Life as I Knew It

Chapter 17--No Harm Done

Pansy had gotten an "Exceeds Expectations" on her Astronomy O.W.L., but she had never intended to continue in the subject. Professor Dumbledore had prepared a schedule based solely on her O.W.L.s, without even asking her what line of work she wanted to go into. It had worked out for the most part, as she had ended up with the same five classes she had taken in her sixth year plus Astronomy. Although the Defence course she had taken before had been a non-N.E.W.T. class for upper level students, which had been required because of the Dark Lord. If he was gone, as everyone said, Pansy wondered why she was put in the class at N.E.W.T. level when she had only received an "Acceptable" on her O.W.L.

Pansy did not mind taking Astronomy this year. Even though she was fairly certain that she would not be do anything with it professionally, Astronomy had always been a rather easy course for her. If it had not been for the attack on Professor McGonagall that had disrupted the practical portion of the test, she was sure she would have gotten an "Outstanding." Still, since Astronomy was not an important class and would not matter when she got her life back, Pansy had no qualms about skipping it.

The thought did not occur to her until she reached the second floor. She stood on the landing for a moment before deciding in the spur of the moment to use this time to see Dumbledore. She got off the stairs and walked up the corridor to where the gargoyle stood guard. The night before Professor Snape had whispered the password, but Pansy had heard it plain as day. "Lemon drop," she whispered now.

The gargoyle leapt out of the way, and Pansy followed the same path she had the night before. After the staircase had carried her to the top, Pansy knocked on the door to the headmaster's office.

She was greeted by a smiling Dumbledore. "Ah, Miss Parkinson. Please come in. What can I do for you?"

Pansy walked into the office and sat on one of the chairs. "I have been talking with some of my classmates, and I think I have some insight on that problem we discussed last night."

Professor Dumbledore took a seat across from her. He had a slight frown on his face. "I'm afraid I don't remember the problem to which you are referring."

It had not occurred to Pansy that after remembering, Dumbledore could forget again. She tried to think of a way to broach the subject in such a way that he would be able to remember on his own, as he had before. "Er,... the problem regarding the sudden influx of transfer students."

"Oh!" Professor Dumbledore's eyes lit up. "You see, this is what I was talking about before. That whole conversation completely slipped my mind. Do you think I'm going senile?"

Pansy bit her lip. She did not want this to be so difficult with Dumbledore. She hoped that it would not be like this every time she came to visit him. "No, Professor. A lot of people have been forgetting things recently. Are you remembering things better now?"

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "It is all coming back to me slowly." He shook a finger at her. "You are not a transfer student."

Pansy sighed, both with relief that he had remembered and frustration that it had taken as long as it had. "No, sir, I'm not."

He nodded again. "All right then. Please do share the information you've gathered from your classmates."

The most important piece of information she had to give was something Pansy had already known the night before: Moonshyne was not supposed to be there. The problem was that from what Pansy had heard, it did not seem that Moonshyne had transferred in, but rather that she had always been at the school as far as anyone could remember. That made it the kind of information that she wanted the headmaster to discover for himself. She had not thought about it before, but most of the information she had required knowledge of that one fact. "Well," she started, "I spoke with Zahara, who is a true transfer student. She said that a year ago, a portal opened that allowed her and the others to cross into our world. I didn't really understand what she meant by that, but it sounded like she might have been a Muggle until then."

Professor Dumbledore sat up a little straighter. "Really? What did she say to make you think that?"

Pansy told him what Zahara had said about not being able to access their world, which Dumbledore seemed to find fascinating. "She said something else, too. She said that there's a new dark presence. I don't know if you knew about that. Zahara implied that there weren't many people who did."

Dumbledore was silent for several seconds. "I was not aware of any new dark presence. Did she say what she meant by that?"

"No," said Pansy. "We were interrupted before she could elaborate, but I do intend to ask her. Actually, we were interrupted by Melpomene, who pulled a sword on me."

"A sword? My goodness! She didn't hurt you with it, did she?"

The headmaster was alarmed, but not nearly as much as Pansy thought he should be. "No, but... she was brandishing it in the middle of the hallway. A sword. She called it a kat... something."

"Yes, well, as long as there was no harm done, it's not so bad, is it?"

Here was yet another reminder that this man was not quite the same as the headmaster she was used to. "Any harm would have been potentially fatal. But, no, I see your point."

Professor Dumbledore beamed at her. "Is there anything else?"

As long as he was not aware of Moonshyne's intrusion, there was not much more she could tell him. "No. I'll talk to Zahara and let you know what she has to say about the dark presence. I just wanted to keep you abreast of the developments." She rose to her feet.

Professor Dumbledore stood as well. "Miss Parkinson, may I ask why?"

Pansy was taken aback. "So that you can do something when the time comes. Take action, fix things."

He looked at her so sadly, and it was the first time that day she had seen any of the old wisdom in his eyes. "Could I have really fixed things where you came from?"

"Well, yes, sir. You were kinda known for it."

He nodded resolutely. "I'll do what I can, Miss Parkinson, but you need to be prepared to fix things on your own this time. But I do appreciate you coming by to let me know what you have learned. I hope that will continue, even if I fail to inspire any confidence."

"Of course I will, Professor." Pansy knew that the headmaster had only just returned fully to his faculties. Because it had taken him so long this time, she was mentally preparing herself to restore the order of things without his help, but she was never going to give up on him. She would continue to report to him and hope that her presence would make him more lucid, even if it was only from time to time.