Author's note:
This is a casual fanfic I wrote during my finals week when my brain needed a break. I am not a professional author, I am not pretending to be one. I simply enjoy writing and had an easy outlet with the stress of my exams. I don't know if it is worth writing more, at this time that choice is entirely up to the people who read this.
I welcome constructive criticism, I tried to keep the tone of the piece as similar to Ms. Rowling herself.
Apologies for any spelling and grammar errors.
Mischief Managed
If he was being really honest with himself, really truly honest, Sirius was growing tired of Wormtail. It was not his ineptitudes in the classroom, or his continuously deteriorating appearance, it was just the whining.
James had Lily now, and it was of Pettigrew's belief that if he too had a girlfriend, his life would be elevated to the status of the head boy's.
Of course he would never tell Peter, or any of the Marauders. It was their senior year, Remus was almost free of the scrutiny of Hogwarts's parents, and they wouldn't need Wormtail to prod the Whomping Willow to stash away their friend, he could just find a big open field or something. Sirius could stick out a bit of petty jealousy for Remus's sake.
"Oi, Potter," Sirius nudged his best friend, who had been staring lovingly at Lily's profile like an idiot.
"Hm?" James twitched and turned to face Sirius. They were waiting in the Defense of Dark Arts classroom for their new professor to arrive,
"Do you think she got it?" Sirius grinned wickedly
"Got what?" Lily asked, giving James a look Sirius was beginning to associate more and more with his mother.
"Nothing darling," James smiled quickly,
"Nothing darliiiiing," Sirius mocked
"It doesn't sound like nothing," Lily pointed her chin at Sirius, "what are you two playing at-"
The door to the back of the classroom snapped open, and in trotted a very breathless, very wet young woman.
Sirius and James grinned manically at each other.
"Hey, sorry everybody, just a sec" The bedraggled woman muttered as she strode hastily to the front of the classroom, her boots squishing a wet march rhythm. She reached the front and dumped a pile of massive books on the professor's desk. She then whirled around, curly hair flinging water droplets everywhere, and faced at the class of seventh years, makeup running slightly.
"Good morning everyone!" The young professor said, slightly out of breath, "I apologize for my tardiness, my room was flooded,"
Sirius and James simultaneously collapsed in a fit of giggles.
"James!" Lily hissed, slapping her boyfriend on the shoulder, James looked at her, his eyes swimming with tears, lip quivering with suppressed laughter. Lily bit back the slightest of grins at the sight of her boyfriend's mirth, then pointed to the back of the classroom. Professor McGonagall was surveying their new professor from the doorway, lips already pursed. James swallowed his laughter and motioned for Sirius to look. Sirius caught Remus's eye from the desk behind him. Remus gave a good-natured sigh and eye roll at Sirius's prank.
Upon introduction of the new DADA teacher last night in the Great Hall, and her inaugural speech, making a light joke on the perpetually rainy weather of England, Sirius and James had charmed a tiny cloud from the Great Hall's ceiling to her office, sputtering all manner of inclement weather.
It wasn't their best work, but it was their first day back, this was a warm up. Sirius was eager to see how far they could push the envelope this year. It would be difficult with Potter falling further head-over-heals for Lily by the minute, and Remus's unfortunate new habit of worrying over his WOMBATs, but Sirius was still confident they could pull off a spectacular seventh year.
"These insane clouds you have in your hall," The professor continued as she wrung out her hair, rainwater piddling on the floor about her boots, "One must have gotten lost and stuck in my office. I came in this morning to find it dumping hail and sleet all over my floor! I didn't have time to get into the professor's costume, I just barely saved my notes from drowning, so, sorry for the informal get up." She spoke in a rapid American accent. The entire class gave a courtesy giggle. Their new professor shrugged off her leather jacket to reveal a tight black t-shirt only barely concealing ample breasts.
"Mate," Sirius leaned back and tapped Moony's desk, "Ever seen a pair like that in London?" he grinned
"Pervert," Lily hissed. Remus flushed and shook his head rapidly,
"They don't make them that big in London, you need to go to Brazil," James added, earning another disapproving smack on the shoulder from Lily. He responded by quickly kissing her hand and winking.
At the front of the room the new professor snapped both of her fingers and her entire body steamed for few seconds, thoroughly drying her clothes.
There was an impressed whisper from a few of the students.
Another snap and her makeup retreated up her face to its proper resting place on her eyelids.
The new professor tugged her now dried and frizzy curls into a haphazard bun atop her head and nodded to herself, satisfied.
"Let me preface this class with an important rule: as evidenced by my entrance today, there are undoubtedly going to be distractions and circumstances, forces of nature, that will prevent you from arriving exactly where you need to be at exactly when you need to be. I understand that. So if any of you are ever late to my class, do not take that as a signal to skip the entire session, I will be just as understanding, so long as you have a decent excuse." More mummers from the class.
"So!" the professor spun to face the chalkboard, "My name is Abigael Allrisen," She scrawled her name in large white letters, "Your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I respond to 'Abigael' or 'Abs', but I prefer that my students refer to me as Abigael-"
"Professor," McGonagall interrupted from the back of the classroom. The entire class turned to face their house head.
"Pardon?" Abigael asked, the class's head swiveling back,
"Here in Hogwarts, students refer to their teachers as professor. I don't want my house getting the wrong idea that they may refer to any of their instructors on such-" McGonagall stared directly at the three marauders, "casual terms," Sirius half-winced half-grinned.
"Oh, uh, alright then!" Abigael clapped her hands together, "You may refer to me as Professor Allrisen. As you can all see, Professor McGonagall is joining us today, she has been very kind and offered to assist me in my transition to your country and introduction to the faculty. I only landed in England a few days ago, and arrived at Hogwarts the morning before your train."
Something about the terse expression on McGonagall's face strongly suggested to Sirius that her service had not been assigned voluntarily. Still, Sirius was admittedly a little impressed. He had suffered six different DADA professors in his time, all men. None were particularly bad per say, but none had grabbed his attention like this one.
"Just a little bit about myself:" Allrisen continued, "I am 21 years young as of next week, from what I understand I'm actually the youngest defense against the dark arts professor Hogwarts has had in several generations. I am a virgo for those of you who care. I am obviously, from America, where I studied at Illvermorny. Following an early graduation, I traversed that great nation as a guard, tamer of beasts and handler of rare artifacts for the famed Ringling Brothers' Circus. I enjoy good music, a hearty meal, and modern cinematography. Finally, I am here to teach you all how to protect yourselves from dark forces. From what I understand-" Professor Allrisen glanced and McGonagall, who gave the tiniest of nods, "Now more than ever, young people need that,"
A shiver ran through the seventh-year gryffindors. You Know Who was in the Prophet every other day, the dark mark was cropping up in every photo. Adverts for missing persons were starting to grow in size and number. Sirius clenched his jaw at the thought of his brother and his cousin, running around with that lot, cursing everything they could get their hands on.
To Sirius's left, James gave Lily's hand a soft squeeze.
"I was brought in for a very specific reason that I left out of my speech last night for the sake of the youngsters, but you guys are my advanced class, almost legal adults. You all are more than capable of hearing the truth, and frankly, you need to know it to understand the seriousness with which I take with this course," Allrisen began slowly pacing the front of the hall, that atmosphere growing grim.
"It is of the belief of your headmaster, that in these troubling times, ulterior methods of self-defense may become necessary." there were a few nods of agreement, "While your wand is your key to magic, it should not also be a lock on your magical capacities." A few students glanced around nervously, "Wands can be stolen, wands can be broken, god forbid either. But in that relatively likely event, you should not be rendered powerless, or count on the availability of another wand to function perfectly."
"Which!" Allrisen brightened suddenly, "Is the exact reason I'm here! To teach you all new kinds of magic specifically without a wand, new tricks that can come in handy in a pinch. As an American, I was educated in a very different manner of magic that focuses heavily on these practices. The American culture is built differently than here, and consequentially, our magic was too.
"We'll keep things simple today with a quick history lesson. Can anybody tell me anything about America's birth?" Every head in the room turned to Lily Evans.
Lily raised her hand grudgingly,
"You're the smart one here aren't you?" Professor Allrisen observed, "Miss-"
"Evans, Lily Evans," Lily said, blushing a little, "America was founded in 1776 with the signing of the-"
"I'm so sorry to interrupt you miss Evans," Professor Allrisen cut over her, "but I asked for America's birth, not its foundation," many of the students' eyes widened. The first day of class, and the head girl had already given an incorrect answer. Even McGonagall arched an eyebrow,
"Oh," Lily said quietly,
"Not that you didn't do a lovely job," Allrisen said hastily, sensing her student's dejection, "I am very impressed that you knew about another country's history, lord knows I don't," Lily did not look much encouraged, "Y'know what? Just for knowing the year? Ten points to Gryffindor!" Allrisen announced. Lily brightened a little, "Can we try again? Do you know anything from before the Revolution? Who were the first people England sent over there?"
"The original settlers of America included pilgrims seeking religious freedom, Dutch trading companies, and Atlantic plantation companies who had exhausted the nearby Caribbean region's resources," Lily said, reciting some line she had read in some book somewhere late at night probably,
"Another ten points to Gryffindor!" Allrisen declared, "five more if you can tell me who was already there when Europeans got there," Lily raised her hand again, encouraged by the growing animation of their professor,
"The American Indians were already there," she added.
"American Indians is a bit of a misnomer, but you have the right idea," Allrisen nodded, "five more points! For future reference please refer to the indigenous peoples of America as Native Americas. We call them Indians because the European explorers thought they had reached the other side of India in circumnavigating the globe, and didn't think to ask," The class chuckled at this. Allrisen turned to the chalkboard and wrote "Puritans, Native Americans, slaves"
"The Puritans who colonized the northern parts of America, No Majs, or whatever the English term is, feared and abhorred magic. They would execute anything that even remotely resembled mysticism. Houses were searched specifically for wands, and the penalty was swift and unrelenting death. Occasionally magicfolk would be tortured or be forced to watch their loved ones suffer to extract information on the whereabouts of fellow wizards," on the board professor Allrisen wrote "Magic = DEATH" next to Puritans. "witches and wizards would practice in secret, deep in the forrest, working as quietly as they could, and as much as they dared."
"As I mentioned earlier, your wands are your channels of magical power, they can focus it into specific spells for specific uses, but wands are a European invention and outside of your continent, most people do not use them. The natives who were already in America," Allrisen continued, "had never seen magic as something to be controlled. The magical and non-magical members of the various nations lived in harmony, with wizard-folk revered as healers and spiritual leaders. Magic was not a tool for them so much as a sense. Their magic came from nature and was one with nature. They drew strength from the animals and plants that carried magic with them. Some of the most potent potions in the world are derived from Native American recipes."
"Native American magic was less powerful, but more present. It seeped in and out of the earth, enchanting their entire land to grow food exponentially, communicate with animals, speak freely with the dead, the list goes on and on!" Professor Allrisen added "earth magic" to the board,
"And finally slaves," Allrisen concluded. There was slight shifting among the students. Professor Allrisen was clearly the product of this heritage. "Slaves were forbidden by their masters from practicing magic obviously. African cultures of magic are as varied as the languages spoken there, and the slaves taken from all over Africa blended their words together to form new dialects and magics in secret. Africans began using talismans, inanimate object imbibed with magical forces that did not need verbal spells to activate. They stifled their languages and culture and learned how to preform magical rituals silently or with help from Native cultures. The resulting hybrid was a practice of patchwork rituals and modified herbal remedies, what is referred today as voodoo,"
Allrisen wrote "voodoo" on the board then set the chalk down.
"What do all of these practices have in common?" She asked.
Silence.
"They didn't use wands," Professor McGonagall supplied,
"Yes! Thank you professor!" With another snap of her fingers, the board was cleared. Allrisen wrote in massive letters, "NO WANDS", "In many cases, spells and wands became extinct. Magic was practiced with the physical body as a conduit for energy, without words spoken,"
"Now obviously this trend did not stay in the modern world, but the practices have left their marks," Allrisen paced again, "Modern American Wizards often refrain from verbally speaking spells, and our magic is expressed much differently," In a sudden grandiose gesture, Allrisen clapped her hands, and a miniature explosion of golden fireworks erupted at the front of the room. A few students shrieked, most jumped. Sirius laughed.
"My task, as I see it, is to specifically educate you in the these practices with the intent that you then use this magic to defend yourselves. For you, my advanced-level seventh year students, our syllabus includes higher-level silent spell casting, anatomical magical projections, that's what this is-" another clap, another shower of sparks, these ones green and blue, "also earth magic acuity, and complex talisman creations for practical uses,"
"Wow," James breathed to Sirius, "This is like real world stuff that we can actually use!"
"Yeah, I can send my mum a bouquet of roses that'll bite her face off," Sirius whispered back. The pair chuckled.
"Tonight's assignment," Allrisen announced to a collective groan, "Is to research the history of earth magic studies in Americas and Asia, and come up with five talisman ideas with reasonable uses for self-defense. I'll end class a little early because I need to dry off my books for the other classes for assigned readings. Dismissed! Have a lovely first day! I look forward to teaching all of you!" Chairs scooted across the floor as students began packing their bags,
"Oh wait! I need to see-" Allrisen squinted at a smudged note she had written on her hand, "James Potter, Lily Evans, and Remus Lupin," Sirius stared at his friends. Each of them looked confusedly back at him.
"What did you do now?" Sirius asked in mock admonishment in an attempt to sooth the discomfort that came with uncertainty.
"Probably wants to have a chat about the ugly bloke who couldn't stop staring at her neckline in class," James retorted. The three boys laughed out loud, and Lily gave a good-natured chuckle.
"Come along Mr. Black" McGonagall called from the doorway, "If I were you I would want as much time to prepare for your first day of transfigurations with me,"
"I'll see you in a bit," Sirius winced, "try not to get us expelled on the first day," he cautioned James. He patted Reums on the back and gave Lily an overly charming smile, the exited.
Professor Allrisen gave a little wave at her books. They splayed open and began fanning their pages back and forth to dry themselves.
"I already know Lily, which ones are you?" She asked as the three teenagers approached her desk.
"James Potter,"
"Remus Lupin,"
"Great! Head boy, head girl, and our special friend," Allrisen pointed at each of them in turn.
As her finger aimed at Lupin, he felt a heavy clot form in his chest. His new teacher had not cursed him, although that seemed almost preferable as he realized exactly what this was about.
The new professor had heard about the werewolf in her class and was about to read him some variation of the same riot act he had gotten from every professor for the past six years, promising not to tolerate any sort of violence in the classroom.
Remus had grown almost numb to the suspicious glares or sneers of outright disgust he got from most adults. Each new professor had taken him to the side at one point and hissed threats of expulsion if he ever stepped out of line or so much as thought about hurting another student.
Amidst the fireworks and flamboyance of the first lecture, Remus had almost hoped this professor was different.
Almost.
"So Mr. Lupin, from what I understand, you have a condition," Allrisen said. Remus suppressed an exasperated eye roll and mustered up his most demure voice,
"Yes professor, I promise you I will in no way attempt to harm anyone in this school. Professor Dumbledore has a safe space for me to go when I need, and I have never once had any sort of incident and I have every intention to keep that record clean," Remus said flatly.
"Oh, well thank you for that information," Allrisen said,
"Professor, I have known Moony-Imean-Remus for several years, I can vouch as his friend and head boy that he would never ever-" Jame started
"I'm sure you have Potter, but I'm not afraid of him hurting someone. Dumbledore told me, as he has told every professor every year, about his arrangement." Allrisen said, "I wrangled Glawackuses and Hodags for a traveling circus, I doubt that your friend poses any real threat to me or my classroom."
All three students blinked in unison.
"I just wanted to discuss any special accommodations I may be able to make for you in my class this year,"
Another round of blinks,
"You're not threatening me?" Lupin asked, stunned into candidness,
"Oh god no!" Allrisen chuckled, "Like I said, I'm not afraid of you, but I do understand that you are in a difficult position." she looked Remus directly in the eye now.
"You are a werewolf Mr. Lupin, we have to acknowledge that. I'm not blaming you for your situation, I highly doubt you specifically asked to be a werewolf, but you are and therefore we must factor it into our equation. It's not your fault, and because it is not your fault I believe that the responsibility falls to the teacher, me, to ensure that you are given the resources you need to ensure that this condition does not in any way impend your success in this class."
Remus didn't realize that he was tearing up until James put his hand around his shoulder and Lily came around the other side to hug him fully. Once he felt his friends around him, the tears began to gush, unlike any kind of crying he had done in a while.
Not once, had any teacher ever, told him that it was not his fault. Not once. Several even outrightly blamed him for his own disease, treating a scared kid away from his family like a criminal, already sentenced. One moment he had steeled himself for a verbal battery, the next, years of pent up feelings of self-loathing were released.
"Professor," Remus wiped at his nose, all pretenses washed away, "I just want to let you know, how th-thankful I am-" The rest of the words were lost to a bought of stifled sobs,
"I already know, I promise," Allrisen said gently, "I don't know if you are aware of the political climate of the United States right now, but persecution is not a new concept for me," Lupin stared at his professor. Her dark eyes gleamed back at him, and Remus knew, she understood.
He had listened to his father's accounts of some of the American Wizards who came to the ministry, how backwards some of them still spoke of matters.
"Here," Allrisen made a snatching motion, and pulled a handkerchief out of the air and handed it to Lupin, "take a moment, I ended class early because I didn't know how long this conversation would take," Lupin hastily wiped at his tears and swallowed quickly, determined to compose himself.
"I asked your friends to stay because as head boy and girl, they are your house's liaisons to the professors, so I am tasking them with helping you with your accommodations if needed," Allrisen looked at Lily and James, "You guys understand?" Lily nodded, on the verge of empathetic tears herself. Of course she would never understand the outright abuse Lupin had faced, but she was beginning to see parallels as the term "Mudblood" was being thrown around more and more casually.
"We already have an arrangement set up," James added, "Just a few of our friends,"
"I'm guessing your pal who wouldn't stop staring at my neckline had something to do with it?" Allrisen asked. Lupin let out a croaking laugh at that remark. All three of them giggled softly.
"Anyways, I want to hear your ideas Mr. Lupin, anything about the current system that you would like changed to help accommodate your 'cycles'? I was thinking just basics, not assigning a ton of homework directly before full moons or having papers due directly after them?"
"Th-that would be very helpful," Lupin said. That had become a problem more and more as his classes had intensified. There was one memorable incident last year where Remus blacked out from exhaustion halfway through a magical history pop quiz, drooling all over his ink and failing spectacularly.
"Maybe extra hours to review material that might be missed?" Lily added,
"Oh of course! Feel free to come by any time for private reviews if you want Lupin. I was planning on having hours for open discussions with anybody, but we can set up a time if you don't want to have to compete for talking time,"
"Yes, thank you" Lupin said into the hanky. He looked at his professor again, and amidst the waterfall of emotions currently falling through him, a truly beautiful idea arose.
"Professor, I don't suppose, do the Native Americans have any cures?" Even as he said it, he could see the apology form on Allrisen's lips.
"I'm so sorry, but I can't cure you," Lupin ducked his head, determined not to start crying again. Stupid of him for asking, stupid of him for daring to get his hopes up for even two seconds-
"But there are remedies, manners in which to control the symptoms," Allrisen added, "Native tribes often looked to social bonds, animal protectors who could control the afflicted. Werewolves don't hunt other animals y'know, just humans for some reason," James laughed a little at that remark,
"Native Americans would train protector dogs and other wolves to watch over afflicted loved ones when they turned, I could look for a trainer or call up some that I know back in the states,"
"Please, don't go to that trouble," Lupin said. It would be a waste to have his new professor find him a protector when he already had two.
Pettigrew didn't really count anymore.
"Are you sure?" Allrisen arched an eyebrow. Lupin and James added vigorously. "Ok, well, also, the wolfsbane potion is one of those I mentioned that are heavily derived from Native recipes. There are other combinations that work nearly as well and won't bankrupt a small country. I can talk to Professor Slughead-"
"Slughorn," Lily corrected quickly, then winced at the fear of angering back to a teacher,
"Between you and me, I like my version better," Allrisen winked, "But yes, I can start looking into ingredient availability."
"Professor, I have to tell you, I don't have much money-"
"The faculty fund will be more than enough to cover you, I'm positive." Allrisen assured them.
"I can't ask you to do that," Lupin insisted, steeling himself at the risk of Allrisen retracting the offer.
"You're not asking, I was going to do it anyways." the Professor shrugged. Lupin opened his mouth to protest further, but Allrisen cut him off,
"Next period is about to start, you should get going if you don't want to be late, we have plenty of time to work out the details, this is just the beginning."
The trio hoisted their bags overflowing with textbooks, and made their way towards the door,
"Oh and Potter!" James turned around to face their new professor from the doorway, "Professor McGonagall spoke to me earlier, warning me about certain students from her house, so I wanted to inform you: If you or Sirius Black pull a stunt like that again it will mean war. I strongly urge you to recall where I'm from, and what happened last time your country went to war with mine," Allrisen gave him a glowing smile as a clump of first year Hufflepuffs pushed past him, "have a lovely day!"