Chapter 46: Professor Funnel
Once the goal was in position the teacher walked around it quickly arresting each wheel with a quick step.
"There. Ready to go?" he asked once that was done. "Then take your positions."
He didn't say which team should take which half, so Draco simply stepped into the goal and after a moment Noel took the other one.
The rest of the players raced towards the centre line where they faced off.
"Clarence!" Draco called out to the one player left without an opponent.
Clarence looked back at him uncertainly and Draco waved him over.
"Stay here." he told the boy once he was sure the other team wouldn't overhear them. "A defender has no business being in the centre of the field. Else the attackers might get behind you and have a free path to the goal."
It was a wise decision. The moment the teacher's whistle started the game all four of their opponents rushed towards the goal. One of the twins had managed to get the ball and was pushing it forward with what Draco considered small clumsy kicks. Even Luke could probably have taken it away, but Jim and Eric obviously weren't quite sure how to go about it.
Curly just stood there right on the centre line not knowing what to do and Sparks was simply chasing after the ball.
"Sparks!" Draco yelled out angrily. "Get back!"
"Get deeper into their field!" Eric was shouting at the two attackers. At least one person had understood Draco's strategy.
Curly finally moved. He was still unsure about it, because everybody else was moving in the opposite direction and so was the ball he needed to score, but Draco had said he couldn't cross that line and Eric's orders at least didn't go against Draco's.
Noel watched him come looking just as confused as Curly was feeling.
On the other side of the gym the twin with the ball was going to shoot, but Clarence was in his way.
'Stupid, clumsy Clarence isn't even trying to play, but still getting in the way.' he thought as he stopped and stared at the goal. 'What now?'
It only lasted for a moment, though, then he decided to just go around Clarence. He turned and kicked the ball to the side, ran after it, turned again and there stood Clarence looking defiant.
'What the?' he tried a few more times, then finally giving up kicked the ball to his brother who stopped it, took measure and shot.
Draco almost yawned. He caught the ball easily. If the twins always waited that long before they shot, he wasn't going to get challenged at all in this game. Still the team needed motivation.
"Good work Clarence. That's exactly what I want from you."
He quickly checked the positions of the rest of his team. Sparks was still in the wrong half, Eric a little too far in the other one still trying to reassure Curly.
"Eric, Sparks! If you want to switch positions, you've got to tell us so." he yelled out to them.
That brought Eric running back, but Sparks still didn't seem to understand. Time for a demonstration. Draco threw the ball out to Jim. "To Curly, ignore Sparks!"
Fortunately Jim could clearly see the wisdom of that at the moment. He took off towards Curly as soon as he had the ball under control.
The twins, it turned out, were faster than Jim, but he had a head start and once Curly saw him coming, he knew what to do. Noel was so surprised that he reacted much too late and the ball went in.
"Great work, team!" Draco called out seeing that Eric was now talking to Sparks.
The teacher closed his mouth again without having said a word. Clearly Dragon didn't need him to tell his team what they'd done right. Their captain's approval would motivate them better than anything he could say anyway. Instead he turned to the other team. "Good playing passing the ball to your twin." he told the first twin. "It could have worked. Keep it up."
The next attack came from Lenny himself and looked a little less clumsy to Draco, though Lenny clearly wasn't as fast as the twins. Eric made a good effort at taking the ball off him, but didn't succeed. If he'd tried this against the twin in the first attack, it could have worked, though.
Clarence bravely stepped into Lenny's way, but the Demon clearly wasn't entirely surprised. He made only one attempt at going around Clarence then passed to Nico.
Nico shot a lot faster than the twin had, but still aimed right at Draco. Draco caught the ball again this time throwing it out to Eric without even a moment's pause. All his players were in position now and the faster he acted the less time that left for the other team to react.
Unfortunately Noel held Sparks' shot this time. Well, the game was young and they were in the lead. Draco allowed himself a satisfied grin.
Despite his repeated praise of Clarence the teacher was beginning to doubt Draco's need of him about halfway through the game. Noel did okay as a keeper, he knew, but he still had let eight balls through by now, while this Dragon had been attacked just as often as Noel and had caught every ball with ease. He was beginning to compare him to Steve, the first keeper of the school team.
'Well Pit,' he thought to himself. 'Looks like you've got a real keeper here and no attacker in sight.'
In normal classes Steve was a problem for him, because the only one in his year who could get past him was Jack, but their schedules made it almost impossible to put them in the same class. If Dragon really was as good, he had an even bigger problem now. None of the boys in his year were on the school team except for Zach, a reserve defender whose schedule didn't allow putting him into this group at all. Nor could he add Dragon to a class of already thirteen students even if his schedule should permit it.
When Sparks scored the ninth goal he was almost tempted to stop the game entirely, but the boys were still having fun. Clarence was even beginning to enjoy himself, which was an absolute first in Sports class. Clarence didn't even enjoy aerobics, even though that was his favourite activity in Sports.
Maybe he could start the game over with a slightly different distribution of players? But the teams were evenly matched except for Dragon whom he couldn't balance out no matter what he did.
He could switch Jim to the other team as Dragon's side had the advantage in numbers, but that wouldn't change much. Maybe if he switched Curly instead? But Curly had been Dragon's first pick. There was no reason to define him as the extra player.
Maybe he should play himself to even out the numbers. He was eager to know how good Dragon really was and the best way to find that out was to kick a few balls at him himself.
In the end he let the game run its course and called the kids over to him after announcing the 12:0 end result.
"What you just experienced was the advantage of team work over just rushing into the game." he told them. "You picked only good players Lenny, while Dragon had a few weaker ones, but he knew how to use each one to his advantage and take some strain off the others. That way his team could walk all over yours. You were all going after the ball at all times, putting all your resources into every move you made and concentrating your forces in one corner of the field while your opponents were all over the field at all times always able to send somebody in wherever the ball ended up."
"Clarence kept getting in the way." one of he twins complained.
"Yes," his brother confirmed. "That clumsy oaf kept stopping the game by standing at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Uh, boys." the teacher said as gently as he could. "I think that wasn't an accident. He was defending the goal that way."
"Defending the goal?" the twins clearly hadn't heard of that concept before, but the rest of their team seemed to know well enough.
"It helps keep some strain off the keeper to stop the direct attack at the first approach." the teacher explained patiently. "He has more time to prepare himself for the actual shot and can be sure that he won't be attacked from the side the defender's on."
"Okay, before you go get dressed again," he continued when there weren't any more questions. "Dragon, do you feel up to a few more minutes in the goal?"
Draco shrugged. This hadn't exactly been exhausting so far. "Sure."
"Good." the teacher said. "The rest of you, push back the other goal and then sit down on the side."
Draco walked back into his goal wondering what the teacher was up to. He'd sent all the others away, so what should Draco do in the goal?
He had only a few seconds to contemplate that, though, before he found the teacher himself racing at him from the side. 'No way even Matt could have separated him from the ball.' flashed through Draco's head just before the teacher shot.
Unlike the students the teacher had aimed for a corner and Draco had to throw himself to the side to catch the ball. He was too late for that though and he just barely managed to push it away with the tips of his fingers.
The teacher went right after the ball and tried again, this time in the other corner.
His third attempt went through, but just barely. No, Dragon definitely hadn't needed Clarence.
"I always thought Little Larry couldn't be the Rakers' first keeper." he told Draco after a moment to catch his breath.
"Larry? Larry much prefers the attack. He just stands in as keeper during practise sometimes. The gang needs a second keeper while I'm at Hogwarts." answered Draco climbing back to his feet.
"Who'd be the other keeper then?" the teacher asked surprised.
"Bloody Mary." Draco answered. Why hadn't the teacher thought of her himself?
"Ah, one of the girls. I should have guessed." When he saw Draco's still confused look he added: "I only teach the boys, so I don't know Mary at all."
When the boys were already about to leave the teacher suddenly called out to him once more.
"If you'd like to try out for the school team, we'll need a new keeper next year. That'd be the first team's keeper, too."
Draco smiled. "I'm not sure, if I won't have to go back to Hogwarts, yet, but if I stay, I'll be sure to try out."
Being on the school team had to be exciting, Draco thought while he quickly slipped out of his sweaty t-shirt and pulled his robes back on. Too bad the changing rooms didn't have a shower installed and he also wished he didn't have to keep his jeans on, but he'd only worn the outer robes over them so he wouldn't be too hot and he'd get cold without them.
There also wouldn't have been enough time left for a shower, he realised as they walked out. Most students were already hastening towards their classes and Cathy and Charlie were waiting impatiently in front of the door.
"What took you so long?" Cathy greeted him. "We've been waiting for almost ten minutes."
"We were playing Soccer." Draco told her indignantly.
"Did you win at least?" Charlie asked.
"Did we win?" Sparks mocked her. "Of course we won. Gloriously, too. You should have seen it."
"We brought you your stuff." Cathy told Draco with a slight shrug at Sparks' antics. "Ignore him. He always acts like he's had too much coffee."
Draco shrugged off that last remark and just thanked her as he took his backpack and cauldron back from her. So maybe Sparks was a little hyperactive. He still liked the boy. Maybe it was because they'd won together or maybe just because they'd been on the same team, but he felt a lot closer to his team-mates now.
"Are any of you in Potions A?" he asked them while they hastened down the corridor towards the stairs.
"I am." he got from three sides.
Sparks, Nico and Eric.
"I'm already partnered with Sonja, though." Eric added.
"And I with Amanda." said Nico.
Well, Draco wouldn't have chosen the Demon as his partner anyway.
"I usually work with Curt." Sparks said.
Eric suddenly stopped short. "Anya's the only one who doesn't have a Potions partner."
"Anya?" Draco stopped as well. "Not Anya Allan from Charms?"
"Yes, exactly that Anya." Eric nodded. "I don't think she blames you for her detention, but she can't be fond of you."
"Why?" Sparks asked surprised. "Anya's a nice girl. I don't see why she wouldn't want to work with Dragon. They should get along fine."
"I got her sent to the headmaster yesterday." Draco admitted.
"Old Connelly made him summon her book and it turned out to be a Herbology text." Jim added from behind them. "And she was still furious during lunch today. I could hear her telling the girls even from our end of the table."
"Great." groaned Draco.
"Alright." said Sparks. "I'll work with you then. Anya can't have a grudge against Curt, too."
Draco smiled again. "Thanks Sparks. You're a real friend."
"Don't thank him too soon." commented Eric. "He's also a real disaster in Potions."
"Hey, I made it into A." Sparks protested. "I just have some little accidents sometimes."
"Like?" Draco asked getting a little nervous.
"Pushing over the cauldron, misplacing ingredients or just throwing them in too fast." Eric grinned.
Sparks shrugged a little apologetically. "Just little accidents. I know how it's done right."
"I think, I'll let you do all the cutting and see to the brewing myself." Draco decided with a grin. "That ought to prevent most accidents."
The Potions classrooms were on the third floor. Actually they took up the entire left corridor there. Each door was decorated with a bubbling cauldron from which smoke rose to form the words Potions F, or E, or D... each in a different colour.
Potions A was neon orange. Draco was sure the Lords of the Market appreciated it a lot.
When the four boys rushed in, there was only one Lord inside, though. The girl, Hester, if Draco remembered correctly. He'd only seen her that one time in Latin class, after all.
She was sitting right at the first table by the door together with Bianca, but neither girl was looking at them. They seemed to be busy arguing about something, but from the few words he heard, Draco couldn't make out what it was.
The worktables for Potions were wider than the normal students' desks and thus only two had been put into each row. Sonja was already sitting at the second table in the first row and Eric slipped in beside her.
Right behind Bianca and Hester sat two girls Draco couldn't remember seeing before. They watched him curiously, so maybe they hadn't seen him before either.
Draco smiled at them then turned around to see that Sparks had already shooed Curt away from the other table. Curt looked a little disappointed.
"Sorry." he told the boy when he slipped past him on his way to Anya in the third row. "I just really don't think Anya wants to work with the idiot that got her in trouble with Connelly."
Curt glared at him for a moment and walked on.
Well, it didn't look like he was going to get along too well with Curt either, Draco decided.
Amanda and Nico sat in the third row while one last worktable had been pushed against the back wall next to the storage cupboard to make more room. If it had been in use as well there would probably have been no room to move left at all, Draco thought, but maybe some years had so many students that every last bit of space had to be used.
Professor Funnel arrived only moments after Draco had sat down. He looked almost as old as Dumbledore, Draco thought, but wasn't quite as agile anymore. He didn't bother to take attendance, probably since the fact that every available seat was taken made it quite obvious that nobody was missing.
His eyes quickly swept over the room and stopped as he found Draco.
"You don't look much like your uncle." he commented after an intense look.
"We're not really related by blood." Draco answered a little unwillingly. "But he's still my favourite relative."
"Professor Winter says you claim to be good at Potions." Professor Funnel stated next.
Did this teacher turn every question into a statement? Or maybe make every statement seem like a question?
"Yes, Sir. It's my best subject."
Frank Funnel nodded to himself, regarded Draco a moment longer, looked once over the whole class, then back at Draco again. "Have you brewed Merlin's dye yet?"
"No, Sir. We had a different Potions book at Hogwarts which puts that further back in the year. We've had several antidotes, burn potions and last brewed a few different healing potions for plants." Draco reported.
"You know what Merlin's dye is, though?" the Professor asked curiously. Apparently that was unusual for a student that hadn't brewed it yet.
"Yes, Sir. My uncle mentioned it when we were working in his lab together this summer." Draco smiled in fond memory.
"So what do you know about it then?" Professor Funnel pushed.
Obviously he knew how to ask questions after all.
"Well, it was invented by Merlin, hence it's name, and is used to dye hair red. It was frequently used by witches trying to escape the medieval witch hunts and that led to the common superstition among muggles that all witches have red hair." Draco hoped that was good enough. It was definitely all he remembered.
"Excellent." Professor Funnel declared obviously satisfied with the information. "For homework I want all of you to read the chapter on dye potions and especially the part on Merlin's dye and write a short summary. Now we'll just brew the potion. You'll find the recipe in your books somewhere between pages 30 and 40."
Draco almost laughed at that information, but soon discovered the reason why Professor Funnel had been so vague. He found the recipe on page 36 while Sparks' book had it on page 39. Different editions.
"Dolly, please remember there are no bat parts of any kind in this potion." the teacher admonished one of the two girls Draco didn't know when she got up to get the ingredients she and her partner would need.
The girl blushed and the class giggled. Draco wondered what might have happened to her that included 'bat parts', while he wrote out a list of ingredients they'd need leaving out all those that he had with him and setting them up on the table.
"Tanja?" Dolly called from the back of the class seconds later. "Do we need bat's liver?"
"No bat parts, Dolly." the class chorused.
Dolly blushed again and returned the jar to the shelf.
Draco held his finished list out to Sparks. "You get these. I'll set up the cauldron."
"Don't drop anything expensive, Sparks." Professor Funnel advised this time.
Draco wondered for a moment whether it might have been wiser to let Sparks set up the cauldron and get the ingredients himself. A little water on the linoleum floor shouldn't be that much trouble, if Sparks had a little accident with the cauldron now.
But it was too late for that and after all this couldn't be the first time Sparks had had to get ingredients from the storage cupboard.
Even though Sparks bounced back to the table excitedly with the jars in his arms nothing bad happened and Draco almost laughed at his earlier worries.
He quickly set up the jars in the correct order while Sparks watched surprised and Funnel appreciatively.
Sparks soon discovered that working with Dragon wasn't as easy as playing Soccer with him. Draco kept reprimanding him for sloppy slicing of ingredients and not putting the jars back in the right place in the line.
"So what?" Sparks finally asked impatiently. "We're brewing a potion, not participating in an arts contest. The potion won't mind if the pieces are a bit irregular."
"They won't mix in as well and the potion won't be as strong." Draco explained while stirring carefully. "Also the more concentration you apply during the work the stronger the potion."
Sparks frowned. "Did you learn that from your uncle?"
"Yes, and believe me, he knows what he's talking about."
"Still it's just holding us up." Sparks insisted. "None of the others are doing it and all that setting up the jars in a strict order has let us fall behind the others already."
"Really?" Draco asked with a slight smile. "How far ahead of us are they?"
Sparks peered over to Curt and Anya's worktable.
"Beetle legs," he heard Curt mumble as they searched frantically through their ingredients. "Where are the beetle legs?"
Sparks decided that they were the wrong group to watch. Draco had added the beetle legs five minutes ago. Maybe it was because Curt and Anya weren't used to working together? He turned his attention towards Dolly and Tanja's table. that was the next best in sight from where he was slicing up dandelion roots.
Tanja was just holding a jar out to Dolly and what Dolly took out of it looked suspiciously like beetle legs. Well, Dolly was terribly forgetful. Maybe she'd had to look up the recipe a few times too often today?
But Bianca and Hester turned out to be even further behind arguing on whether to put in the oak leaves one at a time or all at once. He couldn't make out what Sonja and Eric were doing, but Nico and Amanda had just added the oak leaves. Sparks blinked surprised. They were five minutes ahead of the class? When and how had that happened?
Draco was smiling a little more now. "My method is faster in the long run, you know. I learned it from an expert."
Sparks looked over to Professor Funnel and to his surprise noticed that he'd been watching him all this time. "You're getting a demonstration of how the professionals work here, Sparks." the teacher informed him matter-of-factly. "Dragon's aunt is quite a brewer herself, you know, even though she doesn't have a master's degree."
Draco grinned. "She's the Chemistry expert, though. Spent the time Uncle Severus used for that on the muggles' brewing arts instead."
"Ah yes, Chemistry." Professor Funnel said almost wistfully. "The muggles' version of Potions. It would do our squibs good to have a teacher more versed in that. Your Aunt isn't possibly thinking of becoming a teacher herself someday, Dragon?"
"I don't think so, Sir." Draco answered after a moment of consideration. "I think she's hoping to return to working at the hospital once Billy is a little older. She enjoys brewing medical potions more than teaching, I think, but you'd have to ask her herself to be sure, of course."
"And the medicines are just as needed, maybe even more." Funnel agreed. "Well, I still have a few years left to find my successor. I'm not old enough to retire just yet."
"But you'd want him to be an Alchemist rather than a normal brewer?" Draco dared to ask.
"As I said, it would be good for the squibs and they are this school's speciality We're proud of the good education we provide for these children and always looking for ways to improve on it."
"Uncle Severus says that teaching Alchemy would be important, but nobody's hiring Alchemists." Draco remarked more softly. The whole class didn't need to hear this.
"You think we might be able to snag Hogwarts' Potions Master away from them?" Professor Funnel asked just as softly. "Dumbledore would be a fool to let him go. He might not need an Alchemist, but I know of no other school that can boast having a Potions Master on staff."
"And Uncle Severus respects Dumbledore too much to leave him." Draco agreed. "He'd be glad to hear that you agree with him on the need of teaching Alchemy, though."
After they'd finished their potion Professor Funnel let them start their homework while they waited for the rest of the class. There was no Neville Longbottom in Potions A. The weakest student appeared to be Dolly who kept forgetting the recipe, but wasn't clumsy at all. According to Sparks she was excellent at predicting the results of combining two ingredients and rarely caused any accidents.
"She sometimes gets a completely different potion in the end, but she never combines anything that might explode." Sparks assured Draco. "Sometimes I think she confuses ingredients on purpose, just to see what will happen."
"Uncle Severus would hate her." Draco decided. "He doesn't like experimenting in class at all."
"You have smaller Potions classes at Hogwarts, though, don't you?" Sparks asked to Draco's surprise.
"Smaller? About twenty students in each class."
"Twenty!" Sparks exclaimed incredulously.
"Sparks! No talking in class." Professor Funnel admonished him almost gently.
Draco smirked. Uncle Severus would already have given Sparks at least one detention long before he'd shouted.
"But Professor, Dragon says there are twenty students in his Potions class." Sparks protested.
"Twenty students in Potions? That is quite a lot." Professor Funnel confirmed.
Draco shrugged. "That's average. The second year Hufflepuff/Gryffindor class is currently the biggest Uncle Severus has at twenty-five students."
"Twenty-five in one class and that at Hogwarts." Professor Funnel shook his head sadly. "Fourteen is the largest number I can fit into each class and if I could make that choice I'd never have more than ten students at the same time. How does your uncle manage?"
"Where's the problem with that number?" Draco asked back.
"Brewing potions is dangerous." Professor Funnel explained. "But children, especially the younger ones, tend to forget or ignore that. Some don't even want to understand that they have to be careful or they might end up blowing themselves up, others just don't have the talent for it. The more students in a class, the more cauldrons you have to keep an eye on."
"Uncle Severus is very strict." Draco told the teacher. "Most students are too afraid of him to try anything and he knows which ones are most accident prone."
Professor Funnel nodded. "Still I wouldn't want to have to work with twenty students in one class and I couldn't imagine doing it in every lesson."
To Draco's relief they didn't have to try out their dye potion. He'd have hated to have to go home looking like Ron Weasley. Of course Aunt Sarah probably knew how to brew an antidote, but he'd still be seen by all his friends and enemies on the way home.
"So, how do you like Funnel?" was the first thing Cathy said when they met in the corridor after class.
"Fine, so far." Draco answered a little unsure. After all he still hardly knew the teacher. "I think he likes me."
"Did you learn anything?" Charlie asked with a grin.
"Oh yes," Draco started, but Sparks didn't let him say any more.
"Yes, that Dragon here can make you work at a snail's pace for purely aesthetic reasons and you'll still end up finishing first." Sparks said a little accusingly.
"They're not purely aesthetic reasons." Draco told him once again. "They're more efficient ways to work."
"They're booooring." Sparks insisted.
Draco just shrugged. "They work for the Potions Masters."
Once again they had to squeeze through the masses walking down the stairs and it turned out that going to the wardrobe at the end of the day was even harder than just getting out the door. At least when you were heading out the front door, nobody was trying to get in at the same time. The wardrobe unfortunately had only one door, though and there were just as many students on their way out as on their way in.
The fat girl from the day before once again ploughed her path through, several smaller kids that happened to be heading in the same direction trailing behind her.
Draco glared after her after she shoved him roughly out of the way and into the people standing behind him. Fortunately it was just the Lords of the Market from his own year. Draco didn't like the idea of being shoved into the Demons or a group of Sharks like that at all.
"How was Potions?" was the first thing Mike asked him when they met up with the rest of the gang in the entrance hall.
"Great. We brewed Merlin's dye." Was everybody going to ask him about that today? "Where's Jack?"
"Care for Magical Creatures." Sammie answered him with a shrug. "The higher years all have one elective this late and for the seventh years it's Creatures."
Draco tried to remember his own schedule. "What subject do we have that late?"
Cathy frowned. "Conjuring, the worst of them all."
"Even worse than Charms with Connelly?" Charlie teased her.
"Yes, at least I can perform charms. Almost everything in Conjuring is about incantations and I just can't sing. All I'm succeeding in is making the teacher despair every time I open my mouth." Cathy sighed. "It's a miracle she hasn't failed me yet."
"Why did you choose the subject in the first place?" Draco asked. "There are a lot of other interesting electives. You could have taken Runes or Muggle Studies for example."
"Ah, because those are your classes?" Cathy grinned. "I thought it would be interesting and Jack claimed that it was fun. I had no idea that girls had a different teacher or just how little musical talent I have. I suppose she realises that I do try, though. She doesn't really pick on me or anything, just doesn't know what to do with a student so untalented."
It was somehow consoling to know that Cathy wasn't perfect in every subject, Draco thought. After all she'd witnessed his embarrassing moments in Transfigurations and DADA.
Jack's absence didn't mean that there was no Soccer game that day, as Draco found out and once again there wasn't enough time left for all his homework. He did the Potions assignment first, because it was the most interesting, then finally started the Charms one.
It was easier for him, because he'd done it before and remembered much of what Flitwick had told them back then. Still he had to look up the details and he didn't dare to do sloppy work for Old Connelly's class. He might be able to perform all the Charms she was likely to teach this term, but she still didn't like him and was mean enough that he'd feel it, if he gave her any chance.
By the time he was done with the essay there was little time left for DADA, but he decided to at least search the lab for a suitable book. Uncle Severus had claimed that his moderated wolfs-bane potion was intended for both werewolves and vampires, so he had to have some texts around for reference.
After searching the whole bookshelf he had to realise, though, that Severus had most likely taken everything he needed for his pet project with him to Hogwarts. All Draco could come up with was a thick tome titled 'Hunters in the Dark' that had a big chapter dedicated to vampires and a lot of general information, though that more often than not dealt mostly with were-creatures.
Deciding that that probably wasn't enough he went to ask Sarah if she had any additional literature in the bedroom or maybe the basement.
"Severus has a very good book called 'An Encyclopaedia of Vampires'." Sarah told him at once. "It ought to be in the lab."
Draco shook his head sadly. "I already checked there. I suppose he's taken it with him as a reference for his wolfs-bane experiments. All I found is this." He held up 'Hunters in he Dark' for her to see.
Sarah frowned. "I wouldn't use that, if I were you. It does include some very interesting facts, but isn't reliable."
"It isn't?" Draco asked disappointedly.
"It's a rather old text written by a catholic priest." Sarah explained. "It's full of religious prejudice and unfounded superstition. Look here," she said taking the book from his hand and flipping through the pages. "It states that vampires fear the cross and daylight kills them. ... Or this here. Over forty pages on were-cats"
"Were-cats? What are those? I've never even heard of them." Draco asked curiously.
"Precisely. That's because there are no were-cats." Sarah told him. "There is a race called catar, that is often referred to as were-cats, but they aren't even dark creatures. They are guardians of the natural balance, similar to the druids. A very friendly race originally, but the church's persecution has driven them to the edge of extinction. I'd rather you'd stay away from such biased books. They're no better than the lies your father told you about muggles."
"Then why does Uncle Severus keep it in the lab? And what am I to use for my DADA essay?"
"Like I said, it has some very interesting facts and Severus knows not to rely on it. Why do you think he left it here when he took everything else he had on vampires to school with him? I think he mostly uses it as a reference on church prejudice." Sarah smiled, but put the book on her own bookshelf in the bedroom instead of handing it back to Draco. It seemed she'd decided to keep an eye on it while Draco was here. "I'm sure you'll find something more appropriate at the school library and Severus will be home tomorrow evening. He can tell you everything you want to know about vampires."
"Uncle Severus is coming home!" Draco exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Will he stay the whole weekend?"
"I'm afraid he has to be back at school Saturday evening, but we've got him for one day and that should be enough to help you with your DADA homework."
"It's not just the homework." Draco admitted. "I think we're about two years behind in DADA at Hogwarts. One year for Lockhart and one for the false Moody. It's really embarrassing, you know."
"I thought you said the subjects were about the same as at Hogwarts?" Sarah asked sounding slightly worried.
"Well, most of them are. Transfigurations and History are at almost the same spot, Herbology is very different, but doesn't seem difficult at all. Old Connelly is so far behind Flitwick that I probably wouldn't have a problem with her sixth year classes, we were reading something completely different in Latin, but I had no problem adapting and Potions is a very sudden change of topic as well, but still feels easy to me." Draco shrugged. "With all the brewing I've done with Uncle Severus over the summer, I'm a little ahead of the rest of the class no matter what they do, I guess. DADA could be a problem."
Sarah thought about it for a moment. "I think you should tell Severus about that. Headmaster Dumbledore should probably know."
"You think he doesn't?" Draco asked surprised. "I thought Professor Fletcher would have told him and Lupin must have mentioned it as well. The first thing he told us when he took over was that we were far behind."
"Maybe so, but I wonder if Albus is aware just how far behind you really are. He is the one who keeps talking about a new war coming and everybody having to be prepared. I'd think preparing his own students should be his first action." Sarah answered. "Fletcher and Lupin never taught before. They had no other students to compare you to. An experienced DADA teacher's opinion probably will have a lot more weight."
"You think he'd come and talk to the West Hogsmeade teachers about it?"
Sarah sighed. "Probably not. Those Hogwarts snobs barely recognise West Hogsmeade's existence, but they should talk to them. They'll need to know the other schools' standards in order to judge the quality of their own work. It's time they stopped just assuming that they're the best, because they're the most expensive."
"They've got Uncle Severus." Draco pointed out. "And Professor Flitwick." he added. "Connelly thinks she's so sharp, but Flitwick beats her without even trying."
"Yes, but you said yourself that DADA isn't anywhere near West Hogsmeade's standard." Sarah pointed out.
Draco had to agree. "And then there's Professor Winter. McGonagall may be an animaga and all, but Winter's good, really good. Binns could take some lessons in keeping a class awake from Tempore, even though she isn't that impressive." he grinned. "And I wonder if Hootch can shoot a ball the way the Sports teacher can."
"Professor Funnel is one of he best as well." Sarah added. "And Professor Magnus taught at muggle university for a while. West Hogsmeade's Muggle Studies classes are the best in the whole UK and the main attraction of the school are the special classes they offer for squibs. Hogwarts doesn't even try in that department."
"Professor Funnel also said that they're considering teaching Alchemy and are even doing it to a point in the squibs' Potions classes."
"That's all concentrated towards the squibs, though and they'd have to do a lot more to teach real Alchemy." Sarah pointed out.
"Maybe so, but they're at least trying. Funnel even asked me, if you'd be interested in teaching."
"He did?" Sarah seemed speechless for a moment.
Was she actually considering it? But then she shook her head.
"It sounds nice enough, but I'm needed at the hospital. They've already owled twice asking when I'll be back. Apparently my replacement can only brew the more simple healing potions and they have to buy everything a little more complicated from the suppliers of St. Mungo's. St. Mungo's isn't happy about the competition and it's raising the prices, which are already too high for our little hospital anyway. "
Draco nodded remembering how small the Hogsmeade hospital really was. It was little more than a medical centre with only a few beds. It did have its own dentist and children's doctor, three more mediwizards and a few nurses, but they rarely performed actual surgery. All the more serious cases had to be sent on to St. Mungo's for treatment.
Yes, Sarah was probably really needed back there, but didn't the students at West Hogsmeade Wizarding School need her as well? Then again, patients might die from lack of medicine, students wouldn't die from lack of Alchemy lessons.
"I guess so." Draco said a little disappointedly and returned to his books. If he couldn't do any DADA today, he at least had a chance to try some Math problems.
A/N: Will Anya and Curt continue to hate Draco? How will he do in Muggle Studies? And will Sevi be able to help him with his homework?
In the next chapter: We meet a professor with a speech problem. Draco meets Curt in the library and has both of his electives for the first time at West Hogsmeade.
