The cottage stood at the very edge of the Castle Combe. A tiny, calm muggle village. A single narrow path wound its way from the main road to the house - a weathered stone structure with ivy crawling over its walls.
It was quiet there - too quiet, some might say - but for Elizabeth Ashtorn, silence was the only company she could bear. She had chosen this place precisely because no one came. Especially wizards. Living in a muggle village kept her away from annoying wizards and witches.
It was close to evening. A tap on her window. It was so soft that at first she ignored it, but when she turned, she found an owl perched on the sill. The parchment it carried was thick, sealed with the familiar wax crest of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
She raised her eyebrow
"Hogwarts, really?".
She opened the letter
"Dear Elizabeth Ashtorn
I trust this letter finds you in good health and, as always, in possession of your remarkable composure and insight.
It is with great pleasure - and, I confess, a measure of curiosity - that I extend to you an invitation to join our staff at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Your extensive knowledge of protective enchantments.."
"blah-blah", she muttered under her breath, and with a flick of her wand, the parchment burst into flames. The ashes curled in the hearth, the wax melting into nothing.
The next morning, another owl arrived. Then another that evening. By the end of the week, her doorstep was littered with feathers and bits of charred parchment.
Every letter said the same thing.
Every letter met the same fate.
Until one morning, when there was a soft knock at her door.
A knock? Usually no one knocks on that door. She slowly opened the door and saw..he was standing there - tall, robed, his half-moon spectacles glinting in the pale light. His eyes, blue and impossibly kind, seemed to take in everything
"Good morning, Eli", said Albus Dumbledore, his tone as calm as if he'd been expected.
"Might I come in?"
She hesitated, then stepped aside.
"I think I said to your letters 'no', wasn't it clear?", she said with a stern tone.
"And yet..I want you to come"
"You want me to come? I am not going to that place again, Dumbledore"
He walked to the window, peering out at the mist. "Hogwarts is not quite the same as it once was. And perhaps, Eli, neither are you. Sometimes the place we most wish to avoid is the very one that might help us heal."
She turned away, jaw set. "You think a castle full of children will fix me?"
"I think," said Dumbledore gently, "that Hogwarts has a way of finding those who are needed - and those who need it. You, Miss Ashtorn, happen to be both."
Eli listened to his words, and didn't answer. Dumbledore didn't need her answer immediately, he need her at least to think..
YOU ARE READING
Under The Same Spell
FanfictionElisabeth Ashtorn joins Hogwarts as a new professor "Defense against the dark arts", even though she didn't want it. What is waiting to her there?
