Chapter Four
Professor Visilio
LATER THAT NIGHT, LLEWELLYN AND HERMIONE WERE SITTING IN THEIR BEDS, TRYING HARD TO BLOCK PARVATI AND LAVENDER'S LOUD COMMENTS ABOUT BEING ASKED TO THE DANCE BY DEAN AND SEAMUS. THEY WERE DISCUSSING HARRY AND RON'S ASKING IN A WHISPERING TONE, NONE THE LESS, PARVATI AND LAVENDER'S SHARP EARS CAUGHT THE COMMENTS.
"Ron asked you?" started Lavender, whipping back the hangings that separated them.
"And Harry asked you?" added Parvati, sitting next to Lavender with a amused grin on her face.
"Yes," said Hermione, rather exasperatedly.
"Ooh, Parvati, just like her cup in Divination! It said she had admirers!" hissed Lavender into Parvati's ear.
Hermione made an annoyed kind of face but didn't say anything.
"Okay, thanks!" said Parvati, as she closed her hangings again.
"Wonder what that was about," said Llewellyn, as she drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first class on Tuesday was Transfiguration, where McGonagall showed her first sign of a sense of humor by scaring the class (and especially Llewellyn) into thinking they were receiving a pop quiz on their first day. Then came lunch, Charms, and finally, Care of Magical Creatures.
"Good luck with that surprise!" called Llewellyn as she separated from the others to go to Muggle Studies.
"Yeah, I think we're going to need it," answered Ron. The three made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's cabin, where, to their relief and surprise, there was no paddock, no cage, no crate - or in fact anything possibly containing a vicious creature.
"Big surprise fer yeh all terday," Hagrid announced, positively beaming. "Come, come around here, we'll be depa'ing in a couple o' minutes."
"Departing where?" came the cold drawl of Draco Malfoy behind Harry.
"You'll see, Malfoy. Now're we all here? Good, okay, three ter a boat, come 'round here." Hagrid led them to the shores of the lake, where the boats they had crossed in on their first day at Hogwarts were nestled against the sand. Harry, Ron, and Hermione piled into a boat and rowed after Hagrid. They saw, someways ahead of them but still in the wide shallows, something huge, thrashing about wildly.
When the fleet of boats were about twenty feet from the turbulent waters, Hagrid put his hand up for everyone to stop. Harry sat up higher to get a better look at was in the water, and with a sudden jolt to his stomach, he watched a pinkish-colored tentacle wave lazily above the water.
"Eeugh!" shrieked Lavender.
"It's the giant squid!" squeaked Neville, who had to be held back with both arms by Dean and Seamus from jumping out of the boat and swimming to the shore.
"How'd you catch it?" asked Hermione.
"Professer Visilio helped me ter catch her. She's in an enchanted net, yeh can cut them but she can' escape, see those rocks it's tied ter?"
Harry couldn't see how Hagrid could tell if the squid was a girl or not, but they had a somewhat enjoyable lesson, compared to previous ones, at least, as Hagrid showed the class the tentacle she had wounded and how to bandage it. At the end of the lesson, they watched him hack at the net with a gigantic knife and the squid retreat to the deep depths of lake.
"Now that was cool," said Ron as they made their way to the dorm. "How big do you think that squid was? Eighty feet? Ninety?"
Llewellyn appeared from a side corridor and joined the three. "How was Care of Magical Creatures?" she asked.
"We looked at the giant squid," answered Hermione.
"Coffee beans," said Harry. The Fat Lady swung foward on her hinges and the four piled into the common room.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow," commented Hermione, checking her schedule.
"Took long enough," commented Ron, yawning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gryffindors lined up outside of Professor Visilio's room right after Transfiguration, Parvati and Lavender giggling to a high volume while Seamus and Dean discussed what they had heard from students who had gone to the class before hand.
Finally, the wooden door opened. Professor Visilio was there, looking a little bewildered but certainly cheerful. He had his hat in his hand, and Harry caught a glimpse of two letters - an N and a Y - before he sat down between Ron and Hermione at the back of the classroom.
"Alright, estunands, time for attendance," he said over the general chatter. "Lavender Brown."
"Here, Professor, me!" called Lavender, nearly falling out of her seat.
"Alright, gotcha, Lav, okay, is Seamus Finnigan here?" He ran through the rest of the attendance. He didn't stop on Harry's name, but Harry could see his expression change the slightest bit. He did, however, stop on Llewellyn's name.
"Euryale, Euryale, Euryale, I know that from somewhere. Hey, are you the exchange student from the U.S.?"
Llewellyn nodded. "Wassaaaap?" he called, leaning back in his chair and putting his hat back on. She broke into a humongous grin and repeated it after him. Harry, and apparently the rest of the classroom, had no clue at all as to what Visilio and Llewellyn were saying. He made sure the rest of the class was there, bumped his chair back to four legs on the ground, mumbled, "All present and accounted for", and shoved the parchment into his desk.
"Alright, muchachos y muchachas, I know you're used to starting right into lessons on the first day. Well, stop getting used to it!" He shoved over some inkwells and sat down on the front of his desk. "Since this is my first year, and you all know yourselves, I want you to know me better. So, go ahead, chicos, just ask away. I am completely informal, I know, and I am proud of that."
Parvati raised her hand, and Visilio pointed to her. "How old are you?" Lavender stifled a giggle and hit Parvati lightly for her boldness, but still seemed interested in the answer.
"Twenty-six going on twelve. That's what my folks say."
"How long have you been teaching?" asked Dean.
"I taught students at two different schools for five years."
"What do you like about the Dark Arts? How does it interest you?" asked Hermione.
"How?" responded Visilio. "How does it interest me? In several different ways, I suppose. Well, anyway, there's many different aspects of it: lower creatures, higher creatures, curses, hexes, and then, simply, Dark Arts, which you'll learn a bit of this year and more next year. I guess you could say I'm interested because I...well, let's just leave it as a suggestion from an old friend I grew up in a bad town with."
"What's your Quodpot 2000 team?" requested Llewellyn. Harry and Ron looked at her, completely confused.
"Excellent question, amiga, and only you would think of that." He grinned at her. "That is either a short answer or long answer. Short answer: the New York Nogtails."
"What's the long answer?" blurted out Neville.
"Long answer? Nogtails, still, but that comes with a story attached. The story is that for the past two years I've been playing reserves for the Nogtails."
Llewellyn squeaked and jumped up. "That was you! When Shallcross and Johnson were both out of the game last year, you played Quoddie! I knew I knew you from somewhere!"
Visilio looked both surprised and bewildered that someone had remember him. "Well, yes, that was me, though no one seemed to notice," he admitted.
"Are you kidding?" asked Llewellyn, who seemed to have to exercise much willpower in not running up to the teacher's desk in her glee. "You scored fifteen points! You basically won the game by yourself!"
Visilio turned slightly pink. "Er, okay, yes, well, anything else?" Llewellyn sat down again. No one said anything. "Okay, well, I should...start lessons."
Harry looked at Ron, who had a very chagrined expression plastered on his freckled face. They opened their new Defense Against the Dark Arts books to the first pages and listened to Visilio explain something about poltergeists, still trying to catch the interest of the class with excessive hand motions.
"Very interesting." commented Hermione as the bell rang, dotting her last period in the paragraph they were assigned to do in class.
"Ditto," replied Llewellyn. "I never knew all that about poltergeists. Makes you feel pity for them, don't you?"
Harry and Ron snorted. It was apparent that they were not so quick to forgive all the times Peeves had landed them a fat lot of trouble. They handed in their paragraphs, and Harry was quick to notice the erratic capitals of Llewellyn's writing.
The Gryffindors went back to their dormitories to drop off their bags and go down to dinner.
Professor Visilio
LATER THAT NIGHT, LLEWELLYN AND HERMIONE WERE SITTING IN THEIR BEDS, TRYING HARD TO BLOCK PARVATI AND LAVENDER'S LOUD COMMENTS ABOUT BEING ASKED TO THE DANCE BY DEAN AND SEAMUS. THEY WERE DISCUSSING HARRY AND RON'S ASKING IN A WHISPERING TONE, NONE THE LESS, PARVATI AND LAVENDER'S SHARP EARS CAUGHT THE COMMENTS.
"Ron asked you?" started Lavender, whipping back the hangings that separated them.
"And Harry asked you?" added Parvati, sitting next to Lavender with a amused grin on her face.
"Yes," said Hermione, rather exasperatedly.
"Ooh, Parvati, just like her cup in Divination! It said she had admirers!" hissed Lavender into Parvati's ear.
Hermione made an annoyed kind of face but didn't say anything.
"Okay, thanks!" said Parvati, as she closed her hangings again.
"Wonder what that was about," said Llewellyn, as she drifted off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first class on Tuesday was Transfiguration, where McGonagall showed her first sign of a sense of humor by scaring the class (and especially Llewellyn) into thinking they were receiving a pop quiz on their first day. Then came lunch, Charms, and finally, Care of Magical Creatures.
"Good luck with that surprise!" called Llewellyn as she separated from the others to go to Muggle Studies.
"Yeah, I think we're going to need it," answered Ron. The three made their way across the grounds to Hagrid's cabin, where, to their relief and surprise, there was no paddock, no cage, no crate - or in fact anything possibly containing a vicious creature.
"Big surprise fer yeh all terday," Hagrid announced, positively beaming. "Come, come around here, we'll be depa'ing in a couple o' minutes."
"Departing where?" came the cold drawl of Draco Malfoy behind Harry.
"You'll see, Malfoy. Now're we all here? Good, okay, three ter a boat, come 'round here." Hagrid led them to the shores of the lake, where the boats they had crossed in on their first day at Hogwarts were nestled against the sand. Harry, Ron, and Hermione piled into a boat and rowed after Hagrid. They saw, someways ahead of them but still in the wide shallows, something huge, thrashing about wildly.
When the fleet of boats were about twenty feet from the turbulent waters, Hagrid put his hand up for everyone to stop. Harry sat up higher to get a better look at was in the water, and with a sudden jolt to his stomach, he watched a pinkish-colored tentacle wave lazily above the water.
"Eeugh!" shrieked Lavender.
"It's the giant squid!" squeaked Neville, who had to be held back with both arms by Dean and Seamus from jumping out of the boat and swimming to the shore.
"How'd you catch it?" asked Hermione.
"Professer Visilio helped me ter catch her. She's in an enchanted net, yeh can cut them but she can' escape, see those rocks it's tied ter?"
Harry couldn't see how Hagrid could tell if the squid was a girl or not, but they had a somewhat enjoyable lesson, compared to previous ones, at least, as Hagrid showed the class the tentacle she had wounded and how to bandage it. At the end of the lesson, they watched him hack at the net with a gigantic knife and the squid retreat to the deep depths of lake.
"Now that was cool," said Ron as they made their way to the dorm. "How big do you think that squid was? Eighty feet? Ninety?"
Llewellyn appeared from a side corridor and joined the three. "How was Care of Magical Creatures?" she asked.
"We looked at the giant squid," answered Hermione.
"Coffee beans," said Harry. The Fat Lady swung foward on her hinges and the four piled into the common room.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow," commented Hermione, checking her schedule.
"Took long enough," commented Ron, yawning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gryffindors lined up outside of Professor Visilio's room right after Transfiguration, Parvati and Lavender giggling to a high volume while Seamus and Dean discussed what they had heard from students who had gone to the class before hand.
Finally, the wooden door opened. Professor Visilio was there, looking a little bewildered but certainly cheerful. He had his hat in his hand, and Harry caught a glimpse of two letters - an N and a Y - before he sat down between Ron and Hermione at the back of the classroom.
"Alright, estunands, time for attendance," he said over the general chatter. "Lavender Brown."
"Here, Professor, me!" called Lavender, nearly falling out of her seat.
"Alright, gotcha, Lav, okay, is Seamus Finnigan here?" He ran through the rest of the attendance. He didn't stop on Harry's name, but Harry could see his expression change the slightest bit. He did, however, stop on Llewellyn's name.
"Euryale, Euryale, Euryale, I know that from somewhere. Hey, are you the exchange student from the U.S.?"
Llewellyn nodded. "Wassaaaap?" he called, leaning back in his chair and putting his hat back on. She broke into a humongous grin and repeated it after him. Harry, and apparently the rest of the classroom, had no clue at all as to what Visilio and Llewellyn were saying. He made sure the rest of the class was there, bumped his chair back to four legs on the ground, mumbled, "All present and accounted for", and shoved the parchment into his desk.
"Alright, muchachos y muchachas, I know you're used to starting right into lessons on the first day. Well, stop getting used to it!" He shoved over some inkwells and sat down on the front of his desk. "Since this is my first year, and you all know yourselves, I want you to know me better. So, go ahead, chicos, just ask away. I am completely informal, I know, and I am proud of that."
Parvati raised her hand, and Visilio pointed to her. "How old are you?" Lavender stifled a giggle and hit Parvati lightly for her boldness, but still seemed interested in the answer.
"Twenty-six going on twelve. That's what my folks say."
"How long have you been teaching?" asked Dean.
"I taught students at two different schools for five years."
"What do you like about the Dark Arts? How does it interest you?" asked Hermione.
"How?" responded Visilio. "How does it interest me? In several different ways, I suppose. Well, anyway, there's many different aspects of it: lower creatures, higher creatures, curses, hexes, and then, simply, Dark Arts, which you'll learn a bit of this year and more next year. I guess you could say I'm interested because I...well, let's just leave it as a suggestion from an old friend I grew up in a bad town with."
"What's your Quodpot 2000 team?" requested Llewellyn. Harry and Ron looked at her, completely confused.
"Excellent question, amiga, and only you would think of that." He grinned at her. "That is either a short answer or long answer. Short answer: the New York Nogtails."
"What's the long answer?" blurted out Neville.
"Long answer? Nogtails, still, but that comes with a story attached. The story is that for the past two years I've been playing reserves for the Nogtails."
Llewellyn squeaked and jumped up. "That was you! When Shallcross and Johnson were both out of the game last year, you played Quoddie! I knew I knew you from somewhere!"
Visilio looked both surprised and bewildered that someone had remember him. "Well, yes, that was me, though no one seemed to notice," he admitted.
"Are you kidding?" asked Llewellyn, who seemed to have to exercise much willpower in not running up to the teacher's desk in her glee. "You scored fifteen points! You basically won the game by yourself!"
Visilio turned slightly pink. "Er, okay, yes, well, anything else?" Llewellyn sat down again. No one said anything. "Okay, well, I should...start lessons."
Harry looked at Ron, who had a very chagrined expression plastered on his freckled face. They opened their new Defense Against the Dark Arts books to the first pages and listened to Visilio explain something about poltergeists, still trying to catch the interest of the class with excessive hand motions.
"Very interesting." commented Hermione as the bell rang, dotting her last period in the paragraph they were assigned to do in class.
"Ditto," replied Llewellyn. "I never knew all that about poltergeists. Makes you feel pity for them, don't you?"
Harry and Ron snorted. It was apparent that they were not so quick to forgive all the times Peeves had landed them a fat lot of trouble. They handed in their paragraphs, and Harry was quick to notice the erratic capitals of Llewellyn's writing.
The Gryffindors went back to their dormitories to drop off their bags and go down to dinner.