I was actually surprised by the amount of people who reacted to my first chapter, thank you! Here's the next one!

Chapter Two

Elaine was up before the sun the next morning. She lay in the bed, watching her son sleep, his arms thrown up over his head in a way she'd never been able to figure out. His quiet breathing comforted her as her brain whirled in confusion with everything she'd learned just six hours ago. She rolled over on her other side after a while, noting the golden glow just above the horizon. With a groan, she got out of bed, wrapping a blanket around her and going into the other room. She sank onto the couch, and cleared her throat.

"Um. Hello. I don't know any of the house elves here, but if one could bring me a cup of tea-" She'd barely gotten the words out before there was a small "pop" and a house elf stood before her, oddly wearing a pile of hats and holding out a cup of tea. "Oh. Er. Thanks," Elaine said, taking it from him with a smile.

"Missus Davies is welcome. Dobby is pleased to assist Missus Davies!" The elf exclaimed, before disappearing with another pop, leaving Elaine chuckling to herself. House elves had always amused her in a way they didn't the purebloods she'd attended school with. As she sipped the tea, she again went over everything in her head.

Her husband was a death eater. Had been, because now he was dead. The thought made her throat close up, so she quickly shook her head and moved on.

Her mother was Lily Evans-Potter, who'd had her when she was sixteen. Not unheard of in the wizarding world, but rarer, as most teenagers hid their pregnancies with the aid of magic and concealment charms, as well as secret adoptions.

Her father was Remus Lupin, who was not only a werewolf but who seemed to her very unsure of things. Her mother had the excuse of, well, dying, but he'd been alive her entire life and had waited until now to reveal himself.

She had a brother. A little brother who was about to be sixteen himself and had no idea she existed.

She let out a groan, setting the now empty cup down and rising as she heard something tapping on the window. Elaine let the owl in and accepted her copy of the Daily Prophet. The headline made her heart sink.

"Amelia Bones, Aurors dead, found under dark mark." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, before scanning the article. What she saw made her gasp out loud.

"Do-dobby," she croaked, and the house elf popped back in. "Co-" she took another small calming breath. "Could you or another house elf keep an eye on Rowan? He's the little boy in the bedroom. I have to go speak with the headmaster."

"Dobby would be happy to! Dobby loves babies!"

She smiled at him. "Thank you, Dobby. I shouldn't be long."

Taking secret passages to the headmaster's office to get there as soon as she possibly could, her heart was pounding. She reached the gargoyles in less than five minutes thanks to her speed, and speaking the password, she was knocking on his door half a minute later.

"Enter," a calm voice stated from inside, and she pushed it open. Without a word, she flung the newspaper onto his desk and stood there, arms crossed, as he read it. He finally looked up at her.

"You people told me my husband was a death eater," Elaine snapped at him, yanking the newspaper up and shaking it. "This says he was an auror who arrived at the scene to help Madame Bones-"

"Unfortunately, Mrs. Davies, it is all a cover up." Elaine swallowed, her hopes dashed. Dumbledore looked up at her calmly. "It was Severus's idea, actually. He went to Voldemort- please, my dear, it is just a name - and his people in the ministry were able to spin this story."

"Why?" Elaine whispered, tears slipping down her face. She didn't bother to brush them away, instead just allowing them to fall. "I don't understand why you-know-who would agree to that, why anyone would. If Ben was a death eater-"

"Then the world - and therefore, the Order of the Phoenix, in particular, would have no reason to trust you. You would be taken into the ministry's custody for questioning, Rowan would be taken into Voldemort's care - not directly, but one of his followers would do it - and, ultimately, Voldemort's hopes of having you on his side would not come into fruition. This is all Severus's doing, so you could do what you asked last night."

"What I ask- You mean this is so I can join the death eaters, as a spy for you?" Elaine breathed. "I thought - he made it seem like it would be a bad idea."

"It's for that," Dumbledore told her. "But it's also because I need a Defense professor this year, Harry needs family after the loss of his godfather several weeks ago, and you need somewhere to stay. It will satisfy all of those."

"Hold on." Elaine sat across from him. "Defense professor?"

"Yes." Dumbledore stood and began to pace. "I was initially going to have Severus take the position - he would do well in it, after all, but the potions master I went to wishes to stay in hiding with Voldemort's return. He taught him, you see, when he was here at school. You graduated with highest marks in defense in your class, you took higher defense courses after graduation prior to your marriage, and you recieved top marks in those. You are a competent candidate, and it would benefit everyone involved if you were to take the position."

"I-" She sat there for a moment, taking it in. "I would be honored," she said finally, with a tired smile. "If you truly want me, I would be honored."

It was raining. Of course it was, Elaine thought with a sigh, standing outside the Davies family cemetery. Rowan sat in his stroller, holding on to a stuffed bear Ben had bought him for his second birthday. Ben's brothers - Roger and Kyle - and his Uncle Chester had not arrived yet. She'd owled them after learning about Ben, but had never received a response. Therefore, she'd planned it herself - with a little help from Dumbledore, as she'd no idea how to plan a wizarding funeral. She'd sent a second owl to the rest of the Davies, but none of them had responded to that one, either. Elaine had briefly wondered if you-know-who had gotten to them, but a member of the Order had confirmed they were alive and well, still living in London.

So it was with quite a surprise she saw Kyle Davies walking towards her. The twelve year old looked dwarfed in one of Ben's shirts, and it nearly broke Elaine's heart to see the poor boy. He was alone; Roger and Chester were not with him.

"Kyle," she murmured, heading in his direction. The child let out a sob and reached for her and she dropped to her knees, pulling him into a hug. "Oh Kyle. Why are you alone?"

"Un-uncle Chester didn't want to come," he managed in between sobs. "Said he didn't want to go to the funeral of a death eater. Benny wasn't a death eater, right? The papers said he-he was a hero."

"Oh no, Kyle, he wasn't." She continued to hold him, rocking back and forth in the rain. "Don't let Chester ruin your memory of Benny. Don't ever let anyone do that."

"Can I come stay with you?" Kyle asked, his bottom lip trembling. Elaine could only look at the boy. This poor child. His mother had died in childbirth, and Ben, Roger, and Kyle's father had commited suicide three years prior. "I don't wanna stay with Uncle anymore. He said nasty things about Benny."

"I'm sorry Kyle, but I have enough with Rowan." She smiled at Kyle, lifting his chin. "But guess what? I'll be at Hogwarts this year, so I'll be able to see you and Roger every day."

"Roger doesn't want to see you." Elaine looked up to see Chester striding towards them. He grabbed Kyle's arm and yanked him off the ground. "And neither does Kyle."

Elaine stood. "I will be the defense against the dark arts professor this year," she snapped at him. "And if Kyle - or Roger - want to come visit with me, or Rowan, their nephew, they may. Unless you plan to withdraw them out of one of the most prestigious schools of our kind? A school you went to, your parents went to, your grandparents...?" she trailed off as Chester smirked at her, handing Kyle a shoe and murmuring the portkey spell.

"I know the truth about you and your filthy husband," he growled at her. "I will not have my other two nephews tainted by your darkness. Do you understand? You mention one word to them not in their school syllabi, and I will withdraw them so fast their heads will spin, and then I will proceed to get you fired and thrown out onto the street." And with that, he turned on his heel and dissapparated away, leaving Elaine standing alone with Rowan, alone, to attend the funeral of her husband.

As Elaine walked down to the staff room four days after the funeral, a week since Ben's death, she revealed in all the changed that had occured in just seven days. Dobby had become her personal nanny while she was out doing other things, which was more of a relief than she would have expected, having a house elf help out.

She and Rowan had been moved into their own quarters of the castle, him having his own little nursery and her with her own room. It had been hard, those nights, falling asleep by herself. The first night she'd resorted to a mild sleeping potion in order to get any kind of sleep. Of course, she'd regretted it the very next morning, having woken up with a strong headache.

Professor Snape had tested her mental shields and found them lacking; therefore, she was under instruction to practice nightly and every morning, he would test them again. So far, she hadn't met his standards.

The newspapers had gone crazy with the news that war widow Elaine Davies was going to be a Hogwarts professor during the upcoming year, and she'd received an influx of owls offering their support. Of course there had been several negative reactions, but she didn't let these bother her. None of the owls had been from Ben's family, and she didn't contact them, either. They hadn't seen each other since Ben's funeral. Besides, September first would come soon enough, along with his brothers. She'd deal with it then.

Elaine hadn't yet had a meeting with the other teachers, all of whom she still remembered from her school days, even if she hadn't had them as a teacher herself. But as she pushed open the door to the staff room, she wasn't even nervous. She was doing this for a reason, she had to remind herself, even if she was dreading walking up to Harry Potter and announcing that they were related.

McGonagall - Minerva, she must remember she'd asked Elaine to call her Minerva, now that they were colleagues - stood by a stone fireplace, talking about something with Filius Flitwick, the short half-dwarf charms teacher. They both smiled at her when she entered, before continuing their discussion. Elaine stood by the wall, taking everything in.

"Madame Davies, how good it is to see you again!" Elaine turned to see Professor Sprout, one of her favorite teachers, smiling at her warmly. "Oh. You poor thing."

Elaine smiled sadly at her. "It is good to see you again, Professor," she said. After graduating Hogwarts, Elaine had been torn between furthering her herbology education or her defense one. In the end she'd gone with defense, but had taken a couple of herbology lessons on the side. Next to McGonagall, Sprout had been her favorite teacher. Ben's, too, which was why, she assumed, the teacher looked so sad upon seeing her.

"How are you holding up? When do I get to meet little Rowan? And none of that professor nonsense - call me Pomona. You've earned it, dear." The squat woman gestured for Elaine to follow her to one of the tables and the two of them sat down.

"Rowan's upstairs, I put him down for a nap before coming," Elaine explained. "I didn't think he'd be welcome at a staff meeting," she added with a chuckle.

"Oh he would have been more than welcome!" Pomona exclaimed, causing Elaine to laugh softly. "We don't get enough young ones here."

"We're a school," Snape said dryly, taking a seat near them. "All we do is deal with children."

"Ah but Severus, there is nothing quite like the innocence of babies," Dumbledore said, intruding on the conversation. He cleared his throat, gaining the attention of all the professors in the room. "Shall we let the meeting begin?"

Elaine sat quietly throughout the first half of the meeting, during which random topics were discussed, such as a way to make the Forbidden Forest a bit safer this year, with you-know-who's forces out in the open. Another topic was the conflict they were expecting between Slytherins and the rest of the school. It was here Elaine spoke up.

"Forgive me, but there's always been conflict between the Slytherins and the rest of the school," she said, hesitating slightly when all heads turned to her. But she continued. "Slytherin is always known as the dark house, and I don't see how that can be fixed without difficulty. Especially when - and I don't think any of us can deny this - most of the Slytherins have some family member on the wrong side of the war."

"What would you propose then, Mrs. Davies?" Snape questioned her. She paused, thinking.

"I don't know," she admitted. The conversation drifted, yet Elaine still sat there thinking, trying to come up with a solution. None had come to her by the end of the meeting, and as she stood up to leave, Snape touched her arm.

"Walk with me," he told her. She nodded and followed him down into the dungeons and into his office. They sat across from each other on either side of his desk. "Have you been practicing?" Snape asked her immediately, upon them both sitting. Elaine simply nodded. "Are you sure? Absolutely positive? Because you are not the first I have trained in this endeavor, and I will know if you are lying."

Elaine kept her gaze steady. "Why would I lie? I require your help, sir."

"It's Severus," The potions master stated after a brief pause, rising from his seat and walking over to her. "After we finish your training, you might as well call me Severus - we will be working closely together, after all."

"Fine," Elaine responded. "Severus. We both know I require your help. So, again, why would I lie?"

He sneered. "The other - child - that I tried to teach thought lying would be a good idea. Unfortunately, that lie cost him very, very dearly. I can't say I didn't try to warn him, but here we are, now."

"Who was it?" Elaine asked him quietly. "The other person you tried teaching how to block their mind. Who was it?" Snape - Severus (that would take getting used to) simply looked at her. She sighed. "Fine. Okay. I'm ready."

"Legilimens," she heard him whisper, and then it was there, that presence in her mind she had, well, grown used to. She pushed back, gently, and brought false memories to the forefront before releasing her hold. He slammed into them, into her mind, but she did not allow him to go further. He stayed there, at the front, with her pushing false memory after false memory onto him. After what seemed like hours, the hold released and he sat back, both breathing hard. "I assume by the fact you wore Slytherin robes in all of those memories none of them happened?" He asked her finally. She nodded mutely. "Very well done. We'll call it a night, shall we? We will meet again tomorrow, and if you pass then as well we'll introduce you to the dark lord."

Elaine said her farewells and headed back up to the third floor where her own office was. She'd been instructed to spend the next week or so coming up with a teaching plan to hand to Dumbledore at the end of the month.

She'd already decided that the first years would learn simple defense spells, and the level of difficulty would go up. First year NEWT students would, obviously, start with nonverbal spells, and so on. It looked like it was going to be hard, but she had every faith that she would succeed. She had to.

Dumbledore had the faith that she could do it, too, and so did most of the other professors. Except Severus.

She didn't know what to make of Severus, yet. Working together in each other's minds had given her insight that she never would have had otherwise, and it was, in a way, a more intimate thing than she'd had with Ben. She shook those thoughts out of her head.

Sitting behind her desk, she cleared her throat. "Dobby." The house elf popped in front of her, holding Rowan's hand. "You can be done for the day, I have him from here. Thank you." Dobby bowed his head and popped out. "Hey baby," she whispered to Rowan, picking him up and laughing as he grabbed her nose. "I love you." And she carried him to his crib in the corner of the room before going back to work.

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