Disclaimer: I still don't own anything


Title: Harry Potter and the Year From Hell

Author: Fairy Lights


Chapter One: Getting to Know You


The next morning I found myself waking up to a girls voice: "Come on! Breakfast starts in 10 minutes!"

"Hermione! It's the first day of school. Let us sleep for once!"

"Fine! I'm going to breakfast!" Hermione screamed. I decided it was time for me to speak up.

"If you can't keep it down, go back to sleep or go to breakfast. It's too damn early to start screaming."

"Uh... who are you and why are you in our dorm?"

"Lavender!"

"It was just a question!" Lavender said.

I sat up and moved the curtains surrounding my bed. "My name is Eliza Black. I'm 16 years old and I'm your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm staying in the Gryffindor dorms because there's no room in the teacher's wing, unless I wanted to stay with Snape. Any more questions before we all go to breakfast?" All three of them shook their heads. "Good. You've got five minutes to meet me in the Common Room or it'll be points off."

Lavender and the other girl hurried around the room, frantically looking for their robes and make-up. I performed a quick-change spell, threw my hair up, and walked downstairs. Hermione stared at me, then followed close behind.

"Professor! Wait up!"

I turned and smiled. "Sorry, I'm not much of a morning person. I don't believe we've properly met. Professor Eliza May Black."

"Hermione Meg Granger. Nice to meet you Professor." She replied with a smile.

"Morning 'Mione!" A voice said.

"Yeah, morning." Another said.

"Hey Harry, Ron." Hermione called. We walked closer. "Guys, this is our Defense teacher, Professor Black."

The two boys just stared at me. "Hi." I said. "Professor Eliza May Black-Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

"Harry Potter." The boy with the black hair introduced himself as the red-head just stared. I looked towards Hermione.

"Ron Weasley." She clarified for me.

"Mr. Weasley." I smiled. "Shall we go to breakfast?"

At that moment, Lavender came running down the stairs, followed by her nameless friend. "Sorry Professor." The nameless girl spoke up first.

"Yeah, sorry. Parvati couldn't find her eyeshadow." Lavender said out of breath.

"It's all right girls. I won't take any points off just yet. Let's go eat!"

Lavender and Parvati led the way, followed then by Harry and Ron, Hermione and I closing as the caboose. When we reached the Great Hall, they all sat with their house-mates while I made my was to the Head Table.

As Ron sat down, I could hear two red-heads ask him where he picked me up, and if I was available. I smiled to myself as I slumped into the empty seat next to Professor Snape.

"Good morning Professor." I said to him. He merely nodded in return.


Breakfast was over before I could get a word out of Snape. I glanced at my schedule- 7th year Gryffindors right after breakfast. I reached my classroom as the last few students were walking in.

"Good morning class." I said, walking to the front of the room. "You can put everything away." They did that with looks of confusion on their faces. "This will be more of a get-to-know-me class today." Their confused looks were replaced with smiles. "Let me give you a little of my back-round, then you can ask me questions, ok?" They all nodded.

"My name is Eliza May Black. I was born on November 28. I'm 16 years old. I attended Salem Institute of Witchcraft and Wizardry for four years before graduating and moving here. I enjoy Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. I suck at Transfiguration. Also, I'm living in the 5th year dorms if you ever need anything. Any questions?" The students talked among themselves.

"So, you're younger than us, you've graduated already, and you're our teacher?" A blonde questioned.

"Yes, yes, and yes. And you are..."

"Angelina Johnson-Gryffindor Chaser."

"Thanks for your question Angelina. Any others?"

"Katie Bell, and why did you come to Hogwarts?"

"Good question. After four years at Salem, they test you on how you would do in the real world. If you get better than a 90%, you get to graduate early. If you get below a 90%, you're stuck at school for at least another two years. It's a nice system-Keeps us on our toes." I couldn't tell them the other reason I came to Hogwarts just yet.

We continued talking until the bell rang. "Five points to everyone who asked a question today." I called out as they left the room.

The rest of my classes before lunch went smoothly. I had a free period after lunch, which Dumbledore arranged for me to sit-in on Snape's class, so it's really not a free-period. I followed Professor Snape to his classroom in the dungeons.

The students slowly filtered in-Slytherins first, then the Gryffindors. This was his 4th hear class, which contained yet another red-headed Gryffindor.

"Silence!" Professor Snape said. The students all shut their mouths. "The headmaster was kind enough to arrange for Professor Black to sit-in on our class today. " He said sarcastically. "You will be working on a potion that changes the color of your eyes. The instructions are on the board. Begin."

"Professor, is there anything I can do for you?" I asked politely. He looked up at me like I was crazy or something.

"Walk around the room making sure no one explodes anything. Mr. Creevey- Ten points from Gryffindor for talking in my class!" I rolled my eyes and started on the Gryffindor side.

I managed to keep myself busy until the last five minutes of class. Nearly everyone had finished their potion and was for the final instructions from Snape.

"Pair up. One person come up here and get two cups. Your eyes will change color for two hours if you did it right. Once you've added the liquid in the cups to your potion, you will have one minute to swallow, clean up, and get out of my sight."

People ran to the front from all parts of the room. Mr. Creevey was paired with the red-head- Ms. Weasley. I watched as they drank their potions. Colin's eyes turned to a bright blue, while Ginny's turned to a brilliant green. She looked like a friend of my mom's that I saw in a picture. Everyone rushed out of the room, leaving me with the grouchy Professor Snape.

"That went well." I said.

"For Gryffindors." He muttered under his breath. "Don't you have a class now?"

"Thanks for letting me sit-in on your class Professor. I'll see you at dinner." With that, I left the room and went to my next class.


Classes went the same for the next month. It was now the week before Halloween, and the students were getting excited. The night before, Dumbledore announced that there was going to be a Halloween Ball on, of course, Halloween.



What did you think? Any suggestions for future chapters? Constructive criticism is always welcome!