CHAPTER 1

With an echoing pop Emily Fawley appeared on the Hogwarts platform. Fresh air filled her lungs as she took a deep breath after holding it while Apparating. It was much different to the air she had just seconds ago breathed in at the gloomy and shadowy Knockturn Alley.

She raised her hand to shield her eyes and blinked as bright sunlight met her eyes. The sensation of suddenly bathing in the sun and smelling the scent of fresh pines seemed to invigorate every cell in her body. She looked around, seeing the empty train tracks, vast forests, distant hills, and - as she turned around - the Hogwarts castle, looming behind tall trees and a court of green grass. She put down her luggage bag, giving herself a few seconds to take it all in.

Hogwarts was a place that she had not seen in a long time - three years to be exact. And almost exactly ten years ago she had stood right where she was now, excited and nervous to begin school. The same kind of excitement was taking over her now, as she was returning to the castle. Not to study but to work as a Healer.

The job offer was a very recent one, only from a month ago, and it had come as a complete surprise to her. Out of the blue on one summer's morning she had received an owl from Albus Dumbledore, personally asking her to join Hogwarts staff to as a Healer for the next school year. Even though it officially was just an apprenticeship, as she hadn't graduated yet, the pay wasn't bad. It was in fact better than what she had received while working in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries – a job she had now left, much to the disgruntlement of her understaffed workmates.

Why he had picked her, she had no idea. She had done decently enough in her N.E.W.T.s but she hadn't been the best out of the many other trainees that were roughly the same age as her. Neither had she ever had much contact with the Matron Madam Poppy Pomfrey, apart from getting treated by her for flus, headaches, and such while still in school. She doubted the Matron even knew she had gone off to study to become a Healer. Which meant that Emily wasn't standing by the gates now thanks to being recommended to Dumbledore by Madam Pomfrey herself either.

In any case, being asked had felt like a great honour. On the other hand, she wasn't sure if she would learn as much in Hogwarts as if she spent the year at St Mungo's. The last year and a half she had served at the 'Dangerous' Dai Llewellyn Ward – a place that at times could get quite hectic and even dangerous. Though that applied to most of the wards in St Mungo's. Busy shifts meant lots of learning, which was something the Hospital Wing in Hogwarts would most probably not offer. She imagined the day-to-day life there to be quite slow.

Still, since it would only be her and Madam Pomfrey at the ward - and their patients were almost exclusively children - it was a job with a lot of responsibility. After seeing and treating some horrendous bites she doubted anything thrown at her in the becoming year would prove too much of a challenge. Lack of challenge was pretty much the only reason that had almost made her turn down the offer. But in the end curiosity and longing for the endless beauty and mysteries of the castle and its surroundings had won.

If nothing else, it would be a pleasant change from her usually busy working life. And a change from her lonely home life. She didn't have much else going on apart from her career, mostly due to her own choice to focus on it. Apart from dating a housemate while in school, she had never had a boyfriend in her 21-year life. Nor was she actively looking for one. Whenever she felt like she even had time for romance, there simply wasn't anyone around who interested her. Her relatives weren't making it any easier for her. The few family members she had left were avid pure-blood doctrine fanatics, and adamant on her settling down with a pure-blood wizard, whereas she couldn't care less about blood statuses.

She dusted her long, slightly dishevelled skirt and dug up a small hand mirror from her pocket, checking herself nervously. Swiping a long strand of dark brown hair behind her ear, she was content. Turning her attention back to the castle looming before her she picked up her trunk. Taking another deep breath, she walked towards the gates, wondering only then if she was supposed to wait at the platform for someone to come and let her in. However, as she was a few feet away from the metal gates, they slowly opened by themselves. Undoubtfully this was not a standard procedure during school years. Dumbledore must've been expecting her or the other members of the staff to arrive.

Walking through the gate she entered the pine forest, as she had done so many times at the start of her school years. There she saw one sole Thestral-drawn carriage. Concluding that it was her ride to the castle she approached it. The skeletal horse turned its creepy head towards her, watching her as she walked closer. She stared back at it cautiously. She knew she had nothing to fear from the creature, but they had always made her nervous. Always having seen them but not sure about who she had witnessed dying wasn't making encountering them any less unnerving.

"Hello," she said and nodded nervously at the beast. "Will you take me to the castle?"

The Thestral turned its head to face forward again. Wordlessly Emily lifted her trunk to the carriage and then entered herself. Almost immediately the carriage began moving.

The forest thickened, and before she even realised, the trees were becoming scarcer again. From the side window she observed the castle getting bigger and bigger as the carriage rolled closer. It stopped right before the bridge that led to the entrance.

Emily climbed out with her trunk and looked breathlessly at the castle. After spending years in the city, she felt like she could've spent hours staring at the scenery. She decided to go find a nice spot and do just that later after she had settled in. Everything still looked the same, and Emily didn't expect much to have changed indoors either. Things tended to preserve well at Hogwarts. Only ones changing were the people in it.

She didn't hurry while making her way through the castle towards Dumbledore's office, stopping to admire the sights from windows and saying 'hello' to the paintings at the staircases, even passing a few ghosts who seemed keen to talk to her after a summer of mostly having the castle to themselves. She had never seen the interior as vacant as it was now. Students would be arriving the next day. The staff – especially the Professors – usually needed time to get settled, plan lessons and organise everything for the students' arrival, and so most of them had been there for at least a few days already. Emily knew she was probably the last staff member to enter since as a Trainee she had the least number of obligations.

After taking her time to admire everything that crossed her path, she eventually reached the corridor with a large Gargoyle at the end, which Emily knew to be guarding the staircase leading to the Headmaster's office. She'd never had the need to visit there before but she knew the Gargoyle required a password to grant entrance to the stairs.

Stopping before the stone sculpture, she looked around to see if there was anyone at all around to ask for help, but the corridor behind her was as vacant as the ones she had just strolled through.

"Uh, my name is Emily Fawley. I'm here to see Professor Dumbledore," she spoke to the Gargoyle, but it didn't respond or move.

There was a long pause.

"Hello? Uh… I'm supposed to start working here," she added uncertainly.

"Why didn't you just say so?" asked the Gargoyle, stepping aside to reveal a spiralling staircase. Yet again Emily had the feeling that this was not how it usually worked.

She hurried past the archway and climbed the stairs, reaching the wooden door at the top. The office seemed to be in its own tower, which Emily found pleasing. It reminded her of the tower where Ravenclaw common room was. She had always found the towers of the castle to be the most interesting places there, though maybe as a Ravenclaw she was a bit biased. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

"Come in!" boomed Dumbledore's voice from the other side.

She stepped in and was met with a spacious, round office room with ornamental décor. There were many magical gadgets and objects scattered around and the walls were full of portraits of the previous Headmasters and Headmistresses. Dumbledore was seated behind a large, claw-footed desk that was mostly covered with piles and piles of parchment.

"Ah, Miss Fawley! Just in time. Sit down if you will," he said, beaming her a smile and gesturing towards a chair before his desk.

Dumbledore hadn't changed a bit since Emily last saw him. He was still the friendly, long-bearded, fatherly figure she was used to seeing him as. She smiled widely.

"Good day, Professor," she greeted and sat down on a chair. "How are you today?"

"I am just splendid, my dear, splendid. Did you have a pleasant return?"

"Oh, very! I've missed everything about this place. Thank you again for the opportunity."

"We are glad to have you here. So, how was the rest of your summer? Were your colleagues at St Mungo's disappointed that you left them?"

"It's been exciting. Or at least I've been excited about starting here. I'm still not sure what they thought back at Mungo's. People were nice enough, I guess. Some seemed even a little jealous."

Emily had regretted telling anyone that she had been asked personally. She felt like news of her leaving for Hogwarts would've been taken better if she had told people that she applied herself. There were a few young Trainee Healers like herself who dearly missed Hogwarts and would've loved to get the chance to come back. She had sensed them being slightly colder towards her in the past few weeks.

"I am certain I picked the right person for this position," Dumbledore replied, smiling at her.

"So, let's go through a few things and after that I'll show you your rooms so that you can begin to make yourself at home."

Dumbledore told her about the staff facilities and went briefly over things stated in her contract, that she already has familiarised herself with. He also told her that in the first week Rubeus Hagrid – the grounds keeper – would take a few days to train her how to navigate safely in the Forbidden Forest, as some of her duties consisted of gathering ingredients from there. Emily thought this was a rather good idea, since she had always been a bit scared of whatever might lurk in the shadows of the forest. They went over timetables and codes of conduct, most of which wasn't new information to Emily as she had read the same things on parchments she had received over the last month.

Much to her joy, she had been located to a small tower near the Ravenclaw tower.

'I have my own tower!' she thought to herself excitedly while climbing the narrow spiralling staircase in Dumbledore's wake.

She couldn't help but to smile as she admired the room she had just stepped in. The suite was more wonderful than she could've hoped for. The living room area was a cosy, almost circular room that had natural light pouring in from the two narrow windows, and one round one which was located in the high ceiling. The ceiling narrowing towards the top and having many thick wooden beams crossing each other was a bit similar to that of the owlery.

Slightly breaking the main room's circular form were the two smaller rooms attached to it. The bedroom was small and simple, occupying a single bed, a drawer, and a chest. It too had a window, though a smaller one. The bathroom was small but had everything necessary in it with sublime decorative details all around.

"So, is there anything else I can help you with?" Dumbledore asked after she had had a quick look of each of the rooms.

"No, this is great!" she replied enthusiastically, full of glee.

Dumbledore beamed her a smile and begun to take his leave when Emily realised that she still had one burning question in her mind.

"Uh, I guess there's just one thing I've been wondering about…" she said. Dumbledore turned his attention back to her.

"Please, ask away," Dumbledore urged her.

"Why am I here, Professor? I mean, why did you choose me?" Before she could stop herself, she rambled on. "There's a ton of Healers just like me. And many who are better at what they do, I regret to say."

She added the last part in a jokingly tone but it was true. She felt comfortable enough with adding it now that she had her name in the contract.

"Ah, that. Well, I happen to have a few acquaintances in St Mungo's who are rather knowledgeable about who are working for them. I was looking to give someone promising a place in our ranks and so I asked them to recommend someone. To keep it short, your name came up and here we are," Dumbledore said, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Oh," Emily said, surprised. "Well, that settles that I guess."

"I am confident with my choice, so do not sell yourself short, my dear."

She wondered who might've recommended her. She was no higher-up's favourite and felt quite average when it came to skills or knowledge in Healing.

"I will leave you to unpack now," said Dumbledore, still smiling.

But Emily had barely opened her trunk when he spoke again from the doorway.

"I should tell you; you might run into one particular familiar face here."

"Who's that?"

"Quirinus Quirrell," said Dumbledore, inclining his head slightly, looking a bit curious. "I believe you two know each other well?"

"We do… uh, did," Emily breathed, a bit taken aback by this revelation.

She didn't know how to feel exactly. Quirinus was there too? It was quite a coincidence that two people of the same age who had also been in the same house ended up working in Hogwarts out of thousands of others. But they hadn't been just housemates or even friends. Since their fifth year they had started dating, and stayed together until they left school after graduating.

"Haven't stayed in touch then?" he guessed as Emily got lost in her thoughts.

She shook her head. For a second she thought she had detected a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"I… didn't even know he was working here," she said, not sure how to feel about this revelation.

"Ah, I see. Well, you have much to catch up on then. You should find him near the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, if you wish to see him."

"Has he, uh… been teaching here long then?" she asked carefully, suspecting he might've started only now. That would explain why she didn't know anything about it.

"For a year – starting not long after you two had graduated, in fact. He taught Muggle Studies, and I considered him a very good teacher in the subject. He then took a year off, apparently doing some travelling. And now he's back, ready to begin in a new post."

Emily stared at Dumbledore, who still had a soft smile on his face. She and Quirinus had been writing every now and then until about a year after they had left school. Yet he had never mentioned anything about returning to Hogwarts in his letters. And last she heard, he had wanted to do something with trolls and possibly train them - not teach about Muggles.
"I suppose I better go say 'hi' then," she said after her initial shock had vanished.

Dumbledore nodded approvingly.

"Very good. I will see you at supper, then."

Emily stared at the closed door after he had left, deep in thought. She wasn't sure she wanted to go greet Quirinus. It wasn't like they had parted in bad terms. They had kept contact for a year but then it had just… ended. She couldn't even tell which one of them had stopped writing first. She had become too busy with her Healer studies, and it had always been apparent that he had clear ambitions as well. Apparently, he had ended up as a Professor in Hogwarts not long after they had lost contact. She couldn't exactly tell why but she felt a little betrayed about him not informing her of this. She realised how unfair it was of her, but she couldn't help it.

Emily started to unpack her trunk. After neatly folding her clothes in the drawer and placing her many books on the bookshelf, she laid down on the dark green velvet sofa that was located in the sitting area. She stared at the high ceiling and the many crossed wooden beams above her. A moth or a butterfly was flapping it's wings somewhere up high, and small flakes of dust floated in the air, highlighted by sunbeams.

Watching them flicker, Emily felt her eyelids get heavier. Feeling tired over being nervous to return and after travelling, laying there in peace felt wonderful. Hearing the muffled chirps of birds from outside, she closed her eyes and soon dozed off to a dreamless sleep.

It was still light when she woke up. She forced herself to sit up despite feeling like she could have used another nap or two. She checked the time and to her shock found that she had slept for almost three hours. As there were still a couple of hours until dinner, Emily decided it would be the perfect time to have a stroll around the castle grounds.

She then remembered the conversation she had had with Dumbledore about Quirinus, and the smile that had begun to spread on her face disappeared. She wondered which would be less awkward after not having talked in such a long time; meeting him alone or in a crowd of people.

Thinking of all the possible awkward situations either option could create, she soon felt completely awake. Nervousness started to get a grip of her again, and she was unable to stay still any longer. Hiding in her tower certainly wouldn't help in the long run. Checking herself from the bathroom mirror, she fixed her hair and makeup, both a bit messy from sleeping. After giving her lovely new living quarters one more look, she left the tower and set off to wherever her feet would take her.

Sunlight was pouring into the long hallway she walked along. As she went, she stared outside through the many windows, marvelling at the sight of the vast forest with mountains far behind it. It was the first sunny day in over a week and some of the trees had started to turn golden already, making this truly feel like the last day of summer. To the students it certainly was. It looked so welcoming outside that she began feeling bad for falling asleep and wasting so many hours when she clearly was supposed to be enjoying the outdoors.

She first thought about visiting the edge of the forest, which was a safe area she had prowled many times as a student as well. But the memory of how nice it had been to tip your toes in the lake on sunny, warm days such as this made her change that plan.

Having made up her mind she picked up the pace. Her musings came to an abrupt stop, however, as when rounding a corner at the end of the hallway in mid-movement she suddenly sensed someone right in front of her, and before she had time to react, she felt herself colliding with them.

"Would you watch where you are going!?"

Emily hadn't forgotten who that stern voice belonged to. It was no other than her previous Potions teacher, Severus Snape.

Stumbling slightly, she quickly regained her footing and looked up at the man, who was just as cruel and gloomy looking as she had remembered. He had been far from her favourite teacher, often being unnecessarily mean to any students that weren't in the Slytherin house. Luckily, she had often dodged the worst of his ire but having to witness abuse of her peers had left her somewhat scared of him. She wondered if he would treat her with more respect now that they were both staff members, but something was telling her not to be too hopeful.

"I'm sorry, didn't see you there. How are you, Professor Snape?" she asked politely and even dared him a little smile.

"Well, well… if it isn't Miss Fawley. So, you're Madam Pomfrey's new assistant then?"

"I… plan to be more than that," Emily said, slightly annoyed at his tone and feeling the need to defend herself.

She was still a Trainee but had a significant amount of studying behind her, and so she was rather knowledgeable and perfectly capable to heal most injuries.

"How ambitious of you. I sure hope you will be more observant with changing sheets than when simply walking forward," he said in his usual snarky tone, even finishing the sentence with a sneer.

Emily didn't respond, she just stared back at him, trying not to show that he had got under her skin, but knew that she wasn't good at hiding her irritation. She tried to come up with something witty to say back to him, but found it was difficult to do in the presence of someone so intimidating and condescending.

"Good day, Miss Fawley."

And with that he was off, his black robes flowing around him as he went almost silently.

"Git…" Emily spat out loud to herself after she was sure he wasn't in the hearing distance anymore. It seemed she was off to a great start at assimilating with the staff.

It seemed that just like everything else in Hogwarts, Snape hadn't changed a bit. Emily had started her first year of school the same year he had started teaching. And from his first class it had been obvious that teaching was something he didn't enjoy doing very much, which later made Emily wonder as to why he even was a teacher in the first place.

She had always been intimidated by the man, trying to work extra hard on his classes. At best he would be indifferent. At worst he would be very mean and dismissive.

The lake was glimmering with sunlight as Emily sunk her toes into the cool water. The sensation made her go 'Eeep!' and slightly lift her feet, but she decisively kept them in the water, letting herself get used to its coldness. She inhaled the fresh air and looked over the glistening lake. She felt like she could've stayed there for hours.

A sudden sound of a twig snapping from somewhere behind her made her turn to look but there was nothing to see but foliage. She wondered what kinds of creatures she would come across there in the becoming year. She certainly wasn't ready to go find out on her own and was grateful of getting Hagrid to accompany her. She had never spoken to the man and didn't know a whole lot about him but from what she had seen and heard, he seemed like a nice person.

Suddenly someone spoke.

"A l-lovely d-day for it, eh?"

Again, she recognised the voice immediately, though it wasn't exactly the same as when she had last heard it. She swung around and saw Quirinus standing near the path that had led her to the lake. Whatever nervousness or conflicting feelings she had feared of having for seeing him were nowhere to be detected as instead joy took over her.

"Quiri!" she exclaimed in delight and jumped off the rock she had been sitting on.

Barefooted, she hurried to him until she was only a few feet away. She curiously took a better look at him, slowly creeping a little closer. Despite being as handsome as she had remembered him, he looked somewhat odd. First of all, and most obviously, he seemed to have changed his style by acquiring a purple turban that he was now wearing. Seeing him past his teenage years also felt a bit like seeing him for the first time. It was him, but more mature. There was a nervous but genuine-looking smile on his face. She noticed one corner of his mouth twitching.

"You look so… wow. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Emily breathed, running her fingers through her hair.

"I-It has," he smiled. It was at this point Emily realised that he was also speaking differently than before. There was a stutter as he spoke, and he sounded as nervous as his smile was. "You l-l-l-look well."

"I can't believe we're both here. I thought… Well, I thought we might never see each other again. I didn't know you were here too," Emily said, feeling a little guilty, as she was now wondering if it was in fact her who had stopped writing first. What if that was the case and she had offended Quirinus, making him feel like she had abandoned him?

"I-I always knew w-we would, one d-day. S-s-small world." He let out a nervous laugh.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" Emily said, jumping forward to give him a quick hug. He seemed surprised, freezing in place at first but then very carefully returned the embrace with another nervous laugh.

"So, how are you? What have you been up to?" Emily inquired excitedly, surprising herself with how easy it was to forget how she had felt about meeting him just moments ago.

"S-so many questions," he said. "I-I guess w-we have a lot to c-c-catch up on."

"Guess so. Come sit by the lake, the water is wonderful," Emily said, already taking a few steps towards the rock she had been sitting on.

"A-actually, I should g-go back to the castle." Quirinus said, his eyes widening and drifting towards the lake for a second. "Got s-s-s-something in my classroom I need to do. B-but y-you're welcome to join." He played with his fingers anxiously.

"Alright then," Emily said, smiling.

As she gathered her socks and shoes from the shore she wondered if she had been imagining it, or had Quirinus looked a bit frightened when she suggested soaking his feet in the lake? Then again, he seemed like a nervous wreck altogether. She wondered how and when it would be appropriate to ask him what had happened.

While they made their way across the grounds, she was mostly the one who spoke. She told him about her time in St. Mungo's and how she had unexpectedly ended up in Hogwarts. They joked on why that might've been, Quirinus trying his best to convince her that it was purely because of her looks. And momentarily, as they laughed, Emily felt like it had been just one summer since they last got together.

"Alright," Quirinus said as they reached the door of a classroom on the first floor. "L-ladies first." He opened the door wide and gestured her in. A strong smell of garlic hit her like a wall as she was about to step in.

"Whoa," she muttered, bravely moving forward, and making sure she breathed through her mouth.

The dim classroom was not what she had expected. The layout was little different from other classrooms. Instead of a Professor's desk there was a pedestal with four pillars on each of its corners. On racks Emily saw large ancient-looking parchments. A large skeleton of some magical creature was placed next to the pedestal. But the most distinctive thing about the room was the unescapable smell of garlic that no doubt came from the numerous garlic braids hanging from the ceiling. She turned to face him.

"Garlic?" she asked, puzzled, pointing at the nearest one. Quirinus nodded nervously, now fiddling with his fingers as he had done by the lake.

"Keeps t-t-the… them away y-y-you see."

"You mean… vampires?" Emily asked amusedly after a small pause. No other - if any - magical being hated and avoided garlic as much but she highly doubted any would just waltz into Hogwarts.

Mentioning them proved to be a mistake, however. At the word 'vampires', Quirinus jumped slightly and clutched his heart, looking at her like she had just given him a proper fright. Emily's amused smile died out.

"Oh, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to -"

"I-it's quite a-alright. I j-just h-had a b-bad e-e-experience with t-them, that's a-a-all." he said, taking a moment to calm down.

Emily observed him, starting to notice a trend in his behaviour. It seemed it wasn't just the lake he had been scared of. He was practically afraid of his own shadow.

"Quiri… what's happened to you?" Emily asked quietly, sitting down on one of the pupil's desks.

"Long s-story," Quirinus replied, resting his back on one of the pillars and sighing heavily. "All you need to k-know is… I e-e-escaped within an inch of my life… And that they w-w-w-will be back for me." He stared at nothing, and it took a while for Emily to realise what he was actually saying.

"What?!" Emily exclaimed, accidentally scaring Quirinus again. "Who is?" she asked, but he didn't answer.

Emily got up, lightly grabbing his shoulders so she could face him. He averted his eyes.

"Who is after you, Quiri?" she asked quietly but demandingly. He only shook his head but eventually met her eyes. She could tell it was hard for him. "Please, tell me." But he looked close to tears now. Emily realised she needed to back off.

"I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't push you. Just please, tell Dumbledore at least," she said and forced herself to let go of his shoulders. But as she did, Quirinus took one of her hands into his, gently squeezing it. Emily got so baffled by this all she could do was to stare at their joined hands. She could feel the warmth of his hand, and as his fingers brushed the back of her hand, she thought she could feel them send sparks through her.

"I-I appreciate your concerned for me," he said, so quietly it was almost a whisper. Emily looked into his grey eyes again. "But I can't tell you anything. N-n-not to anyone. Not yet at l-l-l-least."

Though she wanted to know more, she accepted this and nodded with a 'okay'. With one last gentle stroke Quirinus let go of her hand.

"Now, I n-n-need to put these-" he pulled a glass bottle out of his pocket. "- into that tank o-over t-t-there."

He walked hastily past her. Emily followed and watched him submerge the bottle in a small water-filled glass tank. She watched as a couple of swiftly moving silver-coloured lizard-like creatures disappeared behind some aquatic plants. Emily tried to get another glimpse of them, nearly with her nose in the glass, but they stayed well hidden. She looked at Quirinus questioningly.

"Miniature False W-water Dragons," he said with a smile. "Almost l-like the real deal over there." He pointed at the large creature's skeleton. "But smaller. A-a-and harmless."

"Well, that's good. Are they your new class pets?"

"T-that too… But also you can make a-a p-potion f-f-f-from their eggs… to keep certain d-dark creatures at bay."

"Oh…" Emily said, straightening herself up. "They're good to have around then."

She looked around the room again, focusing her attention on the large parchments. She went to have a closer look and saw some mysterious encryptions and pictures on them. She trailed her fingers carefully over one of them, a particularly tattered one.

"So, you taught Muggle Studies before? What made you change the subject?" she asked absently.

"Ah," Quirinus said, still busy with the water tank. "M-morbid c-curiosity I suppose."

"You have morbid curiosity?" Emily asked, almost in an amused tone, raising her eyebrows at him.

"W-well, I guess I had j-j-just b-before… y-you know."

"That makes sense, I guess," she said quietly and nodded, not wanting to upset him more.

But there was one more question she felt like she had to ask. She took a moment to think about how to word it without causing him more anxiety yet found it quite difficult.

"But aren't you worried that the position is…" Trailing off, she paused for a second. "Well… jinxed?" she added, eyeing him carefully.

"Ah, but t-that's u-u-untrue," he stated with a smile, though sounding nervous. "That's j-just a s-s-s-superstitious r-rumour."

Even though he sounded uneasy, he seemed to shrug this off quite quickly.

"If you say so," Emily replied, but she wasn't really feeling better about it. In fact she remained utterly unconvinced.

Their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher had changed every single year, and according to the older students, this was the case for them as well, which had led people to think that there was a curse of some sort. The worst part was, not all of the teachers had left their position voluntarily.

Realising it was almost time for dinner, they left for the Great Hall together. The house tables and benches had been moved to the side and instead there was one table at the centre of the room, where it looked like most of the other staff members had already taken their seats. Dumbledore beamed a smile at them as they approached the table.

"Miss Fawley. Professor Quirrell. So good of you to join us," he welcomed them.

Emily looked at the people around the table. She had expected to see at least a couple of new faces among the familiar ones and was surprised to see that even the staff had stayed much the same as when she had last been at the school. There only seemed to be one – a rather young-looking brown-haired man with pyramidal moustache and a goatee.

"Everyone, this is the latest addition to our ranks, Healer trainee Emily Fawley," Dumbledore continued, addressing the seated staff.

Most of them greeted her or nodded respectfully, but she noticed Professor Snape not making any movement to acknowledge her even being there.

"It's nice to meet you all. Again," Emily said, making a small bow before taking a seat at the table.

"I believe we have a proper feast prepared for us today. And just for tonight, should anyone wish to have wine, just speak your choice out loud while holding up a goblet. That goblet will fill up with whatever that choice may be," Dumbledore said.

To demonstrate this, he raised his own and spoke the name of some fancy sounding French wine, after which the goblet immediately filled halfway with what could be assumed to be said wine. Many people, Emily included, followed suit. Not being too familiar with wines she picked Elf Wine.

They were soon eating the most wonderful food Emily had tasted in a long time. She filled up her plate with honey-roasted root vegetables, parsley, potatoes, and some medium rare roast beef. She tried two different sauces, both of which were apparently sublime. She was so keen to start digging in that she almost failed to notice she had been seated next to Madam Pomfrey, only realising this when the Matron began speaking to her.

"So, you're my new assistant, then," Madam Pomfrey said. Emily, who had just gotten the first forkful of food in her mouth, began almost began choking on a piece of vegetable as she quickly tried to swallow it down.

"I… am," Emily finally said, coughing slightly. Assistant. Why was she too using that word? Unintentionally Emily glanced at Snape, who wasn't looking at them but had a wry smile on his thin lips, making her suspect that he might've been listening.

"I mean, I understood it's not just an assistant's job," she added.

"Oh? Well, I suppose after an observation period I can let you have more responsibility. If you're capable enough." Emily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Clearly, she didn't know much about her.

"I've worked most of my time in the ward for serious bites," Emily said, puffing out her chest a bit. "And I'm graduating soon. I can handle whatever you throw at me," Emily said, feeling confident but at the same time desperate to proof that she wasn't there just to learn.

"I like your attitude, but it's for you to prove and me to judge."

Emily couldn't help but to feel a bit irate. What she didn't need was a year wasted on easy tasks, and from what Dumbledore had told her, she thought she'd practically be working as if she had already her Healer's degree. She and Quirinus, who was sitting across to her, exchanged looks.

Quirinus had immediately become more nervous as he was surrounded with people. He stuttered even more than earlier and could barely keep his hands from shaking. It didn't help that he was sitting next to Snape, who seemed way too eager to talk to him, asking where he had been on his travels. Emily hated her friend being harassed like his but also secretly listened with great interest. She hadn't dared to ask more. And only just getting settled in her new work environment didn't make her very confident on confronting the others – especially Snape. But as he began interrogating Quirinus about vampires, Emily quickly cut in, offering Quirinus bread. He took a piece and blinked gratefully at her. She then pushed on to converse about the food with him, not letting Snape to continue with his questions.

She was soon dragged into other conversations, however, as there was quite a lot of interest around the table to know exactly who she was and what she had been up to since leaving Hogwarts. After so many years as a student it felt almost bizarre to be there as a staff member and talk with the others as one, too. The previously unknown man to her – Arif Sikander – introduced himself to her. He was the Muggle Studies Professor and had apparently been covering for Quirinus the previous year. Emily got introduced to the Arithmancy and Ancient Runes Professors, Septima Vector and Bathsheda Babbling, whose subjects she had not studied. She also got properly acquainted with Hagrid, who kindly invited her to stop by hit hut for tea before they would venture out into the forest.

Madam Pomfrey didn't stay to sit around after she had eaten and left very quickly. In her own words she had to 'make sure everything was set for the students' arrival'. Emily offered to go with her so she could get started, but Madam Pomfrey was very strong-willed in wanting to go alone.

Emily, who was in no mood to feel like she was stepping on her toes or hear about her duties as a mere assistant, decided it was for the best and instead looked forward to spending more time with Quirinus.

She was happy to see that he had the same idea. Together they left the Great Hall after sitting for another long while and took a long walk through the castle's darkening corridors. Emily was fully enjoying the freedom being a staff member had brought. No longer was strolling around the castle late at night banned. They reminisced about their school years and at times walked in silence, sometimes glancing up at each other, both smiling shyly. And once again it was easy to forget how much time had passed since the last time they had been there together. They walked for a long time, visiting every place they could think of until their feet hurt.

As a final destination, they climbed into the Astronomy tower – another favourite place of Emily's. As they reached the top, she sat by the railing and put her feet through the bars so that they were hanging in the air, far above the castle's many structures and roofs. It was too dark to make out much of the scenery but the light from moon and stars were just enough to see the outlines of the mountains and where the forest began. And in the sky there were countless of stars. Night sky was another thing Emily had come to miss while living in the city.

She stared up breathlessly for what could have been minutes before she realised Quirinus had sat beside her, doing the same as she.

"There's still one thing I have to know. And you're not getting around answering this," she said in a jokingly tone.

"Ask away," Quirinus said.

"What's up with the turban?"

"I bet you've w-wanted to ask that all day," he laughed. Emily smiled, staring at him expectantly. "It was a gift from a prince," he smiled. "For dealing with a zombie."

"A prince?" Emily asked, intrigued. "Did it have gems hidden inside?"

She reached out to touch it, but Quirinus shifted away, and though laughing he seemed a bit spooked.

"All I'm saying is there better have been more than just a piece of fabric as a reward if it was from an actual prince," Emily said, deciding it was better not to make a fuss of every time he got a bit anxious.

"It has symbolic value," Quirinus said in a respectful tone.

For a while they stayed perfectly quiet, both just staring into the night and listening to the soft wind blow. It still smelled like summer all around. At one point a huge flock of bats swarmed right below them.

"I've really missed you, you know," Emily said, breaking the silence.

What exactly had given her the courage to start talking about her feelings, she did not know. From the corner of her eye, she saw him turn to look at her shortly.

"I know… I missed you too," he said after a brief silence.

Emily smiled sadly. It hadn't escaped her notice that he hadn't stuttered for a while. He seemed much calmer after spending the evening together. It was almost like he was back to his old self.

She turned to look at him, suddenly having so many things she wanted to ask him or just say to him. She wasn't sure where to start, so she picked the most obvious ones.

"I should've written you more. And I'm sorry I stopped. I guess… life just happened."

"It's alright, Em. And I'm sorry too," he said softly. "I suppose we were both busy going our own ways." He was staring at the starry sky again.

"Promise me you'll tell me what happened to you?" Emily said carefully, almost pleading.

"One day," he replied.

An owl hooted in the distance as they sat in comfortable silence.

- END OF CHAPTER 1 -

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter. This is a re-write as I felt like the story needed many changes to work better. This is my first and so far only published fanfic and I hope you will enjoy it.

More chapters coming up! This is the first one updated and I took down the rest until I have them in order as well.

To the few people who have waited over A FULL YEAR for me to update this story - I'm sorry. I guess… life just happened (haha, I'll see myself out). Thank you for enjoying the story, reading the comments and messages pushed me to finally write again.