His Teacher

His Teacher

Chapter One: A Strange Morning

Her crimson robes swished behind her desperately as she nearly ran through the halls, taking sharp turns, passing doors, statues, whispering portraits. She heard footsteps as she took another hasty turn. A tall man appeared in front of her.
“Severus…is it-” she started, still panting.
“Dumbledore,” the man replied simply, his voice void of all emotion as he lead the way through the halls.
As the two people made the last turn of their journey, they saw that the gargoyle was already open to reveal the staircase. They shared a glance before quickening their pace and practically bursting through the doors of the Headmaster’s office.
“Albus-” they both began breathlessly.
Dumbledore sat in his chair, staring blankly at the pensieve before him, fingers folded under his chin, his eyes clouded. This was one of the rare times that one could see just how old he was…
“It is true,” he said in a raspy whisper after a long moment of silence.
McGonagall almost fell into a chair that stood in front of Albus’ desk. She took off her glasses, and put a hand over her eyes, losing her strict exterior completely. Snape stood as still as a statue, not moving a muscle. He desperately tried to mask his feelings, but failed as his left eye started twitching and his hands clenched into fists.
“How?” he asked in a deadly whisper. The room kept silent for a few moments, and Snape continued, “Why the hell didn’t the spells WORK?! ” he yelled.
Dumbledore closed his eyes, and leaned back in his chair. He let out a shaky sigh as he held up his hand to stop Snape’s violent outburst. “Severus, please…”
“Tell me, who could? And how?” Snape demanded, his voice regaining its usual icy and composed tone.
“I don’t know how…. but there is only one who could...” Dumbledore trailed off, looking around at the occupants of his office.
McGonnagall looked up at Dumbledore, her eyes wide with surprise, and a portion of fear.
“Lauren,” Albus whispered.
Snape couldn’t have looked more shocked, nor could he have gotten any whiter. “… No, tell me it was not… her…” He was stuttering now. “What will happen to him?”
Dumbledore sighed again. “I do not know…”
“Did you not see this coming? Why couldn’t you sense her?” Snape was outraged. This surprised McGonnagall, but it didn’t evoke the same reaction from Albus.
“…I never could…”

* * *

Ronald Weasley slowly descended the staircase in the Burrow, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he yawned.
But his drowsiness instantly disappeared when he heard his mother’s quiet sobs. He stopped dead in his tracks in the kitchen doorway.
Molly stood wrapped in Arthur’s embrace crying, as he gently stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. The twins sat by the table looking extremely pale, Ginny was crying shamelessly, Bill was attempting to soothe her, and Percy was nowhere to be seen.
“What the-?” Ron asked, bewildered.
When Molly heard Ron’s voice, she freed herself from her husbands reassuring grasp.
“Oh, Ron!” She ran to him and hugged him tightly.
“What’s going on?” Ron was irritated…he still didn’t know what was happening!
“Someone took Harry,” Arthur replied solemnly.

* * *

“…Master Harry…”
Harry stirred in his sleep as he heard a squelchy voice.
“M-master Harry…t-time to wake up…”
As the teen opened his eyes, and blurred images gradually swam into focus, he found himself staring into a pair of big green eyes. Harry shut his eyes tightly and re-opened them, hoping that the eyes would go away…. and they did. The boy sat up in bed and looked around at an unfamiliar room. He started to panic, but the happenings of the past night quickly came back into his mind. The letter, the book, Lauren… He shook his head.
“M-ma-master Harry?” He heard the screechy voice again and looked at the floor beside the bed.
A house-elf stood there, his bright green eyes shining with worry and fear.
“Err, hello, who are you?” Harry asked, trying to somehow pacify the elf - he looked as if he were about to run away screaming. The elf’s face lit up suddenly and he jumped a few times.
“I is Iny …Miss Lauren tells me to wake you up…she says you have to… err…” The elf actually looked thoughtful for a moment before counting the things he had to say. “-take a shower, have breakfast, meet me outside.” The small creature looked very proud of himself. “That’s all she said, master…”
Harry started to get of bed and looked around the room again.
It wasn’t very big, the walls were decorated in a deep midnight blue color, and the ceiling was enchanted to show a starry night. A king-sized four-poster bed stood in the far end of the room. The elf took Harry to a wooden door on the right side of the room that led into a bathroom. Harry stepped through the doorway and looked around.
“Hello there,” came a hoarse voice from behind him. He jumped. “Ah, jumpy today aren’t we?” the mirror laughed.
“You…you…can I just… take a shower…”
“Sure, I can’t stop you.”
Harry sighed and stripped from his boxers, stepped into the shower, and turned the hot water to as high as his body could take. He emerged from the shower minutes later feeling fresh, a towel wrapped around his waist. He jumped again as the mirror spoke, “Hey, kiddo, you’re in good shape…”
“Could you…just….” The boy sighed in defeat and walked out of the bathroom. He saw a simple black T-shirt and shorts on the bed. “Time to meet Lauren,” he sighed to himself.

* * *

Snape ran through the halls, muttering to himself. “She couldn’t wait….no…. she ALWAYS knows what to do…stupid bitch…”
Slamming the door to his classroom, he stormed through the room to the back door. He stopped in front of the fireplace and mumbled a few words, and after a moment a blond head appeared.
“Do you have something to say?”
“Yes, he was in a strangely happy mood yesterday…I suppose he went to a meeting with the Death Eaters.”
Snape paced the room, “Did he say anything else?”
“No.”
“Fine, keep in touch with me, Draco…”
“Yes, Professor.”
Malfoy’s head disappeared from the fireplace with a poof, and Snape sat down in his chair, sighing. “What the hell is going on?”

* * *

“But…but, what about the spells? That wizard lady? How did this happen?” Ron stuttered. How could this be possible? He was suddenly interrupted by a voice floating in from the living room.
“Hey there, everybody!” came the cheery voice of Charlie Weasley as he stepped into the kitchen.
“Oh, Charlie, we didn’t know that you were coming!” exclaimed a surprised Molly, running up to him and engulfing him in a bone crushing hug. “Do you know what happened to Harry?”
“What? Wait…something happened to him?”
“Dumbledore said that someone took him from the house of those Muggles.
“WHAT?!” Charlie looked at Bill and motioned for him to walk outside.
Bill stood up from his seat with Ginny, who had calmed down considerably, and exited through the kitchen door.
A sudden shadow fell over Charlie’s face, making him nearly unrecognizable. “Excuse me, I need to speak with Bill for a moment…”
No one disagreed, for no one knew exactly what was going on. The twins were talking about something in the back of the room, Ginny was embracing her mother, and Arthur was trying to talk to Ron.

* * *

The house elf led Harry through the huge house and into the dining room. The room was round, and an impressive-looking mahogany table stood in the center surrounded by chairs. Harry sat down.
“What would Master Harry want for breakfast?” the elf asked.
“Err, bacon and eggs…” Harry heard a click, and a lavish plate filled with bacon and eggs appeared before him. He began eating.
“Good morning Master Adam, what would you want for breakfast?” he heard the elf say. He looked up from his plate and was greeted by a sight that made him sit up straight for a reason he couldn’t quite place.
He saw a boy about his age with long black hair that curled up near his chin. He had dark eyes that contrasted with his skin, which was reminiscent of warm buttermilk…
Harry tried to stop his train of thoughts…they were taking a rather sharp and disturbing turn...
The kid smiled at him and returned to his food. Harry decided to do the same. They ate in silence.
The two boys finished at the same time, so Harry did the one thing that he thought was polite… He went round the table and extended his hand to the teen.
“Hi, I’m Harry Potter…”
“Oh, hey, I’m Adam,” he answered as they shook hands. A strange feeling ran all over Harry’s body at their contact.
“Oh, Masters, Lauren is waiting in the study…follow Iny…”
When Harry realized they were still shaking hands, he muttered an apology and turned to follow the elf as he blushed. ‘What the hell is happening to me?’
They went through corridors, passing numerous doors, some of which were sealed shut. But Harry didn’t observe his surroundings, no, he was too entrapped in his thoughts to do that, as he was preoccupied with figuring out this ‘mind-web.’ The fact that he could feel Adam watching him closely didn’t help at all.
Harry looked over his shoulder to meet his gaze, but turned away quickly.
“So, ‘Ren brought you in yesterday, huh?” spoke the voice to his right.
“Um…. eh…yeah…”
“Well, you must be good then.”
Harry looked over at Adam, who shot a killer smirk at him.
“We are here,” Iny said, interrupting Harry’s thoughts once again more.
The elf knocked on the door, and Harry stepped in the room with Adam following him closely. He saw Lauren, but he also saw another figure disappearing in firefireplace…was it?

* * *

Charlie Weasley followed Bill through the kitchen door where that he had disappeared through a few moments ago. Bill looked calm more than anything.
“Was it supposed to happen so soon?”
“I don’t know, but it seems that everything went well,” Bill answered.
“… I think I’ll go talk to Lauren…” Charlie said, looking confused.
“Yes, that would be good…I’ll tell them.” Bill went back into the house while Charlie summoned a strange looking object. He felt a sharp lurch behind his navel and found himself in Laus ofs office.
“Charlie, good to see you,” she said, getting out of her chair. Charlie stepped towards her and kissed Laurens hand.
“Hello, ‘Ren,” he smiled, and the woman rolled her eyes at his gentlemanly gesture. “Will I be right to say that you brought Harry yesterday?”
“Yes, you would be very right…”
“Do you think it was wise to do it so early?” Charlie asked as he leaned against al.
l.
“He must be ready…it takes time,” she said simply.
“Did the Dark Lord approve of this?”
She smiled. “Of course he did…I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t.” They both tried to keep straight faces but failed, and both burst out laughing. “Did you meet Bill?”
“Yes, I just did…Alright, I’m going back to my house now…got some family scenes to take care of.” He chuckled slightly and took a handful of Floo Powder. As he stepped into the fireplace and clearly announced, “The Burrow,” the door opened and Harry Potter stepped in.

* * *

The elf knocked on the door, and Harry stepped in with Adam following him closely. As he saw Lauren, he saw another figure disappearing in the fireplace…was it? Was it Charlie Weasley? He quickly dismissed that thought.
Lauren walked over to the front of her desk and turned to face the two teens.
“Did you get a good night’s sleep, Harry?” she asked.
“Um, yeah, pretty good…”
“And Adam…” she smiled as the teen boy walked over to her and hugged her. “You probably already met Adam, my nephew…”
“…Err, yes, yes I did…” Harry stuttered again, and a sly smile appeared on Adam’s face.
“Okay now, lets start.” Lauren walked to a bookcase and waved her hand. The shelf opened to reveal a vast library. It resembled the Hogwarts library, but there were only two tables on the sides.
Adam walked past Harry and started looking through books, moving from one bookshelf to another.
“Now Harry, I want you to look over a few books. Lets see…” She walked through the room and stopped in front of a shelf with different sized books. Harry glanced at some of the titles and winced. The books in the Restricted Section were in great shame right now. “Ahh, Apparition…” She handed him the book. “Animagis, Wandless Magic, Potion Ingredients…. Let’s take this one too…” Harry struggled to keep on his feet, not being able to see past the mountain of books in his arms.
“Do I need to read all of these?” he asked.
“Yes, but only the marked parts. You’ll find it quite fascinating, believe me.”
She lead the way back to the table where Adam sat writing something on a parchment, looking through three books at once. Harry threw the books onto the table and sat down.
“You must-” She was cut off abruptly by the glittering of her ring. “Dammit! I’m sorry Harry, Adam will explain everything to you… and when you’re finished, take a few laps, okay?”
“Sure,” Adam answered. Laurenrkedrked at them and left. “Well, Harry, basically you need to read through the marked parts of the book and take notes.”
“Fine.” Harry took one book and tried to concentrate on it instead of the boy sitting in front of him…
“Err, Harry?”
“What?”
Adam had the familiar sly smile on his face. “You are holding the book upside down…”
‘This is going to be a long day…’ Harry thought as he swallowed.

* * * * *