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Elaine Black is inside her office preparing her first Astronomy class, which will be held on Wednesday evening.

She must admit that the anguish of starting to teach at that school is assailing her, if the eleven-year-old Elaine would see her, she would not believe her eyes, from an early age the young woman had a passion eager to become Curse-Breaker, her brother found the job boring and exhausting, while her parents fully supported her. Elaine does not know why she was so interested in that work, perhaps because of the constant travel or perhaps the vigorous desire to test herself with spells, the fact is that, however, her desire has never come true and, with her current state of mind, it will never come true.

Everything is now in the past and she can not change it.

Deciding to take a break, Elaine leans the quill in her cup and moves her chair back, standing up and walking to her office door, exiting the room permanently.

As she walks through the hallways, she observes the students wandering back into their dorms, in a few minutes the curfew will begin.

As Elaine heads for the main doors, coincidentally, she falls with a dark brown-haired boy and round glasses, for a moment Elaine Black thinks she's a teenager again and next to her she sees James Potter, she feels her reality slowing down, then as if she had been hit in the stomach by a cursed bludger, Elaine looks at the boy's eyes and the raw truth triggers in her mind, "Harry Potter..." The woman says with solemnity, a tiny smile between her lips, the boy hearing his name raises his eyes and looks at the woman who at the sorting ceremony made him feel protected and still does that effect.

"Good evening, Professor Black." Greets the young man, replacing his glasses on his nose, Elaine feels a thousand emotions flowing in her heart as she hears the boy's voice for the first time, "You look very estranged from the magical world, Harry, may I ask you why?" Askes the woman with curiosity, the little boy seems to hesitate for a few seconds while he looks around, Elaine understanding the young man, stops from walking and looks at the boy, "Would you like to take a walk, Harry?" Asks the woman, tilting her head at one of the windows overlooking the forbidden forest, "But, what about the curfew?" Questions Harry, worried about breaking the school rules, Elaine smiles, "Harry, darling, I'm a teacher, I'll cover for you, but don't get used to it though." Elaine says, a crooked smile on her face.

Harry, amused, nods his head and follows the teacher towards the outside of the school, they both arrive near Black Lake, "You know, Harry, maybe someone already told you but you look a lot like James..." Elaine begins, a nostalgic look in her eyes, Harry at the mention of the man, looks at the professor with much more curiosity than before, "You knew my father?" The raven-haired boy asks, the woman nods, "Oh yes, I knew him...we were very close once, more than you might think," Says the brunette, a spark of repentance shines in her eyes but disappears immediately, the eleven-year-old at the woman's words blushes a little, Elaine notices the young man's slight embarrassment and her eyes go wide and she releases a small laugh, "Not like that!" She exclaims, at that moment a note is engraved in the back of her mind.  

This was the first time Elaine Black had genuinly laughed since the previous year, it was a strange but surprisingly pleasant feeling for the woman.   

"We were...very close friends, he saw me as..." Elaine pauses to think of the right word to describe the relationship between the two, "A sister...and I saw him as an older brother..." The woman concludes, a hallucinating pain makes her voice tremble.

Harry observes the woman in silence, the topic must be very touching he deduces, "I discovered this summer, on my birthday, that I am a wizard and that the wizarding world exists, meanwhile everyone here already knows who I am and it is...very strange..." Recounts the eleven-year-old after a sigh, answering the question that the woman had asked him inside the castle, Elaine heard those words stops suddenly, anger is the feeling that she feels flowing in her veins along with very much frustration, "Wait- you grew up unaware of the existence of magic?" Elaine asks, the words sound slightly rocky, very different from her normal tone of voice, Harry nods, the woman clenches her fists and refrains from releasing a cry of frustration.

The raven-haired boy, looking for something to say to change the subject, drops his eyes on the woman's hands and notices a wedding band, "Professor Black?" The teacher, hearing the boy's voice, feels her anger dissuade, she looks away from the water and to the boy, "Yes, Harry?" She responds more calmly than before, "Are you married?" Harry asks, pointing to the golden ring with the letter B engraved in the center of the seemingly expensive jewel, Elaine pointing her eyes at the same spot as the boy, purses her lips, "I was." Harry curses himself mentally for touching another sore point of what he figured is the piano about the woman's life, "Uh- I'm sorry..." Elaine smiles at the young man and shakes her head, "Don't worry, it's not your fault, it's just that I've lived a very...uhm, interesting life?" Reassures the woman, her look lost in the movements of the water that covers the area, memories of her and her friends and maybe even someone more, emerge in her mind.

After a few minutes spent in silence; Elaine to relive her memories and Harry to rethink how his life has changed and that this is a new chapter, hopefully, happier than the previous one. The teacher sighs slightly.

"We'd better go back to school, you have lessons tomorrow, and I have an Astronomy lesson to prepare," the young professor says, Harry nods and they both head towards the castle before separating ways.

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The next day Elaine Black is still sitting at her desk, who would have thought that preparing a lesson would be so complicated?

It is not that Astronomy was so difficult, indeed, for Elaine this subject is very simple, not coincidentally she passed all her N.E.W.T.s with Outstanding, including, of course, Astronomy where if it was not for the fact that there is a maximum grade Elaine would have taken even more, from what her teacher told her, but at that moment Elaine Black wanted to hold a perfect lesson for her students, Wednesday would be her first lesson since she began her sudden career as a teacher and everything had to be impeccable.

As the 29-year-old ponders how to improve the quality of the lesson, a young boy on a broom whizzes past the window in which the woman is sitting in front of, the sound of the broom forces her to move her gaze towards the window to see another boy whizzing in front of her, Elaine gets up from the chair and approaches the glass to see Draco Malfoy throw a glass ball and Harry chases it and manages to catch it.

Elaine Black smiles, the 11-year-old would become a very good Quidditch player like his father, right after Harry lands next to his classmates, that celebrate him, Elaine watches as Professor McGonagall approaches the horde of children and calls the Chosen Boy to follow her.

As if the assisted scene had cast a small charm on her, Elaine, after finishing the preparation of the lesson, heads towards the corridor of the Lower Floor-West and approaches the window where the James Potter's Finder's badge is located. After a few seconds observing the object with nostalgia, Elaine Black is flanked by a smaller figure, long and frizzy hair, perfectly arranged toga, with the symbol and colors of Gryffindor, "Miss Granger. How can I help you?" The woman asks, looking away from the window and addressing the girl, "Professor Black, I just wanted to know if by any chance, not that I want, it is possible for first-year students to have advanced classes in Astronomy, obviously it is a purely informational question, I do not want, absolutely, to take your spare time to go on with a program we haven't even started, as it's not Wednesday yet..." Rambles the 11-year-old.

The brunette woman smiles, amused by the innate desire of the little girl to learn new things every day, it reminded her a lot of Lily Potter, "Miss Granger, you don't need an advanced course in Astronomy right now, believe me, if you'd like to ask me this purely informational question again in the third year, it will probably be useful to more than one person," the professor replies, looking back over the stained glass window, Hermione also looks at the same spot and unwittingly releases an exaggerated gasp, "Is that Harry Potter's father's?!" the little girl asks, surprised, Elaine smiles wistfully and nods, "I have to tell Harry!" exclaims, then, the little girl, waiting for no other words from the teacher and leaving in a hurry in search of the young Gryffindor.

Elaine Black watches her run, until the figure of Hermione disappears around the corner. Then with a little sigh, the woman starts walking towards her office.

Happy memories, but at the same time sad, haunt her mind.

The pain is unbearable.

Maybe worse than the Cruciatus Curse...

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