Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Written for the The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 2
Team:Caerphilly Catapults
Position: Chaser 3
Theme (for round 2)A little Appearance: (for Catapults) Professor Mcgonagall scolding
Optional Prompts used : (word) wonderful, (quote) "So many books, so little time." ― Frank Zappa, (word) friction
I looked around platform 9 ¾ once again; Shobha had not yet arrived, and Mark refused to go inside without her, much to Leticia, his girlfriend's annoyance.
"If you wait any longer, there won't be a single compartment empty." I protested, at which all my friends nodded, except Mark, who shot me with a heated glare.
"Zoya's right, Mark," Karl said, "We should go in now, or else we'd have to split up and sit wherever we get place."
"One more minute…"Mark started again, which was interrupted by Jisha's squeak, "She's here! She's here! Finally!" she said, pointing at a familiar, oddly dressed family at the other end of the platform. And true enough, we could see our tall, slightly plum, Asian friend hugging her little brother, and then doing her odd ritual of touching her parents and grandfather's feet.
"Now that she's here, can't she just hurry up? Does she have to do all that here?" Leticia whined.
"It's her culture, Leticia! Do you have a problem with that?" Mark retorted, which got his girlfriend close to tears. "And here she comes!" I smiled seeing Mark's joy. He spends almost every waking hour with Shobha; whenever he isn't snogging his latest girlfriend that is! Summer is always a nasty separation for the two, since Shobha's grandfather forbids her from visiting him and does not let hime have an easy time if he dares come over.
"Hello guys!"Shobha said cheerfully, and pulled me and Jisha into a hug; Mark and Karl would surely get one later, out of her grandfather's watchful eye. "I missed you all so much! Oh… Leticia! How was your summer?"She added, acknowledging Marks latest love interest as an afterthought.
I saved Leticia from having to answer the girl, who she unnecessarily considered her rival and said, "Let's get in now, and what got you so late anyway, Shobha?"
"Oh! I was reading, and lost track of time." She replied lightly, "Ma was horribly mad! Everyone was ready to leave, and they found me with my transfiguration book, and hadn't even had a bath! She calmed down though, since I was about to leave and all, and anyway, you can't blame me, there is so much to do this year!" I and Jisha shared a smile, some things never change. "I still have to do two more chapters in transfiguration, three in charms and six it potion!" she ranted as we all filed in the train.
Karl laughed, "You do know that we are supposed to study in school term, right? And do something called 'relaxing' in summer."
"But it's our OWLs year! And on top of it we are not having Professor Potter anymore!"
"WHAT!?" Leticia squealed suddenly.
"Don't tell me don't know, Lets" Mark said sweetly. "It's all around the news…"
"You would surely know who our new Minister is, "Jisha added in a mocking tone.
"Who is our new Minister?" Leticia asked innocently.
"PROFESSOR POTTER!" We all answered in a union, everyone knows that!
I rejoiced the moment Leticia lost her voice for a while, digesting her newly acquired information, which happens to be the only topic of conversation for the rest of the wizarding world.
"Wow! That's wonderful" She said at last.
"Wonderful?" Shobha exclaimed. "It's our OWLs year!"
I had to agree with her there. Professor Potter is one of the most brilliant teachers I know; there was a running rumor that he was to be the next headmaster after Professor Longbottom, which would have been great! And a bit ironic too, "He was to be our headmaster soon; I was looking forward for it, the irony and all," I said.
Everyone gave me questioning glances, Leticia was totally at loss, but Jisha laughed; at least my best friend can understand my humor. "Right, Zoya!" She said, "Professor Albus Severus Potter's painting would have looked excellent beside Professor Snape and Professor Dumbledore's one day!" This got everyone smiling, except Leticia, "Why? Are they related?" she asked stupidly.
"How thick can you be?" Karl asked unkindly, at which Mark scolded, because he had too "Oi! Be nice." Then he turned to his girlfriend and explained amiably, "You see dear, Professor Potter, who is Albus Severus Potter, is named after two of Hogwarts headmasters, Albus Dumbledore, and Severus Snape. That's why, Zoya finds it ironic if Professor Potter ended up as the headmaster, which is not going to happen now since he is the Minister; understood?"
"I see…" She said slowly. My! The girl is really thick.
"No compartments empty." I Shobha announced, who had gone ahead to check, "You're fault."Karl said sotto voce, to which she paid no attention and continued, "There's one with a lone old man; we can get that if we hurry."
We all nodded and silently followed her lead, while Jisha muttered something about old men not supposed to be in Hogwarts Express.
After Shobha had politely asked if we could share the compartment, we silently settled down. I being the last in, was left with the seat beside the man, with Jisha next to me, while Shobha, Mark, Leticia and Karl sat on the other side, and Leticia almost on Mark's lap. "Honestly Shobha, how can you call him old? He seems hardly forty!" Mark exclaimed loudly, making Shobha blush and give the man in front of her an apologetic look. She buried her nose in her DADA textbook, which she had produced as soon as she sat down.
"Thank you sir, but I am actually sixty-one." The man said warmly, peaking out of his newspaper, and gave Mark a short bow. His smile lighten up his face, which totally contradicted his statement, I would have guessed him younger too. He had brown hair, balding at the temples, and intelligent blue eyes which twinkled as he spoke.
"I am sorry sir." Shobha said meekly.
"Oh no, I have grandchildren, and that warrants to be called old." He said, and got back to his newspaper.
Soon Mark and Leticia started doing their disgusting business, while Jisha and Karl took to playing the staring-at-each-other-without-letting-each-other-know game, Shobha frantically started reading.
"I am sure we don't have a test as soon as we enter, Shobha, so cut that out!" I said.
"It's our OWLs year!" she said the third time.
"So are you going to spend every minute studying or something?"I asked, "And hey, you said you are done with defense."I said, seeing that she had her DADA textbook out. That was the only book I read fully, it was better to be prepared, with Professor Potter leaving and all.
"It was the first thing I read, but I think I should revise it."She explained looking up, and then suddenly shook her head. "You are right! I should finish all the books I haven't done yet, and then get back to defense, I'll do potions then I think."And she started digging in her trunk for the potions book. I rolled my eyes, but dropped the topic. Only Mark can separate Shobha from her books, and he was quite busy right now.
"I wish the new teacher would be any good," I said.
"No one can be as good as Professor Potter," Karl declared.
"Well, mum says Professor Longbottom was cool too. Dad swears she had a crush on him," Jisha said.
"Anyone know who it is, the new guy?" I asked.
"Professor Lupin" Shobha supplied without lifting her head, I noticed she was still reading the DADA textbook. Oh well!
"Lupin?"Mark asked, pulling away from Leticia. "Heard the name somewhere."
"Order of Merlin First Class, Remus John Lupin; died in the second Wizarding War." Shobha answered automatically.
"And the only werewolf to receive an Order of Merlin," the man added with feeling. I had forgotten he was even there. I nodded politely, and then asked, no one in particular "You don't think our guy is related to him, do you?"
"Don't be stupid," Karl said. "He was a werewolf, he can't have kids."
"But he did. He is also the only werewolf to have reproduced." Shobha said.
"Is he now?" Mark said, "And what was his kid's name?"
"How will I know?"Shobha said, getting snappy, "I haven't done a thesis on Remus Lupin's life you know."
"Of course you didn't." Mark said sarcastically.
Shobha huffed and said, "And stop disturbing me! I have a lot of reading to get done."
"Look here, you should relax…"
"Relax? There are so many books, so little time."
"You have all year." Mark countered.
"Mark, you don't understand! Some of this stuff is really difficult; we even have the Patronum charm this year_", "Cool!"Karl put in, "_and no Professor Potter!"
"Yeah! And this Loopy guy, instead…" I said. I saw the man raise an eyebrow at me, but I was too aggravated to bother about him.
"Don't worry Zoya, he won't stay for long," Mark said. I could sense he was plotting something, which got me grinning.
"Are we going to scare him away?"Jisha asked excitedly.
"Don't be stupid. Mark is going to write him an application, requesting him to leave at the earliest convenience," Karl said with mock seriousness, which got all of us, including Shobha laughing.
"Hear this," Mark said suddenly, and started singing,
"Loony Loony Lupin
You mind-numbing scrawny queen,
We'll lift you with a paper pin,
And shove you right into the bin,
Loony Loony Lupin!"
I found myself laughing along with everyone else, but then there was Leticia! She whooped and clapped and jumped into Marks lap, "Can you make this ring in the great hall… Oh! It would be so wonderful!" She begged.
"Certainly not!" Shobha said sternly, "As funny as your childish third grade rhyme is, it is utterly insulting, and anyway, it's not getting Professor Potter back!"
"I refuse to attend lecture by any other teacher! Then they'll have to bring him back!" Karl declared; at which Shobha gave him a disbelieving look.
"That's the most stupid thing I have heard and Mark my word Mark Williams, you. are. not. singing. that. ridiculous thing in the great hall!"Shobha ordered pointing her finger sternly at the two boys.
"Ridiculous? I think it's perfect!"Leticia said airily, "And why would Mark listen to you anyway?"
Shobha smiled evilly at her, and turned to Mark, "Mark?"
"Well, I won't if you say so…" he said evenly, which quite surprised me; even though usually he ends up listening to Shobha, he never gives in so easily, that that must have hurt Leticia pretty bad. Ouch!
"And what about what I say?" Leticia demanded.
Mark gave her his best puppy eye look, "Well, I always listen to Shobha, you know that." That's not good! What was he doing? Leticia was about to cry…
"Then why don't you just date her?" Leticia asked through her tear, shifting away from her boyfriend.
"Well I can't date her till she's twenty or something, unless I want to meet a very painful death," he said, as off-handedly as he was commenting on the weather. I gasped, and Jisha grabbed my hand; we had always known that Mark was in love with Shobha, but never really accepted it to admit it anytime soon, and obviously not like this!
Leticia took one look at Shobha whose expression was quite indescribable and stormed out of the compartment.
"Should we go after her?" I whispered to Jisha.
"I will," she offered, and followed her out.
Shobha was still looking at her best friend in disbelieve, while Karl did in awe. The person in question was busy staring at the ceiling.
"That was quite a rude breakup for the poor girl, young man," the man said quite firmly, breaking the silence.
"Well, at least I didn't dump her…" He offered uncertainly, slightly ashamed of his action, now that a stranger was questioning him, but I knew it was too much to hope for, because the next thing he said was, "Hey! And you should all thank me for this… she used to annoy you all, didn't she?"
We all just gave him a look; we didn't exactly like having her around, but I had to admit that I actually like her, or maybe pity her… I don't know! Oh well! I hope Jisha manages to calm her down. The man shuddered his shoulders and got interested in the greenery outside, which I had to admit, was interesting! While Shobha continued to glare sternly at her best friend. When he finally decided to sneak a glance at her, he grinned at her sheepishly.
"Please repeat that again Mark." She ordered dangerously.
"Uhmm…"
"Don't you dare use me, Mark! Don't you dare use me as a tool to get rid of your girlfriends_"
"Hey! I meant it." He said. I and Karl were staring at the two with disbelieve. This so isn't happening!
"I like you Shobha…but I know you won't date anyone yet."
Shobha narrowed her eyes and got back to her book, "I would date, Mark, if I find the right guy." She informed him.
"Then would you go out with me." Mark asked hopefully with hesitation, I glanced at the door, hoping Jisha comes back soon; this was too good to miss.
"No," she answered shortly.
"But why?" he exclaimed.
"You are my best friend!"
"All the more reason we should date!"
"No! I know you enough, to never even think of it!"
"Madam Hermione Weasley married her best friend." Mark argued. I rolled my eyes, while Karl looked away to suppress a smile. If one thing Shobha and Mark loved most, was studying the war, and Hermione Weasley was their idol.
"The said best friend didn't have a new girlfriend every week." Shobha retorted.
"You don't know that."
"I am quite sure about it though!"
And Jisha decided this was the right moment to make her entrance.
"Leticia would survive," She declared, which startled everyone. "And who didn't have a new girlfriend every week?" She asked.
"Ronald Weasley." I told her.
She dropped beside me, "Help us, Merlin!" she exclaimed dramatically. "Now that Shobha is finally talking something mainstream, she is discussing a historical leader's love life."
"He is not historical!" Shobha and the man said together.
"You will still find dear old Mr. and Mrs. Weasley bickering away." the man added fondly.
Shobha laughed, "Right you are, sir!" she said, "But if, you don't mind me asking, why are you in Hogwarts Express?"
He smiled, "I have to meet your old headmaster, and since I hate to apparate, and whenever I try to floo, I end up covered in ash, he allowed me to travel in the train. Ah! And it feels wonderful to be back!"
"You were a student here!"Karl exclaimed, but I wonder what he found surprising; almost every wizard or witch I know is a Hogwart-ian.
"Of course I was!" the man said enthusiastically, "that too in the good old days of Professor McGonagall, Neville taught me Herbology; he sure do know his thing!"
Mark got excited at hearing the Professor's name; another historical leader I guess! "You mean Minerva Mcgonagall?"The man nodded, "Cool! She was there in both the Wizarding Wars!"
"Scary…" the man said with a shiver. "You don't want to get on her wrong side."
"I can guess," I said, while Jisha smiled at me, obviously remembering the same incident "Even the headmaster's scared of her." I remembered the one time I ended up in the headmaster's office; that was when Mark had accioed Professor Figgle's hairpins, and on being asked, modestly gave us all the credit. We could hear Mcgonagall tell Longbottom off, for getting some muggle scientific fact wrong which messed up some advanced potion, "How foolish can you be Professor Longbottom! You would have increased the flame any higher, the friction of the particles could have burst the cauldron! You should have some muggle knowledge, at least to understand something as simple as this!"She ranted along, while our headmaster listened meekly. He even let us off quite leniently; obviously embarrassed about us hearing his admonishment.
"Do you want help with that?" the man asked Shobha suddenly.
"Pardon, with what?"
"You are reading the patronum charm from quite a long time, why not try it out?"
"Can you do it?"Mark asked him.
"Obviously," he took out his wand, and wordlessly produced a beautiful wolf patronus.
"Can you teach us?"Shobha asked, almost begged, "It would be really helpful since we don't have our teacher too this year."
He laughed, and nodded, agreeing to teach her, "I am sure you have a new teacher; and a protanum takes time to learn, I will help you, whoever wants to learn, but later you'd have to depend on your teacher to perfect it."
"Oh! Please do!" This surprisingly came from Karl.
"Alright then, wands out."
And then we spend a merry hour trying to get some result, I didn't manage to produce much of it, but Shobha and Mark were far ahead, their argument forgotten. Teddy, as he called himself, was a wonderful teacher. He was wise, and had a vast knowledge about the war, much to Shobha's delight. We enjoyed his lively anecdotes, of the time when he first attempted to learn the charm in question, which encouraged us to try again after failing.
"I wish you were our teacher," I said softly, which was met with a silence, until Mark jumped out of his seat, and punched in the air, "Exactly Zoya!"Then to Teddy, "Sir, you have to come and teach us as our DADA teacher! You just have too!"
"Stop being stupid, Mark," Shobha said softly, she too must have been delighted with the idea of someone as wonderful as Teddy teaching us, but sadly, she is one of the realistic type. "Teddy would surely have a job, and what about Professor Lupin?"
"Well, I don't have a job at the moment."Teddy said
"Hooray!"Karl yelled, jumping off his seat too, "And don't worry about Lupin; we'll get rid of him! In twenty-four hours at the most."
With Jisha leaning over me, we were almost ganging up on poor Teddy, blocking Shobha out of view.
"But you have to understand, Neville would never agree_" Teddy started.
"Oh Please!"Jisha begged, "He too would have to agree how wonderful you are."
"But that would sound rude, nominating myself for a position already filled."
"Then we will nominate you!" I said confidently.
"But_"
"No buts; you are teaching us!"
"But_"
"NOOOO!"
And this continued all the way till Hogwarts, after which we literally dragged the poor man with us, with Shobha trailing behind, muttering that it's all a bad idea.
We were just about to push Teddy into a carriage, when young Ginny Malfoy came racing towards us, calling for Teddy at the top of her voice. We could see a large smile form on his face, as he opened his arms, in which he wrapped the little girl lovingly as soon as she reached him.
"Oh Teddy, It has been ages since I saw you! I missed you so so much! Why didn't you tell me you were travelling in Hogwarts Express? You could have sat with me! My friend would have been delighted!"
"Me too, princess, I missed you too… and you don't want an old man with you, surely." He said pulling away from the hug.
"Oh Teddy!" She said again; someone might thing that 'Oh' is a part of his name!
"And now it's not Teddy anymore is it? Come on Professor Lupin, you have to meet my friends, sir" She said with a grin, and giggled, tugging at his sleeve to follow her.
And he dutifully did; not without giving us a mock salute.
All we could do was stare.