Sunday, May 28, 2006
CHAPTER 9 - Hogwarts' Eve
A/N: Hello there again. I have decided. I will put this story up at fanfiction.net and see how it goes. I will continue to update here, but will not be often. Well, enjoy now. See ya @ the bottom.
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"Hello, Headmaster," greeted Alfirin.
"Hello, Ms Alfirin."
Alfirin sat in front of Albus Dumbledore's table in his office.
"Lemon drops?" asked Dumbledore, offering Alfirin a box of sweets. "It is a muggle sweet which I find it taste really nice."
"No thank you, Headmaster."
"I see why you have come," stated Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes. "I suppose you want to know which subject you will be teaching?"
"You know that I wanted a job in Hogwarts?" asked Alfirin surprised.
"Yes, of course I know," smiled Dumbledore, his eyes twinkled more brightly.
"H-How did you know, Sir?"
"Well, It seemed to me that the Valar did arranged everything for you nicely."
"You know Valar?" asked Alfirin surprised.
"If you mean the name Valar, yes. The Valar you know in your world, is known as Merlin in our world."
"Oh, h-how do you know who I am?" gasped Alfirin.
"Ah, I know a lot more than you think I do, Lady Alfirin," smiled Dumbledore. "Back to the question you wanted to know. You will be teaching Ancient Runes, as the ex-professor quit suddenly for some unknown reasons. This subject which I daresay is your strongest subject?" mused Dumbledore.
"Well, I guess so," said Alfirin shyly.
"Right, I suppose you would like to retreat to your room to prepare your lessons? The school term will be starting in a couple of days though," said Dumbledore, and with a click of his fingers, Dobby appeared and lead Alfirin to her room.
"Ms Alfirin, take a rest first and Dobby will come later to fetch Ms Alrifin to dinner," said Dobby.
"It is all right Dobby, is it? I can make my way to the Great Hall later," smiled Alfirin.
"You know the way?"
"Yes, I know the way. Don't worry."
After Dobby left the room, Alfirin looked around taking in the surrounding. The room was adorned in a theme of burgundy that gave off a sense of style and elegance. The floor was carpeted in a lighter shade of burgundy, while the walls were painted gold and trimmed with light yellow. In the main room, a small sofa and two chairs were neatly placed beside a roaring fireplace, with a small footrest and table nearby. On the the right wall, a huge bookshelf was piled high with volumes and volumes of dusty and decaying books. On the left wall, was a huge bay window that led to an exquisite view of the edge of the lake and of the edge of the forest. Past the window, lay a small hall, containing three wooden doors, which Alfirin presumed it were her bedroom, a bathroom and a spare room.
Alfirin's trunk was sent to the room earlier and it was sitting in her bedroom floor waiting for her to unpack. After unpacking, Alfirin decided to take a bath and changed into fresh clothes before turning up for dinner. Dumbledore had decideded to introduce Alfirin to the rest of the professors during dinner. 'I wonder how Harry is right now?' Alfirin whispered to herself. 'I hope he's doing all right.' Alfirin's mind wandered back to when she had to leave for Hogwarts to meet Dumbledore.
*Flashback*
"Now Harry, I really wish I wouldn't leave you, but I have no choice. This trip is really important to me, to you, to us," said Alfirin softly.
"B-But, I really hope you wouldn't leave my side. Please Alfirin, please stay," pleaded Harry.
"Harry dear, I got to. This meeting with Dumbledore not only secures my place at Hogwarts, but also helps me to protect you in future. You see, if I don't go, I will not get the job. If I don't get the job, I can not stay by your side to protect. You get the idea?"
"B-But I will miss you," sobbed Harry.
"Now Harry, when have you become a weakling clinging onto Alfirin?" said Remus, who just appeared on top of the stairs in their room, amusingly.
"I-I," stammered Harry.
"Come on Harry, Alfirin is only leaving you for a couple of days. You will still see her when you go back to Hogwarts on the start of the school term," said Remus as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Yes, Remus is right, Harry. If anything should happen to you, Remus and Sirius are always around. They will protect you," said Alfirin.
"All right," Harry said finally, but reluctantly.
"I will see you at the start of term feast, Harry," smiled Alfirin, kissing Harry on his forehead.
With that, Alfirin casted an incatation and with a flash of light, she was gone.
*End Flashback*
"Professor Alfirin, Professor Alfirin?"
Startled, Alfirin shot her mind back from wandering, Alfirin looked around to find who called her, only to found Professor Mcgonagall looking at her with a worried look on her face.
"Professor Alfirin, are you all right?"
"Wha-," stammered Alfirin, "Oh yes, I am fine."
"What are you thinking about, may I ask?" asked Mcgonagall. "It is all right if you don't wish to tell."
"Oh, I was just thinking of my family. My brother actually. We were really close to each other. He did not want me to come here actually, but my father managed to persuade him," said Alfirin softly.
"I see," whispered Mcgonagall. Suddenly, Dumbledore's voice rang through the Hall.
"Let's give a toast to welcome our new Professor, Professor Alfirin," said Dumbledore.
Everyone brought their cup up as a recognition, and drank from the cup kindly, everyone except Snape. Somehow, he was still not convinced Alfirin was old enough to teach the students. He disliked her the moment he saw her at the Great Hall. Reluctantly, he held up his cup and took a sip from it as a respect for Dumbledore.
Dinner went well into the night, and it was almost two in the morning when Alfirin went back to her room. When she went in, she saw something was glowing on her table. She walked towards it to take a look, and she found the necklace that Lord Elrond gave her just before she came to Earth with Harry was glowing. As she move her hand forward to touch it, the glow went bright red; and as soon as it came, the red glow disappeared. A letter was lying on top of the necklace after the red glow went off. Alfirin took up the letter and read. It was written in elvish.
Dear Alfirin,
I hope everything went well for you and Harry. I am glad that you were given a post to teach Ancient Runes. I came to know that it is a subject contains various languages that is used here in Middle Earth. I am sure that you will be able to do a fine job.
When everything is settled down, I hope you would come back to Rivendell as I have something to let you know, which is inappropriate to put down in a letter, in case it went to the wrong hands.
I guess I will not see you til then. Take good care of yourself. And Harry too.
Adar
'What is so important that Adar wants to tell me?' thought Alfirin. Putting the letter aside, Alfirin decided that she will go back tomorrow as she has the time. With that, Alfirin changed into pyjamas and crawled into her bed and dozed off.
Alfirin woke up to a sunny morning. As she got off her bed to wash up, a snowy owl flew into the room and sat on the table with a letter in it's beak.
"Quel Amrun, Hedwig," smiled Alfirin. walking over to Hedwig and took the letter from her beak.
Hewig hooted as though replying Alfirin's greetings. Alfirin opened the letter and found it was written by Harry. Harry had said that he could not wait until tomorrow when he could go back to Hogwarts where all his friends were and where Alfirin would be too. Alfirin smiled at the letter and turned to Hedwig to ask her to wait while she reply the letter.
After Hedwig left with the letter, Alfirin went into the bathroom to wash up and changed into fresh clothes before heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
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"Hedwig!" said Harry excitedly, and pulled the letter out from her beak.
"Letter from Alfirin?" asked Harry, which Hedwig hooted, an indication of yes.
Harry quickly opened the letter and read. It read that Alfirin was well settled in Hogwarts and got along with most teachers, except, Snape, which Harry scrowled. It also read that she too couldn't wait to the start of term where she could meet Harry again, which Harry could not help but felt glad. Alfirin also wrote a quick note telling Harry that she would need to go back to Rivendell as Lord Elrond had something important to tell her. As soon as Harry read that, he couldn't help but felt nervous. 'What was it that Adar wanted to tell Alfirin? What was it so important?' Harry thought. Throughtout that day, Harry could not help thinking of that question. Unfortunately on that very day, Hermione wanted to bring Ron and Ginny to London for a walk and they pulled Harry along.
"Don't go too far off Leaky Cauldron children," warned Mrs Weasley.
"We better go now, as not to let Fred and George find out. Bye Mrs Weasley," said Hermione.
"Bye Mom," said Ron and Ginny simultanously.
"Bye, Mrs Weasley," said Harry absentmindedly.
During the trip, Ron and Ginny were awed by the sight of London, as they were visiting for the first time.
They did sightseeing mostly as neither Ron nor Ginny had any muggles money. Hermione and Harry had to spend some time explaining to Ron and Ginny what some things are and how they used it. In the end, both Hermione and Harry were exahusted from explaining and everyone agreed to walk back to Leaky Cauldron.
During dinner, everyone were very excited as tomorrow comes, will be their start of new term at Hogwarts. Everyone were chatting excitedly about how their school term would be. Fred and George were planning on how to get students to try out their new inventions, Ron was complaining how stress he would be with all those school works, Hermione was looking forward on the lessons, and Harry couldn't wait for tomorrow to come as he wanted to go to Hogwarts now to see Alfirin.
"Children, you better go get sleep now. Tomorrow you will be going back to Hogwarts," said Mrs Weasley.
"Yeah, you get a good sleep. For tomorrow comes you will be too excited to sleep," joked Bill, turning to Charlie smirking.
"Hey, both of you have a secret to hide. Speak, what is it?" said Ron.
"Nah, can't tell you. Or else there'll be no fun anymore," laughed Charlie.
"Oh Ron, you know them. No matter how you pleaded them, their mouths were tightly sealed. You can't get any word from them," said Fred lazily. Turning to George, "George, you tired? I am though. Let's go back upstairs."
Fred and George walked towards the stairs after saying goodnights to Mrs Weasley. Followed by Hermione and Ginny. Bill and Charlie went up next and then Harry, Ron and Remus went up together. After Ron left for his room on the second floor, Remus walked Harry to his room.
"Goodnight Harry, have a good sleep," said Remus.
"Goodnight Remus."
Harry went up to his room and changed into his pyjamas and flopped down to his bed and dozed off almost immediately.
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A/N: Ah, a cliffie. How is it? I know this chapter is a bit boring, however it felt right to add it in. Don't worry, everything will come to light in the next few chapters.
Quel Amrun - Good morning
written by Kuraire Claire-`
