Chapter Four
Defense Against the Dark Arts VS Potions
Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't sure what they were expecting from their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher but she turned out to quickly become the most popular teacher at Hogwarts. "Now, my name is Professor Heartilly . . ."
Hermione's hand shot straight up as soon as the words had left her mouth. "Are you the wife of Squall Leonhart, the Headmaster of the Balamb School for Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
"Yes," Professor Heartilly smiled, "Very good. But I prefer to still go by Professor Heartilly . . ."
Paravati's hand shot up, "How come you look like your, like, eighteen? How old are you?" The Slytherin girl questioned.
"Excellent question. I am actually thirty two years old, but I haven't aged since I was eighteen due to contact I had with a powerful Sorceress named Adel. Adel was before the time of You-Know-Who, but she was the most powerful witch ever. She started the Sorceress Wars over thirty years ago, many were killed, and it was a dark time. Your parents probably remember it, but You-Know-Who was even worse, so we don't talk about Adel to much anymore. Anyways, I was possessed by her for a while and some of her powers, like never aging, rubbed off on me. But," She added a little disclaimer, "I wouldn't encourage any of you to go get possessed by an evil witch or wizard anytime soon." The class laughed.
"But what's a Sorceress just like a really powerful witch?" Seamus asked.
Rinoa thought for a moment, "Something sort of like that. No, there's more to it than simply the power. It's hard to explain . . . they're extremely rare."
"But why are you teaching here, shouldn't you be at your husband's school?" Ron asked.
She shrugged, "Well Squall's a real stick in the mud, it's hard to have a lot of crazy fun, like I can't remember the last time I started a food fight . . . um, wait forget I said that." She winked playfully. "Actually, Dumbledore needed someone on short notice and I volunteered. I went here when I was a kid, you know. In Gryffindor."
"Now . . . are we gonna learn something today?" She smiled, "First of all, you don't need your text books, just put them away-heck throw 'em out the window!"
Hermione looked like she had been mortally offended by the very suggestion of throwing a text book from the castle windows, but the other students actually did it, and soon they were all laughing and having a great time. Unfortunately for the class, they couldn't have known that Professor Snape happened to be walking along the school grounds directly below where their classroom windows were and he was suddenly bombarded by a barrage of text books.
The class was having a great time when suddenly the door slammed open and a very, very, very angry looking Professor Snape stood glowering there, his eyes like lasers of ice, he looked angrier then the students had ever seen him before, even Harry and Snape always looked kind of angry. Harry and Ron gulped and glanced at one another, Snape would find some way of blaming them, and they knew it.
"Mrs. Leonhart-"
"That's Professor Heartilly, actu-"
"Whatever, I don't care what your name is! What is the meaning of this! This is a classroom not some low brow circus! And what were your students doing throwing textbooks from the window?!" He caught site of Harry, "I bet Potter had something to do with this!"
"Hey, I asked them to throw their text books out the window!" She said suddenly.
"You WHAT?!" Snape sputtered, he really did look ready to kill something, "Do you have no regard for school rules, you're their teacher, by the gods woman! I assumed when Dumbledore hired you, you were going to be teaching something not-not adding to their immeasurable stupidity!"
By now the class had quieted down and the students were cowering under Snape's harsh gaze. No one dared say a word . . .
"Geez, lighten up, old man." The class couldn't control their laughter, Severus Snape looked like a vein in his head was going to burst, but he turned and stalked away muttering something about 'informing Dumbledore of gross incompetence . . .'
Sadly, now that Defence Against the Dark Arts was so much fun it seemed like Snape made his class a hundred times harder. He tripled their homework, gave them tests he used for his fourth year students, picked on them more than normal, (poor Neville nearly died) and he even became a little nasty to the Slytherins (except for Malfoy, who managed to get through Potions classes unscathed, but then he didn't push it these days either, they could all sense Professor Snape's extremely bitter mood).
It was rather unfortunate as well for Harry and his friends that though Defence was such a fun class they had it with the Slytherins and Malfoy and his stupid lackeys spent the time throwing bits of scroll and such at them when Professor Heartilly wasn't looking.
One Potions class as Professor Snape trailed up and down the rows of students, eyeing them suspiciously he stopped in front of Neville Longbottom's experiment, the poor boy never got anything in Potions right, the only time he stood half a chance was with Hermione helping him and Snape was always quick to put a stop to that. "My my, Longbottom, botched it again, eh? I guess it really can't be helped a wizard of such little brain as yourself . . ."
As though on cue Professor Heartilly bounded into the classroom at that moment, happier than anyone entering Snape's class ever was. The potions master looked at her in annoyance.
"Heh, sorry, Sev, but-"
"DON'T call me 'Sev.'" He hissed through clenched teeth.
She continued as though she hadn't heard him, "But anyway, I need to borrow your class one teeny little second." Before waiting for his reply she walked right up to Hermione. "Hey, Hermione, do you know what in the heck a 'Parselmouth' is?"
Hermione, of course, knew the answer just like she knew everything else, "A Parselmouth is someone with the extremely rare gift of being able to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes."
"Thanks! I knew that YOU would know! Isn't she wonderful, Professor Snape? She has to be the smartest student I've ever seen!" Hermione positively beamed at this, and Snape looked greatly annoyed since he liked to intimidate his students, not praise them.
"Are you quiet done disrupting my class, Professor Heartilly?" He asked, holding back an aggravated sigh he felt coming on.
"Umm . . ." She surveyed the classroom again, and saw Neville, all trembling and almost on the verge of tears with his extremely err, wrong, potion. "Ah! You have Neville in this class."
"Mm, Longbottom fails spectacularly at every assignment I've ever given him, I suppose that may be some cause for exclamation." He told her dryly, now Neville was on the brink of tears.
"Hm, that's not very nice. . ." Rinoa murmured, looking over the boy's shoulder at his potion which was red instead of green. "Well it's better than I ever did in potions." This made Neville feel somewhat better, "You know," She continued, stepping into dangerous waters, "I honestly don't think they EXPECT you to pass this course. I mean, first you have a subject that's the most difficult, frustrating, needlessly complicated thing on the face of the Earth-(I mean, fusion of what to a burning 3:4 ration of what?) but they also give you meanest teacher-"
The class burst into gales of laughter, even the Slytherins were trying to stifle their sniggering. Snape looked even angrier than they had seen him before, but Rinoa had won the love of Hogwarts at that moment because only the Slytherins liked Snape and no one really liked the Slytherins either.
"Okay, Okay, I was kidding, KIDDING!" She protested, obviously a little intimidated by his threatening and towering glare.
"Miss Heartilly, are you quite through disrupting my class?" It was pretty clear he was fighting to keep self control, no doubt he wished she were a student so he could give her detention for the rest of her life, no one student or teacher had ever DARED to get so under Snape's skin.
"Yeah, yeah . . ." She muttered and wandered off, Snape stood staring after her with a glare like fire for several minutes, shaking with rage, no one dared to speak or even to whisper. He looked-well, if looks could kill, his would have brought down Lord Voldemort.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged concerned glances wondering if he was going to take out his wrath on his students. Of course he was! They had so much homework that weekend none of them expected to finish it, even Hermione looked upset.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts they showed Professor Heartilly all of the work they had to do, "Wow, I am SO glad I'm not you!" She said, and then sighed, "Okay, okay, I won't give you any homework this week!" The class cheered.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't sure what they were expecting from their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher but she turned out to quickly become the most popular teacher at Hogwarts. "Now, my name is Professor Heartilly . . ."
Hermione's hand shot straight up as soon as the words had left her mouth. "Are you the wife of Squall Leonhart, the Headmaster of the Balamb School for Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
"Yes," Professor Heartilly smiled, "Very good. But I prefer to still go by Professor Heartilly . . ."
Paravati's hand shot up, "How come you look like your, like, eighteen? How old are you?" The Slytherin girl questioned.
"Excellent question. I am actually thirty two years old, but I haven't aged since I was eighteen due to contact I had with a powerful Sorceress named Adel. Adel was before the time of You-Know-Who, but she was the most powerful witch ever. She started the Sorceress Wars over thirty years ago, many were killed, and it was a dark time. Your parents probably remember it, but You-Know-Who was even worse, so we don't talk about Adel to much anymore. Anyways, I was possessed by her for a while and some of her powers, like never aging, rubbed off on me. But," She added a little disclaimer, "I wouldn't encourage any of you to go get possessed by an evil witch or wizard anytime soon." The class laughed.
"But what's a Sorceress just like a really powerful witch?" Seamus asked.
Rinoa thought for a moment, "Something sort of like that. No, there's more to it than simply the power. It's hard to explain . . . they're extremely rare."
"But why are you teaching here, shouldn't you be at your husband's school?" Ron asked.
She shrugged, "Well Squall's a real stick in the mud, it's hard to have a lot of crazy fun, like I can't remember the last time I started a food fight . . . um, wait forget I said that." She winked playfully. "Actually, Dumbledore needed someone on short notice and I volunteered. I went here when I was a kid, you know. In Gryffindor."
"Now . . . are we gonna learn something today?" She smiled, "First of all, you don't need your text books, just put them away-heck throw 'em out the window!"
Hermione looked like she had been mortally offended by the very suggestion of throwing a text book from the castle windows, but the other students actually did it, and soon they were all laughing and having a great time. Unfortunately for the class, they couldn't have known that Professor Snape happened to be walking along the school grounds directly below where their classroom windows were and he was suddenly bombarded by a barrage of text books.
The class was having a great time when suddenly the door slammed open and a very, very, very angry looking Professor Snape stood glowering there, his eyes like lasers of ice, he looked angrier then the students had ever seen him before, even Harry and Snape always looked kind of angry. Harry and Ron gulped and glanced at one another, Snape would find some way of blaming them, and they knew it.
"Mrs. Leonhart-"
"That's Professor Heartilly, actu-"
"Whatever, I don't care what your name is! What is the meaning of this! This is a classroom not some low brow circus! And what were your students doing throwing textbooks from the window?!" He caught site of Harry, "I bet Potter had something to do with this!"
"Hey, I asked them to throw their text books out the window!" She said suddenly.
"You WHAT?!" Snape sputtered, he really did look ready to kill something, "Do you have no regard for school rules, you're their teacher, by the gods woman! I assumed when Dumbledore hired you, you were going to be teaching something not-not adding to their immeasurable stupidity!"
By now the class had quieted down and the students were cowering under Snape's harsh gaze. No one dared say a word . . .
"Geez, lighten up, old man." The class couldn't control their laughter, Severus Snape looked like a vein in his head was going to burst, but he turned and stalked away muttering something about 'informing Dumbledore of gross incompetence . . .'
Sadly, now that Defence Against the Dark Arts was so much fun it seemed like Snape made his class a hundred times harder. He tripled their homework, gave them tests he used for his fourth year students, picked on them more than normal, (poor Neville nearly died) and he even became a little nasty to the Slytherins (except for Malfoy, who managed to get through Potions classes unscathed, but then he didn't push it these days either, they could all sense Professor Snape's extremely bitter mood).
It was rather unfortunate as well for Harry and his friends that though Defence was such a fun class they had it with the Slytherins and Malfoy and his stupid lackeys spent the time throwing bits of scroll and such at them when Professor Heartilly wasn't looking.
One Potions class as Professor Snape trailed up and down the rows of students, eyeing them suspiciously he stopped in front of Neville Longbottom's experiment, the poor boy never got anything in Potions right, the only time he stood half a chance was with Hermione helping him and Snape was always quick to put a stop to that. "My my, Longbottom, botched it again, eh? I guess it really can't be helped a wizard of such little brain as yourself . . ."
As though on cue Professor Heartilly bounded into the classroom at that moment, happier than anyone entering Snape's class ever was. The potions master looked at her in annoyance.
"Heh, sorry, Sev, but-"
"DON'T call me 'Sev.'" He hissed through clenched teeth.
She continued as though she hadn't heard him, "But anyway, I need to borrow your class one teeny little second." Before waiting for his reply she walked right up to Hermione. "Hey, Hermione, do you know what in the heck a 'Parselmouth' is?"
Hermione, of course, knew the answer just like she knew everything else, "A Parselmouth is someone with the extremely rare gift of being able to speak Parseltongue, the language of snakes."
"Thanks! I knew that YOU would know! Isn't she wonderful, Professor Snape? She has to be the smartest student I've ever seen!" Hermione positively beamed at this, and Snape looked greatly annoyed since he liked to intimidate his students, not praise them.
"Are you quiet done disrupting my class, Professor Heartilly?" He asked, holding back an aggravated sigh he felt coming on.
"Umm . . ." She surveyed the classroom again, and saw Neville, all trembling and almost on the verge of tears with his extremely err, wrong, potion. "Ah! You have Neville in this class."
"Mm, Longbottom fails spectacularly at every assignment I've ever given him, I suppose that may be some cause for exclamation." He told her dryly, now Neville was on the brink of tears.
"Hm, that's not very nice. . ." Rinoa murmured, looking over the boy's shoulder at his potion which was red instead of green. "Well it's better than I ever did in potions." This made Neville feel somewhat better, "You know," She continued, stepping into dangerous waters, "I honestly don't think they EXPECT you to pass this course. I mean, first you have a subject that's the most difficult, frustrating, needlessly complicated thing on the face of the Earth-(I mean, fusion of what to a burning 3:4 ration of what?) but they also give you meanest teacher-"
The class burst into gales of laughter, even the Slytherins were trying to stifle their sniggering. Snape looked even angrier than they had seen him before, but Rinoa had won the love of Hogwarts at that moment because only the Slytherins liked Snape and no one really liked the Slytherins either.
"Okay, Okay, I was kidding, KIDDING!" She protested, obviously a little intimidated by his threatening and towering glare.
"Miss Heartilly, are you quite through disrupting my class?" It was pretty clear he was fighting to keep self control, no doubt he wished she were a student so he could give her detention for the rest of her life, no one student or teacher had ever DARED to get so under Snape's skin.
"Yeah, yeah . . ." She muttered and wandered off, Snape stood staring after her with a glare like fire for several minutes, shaking with rage, no one dared to speak or even to whisper. He looked-well, if looks could kill, his would have brought down Lord Voldemort.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged concerned glances wondering if he was going to take out his wrath on his students. Of course he was! They had so much homework that weekend none of them expected to finish it, even Hermione looked upset.
In Defence Against the Dark Arts they showed Professor Heartilly all of the work they had to do, "Wow, I am SO glad I'm not you!" She said, and then sighed, "Okay, okay, I won't give you any homework this week!" The class cheered.