Chapter 3
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Dominique woke up on September 2nd with a rather grumpy attitude and some lingering feeling of discomfort that she couldn't quite identify. The hair of the Half-Veela was slightly tousled as she stumbled to the bathroom to get made up and prepared for breakfast.
It wasn't long before she was ready to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She stopped by Katarina's bed briefly to see if she was awake and was slightly perplexed by the neatly made up sheets. Dominique turned to notice Kat walking out of the bathroom in daily clothing, drying her hair but failed to notice the brief flash of alarm that moved over Katarina's face at Dominique's closeness to her bed.
"Do you make your bed every morning?" Dominique inquired as Katarina drew nearer, "That's so dedicated. I couldn't do that if I tried"
Katarina laughed
"Most mornings, yeah" she said nonchalantly, "Just a habit, I suppose" Dominique smiled,
"Well hurry up, I'm starving" A few minutes later, Dominque was finished getting ready, Irene had popped in and the three girls headed down to breakfast.
Cornflakes and porridge awaited them at breakfast, Dominique was especially pleased to see orange juice and kippers present at the Gryffindor table. Wolfing down breakfast, Irene looked up the table to see Hagrid handing out schedules. She received her schedule first and excitedly read throughout the classes,
"Oh!" she squealed, "I got Arithmency, and all of those Muggle Classes I've been meaning to take!"
Dominique rolled her eyes and snatched the schedule to read,
Monday
Morning Period 1: Defence against the Dark Arts
Morning Period 2: Defence against the Dark Arts
Lunch
Afternoon Period 1: Muggle Studies
Afternoon Period 2: Muggle Art
"You can't have gotten all of them" she said, laughing, "That's all your core classes and like 4 electives- you'll be working nonstop" It was Irene this time that laughed,
"And what's wrong with that?" she questioned and laughed as Dominique started to laugh.
Soon Hagrid moved around the table to where Dominique and Katarina were sitting across from Irene. Dominique excitedly took her schedule and read across the top:
Monday
Morning Period 1: Defence against the Dark Arts
Morning Period 2: Defence against the Dark Arts
Lunch
Afternoon Period 1: Ancient Runes
Afternoon Period 2: Advanced Potions (5th year)
She smiled brightly and turned to Katarina, eager to see what classes her new friend had for the first day of the week- exchanging schedules, Dominique took a closer look at the classes
Monday
Morning Period 1: Defence against the Dark Arts
Morning Period 2: Defence against the Dark Arts
Lunch
Afternoon Period 1: Ancient Runes
Afternoon Period 2: Advanced Potions (5th year)
Cocking her head slightly, Dominique studied the schedule and doublechecked the name on the front cover
Katarina Hakai -Exchange Student-
She turned to Katarina,
"We have the same classes" she repeated, feeling silly for a moment as she stated the obvious. The other girl smiled and nodded,
"It would appear so" she said matter-of-factly. Dominique turned across the table to Irene's schedule, her face fell
"Aw Irene! I think we only have this one class on Monday together, Defence" Irene' smile fell a bit but she rebounded,
"At least it's a double period" she said cheerfully and Dominique shrugged,
"I suppose so" and with that, breakfast completed itself and the three friends headed off to their first class of the day.
They walked up many of the moving stairways until they eventually found themselves at the door of Classroom 3C. The door was an old wood and it squeaked as Dominique pushed it open to come face to face with the professor.
A young man in his late twenties was in the process of opening the door. He had light skin and a tannish blonde hair that was strewn across his face as he prepared for his first class of the day. His robes were a plain black and he wore practical pants and clothing. He looked down to stare at the three students,
"Er, hello" he said awkwardly as he precariously held onto the stack of parchment in his hands,
"Hi" Dominique was the first to speak, "You must be the new Defence teacher, I'm Dominique Weasley, nice to meet you" and she held out her hand. The professor stared at it for a second before taking it lightly,
"Hi, are you Ron's daughter?" he inquired, she laughed,
"No, of course not, I'm Bill's daughter" he smiled
"It's very good to meet anyone who is a relative of Harry Potter, I was his prodigy once upon a time" his eyes darkened for a split second as he let his eyes rove the other two girls, "And you two young ladies are...?" he asked,
"I'm Irene Wilkins" Irene said and held out her hand as well, "It's a pleasure to meet you sir" she continued politely, "I can't wait to start class"
He turned lastly to Katarina. It was only a brief second, a moment that seemed nonexistant in the moments that passed but in that one second- the professor's eyes sharpened and his handling of the parchment became seemingly unbalanced. He took a deep breathe and smoothed out his face- but the kindness that he had shown the other two girls was not present in his barely inclined head,
"It's good to meet you as well" Katarina bit out, "I'm Katarina Hakai" but she neglected to hold out either one of her hands. He seemed inclined to not greet her by handshake either. The shaky silence that followed was brought to a halt by the appearance of more students of the 5th year that entered the hallway.
The Professor cleared his throat and stepped aside so that all the students could enter the classroom. Dominique immediately made a beeline towards the front of the room and dragged both Irene and Katarina with her.
"Do we have to...?" Katarina let the question hang but Dominique was not to be dissuaded as she moved in a single-mindset to the front of classroom. Giving in, the other two girls let themselves be dragged up to sit in the first middle seat.
Light and insignificant conversation was scattered among the classroom as everyone waited for the Professor to return and begin the lesson. At last, they all heard the footfalls approach and the door slam as the man walked up to the front of the classroom.
"Hello everyone" he said, "I am Professor Edmund, your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. This year" he began to pace the front of the room,
"We will not only be learning about the spells and curses that you all may use against one another in the classroom, in the practice room for your OWLs or to dark wizards. This year, we will be learning about dark magical creatures. This topic, I assume, has not really been broached by Hogwarts as thoroughly as it should be. I, as a retired Auror have a large well of knowledge that I will enable you to benefit from. One of my previous specialties included the control and prosecution of Dark Magical Creatures, because of this- I believe it is not only mildly, but crucially important for all of you to have a strong grasp on what these animals have done, accomplished and are capable of doing to you"
There was a short pause as the he let the class digest this information before continuing,
"We'll be starting with some of the smaller creatures like Grindylows and from there moving onto harder creatures based on the Ministry's rating system. We will also be learning the spells necessary for your OWL tests throughout the year which may or may not be useful in protecting against it"
There was wide eyes across the young classroom now as all the students had different perceptions of what could happen on Monday mornings. The Professor was about to continue his speech when a hand shot up right in front of his face.
It was Irene.
The girl sitting next to Dominique was determinedly raising her hand, choosing to ignore the sighs coming from around the classroom and the look of annoyance coming from Katarina. But the Professor still called on her,
"Yes Irene?" he said politely, she took a deep breathe,
"Well I was wondering Professor... What sort of spells are we going to learn, and what type of essays might we be assigned to write. I mean, I really would want to know about all of the upcoming work and the average parchment lenght for the general essay and the amount of lecture notes that might be required. Will we need to do extra research and if so how much? Will any sort of history be required? And finally" she said, "How is this helping us prepare for our OWLs?" the class heaved a sigh as the Professor stood there for a second, debating on the answer he was going to give,
"Well Irene, and in this, I speak to the whole class- spells will be taught in the order that I deem necessary and essays will vary. I can't really give you a straight answer about upcoming work and parchment lenghts. My lectures will be around 45 minutes per class and there will generally not need to be extra research unless I mention it in class. That goes for history as well. For the OWLs, this class is not for the specific purpose of preparing you for some test that has to solely do with a practical and a theoretical aspect of this subject. This class, as far as I'm concerned-and I should know about it the most, as I not only participated in a NEWT level class but also became an Auror- is about knowing how to protect yourself from harm and a general concern that involves your protection is the defense against dark magical creatures. Now" he finished, "Does that answer your question?"
She did look a little abashed,
"Yes Professor" she mumbled.
"Now" he said, rubbing his hands together, "Lets begin your first class"
At around halfway through the class, the Professor informed them all that for spell practice- they would need to be partnered up.
Dominique turned to Katarina,
"You don't know anyone else right?" she asked,
"Not really" Katarina said,
"I'll be your partner" Dominique offered, smiling as Katarina nodded, and turned to grab something out of her bag, only to come face to face with Irene who wore a disgusted look on her face that can only be compared to the look someone must wear when confronted with an especially nasty old pair of socks.
She gulped and turned back to Katarina made a motion to get the hell out of that seat.
After around 2 hours of note taking and a small session of spell practice that they were to continue for homework, Defense Against the Dark Arts was over.
The group of friends moved towards the Great Hall for lunch. The walk back was surprisingly quick and in no time at all, they were there. Lunch was some remnants of breakfast and the classic sandwiches for lunch. As Dominique was buttering her ham and brie sandwich- she looked up to see the owls for the Daily Prophet begin to sweep into the Hall from above,
"That's odd" she commented, turning back to her bread,
"How so?" Katarina asked, already preparing the condiments on her own food,
"Well" Dominique started, "The Daily Prophet owls usually arrive during breakfast, so I think it must be safe to assume that something slightly odd and maybe a bit mysterious must have happened right before the post was sent out which delayed it" Katarina nodded,
"Seems reasonable" and both went back to their food, not really interested in the day's events.
Out of the corner of her eye, Dominique saw Victoire receive the post at the Ravenclaw table and open it eagerly. Not really paying attention, it didn't occur to Dominique to look up until she felt someone tugging on her hair.
"Irene" she said annoyed, "Stop that" but it in fact was Victoire, her eyes were wide,
"Did you read the Prophet?" she said quickly, Dominique opened her mouth about to make a response but Victoire cut her off,
"Wait, of course you haven't- you don't get the Prophet" and rolled her eyes, "Anyways, you simply must read about this"
Dominique took the Prophet from a clearly excited Victoire and began to read...
Mysterious Killer Strikes Again
By Dennis Creevy
Late last night among the dark streets of some of the Wizarding World's most populated places- the killer from this summer is believed to have made yet another notch in his death toll.
Adam Fradou, an innocent walker in the early hours spotted another body drenched in blood and with yet another unnamed magical object crunched underneath them.
Harry Potter, Head of the Auror Office, whom declined to give comments during the summer murder has stepped forward to help the Daily Prophet give a more extensive understanding of the killings
"Well Dennis" he said to me this morning,
"We don't have a concrete idea of what is doing this but we can safely assume that caution is the best measure anyone, experienced Aurors, parents and school children alike can take right now. We definitely can NOT believe that whatever is killing these wizards can be taken. Until we have done more analysis and research- do not attempt to confront this creature"
I did ask Mr. Potter how they were going to do more research but he failed to give any satisfactory answer so can we assume that more murders will be a method?
I think so.
At these words, I recall the Second War from nearly 19 years ago when many good people died, including my brother, because of a lack of safety.
Just because there is no longer a Dark Lord extending his rule over the Wizarding World does not mean that one should assume that we are safe- for all we know... we may not be.
Readers- Be wary and cautious and above all, keep a head about yourselves when out at night in London. The Ministry and the Daily Prophet are currently working on the production of a pamphlet meant to educate the general populace on safe measures one can take. It will be distributed to every residence via owl.
-DC
Dominique looked up from the article with wide eyes
"Bloody hell" she exclaimed, "We'd best watch our backs then" Victoire nodded seriously,
"Definitely" she said and stood up straighter "Anyways, I have to go- but I'll write dad to see if he knows anything and be sure to tell you" Dominique looked up gratefully,
"Thanks ma soeur" she said and turned back to the table,
"Did you guys hear?" she exclaimed,
Irene looked frightened while Roxanne and Fred looked rather excited. She turned to look at Katarina who was not really paying attention. Eating a piece of her sandwich, she turned- a piece of lettuce halfway in her mouth and asked,
"What on earth are you looking at?" Dominique's eyes got bigger,
"Aren't you worried about the killer?" Katarina shrugged,
"We're at Hogwarts, aren't we? The safest place in the Magical World- I don't think the killer could possibly be here" Dominique contemplated for a moment-
"True" she said slowly and looked a bit more cheerful, "We are pretty safe"
The girls finished breakfast with exciting conversations about the killer while Katarina had little to no participation in it.
Soon after, they moved- Irene to Muggle Studies while Katarina and Dominque left to find the Ancient Runes Classroom.
At last, they located Classroom 6B. Sitting again in a front seat, Dominique began to ruffle through her bookbag and located the 3 books that were necessary for the class. Ancient Runes Made Easy, Spellman's Syllabary, and Magical Hieroglyphics and Logograms lay haphazardly on top of one another, each bookmarked and noted extensively. Katarina looked at the pile of books questionably,
"We need that many books?" she asked,
"Yeah" Dominique looked pleased, "It's almost always necessary for us to look up the runes unless you really know them well when we translate" the other girl nodded and looked around as the classroom filled in.
"Where are all the other Gryffindors?" Katarina inquired,
"Oh we're the only ones- it was only me last year- but not this year" she smiled and waited patiently for Professor Babbling to enter the room. The older woman entered the classroom at 5 minutes to opening time. She walked up to the front and turned to face the class.
"Welcome" she said, opening her arms out towards the class, "Most of you look familiar except for" and she waited as she scanned the room until her eyes fell on Katarina, "you"
"Who are you?" her large eyes were wide,
"I'm Katarina" the exchange student said and the older women clapped her hands together in delight
"I can't wait to see your runic translation abilities- it will be excellent to have a basis to work off of that isn't already pre-determined by my previous years of teaching" the Professor smiled and moved closer to the blackboard,
"All of you except for Katarina here know my teaching methods. I'm a pretty straightforward teacher, no funny business goes on in my classroom under any circumstances. I know last year we pretty much stuck with some of the similarities between the archaic Greek and German alphabets and Futhark and Proto-Germanic runes and how to translate basic words and the structure of simple to compound sentences. This year, we will be focusing more on complex sentences, complex forms, irregular translations, and on using runes in your spellwork. Sound good?"
There was a chorus of agreement as the teacher turned back to the board and flipped it to the other side. It was full of writing from top to bottom with runes, translations and arrows that pointed in all different directions, Professor Babbling smiled,
"Then let's get started"
The class was pretty much copying down syllables and translations to memorize for homework. It nearly half the class to copy down and understand exactly what the slightly crazy professor had written down for her students to comprehend.
But finally at around the halfway point of the class- the professor began to speak again
"That's enough copying for today" which caused the students to look warily at eachother's notes to see who had the better writing or translation abilities for this year. As Dominique peered over Katarina's notes, her eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets.
There was barely any English on the page at all. Runes that she could barely recognize and longer words with misconstructed syllables without spaces that they definitely had not learned yet were strewn across the page. She looked up at Katarina who was wearing an all too innocent look on her face,
"How did you...?" she stuttered,
"What do you mean?" Katarina said sweetly, "It's just what was on the board" Dominque put her hands on her waist,
"It is definitely not what was on the board" and gestured to her own notes. They were full of stratching and stray marking that made the page readable but not quite as neat as Katarinas. The girl, Katarina gave a shrug,
"I suppose I could just have more experience with runes" Dominique threw her hand up in the air,
"We'll figure this out later" she said, "Or we'll figure this out when I copy my words over from your notes later tonight" Katarina laughed,
"Alright- if you insist"
They spent the rest of class slowly reviewing what they should have learned for the past 2 years and an idea of what they were learning the next year.
"You know" Katarina remarked as they left, "You should stop looking at it like Arithmency and more like a language- I mean, we didn't even talk about the different cultures that runes can be used as speech in"
Dominique gave her an odd look,
"There aren't any cultures that use runes as a common language. I recall almost perfectly the moment where Professor Babbling mentioned that to us in third year because she compared it to Latin"
Katarina scratched behind her ear awkwardly, "Well.. my old teacher told me something about cultures using it, but you know, he was super old- so he probably is a tad bit off in the head"
Dominique laughed,
"I would hope so"
...and they continued on to the next class.
That class was Advanced Potions for 5th years.
"What exactly is Advanced Potions?" Katarina asked with interest, "It can't be that much more advanced than normal Potions" Dominique shrugged,
"I'll be Merlin if I know- I was just placed here after getting outstanding marks in the class last year- but who knows, maybe I was the only person with them"
They continued to proceed down to the dungeons, and Dominique spoke,
"But I do know the Professor, I've had him for the past 4 years. He's a bit of a curmudgeon but overall, a fair grader if a bit biased towards the Slytherins during class"
Katarina nodded her assent and they finally reached the classroom.
Both girls pulled open the door to reveal seats for about 5 people in a circle with cauldrons in front of all of them. Dominique stood for a moment before taking the seat directly in front of her. Katarina sat next to her and soon- the other 3 students had arrived.
Terrence Macey and Laura Eppin from Ravenclaw, with Philip Zabini from Slytherin all entered the classroom with equally suprised expressions upon finding that there was in fact, two Gryffindors in the classroom. Dominique was fair friends with Laura and knew of Terrence so a brief conversation took place before class but before any real information could be shared, the door opened to reveal the Professor.
Unlike most potions masters, the Professor had slightly short and light brown hair and freckles which almost completely obscured his face. He turned to face the students,
"Hello" he said bitingly, "I'm glad to welcome you all to Advanced Potions Class"