Embers | S. Black

2.

The last few months in New York went smoothly. After Amara told her boss in MACUSA that she would not be able to continue her work as an auror, time seemed to move abnormally fast. It was now the end of August and she was packing up her apartment, only stopping to look at pictures and reminisce for a few minutes. Once she was packed, she gave herself a few moments to look around the space she had made a home for the last 11 years, and finally with a last glance, she left. Apparating to the airport was easy, the difficult part was going through airport security and trying to explain the various magical objects that she had in her suitcase. As the guard began taking out the large cauldron, a sneakoscope, and her broomstick, Amara gave a hesitant glance toward him. Of course, a confundus charm would have worked quite well in this situation had it not been for all the odd glances her way. Luckily, she was able to wave the guard off with, "oh just some essentials and few gifts for my nephews. You know, I think they're a bit strange, but what can I say, they specifically asked for these things."

The 7 hour flight was dreadful. If only she could just apparate to London, it would be so much easier. Once she landed, the butterflies began swarming around in Amara's stomach. She was finally home, the excitement was almost too much. As she exited the airport, she took a large breath of the warm London air, and looked around at her surroundings, it was surreal to finally be back. She walked for a few minutes, until finally coming across a dark alley where she could safely apparate to Hogsmeade. It was night now, and the only lights in the village were coming from the three broomsticks, the hogshead, and the few lamp-posts above her head. Amara looked up, her breath caught by the beauty. The fog towering low, obscuring the tips of the various towers, the bricks shining slightly from the candlelight scattered throughout the castle, the essence of it magical in itself. It had been so long since she had seen this sight, yet it seemed like only a few days ago she was running around with her friends in that same castle. Amara began her walk toward the gates, slowly but surely, taking in every inch of the castle above.

Although Amara had long walked the great corridors of Hogwarts, she found her way quite easily. Looking up at the towering gargoyle, she let out a held breath and got on. She stood there for a few seconds before realising that she didn't know the password to go up.

"Up!" she said. Nothing happened. "Come on, up!" she said, more frustrated than before, jumping up and down a little, and yet, nothing. She tried a few more times, even bellowing out a few odd words such as "toffee" and "jelly slugs" to no avail. Finally, giving up, Amara sat down on the steps of the gargoyle and waited. She didn't know what else to do, the last time she was at Hogwarts had been as a student, and thus, had no idea where the professor's dormitories were or what exactly she was supposed to do. She sat for about 5 minutes before the gargoyle began to move slowly up. Stunned, Amara got up from the step she was sitting on and looked down at her robes to make sure they presented nicely. When the gargoyle stopped spinning, she was met with a large wooden door. Before her knuckle even reached the hard wood she heard a soft, "come in," and so she did. Upon entering the large, cluttered room, Amara's gaze was drawn to the tall, old man sitting behind a desk in the middle of the room. The room itself hadn't changed one bit since her time in school. It made her feel a sense of deja vu looking around the large space. The lines on the wall she had counted to avoid listening to the lectures of Dumbledore or one of the other professors for smoking in the astronomy tower, or getting caught sneaking around at night. The various objects scattered around the room that always made her wonder what they were or did.

"Ah, Amara, wonderful to see you. Welcome back." Dumbledore said looking up through the half-moon glasses.

"Hi, Professor, thank you." She smiled politely as she went to sit down opposite to him.

"You were making quite the commotion down there. Toffee? Jelly Slugs?" he said with a knowing twinkle in his eyes as she blushed at the comment.

"Well, I didn't know the password to come up. It's always a type of candy isn't it?" she now said smirking slightly and flaring her nostrils, "now that I think about it though, toffee seems too easy doesn't it"