Chapter 13: Used Guitar Strings and Counseling Sessions

Author's Note: I'm going to try and format this a bit different then usual. The Fan Fiction formatting really makes these chapters seem much shorter then they are. I do like the three space indent I've been using though.

Sorry this one took so long to post. Not my usual excuse this time. There's a lot I wanted to do with this story but I cut it because it was taking too much time and would be hard to get a hold on in a simple fan fiction.

Also I found I was spelling "Pavarti" and "Padma" wrong. Not really surprising since East Indian words and names always confuse me.

   The weekend was nearly tormenting to Maria, who had to spend two whole days and three nights away from her husband while he recovered in the hospital wing. Early Monday morning she sat right outside the door of the hospital ward waiting for Madam Pomfrey to release him. When he finally emerged from the door she nearly knocked him over as she sprang at him, latching her arms around his neck and planting her lips firmly on his.

   "Well hi," Samuel said, "If I'm going to get this kind of welcome every time I end up in the hospital for a few days I'm going to have to get scratched up more often."

   "Or I could do this every day you come home and you never go back to the hospital again," Maria suggested.

   "Mmm, we could try that. Though in my line of work it's a pretty normal thing," Samuel said, "It's a shame I have to work today."

   "Yes, you could show me your scars," she said with a grin, "Any new ones?"

   "I think they tried to claw out all the old ones actually," Samuel said, "What with Pomfrey's healing tonics and the fact that those things didn't leave but a few square inches of my body unclawed, I think I might end up with fewer then I had before."

   "Awww," Maria said, "So are you all healed up?"

   "For the most part," Samuel replied, "There are a few minor cuts and tears not healed. The instant healing potion she uses is pretty expensive and I told her to only use it on the worst of my injuries and use the rest for the children. Did Dad get Jimmy's arm fixed?"

   "He's been working on it for the last two days day and night," Maria replied, "He and your cousin have been tinkering around with it trying to get it 'perfect'. By the way, here," she said handing him an orange packet.

   "Guitar strings?" he asked.

   "They needed the ones on your guitar to fix the arm for some reason," Maria shrugged, "I told them you'd have a fit, but they seemed to not care much."

   "The boy needs his arm, whatever it takes," Samuel said.

   The two made their way back to their quarters. Outside a few students waited for them to arrive. One or two had small gifts for Samuel and went on their way quickly. The five remaining needed to sign up for appointments, or in Ginny Weasley's case, be of any assistance she could on Dumbledore's order.

   "Let me get them taken care of," Samuel said to Maria, "I'll get them set up for their appointments. Ginny, would you get my bag from inside please?"

   Ginny nodded and quickly returned with Samuel's bag. Samuel thanked her and took out a small ledger book and a quill from his bag. He opened book and set the quill in the seam.

   "Alright, let's get started. We'll start appointments after three in the afternoon," Samuel said, "Who's first."

   "Alright," Samuel said, "Padma, how about three thirty?"

   "I suppose, though I don't really know why you asked me to see you," Padma replied.

   "I see, well come by at four thirty then?" Samuel said.

   "Ok," Padma replied, "I'll be see you then."

   The quill in Samuel's ledger wrote the words "Padma Patil, counseling" in the slot marked "4:30 pm".

   "Harry, are you here for an appointment or just to see Ginny?" Samuel asked.

   "Both," Harry replied, "I can take three thirty if no one else wants it?"

   The other two students shook their heads and Samuel's quill wrote Harry's name under three thirty. The other two, a first year Hufflepuff, and one of the students that was attacked a few days before took five and six thirty respectively.

   "I'll see you all then," Samuel said dismissing them to their classes.

   "Professor," Ginny said, "Dumbledore wanted me to deliver this note to you."

   Samuel took the note, which was really more of a formal memo, and unfolded it carefully, "I need you present for a meeting with me, and the heads of each house today at lunch if you feel up to it," Samuel read quietly, "Looks like another meeting. I may have to keep you as a permanent aide."

   "This is just for detention," Ginny blushed, "I would like to be an aide though."

   "Detention? What for? Wait, let me guess, sneaking out?" Samuel asked.

   Ginny sighed, "Yes, Filch caught me night before last. I was just helping look for Neville's toad."

   "Sure you were. Did his toad hop down into the crypts?" Samuel asked.

   "No I was just," Ginny said, but stopped and blushed again.

   "Looking for walking dead people huh?" Samuel said with a grin, "If you're going to sneak out anymore I'd suggest staying away from that corridor near the main hall. You know the one with the ledge near the ceiling. Elanus is staying here probably for the remainder of the year and that's where he liked to sit late at night."

   Ginny nodded, "I'll remember that. Could I really be your aide?"

   "I don't see why not. I think it's a great idea in fact. I'll tell Dumbledore about it during the meeting. Perhaps we can have some kind of formalized student aide program started here," Samuel replied, "I better say goodbye to my wife and get to my first class. You probably should too."

   "Say goodbye to your wife?" Ginny giggled.

   "Oh if you want," Samuel said walking inside their quarters, "Maria I'm off to class."

   Maria walked into their living room and hugged Samuel, "I love you," she said, kissing him. "I love you too," Samuel said, kissing his wife, "Don't attempt to kill Madam Hooch today. Please." With that Samuel left for his first class of the day. As could be expected the day was slow and both he and Maria were asked several times what had transpired a few days before. Samuel finally consented to details only with Dumbledore's permission, which he intended to ask for at lunch but secretly hoped not to get.

   Finally lunch time came and Samuel found his way to Dumbledore's office. The gargoyle in front of the office was already open as Severus Snape had just spoken the command word.

   "How was class today Professor Snape?" Samuel asked, as they climbed the stairs leading to the office.

   "Dreadful, that arrogant Granger girl somehow figured out my potion over the weekend," Snape replied.

   "Isn't that good? That's the point of the class isn't it?" Samuel asked.

   "The point of the class is to learn potion making, not how to be an insufferable brat," Snape replied.

   "True, she can be that way. Spoiled I think," Samuel said.

   Severus stopped and looked at Samuel, "I'm surprised you take my side on that."

   "I don't think of myself as taking sides. I try to call things as I see them. She can be an enormous pain. Highly intelligent people are often like that, and it's no secret to me that she doesn't like me all that well either," Samuel commented. Snape smirked and opened the door to let Samuel into Dumbledore's office. Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, and Sprout were already assembled in the office, sitting in chairs placed in front of Dumbledore's desk. Also Professor Lupin, Hagrid and Elanus were present as well. Snape took a seat besides Professor Flitwick and Samuel sat by Professor Lupin.

   "Good we're all here," Dumbledore said, "We have some very serious business to discuss here and I don't want it to take up any more time then necessary."

   "If I might interrupt for a second I have two items I'd like to put on the list since the five people who decide these things are already here. One of them might already be on the list," Samuel said.

   "Certainly," Dumbledore said.

   "The first is probably what we're going to be discussing anyway. A lot of students have hounded me about what happened Friday and I'm not real clear on school policy about how much I should tell them," Samuel said.

   "That is one reason we're here, yes," Dumbledore responded.

   "I thought so. The other is about getting permission for Ginny Weasley to be my permanent aide. I've got an enormous amount of work with the classes, and the counseling. I also thought it might be a good idea to set up a program that would allow all teachers to have aides," Samuel said.

   "Now that is a wonderful idea. We'll start setting that up immediately and as far as I'm concerned Miss Weasley can remain your aide until further notice. Any objections?" Dumbledore asked, to a positive response from all the other professors, "We'll discuss this more in detail later. For now though let's get to the business at hand. First off I'd like to let you all know that Elanus Green will be assisting Professor Lupin in his advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts classes."

   "And probably teaching one myself," Elanus commented.

   "Welcome aboard," Flitwick chirped.

   "The second order of business is what transpired last Friday. I wanted to wait until Professor Green had made his recovery so I could get the details from all those present. As far as what the students need to hear, Mr. Evans, I would like to keep that to a minimum. They already know there were 'zombies' of some sort, sticking to that and nothing more is best. Let's hope that it was an isolated incident," Dumbledore said, "I would however like to know how it is that Mr. Evans was the only one injured?"

   "Entirely my fault, sir. I've been in a similar situation before, I thought I could handle it. I saw four zombies, rushed in and hacked them up. They put themselves back together and drug me to the ground. I wasn't wearing any of the armor I normally would have, and I didn't use any of my other abilities. Call it prideful arrogance, youthful foolishness or whatever you want. I was hasty, and I made a mistake," Samuel said, "I'll try not to let it happen again."

   Dumbledore nodded and smiled, "I don't think you foolish Mr. Evans. I would however advise caution in all areas you think you are more then equipped to handle. Is his story fairly accurate in what happened last Friday?" Hagrid, Lupin, and Elanus nodded their heads in agreement. "Do we have any idea where those creatures came from and how they got into the crypt?"

   "I went back down there with Remus the following morning to see if there were any signs of that. At first we thought it just random chance, what with the castle being exposed to so much dark magic last year. However, when we examined the corpses they still had a lot of rotting flesh attached. The last burial in the crypt was over two hundred years ago. They were, for lack of a better word, 'moist'. There's not really any chance that those were bodies buried there. With the few tracks we found and a fairly convenient ventilation hole out in the forest; we're pretty sure they were put in there on purpose," Elanus said, "Either that or they somehow managed to wander past all the stuff in the forest unscathed and crawled down into the shaft. While plausible, I find it highly unlikely the centaurs would have let random undead just slip in."

   "Do you agree, Professor Lupin?" Dumbledore asked, Lupin nodded, "So we must find out who, and why."

   "My best people are all over it," Elanus said, "We'll know something in a matter of days I'd imagine."

   "I'm eager to see the report, and the Unspeakables in action," Dumbledore said, "Now we are late for lunch and I hear the elves have made that wonderful pot roast we all enjoy so much."

   After lunch Samuel had one more class to teach and had promised to help Filch make a few of his rounds on Monday afternoons. Filch claimed it made everything go so much smoother. However the real reason was very few people actually liked Filch, and Samuel was a rare exception. For whatever reason Samuel and the old caretaker had a common bond that few people truly understood, much less Filch and Samuel. Some of the students even attempted to get to know Filch when Samuel was around and the caretaker was beginning to be less harsh about his daily dealings with the students in return. After about half an hour of oiling a few rusty door hinges Samuel and he parted ways.

   Upon arriving back at his quarters he found Harry Potter and Padma Patil waiting on his sofa, along with his wife who was engaged in a lively conversation with Harry. Samuel greeted the two and went into his bedroom to change out of his teacher's clothing.

   "Well, it looks like we have about ten minutes," Samuel said, "Boris!" he called to the house elf attending to the quarters. A small house elf dressed in a clean blue sheet walked into the living room, "Yes?" he asked cheerfully.

   "I hate to bother you about this, but could you have some refreshments brought up?" Samuel asked.

   "Certainly," Boris said, running off into a small compartment in the corner of the room.

   "When he gets back we'll go talk," Samuel said to Harry. A few minutes later Boris placed a small platter of lemon cookies on the small coffee table. Another house elf came in bearing a small tray filled with small cups of some sort of clear fizzy liquid. Samuel thanked the house elf and helped himself to a few cookies and a cup of the fizzy liquid. "Shall we?" he asked Potter. Harry nodded and followed Samuel into his counseling chambers.

   Samuel took a seat in a large green armchair and motioned Harry towards a similar armchair facing his. When Harry sat down the chair leaned back and the cushions became somewhat softer. "Pretty neat huh, it adjusts itself to you. I had Flitwick enchant it," Samuel said, "So what's on your mind?"

   "I really don't know if I should bother you with this," Harry replied, "It's not a big deal. I shouldn't waste your time."

   "Hmm, well why don't you tell me and I'll decide if my time is being wasted," Samuel said, "There will be no hard feelings either way. How about that?"

   "I suppose I should tell someone. It's just that my scar felt like it was on fire last night," Harry confessed.

   "I assume that's not a normal occurrence. What makes it do that? Do you know?"

   "Well, when Voldemort was around it would hurt. Never like this though."

   "I don't think you have much to worry about Voldemort anymore. He's gone, so that can't be it," Samuel commented, "Is there anything else that makes it burn?"

   "Not that I know of," Harry sighed, "Only when he was planning something, or if something very bad was about to happen."

   "Dumbledore mentioned to me that you two shared some kind of bond with each other," Samuel said, rubbing his chin.

   "What do you think it means?" Harry asked.

   "I don't know," Samuel replied, "I don't think it's a good sign at any rate. Did anything else happen last night?"

   Harry shook his head, "No," he replied, squirming in his chair ever so slightly.

   "I see. Are you sure? This could be important," Samuel asked.

   "No, I didn't see anything," Harry said.

   Samuel raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Well, if it happens again, be sure to tell me immediately. Even if you have to wake me up in the middle of the night," Harry nodded and shifted his weight.

   "Anything else?" Samuel asked, "I think you have a whole forty five more minutes."

   "No, I don't think so," Harry replied.

   Samuel nodded, "Mind if I inform Dumbledore?" Harry shook his head, "Go ahead."

   "Well if you're sure you don't have anything else, I think we're done here," Samuel said, showing Harry out the door, "Feel free to hang about if you want." Harry smiled and left their quarters. Maria and Padma were sitting on the sofa talking their apparent mutual dislike for Madam Hooch. As Harry left Maria looked up at her husband inquisitively, "That was fast."

   "Not much to talk about," Samuel said, "Well Miss Patil it looks like you have a choice. We can wait until four thirty or you can come in now and we'll be done early."

   "We can start now. I hear these meetings can take some time," Padma said.

   Samuel nodded, "Right this way then," He said, opening the door to his office. Padma walked inside and Samuel faced his wife and touched the middle joined of his index finger to his forehead before closing the door behind him. Samuel gestured at the seat Harry had been sitting in. Padma's face took on a puzzled look as she glanced from the chair to the book bag she held under her arm.

"What's wrong?" Samuel asked.

   "Shouldn't we sit at your desk to discuss the papers? There's more room to spread them out," Padma suggested.

   "Well I like to think these meetings are a bit more informal then all that but I see your point," he said while dragging a small table between the chairs, "now we have a table, and comfortable chairs."

   "I have a good academic record here. You'll see from my marks and comments from my teachers that while I'm not the best student here, I'm well above average," Padma said, placing a few papers on the table. Samuel picked up a few of the papers and looked them over as Padma continued talking about her studies. He smiled at many of the comments left by the various teachers. Flitwick's were especially encouraging, although it was a rare occurrence when Flitwick couldn't find anything nice to say about a person.

   Her grades were excellent until the beginning of this year. They dropped ever so slightly. Most would chalk it up to more difficult subjects, or simply laziness but Samuel knew better. Padma was not the kind of girl who'd be lazy or let her grades falter much simply because the classes were more difficult.

   "I see everything is in order here," Samuel said as he returned the paper to its stack. Padma carefully straightened the papers and looked intently at Samuel. "What?" he asked.

   "I assumed this is an academic counseling session? Do you have any advice?" Padma asked.

   "I'm sorry, you're right. I had a bit of a restless night last night," Samuel said, rubbing his forehead for a moment, "What is it you want to do with your life after Hogwarts?"

   "I'm going to become either an Obliviator or an Unspeakable," she said in a matter of fact tone, "I would prefer Unspeakable."

   "I see. My experience, and my cousin, tells me that those are some pretty tough positions to get into right out of Hogwarts," Samuel said, "They can take a while, and there is a waiting list for Unspeakable positions at least. Have you given any thought to what you want to do in the year or two in between graduation and getting your entry position?"

   Padma squirmed in her seat and blushed ever so slightly. Samuel chuckled, "What?"

   "Oh no, it's silly," Padma said, "You'll laugh."

   "Well, why don't you tell me about it so I can have a good laugh? It's been a while for me you know," Samuel said.

   "I would very much like to travel. I'd like to see some places in India and the Americas before I settle down into a career with the Ministry. I also want to," Padma hesitated, "No it's silly."

   "You want to what?" asked Samuel.

   "Get married," Padma blurted out, and blushed a delicate crimson as she did.

   "Well, to anyone or is there some particular lucky boy out there?"

   "I don't know yet," she sighed, "It's been a kind of dream of mine for a long time. Promise you won't tell Pavarti?"

   "Anything said in this room stays in this room," Samuel replied, "Plus I imagine if I told Pavarti the squealing that ensued would be unbearable."

   "Yes, it would," Padma giggled.

   "It seems like you have some good ideas about what you want to do with your life Miss Patil. I hope those ideas and dreams come true for you," Samuel said, "I do have a confession to make, and a question or two more though. I didn't actually request this meeting and though I have a pretty good idea who did, I'm not exactly thrilled."

   Padma looked confused as she drew a neatly folded piece of parchment from her robe, "My sister gave me this note from you. This is your handwriting isn't it?" she asked. Samuel raised an eyebrow and took the note. It was definitely his handwriting but he hadn't written it.

   "Yes it is, and either my brother forged it or someone here has something they're not supposed to have," Samuel chuckled, "I'll deal with this later though. May I ask you a few questions?" Padma nodded and folded her hands in her lap.

   "Would you be too terribly inconvenienced or offended if I asked you to schedule regular weekly meetings?" Samuel asked.

   "I suppose not. Why?" Padma asked.

   "Truth be told, I'm actually glad you came in for counseling. Your sister told me of some concerns she has and quite frankly I'm a little concerned myself," Samuel said.

   Padma eyes widened and she looked away from Samuel for a moment, "Is this about me screaming in the night and being 'distant' as my sister has so often put it?"

   "I won't lie to you, yes it is," Samuel said, "She's concerned, and your roommates are concerned as well."

   "They're just nightmares."

   "That's probably all it is, Miss Patil. It's completely up to you whether or not you come in for weekly counseling. All I want to do is talk to you about it, no pressure at all. I would suggest you think about it very carefully though."

   "Am I excused?" Padma asked as she quickly gathered up her papers, "I might think about it, and you can tell my sister to worry about herself more."

   Samuel nodded and opened the door for Padma who rushed out, only barely stopping to nod politely to Maria as she left. "Bad session?" Maria asked.

   "I can't really talk about it," Samuel replied, "I hope she'll be back though."

   The other two students had similar complaints as Harry. They had nightmares, and a general sense of uneasiness about the events that had happened only nights before. The boy who was actually attacked was a mess on several levels. He could barely speak a whole sentence before breaking into tears. Samuel wrote a note to Dumbledore explaining the problem and recommended the boy be given a few days more away from class. He also recommended that he speak to the other two boys as soon as was convenient to see if they were showing similar problems.