*Definitely a longer chapter than ten's... Anyway, I watched "Colonia" with my friends today and it starred Emma Watson (it was the only reason we actually even watched it) but it was a good movie. Sure, there were moments when we shouted, "TOO MUCH EMMA!" but other than that, it was and intense film. Anyway, enough of my stupidities and rants, READ ON!


It was a cloudy Tuesday when Clara and Ginny had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. For the past few days, they had been hearing great things about their new and mysterious professor– Moody.

Sadly, they had Defense final period, and the two girls had to wait an entire day. The fourth years had yet to have DADA, for they had it on Thursday, and they had made Clara and Ginny promise to tell them everything.

"Tell me everything," Ron practically begged his sister. "Fred and George have been going on about it ever since they had him!"

Ginny swatted her brother away. "Fine! Just leave me alone!" She grabbed some toast and buttered her bread. Ron walked away, sitting with his friends. Ginny ate her breakfast peacefully.

John, looking as though he had just survived a bomb, plopped down next to Clara. His hair was growing out, much messier than usual. His robes were disheveled, with his buttons not done properly.

Ginny laughed at the sight, and Clara had to suppress her amusement, putting on a strict and scolding tone.

"John."

"Mhmm?"

"When did you wake up?"

John checked his watch. "About three minutes ago why?"

"Have you seen yourself?" Clara queried.

"I don't have a mirror," John retorted.

"Then buy one," Clara prompted.

"Why? Mirrors are quite useless things to have, unless you're battling vampire fish– in which case, they're extremely useful," John blabbed. "Also–"

Ginny snorted, and Clara cracked a smile. However, she had to cut John off. "John, your hair is a right mess, and your robes are all messed up."

"Well, I can't fix them here, can I?" John snapped.

Ginny perked up, however Clara sighed. "No. Go back to your dorm, and fix yourself up. It's quite embarrassing."

John groaned. "Didn't know my presence embarrassed you."

Clara couldn't really tell if John felt hurt or not, however she passed it off as him just making snappy remarks. "Of course not," she assured him. "You're embarrassing yourself, though."

"My ego doesn't get harmed just because of my fashion sense, and what others think of it," John quipped.

"John!" Clara moaned, quote aggravated at this point. "It's not a matter of fashion! You're a complete mess, goodness! Do you even sleep? Look at the eye-bags! Or your hair! When was the last time you combed? Do you button your shirt while sleeping? Honestly!"

John kind of just stared at her. Which softened Clara up a bit.

"Go on," she said calmly, "Just do it, please."

"Fine,"said John. "Though, to be noted, I'm not doing this because you told me to!"

"Of course not."

"I'm doing it because this shirt is really itchy." He walked out of the Great Hall, scratching his arm through the white shirt.

Clara rolled her eyes while Ginny drank some orange juice.

"You guys are hilarious to watch," Ginny noted.

"How come?" Clara asked, making a bowl of cereal for herself. The O's sparkled and exploded with flavour when you bit into them.

"It's like seeing my mum and dad fight, mind you not a big fight. It's funny when married couple bicker."

Clara felt her eyes widen and her cheeks heat up and redden.

"Blimey," Ginny laughed. "John was right about your eyes. They do swell up to an extraordinary size!"

Clara blinked, hoping her body would calm the hell down. Stop being so embarrassed. My God, he's just a friend.

"Though, I don't think it's John you like," Ginny said sharply.

"What?" How did this conversation come about, Clara wondered.

"In all honesty, I'm not even sure it's a boy you like," Ginny continued.

"Excuse me?"

"Veelas," Ginny reminded her. "Remember? Anyway, not that there's anything wrong with that. But you can tell me–"

"I'm not!" Clara said, her voice raised, which attracted some attention. Then, in a much lower tone she added, "I'm not."

"Fine, fine, fine," chuckled Ginny.

After ten minutes, John came back. His robes were much better looking, but there was still room for improvement. However, his hair and face, to be frank, were still looking wild.

"Ah," Ginny said. "Much better."

John gave a flat look and said, "I like this shirt much better; there's no itch."

"Great."

"Well, we'd best be off," Clara said. "We have Potions and I really don't want to piss Snape off."

John gave a disgruntled look. "I used to not mind Snape…" He said it without necessarily telling anybody.

"Well, bye," Clara said. "Also, don't be late for class again! I don't want to lose anymore points for Gryffindor!"

"I'll do my best, no promise."

"M'kay, bye!"

The girls walked together to Potions, which they thankfully had with the Ravenclaws this year. They encountered Luna, and decided to be as gracious and sit with her.

"Oh!" Luna said brightly. "Hello!"

"Hey."

"Haven't seen you lately, sorry," said Ginny.

"Oh, I don't mind!" Luna said with her naturally silvery voice. "I think third-year Gryffindors have Care of Magical Creatures with the Ravenclaws too!"

"Thank goodness," Clara muttered. "So, do you like Potion class?"

Luna gave an airy smile. "It's okay. But I think wrackspurts have invaded Mister Snape's head. He seems very distant. A common side-effect."

"Mister Snape?" laughed Ginny.

Luna frowned, which looked weird on her angelic face, "Oh, right. I forgot that Professor doesn't like it when I call him that." Her face brightened, and she went back to doodling on her page.

"That doesn't seem like a good idea," Clara warned, nodding at the pictures of birds and lions on the page that was set on their tables before their professor had even arrived.

"I like it," Ginny said.

"Thank you," Luna said brightly. "But, Clara's right. I'll get in trouble again for doing do."

Clara stuck her tongue out playfully in Ginny's direction, before quickly straightening herself out when Professor Snape walked into the classroom.

Mister– Professor Snape was a weird human being, in Clara's opinion. Clara didn't understand how a person could be so hateful and full of resent. He was like a bat–– Not cool like Batman–– cold, and cruel like a dark, vile creature.

Snape spoke, which was really more of a drawl, "As third year Potion students, I expect no less than exemplary from each and every one of you." His eyes settled on a group of Gryffindors that sat together. His lip curled. "However, I may be mistaken; some of you obviously lack the patience and determination that comes with the success of the art of potion-making. Miss Lovegood?"

Clara turned toward Luna, who had evidently decided that the urge to draw on the page once more was too strong to avoid. Clara gently elbowed her.

Luna looked up slowly, to meet Snape's gaze. She smiled, which Clara was sure she would not have been able to pull off.

"Sorry, Mis– Er, sir. No, not 'mister' professor," Luna stammered. She smiled again.

Snape obviously wasn't amused. "Miss Lovegood, if you could be as considerate and not," pause, "doodle on the pages I have carefully laid out for my class."

Luna raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Sorry, I just thought the margins looked a bit lonely and blank, so I decided that–"

"Decided to sprawl messy and unorganized lines of ink? Tut tut, what a waste of material."

Luna seemed mostly unaffected, however she blinked and stared right back at their professor. Snape, who seemed to have decided that his little show was over, sauntered back to his desk.

"Twenty points from Ravenclaw." Cue the gasps. Snape glared. "Any noise and it'll be a hundred."

What a great start to the day.

After Potions was herbology with Ravenclaws again–which was fine with all three girls. then lunch. Clara and Ginny sat down, leaving Luana to hop on over to her table, and ten minutes later John joined in. He smelled like something burnt.

"Why is it that everytime I see you, you look like you've just survived a natural disaster?" Clara said, plopping some salad onto her plate.

John gave a pointed look. "It seems like school is a natural disaster."

Ginny smiled. "Who would've thought the day would have come when John begins to dislike school."

"I never liked school! Just the reading, yes, but it's absolutely foul having to listen to people droning on and on about theories for fifty minutes, and then only letting us test them out for ten!"

Clara took a bit of her meal. "So," she said once she swallowed, "what class did you have that made you hate school even more?"

John groaned. "Transfiguration."

"What? I thought you liked Trans." Ginny said. She had a quirked up lip.

John was confused. "What? I detest Transfiguration class. It's so easy, and I got in trouble because I set the table on fire. That was only to prove that–"

"You set a table on fire?"

"Yes, but that's not the point–"

"You set a bloody table on fire in McGonagall's class? How are you even alive?"

John shuddered. "Barely."

"How much detention do you have?" Clara asked.

"Um… two weeks."

"Slow clap for you," said Ginny.

After lunch, Ginny and Clara departed. Ginny had decided to take Arithmancy while Clara had taken Ancient Runes.

Ancient Runes was okay, however today's lesson was more so an introduction, and Clara really wanted to see some of the scripts and writings that they would be studying. It was awful however, for the class was shared with the Slytherins this year.

Nonetheless, finally the time had come for Defense Against the Dark Arts class. They were partnered with the Hufflepuffs, which was a blessing by Merlin himself. Clara would've prefered Ravenclaw, but at least it wasn't Slytherin.

All the students sat down, each with their own desk. Ginny sat to Clara's left, next to a wall, while a Hufflepuff boy sat in the table to Clara's right.

Two minutes into class, and Professor Moody still had not arrived. However, at three minutes, he barged in; door flying open like it did in the Great Hall that first day.

"There will be no need for any books today," he growled. Clara instantly plopped her book back into her bag, along with everyone else.

Professor Moody stood at the front of the room, his blue eye moving about. "Now," he declared, "I've received a letter from your Professor Lupin. Second years studied Dark Creatures, some defensive spells, and some others. This year will be much harder, I expect. Perhaps later on this year you will learn of the Unforgivables, however as Dumbledore sees it unfit to show a fresh batch of third years that– we'll settle with some others–" his eyes gleamed, more so the blue one, "–for now."

Clara gulped, but kept her gaze steady. She wasn't particularly sure she liked Professor Moody. He seemed very harsh, which was unnerving.

Moody pulled out a spider, brown and hairy. Clara noticed there were whole jars of creatures in his classroom. Some black spiders, some big ants, crickets…

The brown spider was disgusting to look at as it wriggles and scuttled, however with one flick of his wand, a jet of scarlet light, and a "Stupefy!" the spider went limp.

Clara had seen the Stunning Spell before, but she had never performed it herself. It was awe-inducing.

Moody grunted. "Now, there are three known ways to stop the Stunning Spell. Number one, "Rennervate." Number two, you can stop the actual effect by using a shield charm, or number three; you simply wait out its affects. Now, some stunners can last longer than others, you could only be stunned for a few seconds. Or it could be minutes or even hours. There have been a couple cases of it being days."

Everyone nodded, and few wrote it down. However, everyone was just so engrossed in the lesson…

"Now, everyone partner up. Come to the front of the classroom and show me your best attempt at the Stunning Spell."

"Er, sir?" the boy next to Clara asked. "How do we do it? What's the wand movement?"

Moody chuckled, and showed the class the movement by manipulating the Hufflepuff's arm. The class was definitely scared of their professor, and the boy rubbed his arm tenderly.

Clara and Ginny of course went together. And they were the fourth pair to attempt the charm. All other pairs had failed, which made Moody shoo them away. He was not patient.

Summoning all her strength, Clara stood at the ready. Their task was to have one partner attempt the charm, and then switch.

It was Ginny's turn first, and she waved her wand hesitantly, before shouting, "Stupefy!" Clara, having a tight grip on her wand was suddenly quite apprehensive. With lightning fast reflexes, she waved her wand and caused the red light to bounce upward and dissolve.

Clara opened her eyes and saw Moody staring at her. Ginny was looking awed, as did the two third year houses.

"And how'd you pull that one off?" Moody grunted.

"I-I just thought you know– protect myself, and waved, It was a point and think sort of thing. Really hadn't expected it to work, though."

"Good job," Moody said. "Best I've seen from someone as you as you. Wordless magic… Hm… What's the Protection Charm?"

They had learned about it last year. "Protego."

"Did you think of that spell?"

No. No, she really didn't. "I think so…"

"Very well, then. Good job," there was no hint of compliment in his voice. "Go on then, show us if you can do the Stunning Spell!"

"Um, ok…?"

Clara raised her wand, and saw Ginny prepare herself. Clara felt a surge of not wanting to hurt her friend, so she fumbled a bit, which caused her to wave her wand and a jet of scarlet light protruded from its end. Thank goodness she had not aimed it at her friend; it his the wall behind her.

This time, Moody seemed much more impressed. "Wordless magic again! From a third year at that…" His complimenting tone really didn't match his physical appearance though. He straightened himself out. "Better aim next time, though."

Clara felt a jolt of pride. "Er, yeah."

"Name?"

"Oswald, Clara Oswald."

"Hm. Ten points to Gryffindor for Miss Oswald's use of non-verbal spells. Twenty points added to that for the success in performing a Protection Charm and the Stunning Spell. And another five for not calling me 'sir' once. " With that, they were shooed away from the centre stage.

Ginny pulled her aside. "Clara!" she hissed. "Have you been practicing?"

"No. I told you: point and think. It works!"

"Maybe for you," Ginny grumbled. Clara noticed just a hint of jealousy in her friend's face. "Oh don't give me that look!" she snapped, though with a smile on her face. "I'm not a dying puppy. Plus, you got us 35 points!"

At dinner, Clara sat down next to John, who seemed annoyed out of his mind.

"Bad day?" Clara asked.

"Well, we lost thirty points because I talked back to Professor Snape," John said with fake brightness.

"Thank goodness Clara got us thirty-five!" Ginny said.

John raised an eyebrow. "Good day for you, then?"

Getting some mashed potatoes, Clara said, "Not sure."