Hey guys! I thank everyone for your reviews, bless your hearts. Ya'll are
too sweet to me!
And as before....I don't own anything....if I did, I'd be geocaching in the back woods of Alaska right now....
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Chapter 6
The next morning, word had gotten around the Gryffindor tower about keeping an eye on the Slytherin table. Rumors were running wild, though, on what the prank would be. On the way to breakfast, Harry heard everything from hiding powder in their eggs that would turn their skin green to bewitching the chocolate chips in their muffins to make them transform into bouncing ferrets. The only thing that people did not know is what brought this about. But as long as the Slytherins were at the brunt of the joke, no student seemed to mind.
When Harry walked into the Great Hall, his head turned instinctively towards the Slytherin table as he walked to his own and sat down next to Ron. He watched as Draco Malfoy cautiously picked at his eggs and then pushed away his plate. It also seemed that the rest of his housemates were following suit. Someone had obviously tipped him off. But still the Gryffindors carefully watched the table in hopes of something happening. George and Fred snickered from across the table. Harry leaned in.
"When is it going to happen? What did you do?"
Fred grinned from ear to ear. "That's the beauty...we did nothing but spread the word that we might do something. They are all squirming for nothing! Brilliant plan that George had." George poofed out his chest as he swarmed with pride at his tactic. He continued.
"Figured we would let them sweat all day...show up at inopportune times so they think we are trying to do something...then get them good at dinner just when they think that they are safe. Just don't tell anyone...we really want that to be a surprise."
Ron smiled. "That is bloody brilliant! Remind me never to get the two of you mad."
Fred started to say something else, but Hermione came up behind them to hand out their yearly schedules.
"Morning Hermione," said Harry loudly, interrupting Fred. Hermione surveyed them very closely.
"You all aren't planning anything on my watch are you? Because if you are I might have to go and tell Professor McGonagall," she said as she handed them all their schedules.
"No mam...all we're doing is just sitting here eating breakfast...see?" Fred took a large bite of scrambled eggs and smacked his lips as he ate. Hermione just shook her head and continued down the table handing out schedules. George leaned in.
"You both really need to have a talk with her. I mean...have you seen any letters from Percy laying around? Maybe she's been asking for advice or something...although he has been pretty busy since he got his new job and got engaged and everything."
Ron nearly spit out his bite of muffin. "Engaged? What? When did this happen? And I'm only now hearing of it?"
"Oh my gosh! I can't believe we forgot to tell you...yea...After Percy got his big promotion to head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation office when the ministry found out about Barty Crouch, Sr., he asked Penelope Clearwater to marry him. Guess that was in the middle of August. But knowing him, he probably read somewhere that to be elected Minister of Magic you have to be a family man so he's getting a head start."
Ron smiled. "Anyone claim his room yet?" Fred, George and Harry all laughed. They then heard footsteps around him and the grumblings of disappointed Gryffindor students leaving for class as they took one last look over at the Slytherin table. Harry and Ron looked down at their schedule for the first time, realizing they had Defense Against the Dark Arts first.
"That's all I need," Harry said flatly, "To start out the year with Snape. At least we don't have it with the Slytherins so he can play favorites."
They then heard Hermione come up from behind and push herself in between the two to compare schedules.
"Oh good...you have the same first class as I do. We better get a move on...you know how Snape is when we are late." Harry and Ron agreed and they headed towards the room.
As the three walked into the class, they looked around and did not see the strange creature that was normally there for the first lesson. Instead, all the desks were moved to the sides of the wall and a rack with foils, masks and fencing jackets were sitting in a corner. Two long runs were running parallel down the center of the room. The class was gathered around the rack attempting to resist the urge to pick them up. The three went over to join them.
"Finally...something that I'm decent with. Hey...and we even had some training over the summer so we won't look like total loons," Ron remarked. Harry and Hermione nodded, but they both knew that their skills were seriously lacking compared to Ron's. They then heard footsteps in the hall becoming louder and louder as they came towards the classroom. Harry tensed up, but stayed facing the rack.
"Good Morning class."
Harry recognized the voice almost immediately and a smile spread across his face. In contrast several other people gasped loudly at the sight of their new teacher.
"I am your new professor, Sirius Black and Professor Dumbledore has assigned me as your new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Now, as you have probably already figured out, we are going to start out this school year by learning how to defend ourselves with something other than your wands. The most common way to learn this is by fencing. If everyone can please put on a jacket and a mask and pick up a foil, we can start learning the basic moves." Everyone quickly suited up. Many of them were looking very suspiciously at Sirius as if he was to attack at any moment.
First, Sirius asked the students to gather around one of the runs. He then asked Ron to step forward to help demonstrate basic moves. Ron's face turned a light crimson as he slowly walked out and faced his classmates.
"Now, the first thing you do in a bout...as you probably remember from learning how to duel is solute. Ron...if you please."
Ron moved his feet to a proper stance and lifted the hilt of his foil to his face. He quickly thrust the blade downwards towards the floor as it made a distinct whooshing sound.
"See...not all that hard. The next thing is to learn is proper battle stance." He looked at Ron and he immediately complied. "As you see, your feet should be about shoulder length apart, and your arm should be curved above your head with elbow bent at 45 degrees and your foil pointed up. Also, notice that your back foot and front foot are perpendicular to each other." Ron's face was now approaching the color of his hair with everyone staring at him.
"Now...the first attack that we are going to learn is how to lunge." Ron again jumped into action. "As Ron is demonstrating, to go into a lunge, you step forward with your front foot and straiten your foil arm in front of you. Your back arm straitens strait down. And to get out of it, you quickly lift your back arm back over your head and the force from that helps you get back into the proper battle stance. Thank you Ron for your help."
He sulked back over next to Harry and Hermione.
"Nice job," whispered Hermione.
"Your too good...going to make the rest of us look bad," remarked Harry, jokingly.
Ron just turned to them and gave a sarcastic smile.
"Now that you have all seen the basic moves, please spread out and practice them by yourself. I do not want to see anyone trying to battle each other yet."
The first lesson went pretty smoothly. The only major problem is when Neville Longbottom forgot to hold tight onto the hilt of his foil as he was saluting and it went sailing and hit Seamus Finnegan in the back of the head. At the end of class after everyone had put up their equipment, Sirius made one last announcement.
"Great first lesson everyone. Now one more thing I think you will all find interesting. Right before Christmas holiday, in both of my 5th year classes, we are going to have a fencing tournament. The winner of the class tournament will get 25 points credited to their house. The two class champions will then have a bout and the winner will receive 25 more points for their house. So I suggest that you all pay attention and practice hard. Also, I would like for all of you to write an essay detailing the steps of the basic moves we learned today. You are dismissed."
The students filed through the door of the classroom, some chattering about the news and some groaning over the homework. But they all seemed determined to be the one to win the tournament. Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed after class.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were going to be teaching?" asked Harry, excited.
"Well, I honestly didn't know myself until yesterday. Dumbledore contacted me at the very last minute and said the position was not yet filled and it was mine if I wanted it. I couldn't say no. He really is a great man. He doesn't just give second chances...he gives fresh starts."
Harry nodded as he looked over at Ron, who now had a solemn look on his face. "I guess that means we still have potions with both the Slytherins and Professor Snape. What I have been looking forward to all summer. Joy."
"Come on... it can't be all that bad."
"Yes it can," the three answered in unison.
Sirius just chuckled and shook his head. Students started trickling in for the next class and the three said their goodbyes and left for Charms class.
The rest of the morning was very uneventful. After leaving charms, they headed strait to lunch where it seemed some of the Slytherins were hungry enough to have started taking very cautions bites off their plates. As the three set down, Harry heard a voice from across the table.
"The walls are breaking down." He looked up and saw the identical grins on the Weasley twin's faces as they stared at the table across the room from them. Hermione raised an eyebrow and the subject was quickly changed.
"So how was your first class?"
"You'll never guess who is teaching Defense against the Dark Arts."
"We know...Professor Snape."
"No...Sirius Black."
Fred and George as well as several other people around them looked up. They both smiled.
"Wow...I can't wait for that class now...he knows what it's like to be out there fighting."
After lunch, Hermione suggested that they go back to the common room and start on their essay to get it out of the way. But as soon as she went upstairs to get all her resource books and came back down, Harry and Ron were already downstairs starting a game of chess. She shook her head and started studying. The next thing she noticed was the shadow of the sun from the window becoming very long as it shown on her ink bottle. She looked up and noticed that her two friends had gone from playing chess to exploding snap. As she started packing up her books, she heard a slight creak from next to her. She looked up and saw Fred and George sneaking down the stairs, their fronts to her and their hands behind their backs and innocent grins on their faces. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again and looked down to finish getting her books together. The twins took the opportunity to run out of portrait hole.
Hermione made her way over to the two boys and watched a moment as their last game finished up. Harry turned around and looked her.
"You get your essay finished? Doesn't seem like it will take that long considering we practiced all summer." He glanced over at Ron. "And we have an expert in our midst."
"Yea...I got it finished. Figured that I would get my grade in there by doing the best I can on the essays because I've tried and fencing just isn't my forte." As her stomach growled loudly, she wrapped her arms around her middle. "Excuse me...guess it's time for dinner."
Harry and Ron just then realized the time. They both packed up their stuff very hurriedly and they all dropped their stuff up in their rooms. Ron and Harry were already downstairs as Hermione came back down.
"Hurry up! We don't want to miss the floor show."
"The what? Harry...what's going on?"
Harry and Ron both smiled as they headed out of the common room and towards the Great Hall, Hermione still trying to question them.
As soon as they entered the Great Hall things were seemingly back to normal. The Slytherins were again eating, figuring what they heard this morning was nothing more than a rumor. Even when Fred and George came in late, nobody seemed to take notice. As soon as everyone sat down and were half way through eating, a swarm of owls came through the windows at the top of the hall bringing students large packages filled with things that they had forgot. Soon after, then dinner dishes were magically wiped clean and mounds of tarts and cupcakes appeared. They looked so delectable that everyone dug in immediately. It was then that the screams started from across the room. As everyone turned around, the room burst into laughter as they watched as one by one each of the Slytherins skin turned either a lime green or neon blue.
Harry looked up at the head table. As he looked up at each face, he saw Professors Snape and McGonagall absolutely furious. He then looked at Sirius and Charlie who were both watching the madness and fighting a smile and loosing badly. Last, he glanced at Dumbledore who had a frown on his lips, but a definite twinkle in his eye. He then looked down his own table at Fred and George who were both staring into their plates keeping perfect poker faces. It was probably this lack of emotion that gave them away as Professor McGonagall came up behind them.
"Boys, will you please come with me?" Fred and George both stood up and followed the Professor. A massive amount of cheers and support followed the two from the Gryffindor table as the left the Great Hall. Professor Snape was across the hall gathering all of the infected Slytherins to escort them up to the hospital wing. Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione
"At least it is early in the semester so we can make up the points they are about to loose...but it was worth it!"
Ron nodded, smiling. "But if a scarlet letter comes in smoking, I'm going to run...it's not going to be pretty."
Hermione just rolled her eyes and muttered something about 'priorities.'
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On Tuesday, Harry had Care of Magical Creatures. As they went out towards Hagrid's hut, Harry was excited about seeing Hagrid for he had been missing from all the meals. But as soon as they reached their destination, they saw someone that they weren't expecting.
"Charlie!" exclaimed Ron.
Charlie Weasley just raised his finger to his lips and addressed the class.
"Hello class. Since Hagrid has yet to return from his...um...assignment, I will be temporarily teaching your class. For those who don't know me, I am Professor Weasley and I have taken a break from my dragons to help you all learn a little bit about some of the magical creatures that are out there. Hagrid did leave me a few instructions on what you should be learning so that I could keep with his lesson plans. (With this, there were a little more than a few grumblings from the class.)"
He then led the class around to the back of the house where a pond had been dug and large fish with spikes on their heads and tails and noticeably large teeth were jumping out of the water five feet in the air before sending a lightning spark between their spikes and falling back into the water.
"Now...these Horn Fish do not look like the most welcome creatures in the world, ('which is exactly why Hagrid would tell us to study them,' Ron whispered to Harry) but they are extremely useful. Anyone know why?"
As normal, Hermione's hand was the first and only hand in the air.
"Among the uses are their scales, if they are treated right, are used for a cleaning solution, the bones are used for sewing needles and their teeth are ground and used for potions."
"Great job. 10 points to Gryffindor. Now, if everyone would put on their gloves and grab a pole, this pond is getting overpopulated and we need to thin out a few Horn Fish. Make sure that when you catch one, you do not touch it with your bare hands...only with your gloves. Otherwise you will get a nasty shock. Then please put them in this tank." He gestured towards a large tank already filled with water.
The rest of the class was spent enjoyably on the sides of the pond fishing for the creatures. After enough were caught and several students sent to the hospital wing with electrical burns and bites, the class was dismissed. Charlie called Harry, Ron and Hermione over.
"How is your first week going so far?"
Harry answered first. "Pretty good. Can't believe that Sirius is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and now your teaching this. Almost like Professor Dumbledore is only bringing in only strong allies or something."
Charlie smiled nervously and quickly changed the subject.
"So...What do you think of the Horn Fish? Not exactly what I would have chosen for a first lesson, but I am guessing that Hagrid still has his fondness for...let's just say unusual creatures?"
"That's an understatement," came a comment from behind them.
The three quickly turned around and saw Draco Malfoy and his gang of Crabbe and Goyle standing there. They were all surprised he would say such a thing in front of a professor. Charlie just smiled and slightly tilted his head.
"Well hello Mr. Malfoy. Ron has told me so much about you. How is your family doing? Is your father's arm doing ok or is that spot still bothering him?"
With that, Draco frowned, quickly turned and marched away, his gang following close on his heals. Harry, Ron and Hermione could not help but snicker as they said goodbye to Charlie and walked to lunch.
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The rest of the first week moved very quickly for Harry. He figured it was because Double Potions came at the end of the week and it was the class he was most dreading most. He did not like the Professor at all and he was sure that the feeling was mutual.
Harry purposely arrived at the class 15 minutes early to make sure that Professor Snape didn't take away any more points from Gryffindor as he was notorious for doing. Fred and George's stunt had already lost the house 150 points and they had received detention with Snape for 2 weeks. As soon as he walked in, he noticed that most of the other Gryffindor students had the same idea. He sat in between Ron and Hermione.
Soon after, students with skin still tinged slightly green and blue walked in and filled their side of the room. There were no official rules that the houses had to be separated in classes, but it always seemed that the Slytherins and Gryffindor students automatically segregated themselves. The tension in the room was extremely high, but the Slytherins did not say anything, the memories of their first day at school dinner still fresh on their minds.
Then with a bang of the door, Professor Snape stormed in mumbling something about 'meetings' and 'being seen.' As soon as he reached the front of the room, he turned around at such speed the tails of his cloak billowed out. He looked over the class.
"I will not go over the rules of this class again. You are not first years and are expected to know how to act. If you do not behave, you will be punished. During the first part of this year, you will be learning healing potions. Everyone get out their caldrons and ingredients boxes. I will not have you loafing around on your first day back in my class."
He stared strait at Harry and then glanced at him continually throughout the entire time of lecture. After he finished explaining how the first healing potion they were going to learn worked and the specific ingredients needed, the class started. It was not long before Professor Snape made his way through rows checking everyone's work. When he reached Harry, he stared at him for five minutes until, "10 points from Gryffindor!"
Everyone looked up and stared at Harry and the Professor. Harry looked up at Snape.
"Sir? What did I do wrong?"
"Fine that's another 5 points for arguing. And if you must know, you are slicing your ginger root in half inch slices rather than the quarter inch slices I specified."
Professor Snape then continued to make his way through the rows and stopped directly behind Neville Longbottom. Neville's hand immediately started shaking nervously, trying to cut his ingredients into the proper size and shape. Suddenly the Professor leaned over and grabbed several bags of stems and roots out of his box and eyed them carefully. He took them up to his desk and put them in a drawer as the whole class watched. He looked at the quivering Neville.
"Stay after class."
A look of horror came over his face as he slightly nodded and went back to his work. It was well known that the thing that terrified him the most was Professor Snape. Soon after, Neville melted yet another caldron and lost 10 more points for Gryffindor house. He cleaned it up among snickers from the Slytherin students.
At the end of class, Professor Snape took a spoonful of each person's purple potion and added a yellow potion to it to see if it was correctly brewed. Everyone's (except Neville who couldn't finish his in time) turned a deep burgundy color denoting it was correct. He then handed out bottles for everyone to fill with the purpose of giving them to Madam Pomfrey. After finishing, they all filed out, Harry, Ron and Hermione watching outside the door. The last thing they saw before Professor Snape slammed the door in their face was Neville making his way to the front desk.
A few minutes later Neville came out and shut the door behind him. His face showed of complete disbelief and confusion and he was carrying a piece of parchment.
"Are you ok? What happened?" asked Harry.
Unable to string two words together at that particular moment, he just handed Harry the note, still shaking uncontrollably.
Professor Sprout-
I have observed some of Neville Longbottom's herbs that he grew
over the summer and prepared for my potions class. I have found
them to be of decent quality for a student. Since there is no
advanced herbology class, if you would please let Neville either
assist in younger classes or do a special project for your class, I
believe it would be of great use to him in his further usefulness
to the wizard community.
-Professor Snape
Harry, Ron and Hermione just stood with their mouths open staring at the note. Neville opened his mouth and just a whisper came out.
"He just asked me where I got the ingredients...said that he had never seen any like it. I told him that I developed a new way to grow a few things over the summer so that they grow faster and stronger. Told me that some ways of growing things that I don't know made them less useful in potions and that he was going to test them. Then he wrote this note, took them to his back office and closed the door. I can't believe it...I'm going strait to Professor Sprout to give this to her." And with that he grabbed the note and was off.
Stunned, the three walked towards the Great Hall for dinner.
And as before....I don't own anything....if I did, I'd be geocaching in the back woods of Alaska right now....
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Chapter 6
The next morning, word had gotten around the Gryffindor tower about keeping an eye on the Slytherin table. Rumors were running wild, though, on what the prank would be. On the way to breakfast, Harry heard everything from hiding powder in their eggs that would turn their skin green to bewitching the chocolate chips in their muffins to make them transform into bouncing ferrets. The only thing that people did not know is what brought this about. But as long as the Slytherins were at the brunt of the joke, no student seemed to mind.
When Harry walked into the Great Hall, his head turned instinctively towards the Slytherin table as he walked to his own and sat down next to Ron. He watched as Draco Malfoy cautiously picked at his eggs and then pushed away his plate. It also seemed that the rest of his housemates were following suit. Someone had obviously tipped him off. But still the Gryffindors carefully watched the table in hopes of something happening. George and Fred snickered from across the table. Harry leaned in.
"When is it going to happen? What did you do?"
Fred grinned from ear to ear. "That's the beauty...we did nothing but spread the word that we might do something. They are all squirming for nothing! Brilliant plan that George had." George poofed out his chest as he swarmed with pride at his tactic. He continued.
"Figured we would let them sweat all day...show up at inopportune times so they think we are trying to do something...then get them good at dinner just when they think that they are safe. Just don't tell anyone...we really want that to be a surprise."
Ron smiled. "That is bloody brilliant! Remind me never to get the two of you mad."
Fred started to say something else, but Hermione came up behind them to hand out their yearly schedules.
"Morning Hermione," said Harry loudly, interrupting Fred. Hermione surveyed them very closely.
"You all aren't planning anything on my watch are you? Because if you are I might have to go and tell Professor McGonagall," she said as she handed them all their schedules.
"No mam...all we're doing is just sitting here eating breakfast...see?" Fred took a large bite of scrambled eggs and smacked his lips as he ate. Hermione just shook her head and continued down the table handing out schedules. George leaned in.
"You both really need to have a talk with her. I mean...have you seen any letters from Percy laying around? Maybe she's been asking for advice or something...although he has been pretty busy since he got his new job and got engaged and everything."
Ron nearly spit out his bite of muffin. "Engaged? What? When did this happen? And I'm only now hearing of it?"
"Oh my gosh! I can't believe we forgot to tell you...yea...After Percy got his big promotion to head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation office when the ministry found out about Barty Crouch, Sr., he asked Penelope Clearwater to marry him. Guess that was in the middle of August. But knowing him, he probably read somewhere that to be elected Minister of Magic you have to be a family man so he's getting a head start."
Ron smiled. "Anyone claim his room yet?" Fred, George and Harry all laughed. They then heard footsteps around him and the grumblings of disappointed Gryffindor students leaving for class as they took one last look over at the Slytherin table. Harry and Ron looked down at their schedule for the first time, realizing they had Defense Against the Dark Arts first.
"That's all I need," Harry said flatly, "To start out the year with Snape. At least we don't have it with the Slytherins so he can play favorites."
They then heard Hermione come up from behind and push herself in between the two to compare schedules.
"Oh good...you have the same first class as I do. We better get a move on...you know how Snape is when we are late." Harry and Ron agreed and they headed towards the room.
As the three walked into the class, they looked around and did not see the strange creature that was normally there for the first lesson. Instead, all the desks were moved to the sides of the wall and a rack with foils, masks and fencing jackets were sitting in a corner. Two long runs were running parallel down the center of the room. The class was gathered around the rack attempting to resist the urge to pick them up. The three went over to join them.
"Finally...something that I'm decent with. Hey...and we even had some training over the summer so we won't look like total loons," Ron remarked. Harry and Hermione nodded, but they both knew that their skills were seriously lacking compared to Ron's. They then heard footsteps in the hall becoming louder and louder as they came towards the classroom. Harry tensed up, but stayed facing the rack.
"Good Morning class."
Harry recognized the voice almost immediately and a smile spread across his face. In contrast several other people gasped loudly at the sight of their new teacher.
"I am your new professor, Sirius Black and Professor Dumbledore has assigned me as your new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Now, as you have probably already figured out, we are going to start out this school year by learning how to defend ourselves with something other than your wands. The most common way to learn this is by fencing. If everyone can please put on a jacket and a mask and pick up a foil, we can start learning the basic moves." Everyone quickly suited up. Many of them were looking very suspiciously at Sirius as if he was to attack at any moment.
First, Sirius asked the students to gather around one of the runs. He then asked Ron to step forward to help demonstrate basic moves. Ron's face turned a light crimson as he slowly walked out and faced his classmates.
"Now, the first thing you do in a bout...as you probably remember from learning how to duel is solute. Ron...if you please."
Ron moved his feet to a proper stance and lifted the hilt of his foil to his face. He quickly thrust the blade downwards towards the floor as it made a distinct whooshing sound.
"See...not all that hard. The next thing is to learn is proper battle stance." He looked at Ron and he immediately complied. "As you see, your feet should be about shoulder length apart, and your arm should be curved above your head with elbow bent at 45 degrees and your foil pointed up. Also, notice that your back foot and front foot are perpendicular to each other." Ron's face was now approaching the color of his hair with everyone staring at him.
"Now...the first attack that we are going to learn is how to lunge." Ron again jumped into action. "As Ron is demonstrating, to go into a lunge, you step forward with your front foot and straiten your foil arm in front of you. Your back arm straitens strait down. And to get out of it, you quickly lift your back arm back over your head and the force from that helps you get back into the proper battle stance. Thank you Ron for your help."
He sulked back over next to Harry and Hermione.
"Nice job," whispered Hermione.
"Your too good...going to make the rest of us look bad," remarked Harry, jokingly.
Ron just turned to them and gave a sarcastic smile.
"Now that you have all seen the basic moves, please spread out and practice them by yourself. I do not want to see anyone trying to battle each other yet."
The first lesson went pretty smoothly. The only major problem is when Neville Longbottom forgot to hold tight onto the hilt of his foil as he was saluting and it went sailing and hit Seamus Finnegan in the back of the head. At the end of class after everyone had put up their equipment, Sirius made one last announcement.
"Great first lesson everyone. Now one more thing I think you will all find interesting. Right before Christmas holiday, in both of my 5th year classes, we are going to have a fencing tournament. The winner of the class tournament will get 25 points credited to their house. The two class champions will then have a bout and the winner will receive 25 more points for their house. So I suggest that you all pay attention and practice hard. Also, I would like for all of you to write an essay detailing the steps of the basic moves we learned today. You are dismissed."
The students filed through the door of the classroom, some chattering about the news and some groaning over the homework. But they all seemed determined to be the one to win the tournament. Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed after class.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were going to be teaching?" asked Harry, excited.
"Well, I honestly didn't know myself until yesterday. Dumbledore contacted me at the very last minute and said the position was not yet filled and it was mine if I wanted it. I couldn't say no. He really is a great man. He doesn't just give second chances...he gives fresh starts."
Harry nodded as he looked over at Ron, who now had a solemn look on his face. "I guess that means we still have potions with both the Slytherins and Professor Snape. What I have been looking forward to all summer. Joy."
"Come on... it can't be all that bad."
"Yes it can," the three answered in unison.
Sirius just chuckled and shook his head. Students started trickling in for the next class and the three said their goodbyes and left for Charms class.
The rest of the morning was very uneventful. After leaving charms, they headed strait to lunch where it seemed some of the Slytherins were hungry enough to have started taking very cautions bites off their plates. As the three set down, Harry heard a voice from across the table.
"The walls are breaking down." He looked up and saw the identical grins on the Weasley twin's faces as they stared at the table across the room from them. Hermione raised an eyebrow and the subject was quickly changed.
"So how was your first class?"
"You'll never guess who is teaching Defense against the Dark Arts."
"We know...Professor Snape."
"No...Sirius Black."
Fred and George as well as several other people around them looked up. They both smiled.
"Wow...I can't wait for that class now...he knows what it's like to be out there fighting."
After lunch, Hermione suggested that they go back to the common room and start on their essay to get it out of the way. But as soon as she went upstairs to get all her resource books and came back down, Harry and Ron were already downstairs starting a game of chess. She shook her head and started studying. The next thing she noticed was the shadow of the sun from the window becoming very long as it shown on her ink bottle. She looked up and noticed that her two friends had gone from playing chess to exploding snap. As she started packing up her books, she heard a slight creak from next to her. She looked up and saw Fred and George sneaking down the stairs, their fronts to her and their hands behind their backs and innocent grins on their faces. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again and looked down to finish getting her books together. The twins took the opportunity to run out of portrait hole.
Hermione made her way over to the two boys and watched a moment as their last game finished up. Harry turned around and looked her.
"You get your essay finished? Doesn't seem like it will take that long considering we practiced all summer." He glanced over at Ron. "And we have an expert in our midst."
"Yea...I got it finished. Figured that I would get my grade in there by doing the best I can on the essays because I've tried and fencing just isn't my forte." As her stomach growled loudly, she wrapped her arms around her middle. "Excuse me...guess it's time for dinner."
Harry and Ron just then realized the time. They both packed up their stuff very hurriedly and they all dropped their stuff up in their rooms. Ron and Harry were already downstairs as Hermione came back down.
"Hurry up! We don't want to miss the floor show."
"The what? Harry...what's going on?"
Harry and Ron both smiled as they headed out of the common room and towards the Great Hall, Hermione still trying to question them.
As soon as they entered the Great Hall things were seemingly back to normal. The Slytherins were again eating, figuring what they heard this morning was nothing more than a rumor. Even when Fred and George came in late, nobody seemed to take notice. As soon as everyone sat down and were half way through eating, a swarm of owls came through the windows at the top of the hall bringing students large packages filled with things that they had forgot. Soon after, then dinner dishes were magically wiped clean and mounds of tarts and cupcakes appeared. They looked so delectable that everyone dug in immediately. It was then that the screams started from across the room. As everyone turned around, the room burst into laughter as they watched as one by one each of the Slytherins skin turned either a lime green or neon blue.
Harry looked up at the head table. As he looked up at each face, he saw Professors Snape and McGonagall absolutely furious. He then looked at Sirius and Charlie who were both watching the madness and fighting a smile and loosing badly. Last, he glanced at Dumbledore who had a frown on his lips, but a definite twinkle in his eye. He then looked down his own table at Fred and George who were both staring into their plates keeping perfect poker faces. It was probably this lack of emotion that gave them away as Professor McGonagall came up behind them.
"Boys, will you please come with me?" Fred and George both stood up and followed the Professor. A massive amount of cheers and support followed the two from the Gryffindor table as the left the Great Hall. Professor Snape was across the hall gathering all of the infected Slytherins to escort them up to the hospital wing. Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione
"At least it is early in the semester so we can make up the points they are about to loose...but it was worth it!"
Ron nodded, smiling. "But if a scarlet letter comes in smoking, I'm going to run...it's not going to be pretty."
Hermione just rolled her eyes and muttered something about 'priorities.'
***************************
On Tuesday, Harry had Care of Magical Creatures. As they went out towards Hagrid's hut, Harry was excited about seeing Hagrid for he had been missing from all the meals. But as soon as they reached their destination, they saw someone that they weren't expecting.
"Charlie!" exclaimed Ron.
Charlie Weasley just raised his finger to his lips and addressed the class.
"Hello class. Since Hagrid has yet to return from his...um...assignment, I will be temporarily teaching your class. For those who don't know me, I am Professor Weasley and I have taken a break from my dragons to help you all learn a little bit about some of the magical creatures that are out there. Hagrid did leave me a few instructions on what you should be learning so that I could keep with his lesson plans. (With this, there were a little more than a few grumblings from the class.)"
He then led the class around to the back of the house where a pond had been dug and large fish with spikes on their heads and tails and noticeably large teeth were jumping out of the water five feet in the air before sending a lightning spark between their spikes and falling back into the water.
"Now...these Horn Fish do not look like the most welcome creatures in the world, ('which is exactly why Hagrid would tell us to study them,' Ron whispered to Harry) but they are extremely useful. Anyone know why?"
As normal, Hermione's hand was the first and only hand in the air.
"Among the uses are their scales, if they are treated right, are used for a cleaning solution, the bones are used for sewing needles and their teeth are ground and used for potions."
"Great job. 10 points to Gryffindor. Now, if everyone would put on their gloves and grab a pole, this pond is getting overpopulated and we need to thin out a few Horn Fish. Make sure that when you catch one, you do not touch it with your bare hands...only with your gloves. Otherwise you will get a nasty shock. Then please put them in this tank." He gestured towards a large tank already filled with water.
The rest of the class was spent enjoyably on the sides of the pond fishing for the creatures. After enough were caught and several students sent to the hospital wing with electrical burns and bites, the class was dismissed. Charlie called Harry, Ron and Hermione over.
"How is your first week going so far?"
Harry answered first. "Pretty good. Can't believe that Sirius is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and now your teaching this. Almost like Professor Dumbledore is only bringing in only strong allies or something."
Charlie smiled nervously and quickly changed the subject.
"So...What do you think of the Horn Fish? Not exactly what I would have chosen for a first lesson, but I am guessing that Hagrid still has his fondness for...let's just say unusual creatures?"
"That's an understatement," came a comment from behind them.
The three quickly turned around and saw Draco Malfoy and his gang of Crabbe and Goyle standing there. They were all surprised he would say such a thing in front of a professor. Charlie just smiled and slightly tilted his head.
"Well hello Mr. Malfoy. Ron has told me so much about you. How is your family doing? Is your father's arm doing ok or is that spot still bothering him?"
With that, Draco frowned, quickly turned and marched away, his gang following close on his heals. Harry, Ron and Hermione could not help but snicker as they said goodbye to Charlie and walked to lunch.
********************************
The rest of the first week moved very quickly for Harry. He figured it was because Double Potions came at the end of the week and it was the class he was most dreading most. He did not like the Professor at all and he was sure that the feeling was mutual.
Harry purposely arrived at the class 15 minutes early to make sure that Professor Snape didn't take away any more points from Gryffindor as he was notorious for doing. Fred and George's stunt had already lost the house 150 points and they had received detention with Snape for 2 weeks. As soon as he walked in, he noticed that most of the other Gryffindor students had the same idea. He sat in between Ron and Hermione.
Soon after, students with skin still tinged slightly green and blue walked in and filled their side of the room. There were no official rules that the houses had to be separated in classes, but it always seemed that the Slytherins and Gryffindor students automatically segregated themselves. The tension in the room was extremely high, but the Slytherins did not say anything, the memories of their first day at school dinner still fresh on their minds.
Then with a bang of the door, Professor Snape stormed in mumbling something about 'meetings' and 'being seen.' As soon as he reached the front of the room, he turned around at such speed the tails of his cloak billowed out. He looked over the class.
"I will not go over the rules of this class again. You are not first years and are expected to know how to act. If you do not behave, you will be punished. During the first part of this year, you will be learning healing potions. Everyone get out their caldrons and ingredients boxes. I will not have you loafing around on your first day back in my class."
He stared strait at Harry and then glanced at him continually throughout the entire time of lecture. After he finished explaining how the first healing potion they were going to learn worked and the specific ingredients needed, the class started. It was not long before Professor Snape made his way through rows checking everyone's work. When he reached Harry, he stared at him for five minutes until, "10 points from Gryffindor!"
Everyone looked up and stared at Harry and the Professor. Harry looked up at Snape.
"Sir? What did I do wrong?"
"Fine that's another 5 points for arguing. And if you must know, you are slicing your ginger root in half inch slices rather than the quarter inch slices I specified."
Professor Snape then continued to make his way through the rows and stopped directly behind Neville Longbottom. Neville's hand immediately started shaking nervously, trying to cut his ingredients into the proper size and shape. Suddenly the Professor leaned over and grabbed several bags of stems and roots out of his box and eyed them carefully. He took them up to his desk and put them in a drawer as the whole class watched. He looked at the quivering Neville.
"Stay after class."
A look of horror came over his face as he slightly nodded and went back to his work. It was well known that the thing that terrified him the most was Professor Snape. Soon after, Neville melted yet another caldron and lost 10 more points for Gryffindor house. He cleaned it up among snickers from the Slytherin students.
At the end of class, Professor Snape took a spoonful of each person's purple potion and added a yellow potion to it to see if it was correctly brewed. Everyone's (except Neville who couldn't finish his in time) turned a deep burgundy color denoting it was correct. He then handed out bottles for everyone to fill with the purpose of giving them to Madam Pomfrey. After finishing, they all filed out, Harry, Ron and Hermione watching outside the door. The last thing they saw before Professor Snape slammed the door in their face was Neville making his way to the front desk.
A few minutes later Neville came out and shut the door behind him. His face showed of complete disbelief and confusion and he was carrying a piece of parchment.
"Are you ok? What happened?" asked Harry.
Unable to string two words together at that particular moment, he just handed Harry the note, still shaking uncontrollably.
Professor Sprout-
I have observed some of Neville Longbottom's herbs that he grew
over the summer and prepared for my potions class. I have found
them to be of decent quality for a student. Since there is no
advanced herbology class, if you would please let Neville either
assist in younger classes or do a special project for your class, I
believe it would be of great use to him in his further usefulness
to the wizard community.
-Professor Snape
Harry, Ron and Hermione just stood with their mouths open staring at the note. Neville opened his mouth and just a whisper came out.
"He just asked me where I got the ingredients...said that he had never seen any like it. I told him that I developed a new way to grow a few things over the summer so that they grow faster and stronger. Told me that some ways of growing things that I don't know made them less useful in potions and that he was going to test them. Then he wrote this note, took them to his back office and closed the door. I can't believe it...I'm going strait to Professor Sprout to give this to her." And with that he grabbed the note and was off.
Stunned, the three walked towards the Great Hall for dinner.