Singh is King..or Queen perhaps?

Priya had arrived at the rather unremarkable primary school and had already spoken to the principal. She had been assigned to take over a Year Four class that had a spotty term with a grievously ill teacher, who had sadly resigned from the teaching service the previous week. As she walked into the class with her trolley bags, she introduced herself both with her bubbly personality and her magic. She was quite aware that many children were troublemakers because they wanted attention that they did not get at home. She understood that children were not scaled-down, dumber adults.

Rather, they were little people that often had the biggest of issues.

She was rather thankful that her Practicum lecturer had taken her to some of the troublesome schools that did not possess the pedigree of the more prestigious institutions. At the troublesome schools, she would let her magic radiate like a warm fire when she spoke. This was not like the compulsion Harry had used – rather it was a lighthouse for the broken children who were starving for affection. Children would pay attention when she taught her lessons, if only because she was nice. Her lecturers were often quite pleased with her teaching and her lesson plans. Many of them remarked that when she completed her degree, the world would not be ready for her.

They were certainly right – but it would be the magical world who would not be ready for her excellence, as the threads of fate played out.

Priya had received many offers for immediate placement from many private schools in London, but she had decided that she was not ready to pay premium rent fees in London for a dingy apartment. How would she buy those cute shoes and dresses? She opted to take the nearest vacancy that was within driving distance of her home and proceeded to borrow the trusty Nissan wagon that was owned by her father to get around. After all, coming home to a familiar environment and her parents was something that she preferred. She was in no hurry to get an apartment - not when she could have her mother prepare a hot meal every day. Besides, who else could do that much housework with a wand? No, she believed that it was time to see to the comfort of her parents.

So, to facilitate this, St. Grogory's Primary was the school of choice. And now, she was here.

In her introduction to her class, she explained to her new students that she was excited to be their new teacher. She was looking forward to having fun and she hoped to make them laugh. The children were positively confused at first.

Was she a teacher or a clown? Who cared about them?

But Priya would slip into one of her very trusted exercises – she would ask the students to tell her their full names and one thing that they liked. Upon this request, Harry Potter panicked to kingdom come. While Harry could have called upon his magic to bolster his voice, generally new teachers were always a terrible experience for him. To him, there was no indication that whatever the woman had said, was true.

What was he supposed to say? That he, the weakest student in the class, liked to read? And that while he never cared about school, that technically he had read a lot in the library? And that he loved science fiction? And he would explain himself, with a voice that was squeaky and full of stuttering and mispronunciations.

Riiiiiigggghhht...that would be very believable.

As he considered a possible response, Priya expertly went on to draw out the information by encouraging the other children to express whatever was on their minds. Suddenly she had many of them, handing over the information that would allow her to build good relationships with them. This was how Harry found out that Dudley wanted to be an MMA Fighter.

How atypical.

Priya was confused by the green-eyed boy. He seemed to be scared out of his wits. But more importantly, those eyes looked familiar. There was only one person who had those eyes.

Lilly Potter.

The Year Five Gryffindor student who was such a prodigy, that she taught Priya the Protean Charm one odd evening in the Hogwarts Library had those exact eyes. A charm that was 7th year NEWT material. The same Lilly who would become legend to all muggleborns – a muggleborn witch who outperformed every pureblood in every form of magic. The woman who had died but whose son had destroyed Voldemort. But how could this be Lilly's boy? The saviour of the wizarding world, dressed in oversized clothes and looking scruffy, in her classroom?

Her suspicions were confirmed when he answered "I am Harry Potter and I dunno what I like…?"

For many people "Jesus Christ!" was often an exclamation that they utilized, to express surprise. Priya on the other hand as a dutiful Hindu, out of habit exclaimed in an almost silent whisper to herself, "Hari Ram Bhajo!" which was an ideal cultural and religious substitution for:

Oh my God! What even is this?

Harry Potter in the muggle world, in a muggle primary school. Her class. Good grief – life had to throw a curveball ever so often. She decided that she would find out more later. It seemed that she was never done with the magical world, ever.

She spoke in the most gentle tone of voice and sent her thanks for his sacrifice, and the sacrifice of his parents, when she considered that this little boy had saved Wizarding England. To a certain extent, had the war continued, they would have eventually found her, her friend and their families. She then spoke:

"I am sure you like something. Perhaps you are feeling a bit shy. That is quite okay" Priya said, letting the magic mingle in her voice. Strangely Harry Potter who had seemed utterly distrustful, with his body stiffened and waiting to evaluate threats, suddenly cocked his head. Almost like he already knew about magic - perhaps he was being raised by a magical family?

Suddenly a big excited smile broke out on his face, and his eyes twinkled. Priya had never experienced this before - how could he as a child intrinsically know that she was a witch? And his face was so happy? Almost as if he was looking forward to meeting other magicals like himself? The ability to sense magic was not common, in children. A gifted few healers like Madam Pomfrey and herself possessed it. But then, based on his history surely he was special?

She decided to use a personal ability - an ability that Madam Pomfrey had called the Healer's touch. An ability according to Madam Pomfrey, that she had never encountered in a student before she had met Priya. She quested and pinged his magical signature. Suddenly his eyebrows furrowed and then suddenly his face was full of anguish. Priya felt somewhat guilty as she realized that the boy was suffering from loss. His magic was powerful and combative but also – curious?

He missed his parents, or at least that was the vague feeling that she had received. She felt sorry for the boy, as she realized that his sacrifice had bought freedom for everyone. She decided to at least comfort him. She observed the boy and kindly smiled as she walked toward him. She temporarily stopped, so that she could look the boy in the eye, while she slowly lowered himself to the boy's height. Harry looked at his new teacher and realized that she was sad because she could sense his pain. The idea that someone cared, certainly made him feel far less threatened. With his magic augmented by recent events, he recognized her genuine warmth. She then held his hand and gave it a light squeeze, as she projected her magic to comfort the boy.

Harry Potter began to tear up. Was this how a mother's touch felt like? If his mother was alive, would she feel like this? Harry Potter, who was able to command the buffoons in his house was once again a small child. Priya on the other hand realized that somehow, her magic reminded him of his parents. He finally mustered enough courage to speak. He explained in the tiniest voice that he liked to read, and he liked the entire Dune book series. He also loved flowers and he did gardening for his aunt. Priya could see little tears in his eye.

Priya with the biggest smile plastered on her face "Oh, please bring flowers for me then. I am sure you are excellent at gardening!".

Harry did not know it yet, but Ms Singh had immediately captured his loyalty. All because, she had given him the first compliment ever, in his entire life. He was good at something, and she was interested. Lady Magic watched the titanic soap opera unfold before her eyes and cried long tears. The boy had found warmth and now he would want to prove himself. A childish grin overtook her face and she began to rub her hands together – things were going exactly as planned.

Priya began working through the day slowly touching on various areas. She was curious as to how extensively the syllabus had been covered. She realized that many of the children had given up because they did not like their previous teacher. She took her time and encouraged them. She complimented them and promised them a pizza party at the end of the term if behaved well. Normally such promises would not move children. Many of them could often tell if they were being manipulated. But Priya was no ordinary teacher. She was a witch. She could draw upon her magic and express care, concern, warmth, and happiness. School according to her had every right to be 'magical' for her students.

After casting some of her uniquely developed spells under her desk, she had determined that Harry Potter had been abused, before the end of the day. She had confirmed malnutrition, torn ligaments, badly set bones, and some internal bleeding and bruising had taken place. Such injuries were unheard of for a small child – it was like almost he was being beaten to death.

What the hell was going on?

There were at least four other children who had abuse issues also but certainly not as severe as Harry. Priya called a friend of her mother who was a supervisor at a Student Support Unit. They would investigate the other four children and get the issue resolved. Harry Potter, she would handle herself. After all, he was a magical child. It would be a disaster to get the muggle authorities involved and then have the International Statute of Secrecy violated. She packed up her bags and headed home to have a cup of tea and to plan tomorrow's lessons and the next course of action, concerning Harry Potter. Time to get her favourite snake, in action.