Chapter 7: Professor Denenger and Helycenia

Everyone opened their books to chapter one immediately.

Harry felt extreme guiltiness. He would have told Alex why he was talking about her, but he couldn't. It just seemed too weird. He had to think of a good excuse to why he was talking about her…

"My name is Professor Denenger. I will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts." He said, his eyes gazing around the room.

"Is everyone turned to chapter one?" He continued, smiling at everyone.

A murmur of 'yes' filled the room.

"Excellent!" He said, his pale skin adjusting again to an even broader smile.

This man was so pale, Harry had almost mistaken him for a ghost. Which, of course, would be no surprise if he was; they did have a ghost teacher, Professor Binns.

But this man was no ghost, he didn't sweep across the room or go through objects or talk in the same ghostly moan as all the other ghosts.

"Is it me, or does that man look paler than normal?" Ron asked, looking terrified at the other three (Alex was still with them).

"Ron, believe it or not, but some people can be pale." Hermione said, looking knowingly at Ron.

"I'm with Ron on this one, Hermione." Harry agreed. "That man looked to pale. He almost looked like a ghost."

"Perhaps he doesn't get enough sun." Hermione said. "Besides—"

Hermione stopped instantly and looked around, "where'd Alex go?" she asked.

Ron and Harry both looked around. "I don't know…" Ron said, still looking around.

"Maybe she found out how to get to her other classes…" Harry said, feeling slightly guilty. He had a hunch that she left because of their short conversation back in Professor Denenger's class.

It was finally time for lunch, and, yet, Harry was feeling worse.

"Is there something wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked him as they took a seat in the Great Hall.

"Well, yeah, kinda…" Harry confessed.

"Well, what is it?" Hermione asked patiently.

Harry took a deep breath and recounted the conversation between him and Alex.

"Well, did you tell her what it really was about?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"No, I couldn't." Harry said. There were two reasons why he couldn't. The first one was that he would feel weird telling Alex that he saw her in a dream—he was actually quite unsure who it really was—and that she was asked to do something by some strange man. Also, he didn't know where she went, nor could he have told her when she brought it up because Professor Denenger came in.

"I feel terrible." Hermione said frowning.

Just then, Alex came in and sat by them.

"Er—where'd you go?" Hermione asked innocently.

"Oh—Er—some kid stopped me in the hall." Alex said. "What class do we have next?" she asked.

"Potions," Hermione said instantly.

"Ooh! Fun." Alex said.

"Not at all," Ron and Harry said together.

"Just you wait, the teacher for potions is—" Ron said, but Hermione interrupted.

"Ron!" she said, "don't talk bad about Professor Snape!" she hissed.

"But he's evil!" Ron complained.

"Evil or not, he's still a teacher, Ron!" Hermione snapped.

"He's still evil though." Harry said, as Ron sniggered.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Alex all started toward Snape's dungeon.

"Who would want a classroom in a dungeon?" Alex asked, staring at the interior of the classroom.

"Professor Snape, that's who," Ron said.

The moment they all sat down was the moment Snape swept into the dungeon.

"Everyone turn to page thirty-two." He hissed, as Hermione shot up her hand.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" he said, staring at Hermione.

"Professor, shouldn't we start with chapter one? Isn't it—"

"Miss Granger, are you telling me how to teach my class?" he asked, his black eyes piercing at Hermione.

"No, but—"

"Then I suggest you keep your mouth shut while I teach." Snape hissed. "Turn to page thirty-two, and complete the potion on said page."

Harry opened his book to page thirty-two. The potion they were supposed to be doing seemed to be quite strange. It was called Helycenia. Where was he supposed to get these ingredients from?

He didn't need to look much longer though. Judging by the fact that Hermione's hand was up in the air again gave him the sense that she was having trouble too.

"What is it now, Granger?" Snape said, annoyed.

"Where are the ingredients for the potion, sir?" she asked innocently.

"You will find the correct ingredients in the cupboard over there." He said, pointing a disgustingly long finger at a dusty wooden cupboard on the other side of the room.

"That potion was awful." Hermione said as they walked out of the room.

"Why? What's it for?" Ron asked.

"Didn't you read the description?" Hermione asked looking sternly at Ron.

"Er—yeah—well—no." he said.

Hermione sighed, "It's meant to—to—to completely torture magical creatures like giants, werewolves, and vampires."

"Why would Snape want us to make that?" Harry asked.

"I don't know. That's why it's so weird." She said confused.

"I understand why you guys don't like potions now." Alex said.

"Yeah." Harry and Ron said together.

They all headed toward their last lesson of the day: Care of Magical Creatures.

They only ended up learning about who to take care of Flobberworms, such as, what to feed them, how much to feed them, and when to feed them.

After that, they headed towards Gryffindor Tower, where.

Hermione and Ron both went inside the portrait, but Harry stopped Alex.

"Look, Alex." He started. Alex turned toward him.

"What?" she asked.

"Er—today, when you said you heard me, Hermione, and Ron talk about you, it's not what you think." He said.

"I don't know what you were talking about. All I know is that it must have been bad if you stopped when I came toward you." She said, frowning.

"Well—you see—it's sort of hard to explain." He said.

"I'm listening." She said, obviously wanting to hear what he had to say.

"Alright, but not here." He said. "Somewhere more private."

At that moment, Harry led her away downstairs, and when he was sure no one was around, began telling her the dream he had.

"So," she said a few moments after Harry finished explaining the dream. "You thought that—that girl—was me?"

Harry nodded.

"Oh, well, I suppose it makes sense then. What does Avada Kedavra mean?" she asked.

"I don't know… whatever it means, I'm sure it's not good." Harry said, thinking of how the girl flung herself to the floor not wanting to be hit by it.

"Well, you did say it was blurry, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I couldn't even see the face. All I saw was dark hair, I'm not even sure if she goes to the school…"

Alex simply nodded.

After a few moments silence, they went back up to the Gryffindor Tower and into the common room.

Harry hoped he had done the right thing, he wasn't quite sure about Alex yet; there still seemed something weird about her…

(A/N: Hey everyone! Spitzawitz here! So, I know my updates aren't really frequent anymore, BUT I have come with good news! Volleyball season is finally over! Yay! So, that means I will be updating much more frequently. On Saturday is the day I like to update, so that is when I will! For those who were wondering, anyway. Thank you all for the reviews, and I hope to see more! Oh, and just for a heads up, Denenger is pronounced De-nen-ger. Alright, that's all folks! Be here next week for the next chapter!)

~Spitzawitz