Hi everybody, here is the next chapter. I decided to take up some suggestions for the title of the Story, so from now on it will be 'Champion of the Chamber'. Happy reading.
New Teachers
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office and pondered how he could get a proper Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this quickly. Gilderoy Lockhart had been found guilty of illegally obliviating other people to be able to make their achievements look like his. He had only had one applicant for the position this year. He had known that Lockhart was incompetent at school, an image that had been confirmed the last two weeks, but he had been the only one that wanted the job. Quirrell's death had scared many that were qualified for the job. Perhaps one of his old friends could help him out. After all, he owed him for keeping the Philosopher's Stone safe. And with his experience he would be a great instructor. He started writing a letter. Once he was done he gave Fawkes the letter.
"Please take this letter to Nicolas. I need his help," Dumbledore said.
Fawkes trilled positively and vanished in a flash of fire.
A few hours later two people sat with the headmaster in his office. One being a man looking about mid forty and the other one an elegant woman of the same age.
"So what kind of problem do you have, Albus? Your letter sounded serious," The man asked.
"Things are serious. As you probably know getting Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers hasn't been easy since I denied Tom Riddle the position. We never kept one longer than a year. With how Quirinius Quirrell died last year, many people believe the position is cursed and stay away. Gilderoy Lockhart was the only applicant I had this year and so I accepted his application, even if I had some doubt about his qualification. But now Rita Skeeter found out that he was praised for deeds others did. He obliviated them and wrote books that described how he did those things, making him look like a competent fighter against the dark arts. He has been convicted and is in Azkaban. But now I don't have a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher anymore. I have filled in this past week, but I really need a replacement. I have other duties that I need to fulfil. I have pushed a lot of my work as headmaster back already.
"I wanted to ask if you could help us out. You both have a lot of experience, Nicholas and Perenelle," Dumbledore said.
"Hm, while I know a lot of things, Defence Against the Dark Arts was never my specialty and neither was it Perenelle's. But I have an idea that could help you. You mentioned that Severus Snape was always interested in the Defence Against the Dark Arts position. Why don't you offer him the job and let one of us take over Potions in his stead. That way we would solve the problem of both jobs. And as far as I can tell, Snape should be tough enough to not fall prey to that supposed curse," Nicholas said.
"I thought about that possibility, but I always fear about Severus in that position with his past," Dumbledore said.
"You can't have it both ways, Albus. Either you trust him or you don't. You said you had iron clad proof that he changed his ways. And remember, you need to know a lot about the dark arts to properly defend against them," Perenelle said.
Dumbledore sighed. He had feared something like this, but probably he didn't have another choice.
"Don't worry too much. We were a bit bored at home anyway. Teaching for a few years sounds nice, Albus. So you don't need to look for a replacement Potions teacher next year," Nicholas assured.
"And while Nicholas teaches Potions, I can help out Minerva in Transfiguration. With all her additional duties I wonder how she didn't collapse already. If she lets me teach the first through third years, she could concentrate on the other years and her deputy headmistress duties," Perenelle said.
"Yes, that would help Minerva immensely. I guess I better call Severus and Minerva then to discuss the new situation," Dumbledore said.
"Call the heads of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff as well. We can then discuss some other things that would be good for Hogwarts. I have many ideas how we could improve the interactions between the houses," Perenelle told him cheerfully.
"That won't be a problem. We already found one good way to reduce the tension during the winter months. With our Quidditch teams confined to the castle, the Ravenclaw captain, Daniel Barkaim asked if Filius and Minerva could transform a classroom into an indoor Quidditch pitch. While the room doesn't allow for flying, the students can play a modified version of Quidditch. They forego the seeker and have only one beater on the team. A really ingenious idea that has been taken well by many students, not only the Quidditch teams. By now we have three rooms for that as the demand was too big for the two rooms from last year being enough," Dumbledore explained.
"That's definitely a good beginning. Now let's talk to the heads of houses," Nicholas said.
Dumbledore called his personal house elf to give messages to the four heads of houses. Twenty minutes later the four arrived at the headmaster's office.
"Ah, good to see you all. Minerva, Pomona, Filius and Severus, these are my old friends Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. I asked them to come here to see if they could help us out with the problem of our – once again – vacant Defence Against the Dark Arts position," Dumbledore said.
The four nodded.
"To make things short, neither Nicholas nor Perenelle feel that competent to teach Defence. But they are willing to help us out. Severus, you have applied many times for the position. After discussing this with Nicholas and Perenelle, I want to ask if you would take the position now. Nicholas is willed to take over Potions if you take the Defence position and Perenelle would ease the workload of you, Minerva, by taking over the first to third-year classes. That way you would have more time for your other duties," Dumbledore said.
Both McGonagall and Snape looked really surprised.
"I will gladly accept the Defence position, headmaster," Snape said.
"And I would be more than happy to have Perenelle take over three years. I always wanted somebody to help me. I only barely manage to get all my work done. Especially close to the end-of-year exams," McGonagall said.
"Then that's decided. Perenelle also wanted to suggest some ways to improve the inter-house relations," Dumbledore said.
Perenelle nodded and started explaining what she had in mind.
The next morning the students were surprised to see two new teachers sitting at the head table.
"Who do you think are they?" Terry asked Harry.
"Probably one is the new Defence teacher to take over from Lockhart. Professor Dumbledore is too busy to keep teaching the class," Harry answered.
"But what could the woman do here?" Padma asked.
"I don't know, but we probably will find out after breakfast," Tony answered.
Indeed when nearly all students were done with breakfast Dumbledore stood from his seat.
"If you would please give me your attention for a few minutes," He called out and waited for the hall to quiet down. "As you know former Professor Lockhart has been arrested and has by now been convicted for illegal use of the memory charm to steal people's achievements and write books, making it look like he did those things himself. Therefore we needed to find a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm happy to announce that Professor Snape has agreed to take over that class from today o,." There was polite applause, most coming from the Slytherin table.
Many were wondering what would happen now that Snape had achieved his goal of getting the job he had always wanted.
"For the newly opened position of Potions teacher, my old friend, Nicholas Flamel will be taking over the position from today on. Next to his mastery in Alchemy he is a Potions master like Professor Snape," Dumbledore said and Nicholas got some applause as well.
"Now the last announcement, to relieve Professor McGonagall from some of the heavy workload she had in her three functions here at school, Perenelle Flamel will be taking over the teaching of the first to third-year classes in Transfiguration. I hope you will show both Professors Flamel your respect," Dumbledore said. "Your timetables stay like they were. So you better finish your breakfast to have enough energy for the day."
As it was Wednesday the second-year Ravenclaws started the day right off with Potions under Mr Professor Flamel. That would be confusing with having two Professor Flamels teaching. The Ravenclaws took their seats in the class and waited for their teacher to arrive. One minute before class started he entered the room.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm Nicholas Flamel, and as Professor Dumbledore informed you today at breakfast, your new teacher for Potions. I didn't have time to read all the notes from Professor Snape on the class, but I have a way to find out your current level of knowledge. I know that tests are unpopular, but that will give me the best idea where to start you off. Potions is a delicate subject and a dangerous subject if not treated carefully. Therefore precision is highly important as is a good foundation in ingredient properties and reactions. The test you will all have to do in a few minutes encompasses the material normally taught in first year. It shouldn't take you more than thirty minutes to finish. After that, as we have two hours today, we will start with a few basic brewing techniques that will be necessary for you to have for the material we will cover this year.
"Like Professor Snape, I demand full concentration in my class. I don't tolerate stupidity and messing around while we are working with dangerous concoctions that, if handled recklessly, can blow up or cause injuries, burns at the least. To do well in this class you would do well to get two additional books if you don't already have them. The titles of the books are 'Brewing Techniques' and 'Ingredients 101'. Who has one or both of those books already?" Professor Flamel asked and got the complete class raising their hands.
"That's a welcome surprise. Then I don't need to wait for using those books as referencing material in this class. Did Professor Snape recommend the books to you?" Professor Flamel asked.
"No, Professor Flamel, Harry did," Su Li answered.
"Harry?" He asked.
Harry raised his hand.
"I got the recommendation for the books from Miss Ranamis, the owner of the apothecary where I buy my potion ingredients, Professor," Harry answered. "And I mentioned them to my classmates in Ravenclaw and once in class, so it somehow spread through our year and houses."
"Very good. I don't know why the Board of Governors doesn't approve of them being made mandatory books for the first-year lists, but that is not important right now. On the tests I will hand out are blue dots in the upright corner. Please touch them once with your wands when you have finished your tests. There is an alchemistic formula in the dots that will memorize your wand signature and inform my class list, which is connected to the dots on the paper, who is who and sitting where. This combination of Alchemy and Charms will spare me taking roll call all the time and help learning your names faster. Now please give around the test papers and when I give the signal, start," Professor Flamel instructed the students.
Once he saw that every student had a test paper he let them start and took to reading a few notes he got from Professor Snape in the material covered in class up to today during the year. As only two weeks had gone by, that wasn't so much. About half an hour later he got the signals from his seating plan that the students had finished. He summoned the tests to him and gave the students the task to set up their work stations while he connected the names from the tests with the wand signatures his combination of Alchemy and Charms had given him. It only took him five minutes to finish. By then the work stations were set up. He walked around class and looked over them. He gave a few corrections for some and explained why certain ways to prepare the work station were necessary.
"Alright. You all have shrivelfigs, mandalore grass and whimper moss in your ingredient kit. I want you to take out those three ingredients. Who can tell me the main properties of each ingredient?" He asked.
Many hands were up and he chose Connor Williamson from Hufflepuff for the first answer.
"Mandalore grass is mainly used in concoctions that have two phases of brewing. It changes the heat of a potion within seconds. So if a potion needs to boil in the first phase but has to cool down quickly for the second phase you add the mandalore grass to get that effect," Connor answered.
"That's correct Connor. Next, Kevin," He called upon Kevin Entwhistle.
"Whimper moss is used to neutralize acids in potions. But it needs to be added after the acid has appeared," Kevin said.
"Very good, Kevin. Last, Dandelion," He called and Dandelion Jones from Hufflepuff answered.
"Shrivelfig is used for potions that have volatile ingredients that would blow up the potion if used on their own. The fruit, if cut in slices, will suck up the components that are dangerous. It can also be used to prevent an accident if a potion was brewed incorrectly," Dandelion answered.
"I see you are well-prepared. Take five points each for the answers. As you have heard these ingredients are so-called assistant ingredients. They don't have a real effect on the type of potion you are brewing, but you need them to stabilize the reaction your ingredients have with each other. Nearly all potions we will cover this year are dependent on one or more of these ingredients to work properly and that depends on preparing them the right way. We will start with mandalore grass. As you can see it is a very hard grass and hard to cut. You will waste a lot of time if you don't know how to do it. So watch me carefully as I will only demonstrate this once." Professor Flamel said while holding a strand of the grass, trying to break it in two, which didnt work.
He took the strand of grass and cut off the lower part, then he sliced it by the length of it.
"You may have observed the same effect I will show you now while trying to break a bunch of sticks. Many sticks at the same time are hard to break, one stick is easy. So by slicing the mandalore grass by the length first, you get the stability down and can cut it a lot easier," he cut the strand into four thinner ones and then proceeded cutting it in small pieces with practiced ease.
"Next is whimper moss. To conserve the moss all apothecaries add a liquid called ryonicide. It has no effect besides keeping the moss wet. To use the moss in a potion you need to shake off the whole liquid in it." He demonstrated this with his moss which produced a whimpering sound when the liquid was shaken out. "The sound you get when you free the moss from the liquid is the reason for its name. After you have shaken off the liquid, you need to pull off strands. Last one is the shrivelfig. First you have to skin it as the skin will prevent the effect it has. Then you have to cut it in fine slices. The finer you manage to do it, the better the effect in the potion." Again he demonstrated how it was done. "I want you to each prepare the three ingredients you have now like I showed you. I have prepared a simple potion which you will brew next lesson which requires all three types of ingredients you are just preparing. Once you are done, I will distribute the potion to your cauldrons and we will test how well you have done your work," Professor Flamel informed them.
Soon the whimpering from the moss was heard all around the room when the twenty one students freed their moss from the liquid it was conserved in. Harry worked concentrated but quickly on his ingredients. He had known most of what Professor Flamel had told them already, but he was really glad that now he had a teacher who made really sure that they knew the important steps for a potion before they attempted to brew it. After about twenty minutes they were all done with their ingredient preparation and Professor Flamel gave each student a ladle full of potion in their cauldrons from a cauldron he carried with him. The potion was dark blue and Harry thought it was a headache potion.
"Now first add the whimper moss and stir clockwise until it disintegrates," Professor Flamel instructed and then went around commenting on the effects of the added moss.
"The next one is the shrivelfig and you need to stir twice counter clockwise and twice clockwise after adding the slices. Then you wait for them again disintegrating until you continue." Again the students added the slices of the fig and stirred and got comments for the reactions. Harry's potion was now a light blue.
"And last the mandalore grass which only needs to be left stewing." Again the ingredient was added.
Professor Flamel walked around and took notes on the effects the students got.
"Very well, for a first attempt this was really good. Now we will discuss why certain students got better effects than others with the same instructions. You all followed my instructions how to prepare your ingredients, though you all got different end results with the same potion as the base. Why is that? Your first ingredient was the whimper moss to neutralize the acid in the potion. Harry, why was your potion the one to have the strongest change?" Professor Flamel asked.
"I shook the moss until no sound remained when I shook it. Then I pulled apart the single strands of the moss like it was described in the book. That enables the moss to absorb most of the acid. The fluid that preserves it hampers the absorption some. And the more single strands you have, the more space in the cauldron can be covered until the moss disintegrates after a minute," Harry answered.
"Correct, take five points for Ravenclaw for your answer. Many of you didn't take the time to pull the moss into as many single strands as possible and some even had small clusters that they added to the potion. Always check what the best method to prepare an ingredient is. The next one you added was the shrivelfig. Earnie, how many slices did you get from your fig?" Professor Flamel asked.
"Uhm, about twelve, sir," Earnie Macmillan answered.
"What about the others?" Professor Flamel asked and got answers from nine to seventeen. "Who had the strongest change in their potion's colour after that?"
Three hands were up. Dandelion, Harry and Susan's. They were the ones with sixteen or seventeen slices.
"Never underestimate the stabilizing effect of shrivelfigs. It can mean the difference between a successful potion and a failure. If you work with shrivelfigs you need to cut as thin as you can. You should always go for fourteen slices at least. It takes practice to get there. I guess you three have helped at home with cooking regularly. I normally notice the number of slices you got for first tries with those that are used to cutting onions in slices." Professor Flamel assumed and got nods from the three. "All those that got less than fourteen slices should practice the technique with onions until they get to that level. Last was the mandalore grass. Again the finer you cut it after the slicing into single strands, the better it works. Those that have minced herbs before should have an idea how the grass should look after you have finished. Now please fill a vial with a sample of your potion and hand it in, this will be what I will grade for this lesson," Professor Flamel announced.
After five minutes he had twenty one samples of potion in several shades of blue and turquoise on the table.
"Good, the potion you worked with today is a common headache potion," Professor Flamel said, confirming Harry's suspicion. "We will brew it next lesson, so read up on it. I won't explain the procedures to you, I expect you to know them. Now your books mention different shades of colours for your potions in different states of working processes. I have some colour schemes with me, which we will work on you identifying certain colours. Then we will work on measurements until the end of the class."
The class was intense as Professor Flamel covered many things that were important for success in potion brewing. By the end of the lesson they had covered quite a bit of material. While Professor Flamel had high demands in his class, he was fairer than Professor Snape and less inclined to make his students nervous.
In History of Magic the Gryffindors asked the Ravenclaws about their first Potions lesson before class started. The Ravens praised Professor Flamel's teaching style, but also warned the lions to be prepared for the class. The demands of Professor Flamel were as high as those of Professor Snape. Professor Tonks now covered druids and their way of using magic, how wizards and witches had interacted with muggles during that time and how they had been highly respected by the tribes they lived in. A big part of practicing magic during that time had been based on potions. To the utmost surprise of the muggleborn students there had really been a Gallic druid that had brewed a potion that strengthened the warriors of his tribe and enabled them to keep the Roman invaders at bay. Those who had read the adventures of 'Asterix the Gaul' were really surprised that the stories were based on true history.
When Kevin asked Professor Tonks about that, she answered that Albert Uderzo was a French squib and the comics were spun around this piece of true history, though a lot of things were still made up like the names of the important people in the tribe and its place of residence. The muggles had historic documents from the Romans that described the Gallic resistance and the way they lived, so there was no problem with the statute of secrecy there. They discussed the knowledge of certain rituals at that time, how certain dates held importance in the culture of the tribes and why that was the way.
In the evening Harry was walking back from the library where he had looked up some things for his History of Magic homework when he suddenly heard a voice that sounded chilling to the bone and ice-cold.
"Come … come to me … let me rip you … let me tear you … let me kill you."
Something was familiar about it, but he didn't know what it was. He looked around, but he was alone on the floor. He quickly made his way to the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room. He knocked and got the riddle.
"What is the king of serpents called?" The eagle knocker asked.
"Basilisk," Harry answered and was let inside.
Then he paused. That could have been why it was familiar. It could have been a snake hunting. He didn't know how a snake would have been able to get inside the school, but he was sure if a snake was concentrated hunting a mouse it would sound like what he heard. Relieved to have solved that riddle he went to his bedroom and left his things there. He placed his notes for history on his desk, intending to write the essay in the morning, took his Cluedo box and went down to the common room where he got Sylveena, Padma, Lisa and Michael to play with him.
The next weekend Daniel held new try-outs for the Ravenclaw team. There were two first years that were trying out again. As it was tradition in Ravenclaw they tested for all positions. They wanted the best players on the team and have a good reserve team. After all, indoor Quidditch required two teams to play and had been the key to their success last year. And Daniel knew that Oliver Wood was already going crazy training the Gryffindor team to win the cup this year. How the Quidditch obsessed Gryffindor captain had passed his OWLs last year was a mystery to nearly everyone with how much training he had invested before the last game of the year. The three starting chasers quickly confirmed their positions as did Releena as starting keeper. Daniel being the only one to not have competition for his position as he was the captain, only tested Cho if she was still the best possible reserve seeker. In the end the only new addition to the team was Mandy Gibbs as reserve keeper. She was a third year with long blond hair that she normally wore open, but tied up in a ponytail for flying.
Though very soon the news about the Slytherin team having got sponsored new brooms by Draco's father, who had made seeker for the team now that Higgs had graduated last year, went through the castle. When Harry had asked Draco about it over a game of chess, Draco told him that when his father heard he had been accepted as the Slytherin seeker he wanted to make sure the team won this year. He was a bit miffed that many students said that he had bought his way onto the team. He had won the tryout for the seeker position by skill not the brooms. He had taken Harry's speech from the first train ride to heart. He was doing his best to be acknowledged for himself and was fairly successful. He was leading in winning points for his house in his year, got good grades in his classes and now had made the Quidditch team. That had all been his achievements, nothing he had got through his father's money.
Harry assured him that he believed him and was looking forward to good competition, but that wouldn't mean the Slytherins should think Ravenclaw would just let them win only because they had good brooms. They had a reputation to defend. Draco grinned and told him they would see who won the cup that year.
And that's another chapter done. Till next time.