Disclaimer: Yeah, right. I didn't own it before, but now suddenly I do?

Review-thank yous: (Which I honestly enjoy writing!)

ViviBlack – Oh, thanks. It doesn't have that huge impact on the story, but it's still better if the details are correct.

Gilraen – The reason why I didn't say what Draco did is that... well, Tamara doesn't know exactly either, and since the story is told from her POV... But you can assume that he talked and convinced her, I mean, what more could he possibly have done?

Kagome Sengoku – Yeah, wonder who's head of Ravenclaw... sure it's not in any of the books? Tell me when you get an account, I might want to try reading some of your stories. Thanks for the reviews!

Pussin Boots – Maybe you're right about that sequel-thing but whatever... I like it this way.

Singing our Death – You only reviewed the first three chapters, are you still following?


Chapter 12 – A New Professor

But before I could go to bed, Dumbledore stood up, saying that he had an announcement.

"Since Dolores Umbridge obviously are not here with us any more, we have a new member in the staff who will take the position as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

I listened curiously. As you all know, we had been having bad luck with all of our DADA teachers. There had been some kind of problem with every one of them; I wondered what it was going to be this time.

"Let me introduce you to Mr. Frederic Albus Dumbledore."

Huh?

A middle-aged man who was sitting next to him, stood up. I hadn't even noticed him!

"Dumbledore's son?!" said Harry, shocked, next to me.

"Some kind of relative, at least. It's not a very common name" Hermione said.

"They look alike," Ron said.

"He's the right age for being his son," I said.

"Dumbledore doesn't have a son, does he?" asked Hermione.

"He can't have a son," Ron said, sounding very assure. "I mean, he would have told us, right?"

"Maybe he wouldn't," Harry said. "He's been keeping secrets before, right?"

"Silencio!" Dumbledore shouted. "You'll see each other soon. Now, time for a good nights sleep."

Actually, Defence against the Dark Arts appeared to be our first class the following morning. I was so tired after the welcome fest that I slept over a little, had to eat breakfast very quick (which didn't bother me really much since I had eaten so much the previous day) and run over to the classroom where the class was held.

"Hey! Tamara, over here!" Ginny shouted and waved at me. "I spared you a seat," she added when I had walked over.

Apparently I had gotten there just in time, because just as I had sat down, the Professor appeared in the doorway.

"Silencio!" he shouted and the room became all silent.

I took a closer look at him. I had to admit that he did look very much like Dumbledore – the headmaster, but I mean... he couldn't be his son, could he?

Frederic Dumbledore was of normal height and probably normal weight as well – he wasn't fat or something. He had dark hair, but not entirely black, more brown, with some grey in it.

"Welcome to Defence against the Dark Arts!" he said loudly and his voice echoed between the walls. "I am Professor Frederic Dumbledore."

A boy in the back of the room raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. –"

"Watts," said the boy.

It was William Watts, a Gryffindor boy, curious like no one I had ever met, and he didn't bother to wait and see, he wanted to know everything in the exact same moment as he started to wonder.

"Yes, Mr. Watts?"

"Are you related to our Headmaster?"

"Do you believe that is relevant for this subject, Mr. Watts?"

William blushed slightly, something he didn't usually do. He was not the kind of person who was afraid of saying what he felt and thought.

"No," he admitted.

"Does anyone in this room think that's relevant for this subject?"

No one said a single word.

"What do you believe that you're going to do in this classroom, Mr. Watts?"

"Learn to Defence ourselves against the Dark Arts?" he suggested weakly.

"Exactly. Now, do you think that you are learning to Defence yourself against the Dark Arts right now?"

"No."

"Does anyone in this room believe that you are learning Defence against the Dark Arts right now?" the Professor said.

No one raised their hand and the room was totally silent.

"Your fellow students don't appear to think they are learning what they are supposed to be learning in this classroom right now. Do you know why?"

"Because I asked something that hasn't got anything to do with this subject," William said weakly.

"Exactly. Now, do you understand that asking questions about things that hasn't got anything to do with this subject is a complete waste of time?"

"Yes."

"So?!"

"Sorry Professor, it won't happen again."

"That's the way it should sound! Now, let's move on to something a little more relevant," he added, with a nasty glare at William, who would begin to cry any minute if the Professor continued.

The girl who sat next to him raised her hand. She was Julianne Morrison, William's latest girlfriend, a small but self-confident girl with orange hair.

"Yes, Miss?"

"Miss Morrison."

"Miss Morrison."

"I have a question which I do believe is relevant for this subject," she said, her voice steady.

"Let's hear."

"I was wondering what we are going to call you since we don't want to mix you up with our Headmaster."

Professor Frederic Dumbledore sat down in the chair behind his desk.

"Interesting point, Miss Morrison. What do you suggest yourself?"

She looked surprised by his answer.

"I-I don't know, that was why I asked."

"Oh? I thought that you asked because you wanted all your friends to call me the same as you were going to call me so it wouldn't be a mix-up."

"Huh?"

Huh?

"Huh?! What does that mean?" the Professor asked.

"What it means?" Julianne repeated, obviously feeling stupid.

"Yes, Miss, I was wondering what it means. You obviously know what it means, since you use the word. It's not very clever to use words you don't understand, is it?"

"No, but it just slipped out of me since I didn't really understand what you said" Julianne tried.

"What did I say, then?"

"I don't know!"

"You don't know?! Maybe you weren't listening."

"I was listening," she said.

"Then you should know what I said."

"Yeah, but I don't because I didn't understand it."

"Yes, Miss Morrison. Yeah?! What, this is not a rock concert!"

I couldn't help smiling. Yes, he was mean to them, but you have to admit he was funny. And obviously I was not the only one thinking that way, because I could hear giggles from several people around in the classroom.

Julianne was quiet, stared down into the table and held her hand in front of her face. Her shoulders slightly shaking, I was sure that she was struggling with her tears. William pattered her awkwardly on the shoulder.

Professor Frederic Dumbledore looked at his watch.

"I believe this is the end of the lesson. Now," he said, turning to Ginny, "what have you learned here today?"

She stared at him and I knew she was desperately thinking of what to say to not make him go wild on her as well.

"Well?" he said, demanding an answer.

"I-I don't know."

"You don't know what you've learned in this class today? Say one thing you know now which you didn't know before."

That you're an idiot and that this is going to be a long year with you as a teacher? That you have to keep your mouth totally shut during these lessons?

"I-I don't believe that I've learned anything special," she said, finally.

"Listen!" he said, turning to the rest of the class. "This girl here, Miss..."

"Weasley," she said.

"Miss Weasley here, she doesn't – Weasley, eh? – she doesn't believe that she have learned anything here today. And does anyone of you know why?"

No one raised his or her hand. We had learned during the lesson that to survive this class, you just had to keep your mouth shut.

"No one? Have you got any brains inside your little heads or what?"

Everyone was still all quiet, no one daring to say a word. I almost didn't dare breathing, even!

"You haven't got any brains? You can't think?"

Then finally a Ravenclaw boy named Dan or something raised his hand, hesitating.

"Yes, Mr.?"

"Mr. Johnson" he said. "I do believe that Miss Weasley, as well as the others in this classroom, hasn't learned anything because not a single word about Defence against the Dark Art has been said in her during the past hour."

"Look, we've got an eloquent boy in this class. Like you already."

"Thank you."

"And you know what? You're absolutely correct. Miss Weasley, as well as the others in this classroom, hasn't learned anything because two of the students have been wasting our valuable time, asking stupid questions. I expect better next time. Until next time I want you to write an essay on why you are being taught Defence against the Dark Arts. Six hundred words, twelve hundred for Mr. Watts and Miss Morrison. Class dismissed."

"WHAT the heck was THAT?!" I said to Ginny when we had gotten out of the classroom.

"He's worse than any other teacher!" she groaned.

"He never answered the question if he was related to Dumbledore. He avoided the subject, clearly."

"I can't believe he did that to William and Julianne! That was so mean!"

"Obviously there's one thing you need to know to survive the DADA classes this year," I said.

"What?"

"Keep your mouth shut."


"So what's up with the new DADA teacher?" Ron asked curiously at lunch. "You had him this morning, didn't you? There are several rumours..."

Ginny groaned.

"Don't ask!"

"A little advice with the best of intentions," I said. "Don't ask him anything, don't say anything which you can't swear is entirely correct. And to you," I added, turned to Harry, "for Christ's sake, don't argue with him."

"He can't possibly be worse than Umbridge, can he?" Harry said.

"Depends on the point of view" Ginny said. "He may not be on the Dark Side, but he's way much worse than Snape, I swear."

"So, what did you find out?" Hermione asked, curiously. "Is he related to Dumbledore? I mean, Headmaster-Dumbledore."

"I don't know," Ginny said. "William Watts tried to ask him but that didn't really go well."

"What do you mean?" Ron said.

"You'll see," I said.


It was lunch a couple of days later, but I spent the time in the library, writing the essay for the Defence against Dark Arts, which actually was the following lesson. I didn't remember the reason why I hadn't written it before. The previous night I had been so sleepy that it had appeared to be a great idea to write the essay on the lunch before the class. But now, my stomach told me that skipping lunch wasn't such a good idea as I had thought. I just finished the essay when Harry approached me.

"Hi, Tamara."

"Oh, hi Harry. What's up?"

"We've set a date for the Gryffindor quidditch tryouts, we're setting up an announcement on the note board tomorrow."

"Oh yeah? When are the tryouts, then?"

"September 21st. Are you trying out?"

"Yeah, I might do. It could be cool."

"Sorry for taking back the seeker position. You did a great job, you would really deserve it."

"Doesn't matter, you're better anyway. And I knew that it only was temporarily. But being a chaser could be cool."

"You have a great chance of getting the position, I think."

"Thanks," I said, flattered by this compliment from the-boy-who-lived himself.

"Isn't your class starting right now?"

I looked at my watch. Not now, but in... half a minute?! Oh, shit.

"Oh shit!" I also exclaimed. "I've got to go."

"Hurry up, who knows what Professor Frederic Dumbledore will put you through for being late."

So I grabbed my books and practically sprinted out of the library and through the corridors to the DADA classroom. I arrived there one minute late, and the door was closed. I took a deep breath before opening it.

"You're late, Miss..."

"Malfoy," I said quietly, sat down on the one and only empty seat which also happened to be one in the front, right next to the door.

"Miss Malfoy, you're late."

"I know, I-"

"Could you come up here, please?"

I rose hesitatingly and walked up to the blackboard, on which he had written a couple of sentences.

"Could you please read those sentences which are written on the blackboard out loud?" he said and walked over to the door.

"Oh, well, then..." I started.

"I don't believe it says oh, well, then, does it?"

I ignored the comment and started to read.

"We are learning to-"

Bang.

I looked up. The professor had opened the door and closed it again. I was just about to open my mouth and ask what was going on when I noticed the way he glared at me, so I decided it would be the best to just continue reading. Therefore I returned to the blackboard.

"We are learning to defend ours-"

Bang.

I looked up again.

"Just keep reading" he said innocently. "Don't care about me."

"We are learning to defend ourselves aga-"

Bang.

I looked up again, irritated.

"I can't read if you keep on opening and shutting the door," I said.

"Oh, you can't? What a surprise."

"Er... excuse me but what was the point of this? I don't rea-"

"I don't excuse you," he interrupted.

I looked hesitatingly at him, not daring to open my mouth. Whatever I said, he would say something nasty back.

"Do you understand that it is hard to keep on talking when someone interrupts?" he said.

"Yes," I said.

"But that is exactly what you just did," he said.

"I apologize," I whispered. "I didn't mean to-"

"What? Speak up, Miss, I can't hear you."

"I apologize!" I exclaimed.

He continued glaring nasty at me, everything while the other students were watching.

"Calm down, and stop disturbing the lesson by standing in front of the blackboard, shouting!"

"But you asked me to-"

"Did I ask you to stand here and shout?"

I didn't have the strength to reply, so I just walked back to my seat and was just going to sit down when he attacked me again.

"Where do you think you're going, Miss Malfoy?"

"Sit down," I said, tired. I didn't really care about the others watching me. Most of all, I just wanted to punch the Professor straight into his nasty face.

"Did I ask you to sit down?"

"No, but you asked me to stop disturbing the lesson by standing in front of the blackboard."

"Check your watch, Miss Malfoy. What does it tell you?"

I looked at the watch.

"That it's 1:00 PM."

"Which means that half of the lesson has passed, all thanks to you. Imagine what your fellow students could have learned in this time."

"But I could sit down now and the lesson could start," I tried.

"Loss of valuable time," he continued. "What if there is an attack tomorrow, and just because of you arriving late your fellow students will not be able to defend themselves. Guilty, wouldn't you be?"

"Professor, could you please stop-"

"Oh, so now you're asking me to stop? Who started by coming late?"

"What do you want me to say?!" I asked, desperately.

"I want you to arrive in time!"

"I will, promise."

"Ha! We'll see..."


Author's note: Huh, quite a nice professor, isn't he? And yeah, I got the blackboard-reading-thingy from a movie I've seen.

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Until then,

Megafreak