Homemade Ghosts | s. snape

1.4

| 1.4 |

After spending most of the afternoon unpacking my things and placing wards to keep people out of my room, I went down to the Great Hall for dinner. I wasn't sure what to expect. Did all the staff still sit at the High Table to stare out at an empty hall?

It turned out that only one House table was set up directly in the middle, and staff chose where to sit. The spread of food was much less ostentatious compared to when all the school was there. In fact, it felt strangely lonely with just the adults around.

There were little clusters sitting together already. Dumbledore sat with Sprout, Flitwick, Madam Hooch, and Madam Pomfrey at the front. The huge figure of Rubeus Hagrid was at the head of the table in an especially large chair. Closer to the door, were a couple of young female teachers I didn't recognize. They were sitting with a young man in a purple turban who seemed to be cowering away from their grins.

A roughed-up looking man who was missing an arm and wearing an eye patch was talking to Filch, Hogwarts's caretaker. Interestingly, Snape was with them too.

Finally, I spotted McGonagall across from Vector.

It seemed to make the most sense to sit with them. I approached them to ask if I could sit there. Of course, they smiled brightly and agreed, inviting me in emphatically.

"How are you settling in, Hazel?" asked Vector.

"Good so far," I said. "Mostly unpacked by now. Didn't bring a lot with me."

"We were just discussing Penelope's arithmancy research trip to Greece over the summer," said McGonagall, primly.

The three of us chatted about Pythagorean numerology for the rest of dinner. It was hard to tell how much later it was when we realized we were the only three left in the hall. We walked back together and parted on the fifth floor.

Suddenly tired, I went to my quarters and collapsed onto a chair in the living room. It had gotten overcast in the afternoon, so it was an impenetrable dark outside of my window. I tapped my fingers on the table, feeling unsure what to do with myself now.

And then there was a knock on my door.

I answered it, revealing the two women I had seen talking to the man in the turban earlier. One was tall and dignified, with smooth dark skin, striking brown eyes, and extremely short hair. She wore robes in olive colors.

The other was shorter and stouter, with dirty blonde hair, a round face, and smiling green eyes. Interestingly, she was wearing Muggle clothes—a brown skirt and black cable-knit jumper.

Though they were among some of the younger professors in the school, they were still older than me. I would have guessed early- to mid-thirties for them. Which meant that it was possible I had been in school the same time as they were. But I didn't recognize either of them.

"You're the American, right?" asked the blonde one. Her smile had deep laugh lines. "Dumbledore mentioned a witch from Ilvermorny would be joining us this year!"

"Well, I did graduate from Ilvermorny, but I'm not American," I answered with a shrug, and quickly told them that I transferred during the war, hoping they wouldn't ask too many questions.

Thankfully, neither of them did. The tall witch offered a handshake, and I took it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Aurora Sinistra. I teach Astronomy." She spoke with some kind of African accent.

The blonde woman shook my hand next. "I'm Charity Burbage. I teach Muggle Studies!"

"I'm Hazel Eliot. I'll be teaching Ancient Runes. But, I'm sure you already knew that."