Chapter 14 Mae Govannen
Professor McGonagall stood outside the main doors of Hogwarts waiting for the group of elves to arrive. Her face was a bit more lined than it had been the year before and her hair a bit greyer due to worry for the future and regrets about the previous year's mistakes.
We should have known, such a sweet boy could never have done something that horrible. Not for the man who murdered his parents, who had hunted him since he was a year old. What fools we were...
She shook her head tiredly. Regrets wouldn't fix the past. She would have continued on this train of thought but at that moment the group of elves appeared with a pop. She straightened and studied them curiously. Her only previous experience with elves was the short period of time Laurea Isilmolor had stayed at Hogwarts. None of the elves stumbled when the portkey arrived; indeed their balance was so good, they barely flinched when they landed. All were looking around curiously except two elves towards the front. One had black hair streaked with dark silver, the other a familiar reddish-brown head with golden streaks that shone in the sun.
"Miss Isilmolor?" The professor's voice rang softly across the space separating them and Laurea who had been conversing with the elf at her side looked up at her old professor, an unreadable expression on her face. The two separated from the rest of the group, who were still looking around at the castle and grounds with interest, and joined her on the castle steps.
"Professor," she nodded then gestured to the elf at her side, "let me introduce you to Corintur Raumoraa, one of the new Defense teachers and primary teacher of the wandless fighting class. Corin, this is Professor Minerva McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher and Deputy Headmistress."
Corin stepped forward and took her extended hand in his, bowing slightly. "I'm pleased to meet you Professor." The young elf said softly, she could see he was a bit uncertain and wondered if he'd never met a human before. That could certainly explain it, she supposed.
"I'm pleased to meet you as well Corintur." She replied, "I am sure you'll be an excellent teacher. Feel free to stop by my office if you need any help or advice; and please call me Minerva." She gave him a tired yet warm smile. By that time, the rest of the elves had made their way over to stand behind them and waited to be escorted into the school.
Noticing this, McGonagall nodded to everyone and spoke, "Welcome to Hogwarts, if you'll follow me I'll show you to your rooms." She turned and led the way up the stairs and through the massive front doors.
As they walked through the halls of Hogwarts, Corin saw that nothing about the castle had changed in the time he'd been away. He was aware of Laurea and Oron glancing at him from time to time, seeing how he was taking being back at the school, but paid little attention as he was overwhelmed by memories; both good and bad. They were walking down a hallway at the Northern end of the school when they were met by Peeves.
He came zooming out of a classroom, cackling and throwing erasers and chalk at paintings (whose occupants protested quite loudly and ran for shelter). He skidded to a stop as he saw the Professor and her entourage.
"Ooooooo!!! Ickle elfies..." He gave an evil grin and fingered the rest of the erasers in his hands gleefully.
"Peeves!!! Don't you dare!!!" McGonagall hissed, fearful that the poltergeist would attack her elven guests.
"Oh but Peeves must!!" He did a somersault in the air and continued, "Must give a warm welcome to the ickle elfies!!!" He drew back one of the chalk filled erasers for a throw when Corin stepped forward with a small smile and pointed his hand towards the poltergeist. The erasers and chalk winked out of existence and for good measure, he whispered a couple words in elvish and turned Peeves pink. At seeing his new color, Peeves gave a screech and zoomed away over their heads.
McGonagall and the rest of the elves laughed and continued on their way. Finally they found themselves in the teacher's wing and were led to stand in front of a painting of a unicorn drinking from a forest pond on starlit night.
"Mae govannen." (Well met) As she spoke the password, the unicorn lifted its head and bowed, then swung the painting open. When they had walked inside they were met with the sight of a common room unlike any Corin had ever seen. The whole far wall was full of windows except where the fireplace was and the whole room was full of light. Paintings on the walls depicted scenes of unicorns and elven hunting parties and the room was decorated in green and gold. Several couches and tables were scattered around the room on a beautiful hardwood floor.
"Male elves are in the staircase to the right and females to the left; each room has two beds and I'll leave it to you who you share a room with. To change the password, all you need to do is tell the unicorn. Mr. Raumoraa, as you're a professor, we've given you a room of your own. It is down this way." She gestured towards the door and he followed her out.
She led the way further down the hall to a painting of a phoenix. "Tindome." (Starry evening) The phoenix trilled and opened to his rooms. These were decorated in dark blue and silver. Again, the far wall was filled with windows around the fireplace and had a dark wood floor. Bookshelves lined the wall to his right with Defense Against the Dark Arts books and paintings of running deer and sleeping dragons filled the other walls.
"Thank you Professor, it looks quite comfortable." He said when he had finished examining the room.
"There is an office through the door on your right and the bedroom is through the door on your left. If you ever need anything you can call a house elf by ringing the bell over there on the mantle." He nodded and she pulled a pocket watch out and checked the time. "It's three o'clock now, at four-thirty we have a staff meeting with just the teachers. That will last for about an hour and dinner is at six. The headmaster is planning on meeting with the rest of the elves at around eight tonight to go over patrol schedules." He nodded again quietly and she smiled slightly at his 'shyness' then headed towards the door. "It's good to have you here Corintur." She said as she left.
When the painting over the doorway had closed, he turned back to the room. The only sounds heard were the snuffling of the sleeping dragon as it puffed smoke rings from its nose, the sound of hooves pounding the ground from the picture of the deer, and the crackle of the fire.
"Tula n'e Miri, Artue." (Come out Miri, Artue.) He released the invisibility charms on the snidget and knealin who had both been sitting on his shoulders, unseen by the professor. He had decided on not revealing either animal's presence to anyone for the time being as it would raise too much curiosity and questions. Miri had been in her usual spot on the right side of his collar and Artue had been in his new favorite place on his left shoulder. Lazy little furball, he can walk on his own, but nooo. He needs to be riding on my shoulder. Whines incessantly until I pick him up and let him sit there.
Corin rolled his eyes as he sat on one of the chairs by the fireplace and watched his little friends explore their new home. Miri flitted and shot around the room almost too quickly to watch, she was especially interested in the picture of the dragon and tried poking the canvas to wake it up. He chuckled as the reptile opened a grumpy eye and gave an indignant huff.
Artue was padding along the floor by the bookshelves and Corin jumped up as the little rascal started chewing on the binding of one of the books.
"Artue, tampa tanya!" (Artue, stop that!) He waved a hand and moved the books on the first and second bottom shelves to some of the upper shelves, then picked up the furry trouble-maker and set him on one of the couches. Artue stared wide eyed around him at his new location then promptly climbed on the back of the couch and launched himself into the air, flapping his wings and fell straight down to the ground. Grumbling about insane familiars who don't have enough sense to know their limitations, he checked the knealin to see if he was alright. Artue was fine so Corin just shook his head and set him down by one of the windows where he could look out at the grounds.
It was strange to be back at Hogwarts, and even stranger to be there as a teacher. He stared into the fire, but didn't really see it as he thought pensively about what the coming school year would bring.
Hey! Thanks for all the reviews! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Again, feel free to give me suggestions on how i can do better (spelling/grammar mistakes, etc...) R&R!!
Arye
