Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events and/or places that are recognized as being written and created by J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters and places from the Harry Potter books including the ones used in this story.
Two large golden trunks sparkled under the candelabra hanging from the ceiling. Robes of different colors flew into the trunk on the right; folding themselves neatly in place and making room for the next batch. The trunk on the left was stacked to the very top with books and objects of many sizes.
When her closet was bare, except for a few empty hangers, Clea closed the trunk filled with her clothes by putting all her weight on top of it, forcing it to shut properly. She began throwing locking spells at it, until she felt it was securely closed. She did the same to the next one. Then she shrank both of them down to the size of a jewelry box and carried one in each hand out of the room.
Clea felt anxious about leaving her apartment for more than just a day. She would be gone for a whole year. Over the past two weeks, she had kept herself busy by sorting out things she needed to bring and re-learning Ancient Runes.
Clea did one last circle around her apartment to make sure everything she needed was packed. Passing her front door, she yanked at the knob to confirm that it was locked.
She stood in the middle of the room and carefully balanced the two mini trunks on top of each other in her left hand, and grabbed her owl's cage in the other.
Clea sighed. Something about leaving her home scared her; like she wouldn't be coming back or if she did she wouldn't be the same person.
Clea closed her eyes and apparated to her destination.
CRACK
A warm breeze rustled through Clea's robes as she opened her eyes, and found herself outside the huge front doors of Hogwarts. She slowly climbed the stairs and pulled open the large door.
"Cleopatra!" Dumbledore stood at the bottom of the staircase in front of Clea with Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore waved for Clea to walk over towards them.
Clea walked over to the staircase at an unusually slow pace, still balancing the trunks on top of each other.
"I'll take those, Ms. Black," Professor McGonagall said with an annoyed look on her face. She raised her wand and levitated Clea's trunks. Clea blushed slightly, feeling she should have made a better effort to appear smart in front of her old professors.
"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," Clea said politely. "It's nice to see you again."
Professor McGonagall smiled warmly and turned to walk up the stairs.
"Come along, Ms. Black," Dumbledore said, following Professor McGonagall and gesturing for Clea to also follow. "We'll take you to your office and bedchamber."
Dumbledore and McGonagall led Clea up the stairs. They stopped at the second flight, turned down a long corridor, and went through a pair of large double doors on the right; which led to another hallway.
Clea smiled at her surroundings as she followed Dumbledore and McGonagall. Hogwarts still smelled the same to her, drafty and dusty, like an old castle, Clea knew exactly where they were leading her but she decided to just allow them to escort her anyways.
After walking half way down the hallway, the three past by a closed door. Dumbledore paused for a moment in front of it.
Clea wasn't paying attention to what was going on ahead of her, because she was too lost in her own thoughts. She quickly skidded on her toes at the last moment to stop herself from colliding into Dumbledore's back. Just before she would have hit him, Dumbledore started walking again.
Dumbledore looked over his shoulder at Clea, who was breathing heavily and silently thanking the heavens that she didn't just bulldoze her headmaster.
"That door back there," Dumbledore said, pointing towards the door they just passed; "leads to the Defense against the Dark Arts professor's office and bedchamber." Dumbledore smiled at Clea. She nodded her head and smiled back, faking interest.
"He's not here yet," Dumbledore added.
"Oh?" Clea responded, just trying to make conversation.
The group turned down a short hallway. "Here we are," Dumbledore announced, stopping at a door at the end of the hall. Dumbledore opened the door and allowed Clea to walk in first.
Before she walked into her new office, Clea realized that she never visited the Ancient Runes office back when she was at school. She smiled brightly when she saw it. It was completely different than her office in Paris, which was plain; this office, Clea felt was immensely more beautiful and felt like home.
Symbols representing the many ancient runes that existed glistened in a pearly midnight blue across the top of the wall. They shined a bit, giving the room a peaceful blue glow. An L shaped desk faced the door and had tiny gold runes engraved into the top; a throne-like purple and gold chair stood behind the desk.
In the corner to the left were two plump purple sofas, with a coffee table in front of them that matched the desk. The right corner was completely taken up by an enormous book shelf.
Clea absolutely fell in love with the aura the room gave off. It was peaceful and calmed her every nerves.
"That door back there," Dumbledore said, indicating a door behind Clea's desk; "is where you'll find your room. Do you have any questions?"
"No, Professor. Thank you so much." Clea answered.
"We'll leave you to get settled in," Dumbledore said, turning towards the door.
"Dinner is at 5, Ms. Black," McGonagall said, before she closed the door. Clea laughed after the door was closed. She had the feeling that no matter how old she was, Professor McGonagall would always make her feel like a pupil.
Clea walked into her bedroom and was surprised to see it decorated in her two favorite colors. The walls were a dark stony gray, the furniture was black and her bed sheets and drapes shined brightly in different shades of gold.
"Whoever was here last had great taste!" Clea exclaimed as she began putting her stuff away.
When she was done, Clea walked over to her window and finally let Caesar, who was howling and begging to be released from his cage, out. As she watched her owl soar away, Clea took in the view from her new bedroom's window. Blocking out most of the Hogwarts ground from her was the giant Whomping Willow tree.
Clea spent the next half an hour staring at the tree, lost in thought. Her eyes eventually drifted over to her wrist watch. It was nearly 5 o'clock, so Clea left her office and made her way down to the Great Hall.
Clea felt instantly overjoyed to be in the Great Hall again. The four long house tables were gone. In the middle of the room was one small table, where all the professors were sitting.
"All righ' Clea?"
"Hagrid!" Clea squealed, throwing her arms around Hagrid's massive shoulders. "I haven't seen you since...for a long time."
Clea and Hagrid shared a quick sad look, before Dumbledore asked Clea to take a seat.
Clea sat down in the only available seat, between Snape and Professor Flitwick. Clea couldn't contain herself and gave the tiny Professor Flitwick a quick hug, being careful not to knock him off his chair. She always thought he was completely adorable. Professor Flitwick blushed and straightened his little bowtie.
"I have an announcement," Dumbledore said, rearing everyone's attention towards him. "This is most unfortunate, but, due to the recent escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban, we have been told by the Ministry of Magic that we must have a group of Dementors guarding every entrance into our school,"—there was a shared shudder of gasps and confusion around the table—"otherwise we will be forced to close. I of course, against my own wishes, have obeyed the Ministers demands. The guards of Azkaban will be with us permanently, until Sirius Black is caught."
Clea stared down at her lap during Dumbledore's entire speech. She didn't dare look at anyone's reaction, or show her own; because she didn't really understand what was going on.
"Why would Sirius Black some here, Albus?" Professor Sprout asked.
"It is to our knowledge...that Sirius is after Harry."
Sprout and Madam Pomfrey both gasped, while Clea's head shot up and her eyes locked with Dumbledore's. "Harry?"
"Yes, Cleopatra. Harry Potter."
"He's here....Harry is here at Hogwarts?"
"Of course he is, Cleopatra," Professor McGonagall said. "You knew his parents. How could you not have known that he would come to Hogwarts?"
Clea felt slightly stupid, but she was shocked. She honestly never thought she would ever see Harry.
"He's in his thir' yer, Clea," Hagrid said proudly. Clea smiled with excitement, but then like a weight was dropped on her head, her smiled faded.
"Why, Professor Dumbledore, would Sirius be after Harry? He's his,"—suddenly everything flooded back into Clea's brain—"but I suppose none of that matters anymore."
"It is up to all of us to keep an extra close watch over Harry this year," Dumbledore said quickly. "All right, now, lets' welcome Professor Black to our staff...we'll talk about your name later Clea," Dumbledore added looking at the reaction in Clea's eyes when he said Black and not Patra, the name she went by in Paris. "Also, our new Dark Arts professor; he'll be arriving on the Hogwarts Express with the students."
Clea couldn't tell, but she was almost positive that Hagrid winked at her when Dumbledore started talking about the Dark Arts professor. Clea winked back in a flirty manner combined with a confused look.
When Dumbledore finished speaking, the empty plates on the table filled themselves with steaming hot food.
Clea looked at Snape next to her. A feeling of nostalgia came over her.
"Do you like your room, Cleopatra?" Snape asked her, not averting his eyes from his plate.
"Yes, I did," Clea responded slowly.
"I told Dumbledore what your favorite colors were," he said, glancing at her quickly.
Clea smiled to herself as she forked some potatoes. The feeling of nostalgia fading as her excitement about seeing Harry intensified with every second.
