AN: okay, someone did read the chapter 7 AN. lol.
Emily, Malli was the original author of The Phoenix Child. She got up to chapter 36, then in July or August I checked her Bio and someone posted that she had gotten into a car crash and had died a few weeks before the announcement was posted, so yes, I think it's safe to say that she's dead for real. Yeah, there are a few stories under the name Phoenix Child. We all have, hopefully, different ideas as to where the story's going. Voldemort as Faith's father...no offense to the author who's writing that, but that is just not something that I can get into. I mean, I guess if you tried hard enough, it could work, but just not for me. lol. We all have different tastes. I will keep it coming, hopefully by the end of today I'm going to have all 36 of the original chapters posted. There's a site link in Dur'id the Druid's bio thingy that has a bunch of people writing their version of what they think is going to happen.
To all others: I asked Dur'id, she said it's fine if I work this as well. I want to get it up in the format that Malli had it in, so each chapter as an individual chapter, instead of all 36 crammed into 7 (the prologue was it's own, of course). I know I'm not her, and I can't be her, but I want to make this as much like Malli's as I can. Is that okay?
Chris
CHAPTER 13: PROFESSOR SARAH FOX
Buffy had had a hectic morning.
Nobody had set an alarm clock and, needless to say, everyone overslept, causing many problems in the morning.
As they all wanted to see Buffy off, everyone was rushing to get ready, and fighting over the shower. After many doors being slammed, Willow's spell going awry, clothes being thrown, shoes being shoved on while hopping on one foot and brushing their teeth, they were out the door and headed for the train station.
Unfortunately, it was Monday morning and they got stuck in traffic. And then Xander had insisted on getting breakfast.
The Express Hogwarts train, designed to travel much quicker than the Hogwarts Express, was supposed to leave at 7:00 and arrive at 8:30, just enough time to get settled before her first lesson at 9:00. It was now 8:18.
"What are the chances that train is going to wait?" Xander asked while they ran through the London train station.
"Well, I am the only passenger," Buffy said, weaving through two people. "Here," she said, stopping suddenly at the pillar between platforms nine and ten. "Just walk through the wall, it's enchanted so muggles don't notice," Buffy whispered.
They quickly walked through the wall, after Buffy had gone and proved that she was not losing her mind. But when they stepped onto Platform 9 ¾, the train was nowhere to be seen.
"Great! Now what am I supposed to do?" Buffy asked. "I'm going to be late for my first day of work! That'll look really great," she said sarcastically.
"I believe you would have been late anyway," Giles said, which only earned a glare from the blonde slayer. "Perhaps if we wouldn't have stopped for food..." Giles had been downright against stopping for breakfast, although nobody listened to him.
"You didn't have any problem scarfing down three of the jellies, though," Xander said.
"Yes, well, I didn't see the need for them to go to waste," Giles said defensively.
"Celsia!" Buffy cried, waiting for her bird to come to her rescue. Sure enough, the phoenix suddenly appeared in front of her. "Hey!" she said softly, rubbing Celsia's head. "Do you think you could give me a ride to Hogwarts? I missed my train."
Celsia gave a small note of approval, and Buffy turned to quickly say goodbye to her friends. Hugs and well wishes came from everyone, and Buffy promised to contact them soon.
She took a hold of Celsia's tail feathers and asked if she could take her to Hogsmeade, and not the castle itself; she was afraid she might attract too much attention.
She was briefly amazed at the Hogsmeade village she had visited so many times before, but she didn't have the time to reminisce. She was late!
She ran all the way to the castle, stopping at the doors to fix her robes and hair. There was no need to look messy. Once again, she was startled by the sheer magnificence of the castle, and she fondly remembered the days she was at school there.
She pushed her thoughts aside and set her bags down in the hallway, knowing that a house-elf would take it. It was just after 8:30, so she wasn't as late as she had thought she would be.
She set off down the hall and, passing a headless (helmet-less) knight, came upon the closed doors of the Great Hall. Pushing one open, she stepped inside.
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The volume grew in the great hall as the buzzing continued.
"She's going to be the next DADA teacher?"
"I don't believe it, it's some kind of joke."
"She doesn't even look twenty-five, what could she know?"
"Look how small and skinny she is! How could she protect herself against the dark arts, let alone anyone else?!"
"What does a girl know about Defence? I mean, at least Umbridge looked big and scary, but she looks... well, for lack of a better term, fragile!"
"She looks like a girl!"
"She is a girl, you idiot!"
"One of the giggling, annoying girls that runs screaming if they break a nail."
"She's a teacher! But she's so hot!"
"The things I'd like to do..."
"Please let there be some mistake; let her be a student..."
Buffy blushed slightly as her enhanced slayer hearing aloud her to hear some of the comments that were racing around the room.
"How are we supposed to learn anything this year with the people Fudge sends us?" Harry asked distraught. He had hoped for a small second that maybe Fudge was fixing his mistake, but he should have known that it would be too much to ask of the ignorant man.
"She's a ministry official, Harry," Hermione said. "Even if Fudge did put a competent person in the position, the professor is still going to have to follow the theoretical curriculum. Fudge is taking over control as best as he can."
"At least she's better than Umbridge," Ron said dreamily, his eyes fixed on the new professor.
"I doubt it," Hermione said haughtily, not noticing Ron. "She looks like the stereotypical dumb blonde. That cannot be good."
"But she's gorgeous!"
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, turning to look at Ron for the first time. "She's a professor."
"Lockhart," was all Harry said, exchanging a meaningful glace with Ron while Hermione blushed.
"That was a completely different situation," she said defensively. "We were much younger and more influential."
"Uh huh," Ron said dismissively. "So, Harry, what do you think of the new professor?"
"She's pretty, I guess," Harry said.
"You guess?!" Ron asked, not believing what he heard. "What do you mean, you guess? She's downright beautiful."
"I'm not saying she's ugly, I'm just saying that... she's not my type," Harry said, searching for how to describe how he felt.
"Harry, a girl like that is everybody's type," Ron said.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, scandalized. "How could you say something like that? Especially about the new professor!"
"What?" Ron asked clueless.
"Unlike some people, I don't go lusting after the professors, that's all," Harry said with a smirk, earning a glare from each of his best friends. No one was able to retort as Dumbledore had chosen that moment to cease the chatter in the hall.
All the teachers were looking at Professor Fox in amazement and shock. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were standing up and hovering by Dumbledore, clearly outraged by the turn of events.
Umbridge was sitting smugly in her chair, enjoying the scene, as she knew her job was not in jeopardy. Fudge obviously put the little tart in to cause some... disagreements, in order to hasten along their little project. Now all she had to do was make sure this Sarah Fox didn't screw anything up out of sheer stupidity.
Dumbledore was stuck between amusement, that Fudge had the audacity to bring someone like Miss Fox in as a teacher, and annoyance, that Fudge was so blind and arrogant to jeopardize the students' lives. He didn't seem to know that the students still needed a good education, whether or not Voldemort was indeed back. There were other evils in the world besides the one dark wizard.
Buffy stood where she was, overwhelmed by everything that was going on. This was the first time she'd been back to the castle, and she wanted to cry with relief that she was finally home. Everything was so familiar and reminded her of happier times. Life wasn't always fair, but there were good times to be had, and holding on to those precious moments is what gets you through the hard times.
It was going to be difficult to pull this off, but Willow was very helpful this morning. She had an inspirational moment and had come up with a Wiccan spell that would dissuade anyone from knowing who she was. Of course, there was mass confusion at the conclusion of the spell, as no one recognized her. They still knew they had a blonde friend named Buffy, but they couldn't understand that the person in front of them was Buffy. It was an interesting, and hectic, experience. Fortunately, Willow redid the spell so that people would recognize her only when she told them her real name, Elizabeth Potter.
So basically, people would still know that James had a sister, but they would never connect Buffy, or Sarah, to Elizabeth Potter. This eased Buffy's mind considerably, because she was so afraid that she would be recognized and then her whole plan would collapse. Dumbledore always seemed to know what was going on, but he'd been fooled before and she wanted to fool him again. At least until she was ready; she still had no idea who to trust.
At the moment, she had to act the part of a blonde bimbo. 'It won't be too hard as I acted like this at Hemery,' Buffy thought, trying to ease her nerves. She had always sucked at undercover, but over the years she had become great at lying. It was almost second nature to her now.
"This is Hogwarts, right?" Buffy said once the hall grew silent at Dumbledore's request.
"Yes it is," Dumbledore said. "We're very happy to welcome you here as our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."
Buffy smiled gratefully until the familiar looking greasy haired man standing next to the headmaster spoke up. "What exactly are your credentials, Miss Fox?" he sneered.
Buffy tilted her head and a confused look crossed her features before she said, "Pardon?"
"What are your qualifications for this job?" the man said with exasperation. "What experience do you have with defence against the dark arts?"
Anger rose up inside her as she heard chuckles break out. Just because she was a girl, had a small structure, and was blonde, people automatically assumed that she was a helpless, stupid girl. "I try to stay away from the dark arts and anything defensive," Buffy said with a small smile. "I might break a nail." She looked over at the boys she heard earlier and heard one say 'I told you!' There was no need to dispel their idiotic notions yet. It was a perfect cover.
"Severus," Dumbledore said sharply, before he could blow up at her. 'Severus?' Buffy thought incredulously. 'Severus Snape! I knew he looked familiar!' She was surprised to find him here as a professor. He didn't seem to be the type of person that would like kids. "That's enough," Dumbledore said. "There's no need for an interrogation. If the Minster thinks that she is qualified for the job, then she is. Now, let's welcome Miss Fox to our school."
Applause broke out among the four tables, to scattered degrees. Some people were cheering and wolf whistling at her, while others clapped dejectedly. A lot of people didn't know what to think about the new professor. Certainly they wanted one that actually knew the material, but she looked stupid enough to be taken advantage of. And maybe, she wouldn't give any homework.
"Would you like some breakfast?" Dumbledore offered, conjuring up a chair and placing it between himself and Umbridge. Snape stormed out of the great hall and Professor McGonagall sat stiffly in her chair. "I'd love some," Buffy said, walking up to the Head table. She never thought that she would be sitting up there with all of the teachers. She had always wanted to be an auror like her father was, but she felt a swell of pride at being considered relatively equal with the great minds at Hogwarts. She now had the chance to show Robin that she could be a good counsellor, or professor in this case. She wasn't entirely hopeless.
Kids heads turned as she walked by and she tried to be casual in her search for Harry; she didn't want to look like she was looking for anyone. Unfortunately, She had no idea what he looked like or what house he was in, although she assumed it was Gryffindor. She tried to envision what James' and Lily's son would look like, and envisioned a scary creation because she tried to pick out certain traits instead of a nice blend. She hoped that he didn't look like her, scary mix and match picture.
As she gratefully sat down in the chair, she turned to Umbridge beside her. "Hi. I'm Sarah. You must be Dolores, Cornelius has told me such wonderful things about you," Buffy said with a fake smile, lying through her teeth. There was something about that lady that made her want to punch her, so Buffy occupied her hands otherwise by placing a napkin in her lap.
"I'm sure he has," Umbridge said giving a small smug smile. "But he hasn't mentioned you."
"I haven't been around that long. I'm new. I actually just met Cornelius on Friday and he was so helpful in helping me find a better job. I was about out of my mind with worry about what I was going to do. He's such a nice man," Buffy said quickly. She felt disgusted having to say what she was.
Buffy started to look down the Gryffindor table again, intent on finding her nephew. She was barely listening to what Umbridge was saying. He could be anyone! The redhead, no he's a twin... unless they had twins, but no one mentioned a twin. The brown haired boy? No. Girl. Too young, girl, too young. Too old. Girl, girl, girl, girl. Too small. Brunette. No. Blonde. No. Girl.
"Would you like some juice, Miss Fox, since you don't seem very hungry," Dumbledore said, disrupting her search, and indicating her empty plate.
Buffy smiled thankfully and reached out to grab the pitcher. She continued searching discretely while she lifted it up.
Another red-head, looks like he's the twins' brother. Can't be him then. Girl with bushy hair. Buffy started to tilt the pitcher slightly, preparing to pour it into her goblet. She looked across from the girl with the bushy hair and the pitcher dropped from her hands.
Juice ran everywhere, soaking herself, Dumbledore and Umbridge, while managing to splash some other professors. Buffy stood up in surprise with the contact of the juice, but managed to look up quickly to search for the boy she had just seen. 'James?' she thought.
The whole hall had looked up at the head table to see what the commotion was about, and soon everyone was laughing. Then someone began clapping, and more people joined in.
"Are you okay?" Dumbledore asked her, concerned. Umbridge just scowled and cleared her throat with a hem hem noise.
"Yeah," Buffy said, distracted. "It just slipped. Sorry." It couldn't have been James, but it looked just like him. When she looked back again, she couldn't find him. People were starting to leave and there were too many people in the way.
Dumbledore followed her gaze, and tried to piece together what happened. He came to a conclusion that was partially correct. "Ah yes, Mr. Potter does go to school here. You will be teaching him, today if I'm not mistaken. But I must beg you not to bother him please. He should be treated just like every other student here. I daresay your reaction was the most startling I've seen, and I hope that you'll overcome your excitement and shock. He doesn't like to be treated special."
Buffy turned to look at Dumbledore questioningly. She had no idea what he was going on about, but it didn't seem to be because he knew who he was to her. That was a good thing.
"Yes, Mr. Potter should be treated like all of the other students," Umbridge agreed with a scowl. "He's a trouble maker, don't be afraid to punish him. He needs to be straightened out. Why don't we get cleaned up and then we'll go over your lesson plans for today before class," she said, walking away from the table.
Dumbledore looked at Umbridge for a moment, his expression unreadable, before he turned his curious gaze onto Buffy. "I'll have one of the house elves escort you to your quarters," he said. "No doubt your bags were already taken." Out of nowhere, a house elf with the typical pointy ears popped up, and bowed low.
She was startled at the sudden appearance, and had to restrain herself from automatically hurting, or grabbing, the poor elf. "Thank you," Buffy said to Dumbledore and followed the house-elf out a door in the back of the hall.
Dumbledore looked thoughtfully after Buffy as she left. Minerva stirred to his left.
"What is he thinking?" she asked furiously. "He is purposefully trying to tear this school apart! How are the students supposed to learn anything? He keeps sending in officials that have no business teaching. The students have their futures ahead of them, not to mention the O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s."
"He's trying to discredit Harry and me, hopefully so that he'll either be expelled, or I'll be dismissed. Preferably both," Dumbledore said. "I think he'll find it harder than he might think, although this year is going to be trying."
"Trying to put up with those two will be trying," McGonagall said scornfully.
"Yes..." Dumbledore said. "There's something about her..."
"Who?" McGonagall said, feeling like she missed something, which wasn't a rare occurrence where the headmaster was concerned.
"Sarah Fox," Dumbledore said. "It seemed almost as if she was playing a role."
"She seemed perfectly clueless to me," McGonagall huffed.
"Did you notice what happened when she saw Harry? I've seen people look at him with awe and wonder, some fear and loathing, but when she saw him, she looked like she had seen a ghost."
"Who knows what the Minister filled her head with, and believe me, there's plenty he could have said with all the empty space she has," McGonagall said.
"Minerva!" Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Well honestly, Albus," she said. "What are we supposed to do with an airhead like that?"
"I'm sure she's been well-informed of her duties," Dumbledore said with a slight frown.
"I don't think it should be too hard for her to sit at the front of the class and do her nails while the students read theory," McGonagall said. "You know that I want my students to read and know the theory, but theory can only do so much. Practical knowledge is what really shows what you can accomplish."
"Yes, I'm well aware of that," Dumbledore said wearily.
"Can't you kick them out?" McGonagall said hopelessly, latching on to anything.
"I'm afraid I don't have the power. Especially now that Dolores has been made High Inquisitor, most of my authority at Hogwarts is vanishing. Cornelius knows this and will take everything away from me a little bit at a time. For the most part the man is blind and ignorant, but there is a smart man deep within himself that comes out when he's in trouble."
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Harry, Hermione, and Ron all walked out of the great hall and headed towards the dungeon where they had double potions first thing. They couldn't be late.
"Great, now that Snape's in an awful mood, let's go spend several hours in the dark, dank, cold basement where no one can save us," Ron complained. "Double Potions with Slytherin on Monday. It should be illegal."
"We have Defence after lunch also," Harry said dejectedly.
"Wonderful," Hermione said sarcastically. "Just try not to get a detention, okay?"
"I'll try. If she's anything like Umbridge then it'll be impossible."
"Maybe she won't be so bad," Ron said, thinking back to the blonde. "And besides, even if we don't learn anything useful, at least she's very easy on the eyes. Now I have something to stare at during class."
"Ron!" Hermione chided as they neared to potions classroom.
"Hey Neville," Harry said to the forgetful boy that was waiting near the door.
"I didn't want to be the first one in," he explained. "He's in a foul mood. Did you see how he stormed away at breakfast?"
"Well, we're here now. And don't worry, he'd much rather yell at me than at you," Harry told him. He took a deep breath and opened the door, then sighed dejectedly at what was to come.
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Buffy followed the house-elf, not paying much attention to where they were going. She was in shock. Harry looked like an exact replica of James. It had brought a fresh wave of pain crashing through her body and shaking her foundation. How was she supposed to get through each day seeing him? This was going to be harder than she thought.
The quiet house-elf stopped suddenly at a portrait of a calm lake, a gentle breeze whistling through the trees that lined the background. A little hut stood on the right bank, and a small boy and girl were quietly fishing on the dock.
"Just choose a password," the house-elf told her, pointing towards the painting.
"Thank you," Buffy said quietly, and the house-elf disappeared with a crack.
The little girl on the dock called out to her, asking her what she wanted her password to be.
"James," Buffy answered distractedly, still thinking about her brother and how much she wished he was here with her now. He would undoubtedly find her whole situation funny, and definitely congratulate her on successfully manipulating the Minister of Magic. Not that it was that hard.
The portrait swung open, and she walked in to her new quarters. There was a small fireplace with a couple of big comfy chairs in the middle of the floor, and there were two doors next to each other on the right wall. 'Bedroom and bathroom,' Buffy thought.
She went into her bedroom and found her bags on the four-poster bed. She quickly changed her robes, leaving the soiled ones on the ancient dresser. She picked up a couple of books and replaced her wand up the sleeve of her fresh robes. She was going to be late for her first class!