Disclaimer: Nope I don't own it, and I don't think I ever will.

Mind Reading for Beginners

Chapter 2

"Viores."

Hermione woke early the next morning to do a little researching on the last name of the newly infamous Defense professor. The feeling she had at the back of her mind was a little disturbing, but it didn't set off any extremely loud warning bells. There was just something about the Viores family Hermione knew she had read while she was in the library.

Scouring the shelves of the library, Hermione came across a book that looked promising, Wizarding Genealogy.

"Might as well give this a try. It's only the tenth book I've picked up today."

She quickly turned to the "V" section of the reference book and found what she had been looking for all along. After a few minutes of intense reading, Hermione was come over with a little feeling of dread. Oh, she'd heard the name before, and it didn't bode well for the faint of heart.

"Bloody hell."

She swiftly closed the book and put it back on the shelf, and hurried down to breakfast. She had news to tell the boys.

Harry and Ron were already devouring their breakfast when Hermione arrived at the table.

"Hermione, already holing up in the library?" Ron sputtered out while he shoved a slice of bacon in his mouth.

"Yes Ron I was. I was looking for some information on the new professor."

Harry looked up, "Did you find anything?"

"Exactly what I was looking for." Hermione reached across the table to pour herself a glass of juice. Harry and Ron looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer. Hermione saw their faces.

"I can't tell you right now, there's too many people around."

"When are you going to tell us? You can't keep us out of the loop forever," Ron commented.

"I'll tell you after class. I want to make a few observations of Professor Viores before I start spouting information." She glanced at the teachers' table, " and it appears I will have to do more analyzing in class because she can't even show up to breakfast on time."

Ron got a dreamy look in his eyes, "Defense is going to be great this year. Not only a great subject, but a hot professor."

"Give it up Ron."

"But she winked at me! At ME!" Ron continued to shove more and more bacon in his mouth.

"She was probably looking at somebody else. I don't know why anyone would want to wink at you," Hermione snickered.

Ginny overheard the comment made by Hermione, "Oh, is Ronny in love with the new professor?"

"No."

"Yes, he is, and so is the entire male population of Hogwarts." Hermione looked around the Great Hall. Every male student was looking for the new professor discreetly.

"Well, Harry better not be. He's in love with me. Right Harry?" Ginny ended this statement with an expectant look at Harry.

"Yes, of course dear." Harry was, of course, out in space.

Hermione looked at the time, "We have to get to class, maybe she'll show up for that."

Ron nearly toppled over in his enthusiasm to get to class.

"I don't think I've ever seen him this excited about learning," Harry commented as the trio left the Great Hall.

The Gryffindors and the Slytherins waited for a good fifteen minutes for Professor Viores to show up to her classroom. They sat, not so quietly, waiting for her to appear.

"Where is she?" Ron was clearly infatuated and was fidgeting in his seat, turning, periodically, to look at the door.

"She's late, where do you think she is?" Hermione didn't like this women, she was going to turn the school upside down.

"Right there," Ron whispered.

Lauretta Viores stormed through the door, shot the class an aggravated look and sat down in her seat. She was wearing a dark blue set of robes, looking more menacing than she had the night before. After a few minutes of silence she made one brief comment.

"Do you guys know how big this school is?" The class was silent.

"Well, I'll tell you." She continued, "It's so big, that if you don't know where you're going, and don't know what you're doing you get lost pretty quickly and end up running the equivalent of four miles trying to be on time. Then you run into Dumbledore and he happily says 'are you enjoying your first day' and you're dying because you can't breathe and you say 'yeah' and run off in the direction you hope your classroom is in. Then you get blisters on your feet because you insisted on wearing stilettos. Then you walk into you're classroom and the students are irritated because their professor is late, and some of them think you're late because you overslept and weren't even at breakfast," Lauretta had looked up and made eye contact with Hermione in the course of this sentence, "Isn't that right Miss Granger?"

Hermione who had been so absorbed by her own thoughts didn't really give any thought to the question she was answering. "Yes, Professor."

"Good, that's what I thought." The formidable woman stood up and circled around her desk, stopping momentarily to look at a few members of the class.

"This class is going to be unlike any class you have ever taken. The Dark Arts take place not only at the end of a wand, but also in the mind of the person wielding it. I will teach you things that you were taught were impossible and improbable. It is for these reasons, among others, that I was hired at Hogwarts. That and the fact that I needed a little change of pace from my old job." A hand went up next to Hermione, it was Harry.

"Professor, what did you do before you came to Hogwarts," he asked.

"I might tell you that one day Mister Potter, but you don't know me well enough yet. But I can assure you that I know more than enough about every single person in this room. Some more than others. That's your hint Mister Potter, see if you can figure it out." She sent a smirk in his direction.

Cool and collected she walked around the room silently. The students were on edge, mesmerized by the women, yet afraid of the power she wielded. The silence in the room was waiting to be broken.

"I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow we'll start the real work. Come prepared." With that she walked out of the classroom and left the students to themselves.

"That woman is terrifying," Malfoy commented from the back of the room.

The class agreed. They were in for an interesting year.

"She reminds me of a female Snape, only better looking and younger." Ron said in the hall when the group was going to lunch.

"No, I don't think she's that bad. I think she's testing us, to see what our limitations are," Harry said.

"I don't like her, she's hiding more than one thing from us, and I know what it is," Hermione commented.

"When are you going to tell us what you found out?" Ron asked.

"Tonight. After all classes are over, in the library."

Lauretta was sitting with Professor McGonagall, discussing the day's classes.

"I terrified every one of my classes, it was great. They were white as sheets when I was done. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen." Lauretta was smiling, it was fun to give them a taste of her dark side.

"I would have liked to have seen it, I do it every year, but you are more formidable a foe. I take it you played with your words?" Minerva was really starting to like the new Professor. While she had heard of her before they had never met, and she had expected Lauretta to be completely different.

"I didn't tell them my job before this, but I gave Harry Potter more than enough of a hint to figure it out."

"Oh he will," she said, "he always does. And if he doesn't Hermione will."

"She knows about the Viores," Lauretta said. She wasn't particularly worried, but she didn't want the students to be too wary around her.

"I figured she would be the first to find out. But they were all bound to find out about it eventually. Think, after everyone knows, you'll be a celebrity."

"That really wasn't what I was going for."

The trio met in the library after classes. It was the beginning of dinner, so no one else was in the library at the time. Hermione dragged them to the most secluded shelf in the room, carrying Wizarding Genealogy with her. She opened it to the correct page.

"So?" Ron asked.

"Calm down Ron, I wanted to take it word for word from the book so you didn't think I was lying."

"Oh, well get on with it."

"It says 'The Viores family is an old one with origins in Itlay and France. The original family moved to Britain in the early eighteenth century and has remained there ever since. The family is known for two distinct features. The lavender eyes of the Viores family are hereditary, and no other family in the world has eyes of this color. These eyes are an indicator of the other special feature or ability a member of the Viores family may hold. The family is known to have the unnatural ability to read minds through eye contact. They are the only group to have ever achieved this special ability, and it cannot be taught. Those encountering a member of the Viores family are reminded to not make eye contact and to guard their thoughts wisely. The family is extremely knowledgeable and powerful. They should not be taken lightly.'" Hermione looked at her companions.

"She can read minds?"

"Yes, Ron."

"And she winked at me?"

"Yes, Ron."

"Do you think she read my mind?"

"I don't know why anyone would want to."

Harry spoke up, "That was…informative."

"At least we know what we're in for," Ron said.

"She tested me today. She knows that I know." Hermione shifted uncomfortably. Then the Trio heard the voice behind them.

"The entire school was going to find out anyway. It only makes sense you found out first. Congratulations." Lauretta was leaning on the bookcase behind them. They hadn't even heard her approach.

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