Deepest Bonds

Deepest Bonds

*

Back from Dead

*

"Now, I'm sure you are all curious to hear why I have called you all here today," Dumbledore said, eyeing the people collected in front of him. All the current Hogwarts teachers minus Severus were there, as well as Minerva, who'd continued in her Deputy Headmistress post even though she couldn't teach Transfiguration anymore. She wouldn't let blindness slow her down, that was for sure.

"Mildly said," snapped Minerva with a slight snort. No, she certainly would not be slowed down; the woman was still her former, strict self. "Get on with it, Albus. Even I know that your eyes are twinkling -- your voice gave you away."

"Very well." Glancing again at the teachers, he started, "You are probably all well aware that we'll need a new Transfiguration Professor after Christmas."

"Big news," muttered Charlie Weasley. Having taken over the Care of Magical Creatures Position, he had turned out to be almost as sarcastic as Severus. "Tell us something new."

"So I will, Charlie," the Headmaster replied, the twinkle in his eyes growing greater than ever. "I've found us a new Transfiguration Professor."

"You have?" Minerva's head perked up, and she bowed her head to one side like a curious cat listening to something. "And who's that, pray tell? I for one don't know anybody who'd be qualified enough, at least not anybody who'd be willing or able to take over the position."

"Oh, but I do," Dumbledore told her amusedly. "And this person has already accepted. Now, I'm sure that Severus will be bringing him here at any minute."

And like his words had summoned the Potions Master and the future Transfiguration Professor, the door was just then pushed open. "Your problem, Snape," they heard a vaguely familiar voice coming from the doorway as a man unfamiliar to them stepped in, his face halfly hid by his long, dark hair as he had turned his head to talk to somebody behind him, "is that you never know when to give up. You're always talking about the same things over and over, not realizing that you've already lost."

"And you aren't?" asked the addressed wizard as he'd stepped to the room behind the first one. "It's always the same things you bring up! Even a foolish Gryffindor like yourself should --"

"Now, now, I think that's quite enough, my boys," Dumbledore said, chuckling slightly at this little display of the men's attitudes. "Dear staff of Hogwarts, here's the man who'll fill the Transfiguration job after Christmas. I'm sure you don't need much introducing, but as he looks quite different from what he used to, I'll introduce him anyway. So, here's Sirius Black."

Surprised and shocked cries shot up all around the room as Sirius now turned to face them, a mischievous grin on his face. Snape merely stood at the side, glaring at him and taking little steps away from him.

The surprise wasn't only due to this sudden reappearance from "death". Sirius truly did look even more charming than usually. He was wearing a midnight-blue shirt that made his grey eyes look silverish, as well as black leather trousers and boots. There was a silver hoop through his right earlobe, revealed by the long, black hair that was tied on a low ponytail, and some rings of the same material in his hands, among which the Master's ring didn't stand out much enough to be noted.

"Now, I don't think it's such a big surprise to see that I and Snape haven't killed each other for good yet," laughed the youngest of the three Animagi present. "Albus did ask us to behave."

"Obviously he hasn't even thought about the possibility that his unwanted presence here might alone be a surprise to anyone," muttered Snape, not to anybody in particular. "Somebody, please explain the git what 'supposed to be dead' means."

"Who asked for your opinion, Snape?" Sirius snapped, spinning towards the Potions Master.

"Nobody," the man replied honestly. "But I gave it anyway."

"Ever the same, boys, I see," chuckled Filius Flitwick. "Good, very good. Nice to see that we get some young people here, so it's not only we old men and women scheming to get the children's heads."

"Ah, yes, of course," Snape said, sounding almost like a cat purring. "I, Weasley, and Shacklebolt are all just old men. Only Black the almighty is capable of being younger than you lot."

"With all respect, Severus, I don't think you've ever been that young, or at least not a child," Minerva said dryly. "Now, Sirius, before you start fighting with Severus, could you first please explain how exactly you're here, and not dead?"

"When Harry killed the Dark Lord, it caused a magical imbalance in the world," Sirius said casually, starting their fake explanation for his resurrection. "With Voldemort gone, there was a lot of Dark magic lacking from that balance. As you maybe know, I'd fallen through the Veil of Death, which is purely work of Dark Arts. So, a whirl of unbalanced magic came to the Veil, and sucked into itself some of the Veil's magic to regain its balance. However, this reversed the so-called death of the last victim of it -- which happened to be me. And thus, I'm alive and kicking again."

"But are you truly qualified enough to teach Transfiguration?" demanded Professor Litcerol, the old witch who'd taken over Minerva's position as a teacher. It wasn't that she was afraid for her job, as she was going to retire anyway, but like her predecessor, she didn't want it to fall into unqualified hands. "Only an Animagus, like Minerva and I, or a Master of Transfiguration, like our Headmaster, can be hired to fill that position."

"Well, fortunately I'm perfectly qualified," laughed the young wizard -- or, at least, young compared with her. "I never quite got around to get an educational rank high enough to make me a proper teacher, but..." And at the same moment, he was gone, and a huge, black dog with pale eyes was on his place.

"IT'S A GRIM!" shrieked Trelawney, and everybody else just stared in shock and surprise. With a wide grin, Sirius turned back to his human form.

"When did you accomplish that?" asked Professor Sinistra, looking genuinely curious. "No offense, but you've had pretty little time in your life to complete Animagus studies."

"I was fifteen when I first ran in my animal form," replied the young Gryffindor smoothly. "Which only works to prove that not even Albus knows everything." Most of them raised their eyebrows or gasped in surprise -- whether at the revealment or at the comment about Headmaster, it couldn't be said for sure. Dumbledore himself, however, merely chuckled.

"Splendid," sighed Severus. "A Weasley trying to be sarcastic is bad enough, but any Gryffindor trying to be amusing is disastrous."

"Could you please just shut up, Snape?" asked Sirius frustratedly. He kept sure not to bring it out as a command. Everybody would surely notice if Snape obeyed any command coming from him -- like he would have to.

"No," replied the Slytherin truthfully. And truthful he was, that Sirius knew -- he could not lie to his Master, after all. "I'm not going to shut up for a good while yet."

"Pity," grumbled the only male Animagus present. Then he turned to Dumbledore. While sitting on the nearest empty seat, he asked from the Headmaster, "So, was there anything even slightly important?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Albus sighed a bit. Nodding seriously to all the teachers, he said, "Like you all are aware, our DADA professor this year, and hopefully for many years to come, is Kingsley Shacklebolt. However, like you can see, he is not present here today." As all of them nodded, looking a bit curious, the ancient wizard continued, "During the War, he was... attacked. One of Voldemort's minions got to him and, consequently, Kingsley is now... a werewolf." At this, many of the teachers started to speak, but a raised hand from the Headmaster silenced them. "I haven't told you until now, because I wanted the term to begin without problems," he said. "To this decision I came because you had no seeming problems with having Remus here." They all nodded slowly, sad expressions on their faces at the mention of the now dead man. "However, as it's a full moon now, I find it reasonable to tell you. Kingsley's condition will not be a secret from the students, but they're also to remember that he causes absolutely no danger as long as the Wolfsbane Potion is brewed for him regularly."

"And that is your job, Snape," said Sirius sharply, glancing at the Slytherin. Even though his words and tone were sharp, his eyes held well-hid concern. For anything he knew, it was hard for Snape to have a new werewolf at the school along with the memories of Remus. His concern for his slave came over even his own shock at this revelation.

"Yes, Master. Of course, Master," replied the Potions Master with a mock-obedient tone. Obviously he was hiding his own feelings behind the sarcasm -- there wasn't surprise or shock, for he'd had to know in order to brew the potion, but sadness, yes, and longing for his long-gone lover. "Is there still something I can do for you, Master? Scratch your ears, maybe? Or get you a nice big bone?" This made a couple of teachers actually laugh. McGonagall, however, frowned, for a reason Sirius simply couldn't fathom.

"Also," Dumbledore said then, his eyes twinkling familiarly with slight amusement, "Sirius has asked that we should not reveal his presence in this school to anyone until he starts teaching after Christmas. Only those he chooses to inform are to know before that. It's hard enough for him to start his life again as it is, he doesn't need any additional disturbances on top of that, and definitely not any public attention."

"Now that's a surprise," Snape muttered under his breath. "I'd rather think that he informed the Daily Prophet the very day he came back. He has always been a show-off, after all."

"There is no need to be so nasty, Severus," Dumbledore said, although he did nothing to hide his obvious amusement. "I'm sure you are only happy to have someone of your own generation here at Hogwarts."

"Albus, you know perfectly well that there's only one person in my generation whom I'd like to have here, and he will not come, ever," snapped the Potions Master. "So, unless you want me to dose your precious lemon drops with my new stomach bug-instilling potion, do shut up."

"Now, that was low, Severus," Cleopatra Sinistra noted with amusement as the Headmaster truly fell silent at this. "If you didn't have anything else to tell, Albus, I suggest that we leave now. I have essays to grade." At the Headmaster's nod, she rose from her seat, soon followed by the others.

"Will you walk with me for some way, Sirius?" asked McGonagall. "I'd like to talk with you for a while."

"It's past curfew by now, so yes, I do think I could manage that," the younger Animagus replied with a charming smile that went completely waste on her unseeing eyes. Unnoticed by either of them, Snape soon slipped out of the room, hurrying away.

"I've been thinking about giving up my Head of House position by Christmas," admitted McGonagall as they walked down the corridor. "I wasn't sure before, but now that you are here, I can safely trust my position to fall into safe hands."

"You're trusting me with your House?" asked Sirius disbelievingly. "Thank you, Professor. This means much to me."

"Oh, please, call me Minerva," she chuckled. "I haven't been your professor for years, and it feels weird to hear you call me that, especially now that you are going to join the faculty."

"May I ask what has changed Charlie?" asked Sirius then a bit hesitantly. "He never was like that when I met him before -- well, you know."

"The War changed him," Minerva replied with a slight sigh. "They lost a lot, the Weasleys -- Percy, Fred, and even young Ginny. They are all trying to cope with their own ways. Arthur has thrown himself into his work, and Molly has taken on an even more caring behaviour about anyone and everyone. Bill is trying to replace Percy by always being responsible and sensible, George concentrates on his joke shop and names every other new product after his twin, Ron fools around with seemingly no worry about tomorrow, and Charlie, well, Charlie is trying to look like he didn't feel anything. Of course, he hardly manages, but the amount of sarcastic comments by the faculty has more than doubled. It's like he and Severus were all the time trying to overdo each other."

Sirius nodded slowly, even though he knew she couldn't see it. This was worse than he'd expected. He was so deep in thought that he was really startled when Minerva again spoke.

"You are Severus's Master, aren't you?" she asked quietly. "Oh, don't be surprised, I know you are. I of course know that he's a slave -- I've known ever since I sent his Hogwarts letter all those years ago. Just as well I know that Lucius was his previous Master, and that once Lucius died, somebody else than Draco inherited him. With your so carefully laid plans it was easy to notice. Your voice was the tiniest bit forced when you spoke to him when you were entering the room, and Severus was so carefully trying to appear to be talking to you and calling you names even if the only name he really called you with was 'Master'. And the explanation about a magical imbalance, honestly!"

Sirius flushed. "I promised him not to let anybody notice it," he mumbled quietly. "Seems that I've failed him right away."

"Don't worry," Minerva calmed him. "I don't think anybody else noticed it -- I just have got used to going by what I hear and how I hear it, not by what I see and what appears to be. And you seem to be a good man, Sirius -- even more so than I have given you credit for. However," she added then, taking the stern tone he remembered all too well from his school days, "if you hurt him or use this bond on your advantage in any way, I will personally see to your punishment. I know you've most probably already had this talk from Albus, but I want to repeat it. You are not to hurt Severus, never. Do you understand?"

"I do understand," replied Sirius. Then he chuckled despite the seriousness of the situation. "You know, I'm beginning to feel like a young boy courting a girl with an overly caring father and a bitter aunt."

"Why, you -!" But her voice was full of quiet amusement as she shook her head in exasperation.