A/N: Here's the next chapter. The long awaited talk with Professor Dumbledore.
Note: Some stuff that came out about Snape in HBP will be completely ignored. In my story, he is a pureblood. Any other discrepancies with canon are probably intentional. However, bring them to my attention if I don't comment on them. I have the first edition of Goblet of fire, when Rowling accidentally put Lily and James in the wrong order, and I, like Rowling, would like the chance to fix any mistakes.
Destiny's Games
-The Sorcerer's Stone
Chapter 5:
Meeting Dumbledore
Sevti faced the spiraling staircase that would take her to the Headmaster's office. The room that she was in was brightly lit, and filled with earthen tones. Chief among the colors was oak with light red and gold accents. Sevti shook her head at the blatant favoritism the colors showed. Dumbledore was a Gryffindor through and through.
She stepped onto the staircase and allowed it to take her to the upper landing where she was faced with two doors. One was directly in front of her; the other was to her left. She paused to decide which door she was supposed to knock on.
Suddenly there was a loud crack. Sevti whirled around, her wand in hand. She felt rather than saw the anomaly to her right. Her wand was placed between its eyes not a second after the crack was heard.
The thing squeaked.
"Oh miss, I is so sorry to startle miss. I is Dinky the house elf, in service to Hogwarts."
Sevti quickly put her wand away, satisfied with a quick wandless scan that the creature was not a threat. She dropped down to the elf's eyelevel.
"That's quite all right, Dinky." She said with a warm smile. "We don't have many house elves in the United States. You simply startled me. Are you all right?"
The elf's eyes widened. "I is fine, miss. It is not Dinky's place to be apologized to. I is thankful that miss wasn't hurt because miss was startled."
"I'm fine, Dinky." Sevti assured the little creature.
Then the house elf gave a little noise of exclamation. "Oh miss, Dinky is a bad house elf. I is to tell miss to go through the door to the left. Professor Dumbledore sir is waiting.
"Thank you Dinky, my name is Sevti; I'm a first year Gryffindor."
The little elf nodded. "I is honored to meet miss Sevti. I is to be going now. I is needed in the kitchens."
Sevti smiled. "All right then. Thank you again, Dinky."
The house elf bowed low to the floor, and then straightened and vanished with a pop.
Sevti straightened from her crouched position. House elves were common in the Old World, but not in the Americas. She thought she had handled herself well, having only met Amjad's house elves briefly.
She pulled herself out of her reverie and faced the door to her left. She wondered what was behind it. The Headmaster's office was no doubt the door in front of the landing. Perhaps this door led to a meeting room?
She walked up to it and raised a hand to knock, but before her knuckled touched the wood, she heard the headmaster's voice call her in.
She smirked, familiar with the spell that the headmaster was using. It was an obscure spell; one of her favorites. She used it to put certain people she was negotiating with off balance.
She turned the doorknob and entered the room. She had been expecting to meet solely with Dumbledore, but it seemed he had had other plans. When she entered the room, there were two other professors.
She quickly found the headmaster and held his eye. She bowed slightly in deference, as was proper etiquette, and then waited for the Headmaster to make the next move.
"Miss Sheikh, how nice to see you; surely we can do away with the formalities." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at her.
Sevti smiled. "Of course Headmaster," she nodded.
"Then please, child, take a seat."
Sevti sat in the only unoccupied seat.
"I trust the feast was entertaining?" Dumbledore asked.
Sevti sighed inwardly. Of course he would want to make small talk.
"It was excellent. I have heard that the House Elves surpass themselves every year from many acquaintances that attended this school." Sevti smiled.
"That is good. I remember my own days as a student. Things were a bit different then…"
The Headmaster was cut off by a cough from the professor to his left, Professor McGonagall.
It seemed that it was a norm for Dumbledore to go off on tangents, and that McGonagall was often the one to bring him back. Sevti was rather thankful, as she had yet to unpack, and classes started the next day.
However, the seating arrangement perplexed Sevti. As deputy headmistress, McGonagall should have been sitting on Dumbledore's right, but instead there was a tall man with shoulder length black hair and cold black eyes. When she made eye contact with him, he inclined is head in the proper greeting between pureblood and pureblood.
She nodded back, still trying to puzzle out who the dark man was.
"Ah… I believe I was about to start rambling Ms. Sheikh. I believe we shall get to the point so that we don't sit here all night." Dumbledore said, brining Sevti's attention back to himself.
"Thank you for allowing me to attend Hogwarts, Headmaster." Sevti said formally.
"Not at all, my dear. Hogwarts is open to any who wish to learn. But, if I may introduce everyone before we get caught up in conversation?" Dumbledore asked.
Sevti nodded.
Dumbledore continued, "To your right, Ms. Sheikh, is Minerva McGonagall, Transfigurations professor, and Head of Gryffindor House. She is also Deputy Headmistress, as you should know from your letter."
Sevti nodded her head respectfully. The Professor was stern, yet seemed more relaxed then she had with the other first years.
The Professor smiled at her. "It is nice to welcome yet another student into Gryffindor. I trust that you will do your house pride."
Sevti smiled charmingly. "It is an honor to be sorted into the lion's den."
"And to your left is Severus Snape, Potion's Master and Head of Slytherin House."
Sevti nodded deeply. The Snape line was powerful and ancient, though in recent generations it had fallen into decay. She had heard that there was now only one sole heir to the Snape name and fortune. She had never met the man, but now they were face to face. She realized that he was the Professor that had glared at the school song.
"A pleasure to meet you Professor," Sevti said guardedly. She knew next to nothing of this man. She took in his appearance. She could tell he was tall, even when he was sitting in a chair. Severe black robes muted his frame, yet she could see the outline of broad, powerful shoulders. He was one to be reckoned with. His face was angular. His nose looked as if it had been broken a couple of times. The sloppy reconstruction of the cartilage gave it an overlarge, hooked appearance. His eyes were dark obsidian and emotionless. His black hair fell to his shoulders in curtains.
He nodded back, his eyes not breaking contact with hers. For a second a slight furrow creased his brow, but it was quickly smoothed. "The pleasure is mine, Ms. Sheikh."
Dumbledore then cleared his throat expression turned serious serious. "Miss Sheikh, I had not expected you to get sorted into Gryffindor. Coupled with the fact that you are having strained times in your family, I must ask if you wish me to overrule the Sorting Hat? It has been done before in extreme circumstances."
Sevti seriously considered the action. It would save her from Amjad's wrath, but she would need to befriend Potter. To change houses after she had been sorted would be taken by the boy as an act to remain Dark. Weasley would probably do nothing to stop that thought. She reached her decision.
"Headmaster, though I greatly appreciate the offer, I have to decline."
"My child, what for?" Dumbledore asked, a surprised expression on his face.
Sevti looked pointedly at the remaining Heads of House.
Dumbledore smiled.
"No need to worry. Professors McGonagall and Snape are aware of your mission here."
"What?" Sevti looked at him sharply, startled. "I do not mean to be rude," she quickly calmed herself. "however I need to be consulted with before you share any information about me with anyone."
The Headmaster's eyes twinkled even more.
"Not to worry, child. I would trust Severus and Minerva with my life."
Sevti frowned. "I would have liked the chance to decide if I trusted them with mine. I doubt that you have any illusions about my family, and I sure don't. If my mission is found out, they will kill me."
Dumbledore drew back slightly, frowning. "I am sorry, Ms. Sheikh. I had not thought of it that way. I meant to put you in no danger. I take my duty to my students seriously. I can guarantee that your secret is safe with Minerva and Severus."
Sevti backed off. The damage was done. "Headmaster, I acknowledge that you had my best interests at heart, however I ask that you not take such liberties in the future." She smiled at him slightly.
Dumbledore smiled back. "So noted. Well then, back to my original question. Why stay in Gryffindor?"
"Gryffindor house is where Harry Potter is, as well as his new friend, Ronald Weasley. My mission is to protect the boy-who-lived, to befriend him. I am already in disgrace among purebloods because of the foolish mistake that I made while in my grandfather's presence. There isn't much else that could put me in lower standings."
Dumbledore nodded benignly. "I respect your decision. Are there any specific living arrangements that you need?"
"Yes, actually," Sevti replied. "I would like to request my own quarters so that I will not disturb the others with my odd hours. Also, I would like to ask if you have any type of exercise room, with weights and such."
"I will look into an exercise room. As to having personal quarters, I had expected such a request. Now that you have been sorted, a new section has been added to the Gryffindor dorms. It has an entrance that you can access from outside of the common room and from the Girl's section of the dorms."
Sevti smiled, "Thank you, Headmaster."
"Now, to discuss certain issues. I believe that it would be prudent to tell you that Professors Snape, McGonagall and myself are all aware of the existence of The Guardians."
Sevti's jaw dropped. No one had ever mentioned the secret so openly to her. The Guardians were an extremely secretive group due to the nature of what they did. They were the driving factor of the world. If they were ever eradicated, the world would be left in utter chaos.
"And how, pray tell, do you know about this group, if it even exists." Sevti said guardedly.
"Ah, Miss Sheikh, there is no need to worry," Dumbledore said. "We are aware of the group because we are part of it. However we are inactive members. We have been assigned a mission. That mission is similar to yours. Mine at first was the defeat of Grindewald, and then because of my notoriety because of his defeat, I was called on again to aid these two in the defeat of Voldemort during his first reign. Sadly, we were unsuccessful. And so we are still on our mission. Now you are our newest addition."
Sevti looked at the three and smiled. Not an innocent smile, as most would like to see, but a smile that was jaded. However, it was a true smile.
"Well then, that saves me a lot of explaining. But I have some things to take care of."
Dumbledore dropped most of the twinkle. "Of course Ms. Sheikh."
"First, if I'm gonna work with you, when it's just us four, call me Sev."
The Headmaster smiled, "Of course."
"I have a question to ask you, and a few things to tell you." Sevti started. "I'll begin with the question… why doesn't Harry Potter know about the magical world in full detail? He is of a pureblood line, and his guardians were to teach him of the customs, or at least raise him knowing that the magical world existed."
Dumbledore looked at her gravely. "I placed Harry in the care of his aunt and uncle for one reason. That reason was that Petunia, his aunt, was blood related to Lily and because of that blood bond any person that would have the intention of harming Harry Potter would not be able to enter the house's wards. However, they were not the best guardians in respect to the magical world. Petunia harbors a great resentment to those who use magic, but the child had to be kept safe. There were and are many Death Eaters that have been left unfound. Some had even been acquitted for their acts because they claimed to be under the imperious curse at the time."
Sevti nodded. "I see. Now that he is in the Magical World, will you be sending him back?"
"Yes." Dumbledore said gravely. "As long as he calls that house his home, he shall be protected by his mother's blood."
Sevti nodded. That made sense.
"All right then, Headmaster, I hope that you have thought well on what you are going to do."
"I have, child. Now, what was it that you had to tell us?"
"Well, I know that you will be angered by this, or at the least extremely concerned, but I ask you to wait for me to explain before jumping to conclusions." Sevti started warily.
The three professors nodded.
"Well, Lucius Malfoy and I have been in contact ever since Draco and I hit it off so well when we first met. Lucius was concerned about the lack of training in the Dark Arts in the Hogwarts curriculum. So, he asked me to teach Draco." Sevti noticed that all three professors were opening their mouths to speak. She held up one calm hand.
"Please, professors, let me explain. When I was in the American government, I had to be taught the Dark Arts to be able to defend myself against enemies with magic. I am also very well versed in battle magic. Lucius and my grandfather, of course, know of this. So, Lucius asked me to train Draco because I would see more of the boy then he would for the next couple of years.
"As you can probably tell, I was in a bit of a dilemma as to what to do. It would be too suspicious to flat out refuse, so I had to agree.
"I met Draco on the train today, and set up the beginnings of the plan that I had made to both turn him to the light and to keep Lucius happy. He agreed to making an unbreakable vow.
"The conditions were that he could speak of his lessons and what went on in them to nobody, that he would keep my secrets, and that he would take no teacher other than me without my express approval. I cannot say that I plan on teaching him nothing, but I sure as hell am not going to teach him to be a Death Eater. The boy will learn the Dark Arts like I did, knowing the balance between one controlling the Dark Arts and the Dark Arts controlling one."
She released the pent up air in her lungs after a moment's silence.
To her surprise, the professors were not visibly angry.
"Child, I do not believe I could have handled that situation better. I do not agree with the teaching of the Dark Arts in my school, but in this case I will make an exception."
Sevti smiled. "Thank you Headmaster. Do not worry about Draco. I will do everything I can to make sure he stays firmly on the side of the light."
The Headmaster nodded. "Is there anything else?"
"Not right now, sir."
"Please child, call me Albus when you can get away with it."
Sevti smiled. "Will do, sir… er, Albus."
The old wizard chuckled.
Then for the first time that night, excepting her introduction, Snape spoke up.
"Ms. Sheikh. I have known Lucius for some time now. If I may ask, did he say why he did not approach me for Draco's lessons? I am the boy's godfather."
Sevti looked at the man. "I do not know. I'll ask Lucius. I won't, of course, say that you asked the question."
The dark haired man nodded.
"If I may, Professor, how do you know Lucius?"
The man's looks darkened. "That is none of your business Ms. Sheikh." He snapped. Sevti decided not to be offended because she saw a barely noticeable spark of fear in his eyes when she asked the question. Obviously, though not obvious to anyone her herself, the man was keeping a secret. She trusted Dumbledore enough to know that he probably knew and would tell her when she needed to know.
She curbed her tongue. "I apologize. I did not know that my question was offensive."
The man nodded, not meeting her eyes directly.
"If that is all?" Dumbledore said, trying to diffuse the situation. "Then I suggest we retire for the night."
Sevti nodded and got up. She nodded to Dumbledore and the other professors and turned to go. Then she remembered something and turned her head quickly.
"Oh yeah, Iason told me to ask you where my common room was, and also what the password is. I'll probably need to be showed my quarters as well."
Dumbledore smiled. "I had forgotten. Severus…" the old wizard said, turning to the dark haired man. "If you could show Sev to Gryffindor tower and her quarters? She'll need to know all passwords and such. I would show her myself, or ask Minerva, except we have some start of term problems to discuss."
The Potions Master nodded. "Of course." He said cordially.
He turned to Sevti. "Follow me." He then proceeded to show Sevti where her living quarters were to be.
As they walked through the corridors, both were silent. Sevti truly didn't have anything to talk about with the man, and was still wary of him. She would need to find out more about him.
Snape, it seemed, was one of those people who constantly acted like they had a stick up their ass because he stalked through the halls with a deep scowl. They ran into a Hufflepuff third year on her way to meet her brother, who had just been sorted into a different house. Snape subtracted fifty points from Hufflepuff without a thought and sent the girl off close to tears.
Sevti frowned at this behavior. Fifty points was a bit much for simply wanting to see a sibling to make sure they were all right. She was sure that any other teacher would have let the girl off with a warning.
Finally, they reached a painting of a very fat lady. It appeared that she was asleep because she would periodically snore loudly enough to wake the dead. It was, of course, a magical portrait that could move. Snape sneered at the woman and turned to Sevti.
"The password is Caput Draconis." He said, his voice was curt as it had been when dealing with the Hufflepuff.
Sevti smiled and turned to the portrait. "How do I get in if she's sleeping?" she asked.
Snape sneered at her. "I would think that you would need to wake her up."
Sevti frowned at his tone, but let it pass, not in the mood to be riled by his behavior.
"Excuse me." She said tentatively. The portrait continued to snore. "Excuse me," she said a bit more loudly.
The portrait woke up with an undignified snort.
It looked at Sevti and the Potions Master and smiled. Snape's face remained emotionless. Sevti smiled back.
"Why hello dear. I take it you are the first year that Percy told me to expect. Do you have the password?"
Sevti smiled. "Yes. Caput Draconis."
"Well then, welcome to Gryffindor tower." The portrait said. It swung outwards, revealing an entrance into a circular room with a roaring fire and a bunch of comfortable looking chairs.
Sevti looked around the room. She sensed Snape follow her inside. The room was done in wood, red and gold. It was comfortable enough, if a little too bright.
"The Girl's dorms are through that door." Snape said, pointing in the door's direction. Your rooms should be trough the first door you encounter. You will need to set a password." She sensed the man's dislike of the room that he was in, and turned to study him.
A deep scowl was on his face, she was starting to wonder whether it was a permanent expression.
"And how would I set one?" she asked.
"Simply enough. There will be some sort of guardian at your door. It will ask you what you wish for the password to be. You will then select a password. The Headmaster will be informed of your choice in case of emergencies. You may tell whomever you want what your password is, though I would advise caution."
Sevti nodded and smiled. "Thank you, professor. Now, what about the location of the other entrance?"
The man nodded. "If you will follow me back out of the common room." He said.
He turned around and stalked back out of the rooms. Sevti followed a step behind him.
She memorized the halls that they walked through on the way to the other door to her quarters. She didn't question how the doors could be so far apart. The entire castle was built with magical space. A door in the lowest reaches could lead to the upper towers.
They finally arrived at a painting. It pictured a tall, lithe figure whose shoulder length dark hair hung around his face in loose waves. He had deep brown eyes and a warrior's muscles. A sword hung at his belt, the pommel was intricate and beautiful, yet it looked as it had seen much hard use. He eyed her with a fathomless stare. Yet the most startling part of his appearance was the pointed ears that were barely visible under his hair. This was an Elf.
"So, you are my new charge?" the Elf asked with a slight smile.
Sevti nodded with a matching smile. She felt a connection with the painting already.
"Interesting portrait," she said to Snape, who still stood beside her.
Snape looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "The guardian of your rooms chosen by Hogwarts herself. Usually, your guardian reflects your personality or something about yourself."
Sevti nodded, then looked at the Elf again. He barely moved from his position.
"I'll leave you to it." Snape said tightly.
Sevti was startled out of her thoughts. "Yes." She said, pulling away from her thoughts distractedly. "Thank you for your help, Professor."
The man nodded and walked away.
She turned back to the painting as he turned out of the hall.
"I take it you now understand why Lady Hogwarts chose me as your guardian?" the Elf asked. Contrary to the common depiction of the Elven race, this Elf had a deep, low voice.
Keeping in mind that the Headmaster would know what her choice was, and probably some of her friends, she chose a name from the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. "Estel." She thought it oddly fitting.
The Elf nodded and the painting along with the wall surrounding rolled upwards to reveal the entrance to her new quarters. She stepped in and the entrance closed behind her.
She took stock of her new living space. The entrance leaded directly into a small room with some hooks and a rack on the wall. Wood was the predominant material, covering the floor and the walls. Only the ceiling was left white. She smiled and removed her robes to hang them up and then removed her shoes and placed them on the rack. It seemed that the magic of the castle was attuned to what she needed and made her quarters to fit. She walked into the adjoining room. It was spacious and comfortable. The walls were of earthen tones and the chairs and sofa were of her favored black leather. The carpet beneath her feet was dark and midway between plush and hard.
There were four doors that led from the room. She opened the one on the far side of the room. It led to a large room with wooden walls and a plush tan carpet. There were light globes strategically placed throughout the room that flickered on as she stepped in. To the right was a bed pushed into the corner. It looked comfortable and was pretty big. There was also an oak dresser, desk, and night table. A large empty bookshelf took up one entire side of the room. A door in the corner opened to a spacious bathroom with a shower for when she was short on time and a rather large, interesting tub for when she wished to take a soak.
She smiled in approval.
She then backtracked out of what was obviously her bedroom and picked another of the four doors. She entered cautiously and the light globes again turned on as she stepped in. It was a large room with racks and cases for all sorts of weaponry. The room again had wooden walls and flooring. The Hogwarts crest was carved into the only wall that had no weapons holder. When they had corresponded by mail, Dumbledore had informed her that she was allowed all of her weapons as long as they were locked securely in her rooms. He had also said that she was allowed weapons on her person as long as they were hidden from sight and were charmed to reject any wielder but herself. She smiled when she saw the cases that she had sent to Hogwarts ahead of time in a corner. They had not been opened or tampered with. She decided to take care of putting up her equipment after she had finished exploring her new quarters.
The next room was empty. It had wooden walls and floors as well. On the inside of the door, "communications" was carved into the wood. Sevti immediately understood.
While she had been in the U.S., she had discovered a way to make muggle technology work in places with high magical concentrations, such as Hogwarts. This room was where she could set up her command center away from the U.S. capitol. She mentally made plans as to what would go where, eyeing the equipment that she had sent to Hogwarts in advance with her weapons.
The fourth and final room was made up entirely of glass on two sides, another feat of magical space that she would have to get used to seeing. She couldn't see through the windows at this time of night, so she turned to the remaining two walls. They were wooden, a theme that was constant throughout her quarters. The room had a very woodsy scent. She then gazed at the large willow in the corner of the room nearest the windows that seemed to grow straight out of the floor. A mat was under it, an obvious place for meditation. A small stream ran near the tree, seemingly starting and ending in a wall. It was a very relaxing place. In another corner of the room, this near one of the solid walls, there was a large practice area. Boxes of equipment were pile din the corner, ready to be set up. They contained her martial arts gear. She smiled in content when she closed the door while still in the room and suddenly grass was under her bare feet. The only place not covered in grass was her practice area, but that was made of hard packed dirt. All she could think was the word 'perfect'.
With the rare smile still on her face, she exited the room and once again found herself in the main sitting room. She found herself wishing that she could have a kitchen so that she might make her own food on the weekends. She jumped when suddenly the room extended, creating a kitchen before her eyes, complete with muggle appliances. Again, two of the walls were glass and a low partition separated the two rooms.
She quickly got over her surprise and walked into the room. She opened the fridge to find that it was already stocked with food. She removed an apple from where it sat, and immediately another took its place. When she replaced the apple without eating it, the apple that had appeared disappeared again. She smiled. No doubt the fridge was connected to the kitchens and was magically restocked.
As she surveyed the kitchen, she heard a soft hoot from her sitting room. She didn't bother with the opening in the partition, but vaulted over it. She saw that a perch complete with food tray and fresh water was in the corner of her room, along with her owl.
She smiled at the creature that she had named Kinoie. She called him Kin for short. He hooted again. After she checked that he was comfortable, she went around setting up all of her things, working late into the night. She rarely ever slept well, so she stayed up into the wee hours of the morning.
A/N: Finally. The next chapter. I know that I took forever, but I finally got an outline type thing typed and got my muse back, sort of. So… heres to a quick update, but I make no promises. Fencing and all of my other activities cut into my time without mercy. That's why this update was so late. Oh, and lots of stupid assignments. Can't ever forget those.