Chapter 9: Past Faces
"Miss Granger, a word, please?" McGonagall surprised them. The three were sitting cross-legged in Harry and Ron's room, discussing the "heirs," they hadn't even heard the door open.
"Uh, sure Headmistress." Hermione looked at her two best friends and shrugged slightly to their looks of accusation. "I dunno." She whispered, standing up and following McGonagall out into the hallway.
"This way." McGonagall ushered her towards the old study at the end of the hall. She opened the door and let Hermione enter first before closing the door behind them. The new Headmistress sat down behind the ancient desk, clasping her hands in a very Dumbledore-esque way. "I have a favor to ask you, Miss Granger, and I trust that you can carry it out without having it interfere with your studies."
"Of course." Hermione replied. "What is it?"
"I need you to keep an eye on someone." McGonagall replied slowly. "She is an exchange student coming to stay with us this year. She is unused to manners because she comes from a very powerful family, and usually gets everything that she wants." she explained. "We hope that she will be able to adjust to her new school, but I don't trust her to be very--innocuous."
"Innocuous?" Hermione repeated.
"I'm going to be blunt with you, Miss Granger, Miss. Voshti is not a particularly pleasant young woman." she looked down at her hands, obviously not liking to speak ill of others openly. "I need you to try to explain to her our ways and the correct way to act."
"Yes, ma'am, but if you don't mind me asking--how bad is she?" Hermione asked.
McGonagall met Hermione's eyes, Hermione was surprised to find a shadow over the teacher's usually sharp, clear eyes. "She is two steps from royalty where she came from, Miss Granger. I fear that she won't even understand why she can't have what she wants."
"Yes ma'am. I'll try to help her." Hermione said, a feeling of dread down in the pit of her stomach. Two steps from royalty? The Muggle royalty was bad enough, she could only guess how bad wizarding royalty would be.
"Thank you. However, if this begins to interfere with your grades I will find some other way to restrain her. Please tell me if she becomes too much of a burden. She will have other assistance, but I don't think even he could help her."
"Who?" Hermione asked.
McGonagall waived her hand dismissively, obviously the conversation was over. "I would thank you not to tell your friends about this. They have enough to worry about. Thank you very much, you're excused." McGonagall picked up her pen and began to finish a half-written letter on her desk.
Hermione exited, chewing on her thumb. Who was this girl? And who was her other help? "Oy, 'Mione, what was that about?" Ron and Harry jogged up to her.
"Nothing important." Hermione replied uncertainly. Should she tell them anyway? McGonagall's voice had been very serious when she'd warned her not to tell them. Perhaps she had a point. "Don't worry about it."
"Oh, come on, 'Mione, it could've been that vital or else she'd have told Harry too!" Ron exclaimed.
"Well then obviously it isn'tthat vital." Hermione snapped, walking back towards her room. "Now if you please I have some studying I've been meaning to do." and she disappeared behind the door.
"What's wrong with her?" Ron looked at Harry.
"Dunno." Harry replied, shrugging. "She'll tell us eventually."
"Yea, she never could keep a secret from us." Ron grinned. "I'll get it out of her."
"I'll bet you will." Harry mumbled.
"What?" Ron asked.
"Nothing. How about the Longbottoms? They've been in Gryffindor for a while. Maybe Neville's the heir."
"Neville, the heir of Gryffindor?" Ron snorted. "Hardly. What about Seamus?"
III
"Alright everyone, be good this year." Mrs. Weasley said tearfully as they stood on the platform of 9 ¾. "I don't want to hear from any of your teachers that you've been getting into trouble. And for heaven's sake--be safe. Don't run off and find trouble, you hear me?" she looked at the four of them with tears in her eyes. She was obviously terrified for them.
"Yes, mum." Ron replied with a sigh. "But it isn't like we go out and find trouble, it sort of finds us." he explained. "Sometimes I wonder about that…"
"Oh, Ronald." She pulled him into a tight hug, drawing Ginny in next to him. They were both crushed into their mother's bosom, which caused them to go bright pink. There were a few sniggers from the passing students, Seamus appeared out of the crowd, a big grin on his face, arms crossed, watching the spectacle silently. "Be careful now." she said, releasing them and pulling Harry and Hermione into short hugs as well. "Alright then, get on the train, don't want to be late, oh, Seamus, so good to see you again." She noticed him.
"It's good to be seen." Seamus replied. "I didn't mean to listen in…" Seamus had changed a bit over the summer, he must've been pushing 6'1'' now. His hair was a bit lighter, probably from the sun, and he looked in shape. His eyes had even lightened a bit, still as full of mischief as usual. All in all both Ginny and Hermione had to admit that he wasn't too bad.
"Oh, no worries dear. Now you be careful too, you understand?" before Seamus knew what was happening he was being hugged by the tearful older woman too. Sniffing she pushed him away. "You all just grow up so fast. Why, it was only yesterday that I was changing Ron's diapers…"
"Mum!" Ron exclaimed, mortified.
"Oh, listen to me, going on. Off with you then." she indicated the train, the bell was ringing for the final passengers.
The five teenagers gladly escaped Mrs. Weasley and got onto the train. "I'm gonna go find my friends." Ginny said vaguely, glancing at Harry before disappearing down the hallway without even saying goodbye.
Hermione sighed, looking from Ginny to Harry, who seemed blissfully ignorant to Ginny's plight. "One day, Harry, you need to open your eyes." she told him as they picked their way through the hall, looking for an empty cabin.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking over at her curiously.
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Ginny's still heartbroken over last year. You haven't so much as held a conversation with her all summer and now you're barely even looking at her. Honestly, I would think you of all people would realize how she felt."
"Oh, come on, 'Mione, don't be a bore." Ron exclaimed.
"A bore?" Hermione repeated. "You're just as bad as Harry."
"Trouble with the missus?" Seamus said, elbowing Ron in the ribs and grinning. Luckily Hermione didn't hear his comment.
"Oh, shove off." Ron grumbled.
"Come on, don't tell me you haven't--you know." Seamus wiggled his eyebrows provocatively.
"What? With Hermione?" Ron sputtered. "No! She's like my--she's like Ginny!"
"It's not like the two of you haven't been giving each other the eye since third year." Seamus pointed out. "It's just the--the natural order of things." she grinned. "Verynatural."
"Oh, what, have you yet?" Ron asked, again, glancing at Hermione and finding her still unaware of the conversation.
"What? Yea, of course!" Seamus exclaimed, holding his head up.
"No way." Harry piped in. "Call, who was it?"
"You wouldn't know her." Seamus replied. "She--she's not in school anymore. She graduated."
"And I'll bet she lives in America too, right?" Ron rolled his eyes. "She was just here for the summer, no one knows her. No one saw her."
"Shedoeslive in America." Seamus replied. "Real good looking bird, too. Name was--Sara, yea. She was nineteen."
Harry snorted.
"Oh, here." Hermione spoke up, standing in front of the last cabin. It was unoccupied other then Remus, who sat on the far side with his head leaned against the glass. "Hello, can we join you?" She asked.
"Please." he indicated for them to enter. "Although, as I hear it, Mr. Finnigan is needed elsewhere." he smiled. "Congratulations."
"What? Congratulations what?" Ron asked, looking at his friend.
"Well it seems as though Dumbledore named the Head Boy and Girl before the end of last year, and Mr. Finnigan happened to be one of them." he smiled, shaking Seamus' hand.
"What? No way!" Hermione exclaimed. "You weren't even a Prefect! No way your grades were good enough! What was Dumbledore thinking?"
"Aw, you're just sore because you aren't Head Girl." Ron pointed out.
"That's because Dumbledore knew that I was needed elsewhere." Hermione pointed out, sniffing and holding up her head.
"Yea, well, best be getting off, then. Needed up front." Seamus grinned, the three noticed for the first time the silver pin on his robe with the letters HB on it. "See you later." he flashed a grin and set off.
Hermione chewed her lip, looking at the open door, obviously deep in thought. "Why do you think that Dumbledore would make him Head Boy then?" she asked, looking at her two friends and Remus.
"Dunno. It's not like he's exceptional or anything." Ron shrugged.
"Maybe Dumbledore just wanted someone who believed us, you know? That way if we've ever got to go and do something he can look in the other direction." Harry suggested.
"Maybe." Hermione murmured. "Do you know?" She looked over at Remus.
Remus shrugged, looking out the window. "I know that he changed the name last-minute. It was supposed to be a boy from Hufflepuff."
"And whose Head Girl?" Hermione asked.
"Padma Patil." Remus replied without looking at them.
"Oh, ug!" Hermione exclaimed. "That's Parvati's sister, right?"
"Where's Jack, anyhow?" Ron asked, sitting down opposite Remus. "The two of you have been attached for the entire summer. It's weird to see you without her." he grinned. "Although, I get it, reallyI do." he chuckled.
"It's nothing of the sort, Ron." Remus looked across at the redheaded boy. "She is like my sister. And she's on assignment right now."
"Ah, Order business." a voice came from the door.
"I'll bet it's something sexy." a similar voice replied.
"Yea, something that gets her into skintight leather and riding a motorcycle." Fred sighed dreamily.
"Or maybe she's undercover. Maybe she's at a strip joint populated by Death Eaters pretending to be one of the strippers." George suggested.
"Naw, too classy for that. She's probably the bartender." Fred pointed out.
"Right on that one." Fred slapped his brother's shoulder. "Mind if we join you?" they sat down next to Remus without waiting for a response. Hermione and Harry sat by Ron, looking at the two twins, confused. "Bet you're wondering why we're here."
"You're banned from Hogwarts." Hermione pointed out. "You turned part of the first floor corridor into a swamp. They still haven't gotten rid of that. I think that Professor Sprout is using it to breed mushrooms."
"Ah, yes, well, that was sotwo years ago." George replied.
"Yea, we're way beyond that whole 'swamp in the school' phase." Fred pointed out.
"So you mean that they're letting you finish your last year?" Harry asked. Having Fred and George going to classes with them wouldn't be bad at all.
"Go to class?" Fred asked. "Hardly. We're out of that phase too. Naw, we're teaching!" he exclaimed.
"Teaching?" Hermione exclaimed, shocked. "Teaching what, the art of Vomit Spells?"
"Well, we're not exactly teachingteaching." George explained. "We're—well, we're something."
"See, now this was really all Jack's doing, good girl that one."
"Gorgeous arse. No insult."
"Yea, gorgeous everything else too." Fred grinned.
"Anyway, so, she says that we need to be more on the Offense with the whole impeding Death Eater rampage of doom coming up. She was trying to get McGonagall to let her do more progressive Defense classes, but the old hag wouldn't hear anything of it."
"George." Remus said warningly.
"Sorry, the lovely old lady." George corrected himself. "Really more like a grandmother image. Apron strings and cookies and all."
"So anyway, McGonagall didn't want her to teach more dangerous magic…"
"That's stupid." Harry pointed out. "We needthat dangerous magic. It's not like the Death Eaters are going to realize that we can't defend against what they're throwing and just cast a nicer spell." he shook his head. "We need to know the hard stuff."
"Soanyway," George interrupted him. "She says that the board won't hear anything of it. But if Jack wanted to do it on a purely optional basis she wouldn't have a problem with it, as long as it was safe and the person running it was responsible." George sat back with a grin.
"So she called us." Fred finished, throwing his hands behind his head and sitting back with the same self-satisfied smug look on his face. "Real close she is with us. We're like this." he crossed his fingers.
"She wants youto teach us these dangerous spells?" Hermione repeated, dumbfounded.
"Well she'll be doing it with us." George explained.
"Yea, see, it was more like we heard what she was gonna do…"
"So we sort of called her and volunteered…"
"But she was really excited. Said she was just going to ask us." Fred said quickly. "So here we are." he looked over at Remus. "Think I've got a shot with her?"
"Forget him, think Igot a shot with her?" George asked, pushing his brother aside.
Remus chuckled. "Maybe as a pair." he replied before he could stop himself. "I mean…"
Fred and George looked at him blankly. "Huh?" George asked.
"Don't worry about it." Remus sighed, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.
"So tell us about her." Ron sat forward, interested. "What was she like?"
"Jack?" Remus asked, looking at the three teenagers through nearly closed eyes. "A lot like she is now. She hasn't changed too much."
"So you mean she was always perfect." Fred asked.
Remus chuckled. "If you like the Amazonian type." he said. "Truth to be told she was a bit intimidating when she was younger. Always felt like she had to prove herself. I can't count the amount of times she had detention. It's a wonder that she wasn't kicked out of Hogwarts like she had been at Salem."
"She got kicked out of the Salem Academy?" Hermione asked, surprised. "And they let her come to Hogwarts? The way that I hear it Hogwarts is much more strict with their students then Salem is."
"Yea, it mystified even her. For some reason Dumbledore decided to allow her to come to school here." Remus shook his head, a misty smile on his face. "But it didn't really surprise me. She was an orphan, he always had a weakness for orphans." the smile faded a little.
Harry thought about how Dumbledore had made the special trip to see Tom Riddle in the orphanage all those years ago. "So both of her parents were dead?" he asked quietly.
Remus looked over at Harry. "Yes, although that isn't a subject that I have any liberty to talk about."
"Well what was she like when she got to Hogwarts?" George asked. "I'll bet she was brilliant."
"She was." Remus replied. "We had a Professor named Loupit, he was the Astronomy professor. Anyway, he was losing his hair and had used a charm to regrow it, only it wasn't a very good one, you could tell that he'd done it to himself. Jack always used to joke that it was a living creature and she wasn't sure if she should liberate it or beat it to death. She used to call him Professor Toupee instead of Loupit. One of the homework assignments was to plot the planetary locations that month and draw a star chart. She did it right, perfectly, to the T, I think it was the most she'd ever put into a homework assignment. Only, instead of drawing a representation of the sun she drew the back of Loupit's head, his bald spot shining. Needless to say she got an F on it." he chuckled. "She was fearless." he shook his head. "When she was younger her mother used to drag her out of bed when it rained at night to go dancing in it. They lived in California, so it didn't rain too much. When her mother died she kept doing it. She said it made her feel like her mother was still there. She used to sneak into the boy's dormitory and wake me up to go and dance with her. Of course this was in Scotland, so it rained all the time." he laughed. "I don't think I slept the entirety of my sixth year."
"Jack said that she--didn't like my father much." Harry spoke up. "Why?"
Remus looked over at Harry thoughtfully. "You have to understand that James was a very--self-assured boy. Some might say he was even a little vein. He was a good friend, loyal, smart, funny, but he was also popular. Jack always thought that he was a snob. But it was a rather biased opinion. She was--infatuated with one of the boys that James and Sirius used to torment."
"Who?" Harry asked.
Remus shook his head, leaning back. "Just a boy." he looked up at the ceiling. "There was another time, on November 25, it's an American holiday, anyway, she thought that it should be equally represented in the school, even though she was the only American student there. So, on November 24th she stole a turkey from Hogsmead, a live one, mind you, and gave it a growing potion, with the help of her friend. So, on the 25th the entire school was woken up by the frantic gobbles of a fifteen-foot turkey running through the halls. Everyone knew that it was her, even the teachers. Only--she'd left no evidence. She'd even made Polyjuice and had a friend of her's, Sara, sneak out and get caught to prove that she couldn't've been stealing the turkey and setting it lose at the same time. It drove the staff crazy. They tried for monthsto prove it was her, but she was too good." he laughed again. "God, those were good times."
"A giant turkey." Hermione repeated.
"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, laughing, wiping tears from the corner of his eye.
"Another time Quidditch was cancelled because of a hail storm." Remus began.
"She played Quidditch?" George asked.
"Oh, yea, she could've gone to the pros, but she wanted to be an Auror. She was a beater, there were recruiters showing up at the games all the time. She almost signed with the Salem Spirits but decided not to. Anyway, so Quidditch was cancelled, you have to understand, it'd been hailing for two weeks straight, the entire field was under fifteen inches of ice, we could barely open the doors to get outside. So, the night before the Quidditch match was supposed to happen she rallied the teams, they all snuck down to the Great Hall, moved the tables and set up posts. It was a rather small-scale field, but it was enough. So, as soon as all the other students started showing up they started playing. It took the Professors an hour before they could stop them. The teams were just too good. Of course everyone got detention, but it was worth it." he grinned in memory.
"So she was a beater, then." Fred grinned. "Maybe we could play, two against one." he elbowed his brother.
"She sounds great." Ron sighed. "Man, what I would've given to see her back that." he whistled, Hermione huffed and turned away, crossing her arms.
"Oh, I've got a picture." Remus pulled an old photograph out of his wallet, handing it over. There stood a sixteen year old Jack, she was wearing a pair of muggle jeans, cut off at mid calf, a pair of black army boots underneath. She wore a white t-shirt that was ripped at the bottom, a tight, white t-shirt ending just above her navel, across her chest was a picture of the Queen, her eyes blacked out, across it was written "God Save The Queen" in newspaper-cut-out style. Her pants were held up by a pair of rainbow suspenders and a spiked belt was around her waist, spiked cuffs around her wrists. Her hair was half buzzed on one side, the other side was short and spiky. She was flicking off the camera and sticking her tongue out.
"Bloody hell." Ron gasped, passing it down. "'Bit of a rebel, huh?"
"She grew up in a Muggle orphanage, it's why she makes all of the Muggle Pop references. Some of the kids in our day thought she was a little weird, most kids that grew up in the outside world dropped it once they came to Hogwarts, she seemed adamant on not forgetting her past. I think it's part of what made her so strong."
Ron looked over at Harry, who was staring at the door chewing on his thumb. Ron elbowed him. "What's up?" he asked.
"I'm waiting for Malfoy to come barging in and try something." Harry murmured.
"Yea, we heardabout that." George said, leaning forward. "Can you imagine?"
"The last thing you see is that ugly flat-nosed git leering down at you." Fred sighed.
"Either that or Snape." George pointed out.
"Either way it isn't a pleasant sight."
"That's not funny." Hermione spoke up. "Malfoy wasn't a nice boy, we all know that newspaper article was a load of tosh, but it doesn't mean that we should make light of his death. Like it or not Malfoy wasn't one of the badguys…."
"Wasn't one of the bad guys?" Ron repeated. "He tried to kill Dumbledore!"
"Triedbeing the operative word here, Ronald." Hermione pointed out. "But he couldn't, could he? He froze. And if he hadn't we never would've known that the real bad guy was under our noses all along." she sat back, looking out the window. "I can't believe we were so stupid."
"We all trusted Severus." Remus spoke up. "Some more then others. It's just in his nature, to betray. He's done it all his life."
"The greasy git." Ron growled.
There was a knock at the door as the Pastery Witch came by. "Anything from the trolly, dears? Ah, Professor Lupin, returning for another year, are we?" she asked kindly.
"Yes, ma'am." Remus replied, handing over some money and taking a cuppa.
Once the Witch was gone they all turned back to Remus. "You'reteachingagain?" Hermione exclaimed, excited. "Are you taking the Defense job again?"
"No, I will be assisting the Order in the protection of the school. It seems like my recent celebrity in the fight against Voldemort has afforded me that much, however I am expected to not be on school grounds during the week of the full moon."
"That's a load of--"
"I'm just glad to be allowed back." Remus cut him off sharply.
"So who isthe Defense teacher?" Hermione asked. "Moody? Can you imagine? I think that'd be awful. His double was bad enough…"
"No, unfortunately Alaster has no interest in teaching." Remus replied evasively.
"Then who?" Harry asked, going through the possibilities in his head.
"You'll have to wait and see." Remus smiled.
