Sweet Soul Music

Disclaimer – Anything that you recognise isn’t mine, unfortunately. I just borrowed them to play with for a while. they are, of course, all JK Rowlings property.

Chapter One.

Catherine stood in the hallway of her small flat studying the letter in her hand. The insignia on the envelope was from Hogwarts and she knew almost instantly what it was about. Albus Dumbledore was an old friend of her family’s and had mentioned that a vacancy would be coming up at the school which he thought she would be perfect for. Albus being the wizard he was had persuaded her without much effort to take the job and Catherine herself thought it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Catherine’s mother had been a witch as had all the women on that side of the family, but she had fallen in love with and married a muggle man. Although she loved her mother Catherine had to admit she was well and truly a daddy’s girl. Her father was passionate about music and cinema and that had been passed on to her. She smiled sadly to herself when she remembered them. Their death three years ago in an accident had devastated her, but luckily she had good friends, like Albus, who helped her through.

Looking back down at the letter in her hands she opened it excitedly. Just as she thought, there in black and white was the confirmation of her new post, professor of contemporary muggle studies. Since the end of the war the ministry of magic had encouraged the explaining of muggle society in the hope of avoiding any reoccurrence of past events. They thought that by teaching the younger generations of wizarding folk about muggle society that a kind of empathy and deeper understanding would develop. Catherine hoped they were right; the dark war was not a good time for anybody. Although she wasn’t one of the main players, like Albus, she had fought her part during the war and had come out the other side unlike so many. The losses suffered by the wizarding world had been great and many, truly it had been a terrible time but now it was behind them and people were trying to pick up the pieces and forge a better future, as is always the way after any great tragedy.

Catherine would finally be going to Hogwarts and she could hardly wait, she had two weeks to get her affairs in order before she left. As a child her muggle tendencies would have singled her out for victimisation as soon as she set foot in the place so she had been sent to muggle schools and had private tuition in other magical aspects from her mother and Albus. Her magic was not as advanced as a Hogwarts students but she was still a competent witch and had passed her OWLs as well as her muggle qualifications. She had never really settled in one particular job after leaving school so this offer was indeed a golden opportunity, after all she was nearing thirty and had yet to do anything with her life. Yes, this was her chance.

The headmaster stood in the entrance hall of the castle awaiting the arrival of his newest member of staff excitedly. He had known Catherine since the day she was born and thought of her as the daughter he never had. Now finally she was coming to work with him. As soon as the ministry had owled him about their intentions he had immediately thought of her, she had a love of all things muggle to rival Arthur Weasley\'s but she also lived in the muggle world so her understanding of their ways was infinitely greater. Albus smiled as he thought of their many in depth conversations about music, she had managed to instil in him a love of muggle music also, and if she could do that to an old wizard like himself she could do the same for his students he was sure. He looked up to see a solitary figure with a case wandering down the path looking up in awe at her surroundings.

Catherine was dumbstruck by the beauty of the place. It was immense and she couldn’t help but stare in wonder at what was going to be her new home. Looking towards the large doorway she recognised the figure that stood there and broke into a huge grin as Dumbledore walked towards her with an even bigger smile spread across his face.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, dear” he said putting a fatherly arm round her shoulders and kissing her on the top of her head. “Let me show you to your rooms”

He led the way to her new quarters, talking all the time as she took in her surroundings. If possible the inside of the castle was more awe inspiring than the outside, but it wasn’t unwelcoming, it felt safe and homey. She was going to enjoy her time here, she could tell.