It's the Marauders' first year at school, and it's going to be full of madness, mayhem, and above all, magic. (Sirius Black, Jamie Potter, Remus Lupin, and Petra Pettigrew.)
cover by upthehillart
Severa stabbed at her slice of cheesecake listlessly. All around her in the Great Hall, students were chattering loudly and laughing, as they finished their desserts.
Severa looked across the Hall to the Gryffindor table, where Lillian was chatting with Marius and Lupin. She felt a pang of jealousy lance through her as Lillian threw his head back and laughed with them. She saw Marius nudge him, and whisper something in his ear.
Lillian turned around, and met Severa's gaze. Severa's heart jolted as he smiled widely at her, before turning back to his friends.
Across the table from her, Lucius Malfoy cleared his throat. His eyes were fixed on Severa. She met his cold gaze, and looked away quickly, unnerved by it.
As the desert plates vanished, Dumbledore stepped up to the podium, and clapped his hands. The Hall fell silent instantly, although Severa wasn't sure if it was from the shock of his bright orange-sequined robes, or the clap for silence.
'Good evening, my friends,' he said loudly, his voice carrying over the Great Hall. 'I will only need to borrow your attention for a minute, and them you can go back to doing whatever it is you need to do. As you have all hopefully realised by now, is that we have not had a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher since the beginning of term.'
Gideon and Fabian Prewett both stood up. 'Hear, hear!' They yelled. It was a well known fact that the two of them planned to get into the Auror Training program, and for that, they needed to have top grades in Defense.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he waited for silence. 'I have hired Auror Persephone Paisley as our professor, and I am assured that she will meet the high standards of a teacher set at Hogwarts School.'
A short, cheery looking woman rose from her seat, where she'd been hidden, and the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff tables broke into applause.
She had long, curly brown hair in loose ringlets, and she wore a long purple coat over her robes, and a purple pointy hat. As she smiled, a cheeky grin of a thing, Severa got the impression that this was a sensible, no nonsense, honest to earth kind of person.
Fabian and Gideon whooped, looking thrilled, as well as some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. The Slytherins didn't look quite as happy. They sat in huddles, whispering amongst themselves, casting hate-filled filthy looks up at the stage.
Severa was confused. What had happened?
She looked at Moira Selwyn, who was staring straight at the table ahead of her, darkly. Severa leaned in. 'What's the fuss?' she whispered. 'They've never acted like this, even around the Muggleborn teachers. What's so bad about this one?'
Moira looked around furtively. 'She's an Auror. Do you know what that is?'
'Of course I do; I'm not entirely stupid,' Severa said indignantly. 'An Auror is a Dark Wizard catcher, of course.'
'Exactly. And what are most of their parents?' Moira hissed.
Severa froze. Everything fell into place. 'Ahh. I see.'
Moira bit her lip, and looked at her lap. 'She's put half the bleeding lot in Azkaban. They're out for blood. And now, for Merlin's sake, keep your bloody head down, and don't get their attention.'
Severa nodded. It was going to be an interesting term.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
