A Charming Hogwarts Mystery

[Patrick]

Disclaimer: All characters, settings, and literary properties of Harry Potter and Charmed both belong to the WB(CW) and not myself.


Plot: The professor of the Defense Against The Dark Arts class has always been an accursed position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Every teacher that has tried to teach the class has either failed, died, quit, become unable to teach, etc.. No one has been able to hold the position longer than a year! So, when Paige Matthews hears of the open teaching position through a colleague at Magic School, she gladly takes up the challenge of becoming the next Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. But will London take well to this Pure Magic witch and all of the eccentricities and new teachings that she will bring to the students of Hogwarts? However, it's when students start to go missing when Paige's true test as the new professor will begin.

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Chapter One

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Matthews," Greeted a taut-mouthed, tight-bunned Professor McGonagall as she saw to Paige's arrival via floo powder.

The red-headed witch clumsily stumbled from the fireplace as the magical transporting fire extinguished itself after spitting her out. Paige coughed up soot from her lungs and cleared her throat, "Explain to me why I couldn't just orb here?"

McGonagall cocked her head towards the side and regarded Paige with a curious look. "Why, whatever do you mean, child?"

"Orbing. You know..." Paige flourished her fingers in a raindrop motion signifying her power (and preferred method) of teleportation.

McGonagall quickly shook her head back and forth so fast, Paige swore she would have missed the motion if she hadn't been paying attention close enough. The deputy headmistress just replied, "If you mean to refer to apparition then such practices are strictly prohibited save for the teachings of it during appropriate times. However, if you prefer to transport yourself willy-nilly about the premises, I'm sure I can arrange a meeting with the right officials to get you a special permit that grants you permission to do so?"

Paige blankly stared at the woman, unsure if this was dry sarcasm or all seriousness. She timidly shook her head, "No thanks?"

"Very well," Professor McGonagall said as she turned and strode away. "Follow me."

Paige blinked several times before doing just that. She already had several questions for the woman, the first one being: are you really going to be calling me, child, from now on? However, little Miss Paige chose to keep that to herself and be a good little professor for now. She didn't want to start stepping on toes already.

"These will be your living quarters for the duration of your stay," McGonagall announced as they walked two halls down towards a small living quarter that branched off of the second story of the library.

Paige instantly noted how she referred to her teaching position as a 'stay' as if it were only temporary. Paige had heard of the cursed position but didn't believe in such things. The same couldn't be said for McGonagall however.

McGonagall continued. "Your first class starts tomorrow so be sure to review the material as to not embarrass yourself in front of your students. The welcome feast is well over by now as you did arrive over an hour later than expected, so I will have the house elves prepare you something in your chambers. Do you have any questions?"

Paige blankly stared at the woman for the second time since she's arrived there just in the past five minutes. "Uh...no?"

McGonagall nodded resolutely. "Well, I do hope you fare better in teaching than you do in conversation, Miss Matthews- or shall I say Professor Matthews?- Welcome to Hogwarts," she said again before doing a small official curtsy and leaving Paige to get settled.

Once the lady was gone, Paige entered her living quarters and unpacked her things. There was a queen-sized bed for her to sleep on, a bedside table with some sort of magical alarm clock, a desk and lamp, a kitchen area with just a stove and pantry larder, and a bathroom built off of the side of the room. If Paige didn't know any better, she'd say this was where the 'chumps' resided, chumps being the unwanted janitors, incapable staff members, and so on. She already felt she wasn't being taken seriously already but hopefully she could get McGonagall to come around and warm up to her.

When she was all settled in, Paige brought out the lesson plans for her new class and spent perhaps an hour staring at it, trying to make sense of it all. There were creatures and spells that she'd never even HEARD of. Finally, she sighed, tossed the lesson plans aside, and placed a notebook on her desk and wrote her own plan down using the old plan as reference.

"Time to teach these kids how to really do magic," she said to herself as she re-wrote the plans. She had the house elves zap her up some mashed potatoes, a turkey sandwich, a creme-filled pastry, and a goblet of ever-filling pumpkin juice to wash it all down. The wizarding world would take her some getting used to but the food was ample enough fuel for her to work on her new plans for the DADA class. This would either greatly benefit her or bite her in the butt. Either way, she couldn't sit here in good conscious and blindly follow some lesson plan that made no sense to her. She was going to teach these students Charmed-style how to defend themselves. And boy, did she hope it would go over well.


To Be Continued....

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So, this is an idea I've always had and thought I'd share it with you guys. It's been a while since I've been on the site so decided to jump right in with my writing as I've missed it. Not sure if anyone here is a Harry Potter fan but it's super easy to follow along with the plot thought only a Harry Potter fan would truly appreciate the humorous references hidden in there. As always, my stories are open for comments and feedback as I update them. Hope you enjoy it.

[Patrick]

Chapter Two

Paige awoke the next morning feeling quite refreshed. She couldn't shake the feeling, however, that she was in a dream or had rolled off of the wrong side of the bed. Being in a completely different country submerged in a completely different magical environment was really starting to bring a little culture shock to her reality. So, she dealt with it by taking a long hot bubble bath in her small adjoining bathroom while reading the newest issue of People magazine that she'd brought with her.

After her bath, she did a quick beauty routine mainly consisting of hair-combing, nail filing, make-up application, and moisturizing before she made her way down to the great hall for breakfast.




"Did you see the new Defense Against The Dark Arts professor? She is bloody attractive!"

"I heard she defeated the American's version of You-Know-Who...twice!"

"Supposedly, her and her sisters are like Hollywood celebrities or something!"

"Is she a muggle-born?"



The rumors and comments were flying all around the school, some of which Paige had the pleasure of over-hearing. She laughed on in the inside as she heard most of them, not used to being the subject of so much attention. It was quite a big contrast from her students at Magic School, who pretty much knew everything about her. Admittedly, she liked the attention but was here to prove her worth and be taken seriously. Not to sign autographs.

She took a seat at the staff table between a dark and brooding gentleman and a plump older woman with rosy cheeks and flowers coming out of her hat. As Paige sat, she thought briefly how sanitary the plant-lady's hat could be around all of the food. As if reading her mind, the dark gentleman leaned over in her ear.

"Don't mind Pomona. Her...eccentrics are some of an acquired taste yet unavoidable all the same," the dark gentleman commented.

The plant-lade, or Pomona, made a dismissive sound and waved him off. "Oh, and don't you mind Severus here. He's a bit of an acquired taste himself," she jested. "Pomona Sprout. Nice to meet you, dear."

Paige smiled warmly at the staff's welcoming gestures and giggled appropriately at the playful banter when necessary. It wasn't until half way into breakfast where her whitelighter warning bells went off.

She looked up from her plate and surveyed the room carefully, slowly, whilst she paused mid-chew, fork hovering above her unfinished poached eggs.

"Anything the wrong, dear?" Pomona offered.

Paige quickly recovered, resuming her meal and acting as if she wasn't a complete and total paranoid schizophrenic. "N-no, I'm fine." she stammered, laughing nervously. "It's just a bit strange being in a new place. That's all. I think the magical ceiling is just giving me vertigo," she gestured towards the ceiling of the great hall which was currently enchanted to reflect the skies outside. As the lame excuse/cover-up escaped her lips, she slapped herself mentally at sounding like an amateur. Surely, she could have come up with something more believable. However, she couldn't let on that she was really feeling without sounding crazy to them all.


Severus wasn't so convinced. "If you ever feel uneasy, you are more than welcome to stop by my office for counsel....I specialize in brews to ease most ailments such as your current queasiness."

Paige wasn't sure if he was flirting with her, suspicious of her intuition, or genuinely trying to help. Maybe a combination of all three? He was hard to read for sure but Paige definitely knew when she was being scrutinized by a man; she was Charmed One after all and being attracted to troubling bad boys in her past also made her more keen to 'sniff out' the type; and Snape was definitely of the type.

Pomona spoke up and saved her from having to answer. "Oh, Severus, I'm sure Miss Matthews here can brew her own remedies, yes? She comes from quite the capable clan you might know."

Paige cleared her throat. "Which reminds me," she took one last bite of her eggs before pushing away from the staff table. "I have to prepare for my first class. We're going to be working with inferi today and I want to make sure to place the right wards before the students show up."

Both Severus and Pomona exchanged looks, which Paige was expecting. She quickly explained, "The best way to learn is straight in-your-face experience and I think these kids will really take something away from my lessons."

"You might want to reconsider your lesson plan for the day, Miss Matthews," Snape commented in a low voice while directing his attention to a corner of the great hall.

"And why is that?" Paige asked.

Snape pointed to where he was looking, standing up at the same time and withdrawing his wamd. "Because I think your subject has escaped."

To Paige's horror, near the great hall entrance, was an inferi. It's dead re-animated body crawled methodically across the floor, wailing in a choking guttural sound as it drew attention from the students. They began to scream and get out of the inferi's way as it snaked it's way towards the staff table, seemingly towards Paige. Half of the staff table rose and had their wands outdrew as well. It was McGonagall who shot the first hex, already half way across the room and aiming straight at the inferi's nose. Whoah, she sure is fast for a witch her age, Paige thought.

But what she couldn't stop thinking was, what the hell was happening. Someone must have let resurrected and let loose the inferi from her class! Was this some kind of practical joke to play on the new teacher or was this real danger?

"Please return to your seats," McGonagall instructed after dealing with the inferi. She stayed where it's lifeless body lay acting a barrier to block it's view from students. Howevever, she was so skinny that they could all look past her fairly easy. "Classes will go about as planned with the exception of first period Defense Against The Dark Arts today. Students meant to attend that class will have study hall with Snape instead." A wave of disappointed sounds traveled the great hall at this. McGonagall continued. "Miss Matthews, in my office, please."

McGongagall was then gone, magically dragging the inferi's body behind her with her wand. Paige shamefully stood from her seat and followed McGonagall. THis was only her first day here and it seemed like someone was really messing with her. But who? And to what end? She was beginning to think that this position might really be cursed after all.


To Be Continued....

[Patrick]

Chapter Three

Paige followed McGonagall down the corridors towards her office feeling more like a scolded child rather than an all-powerful Charmed One. There was definitely going to be some getting used to these new rules of magic and wizarding customs. However, one thing remained no matter what side of the world she was on: Charmed Ones attracted danger. She was really hoping that this was some big mistake or practical joke because the last thing she wanted to do was bring danger to these kids.

She awkwardly matched the pace of the older witch, eyeing the lifeless inferi as it levitated behind them.

Paige looked back it. "You know, I can take care of the inferi...if you want." She was referring to orbing it back into her classroom office cage.

McGonagall responded by turning to give her a silent stare over the rim of her spectacles with two perfectly raised eyebrows.

"Or not," Paige waved the idea away with a sheepish smile. Then more seriously, "So, do things like this happen very often?"

"Well, put frankly, no." McGonagall reached her office and was just about to open the door when a loud bang sounded from the other side. The floor vibrated a little from the force of the tiny explosion in McGonagall's office making both Paige and McGonagall hold their arms out for balance.

"Oh, god," Paige said under her breath. "I know that sound from anywhere."

McGonagall motioned for Paige to step back as she expertly swished her wand, magically opening the door and encasing the inferi in stone simultaneously to deal with later. It's ugly form dropped outside her office door like a gargoyle on duty. The two witches then walked inside.

An explosion had definitely gone off. Papers and bits of wood (seemingly from McGonagall's desk) were everywhere but what stood out was what Paige currently stood gasping at.

A large scorch mark on the wall and a singed Hufflepuff tie on the floor underneath it.

"Oh my god," Paige ran forward and picked up the tie. She turned to look at McGonagall who, for the first time since Paige had known her, looked completely and utterly confused.

"This is from a student's uniform!" Paige exclaimed. "Oh my god, I am so stupid for not thinking this would happen."

McGonagall cleared her throat and said with a hint of irritation, "And what, pray tell, would that be, Miss Matthews."

Paige noticed that she didn't use the Professor title this time when speaking to her. She didn't blame her. "This is a scorch mark. It means a demon was here."

"Demons!?" McGonagall gawked at the other witch. "I'll have you know that no such thing is capable of getting past the wards placed on these grounds. I should know as I cast them up myself."

Paige sighed, still holding the Hufflepuff tie in her hand. "Okay, look lady-" Paige stopped when she saw McGonagall's disapproving expression. She corrected herself, "Miss. I see these things every day and if this means what I think it means then a student could possibly be....." She couldn't finish the sentence.

McGonagall, finally realizing the danger and the seriousness in Paige's voice reacted quickly. "I'll summon the prefects and order a head count on all of the students. While I highly doubt that demons are the culprit here -seeing that demons rarely inhabit the wizarding community- I would still think it safe to do a sweep of the grounds and reinforce the wards."

"I can scry for any evil activity on the grounds," Paige offered.

"That would actually be a good idea, Professor Matthews. What do you need?"

Paige appreciated the return of respect, but was thinking of other important things at the moment to really care. "I have most of what I need in my room, I just need a map of the entire grounds. Don't worry, I've done this a million times. If there's a demon at play here, I will definitely find it."

"Very well."

*

The next day came and with it, brought a wave of sadness to the student body and staff.

A student was missing. The head count confirmed that a fourth year Hufflepuff boy was nowhere to be found. Aurors were called in to scout the surrounding areas and Forbidden Forest in hopes of finding the missing boy. There was also no demonic activity within or outside of Hogwarts as far as Paige could tell from performing a very thorough scrying session.

Paige sat in her Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom at her desk, holding the singed Huffelpuff tie in her hand again. Demonic scorch mark, but no demon, she thought. Missing student, but evidence of incineration. Evidence of incineration, but a single tie left behind. Demons don't really exist in the wizarding community, but demonic evidence. And not to mention the mysteriously reanimated inferi from yesterday morning. Ugh! She sighed and stuffed the tie in her drawer as the first of her students walked in for class that morning. She would have to ponder things a little bit more later as she had a class to teach.

When it looked like every student was inside and seated, Paige began with a simple role call to learn all their names.

"Brown, Hayden," she called.

An eager brunette Ravenclaw boy raised his hand.

"Burge, Catherine," Paige announced.

A Slytherin girl with immaculate posture and perfectly managed personal hygiene nodded her head.

"Professor Matthews, is it true that there's a demon after us?" One of the students asked suddenly.

Paige tilted her head and replied, "At this moment, technically....no." Yeah, real smooth, Paige. She continued with the role call.

"Kapersky, Gilligan."

A tall Slytherin with greasy hair awkwardly raised his hand.

"Newman, Farah."

A Ravenclaw girl raised her hand and said, "Here. Do you and your sisters really fight demons every day?"

"No, actually," Paige replied. More like every week though, that's for sure, she thought to herself. Continuing on with the role call. "Reibuck, Jordan."

A black-haired Gryffindor raised his hand.

Paige looked at the next name on her list and read it aloud automatically, not giving herself enough time to prepare for what happened next.

"Stillman, Morgan."

No answer.

Paige read the name again. "Stillman, Morg-" she finally realized why the name sounded so familiar. She snapped her head up from the list to look at the class.

Right in the front row was a pissed off looking Slytherin girl. She was tall, beautiful, and blonde with a nasty smirk on her face. "Oh, I'm here." She said back to Paige in a defiant yet unmistakable American accent.

A few other students exchanged confused looks as to what that was all about but Paige knew.

Paige cleared her throat. "Stillman. That's a lovely family name, Morgan. Where are you from?" She had to be sure. She just had to.

Morgan shrugged nonchalantly, dropping her attitude almost instantly and finally answered. "Cali." Then, she smiled politely at Paige. Her range of emotion going from zero to ten, to four, then seven, then up to ten again. She was messing with her!

Paige's heart skipped a beat. She was staring at the probable daughter of one of the Stillman sisters. A trio of petty evil witches that her and her sisters defeated years ago by stripping their magic and shaming their family name.

Things had just got a lot more interesting.






To Be Continued....

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I'm going to end this here and shelf this idea for later as I really have no muse to continue this story at this time.