It was the first day back to school at Hogwarts, and no one was prepared
for what was about to happen.
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, along with the rest of Gryffindor house as well as Slytherin House.
The bell had just rung and their new teacher still hadn't shown.
"Where are they?" Hermione asked getting rather peeved at the absence of the teacher.
"Dunno." Harry replied, looking over in the way of the door.
Fifteen minutes passed and still, they had no teacher. Hermione was about to get up and start teaching the class herself, but just as she was about to tell them all to turn to the front of their books, the door burst open and in walked what looked like a student. They wore robes of all black, just like everyone else.
The person's face was shrouded in darkness as they entered.
"Ms. Granger, please take your seat." the stranger spoke in a soft, subtle voice.
"Who are-"Hermione began to say but was cut off with a reply immediately.
"I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Feather-Bee." the stranger replied, taking their robe off to reveal another set of robes, but they were the colour of a dark midnight blue. The light streamed in on where the new Professor was standing and it was plan to see that their hair was the exact same colour as their robes. It was short and spiky.
Although they were standing in a stream of light, the class still could not make out their face.
"I'd like to start by taking roll call." Professor Feather-Bee said and picked up an attendance registry. "Baddock, Malcolm."
"Here." he grunted as he and one of his Slytherin friends began whispering amongst themselves.
"Bell, Katie."
"Here."
"Brown, Lavender"
"Present."
The teacher continued on like this, never giving any of the students a second look. She never appeared to look up from the registry. Then she came to Harry's name.
"Potter, Harry." she said and looked up. Harry could feel her staring at him. He could feel it in his face, his muscels, his bones..
"Hmm." she muttered to herself. Harry could feel her facial expression change. "I didn't know I'd be seeing you this period." and with that, she continued to take role.
As she spoke, Harry could still feel her burning gaze on him.
"Sorry I was so late." she apologized. "Ministry needed me up in London." She stepped out of the light beam and suddenly, as though a veil had been lift from her face, she became as clear as the blue sky outside.
It was plane to see that she was extremely young. Far too young to be a teacher. She looked as if she were no more than 16 years old, at the maximum.
She was one of the oddest looking witches any of them had ever seen. She had at least twelve piercing in both her ears, 2 in her right eye brow, 1 in the bottom of her lip, and one in her left nostril.
Her eyes looked like beautiful emeralds, just like Harry's. Well, if Harry hadn't known better, he would have sworn that she had his mother's eyes.
Beneath her robes, Harry noticed a large scar poking out of one sleeve. It looked as if she'd been badly injured. Doing what, they had no idea.
"So, with all the essential stuff being done, I'd like to open the floor to some questions. Go on, ask me anything." the new teacher prodded.
A few students raised their hands very timidly. Hermione on the other hand, wasted no time and her hand shot straight up.
"Ms. Granger."
"Forgive me, but how old are you?" Hermione asked as all the hands that had went up went down. They all seemed to have one question on their minds. How old was this girl and how'd she manage to get out of school?
She chuckled as if she found this question highly amusing. "I'm 15. Lemme guess, you're thinking `How did she manage to pull this off? There's no way she can be out of school!`" the hands that had went up at the sound of her age went down again. "Well, it's really a very interesting story. See, when I was a baby, I was sent to a muggle orphanage. When I was 7, I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Within my first year here, I went from first year spells to third year spells. Dumbledore would have advanced me further, but he felt that I should stay with the class I was in at the time. Then, when I graduated at 12, I took a year off to go to Romania and study dragons. Yes, Mr. Weasley, I saw your brother there." she added, seeing Ron about to say something and then shutting his mouth. "Then, when I got back, I went to work at the Ministry as an Auror." On this last word, she looked directly at Harry, as if she could see how much he wanted to learn about the topic of Auror's. "Then, when I couldn't catch my one big target, I decided it was time to leave the Ministry. Dumbledore then asked if I'd be up for the job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and I said there's nothing I would rather do, so here I am." she finished her story, taking a short breath before asking "Next question, assuming there are more."
A few people raised their hands, but put them down again as soon as they went up.
"Ah, it seems we have a shy bunch." she said with a small smile. "Ok, then I'll volunteer some information. Stop me if have a question." and with that she looked around the room one last time before pressing on. "Alright, my full name is Colleen Evelynn Elizabeth Anne Feather-Bee-Black."
Harry's hand shot straight up along with Ron and Hermione's.
"Mr. Potter."
"Professor-" Harry started, but was cut off almost immediately.
"Please, all of you, don't call me Professor, Professor Feather-Bee, none of that. Makes me feel a bit snooty you know. Please, call me Colleen."
"Alright, Colleen," Harry began again. "Were you related to- to Sirius Black?"
"Yes, I was actually. I would ask why you wanted to know, but I already know why." she replied giving him a small wink and a smile. "I was actually his daughter and when he went to Azkaban, I was sent to the muggles."
"You were his daughter?" Ron said in amazement before Harry could.
"Yes, and I never knew it until I came to live here in the wizarding world. I only met him a few times, I wish it had been more." she replied. This last thought seemed to sadden her a bit. Harry thought it was more than a bit. He thought she may be hiding her real feelings towards Sirius to keep herself from embarrassing herself in front of the class.
"We all know that Sirius Black was nothing more than a murdering scum." Malfoy said in a snide tone.
Colleen looked dangerously at Malfoy for this comment and said, "The same could be said for your family Mr. Malfoy."
Malfoy just sneered and went back to his silence.
The bell rang just as she was about to continue. "See you tomorrow class." she said in a light tone. "Um, Harry, Ron, Hermione, could you stay back for a few moments?" she called them back as they stood up and headed for the door.
As soon as the class had emptied out, she went and closed the door, leaving them all alone in the large class room.
"Do you know why I called you back to stay for a moment?" she asked them, leaning on her desk.
"Err.." Harry said as he tried to think. "Because of Sirius?"
"Exactly right Harry." she replied with a twinkle like Dumbledore's making its first appearance in her eye. "set your books down, please." she asked and they did as they were asked. "But do you know why I asked you to stay back?"
They all three looked at each other very confused.
"I wanted to talk to you about him. I know he was your godfather Harry, and I know all three of you were very close to him. I only wish I'd been as close to him as you were. But with working at the Ministry and all, it was impossible." They could see a slight tear start to well in her eye at these thoughts. "I want you three to know that if you ever need someone to talk to about him, I'm always here."
"Likewise." Ron said.
"Yeah, we're here for you too." Harry said giving her a small smile. He could feel a knot welling in the back of his throat at the thought of Sirius. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Colleen replied whipping away a tear from her eye.
"Who was the wizard that you couldn't catch?"
"Lucius Malfoy." she replied with a heavy look. "I could catch him if I wanted to, which don't get me wrong, I want to, believe me, but now that he's gone back over to the dark side.." her voice trailed off. "I almost had him once. Blimey little bugger got through my fingers though. That killed me." she looked to the floor with disgust. "Besides, I've always wanted to be a teacher here at Hogwarts, so I suppose I'm living my dream."
"What house were you in? I never saw you." Ron asked as he leaned on the desk behind them.
"Gryffindor." she replied with a little smile. "You all saw me, but you never really saw me." she replied, and it dawned on Harry that he had seen her, many times as a matter of fact, but had never given her a second glance. Ron still looked as confused as ever, but then comprehension seemed to dawn upon him as well.
"I'm sorry we never noticed you." Harry said with a heavy sigh
"No one ever did. I wouldn't expect you three to." Colleen replied with a small chuckle.
The bell to start the next class rang.
"Sorry, we have to go! We're late or potions and Snape's brutal!" Ron said and started to head for the door.
"Hold on there, you need a note to excuse you for being late." Colleen called after him and with a swish of her wand, there floated in front of them 3 notes that read:
Dear Professor Snape,
Please excuse this student for being late.
I needed to keep them after class to discuses something.
Yours Truly,
Colleen Feather-Bee
They all grabbed one and were off to Potions, hoping that Snape wouldn't dock them points.
As he walked down the hall towards Potions, Harry could still somehow feel her gaze on him, even as they drew farther and farther away from the class.
**************************************************************************
Potions didn't begin very well for Gryffindor. Snape docked Harry, Ron and Hermione 5 points each for being late, even after showing him their notes, Neville added too much wolfs fang to his potion and ate through his first caldron of the year, and Hermione was docked another 5 points for being a "know-it-all" when Snape asked the class what they thought had went wrong with Neville's potion. By the end of class, Gryffindor had lost nearly 50 points, most of which they had no idea why they were taken.
When the bell rang, it was a great relief to them all. They burst out the door and headed up to the Great Hall for lunch.
When they entered, the hall was filled with the sweet smell of various puddings and roasts and chicken.
"What's the special occasion?" Ron asked, looking around the room at the house tables. "It looks like we're having a bloody feast!"
"I dunno." Harry replied in a wondering voice.
"Well, maybe Dumbledore will explain it when he gets here." Hermione piped up. "We might as well go and sit. There's no point just standing here wondering what's going on." she said as she lead the boys over to Gryffindor table.
But she was wrong. Dumbledore never showed. As a matter of fact, none of the teachers did. When people went to their next class, they were shocked to find that they had no teacher, in any class.
They sat there, all asking the same question: where were their teachers.
"We can't sit here all day!" Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione.
"I know we can't, but what can we do?" Hermione replied in a hushed voice just low enough for Harry and Ron to hear.
"I say we go to Dumbledore's office and try and find out what's going on." Harry suggested, getting up and walking to the door. No one seemed to see him standing by the door and motioning for Ron and Hermione to follow.
They snuck out the door and closed it silently behind them. They made their way towards Dumbledore's office stealthily.
When they reached the gargoyle that hit the stair well that lead up to his office, Harry tried to guess the pass word.
"Peppermint humbug." he said. The gargoyle stood as still as ever. "Lemon drop" still nothing.
"Licorice wand." Hermione tried, and still, it did not move.
"Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans." Ron suggested to the gargoyle. It blinked, but nothing more. "What was that about?"
"I think it's a clue." Harry said, his voice trailing off in thought. "I think it's hinting that we're close. Maybe it's a flavour of bean.."
"Harry's right!" Hermione said. "C'mon, we have to think of the flavours!"
"Hermione, there are hundreds of flavours, how can we possible figure out which one it is?"
"Vomit." Harry said and the gargoyle sprang to life.
"How'd you know it was vomit?" Ron asked, half sickened, half admiring.
"He once told me that he'd lost his taste for them when he was a child and got a vomit flavoured one." Harry said as they took the stairs to his office two at a time.
They knocked three times on the door. When it opened, they were greeted by none other than-
Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, along with the rest of Gryffindor house as well as Slytherin House.
The bell had just rung and their new teacher still hadn't shown.
"Where are they?" Hermione asked getting rather peeved at the absence of the teacher.
"Dunno." Harry replied, looking over in the way of the door.
Fifteen minutes passed and still, they had no teacher. Hermione was about to get up and start teaching the class herself, but just as she was about to tell them all to turn to the front of their books, the door burst open and in walked what looked like a student. They wore robes of all black, just like everyone else.
The person's face was shrouded in darkness as they entered.
"Ms. Granger, please take your seat." the stranger spoke in a soft, subtle voice.
"Who are-"Hermione began to say but was cut off with a reply immediately.
"I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Feather-Bee." the stranger replied, taking their robe off to reveal another set of robes, but they were the colour of a dark midnight blue. The light streamed in on where the new Professor was standing and it was plan to see that their hair was the exact same colour as their robes. It was short and spiky.
Although they were standing in a stream of light, the class still could not make out their face.
"I'd like to start by taking roll call." Professor Feather-Bee said and picked up an attendance registry. "Baddock, Malcolm."
"Here." he grunted as he and one of his Slytherin friends began whispering amongst themselves.
"Bell, Katie."
"Here."
"Brown, Lavender"
"Present."
The teacher continued on like this, never giving any of the students a second look. She never appeared to look up from the registry. Then she came to Harry's name.
"Potter, Harry." she said and looked up. Harry could feel her staring at him. He could feel it in his face, his muscels, his bones..
"Hmm." she muttered to herself. Harry could feel her facial expression change. "I didn't know I'd be seeing you this period." and with that, she continued to take role.
As she spoke, Harry could still feel her burning gaze on him.
"Sorry I was so late." she apologized. "Ministry needed me up in London." She stepped out of the light beam and suddenly, as though a veil had been lift from her face, she became as clear as the blue sky outside.
It was plane to see that she was extremely young. Far too young to be a teacher. She looked as if she were no more than 16 years old, at the maximum.
She was one of the oddest looking witches any of them had ever seen. She had at least twelve piercing in both her ears, 2 in her right eye brow, 1 in the bottom of her lip, and one in her left nostril.
Her eyes looked like beautiful emeralds, just like Harry's. Well, if Harry hadn't known better, he would have sworn that she had his mother's eyes.
Beneath her robes, Harry noticed a large scar poking out of one sleeve. It looked as if she'd been badly injured. Doing what, they had no idea.
"So, with all the essential stuff being done, I'd like to open the floor to some questions. Go on, ask me anything." the new teacher prodded.
A few students raised their hands very timidly. Hermione on the other hand, wasted no time and her hand shot straight up.
"Ms. Granger."
"Forgive me, but how old are you?" Hermione asked as all the hands that had went up went down. They all seemed to have one question on their minds. How old was this girl and how'd she manage to get out of school?
She chuckled as if she found this question highly amusing. "I'm 15. Lemme guess, you're thinking `How did she manage to pull this off? There's no way she can be out of school!`" the hands that had went up at the sound of her age went down again. "Well, it's really a very interesting story. See, when I was a baby, I was sent to a muggle orphanage. When I was 7, I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Within my first year here, I went from first year spells to third year spells. Dumbledore would have advanced me further, but he felt that I should stay with the class I was in at the time. Then, when I graduated at 12, I took a year off to go to Romania and study dragons. Yes, Mr. Weasley, I saw your brother there." she added, seeing Ron about to say something and then shutting his mouth. "Then, when I got back, I went to work at the Ministry as an Auror." On this last word, she looked directly at Harry, as if she could see how much he wanted to learn about the topic of Auror's. "Then, when I couldn't catch my one big target, I decided it was time to leave the Ministry. Dumbledore then asked if I'd be up for the job as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and I said there's nothing I would rather do, so here I am." she finished her story, taking a short breath before asking "Next question, assuming there are more."
A few people raised their hands, but put them down again as soon as they went up.
"Ah, it seems we have a shy bunch." she said with a small smile. "Ok, then I'll volunteer some information. Stop me if have a question." and with that she looked around the room one last time before pressing on. "Alright, my full name is Colleen Evelynn Elizabeth Anne Feather-Bee-Black."
Harry's hand shot straight up along with Ron and Hermione's.
"Mr. Potter."
"Professor-" Harry started, but was cut off almost immediately.
"Please, all of you, don't call me Professor, Professor Feather-Bee, none of that. Makes me feel a bit snooty you know. Please, call me Colleen."
"Alright, Colleen," Harry began again. "Were you related to- to Sirius Black?"
"Yes, I was actually. I would ask why you wanted to know, but I already know why." she replied giving him a small wink and a smile. "I was actually his daughter and when he went to Azkaban, I was sent to the muggles."
"You were his daughter?" Ron said in amazement before Harry could.
"Yes, and I never knew it until I came to live here in the wizarding world. I only met him a few times, I wish it had been more." she replied. This last thought seemed to sadden her a bit. Harry thought it was more than a bit. He thought she may be hiding her real feelings towards Sirius to keep herself from embarrassing herself in front of the class.
"We all know that Sirius Black was nothing more than a murdering scum." Malfoy said in a snide tone.
Colleen looked dangerously at Malfoy for this comment and said, "The same could be said for your family Mr. Malfoy."
Malfoy just sneered and went back to his silence.
The bell rang just as she was about to continue. "See you tomorrow class." she said in a light tone. "Um, Harry, Ron, Hermione, could you stay back for a few moments?" she called them back as they stood up and headed for the door.
As soon as the class had emptied out, she went and closed the door, leaving them all alone in the large class room.
"Do you know why I called you back to stay for a moment?" she asked them, leaning on her desk.
"Err.." Harry said as he tried to think. "Because of Sirius?"
"Exactly right Harry." she replied with a twinkle like Dumbledore's making its first appearance in her eye. "set your books down, please." she asked and they did as they were asked. "But do you know why I asked you to stay back?"
They all three looked at each other very confused.
"I wanted to talk to you about him. I know he was your godfather Harry, and I know all three of you were very close to him. I only wish I'd been as close to him as you were. But with working at the Ministry and all, it was impossible." They could see a slight tear start to well in her eye at these thoughts. "I want you three to know that if you ever need someone to talk to about him, I'm always here."
"Likewise." Ron said.
"Yeah, we're here for you too." Harry said giving her a small smile. He could feel a knot welling in the back of his throat at the thought of Sirius. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Colleen replied whipping away a tear from her eye.
"Who was the wizard that you couldn't catch?"
"Lucius Malfoy." she replied with a heavy look. "I could catch him if I wanted to, which don't get me wrong, I want to, believe me, but now that he's gone back over to the dark side.." her voice trailed off. "I almost had him once. Blimey little bugger got through my fingers though. That killed me." she looked to the floor with disgust. "Besides, I've always wanted to be a teacher here at Hogwarts, so I suppose I'm living my dream."
"What house were you in? I never saw you." Ron asked as he leaned on the desk behind them.
"Gryffindor." she replied with a little smile. "You all saw me, but you never really saw me." she replied, and it dawned on Harry that he had seen her, many times as a matter of fact, but had never given her a second glance. Ron still looked as confused as ever, but then comprehension seemed to dawn upon him as well.
"I'm sorry we never noticed you." Harry said with a heavy sigh
"No one ever did. I wouldn't expect you three to." Colleen replied with a small chuckle.
The bell to start the next class rang.
"Sorry, we have to go! We're late or potions and Snape's brutal!" Ron said and started to head for the door.
"Hold on there, you need a note to excuse you for being late." Colleen called after him and with a swish of her wand, there floated in front of them 3 notes that read:
Dear Professor Snape,
Please excuse this student for being late.
I needed to keep them after class to discuses something.
Yours Truly,
Colleen Feather-Bee
They all grabbed one and were off to Potions, hoping that Snape wouldn't dock them points.
As he walked down the hall towards Potions, Harry could still somehow feel her gaze on him, even as they drew farther and farther away from the class.
**************************************************************************
Potions didn't begin very well for Gryffindor. Snape docked Harry, Ron and Hermione 5 points each for being late, even after showing him their notes, Neville added too much wolfs fang to his potion and ate through his first caldron of the year, and Hermione was docked another 5 points for being a "know-it-all" when Snape asked the class what they thought had went wrong with Neville's potion. By the end of class, Gryffindor had lost nearly 50 points, most of which they had no idea why they were taken.
When the bell rang, it was a great relief to them all. They burst out the door and headed up to the Great Hall for lunch.
When they entered, the hall was filled with the sweet smell of various puddings and roasts and chicken.
"What's the special occasion?" Ron asked, looking around the room at the house tables. "It looks like we're having a bloody feast!"
"I dunno." Harry replied in a wondering voice.
"Well, maybe Dumbledore will explain it when he gets here." Hermione piped up. "We might as well go and sit. There's no point just standing here wondering what's going on." she said as she lead the boys over to Gryffindor table.
But she was wrong. Dumbledore never showed. As a matter of fact, none of the teachers did. When people went to their next class, they were shocked to find that they had no teacher, in any class.
They sat there, all asking the same question: where were their teachers.
"We can't sit here all day!" Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione.
"I know we can't, but what can we do?" Hermione replied in a hushed voice just low enough for Harry and Ron to hear.
"I say we go to Dumbledore's office and try and find out what's going on." Harry suggested, getting up and walking to the door. No one seemed to see him standing by the door and motioning for Ron and Hermione to follow.
They snuck out the door and closed it silently behind them. They made their way towards Dumbledore's office stealthily.
When they reached the gargoyle that hit the stair well that lead up to his office, Harry tried to guess the pass word.
"Peppermint humbug." he said. The gargoyle stood as still as ever. "Lemon drop" still nothing.
"Licorice wand." Hermione tried, and still, it did not move.
"Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans." Ron suggested to the gargoyle. It blinked, but nothing more. "What was that about?"
"I think it's a clue." Harry said, his voice trailing off in thought. "I think it's hinting that we're close. Maybe it's a flavour of bean.."
"Harry's right!" Hermione said. "C'mon, we have to think of the flavours!"
"Hermione, there are hundreds of flavours, how can we possible figure out which one it is?"
"Vomit." Harry said and the gargoyle sprang to life.
"How'd you know it was vomit?" Ron asked, half sickened, half admiring.
"He once told me that he'd lost his taste for them when he was a child and got a vomit flavoured one." Harry said as they took the stairs to his office two at a time.
They knocked three times on the door. When it opened, they were greeted by none other than-