The Snake Eye

Chapter Two: The Old and the New

The month after Harry's birthday flew past in a blur of happy, summer activities. Sirius stayed at the Burrow for several weeks - giving Harry his first opportunity to spend lots of time with his godfather. Although the house was now bursting to the seems with Sirius and all the Weasley brood in residence, it would have been difficult to find a happier crowd. It seemed like no time at all had passed when Harry found himself standing on platform 9 and 3/4 hugging goodbye Sirius goodbye and the elder Weasleys.

"Are you sure you have everything?" fussed Mrs Weasley.

"Mum, It's not like it's our first year. We'll owl you if we find anything has been left behind. Stop worrying!"

"Yes, yes, dear. I know," Ron could see his mother wasn't really worried, she just had to fuss over the two of her children who still remained at Hogwarts now that the twins had finished. Everything was loaded onto the train without difficulty: the trunks were manoeuvred into the luggage rack with the assistance of a lightening charm. Hermione came over to join the others after saying her farewells and she too hugged Sirius goodbye. Then the three clambered aboard and found an empty compartment from whose window they could wave to the platform. Harry was immensely happy. He felt that at last he had a family who loved him - Sirius and the Weasleys, who treated him as if he was another extension to their family. Thinking about the Weasleys he realised that Charlie had vanished from the platform. Almost simultaneously Ginny voiced the same thought. Hermione waved it aside.

"I'm sure it isn't important. Maybe he was uncomfortable staying with Bill and Fleur, after all it has been a while since he has had a serious relationship of his own and I can understand that he might be jealous."

The others were perfectly willing to overlook his absence and thought no more of it, but Ginny was still disconcerted by her brother's disappearance from the platform. Charlie was her favourite brother, spoiling her as a child, always lavishing gifts and surprises on her and taking her on trips. She felt hurt that he had not come to say goodbye, but would never have mentioned this to the others for fear of being called a baby. She was well aware that she was younger than the others and close as she was to them, in particular Hermione who had no other close female companions. Ginny had a bunch of cronies of her own who would now, like she, be entering the fifth year.

Soon the train was underway and Harry, Hermione and Ron settled down in their compartment. Ginny wandered down the train looking for her friends. It didn't take long to spot them, tiny Helena with her while-blonde curls and big blue eyes, elegantly tall Nicole with her waist length mahogany hair and athletic, black-haired Mili. They had settled into the seats with a hoard of sweets from the trolley that they had been denied all holiday. "Here!" called Nicole, throwing Ginny a chocolate frog. "I've missed pigging out! All those healthy meals..."

Ginny laughed. Nicole's mother was pushing her to be a model and fed her accordingly. Although she could see how Nicole could look the part, Ginny was glad her friend was set against this career as she felt it would be a waste of her friend's wicked humour and razor sharp wit. "How was your holiday then?" Helena began the usual interrogation. "We went to France. As per usual." Helena came from a Muggle family and her father was a French professor who owned a small house in the Loire Valley.

"Italy," Nicole returned. "Sun, sea and sand. Hot guys. Great fun!" The others laughed. "I stayed here, nothing to report," smiled Mili.

"Ditto," replied Ginny. "Well not quite nothing to report: the usual Weasley family chaos. Plus Harry and sundry girlfriends of elder brothers. I don't know where the time went to be honest. Not that I mind going back that much - I missed you lot... just the idea of studying is so exhausting."

Her friends agreed. "And why did I not get a postcard from either of you?" Ginny rounded on Helena and Nicole. "I sent one!" Helena said defensively. "By Muggle post though, maybe when you go home in June it will have arrived!"

"And your excuse?"

"Guilty as charged!" Nicole threw her hands up in mock despair. "I didn't send a single one. Neither did Rosa. I didn't have the time or the inclination." At this the others looked at her with counterfeit hurt.

"Ok, ok..." sighed Mili. "If even super-organised-sister didn't send any I guess we will be forced to forgive you after a small punishment." She fell upon the taller girl, tickling her and pushing her back into the cushions, while encouraging the other two to assist.

"No please...not you too...argh..no!" Nicole pleaded in vain for mercy. When rescue appeared it came from an unexpected source.

"Well well, what have we here? Some men might like this type of thing, but I have to say I find your behaviour repulsive. Still, thanks for the show, girls." All four froze. Hands dropping to her sides, Ginny whirled to face her tormentor.

"Draco Malfoy! Our behaviour is none of your business. We were simply teasing, oh but you have no friends so you wouldn't know about things like that. Trust you to always see the worst." It was a stupid gibe and she knew it but she had to say something while she collected her wits.

They stood face to face, Ginny furious at his intrusion and the fact he had seen them in such an undignified situation. She was ready to lash into him the second he opened his mouth.

"You're almost attractive when you're angry, even for a Weasley. It's a pity about the worn robes though." She was thrown off balance at first, but by the second she had recovered.

"Better a Weasley in hand-me-downs than a Malfoy in Armani any day!"

His lips curled in sneer and then parted for a chilling remark, but he didn't get to say it.

"Mr Malfoy, you will leave Ginny alone and return to your compartment at once!" Charlie barked from behind Draco, startling everyone.

"Another Weasley," Draco drawled, his upper lip curling into a sneer. "Quite the family gathering!"

"But this Weasley is a teacher!" snapped Charlie, his face as flaming red as his hair. "Much as I would dislike removing points from any house before term has even begun, you are dangerously close to the line. If you open your mouth one more time in my sight before arriving at the castle you will lose twenty points."

Draco turned, quivering with anger, and shot Ginny a look of unbridled hatred before stalking off down the corridor. Charlie shut the compartment door, still steaming at the ears somewhat. His sister still stood in the centre of the room, face white.

"I thought you hadn't come to say goodbye! You didn't tell me - us - that you were going to be a teacher! Why didn't you say anything?" she accused him.

"Because I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well it certainly is that!" Ginny said.

He paused, hurt.

"Ginny? Is it a bad surprise?" He sounded so much like he used to when she was small that her anger and hurt melted and she threw her arms around him.

"No. It's a good surprise," Ginny replied, muffled against his robes.

"So," he asked, pulling away slightly and smiling at the others over her head. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

*****

As the train pulled into Hogsmeade station Hermione let the tiny cat scramble back into her carrycase. Crookshanks, who had been watching with a delicate balance and appoval and jealousy, meowed his relief. The boys gathered up their belongings.

They crossed the platform, their lightened trunks behind them, and clambered into one of the carriages that stood waiting to transport the pupils up to the castle. "How come only first years get to go by boat?" Ron asked, peering out the window to where the newcomers were gathered. "Can you imagine how long it would take for the whole school to cross the lake? Or how many boats would be needed? Honestly Ron Weasley, you never think!" teased Hermione.

Harry had not been paying much attention to the conversation, but suddenly he looked up. "Where's Hagrid?" he asked. "I didn't see him on the platform."

"Oh we probably just missed him," Hermione soothed.

"How can you miss someone the size of Hagrid?" Harry retorted.

"Okay, maybe he was late! I wouldn't be surprised." She answered, wondering if there was any connection with someone else who hadn't been standing on a platform where expected...

Her brain made the connection quickly and jumped to the conclusion Ginny had already discovered.

She was just about to tell the boys about her assumption when the carriage jolted, suddenly throwing her and the cat case to the ground.

"Mel!" Harry cried, prying open the case and extracting the kitten who was yowling indignantly but unhurt.

For a brief second Hermione was viciously jealous that his first instinct had been for the cat's safety, but then she realised that he was only being practical - he could see that she was shaken up but unhurt. She still sat next to Ron for the remainder of the journey though.

***

It felt like homecoming, opening the door to the dorm in Gryffindor tower which had been his home for the past five years. Dean and Seamus were already there unpacking in the time they had left before going down to the Great Hall to watch the Sorting Ceremony. Harry dropped his chest into its customary place under the window and flung himself down on the bed, wincing slightly as the burn on his shoulder twinged with pain.

The kitten jumped up and climbed onto his stomach, scrutenising him with her ethereal eyes. "Melly," he crooned. She began to knead the fabric of his robes and curled up against his chest, a deep purr welling up inside her. He felt secure and comfortable with her curled against him.

Seamus was sticking up his Irish Quidditch Team poster. "Champions" was blazoned across the bottom in flashing green. Harry smiled, Seamus was still flying high from the World Cup win two years earlier.

"Not so good at football though!" taunted Dean, the West Ham supporter. "Hey!" retorted Seamus indignantly. "We played well - especially in extra time. Penalties just aren't fair to anyone." And after a pause he coughed, "Anyway." The cough sounded suspiciously like "Brazil".

Clearly during his stay at Dean's Seamus had been at least partially converted to football.

During this exchange Harry had begun to doze off, warmed by the soft, purring body curled against him. The other boys' arguing voices faded away and were replaced by a sharp whine. In his dream, Harry clapped his hands across his ears. The ground fell away and he was floating above a desert, moving swiftly over the dunes with the wind. The sand below him was bleached white with eons of exposure and he could feel the heat radiating against his legs. His bare shins and ankles were scratched by the sand that was lifted by the same wind as was carrying him, swirled around and dropped carelessly elsewhere creating new, endlessly changing dunes.

Harry looked down mildly at the short tunic covering his thighs and the golden circlet around his neck. It seemed in dreams one didn't feel surprise. But he was surprised he could think that, could realise he was dreaming. He tried to pinch himself, but it didn't work, his brain seemed unable to control his body, was only capable of disconnected thought as if he was observing his body from somewhere else.

And as if someone else was controlling him too. He glided down between to dunes and began to walk, puppet-like towards the central mound. He feet were leading him and he did not know where he was headed. Then his knees bent under him and he fell, tumbling down onto the scorching sand. His hands scrabbled down, the dry, gritty sand smooth against his hands. Below the surface the sand was cooler, comforting and soft. He continued burrowing, pulling the piled up sand over his bare knees, reaching down further and further...

At this moment the door banged open, startling Mel who dove under the bed. Harry sat up and the world came flooding back. Ron stuck his head around the doorframe. "There you are! You're going to miss the sorting ceremony if you don't hurry."

*****

The Great Hall was filled as usual, the first years clustered around the dais on which sat the sorting hat on a small, wooden stool. This was not what caught Harry's eye however. "Ron!" he gasped. "That's Charlie!"

Ron's head shot up and his eyes nearly fell out at the sight of his brother sitting at the professor's table.

Charlie himself looked rather nervous, as if he would rather be sitting at his old spot on the Gryffindor table.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked.

"Because I didn't know myself," Ron murmured.

"He wanted it to be a surprise," said Ginny, on Harry's other side. "He's teaching Care of Magical creatures - Hagrid's away somewhere for Dumbledore."

"Oh," Harry's face fell. It wasn't that he didn't want Charlie as a teacher, in fact he was very fond of the elder Weasley, but he was going to miss Hagrid and his strange collection of pets. The table around him erupted as "Adler, Martin" became a Gryffindor and then sunk into silence as "Bernard, Christine" became a Slytherin.

"And who do you think that is?" whispered Hermione, indicating the other new figure on the teacher's table.

Harry turned to look at the woman sitting next to Charlie. In his surprise earlier he hadn't noticed her, a fact which now surprised him even more. The black-haired woman was some years older than Charlie, in her thirties Harry estimated, and strikingly beautiful. She had flawless white skin and waterfalls of silky hair that flowed down her back. Her eyes were lowered as she looked up at Charlie through her eyelashes.

"She's flirting with him," accused Ron.

"Lucky him," murmured Seamus under the applause that greeted "Murrell, Laura" at the Gryffindor table.

Ginny noticed that the only person not applauding was Mili, who sat with her fists tightly clenched in her lap so that her knuckles were white with the strain. Her eyes were firmly fixed on the table in front of her.

"What's wrong?" Ginny whispered, taking her friend's hand.

"I know who that woman is," Mili replied stonily. "That's our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

She was interrupted by Ron. "Isn't it funny. We've almost had a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher every year."

"Actually, we have had a new teacher every year," Hermione corrected him. "It only seems like we had Moody twice."

Ignoring their bickering Ginny turned back to Mili, still uncomprehending. "And what's wrong with that?" she asked.

"She's my mother," her friend replied.

****

After "Zamorna, Andrew" became a Ravenclaw Dumbledore rose to his feet.

"Welcome back to another year. Let us all hope that it will be as peaceful as the last," his eyes sought out Harry in the crowd.

"As you can see we have two new teachers. Hagrid has been sent away on Hogwarts business and so will not be teaching this year..." Here Malfoy smirked at his cronies. "The Care of Magical Creatures lessons will be taught by Professor C. Weasley."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed but it was at Ginny that he glared not Charlie. Harry saw this and hoped that Malfoy wasn't going to take his dislike out on Charlie's siblings.

Charlie rose from his seat and inclined his head first to Dumbledore and then to the pupils.

"Our other new teacher," the headmaster continued. "Is Professor M. Lavery who will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year."

Mili's mother rose gracefully, her dark robes falling elegantly around her body. Many of the older boys murmured appreciatively, but around Mili the Gryffindor table remained silent, respecting her mortification.

Professor Lavery's eyes swept the hall, alighting briefly on Harry. A slight widening of her eyes and their familiar flick up to his forehead told him that she had identified him. Her pale eyes seemed unusual with such dark hair, and it seemed to Harry he had seen eyes like hers before. Presumably Mili's, he thought.

Then Dumbledore stood again and declared, "Let us eat," in his customarily direct fashion and Harry thought no more about Professor Lavery.

Ron however did. Throughout the meal he saw the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher move closer and closer to his brother, smiling at everything he said. Charlie looked hot and uncomfortable at this situation and was trying to edge away without being seen. A dislike for this new teacher began to fester in his heart which grew when he looked across the table at his sister's friend and shared her acute embarrassment. Not once did she so much as look up at the teacher's table. And not once did the professor look at her.

Someone else had noticed what was happening on the high table, however. Hermione was watching Charlie's struggles with mild amusement and Professor Lavery's pursual of him with disgust. "Poor Mili," she thought, and vowed never to mention what she, what they all, could see.

Professor Lavery laughed at something Charlie had said, gently resting her hand on his arm and leaning towards him as she replied. Hermione felt a twinge of envy as she watched the dark head so close to the fiery one. "Oh my God!" she thought with a laugh. "I think Charlie is attractive." The idea was so ridiculous that she squashed it immediately and replaced it with the image of Tobey Hart, the seventh year Ravenclaw Qudditch captain. Here she was on safer grounds - everyone found Tobey attractive.

As they got up to leave the table Harry saw Charlie leave, trailed closely by Professor Lavery. Catching Mili's eye he began to talk to her in as normal a fashion as possible, asking about her holiday and telling her about his without giving her much change to reply, while at the same time steering her out of the hall and up the stairs towards Gryffindor tower without allowing anyone else the chance to question her. She smiled at him gratefully and slipped off towards her domritory one they were through the portrait hole. It wasn't until she had disappeared that Harry realised she had dark brown eyes, so dark they were almost black.