Professor Strange
Dumbledore decided to take out DADA out of the school's curriculum and replace it with a new subject that has never been taught before, the Mystic Arts. Doctor Strange was the first person Dumbledore had in mind to teach the subject.
Note: I do not own Harry Potter or Doctor Strange. They belong to Warner Bros, JK Rowling and Marvel Studios.
Now on with the story!
"Okay, so let me get this straight, you want me to be a professor at Hogwash? Even though the last time I was one was 5 years ago?" Strange says. "Yes, I believe you are the most fit person for this, your friend Wong believes so and its HogWARTS." Dumbledore says. "Yeah, of course he said that, he probably wants me out of his hair for a year and I apologize." Dumbledore is standing still with his hands forward, Strange is walking up and down, placing books back on to the right shelfs. "Let's say I accept the job, who will I be teaching?" Strange says. "You will be teaching all the students." Dumbledore says. "So I'll be teaching 13 to 17 year olds?" Strange says. "Give or take." Dumbledore says. "When I was a surgeon, I had to teach the fresh out of med school students for a while and it was a nightmare. They were impulsive, they wanted to add they're opinion and most times they were wrong and if they were really impulsive, they would almost get the patient killed because they either cut in the wrong place or they gave the patient the wrong dosage but thank God that never happened. If I can't teach a 24 year old, what makes you so sure I'll be better teaching a student that hasn't gone through puberty yet?"
Dumbledore takes a deep breathe and says "But with all due respect, you're not teaching human anatomy, you're teaching a subject that has never been heard to students before. And if I'm being honest, we are at the brink of war with a man who has killed countless people and I believe these students are his next victims if they aren't prepared for the worst." Dumbledore says with worry in his voice. Strange stands still for a minute and he sighs. "I'm gonna regret saying this but when does the school year start?" Dumbledore smiles under his beard. "It starts on September 1st." Strange says "you'll see me there but before you go I have to ask one more question." The two stare at each other for a moment. "Is there anyone I should be aware of, anyone that would cause trouble?" Dumbledore walks to Strange and pulls out a piece of parchment from his robes. "You'll find out who is on this list." Dumbledore hands him the parchment and Strange opens it. He is surprised to see it was relatively short. Just under 10 names. "Who's Harry Potter?" Strange raises an eyebrow. Dumbledore says with a grin "you'll find out September, Goodbye for now and you will receive a letter from one of my staff a week before term starts so you will know what to bring" and Dumbledore disapparates.
The Burrow
"BOYS! GINNY! YOU'RE LETTERS ARE HERE!" yells. Ron runs to railing and looks down. "THEY ARE! YES!" Ron starts to run down the stairs, multiple feet start pounding down the stairs. Ron was first; Fred, George and Ginny soon followed. They all finally make it downstairs and they see standing at the table with the letters in her plum, small hands. "Come, come! Open them!" She lays the letters on the table for everyone to grab, Fred and George grab theirs but constantly switch with each other. Ron is the first to open his letter. "It's the usual, the date of the first day and our book list." Fred and George finally open their letters and quickly read through the letters and then Ginny reads through her letter but when Ginny reads the book list, she frowns. "I don't think we have Defense Against The Dark Arts this year, the book list doesn't say anything about getting DADA books." Ginny says looking at the list and everyone else. "You're barking, we always have DADA, you must have skipped one of them" Ron says. "No I didn't, it says nothing about it." Ginny says with confidence
Ginny walks to to show her the list. goes through the list, over and over again. She too begins to frown after a minute of rereading. "She's right, I don't see the usual books." The boys stare at the list for over two minutes and then they see their error. "Yeah, you're right. It says nothing about DADA books, it's giving us a list of books I've never heard of before." says Ron. "Unfolding The Mystic Arts and Unknown Origins: The Mystic Arts. I've never heard of them and neither of the authors." Fred says. "Why would Dumbledore take out Defense Against the Dark Arts and replace it with this? That subject is vital for students." says. "Maybe Dumbledore finally caught on about how none of the DADA professors last more than a year." George says. "You mean the jinx?" Ginny replies. "It's possible or this new subject has more to teach us than DADA ever would." Ron chimes in and says "What?! Nothing can top DADA, it's the only subject worth learning." "If nothing can top DADA then why would Dumbledore replace it?" Ginny says. "I don't know, I guess we'll find out in September." Ron says. "I can't imagine how expensive the books will be, I better talk to your father about it.
Hermione's House
"Dear! Your letter is here!" walks to Hermione's room door. Hermione runs to open the door and attempts to open it but cannot open it. She struggles to open it but after a minute of trying to open the door, she realizes it's locked. "Oh." Hermione unlocks the door and her mother is on the verge of laughter. "It happened again didn't it?" Hermione looks down in defeat. "Yes, you know how excited I get when they come, finding out what books I'm going to read for the year." Hermione looks up at the ceiling and smiles like when Lockhart would pass by her. "Well maybe you can read a book about how doors work." says with a smirk. "Ha ha, can you please give me my letter." hands her the letter and Hermione walks to her desk. "Oh, I'm making sugar-free cookies, would you like to help me?" says with head peeking out the door. "In a bit, just let me go through this." Hermione says. "Okay, see you downstairs." closes the door and leaves Hermione by herself. Hermione opens her letter and reads the first paper.
Dear
We are pleased to inform you that a new term is almost here. Along with this
letter is a list of all the book you will need for the new term. When you look at
the book list, you will see no Defense Against the Dark Arts books are on this
list, this is not an error. We are pleased to inform you that you will be taking a
new subject. The Mystic Arts. This will count for your O.W.L. The Headmaster
will give more information at the First Term Feast.
Deputy Headmistress
Minerva McGonagall
"The Mystic Arts? I've heard that somewhere before." Hermione walks to her bookshelf and takes out one of the books. "It's got to be here somewhere." She flies through the pages until she stops on page 394. She sits on her bed and reads the small passage.
"Not many people know about this practice of magic. There are countless of reasons why this is not well known but through my findings, I've found two main reason. One, it is very complex, there are only a handful of wizards and witches who have mastered it and they say it takes decades to understand it. Two, though no one knows who exactly created this practice, it is said to had been created by a muggle and the creator made this practice made it available to anyone, muggle or magical. Because of this, many wizards and witches believe it is a mistake and no muggle should be able to learn how to perform any sort of magic so they stop learning it and want to forget it ever existed but there are still people who still practice it."
"So that's why they stopped but what is it? What makes it so complicated?" She thinks to herself. She continues reading through the book but finds nothing, the author doesn't mention it again. "Well, I'll find out when I go to Diagon Alley."
4 Privet Drive
Harry is in the kitchen, making breakfast for his Uncle and his grease loving cousin. "Hurry up boy and don't you dare burn the pancakes." Uncle Vernon yells from the dining table. "Yes, Uncle Vernon." sighs Harry. "And make 5 instead of 4, Harry!" Dudley yells. "One day he's going to burst like a pimple and it won't because of my magic." Harry thinks to himself. Harry's Aunt is not sitting at the dining table but is on the couch watching one of those shows that gossip about celebrities. Harry is making the 3rd pancake when he hears the letter flap on the door open. Aunt Petunia yells "Harry! The letters!" Harry didn't needed to be told twice, he was already at the door. It's almost the end of August and Harry still hasn't received his letter but today might be it. He picks up the letter and holds them like a deck of cards. He then stops and sees a tan envelop. "Please be it, please be it." Harry thinks to himself. He pulls the letter and sees the Hogwarts wax seal. "YES!" Harry says in a low voice. "Boy! The pancakes are burning!" Vernon yells. Harry rushes to the stove and sees the pancakes are almost about to burn. He flips them immediately and sees it's perfectly golden brown. His relatives don't like when his letter comes in the mail so Harry stuffs the letter in his pocket and waits for the other side of the pancakes to cook through.
Harry puts all the pancakes on a one plate and walks to dining table without dropping the lot. He sets the pancakes down on the table and the moment it lands, Vernon and Dudley grab them without looking. Vernon attempts to talk but pancakes and maple syrup block all sound. "What? Please swallow first." Vernon gets annoyed but he knows Harry is right. After two minutes of chewing, he swallows. "I said. Where is the mail and don't ever use that voice again!" Harry walks to the kitchen counter and grabs the mail. "Here Uncle Vernon." Vernon snatches the letters out of his hands and grumbles something about Harry. "Is that you need?" Harry asks. "Yes, that is all." Vernon says in a low voice. Harry quickly makes his way to his room and locks the door behind it. Harry rips the envelop and reads what Hermione read. "The Mystic Arts?" Harry groans. "It sounds a lot like Divination but with a cooler name." Harry thinks. "But I need DADA, its the one of the few good subjects." Harry thinks to himself.
Harry starts to pace in his room. He then hears a tap on his window. Last year, when Dobby dropped a cake on one some important visitors, Uncle Vernon bolted on an iron fence on Harry's window. A few days later, Fred, George and Ron used their dad's flying Ford Angelina to burst open Harry's window to escape. The iron fence cost him his week salary and he doesn't like spending money on Harry, unless it was on Dudley. So he wasn't going to buy and install another one. Harry opens the window and sees Errol, the Weasley's family owl. He was old and has to make constant breaks when traveling. He has trouble carrying packages but he does well with letters, which was exactly what he was holding in his beak. "Hi Errol, what do you have for me?" Harry says. He grabs the letter and opens Hedwing's cage for him to rest. Normally she doesn't like it when owls go in her cage while she's in there but she wasn't here, she was delivering a letter to Hermione. Harry looks at the letter and sees it's from Ron.
The letter says:
Hi Harry. I hope Errol gives you this when your letter came. Can you believe they took away DADA! George thinks the reason why is Dumbledore finally realized the jinx is real and took it off by taking DADA out. I hope it's better than DADA, I was miserable in that class and I hope the bloke who teaches us is good. Anyway, Mum wants you to come with us to Diagon Alley to get supplies for school. Dad was able to pull a few string to get you a ministry car to pick you up, we'll get you on August 31 and we'll sleep the night at the Leaky Cauldron. See you soon and send Errol back here as soon as he's ready, Percy needs it for "important ministry business". See you soon.
Harry pumps his hands in the air. "YES!" Harry yells but not too loud. Harry was worrying that he would have to ask Uncle Vernon to drive him to Diagon Alley and he doesn't know how to get to Diagon Alley. The first time he went to Diagon Alley when he was 11 and he doesn't remember how he got there. The second time he went to Diagon Alley was by Floo Powder with the Weasleys. Harry was excited, he was finally going to leave his relatives and be with with his best friend and his favorite family in the whole world. Harry calms himself down and decides to continue his homework. An hour pass and he's finally done with all of his assignments, even Snape's brutal assignment. Harry packs his homework back into his trunk and then he hears a hoot. It's Hedwing! Harry rushes to the window and strokes her feathers and she softly nibbles Harry's fingers. "Have a good trip?" Harry grabs the letter from her beak and she flies to the top of his dresser. She rather be on the dresser than cramped with Errol who is fast asleep. Harry sees it's from Hermione. It says:
Dear Harry
I hope your summer was great and I hope you like my cake, my parents don't like sugar so we make our own cake. I got Ron's letter about meeting at the Leaky Cauldron, my parents said I can go and they will drop me off there. I also got my letter from Hogwarts. I never thought they would take DADA out. I found out what we're learning and it's mysterious. I've only been able to find a little bit about it. Apparently, it's very difficult to master and the reason why we barely hear about it is because it was created by a muggle and wizards don't want muggles knowing they can learn it so they try to hide it by not teaching it. Whatever it is, I hope the professor teaching us is good. See you soon.
"Well no wonder I haven't heard of it." Harry thinks to himself. "Maybe the reason why it's difficult is because you need to say specific spells or it is some form of advance Transfiguraion." Harry thought. Harry looks at Errol and sees he's fully awake. He opens the cage and guides him to the window. "Time for you to go back home." He hoot and lifts off. As soon as he leaves, Hedwing goes back in her cage and soon falls asleep. Harry starts thinking about how he'll tell Uncle Vernon about leaving. "I'm pretty sure he'll agree, the sooner I'm gone, the more happier they'll be." Harry leaves his room and and makes his way to the living room. "I better soften him up first before I ask, I'll wash the dishes" Harry thinks and he starts washing the dishes. Dudley's dishes are clean but they we licked clean so he washes his even harder than the rest of them. Half an hour goes by and he finishes the dishes and quickly grabs Ron's letter from his room. He then finds Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia watching some soap opera. Harry walks up to Uncle Vernon and says "Umm Uncle Vernon, I have something to tell you." Vernon answers but doesn't turn his head to Harry. "You better have not broken something" he says. "I got my school letter this morning and it says when school starts." Harry's heart in pounding. "I have to get new books and" Harry is stopped by Uncle Vernon. "Are you asking me to pay for your nonsense?!" Harry immediately responds with "no, I already have the mon-" Aunt Petunia then interupts Harry. "Have you been stealing from Vernon's wallet?! Harry didn't expect this to go this way. "No, why would I steal from Uncle Vernon? All of his money goes to the house and Dudley." Harry is getting defensive. He knows this is all going south but he has to go. "She's right! How have you been able to pay for everything in your room! Your owl, the stupid broom!" "How could I steal from you? I'm constantly working and making food and isn't your wallet in your back pocket?!" Harry is regretting this. "You've probably been stealing from it when I'm eating!"
Vernon gets up from the couch but fails the first time. Dudley then comes down from his room to see all the commotion. At this point, you can see veins pop out of Uncle Vernon's forehead and if you go close enough, you can see it pulsing. "I don't need your money, I have my own." Uncle Vernon looks at Harry in confusion and he looks at Aunt Petunia. Then the most unexpected thing happens. They start laughing, even Dudley gets in on it. Uncle Vernon is on the verge of tears and Dudley is already on the floor. "You, you have money? HAHAHAHA From where?! Picking coins off the floor?! HAHAHAHA" Uncle Vernon is going red from laughter. Harry is doing his best from getting angry. "Before my parents died, they left me a small fortune, it was all they had. And even with that, I can buy your company if I wanted but the only thing stopping me from doing so is my school comes first." This shuts up everyone, Uncle Vernon is stunned.
Harry takes advantage of this silence to say what he wanted in the first place. "Now, what I was going to say before all this was my friend is going to pick me up before school so you don't have to take me to the train station and I'm asking for permission." Harry calms down and waits for Uncle Vernon's response and Harry was expecting Vernon to chase him. But no, after a minute, Uncle Vernon talks. "Very well, just go to your room." Harry didn't need to be told twice. And for the rest of the summer holidays, nothing happens. No yelling from Uncle Vernon and no bullying from Dudley. Harry did his best to avoid Uncle Vernon but when he did pass by him, not a grumble came out of him. On August 31, a car honks outside the house. "That's him!" Harry yells. Harry runs to his room to grab his trunk, Hedwing and his Nimbus 2000. Harry runs to the door but before he goes, Uncle Vernon tells Harry something he never heard him say. "Have a good school year." Harry takes a second to comprehend what he said so he quickly said "Thank you, see you soon." and Harry walks to the car. Harry rushes to the car and he sees the people in the car. He sees Ron,Hermione, Mr and and Fred.