For the Grindelwald fans out there, I have co-authored a fic with Darth Krande called "Defence Professor Wohl". It should be published in the next day or two. Check it out!
In the meantime, enjoy this one.
'I forgot how much I hated homework.' Gellert tossed his half finished transfiguration essay at the wall, whilst Harry and Ron just stared at him open mouthed.
'It's not due for another week mate.' Ron advised him, his attention drawn from his quiddich magazine.
'You'd be better of starting now too.' He informed them, wandlessly summoning the parchment back to him. He knew the subject matter of course, but he hadn't had to write anything more than a couple of lines in decades and his hand kept cramping up.
'You sound like Hermione. We'll get it done later, there's loads of time.' Harry tossed his snitch up into the air and caught it just before it could escape his curtains.
'If you knew how much homework that Umbridge woman will give us, you'd be starting now too.' The dark wizard flexed his hand and began writing again.
His first morning of lessons had gone off without a hitch – Transfiguration had begun with a lecture on how important his OWL year was, then they had to perform a simple colour changing charm, which he'd not even dignified pretending to struggle on. History of Magic had been dull in the extremes with a ghost teacher who would drone on for the whole lesson about giant wars whilst Hermione alone took notes.
He looked forwards to their first lesson with Umbridge, after their free period. Contrary to Hermione's belief that he didn't deserve his badge, he was determined to excel in his second chance at schooling – if only for the pride of having achieved his OWLs. So he'd cast a translation charm to turn his school books into his native language and had read the first five chapters; enough to know that the chances of them being taught anything useful was very small.
A bell tolled somewhere and there was a collective sigh from the boys around the room. The Irish boy pinned up his last poster as Ron retied his shoes. Gellert waved his hand and his bag magically repacked itself.
'What d'you think that Umbridge woman is going to be like?' The boy from the train asked as they all made their way downstairs and through the stiflingly hot common room.
'I dunno, I mean that speech last night was pretty boring.' Harry replied. By now Gellert was striding ahead of them, unwilling to remain in the hot room for longer than necessary. The door to the common room swung shut behind him as he hurried through the unfamiliar corridors to the third floor. He had to cast several locator spells, not that he minded because he loved watching the Elder Wand spinning in the air.
By the time he'd taken several wrong turns, he arrived not long after the Gryffindor students. The classroom was already almost full; just a few of the Gryffindor girls still to arrive, so he took a seat near the back of the class and pulled out his book. Umbridge was already at her desk, wearing a fluffy pink cardigan and a bow in her hair, the class was almost silent as they waited for her to begin. Everyone had their books and wands out, quills and parchment at the ready but Gellert already suspected there would be little wand waving in this lesson, so he left his safely tucked into his sleeve.
'Good morning, children!' She chimed when the last seat was filled. A couple of students mumbled back a reply and the woman tsked with false disappointment. 'Now, that wasn't very good, let's try again shall we; good morning children!'
Gellert refused to respond, but around him the class returned the entirely false greeting. Unfortunately the teacher must have been looking at him despite the distance between them because she noticed that he hadn't opened his mouth.
'Mr Abernathy, are you different to everyone else?' She prowled up the aisle towards him and he didn't miss how eager Ron looked as he watched the encounter.
'Mein English ist night much gut.' He replied, putting on a clueless expression and waving his German copy of the set book. 'I am much sorry, Fräulein Umbridge.'
The woman's expression melted into something sickly sweet as he apologised meekly and she gently rested her hand on his desk, offering to help him if he ever needed anything in the future and reassuring him that she would slow down if he asked. He did, just because he wanted to see the exaggerated gestures people were wont to do when talking to non-native speakers.
When the woman finally bustled away down the aisle again, taking with her the cloud of obnoxious perfume, he met the eyes of two disappointed boys that had hoped to see the Grindelwald-Umbridge showdown. With a benevolent expression he twirled his fingers in her direction, ending the gesture with a sharp twist. Her hair turned royal blue.
Apparently, she couldn't see her own hair because she carried on with her introduction, oblivious to the change and confused by the giggling of her class. As she drivelled through why their owls were important and how average all their previous teachers had been, she got more and more irritated at the incessant snickering. The best bit was, the redder in the face she got, the more she looked like some kind of fruit with her vibrant tones.
'Will you all shut up!' She finally snapped, then she looked embarrassed by her outburst and had to take several calm, steadying breaths. For a moment there was silence as the students absorbed this, then raucous laughter exploded across the room. Gellert would have been unsurprised if steam started shooting from her ears. Ron shot him a thumbs up from under the table and even Hermione was cracking a smile.
Only the threat of detention on their first day back made them finally subside into the occasional giggle.
'I don't know what exactly you find so funny about your OWLs.' She huffed, 'but if you hope to have any career within the ministry, you'd better start treating them more seriously. Now, turn to page 5 and read chapter one please.'
It was almost amusing watching her pat her hair down as if it were frazzled – of course the style remained just as hideous as before. Gellert opened his copy of Defensive Magical Theory and began reading about tuning spells to a certain magical signature. It had been a real stroke of brilliance to rebind the book during lunch. He was very soon the only one still reading and he looked up when the teacher finally realised everyone was distracted. He only vaguely listened to the conversation , having already guessed what the other students were only just realising, then Harry lost house points and he realised he needed to stop this before Harry ended up in detention with the woman.
He wandlessly tugged at her hair and a frustrated hand batted away his magic like a fly. With more persistence, he tried again, this time with a sharp jerk that couldn't be misinterpreted. The witch hissed and spun around to face the other half of the classroom, eyeing the students suspiciously. He waited until she was facing Harry again before doing the same, twice in quick succession.
'I said wands away!' The teacher screeched, spinning suddenly and glaring at each student as if to find a wand. Everyone looked baffled and shared looks, he ghosted a cool breeze from the window across her shoulders and the witch whipped around, looking crazy as she swatted the air around her. 'Stop this immediately!' She squawked, batting at the air with her hands. Grins cracked out across the room as the witch swatted the imaginary flies that now buzzed in her ears. It was all parlour tricks, but they served the purpose none the less, Gellert thought as he flicked his fingers again and pulled her hair. Finally, a strand came loose in her hand as she scratched at her hair and she almost dropped it, then she seemed to realise that there was something wrong and she inspected the blue strand. He could almost feel the rage bubbling up inside her.
'Out, out, all of you!' She finally screeched and the class fled before she could change her mind.