I don't own Harry Potter!
"Bloody hell," Remus slid down the wall and dropped his head in his palms. "I can't believe I did that to her."
"Remus, I'm sure she'll understand it was an accident," Lily knelt beside him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "It's Viv, she's always had a great sense of humor."
Sirius leaned against the desk next to them, legs crossed at the ankles, and twirled his wand between his fingers. "Relax, Moony. I don't think Professor Graves'll do shit." He said her name mockingly. "What the fuck was Dumbledore thinking, hire a teenager to teach us-"
He broke off his tirade shaking his head in disgust.
"Guess someone like him can't help himself," Snape's low voice carried across the room as he muttered to the Slytherin next to him. "It's a natural instinct for people like him to be destructive."
"What the fuck did you just say?" Sirius turned on him, face morphing from irritation to outright rage in moments. He clenched his wand tightly and took a threatening step toward Snape, "Say it again Snivellius." He dared, raising his wand.
"I didn't know you were deaf, Black," Snape faced him with a mocking expression. "I said, it's instin-" He gestured at Remus with a smirk
Lily rushed to Sirius, wrapping her hands around his wand arm, and pulled him a few steps back while hurriedly whispering, "Black, don't do thi-"
As Sirius turned away, Snape continued his taunts, even louder this time. "People like him just have to hurt people."
Sirius whirled around and threw himself at Snape, getting in two brutal punches before he was pulled back by Remus and one of the Ravenclaw boys.
"Pads, he's not worth it," Remus slung his arm around Sirius and forcefully dragged him away from the Slytherin laying on the floor.
"Reducto!"
A bright red beam of light shot through the gap Remus and Sirius's heads, narrowly missing both of them.
As the curse shattered a window, the whole classroom burst into a flurry of movement. Lily screamed at Snape in shock; Snape scrambled to his feet, ready to duel; Sirius flung Remus's arm off and threw a jinx at Snape, which rebounded off his shield and scorched the wall.
Sirius and Snape threw spells back and forth without a second thought for their fellow students' wellbeing- the fellow students who made no move to end the duel, but rather threw up occasional shields to protect themselves as they watched in horror.
The spells slowly shifted from harmless but irritating jinxes to a dangerous variety of painful curses- many of which were deflected around the classroom. Each spell resulted in another shattered window or flurry of sparks as it met a shield charm. Lily and Remus, two of the more responsible students, shouted at Snape and Sirius, respectively- trying to get them to see reason before they hurt someone.
"Remus, they're going to hurt someone," Lily whispered as she threw up a charm to protect a boy who'd had been turned the opposite way when a curse hurtled in his direction.
"Is that it, Snivelly?" Sirius laughed coldly, "That's all your little Death Eater friends taught you?"
He dodged a spell and threw a particularly nasty magenta curse at Snape.
Snape ignored the taunt and instead chose to use one the spells he had created. He swung his arm around his head, slowly collecting all the shards of glass scattered around the floor and sent them flying. His face paled the instant he realized the spell had malfunctioned, causing the glass to shoot uncontrollably at everyone in the room rather than at one specific target- Sirius Black.
A white burst of light intercepted the curse before it could cause any injuries. The bean of light split up to collide with each shard of glass in a violent burst of flames. The force of the spell threw Snape and Sirius to their backs at opposite ends of the room and sent their wands clattering across the floor.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" Katherine roared from the open doorway, wand shooting sparks in the aftermath of her powerful spell. "Get up, both of you." She glared at the two students on their backs as she let the door slam shut behind her. Walking further in, she looked around with narrowed eyes, taking in the gaping expressions of the rest of the students. Even James, who entered behind her and joined his best friends looked horrified at the extent of the destruction.
"Professor, it wasn't Siri-" Remus began desperately trying to explain before they all got in trouble.
"When I want your opinion, Lupin, I'll be sure to ask for it." She pushed past him to the front of the room crunching through shattered glass and stepping over scorched marks on the floors.
"Black, Snape- get on your feet." She repeated, while surveying the damage, from the broken windows and chunks of stone blasted off the wall, to the overturned desks and loose papers scattered on the floor. "Is anyone hurt?" She asked tonelessly.
When she was satisfied that everyone was alright, she took a deep breath and began speaking again, this time her voice reflected the pent up fury in her body.
"What were you two thinking?" She shook her head in obvious disgust at their actions. "You could have killed somebody- or was that your goal?" She looked at Sirius- her angry blue eyes met his indifferent grey ones. His bored shrug set her off again.
"Do not assume, Black, that just because I'm young or I don't want to use that trash textbook, I'm going to let you use this classroom as a place to vent out your petty, schoolyard rivalries!" She looked from Sirius to Snape. "Next time I see you, or anyone else misusing the freedom of this class, they'll be dropped from the N.E.W.T level section so I don't have to deal with the problem. Do I make myself clear?" Without pausing for them to nod or speak and continued, "Now get the hell out of my classroom, all of you" Katherine turned away from them, disgusted.
As Vivian and Giselle entered the Great Hall for dinner, the former sporting a bandage around her wrist, they locked eyes with James who waved them over.
Remus, in mid-conversation with Lily, saw them and froze when his eyes landed on the white bandage. As soon as they came within earshot, he began speaking quickly, eager to get the words out, assuming they were approaching to give him a well deserved tongue-lashing.
"Viv, I'm so sorry- I was aiming at Lily's shield but she took it down and I didn't realize-" Remus paused and looked surprised she sat down next to him.
He was about to continue his rushed apology when Vivian waved his words away, "Remus, seriously it's fine!" She smiled at him, "You have a seriously strong stupefy, can you teach me?"
"Well, I mean yeah. But aren't you mad at me?"
"It happens." She shrugged casually "Professor Graves told us about the first time she caught a friendly spell during her Auror training, apparently it's a great way to learn to be vigilant."
"She's pretty cool," Giselle grudgingly agreed, "I mean, for an American and all." She smirked at Vivian as they laughed, recalling their conversation from that morning.
"She's a bitch," Sirius's cold voice cut in. "Who the fuck reacts like that, especially when it's about the Slytherins?"
"What do you mean? What happened with the Slytherins?" Vivian turned her questioning gaze on him.
Remus spoke up, cutting off Sirius to give an accurate version of the story. "After you guys left, Snape started saying I hit you with that stupefy on purpose and stuff,"
"That's completely absurd!" Giselle butted in, with an irritated expression, "I saw your face when she hit the wall."
Remus smiled at her gratefully and took a breath, "Well, he said it anyway. So Sirius called him out, and then Snape tried to throw a curse at him when his back was turned-."
"Who the fuck does that shit?" Sirius looked over at the Slytherin table, disgusted.
"So they both went off at each other, and James and Professor Graves came in right when Snape threw a pretty nasty spell and she went completely ballistic"
"They completely destroyed the classroom," Lily cut in, trying to explain the reasoning for Katherine's reaction.
"I wonder what spell it was that she used to stop him," James mused, "I've never seen that spell before."
"Wow, that sounds pretty dramatic. Kinda pissed that I wasn't there," Giselle frowned at the thought of the missed drama. She leaned forward, rested her chin on her palms and looked at Sirius, "So what's the damage? How long have you got detention?"
"He's doesn't, she didn't give anyone detention," James shoved Sirius's shoulder with a laugh, "Lucky bastard."
Both Vivian and Giselle raised their eyebrows and looked at one another.
"that's pretty…lenient," Vivian
"It's fucked up, she didn't even bother to listen to Remus about why it started." Sirius pushed away from the table and strode out of the Great Hall.
Remus turned to watch him with a concerned expression. "He definitely hates her."
"Potter, you'd hate her too if she went off at you like that," Lily rolled her eyes and turned to the two Ravenclaw girls to explain. "Even though she saw the completely insane spell Severus cast, she yelled at Black more than him."
"Well, this looks like the start of a great year," James sat back with a grin. "I wonder how next class will go."
"I just hope Sirius doesn't do anything rash," Giselle stood, grabbing an apple, "I'm beginning to like this Professor Graves."
Hi All!
1. I split the first chapter in two parts because I want to get some feedback from you guys! Katherine Graves, Giselle and Vivian are my O/Cs, what do you guys think of them?
2. How dark/angsty should Sirius Black be?
3. Points to anyone who can guess Katherine Graves's relevance to the HP world!
5. I'll update again next week but I really would like your feedback!
-MP-