Ch.9
"Hello Spear," Professor Dumbledore told me. I looked around and saw that he was the only person in the kitchen, besides me. I also noticed that he was eating something that looked liked soup.
I looked at the soup and then to where Tonks was mixing something earlier.
"I don't think you should be eating that sir," I said to Dumbledore as he brought a spoonful of soup to his mouth. He just smiled at me.
"Tonk's cooking has gotten better since she left Hogwarts," he told me.
"Tell that to my poor digestive system. Since she accidentally food poisoned us with those cookies of hers in my sixth year, it hasn't been the same since." I said, sitting down next to the aging wizard. He just smiled and continued to eat the soup.
I just shook my head and hoped for the best. "What are you doing here, Dumbledore?" I asked.
"There is meeting for the Order here today and I need to be present for it. Plus, I wanted to talk to you about something." he said as he wiped his mouth with his napkin.
"About what?" I asked him. I still couldn't believe that he had eaten something that Tonks made and had not gotten sick yet. 'Brave man, Dumbledore is,' I thought.
"About a position in Hogwarts," he told, a smile appearing on his face.
"Which one?" I asked quickly. I had a hunch of which one it might be. There was only one known position open in the school and I was hoping that it was the one that I was thinking of.
"It's not the position of professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts," he told me. I swear that man can read mind sometimes.
"Oh... then what position is it?" I asked sadly.
"Do you know what student teachers are?"
"Sort of. Isn't it that what the muggle schools have to train new teachers?"
"Yes. I remember before you left Hogwarts that you had expressed much interest in that position. But, you never received the chance to get the proper training for it. You had to leave the country before you even started. So instead of you having to gothrough the ordeal of going to the ministry to achieve this, I would like you to go to Hogwarts and learn from our new D.A.D.A. Professor," he finished. "Now I don't expect your answer immediately-"
"Yes," I said quickly. He smiled at my quick response.
"Do you wish to know who the new professor is?" he said, with a twinkle in his eye.
"Will you tell me if I ask you?"
"No."
"Then what is the point of me asking?" I said smiling. We remained there in comfortable silence. I felt my happiness getting bigger and bigger from the thought of me being back in Hogwarts. But then, my happiness went down a bit when I thought of something else.
"You asked me to take this position because of Harry, didn't you?" I questioned my old headmaster.
"Yes and no."
"So then, what is the no?"
"I cannot reveal that to you just yet. Later on in the year, I will tell you."
"Keeping secretsfrom me again Professor?" I said jokingly.
"Like I said before, I will reveal it to you later on in the year," he said to me. "Will you be staying with us for the meeting?" he asked as he pulled out his pocket watch.
"No. I told Charlie already that I don't want to be any part of the Order. If I remember it correctly, I told you and Sirius that as well," I said to him, felling my happiness that I had just a few minutes ago begin to leave me.
"I know. I was just hoping that you might have had changed your mind about it. I was hoping that you could take you fathers place in the Order," Dumbledore said, getting up from the table.
I sat there for a little bit. "Maybe... maybe in a year or two. I will give you my answer then," I said, getting up from the table as well.
I began to head to the door when I heard Dumbledore say behind me, "You haven't been able to mourn for him properly, have you?"
I quickly turned back around and asked, "What do you mean?"
"You haven't been able to mourn for Sirius. Like the way you were able to mourn for Lily and James," he said.
I remained quite again. I didn't know how to exactly to respond to that. It wasn't something that I expected Dumbledore to ask me. I came up with the quickest lie that I could come with in less then a minute.
"Sirius has been gone to me since he was taken to Askaban. When he got out of there, he wasn't my fath-... I mean, he wasn't the Sirius that I used to know. He was someone different. He didn't treat me the same. That's all," I said, turning back towards the door.
"That was a lie," I heard him say. 'How does he know these things?!' I asked myself. My subconscious responded by saying, "Hello!!! It's Dumbledore!"
"You do know that all you just said is not true. My question to you is, why did you have to lie to me," hesaid solemnly.
I looked at the ground. I felt one of my headaches coming. I wanted to run upstairs as soon as I can so I could use my pensieve to get rid of it. I then decided to just tell him the truth.
"It's easier for me that way," I said. With that, I left the kitchen before he could ask me any more questions.