Issy Quinn met Remus Lupin outside of the bookshop five minutes later, and the two looked nervously at each other.
"So, do you have any places in mind of where you'd like to go, or do you trust me to choose a good place?" Remus asked her as they started their walk in the cool night air.
"You can choose. You seem like the type of guy who'd know a good coffee place" Issy smiled.
"Okay, well, I know one pretty amazing one a few blocks from here called Starlight Cafe, how about we go there? It has the best blueberry muffins," Remus offered.
"That sounds amazing, I love blueberry muffins," Issy answered.
"Great, let's go," Remus smiled.
The two of them walked to Starlight Cafe in a comfortable silence. Once they got there, they ordered some food then sat at a small table in the corner.
"So," Issy smiled softly. "Want to get to know each other a little bit better?" she asked him.
"Yeah, that would be amazing," Remus replied, his voice soft. "You want to start?"
"Sure," said Issy. "I'm a fifth grade teacher. I just started this year."
"Ah, teaching. That's a very important position," Rems replied, sipping on some coffee.
Issy nodded sadly. She had forgotten about Harry's tragic tale until just now. Remus seemed to notice that she was upset.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, concerned.
"No.. well, it's just that I overheard this boy talking to another student during recess today... and it was really sad," Issy replied, looking sadly down at her muffin.
"What did he say, if you don't mind me asking?" Remus said quietly.
"He was talking about how his parents died when he was a baby, and he lives with his aunt, uncle, and cousin, but his cousin is mean to him, and the aunt and uncle are on the cousin's side. One of his punishments is no food," said Issy.
Remus looked shocked. "No food? That's terrible! They can't just deprive a growing child of food."
"I know. It's also not like they can't afford it. Their son, Harry's cousin, is... well, let's just say not that skinny," Issy grimaced.
"Did you say Harry?" Remus asked.
Issy looked up at him, confused. "Yeah, the boy's name is Harry. Why?"
"It's just that... I had friends who had a little boy called Harry who had very similar circumstances," Remus explained. "Did Harry mention having any siblings?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, he did, actually. An older sister who ran away a little while ago," said Issy.
Remus's heart sank. "I think it's him. What's his last name?"
"Potter," Issy replied softly. She could tell Remus was sad to hear about the boy. "You knew his parents?"
"Yeah. I was best friends with his dad all throughout school, and in the last few years I became close friends with his mom. James and Lily, they were some of my favorite people. So sweet and caring..." Remus trailed off. He hadn't talked about James or Lily with anyone for a very, very long time.
"Well, their son is amazing. We took some placement tests today, just to see what the students remember, and he was one of the top in the class," Issy shared.
"Sounds like James and Lily's kid alright," Remus chuckled. "His parents were very smart. James got top marks while barely trying, Lily was very good at staying on top of her school work and naturally very intelligent. James was quite a bit of a troublemaker though, he and our other friend Sirius were always breaking the rules, pulling pranks... Lily was very calm, but she stood up for herself and her loved ones. It took James a while to get Lily to even speak to him without insulting him. In their fifth year, Lily's best friend called her... something really bad and unforgivable. In their sixth year, James straightened out a bit, became less wild, started really being there for Lily, and later that year they got together. She got pregnant while still in school, but had the baby once we had graduated, later that year in November. They got married the summer between. Then a year and a half later she had another baby, Harry. She got pregnant once more right away, and Harry and his younger sister are less than a year apart," explained Remus. "Sorry, that was really long," he laughed nervously.
"No, it's fine. That's a sweet story," Issy smiled, warmth in her eyes. "Come to think of it, I actually have a picture of Harry. I took pictures of all the kids today, so that at the end of the year they can see how much they've changed since the beginning of the year. Would you like to see it?"
Remus's eyes lit up. "Could I?"
"Of course," Issy pulled out the pictures she had taken and found Harry's to show it to Remus.
Remus held the picture and looked at it closely. Harry had his dad's messy dark brown hair, his dad's face structure, his dad's everything, except his eyes. Harry had his mom's bright green, caring eyes. Remus smiled sadly down at the picture.
"He looks exactly like his dad, but with his mom's eyes," Remus said quietly, handing the picture back to Issy.
"I can tell you really miss his parents," Issy said softly. Remus nodded.
"They were the best friends I ever had. In school, it was the four of us. James and Sirius were the ringleaders. Both effortlessly handsome and smart, but huge pranksters. Peter was very different. He wasn't very handsome or smart and would usually copy James's or Sirius's or my work. Then there was me. I'm definitely not handsome, and I wasn't as effortlessly smart as James and Sirius, but I got high grades, and teachers did seem to love me. I wasn't super involved in all of the pranks, but I didn't necessarily stop them either..." Remus confessed. "Then when we were sixteen, Lily came around, and started dating James, so she became a part of the group.''
"That's a very sweet story. Have you ever met Harry?" Issy asked Remus.
"A few times, when he was really little. I haven't seen him since his parents died. I saw all three of them the day they were born. I was there on Harry and Samantha's first Christmases, but on Lauren's first Christmas they were already living with their aunt and uncle. I only met her once. Saw a lot of pictures though," Remus said.
"That's very nice to be there on someone's first Christmas," said Issy softly. Remus nodded. He had just gotten an idea.
"Does your school have any open positions?" he asked.
Meanwhile at Hogwarts
It had been a challenge learning Hogwarts as Samantha soon learned. She had expected her quick memory to be able to learn the layout of the school on her first day, but quickly realized there was far too much school to learn all in a day. The staircases always seemed to be moving around, disappearing, and there was always the occasional fake stairway that ended up totally vanishing whenever you stepped on it.
Doors were another thing. Some had specific requirements for opening them, such as asking politely, tapping with your wand, or tickling. Some wouldn't open at all unless a teacher told them too. Sometimes they weren't even doors at all but simply a wall pretending to be a door.
Despite all of the confusing doors and stairways, Samantha and Leslie made it on time to every class.
First was Charms. Professor Flitwick was a very short man who could barely see over the type of his desk without help. He had taken attendance the first day and gotten very excited when he saw the last name Potter, then taken to asking Samantha about her brother while she walked in and out of class. Samantha wasn't too thrilled by this.
Herbology was taught by Professor Sprout, the dumpy witch with dirty robes. They learned about the magical plants and fungi and how to take care of them. Samantha thought this subject was decent. She liked things where she got to do hands-on experience, so Herbology was nice. Samantha also really enjoyed the fact that she wasn't asked about Harry at the beginning and end of each class. She didn't like being in her brother's shadow, and she was determined to not let any of the teachers keep in the mindset that the only reason she was relevant was her brother.
The Transfiguration teacher was Professor McGonagall. She was strict and wasted no time in telling all of them Transfiguration would be hard. She then took attendance, pausing when she got to Samantha's name.
"A Potter? Interesting... you have a lot to live up to, Samantha. I taught both of our parents, both very skillful. And there is, of course, your brother, however I assume you would prefer not to be overshadowed by him?" McGonagall asked.
"That is correct, Professor," Samantha had replied, and McGonagall had moved on.
They took some notes, and were then told to turn a match into a needle. By the end of class, Samantha had been the only one to fully transform hers; Max's had gone silver but was still very much the shape of a match, and Alyssa's had gotten slightly thinner and pointier.
"Samantha," Professor McGonagall had called to her while everyone was leaving.
Samantha turned around , clutching her books to her chest, her long, wavy dark brown hair carefully braided back on one side. "Yes, Professor McGonagall?" she asked politely.
"I see that you inherited your father's looks and both parent's smarts," Professor McGonagall observed.
"Really?" Samantha asked, perking up. She loved hearing stories about her parents. There had been very few she'd heard from her aunt and uncle and Samantha wanted to learn all about them.
"Yes. You look exactly like James, although I'm sure you're well aware already" Professor McGonagall said.
"No, actually, my aunt and uncle have never shown me a picture of my parents," Samantha responded truthfully. She looked back to Leslie, who was waiting in the door, and beckoned her inside.
"Really? Well, I shall have to find you a picture. You have the most obvious features of James, eye color, hair color, but you have Lily's figure. And you are clearly just as skilled as your parents were," McGonagall said.
Samantha smiled. "Thank you," she said. She pulled her hair away from her face and then walked out of the room, Leslie following closely behind, a new spring in her step.
She strutted over to the subject she thought sounded the most interesting, Defense Against the Dark Arts. However, she quickly realized that it was not all it was cracked up to be. Professor Cemp was scared of everything. The mention of any sort of magical beast was enough to get her shaking. She at first tried to teach them about Vampires, but found them too frightening to talk about. She had seen Samantha's name on the attendance sheet and had since been scared of her, looking almost as if she thought Samantha was hiding Voldemort somewhere.
Then there was Potions, with the teacher Samantha had hated the second her eyes had met his. He seemed to glare at Samantha the whole class, being extra harsh on her, asking her hard questions about potions. Samantha was grateful she had been forewarned about Snape being harsh on new Gryffindors and had taken to studying the textbook for a while after she finished homework.
However, her getting the answers all right just made Snape angrier at her because he assumed she was cheating.
"Just like her father, arrogant, thinks she's better than everyone," Samantha heard Snape muttering as she walked by him one day, and she turned to look at him, raising her eyebrows.
A word had just come to her mind, a word she had never heard before, something she wasn't sure where it had come from, but she needed to say it.
"Snivellus," she muttered under her breath.
She knew at once she shouldn't have said that. Snape went very pale, then very red. "What did you just call me?" He demanded, livid.
"Snivellus," Samantha repeated, louder this time.
"Where did you hear that word?" Snape asked her, intense anger in his eyes. Samantha should've been scared, but she wasn't.
"It just came to mind. Truthfully," Samantha added.
This seemed to make Snape angrier. "Come with me," he growled, and Samantha followed him through the corridors.
They eventually reached a stone gargoyle, which Snape muttered something to and it stepped aside, revealing a spiral staircase. She and Snape went up, and they were met with an oak door. Snape knocked, and a minute later it was opened by Dumbledore himself.
Dumbledore only had to take one look at Snape's face to see that Samantha must have done something terribly wrong. He let them both in, and Samantha stared around the room.
There were many different artifacts, and Samantha was very interested by all of them.
"Professor Snape, lovely to see you. What brings you here on this fine day?" Dumbledore asked calmly.
"Professor, this girl has greatly disrespected me," Snape replied.
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "Really? What did Samantha do?" he asked, eyeing Samantha.
"She called me Snivellus," Snape replied, looking embarrassed. "As you may recall, that was someone else's nickname for me in school."
"Ah, I see," Dumbledore looked down at Samantha, and it wasn't anger in his eyes as Samantha had expected. It was more like curiosity. "I will talk to her. You may go, Severus.''
Snape nodded, gave one last dirty look at Samantha, and stepped out of the room.
"Samantha, did you call Professor Snape Snivellus?" Dumbledore asked her.
"Yes," Samantha responded. "But he insulted me first."
"Oh? What did he say?" Dumbledore asked her.
"As I was walking by, he said 'Just like her father, arrogant, thinks she's better than everyone'," Samantha responded.
"Did he really?" Dumbledore asked, and Samantha nodded. "And where did you get the name Snivellus?"
"It just... came to mind," Samantha told Dumbledore truthfully.
"It's almost funny," Dumbledore muttered.
"How?" Samantha asked him.
"Your father and Professor Snape went to school together. They did not get along the best. Your father's taunting name for Professor Snape was Snivellus," Dumbledore informed her.
Samantha's heart rate sped up. "Really?" she gasped.
Dumbledore nodded. "Now, of course, there is no excuse for insulting your teachers, however, by the sounds of it, it was not completely unprovoked. I will give you one detention, and must have a talk about insulting students with Professor Snape" Dumbledore muttered. "However, Samantha, if you do something like that again, your punishment will be much more severe, do you understand?"
"Yes, Professor," Samantha nodded.
"Good. You may return to the main school building now," Dumbledore said, and Samantha left the room.