1 : IMPERIO

CHAPTER 8: THE SECOND GUARDIAN

Word Count: 4932

Charlotte returned from Malfoy's to witness a grumpy and irritated Snape. Well, she didn't return to face that, but she didn't have an option of saying no.

"What got your wand in twist?" she asked plopping herself on the sofa.

"The new DADA teacher" He replied in an annoyance. Charlotte looked at him humorously, with amusement all over her face. Snape just scowled even more, and it looked more comical as he lay down on the sofa.

"Oh yeah? Who is the cause of your irritation this time?" she asked, and Snape snorted "Who is the person I need to trouble this year?" she asked in an overdramatic way.

"Remus Lupin"

"Are you kidding me?!" she asked wide eyed. "Yeah, I just might not feel like troubling that man" she laughed.

"No, no," he said sitting upright. "You are not going to stop causing mayhem just because he was McGonagall's favourite werewolf."

There was a pause. She looked at him with a wide grin and Snape tried to process his own word, as he paled considerably in the process.

"Merlin, it's him" he said in horror.

"Yes!!" she jumped and moved to sit in front of Snape. "Dad, this is perfect opportunity"

"I don't think he'd be willing to help" said Snape shaking his head no.

"We're not experimenting on him dad, we just need his blood."

"And I don't think he will,"

"For him to let us have the blood, we need to prove to him that we don't mean any harm."

"How do we do that?" he asked. "I'm going to have to be nice to him, aren't I?" he asked a little scared, and Charlotte pursed her lips giving him a small nod. "This is the worst year already!" he cried.

"You're being a little overdramatic I think" she said standing up. "But I need to go right now." Snape looked at her curious, and cracked a smile.

"Another secret mission?"

"There is no secret mission, dad" she drawled walking towards the fireplace. "I'll see you at dinner. If I'm late, don't wait up"

She entered her house, and saw Harry and Sirius in living room, with Sirius telling some absurd story.

"We thought you fell in some ditch and died" said Sirius as soon as she entered the room.

"I'm sure you'd hope that." She said taking a place beside Harry who gave her a hug. "How have you been?" she asked looking at the two of them, but continued without giving them a chance to reply. "Anyway, I'm not here for pleasantries. I have some news." She said with a smirk looking at Harry and Sirius. The later gave her an amused look and asked her to continue. "Guess who the DADA teacher is this year?"

"I sure hope it's not another one of idiots." said Harry with a snort.

"On the contrary, I believe he's going to be quite fun." She couldn't contain her smile. "Hey Siri," she said turning to her cousin "What was the last known location of Remus Lupin?"

"He had a cottage in Yorkshire, but why do – don't tell me he's the new teacher." He gasped and Charlotte gave him an enthusiastic nod. "Moony? Moony's going to be the new – Merlin, this is amazing"

"Your best friend?" asked Harry looking at his godfather, who nodded happily. "How do you know that?" he asked looking at Charlotte who smirked.

"Professor Snape told me –" she replied and saw Harry arch an eyebrow in a suspicious way.