Albus Dumbledore's office was spectacular to say the least - the Transfiguration Professor had transformed the once boring Transfiguration office into a large and beautiful room, full of funny little noises.

A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke that made Euphemia cough a little as she accidentally inhaled them.

There was an enormous, claw-footed desk in the middle of the room and, sitting on a shelf behind it was an array of teacups that had obviously previously been mice, quite possibly from a series of first year classes over the years.

Letter writing sets and different coloured feathered quills (there must've been one for every colour of the rainbow, surely) were set out on the left hand side of the desk and a selected green one sat in the middle of Dumbledore's desk.

"Green is for Mondays, it is a colour I do not particularly like and Mondays are days that I do not enjoy either. Therefore, you can see why they match up," Dumbledore's voice came from behind Mia as he walked into his office after her, having let the girl enter first.

She smiled politely at his statement and absorbed the goings on of the room, noticing a smiling girl who was waving from a portrait in the centre of his wall, encased in a very expensive looking golden photo frame.

"My sister, Ariana," Professor Dumbledore informed Euphemia, having followed her gaze and Mia could tell by the misty look in his blue eyes that she was not a good subject to talk about.

She nodded and fumbled with her hands awkwardly as her mother's words repeated over and over in her head like a broken record, like they always did whenever Cassiopeia saw fit to insult her.

They always came back to haunt her thoughts, plague her mind and control her emotions as if Cassiopeia was forever there messing with Euphemia's head.

She honestly couldn't focus as her Transfiguration Professor pointed out quaint things around the room to try and distract her from her thoughts but the man's efforts failed to break the ice that had set over the deep ocean of thoughts that Mia was drowning in.

Tears began at her eyelids once more and she found herself digging her fingernails into her palm so that she did not cry in front of her teacher, forcing herself to push the tears back as she had in the Great Hall when everyone had stared at her whilst her mother shouted a manner of all things at the poor girl.

A handkerchief spotted with strawberries suddenly appeared in Euphemia's palm, a slightly wrinkled hand having pressed it there and she smiled weakly up at Albus Dumbledore as she dabbed the cloth near her blue-grey eyes in a delicate fashion only a lady of the Black family household could possess.

"Do sit down," Dumbledore gestured to a hard backed chair that was placed in front of his claw-footed desk, the very chair that Gryffindor students often sat in when having career option talks which was opposite his very own seat that he had placed himself in.

Mia immediately obeyed, scrambling to the chair and sliding herself onto it, allowing her legs to cross over one another as she straightened up, facing the Deputy Headmaster with as much composure that she could gather.

It was very hard not to break down into tears when she saw the caring and sympathetic look on Dumbledore's face as he peered at her from over his clasped hands.

"Now, Ms Black. Would you like to tell me what's been going on between you and your mother?"

The honest answer was no, I don't want to tell you but Euphemia felt like she couldn't say such a thing to her teacher, especially as he had just rescued her from an extremely awkward and terrible situation.

If Dumbledore hadn't of burned the letter and swept Mia away when he did, she might've actually broke down in front of the whole school and that was something she had desperately tried to avoid.

When only minutes of silence ensued after Dumbledore posed his question, the man sighed to himself as he could clearly see there was no way that this broken girl in front of him was going to talk.

So, he pushed his chair back with a loud scrape that made Euphemia look up in alarm from where her eyes had been straying on her lap, her hands folded atop of her skirt.

Dumbledore then proceeded to walk to the back of his office and wave his wand at a teapot which promptly started hissing and boiling on it's rack.

Mia blinked, startled, at the hissing teapot which was now emitting steam that fused with the smoke from the silver instruments in the air, causing the room to become rather warm and she shifted in her seat, tempted to roll up the sleeves of her robes to cool herself down but she did not dare to do so.

"Cup of tea, Ms Black?" Dumbledore asked and Euphemia almost laughed at the fact that cups of tea often made situations better, it was what mothers in the books she had read did a lot to comfort people.

Funny that, Cassiopeia had never made a pot of tea to comfort anyone, it had merely been in order for her daughter to learn how to drink tea properly and even then the house elf, Tibet, made the tea.

Mia nodded and there was a bit more enthusiasm to her actions now which made Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkle.

There was yet another break of silence that filled the room as Dumbledore bustled about with the teapot, giving off the impression of a housewife that made Euphemia chuckle to herself.

She looked around the Transfiguration office again, noting with alarm that the very teacup she had transfigured from a mouse in first year was placed on the shelf in between one that Mia recognised as Minerva's and another as Charlus' teacup.

Dumbledore then asked her how she took her tea and, once she had replied, Mia relaxed a little and actually uncrossed her legs to settle herself more comfortable in the chair she was occupying at that moment.

A steaming cup of tea was placed in front of her then with a thud upon the oak wood that made up Dumbledore's desk, a tea coaster magically appearing underneath the delicate teacup with a wave of Dumbledore's wand.

"Thank you," Euphemia nodded graciously at the Transfiguration Professor and the gratitude in her tone and facial expression wasn't just expressing her thanks for the hot beverage but for everything that the Professor had done for her that day.

"You are most welcome," Dumbledore replied with a twinkle in his blue eyes as he sipped his own, very milky tea. A tray of biscuits also appeared in front of Mia and she hesitantly took one, seeing as she hadn't really touched her toast from that morning and she was sure Dumbledore knew it.

"The biscuit on the left side of the tray is my favourite - the chocolate hobnob digestive biscuit is a Muggle product so you might not have come across it before but it is truly delightful. You should try it, Ms Black," Dumbledore pointed out the particular treat and handed it over to Mia who took it with a smile.

The whole situation was quite unusual and bizarre, really. Euphemia had assumed that Dumbledore had taken her away from the humiliating atmosphere of the Great Hall that morning to talk to her, to drill her on why Cassiopeia had sent her such a cruel Howler.

Mia had braced herself for a questionnaire from her Transfiguration Professor and the feeling of dread had built up in her stomach as soon as she entered because she had been so sure that she would have to answer question after question about her childhood.

However, Dumbledore had only asked one such question and when he had been met with silence and an uncomfortable look from Euphemia, he had simply gotten up and made a cup of tea.

And here they were, comparing biscuit preferences over hot cups of tea with all thoughts of why they were actually there gone from their minds.

Of course, Dumbledore hadn't forgotten and he did plan to ask Mia but he wanted to make sure she was comfortable around him first and the man certainly didn't want to push her or make her feel under pressure to answer questions.

The clock had long since crept past 9 o clock and was now nearing the half past mark which meant first period was due to end any minute which also meant Dumbledore had to go and teach as he had a lesson in second period.

He informed Euphemia of this and she nodded, she knew he had a lesson because it was the lesson she was meant to be in but she couldn't face her classmates or her friends yet.

She wasn't prepared for the moment when her friends would turn their backs on her and her classmates would laugh at the girl who had gotten a Howler.

"I'd...rather not go to my lesson if that's okay, Professor," Mia said earnestly but nervously to Dumbledore and he nodded, completely understanding much to her surprise.

"We can continue this talk in an hour or so, I'll get another teacher to cover my third period lesson. Unfortunately, I have to go to this one but you are more than welcome to stay here and read one of my books," he gestured to his vast bookcase that took up half of the wall and Euphemia's eyes widened in awe and amazement.

"I'd love to," she gushed and he nodded with a chuckle before he picked up his briefcase and bid her goodbye, leaving for his lesson that was in the classroom next door to his office.

Mia watched him go with an absent minded smile and she drank the last of her tea before she placed it down carefully on the surface.

She felt rather uninvited, like she was an intruder despite the man actually telling her she was free to browse his personal library.

Mia took a few tentative steps forward, watching as her shoes made indents into the deep red carpet before she giddily ran forward and scanned her finger across the spines of all the books.

It was rather exciting, really, she felt quite free now that she wasn't in lessons and Dumbledore had made her feel much more at ease in the past hour which made her nearly forget the harsh words that Cassiopeia had bestowed upon her through the influence of the dreaded Howler. Nearly.

Euphemia couldn't forget it yet, it still weighed down her heart like a weight dragging down in her chest but she knew she could tell Dumbledore now, she fully trusted him now.

Mia made a promise to herself that she would open up to him when he returned during third period and she quickly started to browse the books.

Dumbledore had a mixture of Muggle authors and magical authors gracing his shelves and Euphemia took a keen interest in some of the particularly old looking hard backed books that habituated his dusty bottom shelf.

They were all embellished with the same name in faded golden lettering - William Shakespeare - and had a series of titles that intrigued the witch.

She had never heard of this Shakespeare fellow, due to her growing up in a magical household and even the muggle books she had managed to read in rebellion had never made a mention or had any sign of William Shakespeare.

"Macbeth.....Othello......A Midsummer's Night Dream.....Twelfth Night.....Romeo & Juliet...." Mia read out some of the titles as her eyes scanned the spines and she finally shrugged and picked one of them off the shelf.

"Romeo & Juliet - that sounds good," she affirmed and then tucked it underneath her arm and skipped to her chair again, nestling down in it as she prised open the dusty cover of the romance play with her bitten down nails (Cassiopeia often punished her for biting her nails - she said it wasn't ladylike).

How Euphemia ended up in Professor Dumbledore's, her Transfiguration Professor, office reading a muggle romance play by a muggle author, she would never know.

But it was yet another interesting discovery  in a very interesting day that would get even more interesting, not that Mia would know.

~~~

Dumbledore's Transfiguration lesson in second period was abuzz with gossip and talk about what had happened at breakfast involving Euphemia Black.

Seeing as the class was a mixture of Slytherins and Gryffindors, the reactions to the events were also very mixed.

The majority of the Gryffindors seemed concerned and worried about Mia or horrified and disgusted at the sort of things her mother had said to her.

The Slytherins all seemed to find it amusing or were agreeing with what Cassiopeia had yelled at Euphemia about because of how they had been brought up to think of half bloods and blood traitors.

Minnie entered the classroom with a rather apprehensive look, sliding into her seat as Eugenia sat down in hers, the two girls glancing briefly at the spare seat beside Minerva that Mia usually occupied with frowns.

Charlus and Alastor were lounging at the back as per usual but they weren't mucking about or flirting with girls as they always did but were instead talking in hushed whispers and Al seemed to be restraining Charlus from standing up as he appeared to be fuming.

"I can't believe Mia just....took all those horrible comments from her mother like she didn't even care....what a bitch!" Charlus whispered furiously to Alastor, who raised an eyebrow at how protective Charlus seemed of Euphemia and also how he was referring to her by her nickname, not her full, formal name as he usually addressed her by because it had been awkward between them up until when they went to the Astronomy Tower.

Alastor didn't know what had happened between them during that dare but it must've been good because they had been on friendly terms ever since.

Lyall leaned over from his desk, looking behind him to check that Dumbledore wasn't watching them slacking off, "She did care, Charlus, she was just hiding it. That's why Dumbledore took her out," he nodded his head towards the Professor at the front of the room.

Charlus frowned and cupped his face in his hands as he stared blankly at his empty sheet of parchment, too worried about Mia to do any work.

Minnie, on the other hand, was busying herself in work to distract herself from the sinking feeling in her stomach as she thought about what Euphemia must be enduring at that moment, what she must've endured in the past and they had all been oblivious.

The insults that were had flown at her from Cassiopeia had seemed like more of a regular occurrence by the look on Mia's face, an almost dull acceptance that broke Minerva's heart.

Eugenia had shuffled up a couple of seats so that she was seated beside Minnie to keep the girl company, leaving her usual desk partner Rebecca sat by herself, not that Eugenia seemed bothered.

"Don't worry too much, okay? It'll all work out, Mia's a tough cookie, she'll get through it," Eugenia whispered reassuringly to Minnie who simply gave a bitter chuckle, tossing her long brown hair out of her face so that she could face Eugenia with a sceptical look.

"It's not just the Howler that I'm worried about her overcoming - it's everything else. If Cassiopeia is willing to insult her and put her down that much in front of a crowd, what must she be like behind closed doors?" Minerva wondered out loud with a worried expression plastered on her face.

The lesson seemed to drag on really slowly after that, the five of Euphemia's friends that were in the class were growing increasingly worried as Mia still didn't turn up for the lesson.

Lyall was tempted to raise his hand and question Dumbledore about it but he didn't want to attract attention to the situation or involve everyone else in the class.

He definitely didn't want to ask in front of this particular class as Euphemia's positively horrible cousin, Walburga, was sat in that very lesson with her two bodyguards who both were smirking at something she was saying under her breath as Dumbledore lectured the class.

Charlus seemed to have sunk down in his chair with a miserable expression matching his body language so Lyall exchanged exasperated looks with Alastor over the top of their friend's tousled head.

If there was anything Lyall Lupin hated more than people hurting his friends, it was people who talked over the teacher when they were talking and didn't give the said teacher the respect they deserved.

Fortunately, Dumbledore seemed to notice Walburga talking whilst he was explaining a part of Transfiguration that was rather complex and the man stopped mid flow which caused many of the dedicated note takers throughout the classroom (such as Minnie) to look up in curiosity.

"I'm ever so sorry, Ms Black. Your conversation is obviously much more important than my lesson so I'll be quiet now and let you finish your talking. Do tell me when you're finished!" Dumbledore said rather cheerfully to a now scowling Walburga who had immediately ceased her talking to a blushing Mary and a glowering Heather as soon as the attention was on her.

When Walburga simply sat in a stony silence with her arms crossed, Dumbledore pretended to look at his watch and tapped his foot as the entirety of the class looked between the two like one would at a tennis match.

After about two minutes of Dumbledore waiting for Walburga to finish her conversation, he finally jumped up from where he had been leaning on the desk and he clapped his hands rather cheerfully, a twinkle in his eyes once more.

"Fabulous! It obviously can't have been that important then - right, Ms Black? Great, now you can listen to me seeing as that is what you came in my classroom for, not to have a mother's meeting whilst I am teaching."

The class erupted in laughter and "oohs" echoed ripples through the room as the students enjoyed Dumbledore completely showing up Walburga in front of everyone.

Funnily enough, after the class perked up a little, the clock went by faster and it was soon the end of the lesson as the bell sounded, signalling the start of break which encouraged everyone to leap to their feet and start packing their stuff away. All except one.

Charlus muttered that he would catch his friends up and, even though he got a few concerned and confused looks from the likes of Minnie and Alastor, he simply waved them off and told them he wanted to speak to Dumbledore alone.

Once everyone had departed the classroom except for Charlus and Professor Dumbledore himself, Charlus cleared his throat and slid out of his seat, trudging towards Dumbledore who span around with a surprised look.

"How can I help you, Mr Potter?" he asked kindly and Charlus shuffled his feet a little, placing his hands in his trouser pockets.

"I....um....wanted to ask....how's Mia?" he started off mumbling but blurted out the last bit as if he had gotten a burst of confidence suddenly.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and appeared to smirk underneath his auburn beard but Charlus pretended not to notice, praying hard that he wasn't flushing.

"She's obviously shaken up and upset but I've given her time to mull over things and then I'll talk to her properly," he said, not wanting to give too much away in case Euphemia didn't want him to.

"Is she..coming back into lessons or not?" Charlus asked and Dumbledore shrugged, lifting up his hands. "Who knows? It's completely up to her. Why do you care anyway, Mr Potter? The last I heard was that you two disliked each other deeply," he looked at Charlus with a suggestive smile curving up one side of his mouth and the boy found himself speechless for a second before he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Um...actually we're friends now. I hope we are, anyway," he added hastily though his heart sunk at the thought that Mia might not think of him as a friend anymore.

He had apologised for all the mean things he had ever said to her and none of what he had said could actually compare to the cruel comments Cassiopeia wrote.

"Friends, huh?" Dumbledore mumbled to himself with a slight smile. They're getting there, I guess....he thought before he picked up his briefcase and went to make his way out of the room, beckoning to Charlus for him to follow which he did so with a bemused expression.

"What is it, Professor?" Charlus asked in confusion, running his hand through his messy hair nervously.

Dumbledore looked faintly amused and he tilted his head to one side, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Didn't you want to see how Mia was?" he asked and Charlus' mouth dropped open as he realised that the only place Euphemia could actually be would be Dumbledore's very own office, which was literally next door to the classroom he was currently in.

"Well, if you do - that's where I'm headed now and you're welcome to join me."

Charlus nodded eagerly, very fast on the uptake before he quickly composed himself and said, "Yeah, I do," as normally as he could manage.

Feeling strangely excited to see Mia but also incredibly worried to see the state she could be in, Charlus ran through the doorway in front of a chuckling Dumbledore who shook his head and muttered, "They'll work it out eventually," to himself.

This chapter is dedicated to a member of my church and Guides community who sadly passed away earlier this week. May you rest in peace, Emma - the sky has just gained the brightest star x