Chapter Four

The Students Arrive

Jennifer quickly worked out her lesson plan, having a much better idea what the students had covered from the year before. Besides a special agenda of cursed dark items that she wanted to get into that year for the higher classes, first years would have dark perceptions and fear spells, second and third creature defense, fourth and fifth white countercurse defense, and sixth and seventh dark countercurse defenses. On top of her normal duties, Severus was in the process of talking her into helping him host a dueling club for the students.

"I'm sure between the two of us we can keep them all in line," Severus sneered when he brought it up at the preterm staff meeting. "What do you think, Professor Dumbledore?"

"Jennifer?" Dumbledore asked, turning to her. "Your insights?"

"I think it's a good idea, but only if it's handled with strict rules from the start. Last thing we need to worry about is chasing students out of abandoned rooms to get a private duel in. Not to mention keeping Poppy overly busy."

"Well, then, Jennifer, why don't you be the one to set up the rules for the club? I trust your judgment on these matters. Then, Severus, you and she can host the club one evening a week." Severus scowled at her from the other side of the table making a valiant attempt at looking disagreeable as Jennifer smiled smugly back at him. She didn't really feel smug, though, for now she had more work to add to her already busy agenda.

Security assignments ended up the same as the year before with Jennifer handling special events and guests. Most of the rest of the staff were assigned inner school or grounds patrols, keeping things as tight as possible and still being able to handle the wide range of activities that went on in the school every day.

So it was business as usual at Hogwarts, if anything could ever be considered business as usual there. And she'd learned a thing or two since last year, coming in as a rather naive young teacher, ready to conquer the world… or so she thought. Not that she did badly last year, she reminded herself.

She began to hear some soft pitiful whining coming down the corridors and she grinned wickedly, quickly going to her office. She was anything but surprised to hear the whimpering coming from inside. Opening the door, she saw the glowing bottle she'd left there before she went to the meeting, but this time it was full of a thick misty substance. In fact, she could almost see the face in the small bottle. Slipping on some gloves she picked up the bottle, walking back out of her office unconcerned with a loud, "Let me out! LET ME OUT!" coming from inside the bottle. Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, peered up the corridor to see what was going on to be greeted by Jennifer's wave. She smiled and shook her head.

"What exactly are you going to do with Peeves?" she asked when Jennifer reached her.

"He tried to sneak in my office again, but I was ready this year. I think I'll give him to Mr. Filch. We'll let him decide," Jennifer said, listening to the poltergeist whimper. She had a feeling he wasn't going to be bugging her again for a while.

From her seat beside Rolanda Hooch, Jennifer watched as the students filed in to take their places at the tables. She looked at all the familiar faces, searching out her best students. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione came in as a group, smiling up at Dumbledore then over at her. Neville came in soon after, and Seamus, as well as some of her Ravenclaw students. Suddenly, she frowned. The seats seemed empty when Minerva went to get the new students. Even considering those that had graduated, she knew there should have been more than there was. She also saw the same concern pass over some of the other teachers' faces; only Dumbledore seemed unaffected. She glanced over at Rolanda, who was also scanning the crowds.

"It looks as if some of the Muggleborn didn't want to take a chance," Rolanda whispered after a moment.

"How could they possibly think they could be safer anywhere else?" Jennifer whispered back. Rolanda shrugged.

"Their parents don't understand all that. I'm sure it'll weather out," she answered, but her voice sounded worried.

At last Minerva came in with the new students and walked up to the Sorting Hat. Last year, while waiting in Dumbledore's office, Jennifer had slipped on the Hat herself to find out where she would have been, and it turned out to have been Ravenclaw. She smiled, remembering. She had always had a fondness for the house after the fact. Even the room that she had been given at the beginning of the year before had a raven named Dewhurst on the door. However, it was on the fourth sorted student that she knew something was very wrong. Every one of them had stepped surely up, and just as surely, the Hat had called out, "Slytherin!"

"Roger Baylor!" called the next name.

"Slytherin!" As they clapped, Jennifer looked over to Dumbledore, only to notice several other professors doing the same thing.

Jennifer began to wonder if the Hat hadn't unraveled itself. Then a timid young girl by the name of Julie Brim, the fifth one to be sorted, finally heard "Hufflepuff!" so Jennifer relaxed a little. It must have been a fluke, she thought. Glancing out at the tables, she had noticed the same reaction from many of the students as well.

Just after that, the first Gryffindor was called, a boy named Perry Dalance, and there was loud applause at that table. It seemed to proceed throughout the ceremony, and by the end there could be little doubt that the Sorting Hat seemed to be Slytherin happy. For every one that went to the other tables, two went to Slytherin. Last year, she remembered, it seemed close to even. Was this as unusual as she thought it was? Severus was clapping with a slight smirk, but one glance told Jennifer it troubled him as well. Why was it so lopsided? Was it a bad omen of things to come?

As it turned out, her first class on Wednesday was Slytherin-Ravenclaw first years, which she quickly got started on her perceptions of darkness agenda. The Ravenclaw students were especially interested in how the seventh sense, "common sense" was used.

"Well, the short answer is, if it looks too good to be true it is, if it seems too easy it is, and if there doesn't seem to be a catch, walk away, or you're going to regret it later. Basically, you have to learn to listen to yourself. If something in you tells you something's wrong, chances are, it is." Jennifer said, looking over the class.

"Later on in the year, we'll get into some magic items you might stumble across that have these sorts of "perfect" flaws. But, for now, I just want you to write out examples you can think of that fits into what I talked about today."

Jennifer sat on the corner of her desk as her class started on the assignment. She quickly found herself having to be firm with the new Slytherin students, who had started whispering in class. Roger, it seemed, was the center point of the group, so she decided to move him to the other end of the class. Jennifer wasn't going to put up with any troublemakers this year.

Third year Hufflepuff-Gryffindor the next period was a lot more fun because they were getting into dark creatures. Jennifer quickly pulled out a snake from a glass box, smiling warmly at the class.

"This is a Venowraith, which is a type of snake that was once magically bred specifically for their venom. This one has been de-fanged, so you need not worry about him causing much trouble now. As I was saying, the venom of these snakes usually only takes five minutes to suck the oxygen out of the bloodstream from the point it enters, until death. So, it's a very rare but popular ingredient in poisons. Since there is a magical aspect to the venom, the poisons also are not easily countered. The reason I bring this little friend in today is to talk about creatures that started out as normal, non-magical creatures but were manipulated by magic into heightened skills, usually for the sole purpose of killing."

"Was this the same snake that bit Ginny Weasley last year?" one of the students asked.

"Yes. We originally kept it alive for trial evidence, but the snake actually had a pretty good temperament so Hagrid decided to adopt him. We call him Barry. Now if you don't make any sudden movements, I'll let you get a better look at him. It's sudden movements that set them off, you see. They don't particularly like to be startled."

The students weren't too particularly keen on getting too close to Barry, who was leaning his head comfortably over the back of Jennifer's hand as she got close to them. At last she put him back in the cage.

"These aren't bred any more, of course, they've been wild now for hundreds of years but are still considered quite rare. The chance of you meeting one out there is about the same as the chances of your surviving one if you get too close. They like dark, quiet places best, and you can defend from one pretty much like a regular snake. Petrify, certain fears, and encase all work fairly well. Their main advantage is they can lie low for long periods of time and strike out a good distance. There's only one potion that can cure their venom, but fortunately we've got a healthy supply of it at the school now." Jennifer grinned.

At the end of the day, Harry, Ron and Hermione stepped in on their way up from Snape's potion class.

"Hi there, guys! How did it go today?" she asked, grabbing her cloak.

"Alright, I guess," Ron answered for them.

"We've already had fifteen points removed," Harry admitted glumly.

"All I did was point out one little mistake that Snape told us on making out first potion, and before I knew it, he took off points for me for correcting him!" Hermione sighed.

"And we got points taken off for smirking about it." Ron said.

"Hermione," Jennifer chuckled, covering the box the snake was in and picking it up, "Just because a potion being taught isn't exactly like you see it in the book doesn't mean it's wrong. Not everyone goes strictly by the book. Anyhow, I need to take this snake back to Hagrid's before dinner."

"We'll walk with you," Harry offered as they went out the door.

"But Neville tried to do it the way Snape had said it, and it blew up in his face!" Hermione protested.

"Hermione, when does Neville's potions ever not blow up in his face?" Harry asked.

"That's not the point," she said.

"No, the point is, correcting a teacher in class is only going to get you in trouble," Jennifer grinned. "Sounds like Professor Snape was testing you guys to see if you were listening to his instructions or not, and you fell for it."

"It'd be just like him to set us up like that," Ron agreed as they headed over the lawn.

"I don't have you guys until Fridays, right?" Jennifer asked.

"Yes, double Defense with Slytherin," Harry said, quickly revealing how he felt about pairing with the other house.

"Don't worry, Harry, we'll all stick it out together," Jennifer winked. Jennifer couldn't say she was looking forward to it either. She had a feeling that now it was certain that she was against Voldemort, things between she and some of the Slytherin students were going to sharply decay. "Are you guys joining dueling?"

"I'm not sure," Harry said reluctantly. "The last time the school tried this it didn't go too well."

"Yes, but they didn't have me then," Jennifer chuckled.