Chapter 7---Classes Begin
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were seated towards the end of the Gryffindor table, eating breakfast, while waiting for their class schedules for this year. When Harry received his he looked over it to see that all his classes were the same. Today they had Transfiguation, DADA, and then potions. In Harry's mind this looked like it would not be a good day.
Reluctantly the three of them headed up to the their dormitories to retrieve their bags and then head towards classes. They hurried to make sure they were not late. When they walked into the class Mcgonagall was sitting behind her desk almost expecting to catch somebody walk in late. When class started and everybody was accounted for she stood up and started her beginning of the year speech.
"This year you will be learning how to transfigure different and more complex objects. You all need to concentrate and what you are going to do because if you are not paying attention you will be in danger. This year we will start to transfigure live animals into other live animals which can be quite difficult. Just to warm up we will start small by transfiguring a mouse into a rat." She went through many instructions before turning the class lose to try it on their own.
They broke up into their groups and started working with the mouse. Like Mcgonagall had said it was extremelly difficult. Even Hermione was finding this challenging. She would not admit it of course but Harry could tell by her facial expressions that she was thinking really hard and trying to concentrate. Once Harry tried he actually was able to make it change shapes although it still had some of the same features as a mouse it did have features like a rat too. Mcgonagall saw this and was quite amazed that Hermione did not get it first although she was not surprised that it was Potter who had beat her. She awarded Gryffindor 10 points.
Harry had to hold in his laughter because the look on Hemiones face was so comical. He could tell she was angry, frustrated, and stumped. Of course Ron is not as good as Harry in keeping in laughter. He just had to laugh. It was so humorous that Hermione was not the first person to get something right.
Hermione shot Ron a 'don't even go there look' and went back to practicing. Why was she so angry. 'Harry had earned us points and its not like I have to be good at everything. But, transfiguration is my best subject. Oh come on. It was one time and you don't want to be a sore loser. Wait, I did not know there was winners and losers. Am I loser?' Her thoughts were not on what she was doing and she was so frustrated that she was waving her wand all over the place and smacked Harry in the face with it. "Oh, I am sorry Harry I did not mean to do that I was not paying attention," she started ranting.
Harry grabbed her hand to settle her down and they both paused for the briefest second. They both had the same thoughts going through their head. 'He is holding my hand.' 'I am holding her hand'. Harry did not let go as to keep her calm. "You need to calm down Herm." \Ron, not noticing them holding hands, decided to say, "Yeah right Hermione, you did that on purpose to get Harry back."
Hermione pulled her hand away and they both felt a loss of the contact. Hermione folded her arms over her chest and glared at Ron. " I did no such thing. I really was not paying attention."
"yeah right. Whatever you say Herm." Ron told her, unconvinced.
Hermione was about to spew out some sort of rude comment but Harry got between them. Harry put his hand on Ron's shoulder and his other hand on Hermione's arm. He felt Hermione shiver under his touch. Hmmmm. Well. "Both of you stop fighting over such a stupid thing. It's not like the wand hurt or anything. Mcgonnagal was right..not paying attention in class can be dangerous."
They laughed and went back to work. By the end of class both and Harry and Hermione could turn the mouse into the rat and Ron could change the mouse's fur color. They walked off to lunch before heading to DADA which none of them were looking forward to.
They hurried of to DADA. They did not know how strict this teacher was but to make sure they were not late the trio hurried. It seemed that all of the Gryffindors had the same idea because they arrived a few minutes early and so did the rest of Gryffindor students. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat towards the back of the room hoping not to get to much attention. None of them liked the looks of this new teacher.
Professor Risp walked into the classroom seconds before the class started and jumped right into the lesson. "I don't care what your other teachers taught you, and I don't care how they taught you. All of you will be expected to know everything from your past books. This class will be full of book work many hands on practices. If you can't keep up, tough. Work harder. Now first I will have you take this quiz to see what most of you know and then we will get started on the lessons." He started to pass out the quizzes as everybody just stared at him in shock.
By the time most of the people were done with the quiz, class was almost over. Professor Risp picked up the quizzes and started to go through it. "You guys will need to work more productively on tests because on a real test I may not be so lenient on the time I give you to finish it. Tsk tsk. Most of you don't know your defense charms half as well as you should know them. I would study those if I were you and know them well enough to use them in a real situation. Well, since you guys took away the time I was going to use on the lesson plan you will have to learn what I was going to teach you on your own. I want you to read chapter one about creatures of the dark. I want an essay describing each creature mentioned and write their strengths weaknesses and how to fight them. It will be due in class when we next meet."
With that class was dismissed and they all got out of the class as fast as they could. "That essay will probably take me hours to write. Do you know how many creatures are mentioned in the first chapter? Probably over 20!" Ron exclaimed.
"I know. I thought Snape was bad. I'll tell you potions sounds fun after that class." Harry joined in on the complaining.
"Oh guys come on. He is a good teacher. We probably learn a lot in that class," Hermione objected.
Harry and Ron could not believe what she said. Well, actually they could believe it but it still was surprising. "At what cost will we learn all that stuff. We can forget about sleep and more than likely we will all die from exhaustion." Ron countered as they took their seat in potions.
Hermione was cut off short as Snape walked in and started class. Harry and Ron thought potions was not that bad and they thought they would never complain about potions again after being in Risps class. Potions went by rather quickly for the first time.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were seated towards the end of the Gryffindor table, eating breakfast, while waiting for their class schedules for this year. When Harry received his he looked over it to see that all his classes were the same. Today they had Transfiguation, DADA, and then potions. In Harry's mind this looked like it would not be a good day.
Reluctantly the three of them headed up to the their dormitories to retrieve their bags and then head towards classes. They hurried to make sure they were not late. When they walked into the class Mcgonagall was sitting behind her desk almost expecting to catch somebody walk in late. When class started and everybody was accounted for she stood up and started her beginning of the year speech.
"This year you will be learning how to transfigure different and more complex objects. You all need to concentrate and what you are going to do because if you are not paying attention you will be in danger. This year we will start to transfigure live animals into other live animals which can be quite difficult. Just to warm up we will start small by transfiguring a mouse into a rat." She went through many instructions before turning the class lose to try it on their own.
They broke up into their groups and started working with the mouse. Like Mcgonagall had said it was extremelly difficult. Even Hermione was finding this challenging. She would not admit it of course but Harry could tell by her facial expressions that she was thinking really hard and trying to concentrate. Once Harry tried he actually was able to make it change shapes although it still had some of the same features as a mouse it did have features like a rat too. Mcgonagall saw this and was quite amazed that Hermione did not get it first although she was not surprised that it was Potter who had beat her. She awarded Gryffindor 10 points.
Harry had to hold in his laughter because the look on Hemiones face was so comical. He could tell she was angry, frustrated, and stumped. Of course Ron is not as good as Harry in keeping in laughter. He just had to laugh. It was so humorous that Hermione was not the first person to get something right.
Hermione shot Ron a 'don't even go there look' and went back to practicing. Why was she so angry. 'Harry had earned us points and its not like I have to be good at everything. But, transfiguration is my best subject. Oh come on. It was one time and you don't want to be a sore loser. Wait, I did not know there was winners and losers. Am I loser?' Her thoughts were not on what she was doing and she was so frustrated that she was waving her wand all over the place and smacked Harry in the face with it. "Oh, I am sorry Harry I did not mean to do that I was not paying attention," she started ranting.
Harry grabbed her hand to settle her down and they both paused for the briefest second. They both had the same thoughts going through their head. 'He is holding my hand.' 'I am holding her hand'. Harry did not let go as to keep her calm. "You need to calm down Herm." \Ron, not noticing them holding hands, decided to say, "Yeah right Hermione, you did that on purpose to get Harry back."
Hermione pulled her hand away and they both felt a loss of the contact. Hermione folded her arms over her chest and glared at Ron. " I did no such thing. I really was not paying attention."
"yeah right. Whatever you say Herm." Ron told her, unconvinced.
Hermione was about to spew out some sort of rude comment but Harry got between them. Harry put his hand on Ron's shoulder and his other hand on Hermione's arm. He felt Hermione shiver under his touch. Hmmmm. Well. "Both of you stop fighting over such a stupid thing. It's not like the wand hurt or anything. Mcgonnagal was right..not paying attention in class can be dangerous."
They laughed and went back to work. By the end of class both and Harry and Hermione could turn the mouse into the rat and Ron could change the mouse's fur color. They walked off to lunch before heading to DADA which none of them were looking forward to.
They hurried of to DADA. They did not know how strict this teacher was but to make sure they were not late the trio hurried. It seemed that all of the Gryffindors had the same idea because they arrived a few minutes early and so did the rest of Gryffindor students. Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat towards the back of the room hoping not to get to much attention. None of them liked the looks of this new teacher.
Professor Risp walked into the classroom seconds before the class started and jumped right into the lesson. "I don't care what your other teachers taught you, and I don't care how they taught you. All of you will be expected to know everything from your past books. This class will be full of book work many hands on practices. If you can't keep up, tough. Work harder. Now first I will have you take this quiz to see what most of you know and then we will get started on the lessons." He started to pass out the quizzes as everybody just stared at him in shock.
By the time most of the people were done with the quiz, class was almost over. Professor Risp picked up the quizzes and started to go through it. "You guys will need to work more productively on tests because on a real test I may not be so lenient on the time I give you to finish it. Tsk tsk. Most of you don't know your defense charms half as well as you should know them. I would study those if I were you and know them well enough to use them in a real situation. Well, since you guys took away the time I was going to use on the lesson plan you will have to learn what I was going to teach you on your own. I want you to read chapter one about creatures of the dark. I want an essay describing each creature mentioned and write their strengths weaknesses and how to fight them. It will be due in class when we next meet."
With that class was dismissed and they all got out of the class as fast as they could. "That essay will probably take me hours to write. Do you know how many creatures are mentioned in the first chapter? Probably over 20!" Ron exclaimed.
"I know. I thought Snape was bad. I'll tell you potions sounds fun after that class." Harry joined in on the complaining.
"Oh guys come on. He is a good teacher. We probably learn a lot in that class," Hermione objected.
Harry and Ron could not believe what she said. Well, actually they could believe it but it still was surprising. "At what cost will we learn all that stuff. We can forget about sleep and more than likely we will all die from exhaustion." Ron countered as they took their seat in potions.
Hermione was cut off short as Snape walked in and started class. Harry and Ron thought potions was not that bad and they thought they would never complain about potions again after being in Risps class. Potions went by rather quickly for the first time.