September 1, 1991.
Under the thousands of candles floating in mid-air, the happy chatter of the students sounded in the Great Hall.
Beside me, Professor Sinistra was telling me about her summer, which she had spent researching in the Artic. "The stars are so clear there, Raylynx," she said. "If I could hold Astronomy classes there, I could teach the students so much more."
I nodded and tried to stay focused on our conversation, but my heart was thrumming like a hummingbird's wings.
When the doors of the Great Hall opened, I immediately looked up. Professor McGonagall was leading the first years in.
I hurriedly scanned all of the first years walking in nervously, turning their little heads up to look at the sky in awe.
I caught Neville's nervous face, and saw him clutching his frog quite hard. I also caught a sheen of bright silvery hair, and though it took me a moment, I realized that it was Xenophilius and Pandora's daughter. Pandora had tragically passed away a couple years ago due to an accident that occurred during her spell inventions. I had not been close enough to that family to be invited to the funeral, but nonetheless, I remembered Pandora quite fondly from our brief encounter at Alice and Frank's wedding and I remembered her bright hair well enough to recognize it in her daughter.
And then, among the faces peering up in the sky was Harry's. I breathed out.
I recognized Ron Weasley besides Harry. They seemed to know each other already, and I felt a sense of relief.
Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat atop the four-legged stool. It performed its yearly song, describing the Houses, after which we all clapped. Then, Professor McGonagall began to call students' names.
The first name that I recognized was: "Finnigan, Seamus!"
I looked with interest at this sandy-haired boy who clambered up onto the stool. Seamus wasn't Zayne's son, but nephew. Zayne had an older sister whom I had never met. The Sorting Hat took almost an entire minute before it shouted, "Gryffindor!"
"Longbottom, Neville," followed shortly after. The Hat took even longer with him, but eventually it yelled, "Gryffindor!" I clapped along with the Gryffindor table.
Finally, McGonagall called, "Potter, Harry!"
Harry stepped forward, looking very nervous.
The crowd broke out into hushed murmurs.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dumbledore lean forward ever so slightly.
I held my breath.
The Sorting Hat fell over Harry's eyes. Harry took even longer than Seamus and Neville.
I crossed my fingers under the table. For what, I wasn't sure. After all, there was nothing wrong about getting sorted into a different House. But I still felt a deep anticipation.
"Gryffindor!" the Hat finally shouted.
The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers. I finally breathed out and clapped enthusiastically.
I saw Fred and George Weasley standing up and yelling, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"
A few names later, Ron Weasley was also sorted into Gryffindor. I smiled. Molly and Arthur would be pleased.
With the Sorting finished, Dumbledore rose to his feet. He opened his arms wide in welcome and announced, "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
Everybody clapped and cheered, though I could see both amused and bewildered faces amongst the crowd. A moment later, the feast began, and plates crammed with food appeared. Everyone busied themselves with eating.
At one point, Harry looked up at the Professors' table. I lowered my eyes, but I saw him turn his head as he looked down the table. Suddenly, he looked away rather quickly. I glanced down the table at where Harry had been looking to see Snape frowning down at Harry. I caught Snape's eye and glared. He scowled back at me.
After Dumbledore had given the last of the announcements, the students and Professors dispersed to their dormitories and offices. As I began to move away, Snape strode up behind me and muttered, "So, you're pleased, are you, to see Potter?" Snape's upper lip curled as he said derisively. "He looks just like his father."
I turned to Snape and smiling broadly, I said, "I know."
Snape barely managed to restrain himself from rolling his eyes as he passed by me and walked away.
That night, I wrote to Remus to tell him that Harry was at Hogwarts and that he had been sorted into Gryffindor. I also wrote letters of congratulations to Arthur Weasley and to Augusta Longbottom.
Then, I climbed into bed. I knew I had to sleep, as I had to teach lessons the next day. But I couldn't help myself and started to reminiscence about my first time stepping into Hogwarts and meeting Alice, Dorcas, Lily, and Marlene. Seeing Harry allowed me to think of my happy memories with them, and I was able to think of them without falling into grief for the first time in a long time.
The next morning, I began with my fifth-year class. Having stayed up far too late the night before, I had skipped breakfast and come straight to the classroom instead. I hoped the students wouldn't notice my slightly ruffled cloak or the fact that my braid was actually hiding my messy, unbrushed hair. I cleared my throat.
"Welcome back," I said. "I'll spare you the speech of how important your fifth year and O.W.L.s are. As I recall, Professor McGonagall does a fine job of instilling the proper amount of fear by herself. But please come and see me if you have any questions and of course, I'd love to see you back for N.E.W.T. level studies."
I saw a few students smirk and roll as their eyes, to signal to their friends that they thought that Ancient Runes wasn't worth studying for. But I was now better at ignoring this type of behavior (though naturally, it still irritated me).
"Now, let's begin with a refresher," I said, and began to lead the students through drawing a magic circle that divided magical effects into sections.
Afterwards, I set them an assignment and moved around the class.
I heard Percy Weasley hiss, "You need to focus on your work!"
I turned and saw Percy and Oliver sitting beside each other. I'd simply arranged the seating assignments by last name and hadn't thought about the implications of putting together the Prefect and the Quidditch Captain.
I walked towards them quickly and sure enough, Oliver Wood was drawing Quidditch maneuvers on his parchment. I said, "Mr. Wood, as effective as those circles may be in a match against Slytherin, I think you'll find they don't do much good in dividing magic."
"No, Professor," Oliver said, blushing and turning over his parchment.
Percy seemed torn between being smug because he was right and wanting to maintain his disapproval of Oliver's distraction.
As class ended, the students shuffled out. I heard one student say to the other, "I don't know why I would ever want to pass O. for Ancient Runes. What good will it ever do in the real world?"
I thought of the magical circle I had cast in the dungeons below (which, coincidently, did rely upon division of magical effects to separate the purple from the black flames) and how effective they had been in entrapping Snape, and I smiled quietly to myself.
Later, when I had my third-year class, I heard Harry's name several times.
"Can you believe that Harry Potter's come to Hogwarts?"
"Did he really have a scar?"
"He did. I swear! I saw it."
"It looks like he's made friends with your little brother, you know," someone said to Fred and George Weasley, both of whom had decided to take Ancient Runes. Fred and George were sitting beside a boy whom I also recognized: Lee Jordan, who was Jesse Jordan's son. Sitting some ways behind them, I also saw Cedric Diggory. I remembered his father, Amos Diggory, who had been a Hufflepuff Beater. It gave me a strange feeling to realize that I was old enough to have a few of my friend's children in my Ancient Runes class. I was already thirty years old. Goodness, where have the years gone?
I took a deep breath and then said to my new third years, "Welcome to Ancient Runes. In this class, we aim to learn the study of another magical language that lives alongside active spell-casting…"
At the end of the class, talk erupted amongst the students again.
"I wonder if we can get a glimpse of Harry at lunch."
"D'you think he remembers any of it?"
"I wonder if he's really good at magic."
"He can't be normal."
Hearing such conversations made me hesitate. I had originally planned on introducing myself to Harry as his godmother straight away. In fact, I had meant to send a letter to him this evening, asking him to come and see me. But I hadn't sufficiently realized that I wasn't the only one that had been waiting for his arrival in the magical world. He had so much attention on him already. Perhaps what Harry needed most now was time and space to adjust and to figure out who he was for himself before the world and people like myself and Dumbledore burdened him with all these expectations of who he expected him to be.
I let out a tired sigh, suddenly feeling a bit depressed after this realization.
And then it reached my ears that Snape had grilled Harry in his first ever Potions class and harped on him for Neville's mistake, and taken away points from them both.
Although I wasn't looking for him (I truly preferred to avoid him), it was tough because we both had to sit at the Professor's Table in the Great Hall. Furthermore, I had to end up sitting next to Snape frequently because I was late to almost all my meals (the Ancient Runes classroom is one of the classrooms furthest from the Great Hall) and none of the other Professors would sit next to Snape otherwise. Luckily, Professor Sinistra would sit beside me (as Astronomy was also quite far from the Great Hall), but on those days where she got caught up in the stars and forgot that there was food on Earth, I was on my own.
This, unfortunately, was one of those days. I'd had to stay late to tell off the Weasley twins for putting hidden anagrams in their Ancient Runes circles that spelled out dirty jokes and the like. But although they put on their proper ashamed faces, they knew that I had a soft spot for them. In fact, it wasn't just the fact that I knew these boys and that they reminded me a bit of the Marauders. I thought they were quite creative, but I really did mean it when I said that their time would be better spent learning proper Ancient Runes.
As I was chastising them, I said, "Ancient Runes is not to be messed with. Imagine you think you're being witty by spelling "arse" in your circle and you actually summon a demon from hell."
Fred perked up. "Can you really do that?"
"No, Fred."
After this conversation, I found myself sitting between Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore were sitting on Snape's other side. I suppose I could have sat beside Professor Trelawney, but I rather preferred to eat my chicken salad without being warned of the immediate death of my loved ones.
"How does it feel to bully an eleven-year-old at the ripe old age of thirty-one, Snape?" I asked.
Snape immediately knew what I was referring to and said, "Is it my fault that Potter is arrogant enough to not pay attention and then be so ignorant as to fail to answer any rudimentary Potions question?"
"He's a first year on his first day of class. What do you expect?" I snapped.
"Then, Potter stood there dumbly while he allowed Longbottom to add the porcupine quills too early."
"As if he knew!" I hissed.
Professor McGonagall looked over at us and gave me a warning look, though there was no need as most of the students at Gryffindor table (the table nearest to us) were crowded around a young boy who was intently chanting, "Eye of rabbit, harping hum, turn this water into rum" over and over again while jabbing his wand vigorously at a goblet of water.
Nonetheless, out of respect for McGonagall, I lowered my voice and said to Snape, "You're lucky I don't get Slytherins as first years, or you'd be in the negative in House Points."
"You don't get Slytherins at all," Snape replied smoothly. "I've heard they avoid your class altogether. They consider it rather… What was the word? Oh, yes. Useless."
"You-" I began, but at that moment, a small but loud explosion sounded from Gryffindor table. A merry shout of laughter rang out. The water inside the goblet had combusted and exploded, singing Seamus' eyebrows off and covering his face in ash.
"Finnigan," McGonagall muttered in a low growl besides us.
Snape sneered quietly at me. "How proud you must be of your Gryffindor students, Kingsley. Even as first years, their wits are so wanting that I do sincerely wish that they find their way to your classroom, instead of mine."
I flushed.
Snape grinned victoriously.
In a low mutter, I retorted, "You better be careful that I don't alter the Circle downstairs so that you find yourself trapped in it."
Professor Quirrell glanced over at me, but I did not notice him, as Snape had just gotten up from his seat. Snape did not bother to reply, knowing he had bested me in this argument. Nevertheless, though he never told me, he went down to the dungeon that night and made all of the Potions self-replenishing, so that he would not have to go down there and risk my wrath again.
One morning, I saw Madam Hooch leaving the Great Hall in her flying robes and I realized it was time for the first years to begin their flying lessons.
Later that evening, Professor McGonagall came and found me.
"Raylynx, the most astonishing thing happened today," she said. "Harry Potter is our new Gryffindor Seeker."
My jaw dropped. "What? But Harry's a first year."
"Yes. However, I've just received permission from Professor Dumbledore."
"Harry… A Seeker?" I said, still in disbelief.
"I saw him catch a Remembrall after a dive from fifty feet in the air. It was the boy's first time on a broom. He's a natural!"
"Of course he is," I said, thinking of James.
McGonagall smiled and said, "James would have been so proud."
I smiled. "Well, we must get him a decent broom, then," I said. "I'm sure James would have given his son the best."
"Yes, I was thinking so myself, but I'm unsure if Dumbledore would permit me to-"
"Say no more, Professor McGonagall," I said. "I'd be happy to. Harry may not remember, but I once sent him a Snitch on his birthday. It seems only fitting that I follow that tradition."
That evening, I sent in an order for a Nimbus Two Thousand before I left for patrol duty in the castle corridors that night. Filch and I had been assigned night shifts that particular night. These night shifts turned out to be quite boring, normally. The Weasley twins had already been caught trying to sneak off into the Forbidden Forest by Hagrid once, but Hagrid had been kind enough to send them to me instead of Filch. I sometimes ran into students heading down to the kitchens for food or sometimes, embarrassingly, had to tell off couples for giggling and kissing behind the curtains, but that was it. There was one incident where I caught Peeves messing with the telescopes in the Astronomy classroom, but I managed to convince the Bloody Baron to tell Peeves to stop.
I was on the fifth floor when I heard a soft mew. I stopped and turned to see Mrs. Norris heading towards me.
"I'm on your side now," I said defensively. "Don't go scaring me anymore."
She slunk off, seemingly disappointed.
But only a short while later, when I had made my way down the fourth floor, I heard Peeves yelling, "Students out of bed! Students out of bed down the Charms Corridor!"
I made my way down to the third floor and followed Peeves' voice.
Filch had beaten me there and was arguing with Peeves.
"Which way did they go, Peeves? Quick, tell me."
"Say 'please.'"
"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," said Peeves tauntingly.
"All right," Filch said irritably. "Please."
"Nothing!" Peeves burst out laughing. "Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please!"
Filch cursed and Peeves whooshed away.
"Well, never mind," I said to Filch. "I'm sure Peeves' yelling scared away the students. They're bound to be in their beds by now, and they'll be safe there."
"Safe, but unpunished!" Filch said bitterly as we walked away.
I held back a laugh and said, "Right then, I'll head back to the Fourth Floor."
Filch took no notice of what I said as he continued grumbling and walked away.
A week later, as the owls flooded the Great Hall at breakfast, I noticed a long, thin package carried by six large screech owls. When the parcel dropped before Harry, I saw the look of complete amazement on his face. I imagine he's not used to receiving presents, what with living at the Dursleys and all.
Professor McGonagall and I had attached a note to the parcel, telling Harry not to open the parcel at the table. I sighed in relief when Harry read the note first. Then, when I saw his face light up in glee, I had to look away and hide my own smile.
I hoped I'd see Harry unwrap it, so I followed him discreetly out of the Great Hall.
But when I entered the entrance hall, I saw that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle seized Harry's package from him.
I frowned and walked closer.
By the time, I reached them, Malfoy was saying, "- have to save up twig by twig."
Trying to keep myself neutral before Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, I said calmly, "I hope you boys aren't arguing."
"Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor," said Malfoy quickly, plainly hoping to get Harry in trouble.
Much to little Draco's surprise, I turned to Harry and beaming, said, "Yes, that's right. Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Har, er- ." Faking a look of curiosity, I asked Harry, "And what model is it?"
"A Nimbus Two Thousand, Professor," said Harry, and I could see him fighting not to break out into a broad grin. "And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it."
Harry and Ron headed upstairs then, and Malfoy was left awestruck.
I knew that Harry would have his first Quidditch practice today, so I visited Professor Sinistra at the Astronomy Tower and watched as Oliver Wood led Harry through the basics of Quidditch. At some point, Oliver began throwing golf balls into the air and Harry caught them all.
Professor Sinistra appeared beside me and followed my gaze.
"You used to play, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"What position were you?" Sinistra asked me.
"A Seeker."
