circles; h.potter

57- Sir Cadogan of Strong Heart and Steel

Sir Cadogan gasped again as he fell to his knees."Have pity on me dear Lady- they were good people."

Liana gave a rather unconvincingly sad sniff before she waved off the jolly knight who struggled to mount his bucking pony.

"Don't forget to call on Sir Cadogan if you ever need a knight of strong heart and steel!" He bellowed as he rode away. Liana snorted to herself as soon as he was out of earshot and she turned to the gargoyle which stood grumpily in front of her.

"Do I have to give a password?" She guessed after a minutes thought. The gargoyle nodded its great stone head.

"Oh brilliant" She groaned.

"Okay um- how about 'Professor McGonagall'?" the gargoyle remained still. "Or what about 'nimbus two thousand'."

Again the stony creature remained stock still.

"Fine what about 'slimy Snape'?" Liana suggested wildly. She kicked the floor angrily, she hadn't signed up for this impossible guessing game.

"Oh Merlins bollocks I don't know," she huffed as the statue continued to stare at her.

"Is it ' jelly slug?' " She rolled her eyes sarcastically.

To her surprise the statue creaked into life and the stairs began to spin. Not believing her luck she raced up the stairs without stopping to question.

"I can't believe it was 'jelly slug'," she snickered to herself as she finally reached the big oak door which she easily pushed open.

The office was empty, the only noise was the chink of a glass wind chime above her head and the tick of a strange black device on the table in the far corner.

She took a step into the office and felt the light breeze which stemmed from an open window that overlooked the grounds. Her eyes travelled over the many strange objects in the room. There were a few looking glasses, more books than Liana could count, a small fluttering snitch in a glass cabinet and several wands in cases.

"Hello there-" Liana greeted to the scarlet bird which swooped down by her left ear to land on the bookshelf beside her. "You must be Fawkes," Liana recalled from Harry's wild stories of Forks fighting a basilisk in his second year.

The bird squawked gently as it rubbed its head up against her hand.

"Fawkes is a Phoenix Miss Holly, not unlike your patronus unless I'm very much mistaken," Dumbledore spoke as he wandered down the steps from the upper part of his office. Liana jumped at the sudden sound of his voice and spun around.

"Sorry professor, I should've knocked-" Liana apologised at once as she realised she had just burst unannounced into Dumbledore's office.

"That's quite alright miss Holly, although as pleasant as this visit is I must admit it was expected," sighed Dumbledore as he settled himself in his large chair behind his ornate looking desk.

"Expected?" Liana echoed in confusion as she sank into a seat opposite him. "I'm not following Professor-"

"Well, rumour has it among the staff, of a particular relationship problem between yourself and Mr Potter, I only assumed-"

"-Oh no!" Liana exclaimed at once, mortified that Dumbledore thought she had come for relationship advice. "Nothing like that at all sir."

Dumbledore chuckled, "ah- young love, I miss it." Liana waited politely as it seemed Dumbledore was having a flashback of some kind. Finally she couldn't contain herself and interrupted his thoughts.

"Professor, can I ask you some questions, just for a friend?" Liana asked, trying to seem as casual as possible. Dumbledore nodded his head, his blue twinkling eyes making Liana squirm uneasily in her seat.