The Fire Wand

Chapter 4: The First Day

It's coming round again
slowly creeping in
time in its command...
soon enough it comes.
Settles in its place
Shadow in my face
It's pressure in my day.'
Powderfinger - These Days

The first day out of the hospital wing saw her immediately escorted by Argus Filch to the Great Hall for breakfast. He had told her in his impersonal way that she would be announced at breakfast by Dumbledore to all the students and the other teachers.

Siana felt unaccountably nervous. Her hands kept reaching up to touch her hair, which was tied back in a bun to keep the length out of her face. She also kept wondering if she chose the right colour robes. Is navy blue too dark? Is it not dark enough? Maybe I should have chosen black. I don't want to stand out. But this robe, it was the only one that was really comfortable. All the others didn't fit me properly. I can't wait to get to Malkin's to get some new robes. She thought.

She hadn't realised until she got out of the hospital wing, that most - if not all - of her belongings needed replacing. Her wand, which was probably still in two pieces up in the remaining Basilican tower was useless. It was so old anyway, it was just about beyond repair when Macnair had snapped it in half. All of her robes were burnt from the fire that he had set alight - the fire that had terrorised all of the books, and then systematically moved up to the rooms.

I've lost everything. Everything except for my dignity. And Dad, he can't do his tests on me anymore, maybe the hypnotism will wear off. Maybe. I hope so.

'Is Ollivanders still open?' she asked suddenly and Filch nodded. 'Certainly Professor Basilica. Certainly.'

'Great. Can't believe Mr. Ollivander is still going,' she said quietly to herself and then looked up as her ears picked up a buzz. She could hear the sound of students talking through the floor. 'Noisy crowd.'

'Messy bunch of ungrateful undisciplined monsters if you ask me,' Filch spat and Siana suppressed a smile.

'It's a good thing I didn't ask then. So do I just walk in?' she asked now, nervously at the door. Filch nodded and then pointed for her to move in.

Siana took a deep breath and pushed one of the doors open. It did not creak. Light flooded in from a bewitched ceiling that portrayed a happy blue sky. She looked at it in curiosity and then, slightly disoriented looked at the rows of tables. Teacher's table. Great. She thought as she moved quickly and quietly to the table closest to her. Filch had shown her in through the teacher's door and for that much she was grateful. She didn't know if she could stand walking past the many staring, talking and eating faces of the students.

She caught Hagrid's eye and nodded respectfully. Hagrid grinned back, and then looked at Dumbledore. Siana followed his gaze and saw Dumbledore - resplendent in his robes - looking at her, eyes twinkling merrily. He gestured to a seat next to him, next to him and Snape. Great. Absolutely brilliant. She tried not to let her disappointment show, and plastered what she hoped to be a cheerful look on her face.

'Dumbledore, Snape, pleasure to see you both again,' she said brightly as she sat down between them. The students had not stopped talking, in fact the volume had risen again as the students all looked at her in shock. Most had never seen or heard of her before.

'I find that hard to believe,' snape muttered as Dumbledore offered her a plate of bacon. She accepted with a smile and then saw another face looking at her curiously, calculatingly.

'Minerva McGonagall?' Siana said with wonder, almost dropping the plate of bacon. 'It's a pleasure to meet you, I own many of your publications,' she said with a grin and McGonagall's calculating gaze gave way to one of pleasure. 'You read the theory behind transfiguration? Not many have the patience for it.' 'I need the patience for it. Most of what I know well is transfiguration theory.' Siana shook her head slowly in awe. 'Your very theories laid the foundation for my practical applications.'

'I see,' McGonagall said uncertainly and Dumbledore stepped in. 'Siana is a double animagus.'

Professor McGonagall nearly dropped her goblet. Looking mildly flustered she settled it down as her eyes continued to widen.

'A what child?'

'I can turn into a protectus and a fruit bat,' Siana said softly and McGonagall looked at her in amazement.

'Really? That's, astounding. I would love to meet up with you to discuss it if you don't mind.'

'Oh no. Not at all. Er, shall I come and see you in the next few days to organise it? I'd love to speak with you too,' she said softly and Minerva smiled softly. A gentle smile which seemed to lighten up her very stern appearing face.

'Certainly child. Whenever you have a spare moment.' She nodded once in respect and then turned to a professor at her left whom Siana didn't recognise, continuing a conversation that had obviously been left off.

Dumbledore was cheerily filling his plate with extra pieces of bacon and eggs and humming absently to himself. Siana breathed a sigh of mild relief, things seemed to be going well. It was then she realised that Snape was still sitting next to her. Professor Snape, who wasn't making the sounds of eating. In fact, she wondered if he was glaring at her.

She looked at him, and was right on the mark. It was still disconcerting though to have those baleful, malicious eyes scowling at her. It made her extremely angry, death threat or no, she wouldn't be bullied mercilessly by a Death Eater. Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater.

He smiled horribly.

'A double animagus? My my, are you hiding anything else up that blue sleeve of yours?'

'Only a desire to see you rot in Azkaban,' Siana spat. She was a little shocked that he had noticed she was wearing the navy blue robes. I knew they looked awful. Damn it!

'A desire to see me in Azkaban? My dear if you do remember your father very luckily escaped charges himself.' He was quiet, trying not to attract Dumbledore's attention.

'That's because he was innocent. He was trying to do his duty, you snide bastard,' Siana growled angrily. She knew that if she were the fox now, her hackles would be rising. Snape also looked more angry than before, if possible his eyes were blacker with his hatred. They both knew where this conversation was going.

'Innocent?' Snape hissed angrily. 'I don't think any amount of the cruciatus curse placed on any other person when highly unnecessary is appropriate. And then there was his rather unfortunate liking for the Imperio curse. He was lucky that he died at the hands of Macnair, instead of lip locking with the Dementors like he deserved.'

Siana felt her face drain of colour, she literally felt the blood leaving her cheeks and moving into her gut. Once there, she felt nauseous as her stomach churned. How DARE he? Rage was fast swamping her, it was only through an iron will that she didn't explode here and now in the Great Hall. Very unlike a Basilica. She knew however that her temper must be kept, he would only gloat over her lack of emotional control if she became controlled by her anger.

'Have you no respect for the dead? I don't suppose you do. Do you want to insult my dog Mercury while your at it? And do you want to maybe insult Camille too? Who was only seven when she was slaughtered but heaven forbid, she must be evil because she's a godforsaken Basilica! You closed minded, evil, slaughtering pig.'

Snape's eyes widened ever so slightly, Siana wondered if she'd imagined it. She was done though, she turned back to her plate of cold food, the burning sensation back inside her throat. What was I doing bringing up Camille and Mercury? Give him more weapons to taunt you with. That's very smart. She thought and tried to close her ears to anything he would say. She felt that she would be completely pushed over the edge.

She wanted in some ways to kill him, to get all the emotions out of her in one fair blow. But she had no wand by which to curse him illegally to hell, and her body though not frail; was not equipped to kill someone. She was surprised at the venom of hatred that coursed through her. It was such a strong emotion right now. That and the grief which she pretended wasn't really there.

She waited and waited for him to talk, to snidely say something, and then she heard the clink of silver on silver. The sound of chewing, and she realised that he had started to eat again.

Siana sighed through her nose and stared out over the students in curiousity. There were still several standing back at her. There was a group of Slytherins pointing and laughing, a few Ravenclaws staring open mouthed and even some Hufflepuffs looking at her with some curiosity. Her violet eyes drifted over to the Gryffindor table and locked immediately with a pair of green eyes looking curiously back at her. On either side of the green eyed boy, a red haired boy and a bushy brown haired girl seemed to be arguing.

Harry Potter. She thought to herself, and for a second stared, stunned. Never thought I'd see him. Clearing her throat slightly she wrenched her gaze away and found herself immediately fascinated with the blood stains on a rather sinister looking ghost.

She wondered if she dared ask him how he got them. Most curious indeed.

* * * * *

Later Siana wondered, as she walked to the library, if she'd ever forget their reaction to her announcement. When Dumbledore had said that she was a Basilica, everyone fell into silence, and then the noise rose back up into a hungry sort of buzzing noise. She supposed that most of them knew her pure-blood family had been near obliterated. She wondered what else was circulating the school about her.

The strangest thing was being introduced as a Professor, not as a Madam as she had suspected. She wasn't Madam Basilica, she was Professor Basilica. Dumbledore had stated that she was to be treated with the same respect as a teacher. The other teachers had then looked at her curiously, Minerva McGonagall had just smiled. She had wondered then if McGonagall had anything to do with the status change.

In the next couple of days I'm going to need to get myself a wand. I probably shouldn't change into an animal any time soon. I want the fact that I'm a double animagus relatively secret, although... Siana's brow furrowed. Like Snape would cooperate. I wish he hadn't been there, then he never would have known. One of the few tricks I have up my sleeve, and the damned Death Eater knows.

She walked into the library, which was deserted. Madam Pince had left as soon as she heard that someone was able to look after her books, a Basilica nonetheless. Siana followed the directions that would lead to her quarters, and as she silently counted rows of books, the hearty, dusky, musty smell of books; both new and old, filled her nose. It's almost like being home again. It smells lovely.

She caught up faint whiffs of leather that needed to be re-oiled, and then the scents of oil itself, the fainter, hard to discern ambiance of spilt potions, and the sense of learning, of education. She loved books to distraction, whether or not she read them, she respected the fact that within them was knowledge. And she respected knowledge, even if she didn't always grasp it.

Thirteen down, three deep, another fifteen down, touch the wooden gnarl underneath the third shelf. There. Keep walking another five deep and then...

'Oh I can so follow directions,' she said to herself with a smile as she saw a stone spiral staircase. She looked up and saw the trapdoor above it and grinned. An attic all to myself. It'll be just like being in the tower at home. Only, different. She shook her head. She followed the staircase upwards and noticed the way the banister had been well polished. Madam Pince a neat freak?

'A neat freak indeed,' she gasped as her head popped up through the trapdoor and she saw floorboards gleaming back at her.

She climbed up through the stairs and looked behind her in time to see them vanish beneath her. She closed the polished trapdoor with a smile and then looked around the roomy place in amazement.

Antique wooden furniture was all over the place. From the very personal bookshelves with extraordinarily rare and old books on them, to the stiff backed chairs covered with silver cloth, to the claw footed table, gleaming in the light that streamed through the windows. The silver curtains complemented the wooden furniture, and the whole place smelt deeply of polish, rosemary and cloves. It was a strange combination, but not repelling.

Siana spent the next few minutes wandering from room to room, the main bedroom - just off the lounge - had a single bed in it, wooden also. Its sheets were white and the quilt a dark silvery grey. There were faint impressions of languages tastefully printed upon it, Siana could pick up English, Latin, French, Russian...even some traces of Fae and Elven.

She loves them just as much as I do. Words. Books. This place feels like a second home already. It'll give me time to figure out how I'm going to reorganise the Basilican Archives. By Artemis that's going to be hard, I wonder what Mum will say when she finds out I'm going to be a librarian at Hogwarts? She's going to lose it.

'What? No,' Siana squeaked as her thoughts ran away with her. 'No. No don't think that,' she muttered to herself. 'She's not here. She's not. Goddess. Oh God.' Her voice broke, and she cleared it angrily, twice. The burning sensation didn't go away. 'Oh God.'

Are they going to do a memorial service? Will I be expected to go? How can I handle that? What will they do? Ugh what are you doing thinking about it! Get downstairs and open the library! Honestly, honestly, what are you doing?

Siana held her hands to her chest, breathing as deeply as possible. Concentrate. Go down there, the children will help you out, children have always grounded you.

Siana nodded to herself and a few minutes later found herself behind the desk which separated her from the students. The desk where she would be checking teacher's signatures (she found an authentic copy of each on a piece of parchment in a locked drawer) and telling students when a book would need to be returned by. Where she would sort out who wanted what, when. Why they needed it.

She looked expectantly towards the doors and then realised after a few minutes of waiting patiently, that they probably wouldn't be fighting to come in. Siana sighed and started going through the drawers, looking at the quills, the ink, the books that stated what had been taken out.

It was fascinating. Madam Pince had been a woman of order and discipline. She stared, fascinated at the perfectly maintained log books. Inside each, in perfect penmanship was the time she had started working, when she went for breaks, what students she suspected, what students she appreciated, and when she finished working.

Her eyes widened at one particular log.

Professor Snape stayed for two hours, between 14.00 and 16.00 pm, in the Restricted Sections. Once more he did not log anything out, but merely perused the many books, including The Dark Arts Offensive.

Siana flicked through past entries and saw that without fail, Professor Snape spent at least two hours in the library, in the Restricted Section, or rarely; the Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts sections. Every second day, or Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and occasionally Saturday. What day is it today? She thought horrified. Tuesday. God. I have to put up with him again? Damn it. No way I'm going to let myself be harassed by him this time. He can harass himself.

Siana suddenly snorted with laughter as an image of him 'harassing himself' came to mind. God I'm disgusting. She giggled as she closed the drawer, and placed the logbook inside of it. When in doubt, just imagine that, you'll be fine forever.

* * * * *

Two o'clock came and without fail Snape strode into the room, glaring at Siana, daring her to question why he was there. Siana however looked at him, hatred notwithstanding, and asked him nothing. She quietly handed him the logbook then turned her attention back to a second year who was returning a book.

By the time she turned back to him, he was already disappearing off into the Restricted Section.

She sighed and was about to put away the logbook when a third year girl ran from the Restricted Section, looking devastated. She looked almost about to cry. Hang on a minute, I gave her express permission to be in there! She hasn't even gotten her book!

Snape. She thought angrily and marched angrily towards the Restricted Section. She wasn't frightened now, she was utterly furious. When she saw him, he was looking nonchalantly at some books on the top shelf.

'You're a fiend. A lowlife fiend,' Siana growled angrily and Snape looked at her with mild surprise. It was evident that his surprise was feigned however, and that he knew exactly what she was talking about.

'And you're a Basilica. What's the problem? You have to deal with me and I have to ignore you.'

'Do you have to try and single-handedly destroy everyone with your bitterness? Do you? I gave her permission to be in here.'

'She didn't have a note from a teacher.'

Siana looked at him in disgust. Her hand itched to reach for her wand, the wand that she needed to repurchase.

'Don't you dare act as though I don't know what I'm doing. She had a note. It's logged into the logbook - where notes from teachers go.'

'I guess I didn't think of that,' he said lightly as he pulled a book down from the shelf.

'Oh that's rich. Get the hell out,' she spat and Snape looked at her in amusement.

'Pardon me?'

'I said get the hell out of my Restricted Section. This part of the library is in my care and my care alone. I've read the handbook, I know what my rights are, and I'm allowed to escort anyone out of this section with good reason and I have a damned good reason. You're bullying students who have a right to learn as much as you do. Possibly more of a right actually. If that's possible. So leave,' she said, pointing towards the exit.

Snape was no longer looking amused. With a snap he shut the book and slammed it into back into the shelving. He looked so ugly with anger that Siana felt the faint stirrings of fear attack her own righteous wrath.

Snape turned to go and then walked right up to her, so close that she could smell the sandalwood and pepper scent once more. So close that she could see herself reflected in his fathomless eyes.

'If you want me as a personal enemy Madam Basilica, you've got me as a personal enemy.' He stormed past her, turned and yanked a thin book out of the third shelf. He threw at her and she caught it, a little frightened now. One of the corners hit her in the palm and she felt it graze her skin.

'And here's some fascinating light reading. Enlighten yourself.' He left then, not logging himself out of the library. She turned to watch him go, eyes wide, frightened that he listened to her, frightened that he'd threatened her, frightened because he'd once been and probably still was a Death Eater, frightened in general.

Hands shaking, she turned the book so she could read the title on the spine. Charges laid on Death Eaters and Aurors of and immediately after the Voldemort Era. Siana shook her head, she'd never seen the title before. She looked back at the doors through which Snape had left and blinked, puzzled. Why on Earth does he want me to read this?