:)
It was five past nine, and Auriga had only just made it back to Hogwarts from the night before. She'd left Remus at Grimmauld Place, with Sirius promising to get him better and not tell on her, and her promising that she didn't care, it was just the principle of it. Sirius hadn't looked like he believed her, and to be honest, Auriga wasn't sure she believed herself either. But one person that certainly didn't care was Remus. And that was all that mattered.
She flung open the door to her classroom, and was surprised to see it was filled with her seventh year class. Oh yes. She had teaching to do. "Good morning," she called as she undid her cloak and made her way to the front of the room. "Today we will be starting on...um...healing spells, which you should have covered in your fourth year with Lockhart, but...he was...uh..."
"Incompetent?" offered one of the Weasley twins. Auriga had to attempt not to respond to that.
"So, healing spells," Auriga repeated, and this time the title appeared on the board. "We'll start off with the smaller ones today. First of all: episkey. A personal favourite of mine, now can anyone tell me what it does?" They all just stared at her somewhat blankly, with many a frowning face or an open mouth. "Anyone?" Still no response. "What's up with you lot today? Jordan?"
Lee Jordan blinked a little before answering. "Um...fix injuries?" he offered.
"Not quite," said Auriga. "Episkey fixes small injuries. Now we don't have any subjects to practice on today, but-"
"Professor?" asked Alicia Spinnet from the back, raising her hand. "Do you...maybe...need to see the Matron?"
"I'm sorry?" asked Auriga with a frown.
"You look like you've come fresh off the battlefield," commented one of the Weasleys.
"Or you were teaching the first years," said the other.
"I beg your pardon!" said Auriga, outraged. What on earth were they talking about? "Five points from Gryffindor!"
"I'll be taking this class today," said Snape, strolling in. "Seeing as we can't find-" His eyes finally found Auriga, and he looked surprised at first and then downright shocked. "Professor Malfoy," he finished. Everybody looked about as confused as Auriga felt. "A word outside please, Professor?" Auriga nodded.
"Everybody turn to page one hundred and six of your textbooks and begin making notes," she said before heading into the corridor with Snape. He closed the door behind her.
"You burned down Carrow Manor House?" Snape said, making it sound more like an accusation than a question.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Auriga said coolly.
"Your robes are in tatters, your hair looks like a bird's nest, you're covered in soot and blood and cuts and bruises and you've been missing all night," Snape listed. "Do I need to go on?"
Now that Auriga looked herself over, she realised that all these things were true. "Please, do," she said anyway.
"Carrow Manor House was burned down with fiendfyre last night," Snape said. "It was in the Prophet. Multiple witnesses named you as present. And Remus Lupin magically showed up at headquarters early this morning."
"Well," said Auriga, "It's a good job we're in the wizarding world, else he wouldn't have magically appeared anywhere, would he?" If Snape was capable of murder, this would've been the point where he demonstrated.
"Luckily for you," said Snape, "Dumbledore says you were dealing with a student crisis last night, and were onsite." Auriga couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. "And the Ministry is feeding that story to the Prophet as we speak."
"They've...agreed?" asked Auriga.
"Neither party had much choice," said Snape venomously. "Now, I suggest you clean yourself up, and I'll finish this lesson."
"No need," said Auriga, already heading back inside, "We're covering healing spells."
*****
Auriga entered the weekly Ministry meeting that week, holding her breath and ready for the explosion. But it never came. Instead, she received a, "I'm terribly sorry about those nasty rumours about the fire in the Carrow Manor House."
"Oh, it's no bother, Minister," said Auriga, who now had no signs of being in a fire due to her Seventh Years' hard work with healing spells. "Terrible what happened, though."
"Yes, I heard your parents were involved," Fudge said with a grim expression. "Anyways. How are things over at Hogwarts?"
"Oh, here and there," Auriga said pleasantly, "Classes are on track, inspections are complete-"
"About that," Umbridge said, "Your inspection for Sybil Trelawny is hardly glowing."
"Yes," said Auriga, "Although I'm sorry to say that may have something to do with her...lack of captivation, so to speak."
"She bored you?" asked Umbridge.
"I've never been particularly fond of her subject," Auriga said, narrowing her eyes. Why did Umbridge feel the need to criticise her reports? She'd written them perfectly well.
"Yes, well, action must be taken all the same if a subject's standards are falling," said Fudge. "As soon as I can look over the report myself, I'll owl you the instructions." Auriga nodded.
"What happened with the Floo breach my department informed you of?" asked Madame Johnson, Head of the Department of Magical Transportation. "The one in Gryffindor tower?"
"Ah, yes," said Auriga, "I didn't catch the culprits in time, but I'm certain it was Black. I suggest we shut the Hogwarts fireplaces from the Floo Network immediately."
"Agreed," said Fudge, "We can't have Black in Hogwarts, again." Johnson nodded.
*****
"Settle down, please," called Auriga from her usual place at the front. Friday afternoons and first years did no mix well. "And put that away, Smith, or you can consider it confiscated." The student in question hurriedly put away his colour-changing-taffy.
"Now, hopefully you've got your essays on the key differences between jinxes, curses and hexes," Auriga continued, "Davis, if you could collect those in?" The girl in the second row nodded and began taking the three rolls of parchment from each of her peers.
"So, I've spoken to Professors Flitwick and McGonagall, and they've informed me that most of you are confident in your basic spell casting ability." There were a few strong nods and many more hesitant ones. "Excellent. Oh, and thank you Davis, five points for Hufflepuff." She put the large stack of parchment on her desk. "Well, if you could all please stand up-" There was a scraping of chairs, "-and get your wands out." Auriga flicked her own wand and the desks each flew to the sides of the room.
"From now until Christmas we will be focussing on the shield charm. Now, does anyone know what the incantation for this particular charm might be?" About twelve hands shot up. Auriga wasn't surprised, seeing as it was the only spell they needed to be able to do for her course. "Uh, yes, Banks?"
"Protego?" offered Banks.
"Perfect, five points to Ravenclaw," said Auriga. "Now, the wand movement for this is-"
"Um, Professor?" asked Banks. "I have a question."
Auriga loved it when her students asked questions and had that burning curiosity that couldn't be withheld. "Fire away," she said with a smile.
"Are you...like...an Auror?" the Ravenclaw asked. Auriga was a little surprised.
"Yeah," Smith piped up, "Or a spy?"
Now Auriga was slightly nervous. "No," she said, to twenty rather sceptical faces. "What makes you say that?"
"Just..." said Banks, going red in the face now. "Everyone heard about you showing up to the seventh years on Monday with loads of scars and bruises. I wondered if you'd been on a mission...could you tell us about it?"
Auriga decided to laugh it off. "I'm sure that's just the seventh years stretching the truth," she said. "Now, if we carry on-"
"Did you meet You-Know-Who in the last war, Professor?" asked Smith. There was complete silence in the room, and Auriga had never seen a class so attentive.
"How old do you think I am?" Auriga tried to joke. But everyone was completely silent. Auriga sighed. "I did, yes," she said. "But you'd do well not to ask people that, Smith. They won't always take so nicely to it." He nodded with a meek smile. "Now," she continued, "The shield charm."