Chapter Two
Plus la Change, Plus la Meme Chose


I hate Albus Dumbledore and my father sometimes and this is one of those times. They are, bless their dear hearts, manipulating bastards!

“Go visit Albus daughter,” my daddy tells me (ha! Orders me!) “You need the rest and he needs a Muggle Studies professor, the change will do you good. It’s time you settled down anyway with al this wandering the planet”

Manipulating old bastards the both of them!

Imagine my surprise when I see, for the first time in years, one Severus Snape! Potions master and professor here to boot!

Totally ruined my appetite, he has. And Albus’ innocent act! Innocent my ass!

“I didn’t know the two of you were acquainted,” he says with a surprised expression. Yea, right and I’m Mother Theresa!

He was as brooding as I remember him, no check that, brooding is too romantic sounding. Lets see-yes, he is still an anti-social prick. That’s so much more accurate a description of the man.

I tried to be polite, to make polite conversation. Mom would have been proud, after all once civility is lost what is there. Does he reciprocate? No indeed! Was he born in a barn? All I got to my polite inquiries after his health and well- being were thinly veiled hostile answers!

As if I were the one who betrayed the family’s trust and love!

Prick.

Dinner was worse! Albus got it in his head that we should sit next to each other! Heaven forbid. Severus looked so thrilled to be sitting next to me and he didn’t even bother to try to make polite conversation. I shouldn’t have been surprised. He was never a conversationalist in public, but it is my first night here after all and he could have made some sort of effort!

Maybe he feels guilty about Antony.

Right and I was Queen Rex in my eighteenth year!

Now, I am being unfair, and I have promised myself that I will be descriptive and true in my journaling of this year at Hogwarts.

Dinner was fab! The house elves trained excellently and the food done to a turn. I didn’t think that they would be able to master Crayfish Bisque, but they did. I must say that it was very polite of Albus to make my first meal at Hogwarts a traditional New Orleans supper!

The main course of Blackened Red Fish was perfect and the Crème Brule was spot on, as they say. The dining room was cozy, but nothing like the Great Hall or so Minerva McGonagall says. It’s where I shall take my meals during term, I am told.

Minerva and Albus exchanged many glances throughout the meal and I suspect that they have a thing going on. Scary. I mean, Uncle Albus and a woman-it’s like finding out that your parents still have sex-eew!

Back to the meal. Tried to be polite to Severus, even though he was responsible for more than one broken heart in my family, but was rebuffed. Fine then, I made conversation with the other guests.

Harry Potter and Hermione Granger being two of those guests.

Of course I have heard of Harry Potter-I have been traveling to out of the way places these last ten years, but I keep up with the world!

Pleasant boy, nice but really frighteningly intelligent girl. The Dark Lord shouldn’t last too long against these two.

Dark spot number two on the evening was-how did Miss Granger put it? Oh yes, she exclaimed, “Holy cricket! You’re Mia!”

Duh.

“Oh my Gods! My dad and I love your music!”

Oh goody. So much for the whole drop out of society and they will forget about you bit. I then had to put up with Miss Granger’s educating the rest of the table (except for Harry) about my time as a singer with a rather (I say this in all modesty) popular band The Vampire Lestat.

So I was taught to play the guitar, and in the course of my trying to find myself I played with the group. Big deal. The money was great and Lestat was charming. I quit after two years, I prefer being unknown.

It was fun while it lasted, but it was just a something to do at the time. Okay so the whole Akasha thing was a bummer, but Hell! I’m just glad that I didn’t take Lestat up on his offer, tempting as it was.

I digress.

After gently dropping hints to Miss Granger that I really didn’t want to talk about that phase of my life, and ignoring Severus’ raised eyebrow (some things never change!), dinner progressed nicely. Until it was time for cognac.

Severus hates cognac. Albus loves the stuff, so of course daddy sent a bottle of his best along with me.

Severus had coffee (I wonder if his mouth got burnt as fast as he drank it!) then excused himself for the evening.

This of course gave Albus leave to ask the questions he had been dying to ask all evening.

As if he didn’t already know the answers!

I politely refused to play into his hands by being purposely dense and after a few minutes feigned exhaustion and excused myself.

So, here I sit. Setting this to paper and not knowing what to think.

I never thought I’d see him again after that summer.