Author's Note: Hey everyone! I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I have now enabled anonymous reviews, so, if you haven't been able to review before, you can now. So please, REVIEW! On to Chapter Seven!
--Fred
Chapter Seven—Classes
Harry, Hermione, and Ron got to class with only about thirty seconds to spare. They found three empty seats right up front and sat down, anxious to see how Professor Mason would be teaching.
As the bell rang, Professor Mason entered the class, carrying a book under his right shoulder.
"Good morning everyone," he began, "My name is Robert Mason. It's good to be back at Hogwarts once again. I recognize a few of you from a few years ago, when I was a student. Um, today I'd like us to practice dueling; you'll never know when you'll need it. So, if you'll all stand up."
The class did as they were told. Once everyone had stood up, Professor Mason gave a flick of his wand, and the desks all flew to the side of the room. He gave his wand another flick and drew a rectangle on the floor.
"When you are dueling, make sure you do not leave the dueling ring. That will be an automatic forfeit. We'll be running this like a tournament, each person who wins a game will earn their house five points, the winner of the tournament gets fifty points. Any questions?"
Professor Mason took the silence as a no and instructed Seamus and Goyle to duel first. "Now," he began, "step to opposite sides of the ring." They did so. "Wands at the ready! And be--."
Professor Mason was cut off by Goyle, who yelled "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Seamus was quick on the uptake however.
"PROTEGO!" he shouted. The spell bounced off Seamus's invisible shield just before he shouted "STUPEFY!" Goyle, who seemed surprised by Seamus's dueling ability, was hit directly in the stomach by the stunning spell.
Professor Mason rushed right over to Goyle to reverse the stunning spell (enervate). "Good job Mr. Finnegan, 5 points to Gryffindor."
The tournament continued for the rest of the class, with Harry winning the tournament and earning Gryffindor nearly a hundred points.
After Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed towards the dungeons for Potions, which would go until lunch.
"Well, I see that lowering the requirement for this class has resulted in the same amount of dunderheads being in my class once again. I am hopeful that before the end of class that some of you will reconsider being in N.E.W.T. Potions." This put a look of fear on Neville's face that was even worse that how he looked when they were fighting the Death Eaters. "Today you will be making the Solution of the Senses, which is designed to increase one's reflexes." With a flick of his wand, the instructions appeared on the board in the front of the room and the student store cupboard opened, revealing the necessary ingredients. "Get to it.
As the end of class approached, Professor Snape spoke once again. "Your potion should now be a vibrant red." Harry let out a sigh of relief. He turned his head to see Professor Snape talking to Neville.
"Longbottom, did I not say this potion was supposed to be red?" Neville nodded meekly. "This is yellow. You are hopeless Longbottom. Clean up this mess." He turned to the rest of the class. "If you, unlike Longbottom, have managed to brew this potion correctly fill up a flagon and put it on my desk. I also want 18 inches on the effectiveness of this potion in dueling, to be handed in Wednesday. Now get out."
The class did as they were told. Harry was particularly happy that he had been able to make this potion correctly, but felt sorry for Neville, who was still being chewed out by Professor Snape.
Neville finally got out of there and headed to the Great Hall for lunch, closely followed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.