Chapter 12 - The Encounter with the Mudblood and the Weasel
"Excuse me." said a tiny but confident voice.
Lander and Devon knew who was speaking even before they turned around.
"I'm Hermione Granger, head girl." she held out her hand politely but nobody took it. Unfazed by their discourtesy, she continued. "I'm wondering if you would care to join our Defense Club this year. It's called Dumbledore's Army and we train our members to fight against the dark arts --- "
"We're not interested." said Lander quickly before she could say anything more. Snape warned them to limit their conversations with them to a minimum and if possible, none at all.
"--B-but ---"
"Didn't you hear him, you filthy mudblood?" said Blaise with utmost contempt.
"Fine! As head girl, it is my duty to invite everyone else for the training but I forgot you don't need to train 'against' the dark arts. After all, you are all 'for' the dark arts, aren't you?" replied Hermione with the same fervor.
"'Mione! There you are! I've been looking for you." exclaimed Ron as he ran towards her then he stopped in his tracks when he noticed the unfriendly company. "What are you doing with --- them?" he said incredulously.
"Begging for alms, Weasel. To buy food for the beast inside your stomach." said Pansy wickedly. Ron turned crimson at once.
"Actually, she got tired of you and wanted a piece of our new friend here." said Blaise mockingly as he pointed at Lander.
"Why, you!" sputtered Ron in anger.
"Come on, Ron. Save your breath. We should not waste time with this bunch of losers." said Hermione as she pulled Ron away before he lost control.
"Losers? Maybe it's you, mudblood. Now that your hero is dead, no one could save you now. Did you know he was begging for dear life before the dark lord killed him?" taunted Blaise. Hermione and Ron immediately went rigid with rage and had their wands out within seconds. Pansy and Blaise drew their wands too but ordered the others not to bring out theirs.
"It's not true. Harry would never do that and neither would we!" yelled Ron and waved his wand dangerously.
Blaise's eyes glazed with excitement. "You want a duel? Come then. Let's see how badly Potter had trained you."
"IMPEDIMENTA!" shouted Pansy at Ron but he ducked in time.
"ENGORGIO!" he countered and Pansy immediately started to fill out like an inflated balloon and slowly she rose into the air, shrieking in fright.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" yelled Blaise in fury and pointed his wand at Hermione but she was able to block it with a simple shielding charm.
Enraged, he tried a different tactic. He pointed his wand at Ron and yelled "CRUCIO" but at the last minute, he changed his direction and the spell hit Hermione but amazingly, she did not feel any pain at all. She smiled with relief.
"That's against the rules, Zabini! STUPEFY!" shouted Hermione at him then she carefully plucked his wand from his unmoving fingers.
"That's a nice one, Herm. Finite Incantatem!" said Ron while pointing his wand at the floating Pansy whose clothes were starting to rip at the sides. He too pried the wand away from his fingers while whistling softly.
"Ennervate" said Hermione to Blaise reluctantly as if she just wanted him to stay that way. "That's how well Harry had taught us." she smirked at all the Slytherin who witnessed the encounter.
"Yeah, don't mess with us again or you'll pay dearly." said Ron with the same half smile before the two of them left.
"Oh, by the way, you can get your wands from the Headmistress. I'm sure she'll be happy to return them." said Hermione over her shoulders then they both laughed and headed to the Headmistress' office at once.
"You bozos, why didn't you help us?" yelled Blaise at the others after the two had left.
"We thought you could squash those dirts as you said." said Lander in mock amusement. Blaise didn't seem to appreciate his pun and shot him a piercing glare. Devon nudged him slightly.
"Just a joke, Blaise. Besides, we didn't want to get involved. We're just new here, you know. We couldn't afford to get expelled this early. Maybe later..." he added and gave him a conspiratorial wink.
Blaise tension eased up at once and returned his wink which promised another worthy encounter with the Gryffindors later in which they would emerge victorious.
"I'd be waiting for that moment. Here, follow this path. It will lead you straight to the dungeon for our Potions lesson. We just have to retrieve our wands first." said Blaise. "Damn those Gryffindors!" he muttered under his breath as he dragged the tearful Pansy to the office.
========================================================================
"Hey, Ron, did you see the curse hit me?" asked Hermione later.
"Yeah, I wonder why you did not get affected by it." replied Ron.
"You mean you have nothing to do with that?" exclaimed Hermione in surprise.
"Yeah. I'm not that powerful enough....only Har--" Ron's eyes suddenly went wide with astonishment. "No, it's impossible."
"What's impossible?"
"Forget it. I'm just not thinking straight." said Ron dismissively.
"No, I heard you said that only Harry could do it. Have you really looked at the transferees? What if one of them was Harry?"
"It's impossible, Herm. His body had been found and identified properly. Don't let our hopes up again. It only hurts us more when we do that. Please..." implored Ron.
"O-okay." agreed Hermione weakly but in her mind she had formed her own resolution.
========================================================================
"Good morning class. I think some of you know me by now but to those who don't, let me introduce myself. I am Professor Remus Lupin, your Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor." he said with a warm smile to everyone.
Lander and Devon groaned at seeing the professor. Blaise looked approvingly at them.
"So you also find him deplorable...that's good. He is a werewolf. I don't know where this school is coming to." said Blaise in disgust.
Lander and Devon nodded in agreement but their negative feelings were channeled to a different level. Lupin was an Order member and his strong werewolf characteristic could identify them fast through their scent alone. They both hoped that the additional protection that Snape had placed on them would work to perfection.
"I know that you are all very capable at handling complicated spells. On your seventh year, you would be performing more advanced incantations. Most of these would appear on your N.E.W.Ts at the end of the year so you better work harder. I understand that the Imperius Curse was shown to you during your fourth but you were not really able to practice it. So today, we would be learning how to use and counteract the Imperius Curse and for that, we need a demonstration. Any volunteers?" Professor Lupin eyed the students expectantly.
Many students raised their hands, mostly DA members. Harry had already taught them how use and deflect that unforgivable curse although not everyone could throw off the spell as fast as he could. Professor Lupin was aware of this so he felt confident enough to call on any one of them.
"Alright, Miss Patil, please come here." he instructed. "The incantation is 'Imperio' and you need to concentrate to break away from the spell."
"Yes, Professor."
"Imperio!"
Parvati suddenly wore a glazed expression of someone being hypnotized. The professor ordered her to sing and she performed a song number in front of the class but when she was ordered to jump outside the window, she broke off the spell and smiled proudly at everyone. The class gave her a generous applause except the ones from Slytherin who were all yawning as if the demonstration was boring enough to lull them into sleep.
The professor looked worried at their reactions. If they refused to be attentive in class, then those who were not already serving the dark lord could be easily manipulated.
"Mr. --- what's your name again?" he called on one of the new students from the Slytherin House. Perhaps a demonstration on one of them could make them pay attention.
"Mooney -- Lander Mooney." answered Lander promptly but his tone implied that he'd rather be watching instead of being the subject.
"Hmm...I wonder where you got your name." said the Professor, smiling slightly. Lander wanted to return the smile but he donned a blank expression instead.
"You know what to do?" Lander nodded. "Alright at the count of three....1.....2......3....Imperio!"
Once again, Lander felt the familiar floating sensation that made him feel light headed. Then he heard the command. 'Sing for us!'
'No, not that please...I don't like singing.' he thought but he knew he should comply. He opened his mouth to sing when he realized he did not know any wizard song yet and singing a muggle song could make the Slytherin suspicious of the purity of his blood.
"La lalala lalalala....lalalala" he hummed instead since he could not sing anything.
Then another command followed. 'Dance for us'
Lander inwardly groaned again and felt like hexing Lupin to make him stop those ridiculous commands but fortunately the professor changed his mind. 'No, not that one. Levitate your whole body.'
'Fine. At least that one is easy.' Lander thought as he started to rise slowly from the ground. He could hear the professor's explanation as he levitated.
"Now, see here, class. It would be almost impossible for anyone to levitate their bodies when they were conscious because most wizards believe that it was impossible. But with this curse, you could make a person do almost anything because in this state, wizards knew no bounds. They only follow the commands." said the Professor then he ordered him to go down and removed the spell off him.
"Mr. Mooney pair up with Ms. Granger and practice. You --" the professor pointed at Devon. " -- practice with Mr. Weasley. Mr. Zabini, you may do so with Ms. Patil." he went on until everyone in the room had a partner.
Lander grimaced as he stared at his partner. Fortunately, Hermione mistook it for disgust and glared openly at him. Devon, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. What a nice way to start the day for him! Making Ron do whatever he wanted but Lander noted that he particularly strayed away from making him do really embarrassing and dangerous things. Apparently, he took his threat seriously. It was a good thing that Blaise was busy with his own problem to notice their lack of rudeness to their partners.
The professor watched as the students performed the spells on each other but was mainly focused on the transferee who gave a demonstration a while ago. There was something remotely familiar with the way he handled himself. He obeyed all his commands but his eyes did not have the same glazed look and his response to his orders were not instantaneous. There was something definitely unusual with him.
"That was excellent, class. Two rolls of parchment about the effects of Imperius Curse and how to counter them to be submitted next Monday. You may go now." The students turned to leave. "Mr. Antonio and Mr. Mooney, please stay for a while."
Lander and Devon reluctantly stayed.
"Did we perform badly, professor?" asked Lander courteously.
"Oh, no, not that. On the contrary, you both performed very well." the professor replied then he eyed the two carefully. "According to Professor McGonagall, you both came from Durmstrang, correct?" The two nodded. "Well, I was just wondering if you're advanced or behind our current lessons so that I could extend you extra help if necessary."
"Thank you, Professor Lupin, but I think we could manage." said Devon quickly.
"Can you please tell me what you have taken up at Durmstrang so that at least I would have an idea?" inquired the young professor kindly.
"Well, it's almost similar to your curriculum here. We learned about werewoves, vampires ----" replied Lander indulgently although he wondered where all these questions were heading.
"Legilimens!" said Lupin suddenly, almost catching him unaware....but not quite. He was able to stop the memories from reaching the surface on time.
"My! You're a skilled Occlumens as well." commented the Professor then he turned to Devon.
Devon shot a nervous look at Lander who understood immediately. The professor was going to try to read his mind and Devon was not adept at it yet. Very slightly, he flicked his fingers to shield him from the spell. The professor looked strangely at both of them.
"Very well. I see you won't have any trouble with my class at all. You may go now." said the Professor and they both immediately hurried outside to get some fresh air.
"That was close!" said Devon, his breathing a little easier now.
"Yeah, I know. We really have to be extra careful from now on."
"Excuse me." said a tiny but confident voice.
Lander and Devon knew who was speaking even before they turned around.
"I'm Hermione Granger, head girl." she held out her hand politely but nobody took it. Unfazed by their discourtesy, she continued. "I'm wondering if you would care to join our Defense Club this year. It's called Dumbledore's Army and we train our members to fight against the dark arts --- "
"We're not interested." said Lander quickly before she could say anything more. Snape warned them to limit their conversations with them to a minimum and if possible, none at all.
"--B-but ---"
"Didn't you hear him, you filthy mudblood?" said Blaise with utmost contempt.
"Fine! As head girl, it is my duty to invite everyone else for the training but I forgot you don't need to train 'against' the dark arts. After all, you are all 'for' the dark arts, aren't you?" replied Hermione with the same fervor.
"'Mione! There you are! I've been looking for you." exclaimed Ron as he ran towards her then he stopped in his tracks when he noticed the unfriendly company. "What are you doing with --- them?" he said incredulously.
"Begging for alms, Weasel. To buy food for the beast inside your stomach." said Pansy wickedly. Ron turned crimson at once.
"Actually, she got tired of you and wanted a piece of our new friend here." said Blaise mockingly as he pointed at Lander.
"Why, you!" sputtered Ron in anger.
"Come on, Ron. Save your breath. We should not waste time with this bunch of losers." said Hermione as she pulled Ron away before he lost control.
"Losers? Maybe it's you, mudblood. Now that your hero is dead, no one could save you now. Did you know he was begging for dear life before the dark lord killed him?" taunted Blaise. Hermione and Ron immediately went rigid with rage and had their wands out within seconds. Pansy and Blaise drew their wands too but ordered the others not to bring out theirs.
"It's not true. Harry would never do that and neither would we!" yelled Ron and waved his wand dangerously.
Blaise's eyes glazed with excitement. "You want a duel? Come then. Let's see how badly Potter had trained you."
"IMPEDIMENTA!" shouted Pansy at Ron but he ducked in time.
"ENGORGIO!" he countered and Pansy immediately started to fill out like an inflated balloon and slowly she rose into the air, shrieking in fright.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" yelled Blaise in fury and pointed his wand at Hermione but she was able to block it with a simple shielding charm.
Enraged, he tried a different tactic. He pointed his wand at Ron and yelled "CRUCIO" but at the last minute, he changed his direction and the spell hit Hermione but amazingly, she did not feel any pain at all. She smiled with relief.
"That's against the rules, Zabini! STUPEFY!" shouted Hermione at him then she carefully plucked his wand from his unmoving fingers.
"That's a nice one, Herm. Finite Incantatem!" said Ron while pointing his wand at the floating Pansy whose clothes were starting to rip at the sides. He too pried the wand away from his fingers while whistling softly.
"Ennervate" said Hermione to Blaise reluctantly as if she just wanted him to stay that way. "That's how well Harry had taught us." she smirked at all the Slytherin who witnessed the encounter.
"Yeah, don't mess with us again or you'll pay dearly." said Ron with the same half smile before the two of them left.
"Oh, by the way, you can get your wands from the Headmistress. I'm sure she'll be happy to return them." said Hermione over her shoulders then they both laughed and headed to the Headmistress' office at once.
"You bozos, why didn't you help us?" yelled Blaise at the others after the two had left.
"We thought you could squash those dirts as you said." said Lander in mock amusement. Blaise didn't seem to appreciate his pun and shot him a piercing glare. Devon nudged him slightly.
"Just a joke, Blaise. Besides, we didn't want to get involved. We're just new here, you know. We couldn't afford to get expelled this early. Maybe later..." he added and gave him a conspiratorial wink.
Blaise tension eased up at once and returned his wink which promised another worthy encounter with the Gryffindors later in which they would emerge victorious.
"I'd be waiting for that moment. Here, follow this path. It will lead you straight to the dungeon for our Potions lesson. We just have to retrieve our wands first." said Blaise. "Damn those Gryffindors!" he muttered under his breath as he dragged the tearful Pansy to the office.
========================================================================
"Hey, Ron, did you see the curse hit me?" asked Hermione later.
"Yeah, I wonder why you did not get affected by it." replied Ron.
"You mean you have nothing to do with that?" exclaimed Hermione in surprise.
"Yeah. I'm not that powerful enough....only Har--" Ron's eyes suddenly went wide with astonishment. "No, it's impossible."
"What's impossible?"
"Forget it. I'm just not thinking straight." said Ron dismissively.
"No, I heard you said that only Harry could do it. Have you really looked at the transferees? What if one of them was Harry?"
"It's impossible, Herm. His body had been found and identified properly. Don't let our hopes up again. It only hurts us more when we do that. Please..." implored Ron.
"O-okay." agreed Hermione weakly but in her mind she had formed her own resolution.
========================================================================
"Good morning class. I think some of you know me by now but to those who don't, let me introduce myself. I am Professor Remus Lupin, your Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor." he said with a warm smile to everyone.
Lander and Devon groaned at seeing the professor. Blaise looked approvingly at them.
"So you also find him deplorable...that's good. He is a werewolf. I don't know where this school is coming to." said Blaise in disgust.
Lander and Devon nodded in agreement but their negative feelings were channeled to a different level. Lupin was an Order member and his strong werewolf characteristic could identify them fast through their scent alone. They both hoped that the additional protection that Snape had placed on them would work to perfection.
"I know that you are all very capable at handling complicated spells. On your seventh year, you would be performing more advanced incantations. Most of these would appear on your N.E.W.Ts at the end of the year so you better work harder. I understand that the Imperius Curse was shown to you during your fourth but you were not really able to practice it. So today, we would be learning how to use and counteract the Imperius Curse and for that, we need a demonstration. Any volunteers?" Professor Lupin eyed the students expectantly.
Many students raised their hands, mostly DA members. Harry had already taught them how use and deflect that unforgivable curse although not everyone could throw off the spell as fast as he could. Professor Lupin was aware of this so he felt confident enough to call on any one of them.
"Alright, Miss Patil, please come here." he instructed. "The incantation is 'Imperio' and you need to concentrate to break away from the spell."
"Yes, Professor."
"Imperio!"
Parvati suddenly wore a glazed expression of someone being hypnotized. The professor ordered her to sing and she performed a song number in front of the class but when she was ordered to jump outside the window, she broke off the spell and smiled proudly at everyone. The class gave her a generous applause except the ones from Slytherin who were all yawning as if the demonstration was boring enough to lull them into sleep.
The professor looked worried at their reactions. If they refused to be attentive in class, then those who were not already serving the dark lord could be easily manipulated.
"Mr. --- what's your name again?" he called on one of the new students from the Slytherin House. Perhaps a demonstration on one of them could make them pay attention.
"Mooney -- Lander Mooney." answered Lander promptly but his tone implied that he'd rather be watching instead of being the subject.
"Hmm...I wonder where you got your name." said the Professor, smiling slightly. Lander wanted to return the smile but he donned a blank expression instead.
"You know what to do?" Lander nodded. "Alright at the count of three....1.....2......3....Imperio!"
Once again, Lander felt the familiar floating sensation that made him feel light headed. Then he heard the command. 'Sing for us!'
'No, not that please...I don't like singing.' he thought but he knew he should comply. He opened his mouth to sing when he realized he did not know any wizard song yet and singing a muggle song could make the Slytherin suspicious of the purity of his blood.
"La lalala lalalala....lalalala" he hummed instead since he could not sing anything.
Then another command followed. 'Dance for us'
Lander inwardly groaned again and felt like hexing Lupin to make him stop those ridiculous commands but fortunately the professor changed his mind. 'No, not that one. Levitate your whole body.'
'Fine. At least that one is easy.' Lander thought as he started to rise slowly from the ground. He could hear the professor's explanation as he levitated.
"Now, see here, class. It would be almost impossible for anyone to levitate their bodies when they were conscious because most wizards believe that it was impossible. But with this curse, you could make a person do almost anything because in this state, wizards knew no bounds. They only follow the commands." said the Professor then he ordered him to go down and removed the spell off him.
"Mr. Mooney pair up with Ms. Granger and practice. You --" the professor pointed at Devon. " -- practice with Mr. Weasley. Mr. Zabini, you may do so with Ms. Patil." he went on until everyone in the room had a partner.
Lander grimaced as he stared at his partner. Fortunately, Hermione mistook it for disgust and glared openly at him. Devon, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. What a nice way to start the day for him! Making Ron do whatever he wanted but Lander noted that he particularly strayed away from making him do really embarrassing and dangerous things. Apparently, he took his threat seriously. It was a good thing that Blaise was busy with his own problem to notice their lack of rudeness to their partners.
The professor watched as the students performed the spells on each other but was mainly focused on the transferee who gave a demonstration a while ago. There was something remotely familiar with the way he handled himself. He obeyed all his commands but his eyes did not have the same glazed look and his response to his orders were not instantaneous. There was something definitely unusual with him.
"That was excellent, class. Two rolls of parchment about the effects of Imperius Curse and how to counter them to be submitted next Monday. You may go now." The students turned to leave. "Mr. Antonio and Mr. Mooney, please stay for a while."
Lander and Devon reluctantly stayed.
"Did we perform badly, professor?" asked Lander courteously.
"Oh, no, not that. On the contrary, you both performed very well." the professor replied then he eyed the two carefully. "According to Professor McGonagall, you both came from Durmstrang, correct?" The two nodded. "Well, I was just wondering if you're advanced or behind our current lessons so that I could extend you extra help if necessary."
"Thank you, Professor Lupin, but I think we could manage." said Devon quickly.
"Can you please tell me what you have taken up at Durmstrang so that at least I would have an idea?" inquired the young professor kindly.
"Well, it's almost similar to your curriculum here. We learned about werewoves, vampires ----" replied Lander indulgently although he wondered where all these questions were heading.
"Legilimens!" said Lupin suddenly, almost catching him unaware....but not quite. He was able to stop the memories from reaching the surface on time.
"My! You're a skilled Occlumens as well." commented the Professor then he turned to Devon.
Devon shot a nervous look at Lander who understood immediately. The professor was going to try to read his mind and Devon was not adept at it yet. Very slightly, he flicked his fingers to shield him from the spell. The professor looked strangely at both of them.
"Very well. I see you won't have any trouble with my class at all. You may go now." said the Professor and they both immediately hurried outside to get some fresh air.
"That was close!" said Devon, his breathing a little easier now.
"Yeah, I know. We really have to be extra careful from now on."