Once Upon A Time

Once Upon a Time...

When I first arrived to teach at Hogwarts, it was with a one-year-old daughter in tow. Her name was Victoria. My husband had recently died, leaving the two of us alone with no source of income, so I had searched for a job before finally agreeing to come teach at Hogwarts. I was to teach Transfiguration, which had always been my best subject when I had been in school.

Once we had arrived at Hogwarts, I allowed myself to calm down. I worried so much these days: about Vicky, about money, about teaching--in short, about everything. Now everything would be all right. Vicky and I had a place to live nine months out of the the year, and she would receive the best wizarding education in England at Hogsmeade once she was older. Until then she would be safe at Hogwarts, spending her days roaming the castle and making friends with the professors and other inhabitants.

The first few years passed uneventfully. Vicky and I were perfectly happy at Hogwarts, and we passed the summers in Hogsmeade, renting a small apartment and spending our days relaxing and exploring the town. Vicky was amazingly bright. She grew bored at Hogwarts, so she began to spend her days sitting in the back of various classrooms. By the time she was four years old, she had already learned the equivalent of a first-year student. The other professors delighted in her cleverness and were more than happy to teach her and to answer her questions in the evenings.

That peace ended when she was five. That year Rex Malfoy entered school. Rex hated Vicky, although why no one could dissern. Most of the students found her sweet and adorable. In any event, he hated her passionately. Vicky was not so young that she was unaware of his hatred, and it made her very sad. She tried very hard to be his friend, but the harder she tried, the more his hatred towards her grew.

The animosity between them reached its zenith at the end of the year after the Quidditch final. Gryffindor was victorious, defeating Slytherin 200-10. Rex did not take the crushing defeat well. The loss made him even angrier at Vicky because she was a devoted Gryffindor fan and spent the days after the victory smiling broadly at the Gryffindors and crowing over their triumph.

In retrospect this was not a very wise thing to do. Finally, Rex decided to "get even with her." He lured her out one night to the Quidditch field. Vicky loved to fly, but as much as she wanted a broom of her own, I was unable to afford one on my teacher's salary. She was forced to make do with the school's old and clumsy brooms. It was very easy for Rex to lure her to the Quidditch field. All he had to do was make up a story about how he was going to give her his old broom. (Rex had brought a broom to Hogwarts. He had also received a new one at Christmas from his family. Despite the fact that he now owned two brooms, he had never allowed anyone--especially Vicky--to ride one of his brooms.)

Vicky was thrilled. She met him at the field at midnight where he presented her with his broom. "Why don't you give it a try?" he asked with a wicked grin.

Vicky did not need to be asked twice. She mounted the broom and soared upwards. However, as she climbed higher and higher, the broom failed. Rex had sabatoged the broom. With a shriek, she fell to the ground and landed with a thump in the middle of the field where she lay motionless.

By this time, I had discovered Vicky's absence and ran out to find her. Some maternal instinct led me to the Quidditch field. There I found my daughter collapsed on the ground with Rex standing stunned beside her. I ran to her side, but it was too late. She was dead.

Her death shook Hogwarts. Albus, in a fit of anger, expelled Rex Malfoy from Hogwarts and banned all future first-year students from bringing brooms to Hogwarts. He had loved Vicky like a daughter, and her death caused a little part of him to die as well. Hagrid, too, took her death very poorly. Unlike some of the students, she had never made fun of him. She often had tea with him in his little home by the forest. When she died, he grew silent, going about his duties quietly, no longer laughing and smiling.

As for me, I felt as if I had died as well. Before her death, I would spend hours planning my lessons so that they would be interesting and fun. Now I no longer cared. Once my students had enjoyed my classes, calling me a kind and clever teacher. Now I knew that the students thought I was too strict, but I did not care. I did not care about anything anymore.

It hurt me when Harry Potter arrived at Hogwarts. He soon became the favorite of the teachers (well, all but Professor Snape). Albus was very fond of him, and Hagrid often invited him in for tea. In Harry I saw all that Rex had taken from my Vicky: talent, kindness, and a future. Yet I know that my feelings are ridiculous. I too am fond of Harry. He is a wonderful boy. But sometimes when I look at him, I feel a twinge of jealousy. Why should he be sitting there in class when my daughter will never have the chance to do so? What made his life more precious than hers, so that he lived whereas she died? I will never recover from the hurt of losing her. Because, you see, once I had a child.

Once upon a time...