DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters, except for Lysia
Moonwanderer (she's mine). I don't own any of the trademarks either. They
belong to Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling. This story is written purely
for the enjoyment of myself and other HP fans and I have no intention of
making any money from it.
***AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place in Harry's 6th year. Please review!! This is my first 'published' fanfic, and I'd like to know if it sounds any good to this point. THANX!!
PROLOGUE
For most, it was just an average evening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For one Lysia Moonwanderer, however, it was the first day of many which she would be spending in the castle. Albus Dumbledore had allowed her to teach in the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts, despite a distinct lack of teaching experience. She did have a lot experience in the Dark Arts, though, what with her unintentional dealings over the past year with Voldemort and his 'armada' of Death Eaters.
She had been corresponding with Dumbledore since Voldemort had risen once more (a little over a year ago) because she had been approached by the Death Eaters to join their ranks. After a flat refusal, she had been subjected to the Cruciatus curse until she'd lost consciousness. While Lysia had been unconscious, Voldemort had given her the Dark Mark on her left forearm. Quite different to the mark on Voldemort's true Death Eaters' arms hers was, though, as it was inscribed with a dagger and then put under a spell so that it would never fully heal (leaving her with a vivid scar of a skull with a snake tongue).
Now, for her protection as well as the students, she was the new teacher. Lysia hoped that she would at least recognise someone other than Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, whom she had met shortly after her appointment to the position. Shortly before getting to the Great Hall, she had seen several horseless carriages through a window, trundling towards the castle. "Good," she thought, "at least I won't have to make my entrance in front of the entire school." Lysia approached the High Table. Most of the seats were occupied, three were not. Glancing quickly up and down the table, she noticed a very short man (obviously sitting on cushions), a dark-haired, sombre-looking man, a lady with fly-away hair and Dumbledore, sitting at the centre of the table.
Lysia opened her mouth to greet Dumbledore, but closed it as her brow knitted in concentration. "No... It couldn't be..." Her heart began to beat a little harder as she quickly looked back down the table. Her mouth opened slightly as her eyes rested on the dark-haired man once again. Sitting in front of her was Severus Snape, a man she knew all too well.
Remembering where she was, Lysia shook herself out of her reverie and greeted Dumbledore. 'Dumbledore,' she said, inclining her head slightly as she shook hands with the Headmaster.
'Ah, Professor Moonwanderer,' he replied. Turning to his associates, he introduced her to his companions, 'I would like you to meet Professor Lysia Moonwanderer. She will taking up the Defence Against the Dark Arts post this year, and I'm sure you will all do your best to make her welcome, while she is with us.' To Lysia he said, 'Come, have a seat,' and motioned to a seat on his right. It was the seat next to Severus Snape.
She moved to the other side of the High Table and proceeded to the seat indicated to her by the Headmaster, being greeted by various teachers along the way. When she reached her seat, Lysia sat down and reached for the goblet in front of her.
'Lysia,' said a voice to her right.
'Severus,' she replied, without turning around. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she spoke again. 'I didn't know you taught here.'
'You never asked.'
"Of course I didn't - I was always under the impression that you spent your time otherwise indisposed," she thought, but to him, she said, 'So. What do you teach?'
'Potions.'
'Ah.'
Silence.
'I'm also the head of one of the houses.'
'Oh? Which one?'
'Slytherin.'
More silence.
'It's been a while, Severus,' she said quietly.
'Yes,' he replied, just as quietly, 'it has.' He paused before adding, 'How have you been holding up?'
'Oh, not too badly. Things could always be better, I suppose, but there's not much we can do about that,' she said with a small smile.
Before their conversation could continue, however, the Great Hall flooded with students in varying states of excitement. As there was so much noise emanating from the students who were now sitting down at the four long tables in front of them, there was little point in continuing the small talk and so the two sat in relative silence and waited for the Sorting Ceremony to begin.
Soon, the sound of the door at the entrance to the Great Hall opening was heard about the talk and in strode a witch in her middle-ages dressed in magnificent green velvet robes. The woman was followed by a group of about forty boys and girls, most looking as though they were about to be pushed off of the top of a very high cliff. As they approached the High Table, a man entered from a door to the left.
This man was (there is no other word for it) huge. If her mind hadn't been so preoccupied, Lysia would have quite taken aback. As it was, her mind WAS preoccupied, and so paid the large, bushy-haired man no attention whatsoever. Her head was so full of racing thoughts that she completely missed the sorting ceremony itself, and the poem recited by the sorting hat was said to be one of the best yet (throughout which Lysia sat with a seemingly lost look about her).
In no time at all, the plates on the tables filled with food, and Lysia, suddenly awakening from her trance-like state, jumped slightly, completely surprised that the ceremony was over. This proved a laughing point for teachers and students alike, as they mistook her surprise to be for the appearance of the food. She made a mental note to keep her mind on the here and now when in the company of others as Dumbledore stood to make a few start of term notices.
"Well, I WAS thinking of the here and now, although it WAS in relation to events in the past., but it was definitely about here and now," she thought, thereby nearly missing her introduction from Dumbledore. Smiling and inclining her head to the students, Lysia mentally kicked herself and reminded herself to pay attention.
'...and I would like to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds to all students,' he finished. Professor Dumbledore sat back down, and pretty soon, the Hall was once again filled with the chatter of young voices as the students continued with their meals. Lysia contented herself with a small plate of salad and ate in silence. Having extremely sensitive hearing, she overheard parts conversations -
'...but look at her!! She can't be more than 19!!'
'...is her hair... BLUE?!'
'I've heard that she...'
She smiled to herself and took a large sip of her drink.
'Are you feeling alright, Lysia?' inquired a voice to her left. Lysia turned to find that the inquiry had come from Professor McGonagall.
'Oh yes,' she replied with a smile, 'my mind is just on other things. Thank you,' she added as an after-thought.
With a nod, the professor turned back to Dumbledore and picked up a conversation. Having finished her salad, Lysia moved her plate aside, placed her elbows on the table, leaned her head on top of the fist from her right hand and stared out in front of her, lost in thought.
'Lysia?'
'Huh?' she exclaimed, jolting back to reality. Professor Snape was looking at her with a slightly exasperated expression on his face.
'Did you hear a single word I just said to you?'
'You were speaking to me?' Judging by the look on his face, Lysia guessed that indeed he had been, and an apology might not go amiss. 'Sorry. Thinking,' she said and looked away.
Shaking his head, Severus continued, 'I was saying that as I am to be "escorting" you to your room, perh-' he stopped mid-word as he looked at her face. Her skin had lost any trace of colour, her eyes were closed and she was looking as though she was trying to control her breathing.
'Lysia? Lysia, are you okay?'
Just as he was about to alert Dumbledore, Lysia exhaled sharply and visibly relaxed. The colour began to return to her face and Severus noticed that she now had a fairly strong grip on her left forearm.
'Are you okay?' he asked again. This time she turned to him and nodded weakly.
'Mmm. Just tired,' she lied. "Now why did I go do that? He probably saw right through that little story. He knows exactly what's wrong with me- I have no reason to lie! Then again, there are still quite a few people within earshot..." 'Perhaps we could call it a night. I could do with some sleep. If you don't mind, that is,' she added hastily.
'No, not at all.' And with that he got up and walked over to Dumbledore and whispered in his ear, 'Professor Moonwanderer wishes to go to her quarters as she is extremely tired. I take it that we may be excused?'
'Of course, Severus, by all means. And do pass on my disappointment that she is not feeling well enough for desert.'
'As you wish, Headmaster.' He returned to Lysia and said to her, 'Come on, let's get you to bed before you collapse on us.' Lysia stood up and followed Snape out of the Great Hall through a door to the right of the High Table. They moved through the castle in silence as neither could think of anything to say to the other. Lysia made the most of this silence by studying the pictures on the walls. Severus, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly annoyed because his charge kept stopping to have conversations with the subjects of paintings.
After the tenth stop he'd had enough. 'Look. If you wanted to talk to the paintings, you should have shown up earlier. Now can we please get a move on? The feast will be over shortly and we'll have to compete with a load of students.'
'Sorry,' Lysia replied, a little sheepishly. 'Nice to meet you,' she said to the painting she had just been talking to and followed Snape as they moved off once again. A few hallways and a couple of magical staircases later, they arrived at a set of marvellous oak doors, polished to within an inch of their lives, so that they shone as if they were covered in water.
'Isthmus,' muttered Snape under his breath and the door on the right swung open. 'These are your living quarters,' he said to her. 'Your belongings have already been brought up.' He gestured for her to enter, and, after a slight pause, Lysia obliged.
Unlike the doors, the interior of the first room was quite drab. There were three continuous shelves lining the walls at eye level, a polished oak desk in the centre and a matching high-backed chair lined with (what looked like) a soft, blood red cushion. She supposed this was to be her office. "For an office, she thought, it's actually quite roomy..." Lysia walked over to the single door at the back of the office and opened it.
In front of her was what was obviously meant to be her lounge. There was a beautiful French-style window seat of deep green underneath one of the two windows, a marble-topped coffee table which, under closer inspection, showed that a chess board had been stained onto the stone, and a set of magnificent bookshelves up against one wall. There were only a few books in the book shelves, but that could easily be remedied - Lysia had plenty of her own books that she had brought with her.
Just as she was about to proceed through the nest door, Lysia noticed that the floor was covered by an elegant carpet in a green matching that of the window chair. She knelt down and ran a hand over it. "It's so soft," she thought as she got up. Opening the next door, she entered her bedroom. It was nothing short of breath-taking. In the centre of the wall opposite the three windows lay a king-sized four-poster bed with silver hangings and a beautiful green and black spread. On each side of the bed, there was a bedside table, and on each sat a black candelabra with quartz jewels hanging from underneath each candle. Above each of the tables was a painting. The one on the right depicted the castle at sunset and the other showed a fierce lightning storm. Continuing to look around the room, Lysia saw that the three windows, sporting a beautiful view of the lake, were lined with blood-red curtains, and that attached to the ceiling was a black chandelier, holding at least 50 candles, and the right wall contained a wrought iron fireplace. This floor was covered in the same carpet as the lounge was and, as she turned to inspect the other room leading off from the lounge, she saw Professor Snape standing in the doorway to the office. She'd completely forgotten about him.
'Thanks for showing me to my room, Severus,' she said, hoping that he hadn't noticed her surprise to see him still there.
'Not at all,' he remarked, slightly raising one eyebrow. He turned to go, but thought better of it. 'I am curious, Lysia,' he said, turning back around, 'as to what happened at dinner tonight.'
Lysia mumbled a response, which included the words "Voldemort", "bastard" and "punishment", before saying that she really was tired and was going to have a bath and go to bed.
With a frown on his face, he pointed to the unopened door and said, 'Your bathroom's through there. And if you want to change the password for your rooms, just say the password you want as you close the door.'
'Thanks,' she replied with a smile, 'I'll see you in the morning, then.'
'Goodnight.'
'Thanks again.' And with that, Professor Snape shut the door, leaving Lysia Moonwanderer to have her bath and go to bed.
***AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place in Harry's 6th year. Please review!! This is my first 'published' fanfic, and I'd like to know if it sounds any good to this point. THANX!!
PROLOGUE
For most, it was just an average evening at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For one Lysia Moonwanderer, however, it was the first day of many which she would be spending in the castle. Albus Dumbledore had allowed her to teach in the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts, despite a distinct lack of teaching experience. She did have a lot experience in the Dark Arts, though, what with her unintentional dealings over the past year with Voldemort and his 'armada' of Death Eaters.
She had been corresponding with Dumbledore since Voldemort had risen once more (a little over a year ago) because she had been approached by the Death Eaters to join their ranks. After a flat refusal, she had been subjected to the Cruciatus curse until she'd lost consciousness. While Lysia had been unconscious, Voldemort had given her the Dark Mark on her left forearm. Quite different to the mark on Voldemort's true Death Eaters' arms hers was, though, as it was inscribed with a dagger and then put under a spell so that it would never fully heal (leaving her with a vivid scar of a skull with a snake tongue).
Now, for her protection as well as the students, she was the new teacher. Lysia hoped that she would at least recognise someone other than Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, whom she had met shortly after her appointment to the position. Shortly before getting to the Great Hall, she had seen several horseless carriages through a window, trundling towards the castle. "Good," she thought, "at least I won't have to make my entrance in front of the entire school." Lysia approached the High Table. Most of the seats were occupied, three were not. Glancing quickly up and down the table, she noticed a very short man (obviously sitting on cushions), a dark-haired, sombre-looking man, a lady with fly-away hair and Dumbledore, sitting at the centre of the table.
Lysia opened her mouth to greet Dumbledore, but closed it as her brow knitted in concentration. "No... It couldn't be..." Her heart began to beat a little harder as she quickly looked back down the table. Her mouth opened slightly as her eyes rested on the dark-haired man once again. Sitting in front of her was Severus Snape, a man she knew all too well.
Remembering where she was, Lysia shook herself out of her reverie and greeted Dumbledore. 'Dumbledore,' she said, inclining her head slightly as she shook hands with the Headmaster.
'Ah, Professor Moonwanderer,' he replied. Turning to his associates, he introduced her to his companions, 'I would like you to meet Professor Lysia Moonwanderer. She will taking up the Defence Against the Dark Arts post this year, and I'm sure you will all do your best to make her welcome, while she is with us.' To Lysia he said, 'Come, have a seat,' and motioned to a seat on his right. It was the seat next to Severus Snape.
She moved to the other side of the High Table and proceeded to the seat indicated to her by the Headmaster, being greeted by various teachers along the way. When she reached her seat, Lysia sat down and reached for the goblet in front of her.
'Lysia,' said a voice to her right.
'Severus,' she replied, without turning around. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she spoke again. 'I didn't know you taught here.'
'You never asked.'
"Of course I didn't - I was always under the impression that you spent your time otherwise indisposed," she thought, but to him, she said, 'So. What do you teach?'
'Potions.'
'Ah.'
Silence.
'I'm also the head of one of the houses.'
'Oh? Which one?'
'Slytherin.'
More silence.
'It's been a while, Severus,' she said quietly.
'Yes,' he replied, just as quietly, 'it has.' He paused before adding, 'How have you been holding up?'
'Oh, not too badly. Things could always be better, I suppose, but there's not much we can do about that,' she said with a small smile.
Before their conversation could continue, however, the Great Hall flooded with students in varying states of excitement. As there was so much noise emanating from the students who were now sitting down at the four long tables in front of them, there was little point in continuing the small talk and so the two sat in relative silence and waited for the Sorting Ceremony to begin.
Soon, the sound of the door at the entrance to the Great Hall opening was heard about the talk and in strode a witch in her middle-ages dressed in magnificent green velvet robes. The woman was followed by a group of about forty boys and girls, most looking as though they were about to be pushed off of the top of a very high cliff. As they approached the High Table, a man entered from a door to the left.
This man was (there is no other word for it) huge. If her mind hadn't been so preoccupied, Lysia would have quite taken aback. As it was, her mind WAS preoccupied, and so paid the large, bushy-haired man no attention whatsoever. Her head was so full of racing thoughts that she completely missed the sorting ceremony itself, and the poem recited by the sorting hat was said to be one of the best yet (throughout which Lysia sat with a seemingly lost look about her).
In no time at all, the plates on the tables filled with food, and Lysia, suddenly awakening from her trance-like state, jumped slightly, completely surprised that the ceremony was over. This proved a laughing point for teachers and students alike, as they mistook her surprise to be for the appearance of the food. She made a mental note to keep her mind on the here and now when in the company of others as Dumbledore stood to make a few start of term notices.
"Well, I WAS thinking of the here and now, although it WAS in relation to events in the past., but it was definitely about here and now," she thought, thereby nearly missing her introduction from Dumbledore. Smiling and inclining her head to the students, Lysia mentally kicked herself and reminded herself to pay attention.
'...and I would like to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds to all students,' he finished. Professor Dumbledore sat back down, and pretty soon, the Hall was once again filled with the chatter of young voices as the students continued with their meals. Lysia contented herself with a small plate of salad and ate in silence. Having extremely sensitive hearing, she overheard parts conversations -
'...but look at her!! She can't be more than 19!!'
'...is her hair... BLUE?!'
'I've heard that she...'
She smiled to herself and took a large sip of her drink.
'Are you feeling alright, Lysia?' inquired a voice to her left. Lysia turned to find that the inquiry had come from Professor McGonagall.
'Oh yes,' she replied with a smile, 'my mind is just on other things. Thank you,' she added as an after-thought.
With a nod, the professor turned back to Dumbledore and picked up a conversation. Having finished her salad, Lysia moved her plate aside, placed her elbows on the table, leaned her head on top of the fist from her right hand and stared out in front of her, lost in thought.
'Lysia?'
'Huh?' she exclaimed, jolting back to reality. Professor Snape was looking at her with a slightly exasperated expression on his face.
'Did you hear a single word I just said to you?'
'You were speaking to me?' Judging by the look on his face, Lysia guessed that indeed he had been, and an apology might not go amiss. 'Sorry. Thinking,' she said and looked away.
Shaking his head, Severus continued, 'I was saying that as I am to be "escorting" you to your room, perh-' he stopped mid-word as he looked at her face. Her skin had lost any trace of colour, her eyes were closed and she was looking as though she was trying to control her breathing.
'Lysia? Lysia, are you okay?'
Just as he was about to alert Dumbledore, Lysia exhaled sharply and visibly relaxed. The colour began to return to her face and Severus noticed that she now had a fairly strong grip on her left forearm.
'Are you okay?' he asked again. This time she turned to him and nodded weakly.
'Mmm. Just tired,' she lied. "Now why did I go do that? He probably saw right through that little story. He knows exactly what's wrong with me- I have no reason to lie! Then again, there are still quite a few people within earshot..." 'Perhaps we could call it a night. I could do with some sleep. If you don't mind, that is,' she added hastily.
'No, not at all.' And with that he got up and walked over to Dumbledore and whispered in his ear, 'Professor Moonwanderer wishes to go to her quarters as she is extremely tired. I take it that we may be excused?'
'Of course, Severus, by all means. And do pass on my disappointment that she is not feeling well enough for desert.'
'As you wish, Headmaster.' He returned to Lysia and said to her, 'Come on, let's get you to bed before you collapse on us.' Lysia stood up and followed Snape out of the Great Hall through a door to the right of the High Table. They moved through the castle in silence as neither could think of anything to say to the other. Lysia made the most of this silence by studying the pictures on the walls. Severus, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly annoyed because his charge kept stopping to have conversations with the subjects of paintings.
After the tenth stop he'd had enough. 'Look. If you wanted to talk to the paintings, you should have shown up earlier. Now can we please get a move on? The feast will be over shortly and we'll have to compete with a load of students.'
'Sorry,' Lysia replied, a little sheepishly. 'Nice to meet you,' she said to the painting she had just been talking to and followed Snape as they moved off once again. A few hallways and a couple of magical staircases later, they arrived at a set of marvellous oak doors, polished to within an inch of their lives, so that they shone as if they were covered in water.
'Isthmus,' muttered Snape under his breath and the door on the right swung open. 'These are your living quarters,' he said to her. 'Your belongings have already been brought up.' He gestured for her to enter, and, after a slight pause, Lysia obliged.
Unlike the doors, the interior of the first room was quite drab. There were three continuous shelves lining the walls at eye level, a polished oak desk in the centre and a matching high-backed chair lined with (what looked like) a soft, blood red cushion. She supposed this was to be her office. "For an office, she thought, it's actually quite roomy..." Lysia walked over to the single door at the back of the office and opened it.
In front of her was what was obviously meant to be her lounge. There was a beautiful French-style window seat of deep green underneath one of the two windows, a marble-topped coffee table which, under closer inspection, showed that a chess board had been stained onto the stone, and a set of magnificent bookshelves up against one wall. There were only a few books in the book shelves, but that could easily be remedied - Lysia had plenty of her own books that she had brought with her.
Just as she was about to proceed through the nest door, Lysia noticed that the floor was covered by an elegant carpet in a green matching that of the window chair. She knelt down and ran a hand over it. "It's so soft," she thought as she got up. Opening the next door, she entered her bedroom. It was nothing short of breath-taking. In the centre of the wall opposite the three windows lay a king-sized four-poster bed with silver hangings and a beautiful green and black spread. On each side of the bed, there was a bedside table, and on each sat a black candelabra with quartz jewels hanging from underneath each candle. Above each of the tables was a painting. The one on the right depicted the castle at sunset and the other showed a fierce lightning storm. Continuing to look around the room, Lysia saw that the three windows, sporting a beautiful view of the lake, were lined with blood-red curtains, and that attached to the ceiling was a black chandelier, holding at least 50 candles, and the right wall contained a wrought iron fireplace. This floor was covered in the same carpet as the lounge was and, as she turned to inspect the other room leading off from the lounge, she saw Professor Snape standing in the doorway to the office. She'd completely forgotten about him.
'Thanks for showing me to my room, Severus,' she said, hoping that he hadn't noticed her surprise to see him still there.
'Not at all,' he remarked, slightly raising one eyebrow. He turned to go, but thought better of it. 'I am curious, Lysia,' he said, turning back around, 'as to what happened at dinner tonight.'
Lysia mumbled a response, which included the words "Voldemort", "bastard" and "punishment", before saying that she really was tired and was going to have a bath and go to bed.
With a frown on his face, he pointed to the unopened door and said, 'Your bathroom's through there. And if you want to change the password for your rooms, just say the password you want as you close the door.'
'Thanks,' she replied with a smile, 'I'll see you in the morning, then.'
'Goodnight.'
'Thanks again.' And with that, Professor Snape shut the door, leaving Lysia Moonwanderer to have her bath and go to bed.
