Lily Potter and Neoma's Trance

Chapter Twenty-Six

It took about five more minutes for Lily to find her way to Professor Lehrer’s room, and quickly, she knocked, hoping that she’d get this done before curfew. A rush of footsteps came from behind the door, and soon, it was opened. Lily was staring up at a young woman with wild and crazy blue hair with neon purple streaks, dancing eyes, one of which was yellow and the other green, and snow white skin. Her appearance was so striking that Lily wondered how she had never seen this crazy looking witch before.

“Why hello there!” her soprano voice greeted with a smile. “And who might you be?”

“Lily Potter,” she answered, feeling unsure about the situation. “Are you Professor Lehrer?”

“Am I ever!” the young professor answered with an infectious enthusiasm. “Professor Amy Lehrer at your service! What can I do for you, young Miss Lily Potter? Care for a spot of tea while you’re here? I seldom get visitors after classes let out for the day!”

“No thank you,” Lily said, denying the cup of tea. “I was wondering if you had any Muggle naming books. Madam Pince recommended that-”

“Oh!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands and taking off towards a bookshelf near her desk. “I sure do! How I just love Muggles; they are beyond fascinating to me! The Muggle genius is the most interesting thing in the world!”

“I guess that’s why you’re the Muggle Studies teacher then,” Lily laughed, feeling more comfortable with her. The woman was so full of an eccentric energy that Lily couldn’t help but to feel happy with her.

Professor Lehrer nodded, “Of course! I’ve wanted this job ever since I walked through the doors here at good old Hoggy Warty Hogwarts! I get to research Muggles all day and teach the wizards and witches of tomorrow about their fantastic inventions.”

“My Grandpa would love you,” Lily chuckled. She had a very good feeling that Grandpa Weasley and this kooky woman would be able to talk on and on and on about Muggles and their genius.

Professor Lehrer let out a laugh at this, “I’m sorry, but I bet he wouldn’t; you see, Lily Potter, I’m quite different. Most wizards don’t approve of my extreme love of Muggles.”

“My Grandpa loves Muggles though,” Lily pointed out. “Do you know Arthur Weasley, by chance? He used to work in the Ministry.”

“Never heard of him,” she shrugged, pulling a book off of her shelf. “If he loves Muggles as much as you say, then I would love to have a nice little chat with him, Lily Potter. Anyway, here’s your book!”

“Thanks, Professor,” Lily smiled, taking it into her own hands. “I’ll only need it to search a single name. It’s in some spell I’ve been reading about.”

“Maybe I can help you, Lily Potter,” she said, taking a seat at a student desk. “Mind telling me what the spell is called?”

“Neoma’s Trance; I think it might be a Charm or even a Curse,” Lily answered as she sat beside Professor Lehrer. “Ever heard of it?”

She shrugged, “Nope, but then again, Charms class was never my forte despite my being in Ravenclaw. I did the best in Transfiguration, Muggle Studies excluded of course!”

“Interesting,” Lily said as she began looking through the pages, trying to look for the section that began with the letter “N”. She was surprised when the book ended at “C”.

“What’s wrong, Lily Potter?”

“Professor,” she began, “I think that this book ends with “C” first names. You wouldn’t happen to have further volumes of this, would you?”