Harry Potter and the Time Travel Globe Part 3
Chapter 3
The New Teacher
"What's the first period, Herm?" Harry asked with a mouthful of bacon in his mouth.
Hermione rummaged through her bag, emerging with her timetable. "Defence Against the Dark Arts with Slytherin," she replied.
"Who's our teacher this year?" Ron leaned across the table to ask.
"No idea, but I wish Prof. Lupin hadn't resigned," Hermione answered. "I just hope that the new teacher will be nice."
There came a swift whooshing sound and a flock of owls swooped into the hall. Hedwig flew down and perched on the back of Harry's chair. Harry untied the roll of paper from her leg—the Daily Prophet. His eyes fell on the news on the front page, with the headline 'Vanishing Time' inscribed in bold at the top.
He whistled. "Hey, Herm, Ron, listen to this.
"There is a legend that Theodore Texford, the famous scientist, created a time machine before he died. Named the "Time Travel Globe" by a fellow scientist, the Ministry is still unsure as to if it really exists.
"Said Mr. Zeddicus, spokesman of the Ministry, 'The Time Travel Globe may be just a myth, there are no facts to prove its existence at the moment. We are, right now, gathering evidence to confirm that it is real.'"
"Whoa," said Ron, after considerable silence. "Think it's real?"
"It might be," said Hermione slowly.
"Wait, there's more," Harry interrupted. " 'If it is true that the Time Travel Globe exists, it would be extremely valuable.' And if it's valuable, guess where it'll be kept?" he added.
"The safest place on Earth," Hermione breathed. "Hogwarts."
"Uh-uh, and I think they're covering it up from the media. Maybe they're still checking it out."
"Which means," Ron said excitedly. "It could be in that room in the south wing of the school!"
"Yeah, and we could go check it out!"
Hermione interrupted. "Um, Harry, have you forgotten, Dumbledore said not to go near that room. We could get expelled."
"But, Herm- " Ron's protest was cut off by the approach of Percy, his older brother.
"What are the 3 of you still doing here?" he asked sternly. "Class has started already. You're the only ones still left in the hall."
Harry looked around. It was true. Everyone had left while they were reading the article.
"C'mon, Ron, Harry," Hermione urged. "We wouldn't want to make a bad impression on our first day at school."
"Too late for that, huh," Ron whispered to Harry as they made their way to the classroom.
"I heard that, Ron," Hermione said sharply. "Maybe you don't mind, but some people just don't want to get into too much trouble."
Ron flushed crimson, but didn't retort, because they were nearing the classroom. As they stepped in through the open door, they peered nervously towards the teacher's table—and realised that no one was there. The students were talking excitedly among themselves.
"Dean! What's up!" Harry shouted above the din.
"The teacher didn't come!" Dean shouted back gleefully. "He's already late by 20 minutes!"
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "Did he just go out for a while…"
Her voice trailed away as the class was filled with a bright light. Then with a 'pop', a man wearing dark green robes appeared in front of the class.
"Ah-hum," he cleared his throat menacingly. The class fell into complete silence.
He introduced himself as Professor Ralone, then stared at each of the students in turn. He stared particularly long at Harry, and Harry wriggled uncomfortably under his glare.
"You," he growled at last. "Potter."
Harry stood up nervously.
"And you, Weasley!"
Ron stood up too, chewing on his nails.
"Up here, you two!"
When Harry and Ron were standing in front of the whole class, the teacher said, "Now, all of you, CONSTANT VILGILANCE! I'm going to show you how to transform yourselves. Later in the year I'll also be teaching you the how to apparate, and also the 3 unforgivable curses."
Suddenly, "Avada Kedavra!" he roared. A swift of green light shoot towards one of the students. There were screams from the surrounding students. When the spots cleared from his eyes, Harry could make out a student lying slumped across the table.
Professor stuck his wand back in his pocket calmly, before saying, "Didn't I say CONSTANT VILGILANCE?"
The students all jumped at his words. Hermione raised her hand shakily.
"Um…Professor Ralone…" she whispered. "I…I thought that you couldn't…"
"Speak up!" Professor Ralone shouted.
Hermione cleared her throat nervously. "I meant to say, sir, I thought that Apparating wasn't possible in Hogwarts…And…isn't it…wrong…to kill that student?"
Harry gaped. Was she crazy? Even a fool could see that the teacher was mad, and here she was speaking up against him.
But Professor Ralone wasn't angry at all. Instead he smiled unpleasantly. "Good question Granger, but there are certain spells that you could use to break those around Hogwarts. AND it was that student's fault that he wasn't paying attention. RIGHT, MALFOY!" His eyes shot towards Malfoy.
Malfoy stuttered, "Y…y…y…yes……Pro…professor…Ra…Ralone…"
"And now, you two!" Professor Ralone turned to face Harry and Ron. "Block these hexes!"
Raising his wand above his head, he brought it swishing through the air, pointing it at Ron and shouting, "Jelnumculus!"
Ron tried to duck, but wasn't quick enough. His arm glowed red, and changed into a wobbling green jelly-like thing.
Then in an instant, he pointed the wand at Harry and yelled, "Expandicus!"
An split second later, Harry shouted "Expellimarius!"
Too late, Harry was struck on his head by the spell. He was flung onto the floor by the sheer force of it. He felt his head expanding to twice its size. Behind him, he could hear sniggering from the Slytherins.
Just then, the bell rang. Professor Ralone swept out of the room, pausing only to say in their direction, "Don't worry, it'll wear off in about 5 hours." His leaving was accompanied by howls of laughter from the Slytherins.