Of Body Guards and Friends

"I have told the students-" Dumbledore said with his back to Trill. "…that your little display was simply some Irish magic in case you got lost or couldn't see the castle." He turned around and his eyes glittered. "I really couldn't think of any other reason for your behavior." He said, looking her in the eye. Trill shrugged uncomfortably. "That's quite a mess you've made." He sat in the desk and relaxed, becoming kindly once more. "And have you considered our other dilemma?"

Trill flared up light a firecracker at this welcoming statement. "Dumbledore, sir, I have racked my brains. I can find no other solution! Not one that I don't totally abhor, anyway!" Trill sat in the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk with her arms crossed, like a rebellious student. "They're very good, protective and obedient body guards, and besides that, I like having a wolf with me. It is so much better than a cat or rat, or even an owl!" Dumbledore was smiling slightly, and so Trill changed her approach to one of begging. She jumped to her knees and knelt in front of his chair, bowing before him.

"Pleeeease Professor! I beg of you, let me get another wolf like Amurensis to take his place while he teaches! I've already introduced him to the students, and they would wonder about me if I left him behind!"

"You could tell them I disapprove of having any animal other than a cat, an owl, a toad or a rat, which I do." Trill begged some more.

"Pleeeeeeeaaaase! I will be miserable!" Dumbledore was smiling even wider now.

"Hmmm…" Trill looked him in the eye and puckered out her lips in the most dramatic form she could erect.

"Very well then. But how, may I ask, are you going to get an enormous white timber wolf all of the way from Alaska?" Trill stood up and grinned, which emphasized her dimples. Dumbledore sighed. What had he done?

"And he let you bring another wolf?" Amurensis was shocked. Trill scratched the new white wolf behind his ears, and this wolf did not have to pretend to enjoy it.

"Isn't he just perfect?" Trill cooed. Amurensis frowned.

"Only because you made him that way." Trill was hurt.

"Not so! I picked the one with the sweetest personality and then made him look like you." She put her attention back to the wolf. Amurensis said seriously,

"You do know that my mother, who was a Banshee, mated a wolf, don't you?" Trill threw him a disgusted glance.

"I'm not going to marry him, Amurensis." She stopped. "Ugh." And kissed the wolf on the nose. "Now there's only the problem of what his name is going to be." Trill looked slyly at Amurensis, who cocked his eyebrows.

"You're not naming him Amurensis." He said firmly. His mouth was set, but Trill rolled her eyes.

"His name has got to be Amurensis, I already told the students that that was what his name was. But I guess we could call him Amuren." She had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "And besides, Professors are always called by their last names anyway." Amurensis looked stubborn.

"I haven't got a last name." Trill caught herself snorting, but stopped herself in time.

"Aye, now there's the rub. How about…Stephen?" Amurensis shook his head. "Williams?" Amurensis made gagging motions. "How about Smith?" He yawned. "Well you have to help me think!" She stood up and put her hands on her hips to look more impressive. But Amurensis stood up as well and towered nearly two to three feet above her, her eyes followed his face on the way up until she was craning to see his face. "How about we call you Hughes, the French word for HUGE!" She called, smiling her dimpled smile.

"How tall are you anyway?" He asked her, neck bent. Trill blushed and mumbled,

"Nine and a half decimeters in metric, or four feet nine inches otherwise, last I checked." She turned herself back to the wolf who was nuzzling her leg.

"And you?" She asked defiantly, looking up at him.

"Six feet, ten inches." He smirked. "That's makes me a full four decimeters taller than you in metric or two feet and one inch taller than you otherwise." He grinned at her choice of words.

Trill stood up dejectedly and motioned for the wolf to follow as she walked to the door. "Well I've thought of a good name for you." She said at last. "How about Professor Kyan?" And then hurried out before he could answer.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran through the halls on their way to dinner the very next night. Hermione was trying to force them to stuff their faces as quickly as they could so they could rush off to the library to do some research on Moonstones for Snape. Harry stopped to catch his breath with his hands on his knees.

"For goodness sake Hermione, the library will still be open after dinner! What's the big rush?" Ron skidded to a halt and Hermione turned around, hands on hips.

"I am not going to just give you the answers this time!" She strode up to him. "I am giving you plenty of time to do-it-your-self!" Harry backed off with each emphasized word while Hermione poked him in the chest. And then she stalked off to the Great Hall.

"What's the matter with her?" Harry asked, rubbing his chest.

"Dunno." Ron answered. "I bet it's that new girl. She was pretty upset about her yesterday. I can't make out why she doesn't like her though."

"Maybe she's got a thing against the Irish… or maybe it's Americans." Harry mused out loud, shouldering his bag. "But the way you were gawking at that girl, I wouldn't be surprised if Hermione were jealous." And he skipped out of the way of Ron's swinging fist.

"What! Hermione? Jealous? Why should she be jealous!" He said through clenched teeth, grabbing Harry in a headlock.

"It's-argh! It's- really-quite-obvious- Ron!" Ron released him almost immediately and Harry stood back smiling and arranging his glasses on his nose. Ron now stood in front of him swallowing hard.

"Do you really think..?" His eyes grew wide. "No, she just doesn't like her and doesn't want to be friends, that's all." He gulped all the same.

"C'mon Ron." Harry said, smiling and shouldering his bag. Then he walked briskly off to the Great Hall in imitation of Hermione.

Trill saw Hermione enter first. Then Harry and Ron a few minutes later. Hope swelled within her that they had disowned that girl as a friend, and she could watch over Harry without interruption. But no, they had already gone to sit by her. Trill felt the sinking disappointment, but made herself look at the bright side.

There's that red haired boy, Ronald, wasn't it? He doesn't look too happy about sitting by Hermione. Aha! She exclaimed to herself. There, he's nudging Harry to sit by her. Maybe…She looked thoughtful now. Maybe I can work from the inside out. She was smiling now. Already her devious little mind was working up ways to turn Ron against Hermione. I could start with…she thought, and the wheels in her mind whirred as quickly as the current in a whirlpool as she walked to the Gryffindortable.

"Hey there!" She exclaimed, pretending to have just noticed them. She trotted to the seat beside Ron, closely followed by the new Amuren. She stood next to him with a dimpled smile.

"May I?" Ron nodded, and she sat next to him. Trill had to stop herself from sighing in preparation. English boys were never known for coming up with conversations. They probably considered it the woman's job. Ron noticed the new quirk in her smile.

"What's so funny?" He asked. Trill was surprised, but was never hard pressed to make up a lie. The best lies, she found, were the ones with the most truth in it, and only an occasional half-truth to give it the right light.

"Oh! Well..." She brought her hand up to cover her smile. "Did you know that your pictures move? Yes I suppose you do." She said when his expression didn't change. "But did you know that," She stopped smiling now and leaned in to whisper "You have a…a poltergeist?" Ron laughed.

"Oh yeah, Peeves is a real pain right enough. What happened?" He looked to be anxiously waiting, so Trill recounted most of the previous encounter to him.

"He…this Peeves as you call him was blowing in my ear while I was waiting to get into the charms classroom, and so I reached back to hit whoever it was and there was a big suit of armor, where there had just been, well, the hallway." Trill now decided to drop the pretense of being a sweet girl. "You can imagine how…surprised… I was, so I screamed, and out flew a little man in a turban, cackling at me. I told him to shut-up and get lost, but he just began mimicking me and zoomed off, even dropping some chalk on my head."

Trill tried hard to look unhappy and annoyed, but she had left out her favorite part of the story where she told him to shut-up and he did. He had covered his ears at the banshee scream and gone into a full body bind, landing head first in an umbrella stand. Trill had dusted off the chalk while stuffing two sticks of it up his nose. Ron looked at the fake, annoyed face and said,

"Yeah, Peeves doesn't listen to anyone," Trill was secretly delighted, "Except for the bloody baron. He's the Slytherin ghost." He pointed to the Slytherin table. Trill turned her head to see a silvery white ghost shimmering near the food and she gulped upon seeing that he was covered in blood.

"Why is there blood all over his clothes?" She asked. Ron shook his head.

"No one knows. Not even anyone in Slytherin, I'm guessing." He glared at the Slytherin table. Trill had already gathered that the Slytherin and Gryffindor were the worst of enemies. The headmaster had placed her in Gryffindor, so she could watch over Harry, but she looked longingly at the silver and green table. All she knew, however, was that the Slytherin boys were terribly witty and that the Gryffindor students were painfully noble, not much to go on, but it was a start.

I guess I had better not tell Ron about Draco. She mused. Just the other day she had met a wonderful gentleman, just for a moment, who went by the name of Draco Malfoy. Their personalities had immediately clicked, and not the fake, semi-sweet personality she had adopted, but the real quirky girl that lay underneath. His witty, insolent attitude went well with hers, even though she had barely talked to him for more than a minute. If only Harry could have been friends with Draco Malfoy, then my job would have been much easier. She thought. Oh well, Ronald is a nice boy. But she glanced over to the Slytherin Table all the same.Amuren licked her hand.

"Aaaak!" She shrieked, thoughts tearing away from Slytherin. "Amuren!" Ron looked at her and then the wolf, and scratched him behind the ears. Trill glared. Ron smiled. And then they laughed together, making Harry and Hermione look over from what they had been discussing. Hermione's eyes narrowed at the sight of Trill, and Harry seemed hesitant.

"Ah! Harry, Hermione! How are you this fine morning?" She smiled at them. Hermione must have noticed that she was glaring and decided to play along, and so softened her gaze.

"We're just fine, thank you. What about you, Harry?" She smiled forcefully at Harry, who looked to be pondering. Trill's eyes narrowed. What had they been talking about? Hermione must have known she was there the entire time. Trill made a mental note to herself not to underestimate this girl.

Trill's attention was lost when Dumbledore stood up smiling. The hall quieted somewhat.

"I must regret to inform you that Professor Hood has resigned." A cheer went up from the crowd, until Dumbledore's eyes glittered. "We shall miss him very much." He emphasized. He paused and then continued.

"But I am glad to say that his place shall be taken by our new, Professor Kyan. Welcome, Professor." He made a sweep with his arm, indicating the giant of a man emerging from the shadows. Ron grinned at a stunned Harry and picked the sandwich out of his hands. This time the crowd roared and Trill's mouth went dry. Amurensis was dressed in deep green robes that pulled tight against his broad chest and, Trill thought, went very nicely with his golden hair. Professor Kyan smiled a small, crooked smile in her direction.

History of magic came and went, and Trill began to look forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts, where she knew Hermione Granger would be there. In fact, Trill found out, that she did in fact, have almost every class with the threesome, if not all. Hermione must be suspicious because of that first time I lied to her. She thought back.

"I…I have potions, I think." She grabbed something out of her pocket. "Ah, no. Transfiguration. You?" She looked almost pleadingly at them, and Ron fumbled with his words.

"Divine-um…Divination." Trill frowned and shook her head.

"I don't have that until tomorrow." She sighed.

"Well!" Hermione said happily. "That's too bad!" And grabbed Ron's bag, pulling him behind her.

"Bye!" He and Harry waved, Ron stumbling as Hermione pulled him along.

Trill was relieved. That must be why she dislikes me. She thought. Maybe I can get closer anyhow, if that's the only reason. So off she trudged, looking forward to seeing 'Professor Kyan' teach with a wand.

Trill walked into the Defense against the Dark Arts room with her bag slung across one shoulder and the outer black robe over her usual white attire. She had been challenged once or twice by a few of the more strict teachers like McGonagall about her clothing, but had eventually gotten away with it because she was new. The students accepted it because everything about her was strange. An Irish girl, coming from the US Salem School with an enormous Siberian Timber wolf in tow.

Trill sat in the very back of the class so she could see the door and the window and every movement the children in front of her made. Harry Potter would not die in Defense Against The Dark Arts. She lounged in her chair to watch Harry's threesome march into class, and to her delight, sit on the very front row. Trill smiled coyly and waved to Ron, who blushed, and looked as if her were going to say something before Hermione spoke something to him first. Trill sighed and looked anxiously around for Amurensis. He was not in the classroom yet, and so Trill flipped un-interested through her Defense Against the Dark Arts, Volume six. She was absolutely sure she knew almost everything this book could hold and so she barely skimmed the pages, looking for interesting chapters. Very suddenly, a chapter on Irish and Scottish lore caught her eye. She turned slowly through the chapter, stopping dead on the section about Banshees and changelings.

"Long ago, it was a common fear among new mothers in Ireland that their infant might be a changeling - a fairy which has taken the shape of a human. Since this was apparently not a desirable situation, there were tests which suspicious parents would carry out to make sure their child was human. Changelings were said to despise water, so the child's mother would carry the child while stepping over a river, believing that a changeling would reveal itself rather than be forced to get that close to water." Trill gulped and read on, discovering to her horror, how to recognize a changeling, noting them in her head and ticking them off. Hates large amounts of water, unusually large or small, no definite age, and eyes change color every week or month, or even every day or so. Though they were very small, obscure hints, Trill knew that each and every one of these applied to Amurensis. Trill read on to the banshee's.

"There are also some less benign superstitions held by the Irish, one of which is that of the Bean Sidhe, commonly known as the Banshee. The wailing of these ghostly "women of the hills" was said to foretell death and the wailing of more than one banshee was believed to foretell the death of someone important." Trill sighed and smiled. At least that was all they knew of Banshee's. Her heart caught in her throat at the next chapter.

"At least, that is what the popular muggle belief is. Banshee's are in fact, 'women of the hills' with strange unearthly voices, but have been known to sing in the magical world, for almost any other occasion. There is great power to be found in a banshee's voice, and were you to come across a banshee, she could hold your mind in her hands and shape it like clay to her will.

One muggle witness was there, listening the night that a very famous, holy man had died. The banshee's sang to mourn his loss, and it is now 'fact' among the muggles that these women sing only when someone is about to die.

Banshee's have become very scarce over a 700 year period, and not a single one has been sighted for at least 20 years, though this could be only because they wish not to be seen."

Trill looked up from the book and let her gaze wander for a moment around the room, wondering where Amurensis could be thirty seconds before his first lesson. She shook her long sliver braid and looked back to the book.

"A new sub-species of banshee is the Veela from Bulgaria. Possessing somewhat the same powers in their song as the Banshee, they are also known for their irresistible lure of the body. A break off from the Banshee, they posses the same power in lure but miniscule power in the song compared with their ancestral 'women of the hills'…"

Trill skimmed down to the bottom of the page telling on how to recognize a Banshee. Once again she was in for a nasty shock.

"Banshee's are always women very small in stature, but very commanding. Like the Veela, the Banshee has long, silver hair and is very attractive, usually with a dimple in their left cheek. They have been known to crave attention. Banshee's can only be born in Ireland, their homeland."

Trill didn't even have to think to know that the description fit her like a glove. She looked hastily around the room, knowing full well that if anyone smarter than a trained monkey were to read this, they would know it was she. She was worrying about the problem with a tight knot in her stomach when Draco Malfoy came in the door. She was so immensely happy to see that he was in her class that she didn't see how angry Harry and Ron and Hermione were to see him. They glared at her when he sat in the next seat, but Trill's stomach did another summersault when he sat down next to her. She smiled as broadly as ever.

"Hey." He said charmingly. Trill almost gulped, but managed to squeak out a 'hey' in return, surprised at how calm she sounded. What's the matter with you woman? She shouted at herself, and barely slapped herself into control. "Is this seat taken?" It was a stupid question, seeing as he had already sat down, but she lifted her hand, closed her eyes, and motioned that it was all his. When he didn't look away, she talked to break the silence.

"Didn't we meet in the hall the other day?" She asked. Malfoy looked studious.

"You know, I think we might have. Your name is Trill, right?" He asked.

Trill answered, "And your name is Draco Malfoy." She smiled at him and held out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you once again." And they shook hands. There was a pause before he spoke.

"I don't suppose you could tell me what class you have next, so I can forgo the pleasure of meeting you all over again?"

"I have lunch, and then potions, what about you?" Malfoy smiled and leaned over the side of his chair, motioning for her to come closer. He looked around she began to feel all fluttery inside, but he said,

"I can't give out my schedule to babes anymore. They all start stalking me and I usually end up being late for class because of the mobs." He slicked back his hair with his hand and Trill giggled despite herself. She leaned in and whispered back, shaking her head slowly and looking into his eyes. She clicked her tongue.

"That's too bad. I don't know what to tell you." And she shrugged her shoulders. They laughed together, and Trill was thrilled to see they were just a couple inches away from each other's faces.

Amurensis gave a loud bang as he strode through the door to the front of the class, and Amuren the wolf looked up from where he was lying with his head on his paws, barking happily until Trill looked away from Malfoy and shushed him.

"Welcome." He said to the students. The room was immediately quiet in awe of the low rumble coming from the man's mouth. The black robes he wore now pulled tight across his chest and shoulders and Trill determined that the every pair of robes he owned must be too small for him.

"I am Professor Kyan." He said. "My favorite color is green, I like tropical beaches and fruit drinks and I play the guitar moderately well. That's all you need to know about me, so I'm going to start now." He leaned down to look at the notes on his desk, and lifted it back quickly to see the students looking at each other with arched eyebrows. "And I won't pretend that I care what your favorite color is so you can forget about it." Someone in the back snorted.

Trill glanced at a girl who was staring dreamy eyed at Amurensis, and closed her eyes when the girl turned to her friend and began whispering. Trill noticed with something close to jealousy that the two girl's giggling was about Amurensis' broad shoulders and golden hair. Amurensis turned to look at them.

"Well?" He said obviously. The girl, blushed, and said,

"We were just wondering…how old you are." And she turned scarlet when he cocked an eyebrow.

"And if you're married!" A girl's voice piped in. Amurensis was slightly ruffled and blushed furiously before he replied,

"I'm as old as I need to be to teach this class, and if I were married, do you think I would want to teach at all?" That got a few laughs, and Amurensis smiled broadly and kindly before beginning.

"What do you know about how a Grindylow thinks?" The students were puzzled and caught off guard. This was third year material, but Hermione raised her hand anyway.

"A Grindylow is only found in regions where…" Professor Kyan interrupted her.

"We already know where the Grindylow lives. Tell me about the Grindylow itself. Why, do you suppose, it attacks some travelers and not others?" Amurensis raised his hands in a mocking stance, "Because that's when it feels like it?" The students were silent.

"A Grindylow is a vertebrae, it has a skeleton and so therefore has personality." He looked them in the eye with his deep green eyes. "What kind of personality does a Grindylow, have?" When nobody answered, but stared raptly at him, he went to a tank by the side of the classroom and pulled out a slimy, squirming, Grindylow, holding it up for them to see. Some of the students were rubbing their arms as if to scrub off slime, and still others were sitting with mouths open and ready to bite.

Trill was disgusted by their behavior, and nearly screamed when she looked at Malfoy who was baring his teeth at Harry Potter. Harry in return looked as if he were showing off claws that he didn't have, and Hermione was being fiercely possessive of Ron. Why would Harry and Malfoy fight? She wondered. There was a very strange sleepy atmosphere to the room, and Trill stood up to defend Harry from the strange magic, pulling out her wand which she knew she wouldn't use. But Amurensis caught her eye and shook her head, making sitting motions with his hands.

"A Grindylow is evil, right?" He continued. The class nodded and some began to feel hate toward the Grindylow in his hands. There were clenched fists and grinding teeth, and Malfoy and Harry were getting out of their chairs. Amurensis must have found that his students were getting violent and broke character and snorted, leaning his head down, and throwing the Grindylow to the floor. Someone shrieked when it hit, but now they could see that it was really a black ball covered in seaweed.

Amurensis wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and said happily to himself,

"Every time! You would make wonderful little Grindylow's!" And then straightened up with a huge grin on his face. Trill, who was suddenly remembering her own lessons said loudly,

"Not funny." And there was a rumble of agreement as the spell wore off. Amurensis gave Trill a look and then moved aside a stack of papers so he could lean against the desk, still smirking.

"Today we will be learning how to block unwelcome mind control spells, everyone wands out…" And part B of the lesson began.

The rest of his lesson went wonderfully well, Trill thought. Amurensis used the Banshee in his voice (from his mother's side, Trill thought smugly) to hypnotize them several more times after he had taught them the spell, and by the end of the class everyone was worn out, and felt as if their emotions had been wrung dry.

Trill waved good-bye to Malfoy and said, "Don't let those screaming girls get to you Malfoy, you're still a good person very deep down." And he grinned back.

"Shows what you know." And he left. Trill then tried to catch Ron's eye as well, but he seemed very in-observant, and left with a very satisfied Hermione.

Trill crawled through the hole behind the portrait of the fat lady and made her way up the stairs to the girls dormitory. She and Amurensis had done some hard magical practicing together and she was bone weary, only stopping to cuff Fred and George Weasley on the head, and duck behind a couch. Unfortunately, once she was down there, she didn't have the strength to get back up, and nearly drifted off, if it hadn't been for the pillow thrown intoher face.

"Ouch." She muttered sleepily, pulling it under her head and snuggling into it.

"Alright." George said, annoyed, "Who stole that pillow I was practicing with?" He looked around the common room to Fred who was trying hard to look innocent.

"Fred! I need that pillow!" Fred looked up from his homework, pointing disbeleiving to himself.

"I can't believe you would accuse me of such an awful crime!" He sniffed and began to get teary eyed. "When it was probably that slug behind the couch." George whipped out his wand and stalked behind Fred's chair, tripping over a pair of legs and falling on his face.

"Aha!" He snatched the pillow. "Thank you very much!" Trill moaned and hauled herself to her feet, glaring back at him.

"You'll regret this George Weasley!" she tried to shake a fist at him, but only got it half way up before she let it drop and made her way up the stairs, nuttering to herself about. "Can't let a poor girl get some sleep, what a-" Fred laughed raucously at George who began his practicing in earnest, throwing the pillow across the room into Trill's back with his wand. She fell on the stairs and groaned, pulling the pillow under her head once again, and fell asleep.

Trill sat up with a jolt at the sound of someone entering the room. She saw to her horror that it was Hermione.

"Where have you been?" She whispered. She knew deep down that she had been wandering the halls with Harry and Ron and the invisibility cloak. Hermione jumped at her voice.

"I needed a drink." Trill shook her head.

"Hey, listen." Trill said to her. "We aren't really friends, you know, and I feel real dumb, cause I don't even know why." She held out her hand with a smile and Hermione stiffened up.

"I know why." She came closer to Trill. "You haven't got an Irish name, you haven't got an Irish accent, you hang out with Draco Malfoy, and I trust you about as far as I can throw you." Trill stopped smmiling and lowered her hand as Hermion stalked off to her bed.

"That's a terrible cliché, you know. 'I trust you about as far as I can throw you'." Trill listened happily to the angry silence coming from Hermione and layed back in bed.

They can't say I didn't try. She said to herself, and went back to sleep, dreaming up new plans.