For the past two weeks, Harriette spent the majority of her time pacing her office or bed chambers lost in her own thoughts about Sirius' return. Surprisingly, she only had to deal with the common first-year mishaps here and there. Despite so many new students, the usual first-term, accidental poisoning from Herbology, burns from spilled potions, and spell backfires in the other classes were at a surprisingly low rate. This allowed her plenty of time to bite her nails down until her fingertips were bloody.
How can he possibly be back? When did he get back? Oh, Merlin! I have to come clean about who I am, but how am I supposed to do that?
The pale blue runner in her office was starting to show a wear pattern from how often the matron walked over the rug. Krishna lay across the desk and her fluffy head shifted side to side as she watched her anxious owner cross the room over and over. The small feline grew tired of this game, stretching and yawning and then jumped from Harriette's abruptly throwing herself into her desk chair. The witch half-heartedly brought her left hand up to scratch the kneazle's ears, while she slumped her chin into the crook of her right arm that was resting on her desk.
"Krishna, what on Earth should I do?" the cat's ears pricked up at her emotionless tone and suddenly Harriette's face was being smothered from the kneazles wanton attention. "You are entirely right." She gently pushed the cat away from her face and began to pet her with more gusto. "I should definitely not be worrying about him right now. You have my full attention." The cat chittered with enthusiasm in response to her owner's promise and she curled up in Harriette's warm laugh.
She spent several minutes with Krishna keeping her legs warm and softly tickling them with her light purrs but the cat was half asleep and no longer engaging with Harriette to keep her mind from wandering back to Sirius.
"If he is alive and not in hiding, then where is Bellatrix?" she began to chew on the nails of her left hand. There were so many questions that needed answered, but the witch didn't know where to begin to find them. If that insane witch is still alive she would surely be trying to kill Sirius any chance she got. Hogwarts was the safest place but Voldemort proved he could get past the wards. Even Draco Malfoy had found a way to bring Death Eaters into the castle. Again, why would Sirius not be in hiding….? If only there were a way to figure out when Sirius was released from the Veil and what happened to Shacklebolt, then maybe I can find more answers. Harriette sighed to herself upon remembering Shacklebolt's death. Poor Kingsley, I sure would love to visit his statue. Suddenly remembering the article in the newspaper, Harriette had a brilliant idea. She yanked the center drawer to her desk to which Krishna screeched at while jumping off her lap. The healer fetched some parchment and began scribbling furiously. With proper outlining and planning, her idea would be beneficial to more than just her. If anyone had looked in on her at that moment, they would see her frantically writing while sporting a huge smile and wide eyes and they would think she was mad.
Harriette spent the next few hours of her Saturday morning writing out a very detailed proposition for the school Headmistress stopping every now and then to stroke the silky coat of the feline in her lap. When she was done, she had the makings of a thoroughly thought-out plan to begin an internship program for seventh-year students who wanted to earn an advancement in healership before leaving Hogwarts. If McGonagall liked her idea and it was accepted, it wouldn't be long before she had extra help both for matron duties, and her personal research. She was feeling pretty good about the idea. All that was left to do was take the proposal to the Headmistress, however it was almost time for Naos to join her for lunch and she was most excited to see him.
"It was so awesome, mom! I was the only one able to turn my mouse into a snuff box on my first try! Professor Black awarded me twenty house points for that!"
"Did he now?" Harriette sipped her chamomile tea, looking over the brim of the cup to her son. He had already told her all about how boring History of Magic was because he had already learned about the Gargoyle Strike of 1911. When Harriette had asked him about Professor Binns, Naos informed her that he had finally "moved on" and that Hannah Abbott was the current professor of the class.
"Mhmm. It took most of the lesson time for the rest of the class to get it. Poor Violet's snuff box still had a tail."
"Violet…?"
"Weasley. People say her mom is a werewolf like Professor Lupin." The boy continued to chat eagerly about his favorite classes. She was happy to hear that he adored Professor Lupin and Hagrid. She couldn't help but beam at his enthusiasm while talking about his Care of Magical Creatures class. It used to be that only third year students and above could take the class, but the school implemented a first and second year course for identifying magical creatures and their importance in the wizarding community. They found it helped muggleborn children ease into the magical community better.
"-and then Lotus Malfoy kicked Violet's table! The crystal ball fell but before it could hit the ground and shatter, Professor Longbottom, the girl one, not the Herbology professor, anyway she was able to cast a spell, something called…. wingo...darium, leviosa or something! I don't remember exactly. But the crystal ball floated back to the table! It was soooooo cool!"
"Wow, Naos! That does sound pretty exciting. What happened with Lotus?"
"Professor Lovegood deducted FIFTY points from Slytherin and has to serve a detention."
"No kidding? That's a lot of points!" Harriette couldn't help but smile to herself. Same old Slytherins, same old Malfoys. They were always causing some kind of trouble.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you about this cat I saw near that creepy tree, the one that tries to fight you! It's a big cat and kind of looks like Krishna except it's orange instead of patchy." This unexpected news caused Harriette to spill her tea down her front when she went to sip the hot beverage. She grabbed a napkin and started blotting her blouse dry.
"Really? By the Whomping Willow? Are you sure?" The boy nodded. Could it be that Crookshanks was still hanging around Hogwarts? She would have to go searching for him at some point. She missed that crazy half-kneazle. It had been a very long time since she left him with the Lupins, but perhaps they figured he would be better at Hogwarts. It was his home more than anywhere else after all.
"He is a big fluffy cat, mom! I mean big." He held up his hands to indicate a rather sizable cat and Harriette laughed. Crookshanks was a pretty decent size. He was much bigger than Krishna, that was for sure. I wonder if they will get along. She hoped that she could convince the ginger cat to stay with her again, but perhaps living free at Hogwarts was where he was meant to be now. She couldn't fault him for that. The castle was an amazing place, and would be quite adventurous for a creature like him. She imagined he had plenty of magical creature friends in the forbidden forest She remembered how he befriended a big, shaggy, black dog in her third year. It turned out to be Sirius Black in his animagus form, but still.
An hour later Naos and Harriette had finished their lunch and tired each other out with the stories of their first couple of weeks at Hogwarts but just before one o'clock, her son was pulled away by his friends. She remembered Andy's face from their dinner at the Leaky Cauldron but there was also James, Violet, and Teddy who were already lifelong friends. This wasn't news to Harriette but she pretended so when they introduced themselves to her. The first years left with her son in tow, and her heart couldn't have been happier in that moment.
The sound of Harriette's footsteps reverberated off the stone walls of the empty hall. It was after curfew when most students were in their common rooms getting read for bed. She was on her way to see the Headmistress and was lost in thought about her internship program when she thought she spotted an orange, bushy tail disappearing around a corner just ahead of her.
"Crookshanks?" She started to walk faster to get to the end of the hall. If her old cat was around the corner then maybe Naos was right! She couldn't wait to pet him and apologize for leaving. But what if he didn't recognize her because of her new identity? It was just a chance she would have to take. She quickened her steps and just as she was turning the corner she smacked right into something hard and fell on her bottom. Her proposal papers went flying about and landed in various piles of disarray. She shoved her hair out of her face and a hand reached down to help her up.
"My apologies, Ms. Dahl." The silky voice sent chills down her spine and she slowly looked up into the eyes of Sirius Black. She had avoided him like the plague ever since he sat next to her at the Sorting Ceremony but now that she had literally run into him, it was unavoidable. She swallowed back a lump that was forming in her throat and accepted his offered hand.
"Nn-no." She stammered. "It is entirely my fault. I was running and not paying attention." The man lifted her up with ease, and her papers lay on the ground forgotten. Despite Sirius being twenty years her senior, he looked relatively young compared to his age. His long hair was sporting a bit of grey but other than that Harriette noticed that the man didn't look bad at all. Especially with the calm, yet very powerful presence he had just simply standing there. The flickering light from the sconce on the castle wall cast a dancing shadow upon his face. Every once in a while the same silver eyes her son had would shine in the light causing her stomach to twist.
"I heard you calling after my cat."
"Your cat?"
"Crookshanks?"
"Your cat is Crookshanks?"
"He is my little buddy. A very dear friend of mine left him long ago and I adopted him." She followed his eyes as Sirius looked down in his arms at a cat that she didn't realize he was holding. The animal stared at her almost curiously. Does he know who I really am?
"He seems like a lovely little beast." Harriette smiled but it didn't meet her eyes. She wanted so badly to shout 'Here I am!' at the top of her lungs but she still wasn't certain about anything. "Well, perhaps I will see you later. I am actually on my way to see the Headmistress." She bent down to pick up the disorganized paperwork she had dropped moments before.
"Oh? I shall accompany you then if you don't mind. I have been meaning to visit Minnie. Don't call her that though, she loathes it." He winked at her and she couldn't help but genuinely smile this time. She couldn't imagine anyone calling McGonagall by such an endearing term. It goes against her rather commanding charm.
Harriette sat in the chair in front of McGonagall's desk. The office looked very similar to how Albus Dumbledore had it. All of the portraits of the previous Headmasters remained on the wall but there was one of the late Professor that was a newer addition. Instead of the various magical and scientific trinkets all around the room, there were surprisingly enough, books about quidditch, a fragmented broom that Harriette suspected to be a Nimbus 2000, a tea cart, loaded with a kettle, dainty cups, saucers, and biscuits, and last a few framed photos of her and a man that she didn't recognize that sat on a shelf near the desk.
They sat in silence while McGonagall was reading over Harriette's reorganized proposal with a blank expression except for Sirius who was still petting Crookshanks. He stood near the desk quietly watching the Headmistress intently. On their way to the office Harriette had explained about her proposal to which he had praised. The older woman finally set the papers down and Harriette sat forward, eager to hear the Headmistress' thoughts on the matter.
"Well I must say, Ms. Dahl, this is a very good plan. I know your successor had an assistant some years ago but no one had ever thought to implement an internship. This is brilliant. We will have to run it by the school governors and other proper channels but I do believe this is something that we could make work." Harriette beamed. She didn't doubt that McGonagall would like the plan, she was just afraid it wouldn't be accepted. She was relieved to hear that wasn't the case.
"If I may add," Sirius piped up, "perhaps we could come up with an internship program for most of the classes here? The most competent students could benefit greatly from an apprenticeship in Potions, Transfigurations, Herbology, and the like. Think of the opportunity one may get coming out of seventh year with such an advancement under their belts." They all nodded in agreement. Harriette was so excited that her plans were actually going to become something great and she couldn't wait to see it come to fruition.