James was relieved to see that he wasn't the only member of the team reluctant to spend their first Sunday practising quiditch. Even Sebastian Gorren was reluctant to have joined.
"I wanted to spend all day practising my apparating" he explained. "But Patricia reminded me why I took the captain job. To kick Slytherin butt."
"I believe we should be practising on a regular basis" Benedict suggested. "I've already done a bit of scouting, and I'm now aware of all the team captains."
"Who are they?" asked James.
"The Hufflepuff captain is Hazel Macmillan, the Ravenclaw captain is Silverstone McLaren and the Slytherin captain is Oswald Cannon."
"Cannon" Sebastian growled. "That Slytherin git won't know what's hit him once we're through with him."
"Macmillan and McLaren are both formidable forces in their own right" Benedict reminded him. "Do not underestimate them."
"I know, I know" Sebastian muttered. "But Slytherin is who we've got first; therefore they take the priority."
"Enough chatting" Patricia bellowed as if she had her volume enchanted. "Get on those brooms and fly."
James was starting to get confused over who exactly was supposed to be in charge; but once everyone flew up into the air, Sebastian took over the session, and James spent a good amount of time practising his lookout for the golden snitch.
"Excellent job team" Sebastian declared once their time had run out. "Slytherin don't stand a chance."
"I will keep my eyes open on the other teams" Benedict announced. "It will be beneficial for us to know how they all play."
"I don't remember the last time you had your eyes open on anything other than a book" Patricia muttered.
"I think it's something we should all try and do in due time" said Sebastian. "For now though, I could really do with some lunch."
James spent the rest of the day in his favourite armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room. After quiditch practise, he wanted to chill out before work started again tomorrow. Darren was sat at a nearby desk, desperately trying to complete his homework, whilst Bella was sat opposite him, reading the Daily Prophet.
"Slytherin employment is at an all-time record low" Bella told him. "Borgin and Burkes have closed down in Knockturn Alley, so now there are only twelve Slytherins total that have a paid job; and that includes Montague."
"Ouch" James remarked. "But I suppose that's what happens when an entire house ganged up on my dad."
"Yeah, the Slytherins really weren't very nice when dad was a kid" Bella noted. "But ever since Voldemort's defeat, you don't see Slytherins like that anymore. Travis Gant has been with us in class all week, and he's an alright guy."
"Speaking of Slytherins not being like they used to be; Professor Longbottom warned me that there was an unlikely chance I might be bullied, because my parents are muggles" Darren butted in. "Was that actually a thing back then?"
"It's still a thing now for some people" James explained. "People who claim their family are wizards only call themselves pure-bloods. They really hated wizards who had muggle parents."
"Like the same way that Jackson hates you?" asked Darren.
"In the sense that they killed muggle-borns" Bella shrieked. "If you were in Hogwarts when Voldemort was in power, you'd be tortured and killed."
"K..k…k…killed?" Darren stuttered, his face gone white. "And you say they're still people…"
"Bella is talking about the Death Eaters" James explained. "They're all either dead, or in Azkaban the wizard prison now."
"But you just said earlier…" Darren said wildly.
"Just a very small group of saddos who don't do anything anymore" James said calmly. "Pure-bloods were rare when my dad was a kid."
"Almost all of the remaining pure-bloods are either dead, imprisoned, or married to people who aren't pure-bloods" Bella added. "In fact there is only one pure-blood in our generation."
James knew who Bella was talking about. He had never met Scorpius Malfoy, but from what he had heard from Harry; Draco Malfoy had raised him to be a far more decent person than he had been.
"The few people who believe that pure-bloods are superior, and who aren't in Azkaban don't really have much heart in doing anything about it anymore" James went on. "When the last pure-blood marries, it will be to a half-blood at best; and then there will be no more pure-bloods left. Everyone who still believes in the old ways knows this, and just spend the rest of their days rotting away, wondering how good life would have been if they had gotten their way."
"They would have tried to kill me" Darren gargled, having not yet processed everything that was said.
"This was all years before we were born" Bella tried to comfort him. "Nobody here thinks like that anymore."
"I need to go to my room" Darren announced.
He abandoned his homework, and ran off into his dormitory.
"Maybe I shouldn't have told him anything" James muttered.
"He would have learned about it sooner or later" Bella replied. "He'll be fine after a good sleep."
Bella's prediction did not come to pass. When Darren arrive at the Great Hall the following morning, he didn't speak to anyone, and seemed so out of focus that his cereal kept on missing his mouth. The first four days of the week played very similar to last week's, with Jackson being on top in nearly every lesson; though James did note that Jackson didn't boast about how well he did.
"Maybe Hagrid actually did convince him to turn a new leaf" James mentioned on Friday morning.
"He hasn't picked on Darren all week" said Bella.
Darren showed no signs of improvement throughout his second week. He wasn't casting any of the spells they were being taught, and was still unable to cast any of the spells that were taught last week. His homework was also nowhere close to completion, though James was happy to see that every teacher so far had forgiven him, as they all understood how much he was struggling.
"I still need to do Transfiguration" Darren said during Professor Binns' lecture.
"Do it now then" James hissed.
James was certain that Professor Thicknesse wouldn't be as tolerant with Darren's struggles as all the other teachers were. He helped Darren with his homework, whilst Professor Binns was talking about the Centaur Civil War of 342 BC.
"Thanks for helping me James" said Darren after they were all dismissed. "But now I have to catch up on History of Magic."
"Don't bother; I don't think anyone else paid any attention either."
"I was reading the Daily Prophet" said Bella.
"I was playing wizard's chess with Violet" said Aoiffe.
"I was poking Nigel with my wand" said Gant.
Jackson was around this group, but didn't say anything.
"I think one person might have actually listened to that dribble" said James.
"Well at least someone got something out of it" replied Nigel.
"Transfiguration after lunch" moaned Hyacinth.
"At least it's the weekend afterwards" muttered Dranzebar.
Lunchtime was not as peaceful or as relaxing as James hoped it would be. It was rather difficult to chill out, knowing that right afterwards was the teacher from hell.
"Good luck Darren" James whispered as they all lined up outside Thicknesse's classroom.
"I've had worse teachers" Darren replied.
The door opened on its own, and everyone entered the classroom without speaking a word. Thicknesse was writing in the same book that he did last week, once again not acknowledging the presence of his class. James began to wonder how long it would take for him to say anything, when Thicknesse waved his wand, and the classroom door slammed shut.
"I believe I set all of you homework for today" he snarled. "Get it out, and show it to me."
Everyone quickly searched their bags to get out their parchments. Almost all of them looked nervous as they handed it in to Thicknesse; the one exception being Jackson, who seemed rather calm in comparison. Darren was last in line, and before he got chance to place it on top of the pile, Thicknesse held out his hand to stop him.
"Give me one reason to believe that marking your work wouldn't be a complete waste of time" demanded Thicknesse.
"I'm sorry" gasped Darren.
"I've heard about you from all your other teachers" Thicknesse explained. "Several of them declared you to be the worst student they ever taught."
James wanted to scream at Thicknesse, but he learned from last time, not to fall for his attempts at insulting his friends.
"It's not been an easy start" Darren admitted.
"You've been absolutely pathetic" Thicknesse declared. "You have yet to cast a single spell correctly, and you fly a broom worse than five year old."
James could see Darren's fists shaking with rage. He secretly hoped that he would batter Thicknesse.
"Well I completed my homework" Darren said through gritted teeth.
"I don't trust it in the slightest" Thicknesse said bluntly.
He picked up Darren's homework, threw it in the air, and then set it on fire. The ashes of Darren's work fell into his open hands.
"What was that for?" Darren roared.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for your tone" Thicknesse reprimanded him. "If you want to ask a question, you will raise your hand, and ask politely."
Darren let out a large sigh, then raised his hand.
"What is it?" Thicknesse snapped.
"Why did you destroy my homework sir" Darren asked with passive aggressive politeness.
"Because I don't believe it to be any good" Thicknesse replied. "You will stay behind at the end of class and do it where I can see you. Gorren will also remain so she can help you."
"That's not fair" James finally lost his self-control again. "You gave both of them detention for no reason at all."
He didn't care if he got detention for shouting, that was a line he was prepared to cross. Thicknesse stared him down, as if he was studying a painting. After a minute of silence which felt like it lasted a lot longer, Thicknesse got out his wand and pointed it at James.
"Don't think that I don't know exactly what you're trying to do" Thicknesse warned. "Do you really believe that you're the first person to object to my teaching methods? Do you really think that you're the first to come at me so arrogantly?"
"What you're doing is wrong" James said with less confidence than before.
"It seems that before we can start our lesson, I need to teach you about my authority" Thicknesse explained. "As I'm sure you figured out by now, I used to be the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic."
"The job my dad has now" Bella muttered.
"Do not interrupt me" Thicknesse shouted. "Due to an unfortunate incident with the Death Eater Corban Yaxley, I was dismissed from my job. Some of you may believe it to be a simple rejection letter and I was off, but this was not the case. All of us that were fired fought tooth and nail in the courts for unfair dismissal, but whilst we didn't prevent the firings, we were able to obtain some sort of protection."
Jackson raised his hand.
"What kind of protection sir?" he asked.
"The guarantee of employment" Thicknesse replied. "Simply put, if I put myself forward for a job, by law I must be valued over everyone else. Complain to Professor McGonagall about me if you must; as long as I don't break any laws, I cannot be fired."
"That's ridiculous" James muttered.
Thicknesse waved his wand silently, and Violet's right arm slammed to her desk.
"What the…" she gasped.
She tried to lift it back up, but it was if her arm was stuck with glue.
"I will release you at the end of the lesson" said Thicknesse.
"Stop punishing people who aren't doing anything wrong" protested James.
A few seconds later, Dranzebar's arm was stuck to the desk. James realised that arguing with Thicknesse was a losing battle. Everyone left in the classroom were all giving a begging stare, or a threatening one.
"Let's begin the lesson then" Thicknesse grinned.
James followed the lecture gloomily. He was ready to take on a detention, and Thicknesse knew it. He demanded that everyone write notes as he droned on; something that was significantly more difficult for Dranzebar and Violet, since they were unable to use their writing hands. Shortly after the lecture, Thicknesse ordered them to do a long list of exercises out of the textbook.
"Whatever you don't complete today, you will have to finish for homework" Thicknesse warned. "And I won't accept it, unless it's in legible handwriting."
The exercises were all long and tedious essays. James was certain it wasn't possible for anyone to complete them all in time under the best of conditions. With the handwriting rule in force, Violet and Dranzebar were struggling even more than they had. Violet was actually able to finish one of the exercises, but Thicknesse then walked over, glanced at the parchment, then removed its entire content.
"Terrible handwriting Violet" he explained. "Start again."
He soon repeated the same spell to Dranzebar shortly afterwards. The Two of them then spent the rest of the lesson doing nothing, seeing no point in working if Thicknesse was going to punish them.
"Sir, can I ask a question?" Bella asked nervously.
Thicknesse walked over to her desk, and scanned her work.
"With the exception of Jackson, you are the furthest ahead…" he noted.
"About that sir…" Bella murmured. "The final question; I don't get…"
"But your handwriting isn't good enough" decided Thicknesse.
He waved his wand, and all of Bella's hard work disappeared. Bella broke down and burst into tears. Her handwriting was noted by most of the other teachers as being the neatest in her year. The bell rang almost immediately afterwards, meaning that she had to do the massive amount of work again during her spare time.
"You all know your homework" Thicknesse called out. "You're all dismissed apart from Crawford and Gorren."
Everyone was eager to escape the classroom. For most, it was a relief that they were able to escape, but Dranzebar angrily kicked a suit of armour the second he was certain that he was out of Thicknesse's earshot.
"Damn it" he screamed. "Damn you James."
"I'm sorry" James muttered.
"Sorry ain't going to do all my work" Dranzebar argued.
"Don't yell at him Dranzebar" Violet said more calmly. "It's not James' fault that Thicknesse is such a…"
She stopped herself from saying a very bad word just in time, as a Ravenclaw prefect just turned a corner.
"Look, let's go back to the Common Room, and finish everything together" suggested James. "I can help you both with anything you need."
"We just finished class, and you want us to do it all again now?" gasped Dranzebar.
"Better to do it now while we're already miserable, than wait 'till Sunday to continue your misery" said James.
"Yeah, I'd rather just be done with it" said Violet.
"Fine" muttered Dranzebar. "Let's get it over with."
James finished his homework about an hour after he entered the Common Room, but he didn't leave Violet and Dranzebar to themselves. It was partly his fault that they were so far behind in the first place; the least he could do was to help them.
"Thanks James" said Violet after another hour. "I can actually look forward to the weekend now."
"I've just got one more sentence myself" Dranzebar declared. "All of which in my neatest writing ever."
"We need to be really careful around Thicknesse in future" said Violet. "We got into trouble because of you. It seems that if you annoy Thicknesse, your friends get punished."
"I know" James said through gritted teeth. "But he punishes Bella for no reason at all."
"Pick your battles" advised Dranzebar. "Hopefully after a while, he'll get bored of picking on Bella."
A few minutes after the conversation, the portrait door opened, and Bella climbed inside. She ran over to James, not even trying to hide her tears.
"He wants me to help Darren again for this week too" she wept.
"Darren could do with the help" murmured Dranzebar.
"But he's giving me so much more work" Bella cried. "It will take ages for me to complete everything."
"Do it now" James ordered. "That's what we all did. Get it finished tonight, then you can relax tomorrow."
Bella sobbed, but sat down at their table, and got out her work.
"Where is Darren?" asked Violet. "I thought you both had to stay behind together.
"Thicknesse wanted to keep him behind even further to see him perform the Transforium spell" replied Bella. "I think he just wants to see us both fail."
After another two hours, Bella had completed all her Transfiguration work. By this point, it was pitch black outside. James played Wizards Chess with her, as they waited for Darren to return. He did not do so until half past ten. James was prepared to comfort him, but saw instantly that he was in no mood for it. Darren shoved past a couple of second years who were in his way, and dropped himself on the nearest armchair.
"He looks ticked off" James noted.
A few moments later, the portrait opened once more, and Professor Longbottom stepped inside; Professor Thicknesse was by his side. All the times James had seen Longbottom before this, he seemed pleasant and upbeat, but right now he looked just as stern as Thicknesse.
"Darren Crawford" he called out.
Darren dragged himself off the sofa, then walked over to Professor Longbottom.
"What is it?" he asked like he was half asleep.
"Do you have anything to confess to?" asked Longbottom.
"What's going on?" wondered James.
"I have no idea what you're talking about" answered Darren.
"Liar" Thicknesse snapped so loudly, the few people who hadn't noticed his arrival now did.
"The entire Transfiguration classroom has been destroyed" Professor Longbottom explained. "Desks broken in half, chairs without legs, ink jars smashed everywhere…"
"And my book" Thicknesse interrupted. "I've been working on that thing for years."
James remembered that both of his Transfiguration classes began with Thicknesse writing in a book before speaking to anybody. It just occurred to him that he didn't know what was inside it.
"I don't know what you're talking about" said Darren in a very monotonous voice.
"You know damn well what I mean" Thicknesse bellowed.
Several people who had been watching the conversation out of curiosity now fled. It was the angriest James had seen Thicknesse, so he could understand why they didn't want to stick around.
"I told you that your detention was done, so I could have some dinner" Thicknesse explained. "I left the room, but you didn't. I returned to the classroom a few minutes ago, only to find it completely destroyed."
"It wasn't me" Darren shrugged.
"Darren, if you have anything to do with it at all, now's the time to confess" Longbottom told him.
"It wasn't me" Darren repeated.
"Just admit you did it you little swine" Thicknesse screamed.
"Didn't you just hear him sir" James interjected. "He didn't do it."
"And how can you prove it?" Thicknesse demanded.
"Darren came back up to the Common Room at around dinner time" James lied. "He was with us, doing the incredibly long homework you set us."
James knew that his story would be unravelled the moment somebody mentioned that Darren had only just entered the Common Room, but everyone still standing seemed to stunned to say anything.
"You are trying to hide the truth from me Potter" hissed Thicknesse.
"But if he's sticking to his story, there's no way you can punish anybody" Longbottom explained.
"There's always Legilimency" purred Thicknesse.
"That is illegal to use on students, and you know it" barked Longbottom. "Come on Pius, instead of arguing over this, let's mend the classroom; it'll only take a few minutes after a few Repairos."
"My book though" Thicknesse exclaimed. "The work I put into that cannot possibly be replicated; and it's in too many pieces for even the most powerful magic to repair."
"As long as the ideas are in your head, you can always start over" Longbottom advised.
"And about ideas in my head" Thicknesse suddenly snarled. "I only ever got out and wrote in that book whenever I am about to teach a Gryffindor class. I put the book away during the lesson, yet it was the only one taken out and destroyed."
"So you're saying that a Gryffindor student purposefully took the book out and destroyed it?" Longbottom clarified.
"That's exactly what I'm claiming" Thicknesse replied. "Five hundred points from Gryffindor."
"What?" gasped many of the students still there.
"Go down and repair what you can" instructed Longbottom. "I'm going to have a word with my students, then I'll come and help you."
Thicknesse nodded courteously, then left the Common Room.
"Five hundred points" screamed Sebastian Gorren. "You can't let him do that Professor."
"If what Professor Thicknesse has told me is true; then indeed the culprit has to be a Gryffindor." Longbottom summarised. "There is no reason for him to lie, therefore I cannot see how anybody not in a Gryffindor class could have done it."
"But five hundred points sir" begged Patricia.
"If somebody regardless of their house destroyed my greenhouse, I'd deduct seven hundred points" Longbottom replied. "Now listen to me carefully, because I'm going to make you all a deal. I'm going to give all of you until Sunday night for whoever is responsible for all of this to step up and confess. If you do so, you will be punished, but I promise to hide your identity from Thicknesse, and will even give you some points back for your bravery. I'll let you all sleep on it."
Professor Longbottom wished everyone goodnight, then left the Common Room to join Thicknesse. The moment he had gone, everyone turned their attention to Darren.