Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling; I'm never going to be her; these characters
don't belong to me
A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction – I normally write Star Trek: Voyager instead! (And I can't imagine a crossover between them – yet!!) This was based on a very, very strange dream I had and maybe one day the title will make sense. (And if it doesn't I'll have to change it!)
Please read and review.... pretty please?
Okay – so once again lack of writing due to school commitments. Although I will also have to confess to a bit of writer's block.
* * *
"I think we've been here before," Lily declared, standing still in the middle of the corridor. "I remember that painting."
Alexia and Bethany also stopped. "I agree," Bethany replied. "And I also happen to think that we're hopelessly lost."
"She's got a point there," Lily agreed, nodding her head.
A squeal was heard from down the corridor, and they looked up to see a Gryffindor fourth year being chased down the corridor. She stopped when she saw the three lost girls, and held out her hand to stop the tall boy chasing her – another Gryffindor.
"Are you lost?" The blonde girl asked, while the boy tried to sneak an arm around her waist. She slapped it away.
"Uh, yeah," Lily replied. "We're looking for the trophy room – do you know where that is?"
There was a snigger from the boy. "Oh yeah, we know where that it alright!" He shut up when the girl elbowed him in the ribs – hard.
"End of the corridor, turn left, up the stairs and seventh door on your right," she told them, flashing them a brilliant smile
"Okay, thanks," Lily replied, and she and her friends turned to leave.
"That was lucky," Alexia remarked.
"Yup," Bethany agreed. "So, seventh door to the right. One, two..."
Bethany was able to count, and the girl's directions had been spot on, allowing them to find the trophy room without any further complications.
"Wow," Lily exclaimed, as they stepped into the room of gold and silver. There were cups, and trophies, and plaques, and medals everywhere they looked. She saw the Quidditch cup glistening – red and gold ribbons tied around the handles in honour of the house that had won it the previous year. The house cup was next to it, and it too was similarly decorated in the same colours.
"Here's a list of head boys and girls," Bethany announced, making her way over to where large slabs of wood were on the wall, hundreds of small names engraved on it. "2002/03 – Harry Potter, Gryffindor, and Hermione Granger, Gryffindor. They *were* both at school together."
"Uh hu," Lily replied, distracted as she searched for her father's special award for service to the school – or whatever it was. Ah, here it was, hidden behind one of her mother's awards for winning an international witchcraft and wizardry competition or something. Lily had never bothered to keep up with all her mother's academic achievements, and only hoped that none of her teachers expected *her* to be the next Hermione Granger. She was more interested in proving her worth on the Quidditch pitch.
"What's that?" Alexia asked, sticking her head over Lily's shoulder. "Special awards for services to the school presented to Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Wonder what they did to get them?"
**Nothing much – only saved Hogwarts from the Heir of Slytherin** Lily thought to herself. Her father had regaled her with tales of his school days ever since she could remember, despite her mother's protests that they'd give her nightmares. On some nights, she had proven her mother's point, but generally she had found them exiting, and longed for more.
"I don't know," she lied. "But we'll probably find out in our Defence Against the Dark Art's lessons soon."
"It's probably in "Hogwarts: A History," Alexia suggested, and Lily resisted the urge to scream. Her father had often told her about her mother's obsession with that book when they had been younger; always running to it to look something up.
"Shucks, and I left my copy at home," Lily muttered sarcastically. Glancing at her watch, she visibly paled.
"Uh, guys? Have you seen the time?" she asked. "We're gonna be late for McGonagall's lesson, and I really don't want to do that."
"Me neither," Bethany declared. "Any idea where to go?"
"I've got a rough idea from the Great Hall," Alexia told them. "The Head Boy pointed it out to me yesterday."
"Great. Now all we need to do is find our way to the Great Hall," Bethany replied.
"Easier said than done," Lily declared, following her friends out of the door.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Uh oh," was all Lily had to say when they finally reached the classroom. The professor was standing at the front; her arms crossed, and not even a hint of a smile playing across her features. Lily couldn't remember the last time she had seen her "Aunt Minerva" look like that.
"Well young ladies," she began, walking up the aisle in the middle where the three girls were standing. "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
Lily could see Tom behind McGonagall's shoulder, making a slashing motion across his throat.
"We're, um, we're really sorry Professor," Lily apologised. "We got lost, and there was no-one around to ask for directions."
Her green eyes met McGonagall's, begging the older woman not to take any points away from Gryffindor. Just because she was their head of house didn't mean that she was more lax towards them.
"Very well ladies," McGonagall conceded. "As this is you're first lesson, I shall take no house points from Gryffindor. However, I suggest in the future that if you don't know where your lesson is, you leave earlier for it, thus allowing time for when you loose your way. Am I making myself clear Miss Black?"
"Yes Professor," Lily mumbled, as she sat down next to Bethany, wondering why she was the one who had to be picked on. Surely McGonagall didn't blame *her* for being late? Just because McGonagall had seen her grow up, and her childhood antics... oh – okay then. Maybe she *did* have a point, as loath Lily was to admit it.
The lesson didn't pass quite as quickly as their previous two. Lily blamed it on the fact that McGonagall always seemed to have one eye on her – the other one being on Tom. He got threatened with a detention, and house points taken away twice. However, McGonagall never followed them up, which made Lily wonder for a millisecond if she had a soft spot for the young Paris boy. Then she remembered who she was talking about, and dismissed it as temporary insanity.
When the professor announced that the lesson was over, she hid a smile at the speed that Lily departed the room – not risking the chance that she would be asked to stay behind. Minerva smiled to herself. She would have to remind Harry and Hermione not to do that too often to their poor daughter, or someone may suspect something. Especially what with Lily's resemblance to her parents, although it was no way near as startling as her resemblance to her grandmother.
As the last student filed out of the classroom, Minerva picked up her books and headed to her office, to store them there. Once that was done, she headed up to the staff room, hoping to find someone to compare first days with.
Pushing open the door, she was greeted with a shriek of "Holly! No!"
Minerva felt small a small body run into her legs, and looked down into the innocent face of Holly Anderson, the youngest child of any of the Hogwart's teaching staff. Ever since the opening of the primary and nursery schools in Hogsmeade, Hogwarts staff were now able to bring their pre-secondary school age children with them. There were currently nine of those children living in the castle – all with their mothers. Holly was the youngest of three, her mother being the recently introduced General Studies teacher, Cassandra Anderson. As teaching general studies meant that she only taught the higher classes, it meant that Cassie was able to spend quite a bit of time with her young family, as her husband was serving in the Air Force, and so couldn't provide a stable upbringing for his three children. Minerva herself had enjoyed the allowance of young children in the castle – her sister and brother-in-law had died when her niece had been six, and Minerva had been able to bring Caitlin up while still staying on at Hogwarts. As Dumbledore had pointed out to the Ministry of Magic at the time, Fudge, Hogwarts would have lost many fine teachers if they hadn't at least tried to provide for their families.
Picking Holly up, Minerva delivered her over to where Cassandra was sitting, her daughter Rebecca already on her lap.
"All I can say is thank God that they're all going to school tomorrow," Cassandra announced, now with one girl in each arm. There was only a year between them, and both would get jealous if it seemed as though the other one was getting too much attention.
Minerva just smiled, as she dropped into a comfortable chair by the window. "I was lucky that I missed Caitlin at that age," she grinned. Never wanting to have had children of her own, she had initially found it difficult to adjust to the small child, but she had been helped out by all her friends and colleagues. "Where's Daniel?"
"Probably somewhere with James," Cassandra replied. Daniel was her eldest and her only son, while James, the son of the divination teacher, was his best friend.
The door opened to admit a tired looking Hermione.
"So? How was the first day?" Minerva inquired, as Holly lifted her head up to look at this newcomer.
"Tiring. Very, very tiring," Hermione announced, repeating Minerva's earlier action of collapsing in a chair. "You'd have thought, after raising two children for ten years, you'd be able to look after a class of twenty for an hour."
"It's not quite as simple as that," Cassandra chuckled. She had only been briefly introduced to Hermione the previous day, but what she had seen of this new teacher, she liked. "Just be thankful that it's only a class of twenty – my first job was at Salem Institute, and they had classes of thirty or so. Most of them who consider general studies a doss subject, that they simply have to take."
"What is general studies?" Hermione asked curiously. "It wasn't taught when I was here."
"Basically, it's a bit of everything, and then some," Cassandra tried to think of the best way to put it. "It teaches you how to get by in the Muggle world without attracting too much attention, and just a variety of things really. At the moment, the seventh year are learning CPR – basic first aid, which Muggle children learn when their in first year. They'll study literature, art, geography – classes which Muggles take at their life, but what we never learn. That's what general studies is all about."
"Sounds like a useful thing to have," Hermione commented. "I also noticed biology being added to the list of options. Is that like the Muggle class?"
Minerva spoke up, as she had been the one who had added the subject. "Yes, and no. Obviously, they learn about plants in herbology, but biology allows them to see how the body works, and other factors allowing us to live. It's an asset to those who want to go and study medicine once they've left Hogwarts, and it's actually quite a popular course even if the student isn't planning on following through with it."
"It's probably a good job that it wasn't an option when I was at school," Hermione laughed, and Minerva joined in, remembering how Hermione had over- worked herself in her third year, by using a time-turner.
Wondering what the laughter was about, Holly looked up again, and slid off her mother's lap, toddling over to see Hermione."
"Hello," the young woman said, looking down at the toddler. "Who are you then?"
"I'm Holly," the dark haired little girl said. There was something in her voice that Hermione couldn't quite place, and wondered if it was just because it was such a long time since she'd heard a toddler speak. "Who you?"
"I'm Hermione," that person told her. "I work with your mum."
"Oh," Holly's mouth made a perfect 'o' shape as she stared up at her. "Have you any kids?"
Hermione realised that the child had a very faint American accent – barely noticeable, but still there. "Yeah, I've got two girls."
"What they called? Can I play with them?" It was definitely an American accent, and as Hermione thought back, she remembered that Cassandra spoke with an accent, but as she knew that the young woman came from the United States, she hadn't really taken much notice of it.
"They're called Lily and Abi," she told Holly. "And you might be able to play with them some time, but they're a bit bigger than you are, and Abi will only be able to play when she comes here for Christmas."
Holly rubbed her eyes tiredly, and Cassandra noticed. Rebecca had already fallen asleep on her shoulder, so rising carefully, she took Holly's hand. "I think you need a nap Hol," she told her daughter.
"No nap. Not a baby," Holly told her crossly.
"Becky's having a nap, and she's bigger than you," Cassandra reminded her, as she steered her out of the door. "I'll see you two later." The last was directed at Minerva and Hermione, as Cassandra took her children off to bed.
A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction – I normally write Star Trek: Voyager instead! (And I can't imagine a crossover between them – yet!!) This was based on a very, very strange dream I had and maybe one day the title will make sense. (And if it doesn't I'll have to change it!)
Please read and review.... pretty please?
Okay – so once again lack of writing due to school commitments. Although I will also have to confess to a bit of writer's block.
* * *
"I think we've been here before," Lily declared, standing still in the middle of the corridor. "I remember that painting."
Alexia and Bethany also stopped. "I agree," Bethany replied. "And I also happen to think that we're hopelessly lost."
"She's got a point there," Lily agreed, nodding her head.
A squeal was heard from down the corridor, and they looked up to see a Gryffindor fourth year being chased down the corridor. She stopped when she saw the three lost girls, and held out her hand to stop the tall boy chasing her – another Gryffindor.
"Are you lost?" The blonde girl asked, while the boy tried to sneak an arm around her waist. She slapped it away.
"Uh, yeah," Lily replied. "We're looking for the trophy room – do you know where that is?"
There was a snigger from the boy. "Oh yeah, we know where that it alright!" He shut up when the girl elbowed him in the ribs – hard.
"End of the corridor, turn left, up the stairs and seventh door on your right," she told them, flashing them a brilliant smile
"Okay, thanks," Lily replied, and she and her friends turned to leave.
"That was lucky," Alexia remarked.
"Yup," Bethany agreed. "So, seventh door to the right. One, two..."
Bethany was able to count, and the girl's directions had been spot on, allowing them to find the trophy room without any further complications.
"Wow," Lily exclaimed, as they stepped into the room of gold and silver. There were cups, and trophies, and plaques, and medals everywhere they looked. She saw the Quidditch cup glistening – red and gold ribbons tied around the handles in honour of the house that had won it the previous year. The house cup was next to it, and it too was similarly decorated in the same colours.
"Here's a list of head boys and girls," Bethany announced, making her way over to where large slabs of wood were on the wall, hundreds of small names engraved on it. "2002/03 – Harry Potter, Gryffindor, and Hermione Granger, Gryffindor. They *were* both at school together."
"Uh hu," Lily replied, distracted as she searched for her father's special award for service to the school – or whatever it was. Ah, here it was, hidden behind one of her mother's awards for winning an international witchcraft and wizardry competition or something. Lily had never bothered to keep up with all her mother's academic achievements, and only hoped that none of her teachers expected *her* to be the next Hermione Granger. She was more interested in proving her worth on the Quidditch pitch.
"What's that?" Alexia asked, sticking her head over Lily's shoulder. "Special awards for services to the school presented to Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Wonder what they did to get them?"
**Nothing much – only saved Hogwarts from the Heir of Slytherin** Lily thought to herself. Her father had regaled her with tales of his school days ever since she could remember, despite her mother's protests that they'd give her nightmares. On some nights, she had proven her mother's point, but generally she had found them exiting, and longed for more.
"I don't know," she lied. "But we'll probably find out in our Defence Against the Dark Art's lessons soon."
"It's probably in "Hogwarts: A History," Alexia suggested, and Lily resisted the urge to scream. Her father had often told her about her mother's obsession with that book when they had been younger; always running to it to look something up.
"Shucks, and I left my copy at home," Lily muttered sarcastically. Glancing at her watch, she visibly paled.
"Uh, guys? Have you seen the time?" she asked. "We're gonna be late for McGonagall's lesson, and I really don't want to do that."
"Me neither," Bethany declared. "Any idea where to go?"
"I've got a rough idea from the Great Hall," Alexia told them. "The Head Boy pointed it out to me yesterday."
"Great. Now all we need to do is find our way to the Great Hall," Bethany replied.
"Easier said than done," Lily declared, following her friends out of the door.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Uh oh," was all Lily had to say when they finally reached the classroom. The professor was standing at the front; her arms crossed, and not even a hint of a smile playing across her features. Lily couldn't remember the last time she had seen her "Aunt Minerva" look like that.
"Well young ladies," she began, walking up the aisle in the middle where the three girls were standing. "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"
Lily could see Tom behind McGonagall's shoulder, making a slashing motion across his throat.
"We're, um, we're really sorry Professor," Lily apologised. "We got lost, and there was no-one around to ask for directions."
Her green eyes met McGonagall's, begging the older woman not to take any points away from Gryffindor. Just because she was their head of house didn't mean that she was more lax towards them.
"Very well ladies," McGonagall conceded. "As this is you're first lesson, I shall take no house points from Gryffindor. However, I suggest in the future that if you don't know where your lesson is, you leave earlier for it, thus allowing time for when you loose your way. Am I making myself clear Miss Black?"
"Yes Professor," Lily mumbled, as she sat down next to Bethany, wondering why she was the one who had to be picked on. Surely McGonagall didn't blame *her* for being late? Just because McGonagall had seen her grow up, and her childhood antics... oh – okay then. Maybe she *did* have a point, as loath Lily was to admit it.
The lesson didn't pass quite as quickly as their previous two. Lily blamed it on the fact that McGonagall always seemed to have one eye on her – the other one being on Tom. He got threatened with a detention, and house points taken away twice. However, McGonagall never followed them up, which made Lily wonder for a millisecond if she had a soft spot for the young Paris boy. Then she remembered who she was talking about, and dismissed it as temporary insanity.
When the professor announced that the lesson was over, she hid a smile at the speed that Lily departed the room – not risking the chance that she would be asked to stay behind. Minerva smiled to herself. She would have to remind Harry and Hermione not to do that too often to their poor daughter, or someone may suspect something. Especially what with Lily's resemblance to her parents, although it was no way near as startling as her resemblance to her grandmother.
As the last student filed out of the classroom, Minerva picked up her books and headed to her office, to store them there. Once that was done, she headed up to the staff room, hoping to find someone to compare first days with.
Pushing open the door, she was greeted with a shriek of "Holly! No!"
Minerva felt small a small body run into her legs, and looked down into the innocent face of Holly Anderson, the youngest child of any of the Hogwart's teaching staff. Ever since the opening of the primary and nursery schools in Hogsmeade, Hogwarts staff were now able to bring their pre-secondary school age children with them. There were currently nine of those children living in the castle – all with their mothers. Holly was the youngest of three, her mother being the recently introduced General Studies teacher, Cassandra Anderson. As teaching general studies meant that she only taught the higher classes, it meant that Cassie was able to spend quite a bit of time with her young family, as her husband was serving in the Air Force, and so couldn't provide a stable upbringing for his three children. Minerva herself had enjoyed the allowance of young children in the castle – her sister and brother-in-law had died when her niece had been six, and Minerva had been able to bring Caitlin up while still staying on at Hogwarts. As Dumbledore had pointed out to the Ministry of Magic at the time, Fudge, Hogwarts would have lost many fine teachers if they hadn't at least tried to provide for their families.
Picking Holly up, Minerva delivered her over to where Cassandra was sitting, her daughter Rebecca already on her lap.
"All I can say is thank God that they're all going to school tomorrow," Cassandra announced, now with one girl in each arm. There was only a year between them, and both would get jealous if it seemed as though the other one was getting too much attention.
Minerva just smiled, as she dropped into a comfortable chair by the window. "I was lucky that I missed Caitlin at that age," she grinned. Never wanting to have had children of her own, she had initially found it difficult to adjust to the small child, but she had been helped out by all her friends and colleagues. "Where's Daniel?"
"Probably somewhere with James," Cassandra replied. Daniel was her eldest and her only son, while James, the son of the divination teacher, was his best friend.
The door opened to admit a tired looking Hermione.
"So? How was the first day?" Minerva inquired, as Holly lifted her head up to look at this newcomer.
"Tiring. Very, very tiring," Hermione announced, repeating Minerva's earlier action of collapsing in a chair. "You'd have thought, after raising two children for ten years, you'd be able to look after a class of twenty for an hour."
"It's not quite as simple as that," Cassandra chuckled. She had only been briefly introduced to Hermione the previous day, but what she had seen of this new teacher, she liked. "Just be thankful that it's only a class of twenty – my first job was at Salem Institute, and they had classes of thirty or so. Most of them who consider general studies a doss subject, that they simply have to take."
"What is general studies?" Hermione asked curiously. "It wasn't taught when I was here."
"Basically, it's a bit of everything, and then some," Cassandra tried to think of the best way to put it. "It teaches you how to get by in the Muggle world without attracting too much attention, and just a variety of things really. At the moment, the seventh year are learning CPR – basic first aid, which Muggle children learn when their in first year. They'll study literature, art, geography – classes which Muggles take at their life, but what we never learn. That's what general studies is all about."
"Sounds like a useful thing to have," Hermione commented. "I also noticed biology being added to the list of options. Is that like the Muggle class?"
Minerva spoke up, as she had been the one who had added the subject. "Yes, and no. Obviously, they learn about plants in herbology, but biology allows them to see how the body works, and other factors allowing us to live. It's an asset to those who want to go and study medicine once they've left Hogwarts, and it's actually quite a popular course even if the student isn't planning on following through with it."
"It's probably a good job that it wasn't an option when I was at school," Hermione laughed, and Minerva joined in, remembering how Hermione had over- worked herself in her third year, by using a time-turner.
Wondering what the laughter was about, Holly looked up again, and slid off her mother's lap, toddling over to see Hermione."
"Hello," the young woman said, looking down at the toddler. "Who are you then?"
"I'm Holly," the dark haired little girl said. There was something in her voice that Hermione couldn't quite place, and wondered if it was just because it was such a long time since she'd heard a toddler speak. "Who you?"
"I'm Hermione," that person told her. "I work with your mum."
"Oh," Holly's mouth made a perfect 'o' shape as she stared up at her. "Have you any kids?"
Hermione realised that the child had a very faint American accent – barely noticeable, but still there. "Yeah, I've got two girls."
"What they called? Can I play with them?" It was definitely an American accent, and as Hermione thought back, she remembered that Cassandra spoke with an accent, but as she knew that the young woman came from the United States, she hadn't really taken much notice of it.
"They're called Lily and Abi," she told Holly. "And you might be able to play with them some time, but they're a bit bigger than you are, and Abi will only be able to play when she comes here for Christmas."
Holly rubbed her eyes tiredly, and Cassandra noticed. Rebecca had already fallen asleep on her shoulder, so rising carefully, she took Holly's hand. "I think you need a nap Hol," she told her daughter.
"No nap. Not a baby," Holly told her crossly.
"Becky's having a nap, and she's bigger than you," Cassandra reminded her, as she steered her out of the door. "I'll see you two later." The last was directed at Minerva and Hermione, as Cassandra took her children off to bed.
