Chapter 38

Wednesday, May 23,2012

"All right guys!" I exclaimed as my seventh years filed in to the class room. "Since it's such a beautiful day, we're going to have class outside."

"Professor," Vera raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Malone."

"Why are you wearing your jogging suit and trainers?"

I just smiled and said. "We're going to be practicing shielding and dodging today, Vera. I'm giving you guys twenty minutes to go back to your dorms, change into appropriate clothing, and meet me outside by the monument."

"Professor G." Daniel raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr Royden."

"Why are you carrying a bucket of glowing ping pong balls?"

"They're not ping pong balls Mr Royden, come on people chop chop, times's a wasting. I'll see you all outside in twenty minutes."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

After about fifteen minutes of warm-ups, and some practice dueling, I pulled everyone out of their pairs and motioned them around the 'mysterious' bucket. "These," I explained, pulling a bright green ball out of the bucket, "are specially charmed paint balls, we use them in BIMS training exercises. We're going to practice aiming, dodging, shielding, and targeting projectiles. Observe. VLIEG!" A flick of my wand sent the glowing green ball into one of the target dummies I'd set up away from the class. With a loud pop the ball disintegrated in to a blob of glowing green goo splattering the dummy's chest. "Since twenty of you have requested recommendation letters for the Auror training program, I thought you might enjoy a small taste of what may be to come." I pulled out a second ball, this one glowing purple. "Concentrate on your target, and flick your wand thus, while saying the command incantation. VLIEG." The second ball hit the dummy's head.

"That's bloody brilliant," Daniel Royden observed.

"Thank you, Mr. Royden. Everyone line up for target practice." It took a while to get their aim right, but they grasped the concept quite quickly. "This incantation," I explained, once we'd gotten to the point where everyone was able to at least hit the target, "will work on small objects." I sent a rock into the now bright purple an green dummy's chest. It hit with a loud thud.

"That had to hurt," Louise Valencourt, a Ravenclaw, muttered.

"Yes, Miss Valencourt," I agreed. "That's why all of you ARE only to use the incantation with approved projectiles. If I find out that ANY of you have been using the incantation in any inappropriate manner, there will be consequences." Apparently my detentions had gained a reputation,

everybody cringed appropriately, "Now, we're going to practice dodging and shielding. Who wants to try first?" Being the true Gryffindor that he was, Daniel raised his hand first. "OK Mr. Royden, your choice, shield or try to dodge it."

After everyone had some practice with dodging and shielding, I grabbed the the extra buckets that I'd stashed behind the dummies, "Now it's time for what, in America, we call a good old fashioned 'paint ball war'." The team captains were chosen by lot, Daniel took the purple team, and Louise got the green. I set the teams randomly, conjured my self a chair and a lovely beverage, and sat down to watch the fun. They kept at it until the last paint ball was gone, and it was time for class to end. Several of the boys headed to play Quidditch and Vera was nice enough to help me carry the buckets and dummies back to the castle.

"Professor, G."

"Yes, Vera."

"How to I get all this purple stuff out of my hair?"

"It'll disappear in about two hours."

"Bullocks," I heard her mutter under her breath. She ran her hands through her straight honey blond hair.

"Don't worry, Vera," I assured her. "I'm sure that Daniel won't mind you having purple hair for your date. He left for Quidditch practice with more paint on him than you have."

"How did you know about me and Dan?"

"A good investigator is observant. They pay attention to small details. Mr Royden spends a great deal of time looking at you. If you weren't as fascinated as he seems to be, I might be worried that you have a stalker. However, all I feel reassured that you don't need a bodyguard. However, don't get so caught up in your new romance that you loose sight of the reason you've worked so hard for the last seven years. NEWTS are less than one month away."

"I know, professor."

"Good, and thanks for your help with dummies."

"Can you tell me a bit more about BIMS?"

"What do you want to know?" sat down on the edge on my desk, Vera took a seat on top of the first student table.

"Why did you choose to join BIMS instead of becoming part of the American Aurors?"

"In my final year at muggle University, I was approached by a BIMS recruiter. I had planned on going to Europe to continue my education as a chef, but was offered chance to do something really important, the recruiter told me that I could use my cooking career as a great cover, unfortunately, the whole mess on the island happened and undercover work was out for me."

"Say, I wanted to join BIMS, how would I go about contacting them?"

I just smiled knowingly. "You don't want to join the British Aurors?"

"Maybe, but well, maybe I want something different, well, it's all up in the air until NEWTs."

"Vera, you have been my one of my best two students, what ever you chose as your eventual path, you will excel at."

Her face broke into the widest grin, "thank you, Professor."

"In just about a month, I expect you to call me Glinda."

AN: somebody asked me for more interaction between Glinda and her students. Hope you liked it.

To everyone who has read, enjoyed and reviewed my work, THANKS! I love you guys.