Katrina had taken a moment to compose herself once Severus had left, before rising from the bench. She remembered the parchment he had handed her and she pulled it from her pocket and opened it, quickly scanning the letter. She had no idea who this Dolores Umbridge was, but according to this, she would be observing Katrina's class sometime this week. Katrina made a scoffing noise and put the parchment back in her pocket where she quickly forgot about it.

She headed back into the house, watched her daughter rise and leave, and finally faced her class. Six days and then she could allow herself to breakdown. Six days, surely she could survive that.

"Good morning class, my name is Kat Smith and I will be your Advanced Muggle Studies teacher. Before we begin with anything, let me go over a couple things with you. First, you are to pretend that you are still in Hogwarts and you are to behave accordingly." She smiled inwardly as the surprise rippled through the class. Obviously they had been told that she was a muggle and they didn't expect her to know anything about their world. "Second, I can, and will, take points from your houses if I am forced to. Accordingly, I can also add points to your houses." She stopped as a hand went up. "Yes?"

"Excuse me, Professor Smith, but this house is warded against magic, isn't it?"

"Yes, Miss…"

"Granger, Hermoine Granger," the bushy haired girl said. "Well, my question is, how can those losses or gains of points be recorded?"

"Very good question, Miss Granger." She walked over to her bookcase and picked up a small handheld computer, "This is linked to a magical counterpart located in Hogwarts. In fact," she said, picking up the stylus and consulting the class roster on the screen, "Five points to Gryffindor." She glanced at the roster again, noting she had students from Gryffindor and Slytherin. Inwardly she groaned. Slytherin students were always the worst, most difficult students. Paired with their rival house, this could be a miserable six days…

She glanced at the roster again, hesitating slightly as she came to Potter, Harry. The poor boy, she thought, probably hasn't had a normal childhood with people regarding him as a hero and all that. She resolved then and there that she wouldn't mention to him that she'd known his parents, nor that Lily had been one of her best friends. She called the roster aloud, determined to try to remember most of their names, though she did add a few descriptive notes into her computer to aid herself.

"Other rules of my house," she said when she had run through the names, "Breakfast is at 8AM and class begins at 9. On days where we are having lessons in the house, you will get a half an hour break at 11 and another at 3. Lunch is at noon, and dinner is at 6." She smiled as she spoke this last bit, "And yes, you will have to tolerate my American accent and habits. More than twenty years in England seems to have done nothing to erase them." She ran a hand through her almost dry hair, "We will have trips out of the house as well. On those occasions, you will do well to remember the Ministry of Magic's restrictions on underage magic."

Glancing around the room, she tried to get a feel for this group of students. They were more wary looking than she remembered her previous classes being. Of course, she reminded herself, that was before the rumors of Voldemort's return began circulating. Dumbledore had made sure to keep her up to date on that. She glanced at her watch and saw it was already approaching noon. "Let us go downstairs and get some lunch."

As she led the way downstairs, she made a mental list of the shopping she would soon need to do. She had had no warning of impending students and thus was rather unprepared. Thankfully, she had a large quantity of canned soups and enough sandwich fixings to go around. It certainly wasn't her best-planned lunch, but it wasn't a total disaster either.

As she began clearing away the dishes from dinner, a bell rang quietly. "Excuse me a moment," she said, hurrying upstairs and through the living room. She went outside and through the gate. There, on her mailbox sat Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix. In the beautiful bird's beak was a letter addressed to her in the headmaster's flowing script. She took the letter from the bird with a quick thanks. "Can you wait one moment, Fawkes? I wish to pen him a response." Fawkes sang a couple notes which she took to be agreement. She opened the door and went inside, opening Dumbledore's letter as she went.

Dear Katrina,

It has come to my attention that Dolores Umbridge sent students to you. I also know that Professor Snape is the one who brought them to you. I know that you no longer receive the Daily Prophet, so you are probably unaware that I have been temporarily removed from the headmaster position at Hogwarts. Had I still been there, I would have avoided the reunion between the two of you. I can only hope it wasn't a complete disaster. I also hope that my replacement sent you some warning of the students' arrival, though it would not surprise me if she hadn't. I hope you and Maggie are well.

Yours sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Katrina grabbed some paper and a pen and hurried back outside to write a quick response.

Dear Albus,

The "reunion" went as well as could be expected. No blood was shed, so I believe it went better than I'd imagined it would. He has rejected Maggie and myself. Had it only been myself he turned from, I would perhaps be dealing with it better. As there is nothing further I can do, I will simply make the best of the situation. I hope this letter finds you well.

Your friend,

Katrina Smith

She folded the letter and handed it to Fawkes. "Thank you, Fawkes. Tell Albus I miss him dearly."

Fawkes again sang to her before disappearing into thin air. Katrina went back inside and mentally steeled herself for a long afternoon.