Chapter Five: The Professors
"What are you writing?" Emmet asked Rose at breakfast the next day. "Classes haven't even started yet."
"A letter to my mother," Rose answered as she rolled up the piece of parchment.
"Why?" Emmet wondered. Rose just shrugged her shoulders and left the Great Hall, heading towards the Owlery. But SS followed her.
"Hey!" he called after her as he ran down the hall to catch up with the frizzy red head. Rose turned back around and refrained from rolling her eyes. The last thing she needed was a nosy Gryffindor following her.
"What do want, SS?" she sighed. He fell into step with her.
"I was just wondering why you left breakfast so early. Emmet getting too clingy?" SS teased her as he nudged her shoulder.
"I just need to do something before class, that's all," Rose answered him, turning right and running up a flight of stairs, her long legs helping her move quickly. But SS was athletic and had limitless energy so he could keep up easily.
"What?" SS pestered her as she climbed yet another flight of stairs.
"I'm just working on an extra project," Rose snapped. SS flinched at her voice and looked down.
"Sorry," he mumbled. Rose rolled her eyes at the guilt settling in her stomach. She shouldn't have yelled at him.
"It's fine. I just don't like being bugged when I'm working on something," Rose told him, the apology obvious in her tone. "Why don't you start heading to the astronomy tower. Class starts in ten minutes."
"Don't remind me!" SS groaned as he dashed back down the stairs. "See ya later!" Rose just shook her head and ran the rest of the way to the Owlery. She didn't have one of her own because she preferred cats, like her mother.
The owls all hooted as Rose shoved open the door. She then went down the rows and selected a speedy school owl to deliver her letter. She opened to proof read it one last time.
Dear Mum,
I'm doing an extra project for school about my ancestry for Professor Flitwick. I was wondering if you had anything that would help me track the Granger side of my family, since I already know so much about the Weasley side.
I promise to write you again soon. Tell Hugo to stop tormenting the neighbor's dog. Tell Dad not send me any love potions this year or other stupid joke things. And please send me any new books you think I would like.
Love,
Rose
"Perfect," Rose told herself. It got all her information across in a nonsuspicious manner. Hopefully her mother would have some information that she could use. So, Rose tied the letter to the owl's leg and went to her first class of her first day of her second year.
"Welcome, class, to another year of Charms," Professor Venus announced to the sleepy second year Hufflepuffs. Al waved from his seat in the middle of the sea of desks. Professor Venus just smiled. "Today, we will be reviewing all the charms we learned last year. All of them are listed on the board. Please try to do it from memory before you get out your notes. Thank you!"
Al wrote down the list of charms on the blackboard and sighed. Twenty total. And he only remembered half of them. As he struggled to recall the incantation for a fire summoning charm, Professor Venus slowly made her way towards his desk. She smiled and jogged the memory of students as she walked towards the black haired Potter.
"Hello Al. How had your summer been?" Professor Venus asked him cheerfully as she sat next to him.
"Pretty good. How was yours?" Al responded, pausing his spell casting to look up at the stunning teacher. She had perfect blond curls, deep blue eyes and spoke with a honey sweet voice.
"Fantastic, thank you for asking," Professor Venus told the boy. Then she leaned in a little closer. "Would you please stay after class? I would like to speak with you." Al nodded and Professor Venus smiled. Then she went off the help the other students with their wand movements.
"Rose!" a voice called out the door. Rose spun around, nearly slipping on the dewy grass. Emmet walked on ahead to their Herbology class. Rose ran back to the door and peered through the shadows. Standing in the doorway was a witch in midnight blue robes that were pulled tight by the color-changing scarf around her waist. Her frizzy hair hung into her foggy eyes. Professor Higglebottom, the teacher of Divination and the Head of Ravenclaw House.
"Yes?" Rose said as she approached the witch.
"I received your letters. I also received Hope's. During lunch hour, I would like you and your friends to come to the staff room. It will be empty," Professor Higglebottom instructed. Before Rose could respond, the teacher turned and walked back into the dark corridors of the school, leaving the student staring after her.
"Rose! Hurry up!" Emmet yelled from the greenhouse door. Rose shook herself and ran towards the glass greenhouses.
"Al, I hope you know that I and Professor Higglebottom got the letters you sent us. And I have to confess that I'm worried about you," Professor Venus told Al as he sat down across from her desk.
"I don't mean to be rude, but I have History of Magic in ten minutes," Al interrupted his teacher.
"I understand, so I will make this brief. You seem to be more worried than the others. I wanted to ask you about your nightmares," Professor Venus explained.
"Oh, well, what do want to know?" Al asked her nervously.
"When you wake up, what do you find that you have done?" Professor Venus inquired, leaning closer, quill poised over a piece of parchment.
"Um, well, once my pillow had been turned into chocolate. Another time, I had a cut on my elbow," Al explained.
"And what about your friends?"
"Uh, well, um," Al stuttered, hesitating. He didn't feel comfortable disclosing personal information about his friends, but he was very worried about one of them. "Hope had a dream before we came to Hogwarts and she attacked Rose when she was sleeping. She also hurt herself another night. I'm worried about her."
"I'll watch her," Professor Venus assured him. A soft bell suddenly rang throughout the school. "You better hurry. Although, Professor Binns doesn't really care if you're late."
"Thanks!" Al called to her as he dashed out of her room and headed to History of Magic.
Transfiguration was a tedious and very depressing class taught by Professor Blackwood. She greeted them in tears, discussing the lack of appreciation for subtle magic, then gave them a twelve-inch essay due at the end of class. Astronomy was a very boring class, as Professor Zubarry had them review the constellations. SS and Al were relieved to get out the classroom and head towards the Great Hall for lunch.
"Guys!" they heard Rose yell. Together, they turned and were instantly flung to the ground by Hope. Giggling, she pinned their arms to the stone floor.
"Give me all your gold!" she cackled. SS wriggled out of her grip but Al was struggling.
"I only have sickles!" Al informed his friend. Hope rolled her eyes.
"You're useless!" she dramatically cried and fell off of Al. He groaned and sat up, turning red when he saw Rose and SS laughing.
"Oh!" Al muttered in frustration. "What did you want Rose?"
"Professor Higglebottom wants us to eat lunch in the staff room with her. She wants to talk to us about our summer," Rose explained as she smothered her laughter. "Come on!"
So the four of them walked to the ground floor, down a narrow hall that had all of the staff's bedrooms. Rose pushed open the first door on the right and her friends followed her in. The staff room was long paneled with mismatched chairs and a fireplace. Professor Higglebottom was sitting in one of the chairs near the fireplace with Professor Venus standing behind her. They both turned when they heard the children enter.
"I was beginning to wonder if you had forgotten us," Professor Venus laughed. It sounded false as it bounced off the walls. "Sorry."
"Hope," Professor Higglebottom said, her low voice carrying, "tell me about your dreams." The pale girl swallowed and took a step forward.
"I hear Albany. She shows me horrible things. Pressing darkness. My friends in pain. Then she laughs and calls me 'little snake.' When I wake up I always have my wand. Once I cut myself. Another time, I was standing over Rose, about to attack," Hope confessed quickly, as if afraid that if she didn't get the words out fast enough then she would never say them at all.
"I see," Professor Higglebottom mused, stroking her wand. Then she suddenly turned to the girl standing next to Hope "Rose, I sense you have something to say."
"Yes. I have a theory that the dreams will not come anymore. When we were at the European Cup neither SS, Al, nor I had any dreams. It is my belief that our magic is stronger together and if we are together Albany cannot reach us," Rose explained, glad to be included.
"Perhaps," Professor Higglebottom responded, nodding slowly. She turned away from the children and stared into the flames.
"Albany is very powerful," Professor Venus put in. Silence. "Perhaps the best way to know if Rose is correct is to test her theory."
"How?" SS asked.
"By letting you four go about your lives," the pretty professor replied. She turned to her friend.
"Albany is blocking my sight," the seer murmured and turned back to the children. "Albany still requires a life and she seems very intent on getting it from you. Be careful. Do not wander to far from each other. Your only safety lies in numbers."
"We understand," Al told his teachers then looked at his friends with worry. He knew he would die before letting them get hurt. He would rearrange the stars and the planets for his friends. If Albany wanted them she would have to go through him.
"Good. Your afternoon classes will be starting soon. You should go," Professor Venus told the children. They nodded and dashed out of the room. "Cassie, do you sense it?"
"Of course, Madeline. They are the ones we have been waiting for," Cassandra answered as the scarf around her waist turned dark blue.
"Do you think they understand?" Madeline asked, her beautiful face lined with worry.
"Not yet. But they will," Cassandra answered.
"Should we tell them?" the blond inquired, taking another step closer to her friend. The flames were reflected in the witches' eyes.
"Wisdom is gained through the search. If they do not have wisdom, then they will fail."