She quickly let the owl in and took the letter tied to it and quickly opened it.
Dear Miss Ava,
As promised, I shall expect you to come to my office tomorrow at 7. Professor McGonagall will assist you tomorrow to find my office.
Please carry your wand and preferably a notebook and your quill and ink. It would be better if you took notes to refer back to.
Hope to see you soon,
Albus Dumbledore
Finally! She'd been waiting for when Professor Dumbledore would call her for the private lessons. She'd been very eager to find out what he would teach her.
With that enthusiasm, she changed and pulled on her covers, shutting her eyes and going to sleep.
~
It was a dreamless peaceful sleep.
Ava woke up and got dressed feeling cheerful. She made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast where Harry asked her to concentrate and look through his mind everything that had happened last night after she'd left so that they could fill her up.
Malfoy calling them for a midnight duel in the trophy room - they escaping Filch and Peeves and entering the third floor - Neville clinging onto Harry for his dear life - A THREE HEADED DOG! - going back to their common room - Hermione and Neville not really caring for what had happened - Harry updating Ron about the package picked up from Gringotts - him (Harry) thinking that it could be the same package
"OH MY GOD! I WAS GONE FOR ONE EVENING - ONE EVENING!" she whisper-shouted at them.
"Well we didn't ask for it!" Ron shot back.
"You should have listened to Hermione! Why did you think you could trust Malfoy? He hates you!" Ava was certainly angry at them but she was also fascinated. "Why do you think they've brought the package here?" she asked them.
"Dunno. But I'm sure it's either really valuable or really dangerous," said Ron.
"Or both," Harry added.
Ava calmed down and amongst the three of them, they kept asking each other questions as to their thoughts of the trapdoor.
Finally, at 15 minutes to nine, Ava moved to get to her Charms class.
The day came to an end much sooner.
Before she realised, she was walking with Professor McGonagall, who was trying to make small talk with her.
"Heard you're a fair flyer, Harlow. Planning to join the team next year?"
"Oh I don't know, Professor. I don't even know what position I could play, much less if I can actually play."
"Hmm, in my opinion you'd make a fair Chaser. Not that I'm giving you any ideas - I want my team to win."
Ava laughed. Professor McGonagall joined. It was the first rare occasion on which she'd seen the great Minerva McGonagall laugh, much less smile.
"Well there you are, Miss Harlow," she said as they reached a statue of an extremely ugly gargoyle.
"Crystalline cookies!" she said to the statue, which was clearly the password for it sprang to life suddenly and hopped aside as the wall behind him split into two.
Behind the wall was a spiral staircase which was moving smoothly upwards, like an escalator.
"Well, good night, Miss Harlow," Professor McGonagall called out to her as she pointed towards the staircase.
"Good night, Professor. And thank you," Ava replied.
"Anytime."
As Ava stepped onto it, she heard the wall thud close behind them. They rose up in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Ava could see a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.
She stepped off the stone staircase at the top and rapped on the door. It opened silently and she entered.
"Ah! Ava! Good evening!" Professor Dumbledore greeted her.
"Good evening, sir!"
She looked around the large and beautiful circular room, full of funny noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on the spindle- legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw - footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard's hat - the Sorting Hat.
Standing on a golden perch behind the door was an elegant scarlet and gold bird.
Professor Dumbledore must have seen her fascination with his room and her eyes finally resting on the bird.
"Fawkes is a Phoenix, Ava. Incredibly fascinating creatures, phoenixes. It's a rumour in my family that a Phoenix will come to any Dumbledore in need. They make highly faithful pets, I must say." he began conversing.
Ava extended her hand to touch Fawkes's beautiful plumage and Fawkes came forward and let her stroke his head gently and started hooting soothingly.
"Ah! He likes your touch, Ava," Professor Dumbledore said, "They begin to make such sound only when they like a person."
Ava smiled at him and then at Professor Dumbledore.
"Well, let's begin, Professor!" Ava said enthusiastically as she pulled her hand away from Fawkes.
"Yes, of course. But before I teach you anything, I want to determine your current capabilities so that we know what exactly to work on." he replied.
"I want you to tell me whether you can hear Professor McGonagall's thoughts who's near the bottom of the staircase."
Ava concentrated. She could, upto some extent, hear Professor McGonagall's thoughts.
I wish the girl would've been a Gryffindor, I'd have put her in the -
What's happen-
Is she even listening to me?
I had to let stop my Occlumency -
"I can hear her, Professor, but not very clearly. I can only hear some part of her thoughts." Ava admitted.
"That's good, Ava. Even being able to hear out of this room, is sometimes very difficult. I see that we have immense talent and we'll make the best use of it." he replied.
"Professor, can I ask you one thing before we begin?" she asked.
"That's already one thing, but certainly! Go ahead," he permitted.
"This has been bothering me since I came here. Why can't I hear the thoughts of most of the teachers?"
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Hey guys! I'm pretty sure that everyone was waiting to know what Dumby's gonna teach Ava, am I right? You'll have to wait a tad bit more!
But anyways, I have my Science exam tomorrow and don't get me wrong, I love science but, I'm literally falling asleep while studying! This is becoming a huge problem! Ugh!
But I just have three more chapters to finish before revising everything before going to bed, and I was already tired when I started.
XD
Still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading!
Comment, vote, share and follow!
Always,
Ana <3