The Staff of Dreams

Lia Black stepped off the plane in London with her cell phone buzzing. She rolled her eyes and dug in her purse as she stumbled through the terminal with her carryon luggage. Her mother was already calling her. Refraining from scoffing in annoyance, she picked up the phone and proceeded to try to placate her mother, “Yes Mom…I understand…of course, it was rather rude…I’m sorry that you felt that way…no, I don’t just use you guys like a hotel…of course I appreciate all you do for me…yes, I will tell Professor McGonagall that you don’t appreciate my vacation being cut short…I’m sorry, I can’t explain the emergency to you, it’s confidential…well, actually, there are a lot of confidential things in schools nowadays…yes Mom but that was a long time ago…no, I’m not calling you old…” and so the conversation continued as Lia gave apologetic looks to the travelers around her, glaring at her for using her phone in the lifts and tubes.

She hailed a taxi once she was outside and had him let her off at a small music store on Charring Cross Road, her mother continuing to make her feel worse about the quick way she was forced to leave home. As she neared the sign for the Leaky Cauldron, her signal began fading, “Look Mom, I’m losing signal so I’ve got to go. Yeah, I’ll call you later okay? Give Dad my love, bye!” She hung up and walked inside before the phone had time to ring again. One of the benefits of the wizarding world, there was too much magic in the air for muggle electronics to work properly. Her cell phone was as good as a paperweight inside these doors and she was grateful for the escape. Taking a deep breath, Lia stashed her phone and made her way to the bar, “’Afternoon,” she said to the barkeep, “do you have an available room?”

The barman, Raymond, looked her over suspiciously before reluctantly nodding. “It’s two galleons a night or eleven for the week.” Lia dug in her bag for a handful of galleons, being sure to include one for Raymond to assure his immediate assistance for the remainder of her stay. Eagerly the stooped man came around the counter and took Lia’s bag from her hand, “Allow me to show you to our best room, Ms. Black.” He said, bowing as he led her up the stairs. Once she was alone, Lia opened her suitcase and dug inside to pull out her wizard robes, almost falling in twice before catching herself on the rim of the bag. Her parents had always been so amazed at her packing skills, a simple pilot’s bag and a purse to carry all that she needed for a three month vacation.

Lia smiled to herself and shook out her robes; it was always the little things about the people she loved that she appreciated the most. Once dressed, Lia was anxious to dive once more into wizarding culture, to stretch her legs from the flight, and maybe do a little digging on dreams. Stepping out the back door of the bar, Lia tapped her wand against the brick wall and watched as the bricks moved and slid into place, revealing a beautiful archway that opened onto a cobblestone road. No matter how many times she came to this place, that sight still gave her immense joy, confirming in her once again that she was a part of this magical world. With a grin on her face, Lia began her trek through Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was one of the few wizarding towns in England. Its entrance through the muggle world was on Charring Cross Road through the Leaky Cauldron, but witches and wizards could travel through fire to most of the shops in the small village. If someone simply walked through the street with all the shops closed, it would look like any old town in London, but in the middle of the afternoon with doors open, not even muggles could mistake oddity of their merchandise or their clientele. Clothing stores were not filled with jeans and blouses, instead there was Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions, instead of cooking supplies there was an apothecary with barrels of snake eyes and newt tails with steel, bronze, pewter, and golden cauldrons on display.

There was a pet store, but instead of the usual dogs and cats there were cages of tap dancing mice and owls of every kind and color. Instead of sports stores that would have baseball or football supplies, there was Quality Quidditch Supplies, with a wide variety of brooms, flying golden balls called snitches, and cages of black balls that were flying around trying to run into people called bludgers. Halfway down the street was a marble building that said Gringotts Bank, a large building with extensive underground caverns run and protected by goblins. This is where Lia made her first stop of the day, to refill her purse and prepare for the coming year. As she got in line to hand her key to the goblins at the teller windows, Lia heard her name being called; “Professor Black, Professor Black!” She turned and saw a young boy with blonde hair racing towards her, pulling his parents behind him.

Lia smiled fondly, “Good Afternoon, Frank.” She turned to the boy’s parents and shook their hands warmly, “Neville, Hannah, how are you?”

Neville was about to answer when Frank cut him off, “Guess what Professor Black! Mom and Dad said that for my birthday they’re going to get me a new telescope that tells you the names of the stars when you look through it! It can show their movement over a whole week too!!”

Hannah smoothed her son’s hair, “He’s been asking for one since your first class, he really loves astronomy.”

“He’s been one of my best students in the subject.” She admitted. “Did you have a good summer?”

“It’s been uneventful.” Hannah said with a relieved sigh, “That’s always good.”

Lia laughed, “I understand completely.”

“How was New Zealand?” Neville asked as he and Lia came to the front of the queue and handed their keys to the goblin. “Your parents doing well?”

“Yeah, I always miss New Zealand when I’m here but, it’s nice to home again.” The four friends climbed into the mining cart, following the goblin. They chose not to continue their discussion as the cart they were in pitched forward and began the twisting, turning, nauseous ride to their vaults. Vaults under Gringotts had numerous levels of security; some had keys, some needed a goblin’s finger, some their hand, some had dragons guarding them. To get to the vaults, patrons had to ride the mining cars through a roller-coaster type maze of the labyrinth of tunnels underground that only the goblins could navigate. When each had finished filling their purses, they returned to the surface and made their way to the street. “Well, I’ve got a few places I’ve got to hit and some research to do,” she said as way of parting, “I’ll see you lot at the train station in a few days!” With smiles and waves, Lia made her way through the street toward Flourish and Blotts book store.

Lia let her fingers graze the sides of the leather tomes as she walked from aisle to aisle, taking in her favorite scent of old, dusty books. Occasionally she would pull one from the shelf and flip through it, always entertained by the pictures that tended to accompany many of the spells, potions, and accidents that were explained. Eventually she found her way over to the history section where only one other person was flipping through books. With an expert eye, she quickly located a half a dozen books that centered on the founders of Hogwarts. The books ranged from their more professional biographies, to their personal quirks, to the types of magic they performed, to information about the places they were from. As interesting as everyone’s personal dreams were, it was obvious that the founders were the common thread and Lia knew that she needed to know everything she could to prepare for whatever they were going to get themselves into.

The last few days of the summer came and went with little excitement; Lia saw many of her students and their parents around Diagon Alley. Many of the ones she met had been in school with her and their kids were just starting at Hogwarts or had only been there a few years. She caught up with who she could, gently probed for confirmation of founders, but generally enjoyed reuniting with her classmates. She ran into Ernie McMillan, a foreign wizard liaison with the Ministry of Magic, George Weasley and his wife Angelina, formerly Johnson, who still ran Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Draco Malfoy and his young son, as well as many others. It amazed her how far everyone had come, how so many peoples’ lives had changed in the years since they went to school. Voldemort’s rise to power, and subsequent fall, changed the lives of almost every person in wizarding England, but specifically those that centered in the final battle of Hogwarts. People had been forced to grow, change, and see who they really were in that horrible night; not everyone liked what they saw.

When September first came around, Lia made her way through London to Kings Cross Station. With excitement that she hadn’t felt since she was just beginning at Hogwarts, Lia grinned at the seemingly solid wall between platforms nine and ten before running straight into it. Instead of crashing into the solid post, she emerged on the other side. Witches and Wizards milled all around, rushing left and right while guiding their children that carried cumbersome trunks filled with their school supplies for the year. Platform 9 ¾ was as busy as it always was on the first of September due to the rush of students preparing for the trip to school.

The bright red Hogwarts express was on the tracks already filled with students who were waving out the windows of compartments on the train or yelling to their parents some last minute things they’d forgotten. Lia smiled at the sight. Usually she wouldn’t take the train up to Hogwarts with the students but since Malicia had instructed her that this would be her method of travel she’d figured it would be a good time for the two to catch up.

Weaving through the groups of witches and wizards dropping off their children, Lia waved at the students who greeted her and the parents who recognized her from either her old school years or as the Astronomy professor at the school. Stopping near the entrance at the tail end of the train, Lia stared at the magnificent set of train cars in front of her. She’d spent many years of her life traveling to and from Hogwarts on the train and the memories made her smile.

“Lia?” A familiar voice woke her from her reverie and she spun around and smiled.

“Professor!” The smiling face of James Potter met her, followed by his father Harry wearing a very similar smile, though his face was lined with the weariness of not sleeping. Had Harry been having nightmares just like she had?

“Well hello there, Potters.” Lia smiled pleasantly.

“Are you riding the train?” James looked excited at the very prospect of such a thing. It wasn’t very often that teachers rode the train for the trip to the school.

“I am, actually.”

“Dad, did you hear that? Professor Black is going to ride the train with us!” Without giving his father a chance to respond, James turned back to Lia, an excited expression across his face. “Would you sit with me and my friends?”

“I’m actually meeting a friend on the train, James. Why don’t I just sit nearby? I promise to buy you something from the trolley.” Lia patted the young man on the head. She’d never been very close to the Potter family but being the decent witch that she was she’d fought alongside Harry when he’d waged the war against Voldemort. In a way, all those who stood together at Hogwarts had forged an unbreakable bond and most had managed to keep in touch over the years. While the horrors that Voldemort committed were unspeakable in those dark times, in a way it had united the whole of the wizarding world in ways that hadn’t been done for years prior.

Before his son could object, Harry spoke up, “James, why don’t you go find your mother and say goodbye to her okay?” James whined in response but did as he was told, head slumped and shuffling his feet as he went. “You’re really riding the express into Hogwarts? Feeling nostalgic are you?” Harry chuckled, turning his attention to one of his old schoolmates. He’d never been close to the woman, but had fond memories of nearly all of his classmates

“I usually apparate into Hogsmeade and simply make the trip like the rest of the staff but this year I’m making a special exception.” Lia smiled knowingly. It was peculiar for teachers to ride the express, but not unheard of.

“You mentioned a friend was riding the express.” Harry nodded knowingly.

“Yes!”

“I don’t suppose that friend would be me, would it?” Appearing like a bat out of the shadows, Malicia apparated with a crack next to the two. Lia nearly leapt out of her skin, stumbling backwards while Harry remained standing upright, seemingly not startled by the sudden appearance of the raven haired woman. Laughing, but covering her mouth as she did so Malicia held her hand out to Harry in greeting.

“Good to see you, Potter. You look like hell.” Malicia shook hands with the taller man then nodded toward Lia who was dusting herself off and trying to act like nothing had happened to make her jump out of her skin. “Were you that jumpy after spending so much time around muggles as a kid? Do you see what happens when you stay away from magic for so long? It serves you right.” Retracting her hand Malicia then smiled at her old friend. It had been so long since she’d seen her in person that she wasn’t sure how to react.

“If I suddenly got used to it, what fun would be left for you?” Lia laughed then threw her arms around her old classmate in greeting. “It’s so good to see you, Mal!” Malicia returned the sentiment.

“I hate to interrupt ladies, but I see my wife scowling at me.” Harry chuckled. “It was great seeing you. Please keep an eye on my trouble makers, will you?”

“See you, Harry.” Lia smiled politely.

“I have eyes on the back of my head, Potter, no worries.” Malicia watched him walk away then turned back to her old friend.

“So, it’s been a good fifteen years since I last saw you in person and you choose to scare the daylights out of me. I see you haven’t changed.”

“I actually saw you when I came onto the platform and decided this would be more fun.” Malicia nodded toward the train, holding her small suitcase that she’d bewitched to hold the things she’d packed for the year. “Though you reacted just as predicted, so speaking of not changing…”

“Touché.” Stepping onto the train, weaving through the students who nodded or spoke in greeting to Professor Black, Lia led them toward an empty compartment. James peeked his head out into the hallway and waved excitedly toward the two women.

“Over here! I told people to save this one for you, professor!”

“Thank you, James.” Lia smiled kindly then led Malicia into the compartment. Both women took their seats just as the train started to pull out of the station.

Word of the two witches soon reached the students on the train and Malicia and Lia had a steady flow of visitors to their little room. Lia was easily one of the students’ favorite teachers at the school and everyone was interested in who the new teacher was and what she would be teaching. Lia took the time to introduce students as they poked their head into the compartment, including their family if they were the offspring of one of their former classmates. In a few short hours, Malicia had met most of the student body. When the novelty of professors on the train had worn off, Malicia and Lia closed their door and took the time to get caught up with each other. “Is it just me or were those students more of a…mixed bunch?” Malicia asked once they were settled.

“Yeah, I asked McGonagall about that when I started at the school. Slytherin house still kind of does its own thing, but Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw have become more intermingled. She said that the sorting is even taking a little longer because so many of the kids can be sorted into a few different houses and it’s harder to choose. It seems the camaraderie of Voldemort’s last battle has leaked into our generation’s kids. Parents aren’t focusing so much on houses anymore and are actually encouraging their kids to spend time with the others. The cliques of the olden days died with Voldemort, it seems.”

“Except for Slytherin?” Malicia smirked. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

Lia shrugged, “It’s going to take a lot more for Slytherin house to change.” There was a knock on the door as the tea trolley passed. Lia and Malicia, both feeling rather nostalgic from their time on the train, bought their favorite candies- chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, and ice cold pumpkin juice to wash it down. True to her word, Lia grabbed a handful of Bertie Bott’s and dropped them off in James’ cabin on the train before returning to her friend and diving in to their sugary hoard. “So, are you excited about teaching?” she asked Mal through a mouthful of chocolate frog.

Malicia cautiously prodded her way through a box of Bertie Bott’s, “Yeah, it’s a little nerve racking though. I never did like crowds or…children.” Lia laughed. “I remember how much I liked my teachers though and I want to inspire them like our teachers did us. I’m passionate about what I do so I’m hoping the rest comes naturally.”

“Yeah, I was pretty freaked out when I first got the letter from Minerva asking me to teach.” Lia recalled. “I wanted the job and everything, but the idea of being responsible for what went in to all of those little minds was frightening. What if I taught them something wrong or gave them bad information or blew one of them up or something? My first week here I wanted nothing more than to go back to my little room in New Zealand where I wasn’t responsible for anything.”

“But the kids all seem to like you so obviously you did okay.”

“Oh yeah, teaching is a breeze!” Lia said with a wave of her hand. “The hardest part is deciphering their handwriting on the essays. I give as few of those as possible.” Malicia chuckled, imagining her friend up in the wee hours frustrated by the handwriting of her students. “One of the great things about astronomy is that it’s mostly practical. Especially for the first two or three years, it’s mostly about just learning the sky and finding the constellations and planets, it’s not until the kids start choosing it as an elective that I dive into planetary movements and what they can mean.”

“Doesn’t that dive into Divination a little bit? I’m sure Sybill loves that.”

Lia shrugged, “It can be considered that but, I mean, Trelawney is still the main Divination teacher and we all know that she’s full of it. I want the kids to know that the art of reading the future isn’t completely ridiculous. My teachings tend to line up more with what Firenze teaches them.”

“Is Firenze still teaching after all these years?” Malicia asked, surprised to hear that the centaur was still serving at the school.

Lia nodded sadly, “Yeah, Bane and Magorian are still upset with him for helping Dumbledore out in our fifth year.”

“Haven’t you tried to talk to them?” Malicia knew her friend had always been close with the centaurs. If any witch or wizard could convince them to lay off of Firenze it would be her.

“Of course, but they won’t hear it. They were thrilled when I came back to the school and I still spend a good amount of my free time with them, but if I even bring up Firenze’s name they just change the subject or refuse to talk to me until I do. It’s kind of childish really, but they’re a stubborn people.”

“Maybe we can both work on them when I get there. It will be nice to see them all again.” Malicia had only ever been friends with them because of Lia. She was sure the centaurs wouldn’t have had anything to do with her initially if it hadn’t been for her.

“So tell me about your class!” Lia said excitedly, wiggling in her seat. Malicia laughed and choked on her pumpkin juice. “What kind of stuff are you going to teach? Are you doing a lot of practical stuff or mostly bookwork? Is Luna going to come and guest speak? Because that would be hilarious!”

“You know, I just might do that. The problem with Luna is that she believes in nearly everything even when a lot of is proved to be well… bollocks. That’s also the beauty of having her around though. She believes in everything. I’ve never met anyone with such an open mind.” Clearing her throat, Malicia glanced out the window as she spoke.

“I think maybe you should save a visit from Luna until later in the year. It would be great to see her.”

“Definitely. But for the most part I’ve split my teachings into regions for the first year of class. Students who wish to pursue it further will get more challenging information next year. Most of my class is going to be hands on. You know me, I think that people learn better from doing rather than reading.”

“I see that hasn’t changed much at all. I think you made that same argument during our third year in Herbology.” Lia smirked as she tossed a few Bertie Bott’s in her mouth, grimacing as she got a pepper flavored one. Coughing with her mouth closed she tried to keep a straight face while she ate it.

“You’re still the comedian I remember from back then I see.” Malicia rolled her eyes and picked up a chocolate frog. She hadn’t eaten so much candy in years.

“I’m here all year.”

“Anyway,” rolling her eyes, Malicia continued on, “I’ve split my lessons into regions, as I said, and I’ll cover the more basic styles of magic performed in other countries. I also plan on concentrating on what’s actually fiction and helping separate myth from reality. There are too many preconceived notions about other types of magic. We’ve become complacent over the years. There are more ways than using a wand to perform a spell and they are just as practical and sometimes even more fantastic.” There was a sparkle in Malicia’s eyes as she spoke, passion thick in her voice.

“I think that some of the teachers could even benefit from that.” Lia chuckled. “Don’t be surprised if you see some of us sneaking in on your classes to learn a thing or two.”

“Or just for the spectacle. Who doesn’t like pretty explosions?”

“I guess I’m going to have to step up my game to compete!” A playful smile spread across Lia’s face. It was astounding how easy it was to still chat with her old friend. If she didn’t know better it would be like they’d never lost touch.

“What are you going to do? Teach the kids how to make their own stars? I think that’s against one of the Wizarding laws.” Malicia teased, pointing a finger at her friend playfully.

The girls spent the next hour or two talking about their plans for that year at Hogwarts and the things they wanted to do. They discussed former misdeeds and reminisced on the oddity of their friendship and how they came to be so close. Slowly conversation shifted to life after Hogwarts; where they lived, jobs they had, how they came to end up where they were now. It seemed like so much had happened in their years apart, but it felt like no time was lost between them. It may have been fifteen years since they had seen each other face to face, but to them it felt like fifteen minutes. They could share their lives, hopes, dreams, failures, and successes and still have the same close friendship that they had shared all those years ago.

In the middle of what was turning out to be a spectacular food fight with their leftover candy, the girls felt the train come to a shuddering halt. Luggage fell from the racks above their heads and worried voices flooded the hallway outside. In a matter of seconds the lamps that had been filling the rooms and hall with golden light went dark and it became obvious how late the day had become. Lia and Malicia pulled out their wands and opened their door to find a mass of students huddled in front of them. “Professor Black, what’s going on?” a third year asked, clearly distraught. A few younger students echoed that question with different levels of fear on their faces, some held hands to their heads where luggage had shaken loose and fallen on them.

“We don’t know what’s happened yet, but we can’t very well figure it out with you lot plugging up the walkway.” Lia said kindly. “Now let’s go back to your rooms and we’ll see what we can figure out.”

“I’ll go to the conductor and see what’s going on.” Malicia said before disappearing into the crowd toward the front of the engine where she would speak with the conductor. The Hogwarts Express was a well-protected machine and she was concerned to think of what could have possibly tampered with the thing.

Lia nodded her acknowledgement and called for the prefects to help her. “Prefects, wands out!” she said over the commotion. A few dozen streams of light appeared down the corridor, illuminating the kids’ pale, frightened faces. “Okay everyone, there’s nothing to worry about.” The kids looked at her skeptically. Seeing their faces, Lia couldn’t help but laugh at the situation; her laughter had a way of easing the tension in the dark hall and she waved her wand and a series of cheerful orange flames danced above their heads, shedding light through the train. “Everyone back to your compartments while we figure out what’s going on.” Reluctantly the kids began to disperse, a small, happy flame following each group to their rooms. Smiling and shaking her head, Lia turned to go back to her compartment to wait for Malicia when she saw something dart past her window out of the corner of her eye. Was it just a trick of the light or had there really been something outside? Willing her wand light to extinguish she watched intently out the window. At first there was nothing, but the gripping uneasiness in her chest kept her watching the scene. Just as she was about to turn away, she saw it again. Through the wilderness beyond the train, something or someone was lurking.

Her easy smile shifted to focused determination as she pulled the window up and shimmied out through the small space provided. She dropped smoothly to the soft grass near the tracks and looked around for the fleeting shadow. Seeing movement to her left Lia took off at a full run without hesitation, her wand held firmly in her grasp and her eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. She ran around the back of the train and saw the shape of a person heading for the dense forest a few yards away from the railroad tracks.

With an extra burst of speed, Lia raced after them into the forest, dodging most trees and roots effortlessly. After a sharp turn through a clearing, Lia lost sight of her prey and slowed to try and figure out exactly where she was. She spun to her left and right, hearing the sound of leaves crackling in the darkness, but she could see nothing there. Perhaps animals were simply running around nearby frightened because of the commotion she’d made, but something told Lia otherwise. An unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach told her there was much more going on.

Standing still and catching her breath she listened for another sound. When she heard footsteps in the leaves behind her, she threw a stunning spell from her wand into the forest. She ran in the direction of the sound to see if her spell had caught anyone, but there was no body in the vicinity.

Once more, a shadow caught her eye and she turned in the direction but her ankle snagged on a fallen branch and she fell rather gracelessly into a puddle of mud. Sitting in the mud, she caught her breath and listened in case her attacker took her fall for a moment of weakness. Then there was a sudden pain in her back. Wincing and hunching forward to deal with the pain, she at first thought she’d been stabbed but as the pain ebbed away she considered that perhaps it was simply a cramp she’d developed in her chase. What a strange place to develop a cramp though, in her back.

Listening still for the sound of anything near her she heard the cracking of leaves and breaking of sticks again. Cursing, she groped around for her wand and pulled herself out of the muck, her ankle throbbing. Ready to attack whatever was approaching her she stopped short with a gasp upon seeing what had stumbled upon where she’d fallen. A doe was standing nearby and looked frightened by her. Peering around the beautiful creature, Lia found a younger deer behind her looking equally frightened. Heaving a sigh of relief, Lia decided that the shadow she’d seen was either a trick of the eye or some kind of wildlife. Glaring at the offensive branch, Lia turned away from the animals and hobbled back through the woods toward the train. It took her much longer to limp to the front engine than it had to chase the shadow, so with a disgruntled expression she finally tapped on the door to the front engine.

“Where have you been?” Malicia demanded as she opened the door. “And what happened to you? You’re a mess!”

“I thought I saw something; I was probably wrong. There were some deer, it was a huge fiasco.” She said, clearly annoyed with herself. “My ankle is killing me from that walk and I pulled something in my back. Let’s just… can we go? Let’s just go back to our compartment and let the engineers get this sorted out.” Lia muttered.

Malicia was clearly trying to hold back her laughter, “You walked back?” she asked. “Why didn’t you just apparate if you’re hurt?”

Lia glared at her friend for stating something so obvious, “Because I didn’t think of it.” She grumbled.

Malicia shook her head and gave Lia her arm to help her walk, “You’ve been spending way too much time in the muggle world.”

“You can’t apparate at Hogwarts either, you know.” Lia tried to defend her casual oversight. Waving her wand, she whispered the spell that would clean her robes free of filth and pouted at the stinging pain in her ankle. The train whistle rang overhead, letting those inside of it know they would be on their way again soon enough.

“Sure, that’s why you forgot.” Malicia rolled her eyes and helped Lia back into their compartment as the big red engine started off down the tracks once again.

“I see things are running smoothly in here once again.” Lia loudly changed the subject, dusting herself off even though the filth and mud was gone from her robes.

“Honestly we have no idea what went wrong. They assured me that the train would be inspected upon arrival at Hogsmeade but seeing as you were the only person to leave the train and none of the other doors were opened we assume it’s safe to go the rest of the way. An owl has been sent to Professor McGonagall making her aware of the situation. I figure if she thinks it’s important we can talk to her about it once we get to Hogwarts.”

After explaining to the students what had happened, while leaving out the details of Lia’s fall in the mud, despite how Malicia kept chuckling under her breath about it, the two women sat in their compartment in silence. Malicia had pulled out a notebook and was writing notes furiously in the back of it, rather than the front. She’d always been peculiar about her notebooks. Lia on the other hand stared out the window and contemplated the events she’d experienced. What had happened outside of the train? Rubbing nonchalantly at the spot on her back where she’d pulled her muscle she felt the pain having gone completely. Had it been something she imagined? And what about the shadow that had darted in and out of the trees like it had been trying to confuse and evade her? There was no way it had been a group of deer. Deer didn’t move like that!

The rest of the ride was spent in content contemplative silence, at least until Hogwarts became visible from the windows of the train. Students were leaning out the window, gasping in excitement and not just the first years at that. Even to those returning, the castle looked both fantastic and intimidating. It was a spectacle to behold to anyone who saw it.

The teachers helped the students unload from the train and were greeted by Hagrid, holding his familiar lantern and crying out for the “firs’ years” to follow him to the boats. Malicia looked at the small, frightened looking group of thirty or so new students that walked over to the half-giant who was beaming down at them from behind his big bushy beard that had started to gray in his older age. Stopping to smile at the smaller kids in remembrance of her first year at Hogwarts, Malicia sighed heavily and shook her head.

“If it isn’t li’l Malicia Maena. I heard y’were gonna be teachin’ here this year.” Hagrid called to her, making a wide path through the sea of students being led to the horseless carriages that would take them up the path to Hogwarts.

“Hello Hagrid, it’s lovely to see you!” Malicia called out politely. “We’ll catch up later; right now you’ve got your hands full!” Laughing as some of the first years started tugging on Hagrid’s coat that was nearly as bushy as his beard, Malicia turned back to Lia.

“Are you ready for the feast?” Lia beamed, leading her friend toward one of the carriages that would take them to the school.

“Honestly I’m a little nervous.” Malicia chuckled beneath her breath.

“Why? It’s not like you’re being sorted again.”

“Oh I wasn’t nervous back then.” Malicia held her head up high. “Slytherin and proud.”

“You confuse all the other Slytherins.” Lia rolled her eyes but continued to joke with her friend on the ride to the castle. Once there they were greeted by the old caretaker of the grounds, Argus Filch, who was just as cantankerous as Malicia remembered him. They were led into the cavernous Great Hall that was decorated with the colors of each House within the school; red and gold for Gryffindor, green and silver for Slytherin, blue and gray for Ravenclaw and yellow and black for Hufflepuff.

It was as glorious and exciting as Malicia remembered it being but she had more on her mind than the feast in the Great Hall. She was far more concerned with what came after it. What would the current Headmistress of the school think of the dreams she and Lia had shared, along with several others. Even Luna had dreamt of something involving one of the founders of the school. While Malicia had an inkling to what it was, she wasn’t sure if anyone else would put the pieces together. Then again, she didn’t want to seem so pretentious in her thinking that no one else would be aware of the danger of widespread dream sharing.

Could McGonagall already know about the Staff of Dreams and how the object could be obtained? Guilt churned in Malicia’s stomach but she somehow still managed to stuff her face with the delicious food provided by the school’s house elves. With the new students sorted into their houses, which took longer than it used to thanks to the students indecision to where they would be placed, food devoured and the Headmistress’ introductory and welcoming speech ended, the student body was led from the Great Hall by the prefects of their respective houses. Each group would be led to their separate common rooms where they would find their luggage and other belongings had been sent during the ceremony.

Watching the students leave the Great Hall, Malicia reminisced and soon disappeared into her own little world, at least until Lia swatted her arm and snapped her awake. Professor McGonagall was walking over to the two, her thin lipped smile, though friendly, still seeming intimidating.

“Miss Black, Miss Maena.” She nodded her head respectfully. Malicia jumped awkwardly out of her chair and stumbled onto her feet. Lia snorted with laughter then stifled it as Malicia threw her a glare.

“Hello Professor.” Lia waved politely.

“Oh come now, we’re all adults here. It’s Minerva now.” Without another word she started down the steps and toward the door leading from the Great Hall. Malicia nodded to Lia and gestured toward the Headmistress, curious if they should follow her. Before Lia could answer, Minerva did for them, “I believe we had some business to discuss. We would be more comfortable in my office I think. After that, perhaps Lia can show you to your new office Malicia.”

“Coming Professor, I mean… Minerva.” Malicia made a confused face then started down the stairs, followed by Lia who was right behind her.

“Weird right?” Lia whispered as they walked to catch up with the spry Headmistress of Hogwarts.

“Super weird.” Malicia laughed quietly.

The two girls followed the witch up to the seventh floor corridor. She stopped at a statue of a gargoyle that both Lia and Malicia had seen many times in their misadventures when they were younger. “Cattus cum Specula” McGonagall said; upon hearing the password the gargoyle came to life and sprang to the left, revealing a circular staircase that rotated upwards to the Headmistress’ office. The three colleagues stepped onto the staircase and rode it up to the beautifully polished oak door.

Minerva made herself comfortable behind her desk and motioned for the girls to sit across from her. The headmistress’ office was located in one of the many towers around Hogwarts. It was a large circular room filled with books, silver instruments that the two girls recognized from Professor Dumbledore’s day, and paintings of the old headmasters and mistresses. There was only one chair across from Minerva, a hard, stiffed back chair that Malicia found herself closer to. Minerva raised her wand to conjure a seat for Lia, but Lia quickly raised her own, insisting on doing it herself. Minerva’s eyes twinkled as Lia made a large, overstuffed chair fill the space. Once she had folded herself comfortably into the depths of the chair, she nodded to the headmistress to acknowledge that she was ready to begin.

“Comfortable?” Minerva asked with a raised brow.

Lia smiled, “Quite.”

“Pleased with yourself?”

“Enormously,” Lia grinned.

“I’m sure that by now you both have realized that something rather odd is going on.” She began. “A week ago I began receiving reports of Hogwarts alumni having terrifying dreams. That was strange enough, but it became even clearer that something was afoot when it was discovered that all of those dreams starred the founder of the house they were in when they spent their days in our school. Of course I’ve heard less from the Slytherins, but that is their nature.”

“Is it just the alumni?” Malicia asked. “What about the current students?”

McGonagall shook her head, “It appears that just of-age wizards were affected, and those outside of the school grounds.”

Lia pulled one of her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on it, “But that was just a week ago, what else is going on?” Minerva looked at her with a raised brow. “You’ve been calling people in for months now, don’t think we haven’t noticed.” Lia insisted, motioning towards Malicia for affect. “It’s pretty random for you to call Malicia off of her nature hunts because you have a sudden interest in foreign magic, and last term you were all kinds of tense!”

“All kinds of tense?” Malicia said, looking over her shoulder at her friend. Lia stuck her tongue out at her. “Prof- I mean, Minerva, there does seem to be something more going on here than the usual wizarding mischief. I was surprised at your offer when I received it in June, though I’m happy to be here and excited to be sharing my knowledge, I can tell that something isn’t quite right. And as renowned as I am in my profession, the last thing I expected was a letter from Hogwarts.”

“That and Venus is approaching the fourth quarter.” Lia said as if that settled everything.

Malicia rolled her eyes, “Does anyone even know what that means?” she asked in exasperation, wriggling uncomfortably in her seat.

Lia shrugged, “The centaurs do.”

Minerva waved her hand to halt the girls’ banter, “Back to your original question, yes, I do believe that something more extensive is going on. Yes, I have been recruiting old friends, and yes, the centaurs are the only ones who know what that means. I don’t want to say too much without the proper information; let’s just say that I believe there is a new threat on the horizon and I want us on our guard.”

“That’s all you’re going to give us, isn’t it?” Malicia pouted, folding her hands on her lap and trying to find a comfortable position in the stiff chair that was clearly there to torture people with poor posture.

“Still clever after all these years, aren’t you?” Minerva’s eyes sparkled mischievously and the girls were reminded of Dumbledore. Maybe being aloof and mysterious came with the role of Headmaster of the wizarding school.

“You know if you really wanted our help, you’d tell us what’s happening.” Lia mused, sitting up properly in her chair. She’d tried to reason with Minerva on many occasions, but had always come out the loser.

“I don’t want to put ideas into people’s heads. I have little more to go on than a gut feeling. When I know something more, then so will all of those I’ve been in touch with. Trust me, you’re not done seeing familiar faces at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I can only ask you to be on your guard.”

“We climbed so many stairs for this.” Malicia pouted and was glad that Minerva was smiling at her comment rather than glaring at her as she would’ve done years ago as her professor.

“And I thank you for your time.” Minerva stood up, signaling the women to take their leave. Lia and Malicia started toward the door. “Miss Maena?”

“Malicia, please.” The woman glanced over her shoulder at the headmistress who looked more serious than she had only moments ago.

“I trust that all has been well with you?” Malicia looked at Minerva suspiciously. Her stomach churned with guilt. There was, of course, far more going on than anyone knew but Malicia knew this was not the time or place to reveal her secrets. “If there are any problems you can always come to me.”

“Everything’s great Minerva.” The older woman’s name still sounded strange to Malicia’s ears. Minerva nodded her head politely and then turned away.

After their conversation with Minerva, Lia lead Malicia to the sixth floor where their offices were located. Lia opened a strong, wooden door that revealed a plain office with a desk, chair, and empty shelves. In the back of the room was another door that led to Malicia’s living quarters. “Sorry it’s not much.” Lia said through a yawn. “You’ll have time to spiff it up though, I’m sure. It only took me a few weeks to make mine look like home.” Lia pointed down the hallway, “My office is the second door on the left if you need anything. Have a nightmare free evening.” She said with a smile.

A shadow seemed to flicker across Malicia’s face, “Yeah, Lia, about that…” she began; Malicia’s suspicions about the dreams weighed heavily on her and she wanted to tell Lia what she had discovered, but immediately stopped because Peeves, the school’s poltergeist, lobbed a water balloon at her head.

Lia laughed as Malicia shot spells at the weaving pest until he disappeared down the hall. “Welcome back to Hogwarts!” She began walking to her office before turning back to her friend, “Oh! Were you going to say something?”

Something that McGonagall said held Malicia back; she still didn’t have enough information. If she started telling people what she believed and turned out to be wrong it could cause chaos. There had been a series of muggle detective novels she’d read at a younger age that popped into her mind. It was not the best idea to spread crazy theories around like wildfire. People naturally began to twist facts to suit a theory instead of creating a theory based on fact. Perhaps that was what Minerva had been suggesting when she’d decided it best not to share what she knew. Malicia took a breath and shook her head, “No, it’s just really good to see you, Lia. Get some sleep.”

“It’s good to see you too, Mal. Goodnight!” Malicia disappeared into her empty office and leaned heavily against the door. It was only her first day at Hogwarts and already she felt like it was going to be a very long year.