The Necromancer Amulet

Chapter Two - New Employment

Meadows and green farmland flowed by in a blur as Secessa leaned her head against the train window, her body vibrating with the train's rhythm. She quite enjoyed the look of the greenery after having spent most of her life on the tundra, and the sun's warm beams made her shiver slightly with delight. Stretching out where she sat, she had another lazy look around her compartment, very content with the cosiness of it. Compared to Russia, this was another world.

Odin was half-asleep next to her in a brand new cage, and he fluttered his feathers occasionally. Her small, brown suitcase lay on the seat opposite her; she had filled it to the brim with necessities, and she felt as prepared as she could possibly be for a year of teaching in a strange country. Thinking about her new life made her tingle with apprehension.

The reply from Dumbledore had been as brief as her own message: just an address in London, a date, and a time; she had appreciated his directness. At the bustling but depressingly gloomy Leaky Cauldron, she had met up with two solemn Hogwarts Professors named Minerva McGonagall, and Severus Snape. Dumbledore was unable to attend due to some urgent business, and sent his sincere apologies.

Professor McGonagall, a tall and rather stern witch, had interviewed her carefully about her past and her skills, in a very formal manner. Professor Snape however, a sallow-faced, dark-haired man with deep black eyes (who seemed to exude the essence of Dark Magic), seemed mostly interested in their surroundings, but surveyed her carefully when he thought she wasn't looking. He would be one to watch, she decided, and she wondered whether he could be trusted.

After the interview, they had thanked her and told her to keep out of sight as much as possible - as if she needed more reasons for doing so than the ones she already had! When they left, Professor McGonagall had given her a small nod, while the austere Professor Snape gave her a suspicious glance before they stepped out the door.

The next day, an owl arrived at her tiny but adequate room with a letter containing an employment contract and instructions on how to get to Hogwarts. Secessa had expected nothing less; after all, she was rather over-qualified for the position.

Students crowded the rest of the train, but none of them had ventured into her compartment. Well, some had tried soon after the train had left the station, but her appearance undoubtedly scared them away. She did not mind since she cared as little for their company as they did for hers. However, to avoid arriving at Hogwarts looking like a Russian peasant, she needed to change her clothes, and therefore she decided to venture out of the cosy compartment in search of the ladies' room.

As she entered the neighbouring carriage, she heard, ahead in the corridor, young men's voices talking loudly.

"Nowhere to run, Potter? Where's that Muggle-loving fan club of yours - changed their minds about covering your saintly back, perhaps?" said a cold, drawling voice.

"I don't need them to deal with you, Malfoy!" answered another, lower voice, full of the uttermost juvenile contempt.

"I've been longing for this all summer, Potter," said the first boy, his voice quietening down to a hateful whisper. "My father sends his regards."

She opened the corridor door quietly, withdrew her wand, and examined the scene. Two older students stood facing each other, wands out, and through the compartment doors to the left she could see that many of the younger students had also heard the argument and were peeping out, wide-eyed.

The student with his back to her had white-blonde hair and was slightly taller than the other, black-haired boy, who was facing her. Potter, yes, of course, she thought as she eyed the scar on his forehead; she had read all about him in the papers. Potter moved his eyes away from his enemy and looked at her, startled, green eyes behind round glasses. At this, the blonde boy did not hesitate, but raised his wand and shouted, "Pungeo!"

Secessa immediately flicked her wand and the air between the students condensed; the Stinging Hex flew and disappeared with a swooping sound, at the same time Potter yelled a counter-spell that also stopped halfway. The thick air rippled momentarily, and then cleared.

"What is this? Duelling without supervision?" Secessa said in well-practised, icy English. She did not approve at all of students running wild, and took it personally, as she knew she was the sole teacher on the train.

The blonde young man, whose name logically had to be Malfoy, turned around and eyed her Muggle outfit with badly disguised contempt in his pale eyes, before taking a very small step backwards.

"Actually," he said lazily, "I'm a Hogwarts prefect. And you are...?" His prefect badge gleamed, and his pale cheeks carried the tiniest hint of pink. There was something familiar about him, but she could not put her finger on it. Have I seen him somewhere before?

"Oh really, a prefect?" she said, ignoring his question. "How interesting." Potter's eyes flicked between them nervously. He still hadn't lowered his wand.

Suddenly a girl with bushy light hair, also wearing a prefect badge, came running from the other side of the train, yelling, "Are you all right, Harry - I just got Crabbe and Goyle off Ron!" and then, "Oh!", stopping instantly as she set eyes on Secessa.

Secessa smiled her best cold smile, perfected from years of experience.

"Now you would be Potter, right?" she told Potter. "Which would make your friend here...Malfoy?"

"He's not my friend," Potter said sullenly.

There was a small, uncomfortable pause, in which the girl seemed to regain some courage. "And my name is Hermione Granger," she said firmly. "I swear, Harry didn't do anything, I could witness in front of Dumbledore if you want..."

"Oh, how very helpful of you," Secessa said icily; it was astonishing that the student seemed to think that she, a teacher, hadn't grasped the situation to start with. Gratefully, the girl silenced at once. Secessa turned her gaze back to the boys, memorising their faces. Malfoy looked at her with cold eyes, but Potter was wearing a more solemn look, fierce and oddly lonely, a feeling she knew well herself, and for a moment she almost felt sorry for what she was about to do.

"I will remember you two," she said, "and I will inform the Headmaster of this disturbance. Your wands, please!"

The young men seemed shocked, and the girl did as well.

"This is ridiculous; you can't take our wands!" snapped Malfoy. "You don't have the right!"

"No?" said Secessa, crossing her arms, waiting. "I would not be so sure, if I were you."

Potter looked at her grudgingly for a moment. Then Granger nudged him insistently, and he reluctantly handed Secessa his wand. Her eyes thinned, but she said nothing.

"Good, Potter. Malfoy?"

Malfoy slowly surrendered his wand, too, muttering something under his breath about telling his father, which she coolly ignored. His look was one of pure hatred and she returned it evenly until he coldly looked away.

"I'm Professor Laburova," she said calmly, and shot a glance at the students inside the compartments. The younger children dived down, and she smiled wryly; there would be no risk of them causing trouble, at least. "You will return to your seats now."

As the train slowed in and approached the station two hours later, Secessa, dressed in a set of brand new grey robes, carried her suitcase and her owl off the train, and made her way through the bustling student crowd, ignoring the whispers tailing in her wake. Following the stream of children, she was surveying the small station to get her bearings, her eyes inevitably drawn to, and awed by, the imposing silhouette of Hogwarts Castle in the distance, when an incredibly large man with shaggy hair and an untended beard approached her. He beamed at her from above with glinting, beetle-black eyes.

"Ah, you mus' be professor Laburova! We've been expectin' yeh. 'Got a transport here fer yeh'."

He pointed at a black, old-fashioned coach behind him. A large Thestral, looking at her with fiery eyes and rustling its black wings, restlessly stood in the harness. She eyed the animal with interest - they were rare in Russia.

"Thank you...eh..."

"Hagrid's the name. I'm the Care of Magical Creatures professor here at Hogwarts."

The giant man said it rather proudly, and lifted her luggage to the back of the carriage with ease.

"Thank you, Hagrid. It is very nice to meet you," she said, not completely whole-heartedly, wondering silently why he spoke as if he was a bit of an idiot, and climbed inside the coach. The seat was hard, and she wrinkled her nose slightly at the smell of damp in the fabric.

The man winked at her and started calling, "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!" as he walked down the platform, holding up a large lantern. The coach moved with a sudden jerk and the station soon lay behind her.