lorien smiled to herself at the onslaught of rapid questions.

"Yes, still teaching."

"Good for her. Be a dear and hand me some of those bottles, would you?"

The blonde witch handed bottles of mild sleeping draughts, antiseptic, and analgesic potions up to the older woman perched on short stool.

"Emily was always a smart cookie. Glad to see that she's doing well. Gets herself published quite a bit. Well, you know those universities, they put you under a lot of pressure to produce," Pomfrey rambled along

"Grab that lot." She indicated the next box of bottles. "So what's your story, love? Married? Children?"

'Hmm,' thought Lorien with an internal smirk. 'Now the real interview. This is where we dig the dirt up.'

"No, neither," she answered.

"Fiancee?" asked Pomfrey.

"No." Lorien grinned.

"Boyfriend?" Pomfrey tried.

"No," she replied with a laugh.

"Girlfriend?" ventured the older witch.

"Definitely no." The younger woman was really amused now.

"I don't mean to pry, dear, just curious about the newest staff member." Pomfrey stepped down and smiled at her innocently.

Lorien looked somewhat surprised.

"Oh, get off it. Dumbledore wouldn't have brought you down here if he hadn't plan to hire you. We must sit and get to know one another. Of course he told me all about the whole Taber thing. You'll be in good company here, love. Just wait until I introduce you to Sprout. She's our Herbology professor, and she can't wait to meet you. So, tell me, how do you like to approach a case of really bad heebie-jeebies?"

Lorien gave an internal sigh of relief as Professor McGonagall appeared to rescue her. "I'm afraid that I must steal Miss Desjardins for a bit, Poppy."

Out in the corridor, McGonagall spoke to Lorien again. "How was Madame Pomfrey?" she asked casually.

"Fine. Very nice. Er, she's..."

"Couldn't get a word in edgewise could you?" The older witch smiled.

"No. I confess I just wasn't able to keep up with the rapid fire questions," Lorien admitted with a laugh.

"Did she ask your age, birthday, and favorite restorative potion, or was it right to the lovelife?" McGonagall inquired.

"Right to marital status and sexual preference."

"Brutal," McGonagall observed. " Professor Dumbledore has informed me that you are the newest member of Hogwarts' staff.

"Congratulations, I hope you like it here, Miss Desjardins," she added warmly. "Now, how about lunch?"

"Thank you Professor. That sounds fantastic. Please, call me Lorien," the new Hogwarts healer replied.

"Good. And it's Minerva. Shall we?"

Dumbledore was about to leave his office to meet the others for lunch when he heard the noise behind him. A large owl landed on his desktop. He removed the scrolled parchment from the owl's leg and sent the bird off with a word of thanks. He recognized the handwriting to be that of R J Lupin.

He broke the seal and opened the letter.

Almost instantly, a wide grin crossed the headmaster's face. Problem two solved. He re-read the note before heading to lunch.

Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,

Minerva escorted Lorien to a room with large windows where a table had been set for a small group. At lunch she was introduced to Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house and Professor Sprout. Mcgonagall, Pomfrey, and Dumbledore rounded out the group.

She was having a pleasant conversation with Flitwick when Dumbledore addressed the group.

"I have a small surprise for you all," he started. "I received an owl a short while ago."

The group looked at him expectantly.

"It seems that not only do we have the good fortune to have Mistress Lorien joining our ranks, but evidently Professor Lupin has reconsidered and will be returning to teach Defense again this year." He beamed at the table.

Lorien decided that she would have to ask Minerva or Poppy about this later as the group broke cheerfully into animated chatter.

~~o~~

Severus Snape strode quickly down the hall to the door that was the entrance to his private chambers at Hogwarts. Speaking the words to counter the locking spell he had previously placed on the door, he stepped through and flung the black cloak he was wearing from his shoulders to the back of a chair.

For the moment it was good to be back.

The summer months had proven hectic and he was looking forward to a week or so of solitary peace before the students returned for the school year.

He cast his eyes about the room warily and found everything appeared to be as he had left it. Not that he really expected anything to be amiss, it was just long-practiced caution.

Snape indulged in a hot shower and a glass of sherry. He sat in his favorite armchair by the fireplace and opened a book. Propping his feet on the worn ottoman, he sighed and laid his head back against the chair. He was beginning to relax.

He quickly became engrossed in the first chapters of the book he had been waiting ages to open, and sank deeper into the comfortable cushions. As he turned the pages, he debated about another sherry.

"Why not?" he mused. He reach to the small table beside him and poured another measure in the glass. He definitely was relaxing. It was a rare treat that he intended to take full advantage of. Snape smiled to himself as he re-opened the book.

Thump, thump, thump. A knock at the door. Snape groaned and sank into the chair. 'Go away!'

Thump, thump, thump. "Severus?" It was the headmaster. 'If it was anyone else...'

Snape set the book on the table and slowly dragged himself to the door.

"Ah, Severus. You're back." Dumbledore stepped into the room. "Safe trip?"

"No trouble." Snape began warming up a glare.

"Good. I won't keep you. I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'm fine." His expression neutralized. "Thank you, Albus."

The older wizard turned to leave and then hesitated at the doorway.

"You have news?" Snape spoke to the Headmaster's back.

"Yes."

'Merlin's Beard, now what?' Snape sighed audibly. "What is it?"

The headmaster turned slightly. "Remus Lupin is returning."

"Lupin!" Snape hissed. "Defense classes?"

"Yes."

Snape could not believe his ears. "But surely...the werewolf..."

"It's already settled." Dumbledore cut the potions master off. "Goodnight, Severus." The door closed.

The head of Slytherin house stood looking at the closed door for a long time. Slowly he made his way back to the armchair and sagged into it. He contemplated the second glass of sherry on the table and lifted it, eyeing the way the flames from the fire danced in the depths of the amber liquid.

He downed it in one gulp.

And then a third.

Warn Professor Sprout to plant extra wolfsbane. I expect to see you shortly before the next term begins. What can I say? You win.

Remus

~~o~~