Chapter 5: Another Arrival at Hogwarts
The prank was talked about for quite a while afterwards. Poor Neville was having a hard time living it down. The Slytherins took every opportunity to remind him of that incident.
Reive and Malfoy had the time of their life doing 'Neville as a star' impersonations all over the dungeons during the next few potions classes and in the hallways whenever they saw him. They would swing dance crazily (in imitation of Neville as he had danced when he had suddenly grabbed hold of Lavender Brown) while the Slytherins shook with suppressed mirth.
She knew Prof. Snape ignored them deliberately and he even looked as though he was about to smile when once he nearly caught them at it. Ever since the incident, she had been accepted by the Slytherin crowd and quickly became a favourite.
The story about the prank had ofcourse spread throughout the school and even her Ravenclaw friends found it funny. However, none of the Gryffindors were impressed - atleast they didn't show it, except for Fred and George.
"What was that potion?" they asked her once in the hallway, ignoring the shocked looks on the faces of the Gryffindors standing around.
She had been surprised by their daring, but knowing they were the unofficial pranksters of the school, she happily told them where to find the recipe.
" It's a potion that forces a person to dance. You'll find lots of other quirky ones in that book."
Thus, she entered their good books. She just hoped Prof. Snape would be able to cope with the sudden increase in their genius with regards to potions. However he was smarter than that and took to punishing severely, all who even dared to sneeze in his class let alone throw anything (except ofcourse his darling Slytherins).
Fred and George knew better than to mess with him (a lesson no doubt learnt through more than sufficient experience of his wrath). Still, there were many incidents of people acting strangely after drinking their pumpkin juice; all of whom were treated by Madam Pomfrey.
"I can't believe Fred and George did that!" said Ron, the shock evident on his face. "They're actually friendly with a Slytherin."
"And one who hangs around Malfoy to boot" added Harry.
"I think I'm going to have to disown my brothers" Ron said morosely.
" You know she actually did Neville a favour." said Hermione matter-of- factly.
"What?" "You too?!" Harry and Ron exclaimed together.
"Well, I don't suppose you knew, but if she hadn't altered his potion, he would've ended up throwing up all over Snape's robes. Imagine how much trouble THAT would have gotten him into."
"So why didn't you do something to help him?" asked Ron.
"I couldn't. I was too far away. You know Snape does that deliberately." She replied irritably.
" Alright! Stop it you two. I want to know if either of you has any idea when the new DADA teacher's going to show up?" said Harry.
"D'you reckon it's gonna be Lupin?" Ron asked hopefully.
" I don't think so. He was quite adamant about not staying on last time." said Hermione. It was a Monday morning nearing the beginning of October. " And anyway, Dumbledore said 'she' not 'he'." she added as they entered the Great Hall for breakfast.
They had just seated themselves at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, when Dumbledore called for everyone's attention.
"I have an announcement to make. The new DADA teacher will be arriving at Hogwarts this afternoon. I wish to warn you not to be surprised if you witness something 'unusual' today. That is all."
With that rather cryptic announcement he sat down and the Great Hall suddenly erupted into a noisy chatter as they flung questions and speculations at each other across the tables. "What does he mean by unusual?" said Ron half-exsasperated. His sentiments were echoed by Fred and George and indeed, almost the entire Hall.
" How will she be arriving ?" Harry and Seamus wanted to know.
"Who is she?" was Hermione's rejoinder.
... Later that afternoon, almost the entire school was to be found outdoors. Most of them had taken their lunch out with them; some were so intrigued by all the excitement, they quite forgot about lunch. Our well-known trio belonged to this bunch.
Finally they saw Dumbledore come out of the Hogwarts front doors accompanied by Mcgonagall and a disgruntled looking Snape. He rather looked as if he was doing this against his better judgement. He had undoubtedly been talked into it by Dumbledore, thought Harry.
Most of the other teachers were already outside and smiled at Dumbledore when he came out.
"About time you think, Albus?" asked tiny Professor Flitwick.
"Yes, quite," he answered, then, "Ah! Here she comes now."
Everyone looked towards the main gates expectantly. Harry could hear what sounded like the engine of a car in the distance, but it was coming from somewhere up in the sky.
Suddenly, the clouds in the sky parted and the students gasped as a shiny green Mercedes sports car rolled into view. It was coming in to land on the gravel pathway. The wheels screeched slightly as they hit the ground, and then continued smoothly to where Dumbledore and the other professors stood.
The car rolled to a stop, the engine was still purring as the door opened on the driver's side. Snatches of a song could be heard emanating from the car, "Like the deserts miss the rain."
"That's a muggle song" Hermione whispered.
The driver of the car stepped out and turned to greet the assembled Professors and curious students, who had crept closer to take a good look both at the car and the stranger within, with a huge grin on her strikingly beautiful, well-known face.
"Well, what do you think? Special permission from the Ministry." She said gleefully indicating the car.
" It's the singing sorceress, Myra Blizzard!" one of the students cried out.
Reive suddenly looked up from her scrutiny of the magnificently posh car at those words and found herself staring at none other than her very own mentor. Malfoy was looking at her with raised eye-brows. He knew about her mentor.
She watched dumbfounded, alongwith the rest of the student body, as the newcomer closed the car door and advanced towards Professor Dumbledore, hand outstretched.
She was dressed stylishly, though conservatively for a celebrity of her stature. She wasn't dressed in the usual robes but in black boot cut pants (obviously muggle) and a long well fitting green top with a boat neck and bell shaped long sleeves. The sleeves were really the only thing that looked remotely like wizard garb. The heels of her black strap shoes sounded smartly on the stone paving in sync with her graceful strides. She was wearing a belly chain; a delicate silver one that looked like an exquisite snake coiled around her hips. Her long hair was a strange black colour that looked more like a shimmery gray.
She looked quite young but once you came face to face with her you realized she was no innocent babe. Her deep blue eyes spoke eloquently enough.
She shook hands with all the professors before being led into the castle by Dumbledore. As soon as she disappeared from view the students broke into excited chatter.
"Can you believe it? A celebrity singer is our DADA teacher!" Ron screeched excitedly alongwith Dean, Seamus and Neville.
Harry, who didn't know much about her (in fact he had never heard of her before) didn't share their bubbly enthusiasm, nevertheless, he was less than thrilled at the prospect of being taught by her, for he had a lingering bad taste in his mouth from their previous experience of a celebrity DADA instructor; Hermione too, was more cautious in her enthusiasm and began to express her doubts of her credentials for the post. She was quickly shushed by Ron, Parvati and Lavender who evidently also belonged to the fanclub.
They all trooped back into the castle heading to the Great Hall for lunch, having suddenly become aware of their hunger. All the teachers were absent from the Hall, evidently they were having a private lunch in the staffroom in honour of the newcomer. They were informed that she would be formally introduced to the school at dinner in the Great hall, by the house prefects who had taken charge.
The air of general curiosity prevalent in the school during the morning had changed to one of excitement that lasted all through their afternoon classes. Most students, esp. Reive found it hard to concentrate in class; now that she knew that her mentor was somewhere in the premises, she couldn't wait to meet her.
Suddenly, Hogwarts seemed to be ringing with melody. Everywhere, students were singing songs on their way to classes; songs sung by Myra Blizzard ofcourse. Hermione found their behaviour ridiculous, alongwith the irritated professors who had tired of telling students to stop the humming in class.
Finally, dinnertime arrived and the students filed into the Great Hall. The new Professor was seated next to Professor Snape. Snape himself was next to Dumbledore who was flanked on his other side by McGonagall. Snape looked distinctly uncomfortable and was looking longingly at the entrance to the Great Hall, as if he longed to get out of the place.
Ron sniggered when Harry pointed this out. McGonagall, on the other hand, was looking mysteriously, suspisciously, happy; well, as happy as she could possibly look like anyway.
The new professor was deep in conversation with Professor Sinistra while Snape kept giving them sidelong glances and toyed irritably with his food. When everyone had finished and the plates on all the tables had been cleared, McGonagall called for everyone's attention.