A/N: Sigh! Nobody loves me at Hogwarts! I may have to go back to Rohan after all! But at least good, faithful Julia followed me, even though she fought valiantly to keep me from coming here and isn't really interested in Harry, and also Elwen of Lorien. Yep, Julia forgot to never trust an evil wizard and overlooked those darn road signs. Maybe she didn't think I could read Elvish…

In case you're wondering, I always picture Dumbledore as Richard Harris. I didn't really like the other guy that much.

Chapter 2

The next morning dawned overcast and there was no indication that the sun had plans to visit the new day. Aurelia Watson had been up early, needing to pull together her class outlines and materials for the day. She had been too tired to bother with them the night before. There was enough leftover food from her kitchen foray the previous night to eat a cold breakfast and avoid having to dine in the Great Hall. She made her way to her classroom to get the feel of it and prepare herself mentally for the challenge. Luckily, her morning classes were first and second year students, so hopefully it would prove an easy warm-up to the advanced classes later in the day.

Within half an hour, the class was beginning to file in and her day began. She made it successfully through the first two periods, gaining confidence as the lessons progressed. 'Maybe this isn't going to be so bad after all,' she thought. The first years were far too intimidated by school in general and her in particular to be very threatening, and it proved a good transition from her cloistered life to interacting with a sizable group. After the second period, she was beginning to hit her stride, and decided to push her luck by eating lunch in the Great Hall.

As she left the classroom, Snape turned up suddenly at her side. "Aurelia, good morning. I hope things are going well with your first day."

"Yes, they are. Thank you. I was just going to get a bit of lunch before preparing for my next class."

"If you'll permit me, I'll join you. I was headed that way myself." She nodded her consent, but smiled inwardly. She knew very well that his classroom was nowhere near hers, and the chances of accidentally bumping into him on the way to lunch were practically non-existent. When they had attended Hogwarts together, she had been kind to him, despite the pranks her friends constantly played on him and their ongoing feud. She knew that he had always rather liked her, but her closeness with the Marauders had kept him away. Now that they were not around, she suspected he might be a little more forward.

'Great. That's all I need.' It wasn't that she had ever particularly liked Severus Snape, but she did think James Potter and Sirius Black had carried their hatred of the boy to unnecessary levels. She couldn't ever stop their being cruel towards him; even Remus Lupin hadn't been able to stop them. So she tried to 'soften the blow' a bit by being nicer to him. Besides, it was guaranteed to annoy Sirius when she was nice to Severus, and annoying Sirius had always been great fun!

She was pulled out of her reverie by Snape's conversation and she ruefully realized she hadn't been paying attention to a word he'd said. "Sorry, Severus. My mind was elsewhere. What did you say?" she asked.

He looked mildly annoyed, but repeated, "I was just asking how you had gotten to Hogwarts yesterday."

As they entered the Great Hall and made their way to the teachers' table, she explained about taking the Knight Bus from London. She noted that many students turned to watch them walk to the front. They could probably guess who she was.

Her gaze was automatically pulled to the Gryffindor table, and she found herself sizing up those now lodged in her former house. They looked so young; it seemed impossible that she had ever looked so innocent as that. As she got closer to the front, she became aware that the older students were sitting there. Some of them looked older than their years, and she recognized looks on their faces not unlike the looks her own sixth and seventh year classmates had worn – the look of young people brought face to face with the realities of the world in a less than pleasant fashion. Voldemort – again. Her jaw tightened with resentment that one wizard could cause such misery for so many.

She had almost reached the front of the room when she glimpsed two heads with bright red hair. And then a boy sitting with them looked up at her and she involuntarily came to a halt, staring with a mixture of fascination and horror. 'James? No, it couldn't be...it must be Harry.' But the face looking at her was so much like her long dead friend she couldn't stop tears from pricking her eyes. Gritting her teeth to fight them back, she turned hastily away and hurried to take a seat. Snape glanced at the student and then quickly followed after her.

The boy turned back to his friends and Hermione asked him, "Did you see her reaction to you, Harry?" He nodded. He was used to people staring at him and making a point of trying to see the scar on his forehead, but this seemed to be something different – something more.

Ron Weasley looked up from his plate and questioned, "What do you mean?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and explained, "I think she might have known Harry's father. She's about the right age, and everyone says how much Harry looks like his dad. She acted as if she was seeing a ghost. And she was fighting back tears."

Harry hadn't noticed all that, but Hermione's theory seemed to fit the professor's reaction to him. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He hadn't had the best of luck meeting his father's old friends. With the exception of Remus Lupin, most had ended up dead also – or worse. He shrugged at his friends, hoping the conversation would end. He really didn't feel like talking about this. Ginny was sitting to his right and nudged his elbow with hers as the others turned their attention back to eating. When he glanced sideways at her, she gave him a smile and wink. For some reason that made him feel better.

Hermione kept sneaking looks up at the new teacher and after about fifteen minutes, she suddenly began giggling. Her three friends looked at her with bewilderment. She leaned in close so only they could hear and whispered, "He likes her! Snape fancies the new professor!"

Ron choked on the bite he was chewing, "Ew – that's gross! You'll give me nightmares!" Ginny snuck a few glances of her own at the teachers and then nodded her agreement. "Hermione's right," she told them. "He's practically fawning over her – well, as close as he gets to fawning!"

Now Harry and Ron couldn't help but peek to see if they could spot what the girls were noticing. Maybe it wasn't as clear cut to them as the girls seemed to see it, but there was no doubt he WAS treating this new teacher a lot better than he did anyone else. They had never even seen him be this nice to his other fellow teachers. They all tried to hide their amusement at this revelation, but Harry couldn't help but wonder how all this was going to work out. Snape fancied an old friend of his father's? Did she like him back? If she did, how had she been friends with his father who virtually hated Snape? And how would that reflect in her behavior toward him? He tried to shove the thoughts aside. All he could do was wait and see, but the whole thing made him a little uneasy.

Hermione let out a gasp at the time and hurried to finish her lunch while stuffing books back into her bag. The boys reluctantly followed her lead as they said goodbye to Ginny, who was headed off to Charms class. Then the three of them made their way to the Defense classroom.

Knowing the professor was still at lunch, they gathered in the hall with their friends awaiting her arrival, and a moment later she put in appearance, with Snape still in tow. Harry rather thought she looked mildly annoyed by Snape's presence, though she was clearly trying to suppress it.

The students followed the two professors into the classroom and, apparently, Snape finally realized he had no reason to linger, and was in fact going to be late for his own class. As he turned to leave, he seemed to revert back to the unpleasant git the students were so familiar with. His eyes fell on Neville Longbottom and with a smirk he turned to Professor Watson and told her, "I should warn you to be careful around Longbottom. He is renowned for his clumsiness." His cold eyes swept the class with a self-satisfied sneer and landed on Neville, who was squirming uncomfortably in his seat and was bright red in the face.

Before Snape could take a step to leave, Professor Watson was on her feet and an eery smile was plastered on her face, "May I speak with you privately in the hall, Professor Snape." He looked surprised at the request, but nodded for her to precede him from the room. All eyes followed them out as the door shut behind them.

Seamus Finnigan, who was sitting near the back, scurried over to the door and pressed an ear to it, hoping to overhear their conversation. Suddenly his jaw dropped and he stage-whispered to his classmates, "She's yelling at him!"

And in fact she was. Once out the door, she turned on him, the smile replaced with an expression of rage. "Don't you EVER do that again! I may not have any say in how you treat students in YOUR classroom, but don't you EVER come into mine and belittle and humiliate someone the way you just did Longbottom! Perhaps Longbottom would be a better wizard if his self-confidence was bolstered rather than undermined in front of the entire class!" She gave him a glare that would have melted steel and stalked back into her classroom, slamming the door behind her.

Seamus just barely made it back to his seat as she entered and the entire class hastily faced front and pretended not to know what had taken place. She charged to the front of the room, clearly still furious and fighting for control. With clenched teeth she looked up at the students, who tried to avoid looking directly at her.

In barely more than a loud whisper she asked, "Do I have a volunteer to take roll for me?" Hermione's hand went slowly up and she signalled her forward, "And you are?"

"Hermione Granger," she replied nervously. The professor nodded and handed her the parchment of names.

When she finished and handed it back, Professor Watson cleared her throat, apparently a little calmer. As Hermione returned to her seat, the professor asked in a tight voice, "Who can tell me the spell to disarm an opponent?" Every hand in the room went up, and she blinked in surprise. Her eyes narrowed and she said, "All right, if you know it, use it on me Mr. Longbottom." She raised her wand in Neville's direction. He flushed red again, but pulled out his own wand, and stammered, "Ex...Expelliarmus!" Her wand pulled from her hand and soared toward the boy who awkwardly caught.

Raising her right hand as she smiled, she called, "Accio wand." Her wand returned to her own hand. Looking right at Neville she told him, "I'm sorry, Mr. Longbottom, but you'll have to do much worse than that to convince ME that you're clumsy!" Neville's face had started to reflect his fear from her gaze but once he heard what she said, he broke into a wide, uncertain grin. Clearly he wasn't used to praise. The rest of the class was grinning, too, at the unspoken swipe at Snape.

Professor Watson asked a few more questions about defensive skills and each time the entire room indicated and then demonstrated their knowledge of the skill. Finally, she sat down on the front of her desk and picked up the textbook for the class. "Miss Granger, would you kindly come up here and go through my book's table of contents and mark the subjects this class already knows?"

Hermione scurried forward to take the book and quill from the professor. When she finished and handed them back, Professor Watson went down the list with an increasing look of astonishment on her face.

She stopped at Chapter 33 and looked up. "You are familiar with the Patronus Charm?" The entire class nodded. Glancing at the parchment roll, she said, "Miss Brown, explain the Patronus Charm to me." Lavender took a breath and then replied, "To work the Patronus Charm the person must focus on an extremely happy thought while saying 'Expecto Patronum'. It is used to withstand Dementors and acts as a positive energy shield between the wizard and the Dementor. Each Patronus is unique to the wizard who conjures it."

Professor Watson let a smile crack her face, "Excellent, Miss Brown. You may be seat..."

"Would you like me to do it, Professor?" Lavender inquired.

The question seemed to startle the Professor, "What? Conjure a Patronus?" Lavender nodded eagerly. The rest of the class was nodding as well.

Professor Watson blinked several times and then said, "Are you telling me you can perform this charm?"

"Sure," Lavender replied. "We all can...well, sort of. Some are better than others. Harry taught us."

"Who?" the professor asked, though suspecting she knew the answer.

"Harry. Harry Potter. He taught us in...well, he just taught us outside of class."

Professor Watson's eyes fell on Harry and he shifted a little uncomfortably, wondering what to tell her if she asked any more questions about when and where he had taught the charm to his classmates. Lavender had almost given it away as it was. After considering Harry a moment with an unreadable expression, the Professor finally asked, "Mr. Longbottom, can you do the Patronus Charm for me?" Her eyes shifted to Neville, who was looking very nervous. He glanced once at Harry, who smiled encouragingly, and then stood with determination. "Yes, Professor." He walked to the front of the room, took a deep breath and thought of his happiest memory, then declared, "Expecto Patronum!"

Even as he said the words, Harry suddenly remembered that Neville had never successfully conjured the Patronus before and he held his breath. To his great relief, a toad sprang from the tip of Neville's wand and solidly shone brightly. The rest of the class had also remembered that Neville hadn't previously done this, and spontaneously broke into applause at his achievement. Neville turned pink as the Patronus began to fade, but everyone could tell he was pleased. Professor Watson was smiling with satisfaction, "Thank you, Neville. Excellent. Twenty points to Gryffindor."

As Neville returned to his seat, the professor's eyes shifted back to Harry. "Mr. Potter, since you taught the others, perhaps you would show us your Patronus." Her expression had become closed again and Harry couldn't tell what she might be thinking, but he rose and came forward, his wand in hand. He aimed it down the center aisle of the classroom and focused on his happiest memory, ironically connected to the Patronus itself – when he found out that his Patronus took the form of a stag, which was his father's Animagus form. With slight emotion, he firmly declared, "Expecto Patronum!" The stag erupted from his wand tip and cantered the length of the room, then turned and came back to stand in front of him briefly before fading from sight.

Its disappearance left him feeling slightly empty. It took a moment for him to gather his composure before he turned to his teacher for her reaction. To his surprise, her face had a stricken look on it and she fumbled behind her to catch hold of the desk, turning quickly away from the class.

Harry wasn't sure what he should do. "Professor, are you okay?" he asked hesitantly.

She struggled to steady herself and then hoarsely told him, "Please take your seat, Mr. Potter." Shakily she sat down in her chair, her head in her hands. The class watched her with consternation, not daring to speak. After a few moments, she picked up the textbook and flipped through Hermione's notations again. Finally she looked up at the class and quietly asked, "Miss Granger, how long until the end of this class?"

Hermione responded promptly, after glancing at her watch, "Approximately one hour and fifteen minutes." The professor nodded and said to the class as a whole, "I trust you can find something worthwhile to occupy that length of time until your next class. Considering you have covered more than half the chapters in our text and this is only the first day, I think you deserve a little time off. Class dismissed."

No one was going to argue with that decision, and the class jubilantly packed their bags and scurried from the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione were the last ones to leave and Hermione stopped at the door. A bit timidly she called out, "Are you all right, Professor Watson?"

The woman looked up at her blankly, then managed a weak smile. "I will be, Miss Granger. Thank you for asking." Hermione nodded and followed the boys out the door.

xxxxx

Albus Dumbledore approached the woman sitting under a tree by the lake. Her gaze was so intent out over the water that she didn't notice his arrival until he spoke, "I thought I might find you here. This always was a favorite spot of yours."

She looked up, startled both by his presence and his words, "How on earth can you remember that after all these years?"

He smiled with amusement, "It's difficult to say why certain things stick in one's mind. For some reason, I always picture you by the lake." He paused, then asked, "May I join you?"

She nodded, though she wasn't entirely certain she wanted this conversation. He conjured a chair and sat down nearby, "I fear my old bones don't bend so well anymore, and they don't take kindly to sitting on the ground."

She smiled briefly at the admission, but then returned to her thoughts. "It's too hard, Professor. I can't do this. Why didn't you warn me how much Harry looks like James – and those eyes..."

Quietly Dumbledore pointed out, "You are no longer a student, Aurelia. You may call me Albus." He sighed and added, "I very much needed you to come to Hogwarts. Perhaps I should have given you more warning about Harry, but I didn't dare risk that keeping you away."

She looked up at him, "Why me? Surely there are others who could teach this class, and probably better than I can. I can barely function with all the memories flooding back..."

"Yes," he replied, "I heard about your sixth year class dismissing early. What happened?"

"He conjured a Patronus...James' Patronus. Every time I look at him I see James. Every time I look in his eyes I see Lily. There are too many painful memories for me here."

"Aurelia, we can't run away from our memories, or our pain. I suspect that is what you have been trying to do the past fifteen years, but sooner or later they have to be faced, and dealt with. You need to heal, and Harry needs you."

Her head jerked up in astonishment, "What are you talking about? Harry has an aunt and an uncle and friends. He doesn't need ME. And I couldn't take Lily's place no matter how hard I tried."

"Harry has no one. Yes, he has friends, but they are his age and can only do so much. His aunt and uncle are Muggles, and they have made it clear that they don't like him and resent taking care of him. Harry has challenges awaiting him that no teenage boy should have to face, and yet he cannot avoid them. He needs someone to help him through it. And I think it is time he learned a bit about his mother. He has met people who have told him quite a bit about his father – a natural tendency since they look so much alike. But no one has told him much about his mother, and no one knew her so well as you."

"How am I supposed to help him when I'm still trying to deal with my own demons?" she asked quietly.

"Talk to Harry. Get to know him. I believe it will help you as well as help him."

"Right, I'll just march up to him at dinner tonight, plunk myself down beside him and say 'Hey, Harry, let's be best friends!'," she commented sarcastically.

Dumbledore took no offense, his eyes twinkling with merriment instead. "I doubt it will be that simple, but I know you will find a way." At that he stood, adding, "I believe I ought to be getting back to my office. And since your next class begins in five minutes, perhaps you'll walk back with me?"

With a wave of his wand his chair vanished, and he waited as she climbed to her feet. She gazed up at the nearby castle and sighed deeply, then glanced at Dumbledore. "This really stinks. You know that, don't you?"

He chuckled in amusement. "Yes, I know." He gestured toward the castle and they started up the hill.