Chapter 4 – Professor Armanda
Almost as soon as Liz, Rachel, and Michael stepped inside the Great Hall, a voice called, "Liz! Liz! Cousin Liz! It's me, Nora!" Liz groaned. It was her dotty cousin Nora Lovegood, who had brought the art of annoyance to perfection. The third-year Hufflepuff came running up to her. "How was your summer? Mine was great. You know how Mathew graduated last year? Well, he joined the DIE league. He says it's an anti-Dragon league. When did you go to Diagon Alley? Last week? We must have just missed you!"
Liz rolled her eyes. Nora was either dreamy and wistful or hyperactive and uncontrolled. "My summer was good, Nora. How was yours?"
"Oh, it was awesome! Dad took me to see where the Quibbler is published! It was amazing!"
At the mention of the Quibbler, Liz decided to end the short conversation. "All right, I've got to go now, Nora. I'll see you around, all right?"
"All right!" Nora exclaimed cheerfully. She hurried to Hufflepuff table, while Liz found a spot at the Gryffindor table next to Rachel and Michael. She waved to David, who waved back.
Professor Longbottom, their Herbology teacher, carried a three-legged stool with a ragged old hat out into the Great Hall. Everyone's eyes were upon it. Then the brim ripped open and the hat began to sing.
"Welcome back to Hogwarts,
the young and old and new.
If never you've been here before,
I'll find a place for you."
Liz tuned out the rest of the song, instead looking at David, who was now waving to Winnie. She only wanted him because Liz did, and she wanted to make Liz's life miserable. Liz had Emma for that over the summer. Didn't she deserve a reprieve during the school year?
"Liz! Pay attention!" said Rachel. "The Sorting's about to start!"
Liz reluctantly led her attention back to the front of the room. The Sorting Hat was waiting patiently while Professor Longbottom was handing Professor Weasley a long list. Professor Weasley had arrived a few minutes before they had.
"Abernethy, Penny!" she called.
The Sorting Hat's brim ripped open to speak again. "GRYFFINDOR!"
"Arriaga, Kenneth!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
Liz's stomach rumbled as two more boys were Sorted into Slytherin. Then there were three new Hufflepuffs, then two more Slytherins.
"Hello? Ravenclaw?" Rachel muttered to no one in particular.
"Cha, George!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
Rachel reddened and shifted in her seat.
The next new Gryffindor was Victor Dowdy, and the next after him was Harry Ducharme. Liz thought instantly of her father before Katrina Gist became a Hufflepuff.
"Glaser, Dale!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Hamner, Norman!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Holley, Anna!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Hotchkiss, James!"
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"This is taking forever," said Michael, propping his elbows up on the table. Liz silently agreed. Many children went up, got Sorted, and sat down, and they still weren't very close to the end.
"Risinger, Philip!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Sage, Margarita!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
Finally, at the end, Ellen Wirth became a Ravenclaw and sat down, while Professor McGonagall stood up. "Please, just let us eat," Michael moaned beside Liz. "I'm going to starve to death."
"Welcome back to Hogwarts, everyone," said Professor McGonagall. "Now, I know you are all hungry—"
"Too right we are," Michael muttered.
"—so I won't keep you long. I would just like to announce our newest addition to the staff. Introducing, Professor Dora Magus, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"
"There came the sound of polite applause from around the Great Hall. The woman looked cheerful and in her mid-to-late forties. She had black hair that clung tightly around her head and brightly colored clothing. She waved politely to the student body and turned back to McGonagall, who waited patiently for the applause to subside.
"With that, I would like to remind everyone that the Forbidden Forest is out-of-bounds to every single student, regardless of age, House, or magical ability. Let the feast begin!"
The plates magically filled with food, much of which Michael immediately wolfed down. Liz ate as much as she could without violating the laws of etiquette, which Michael was doing blatantly. Rachel was also eating a bit faster than was necessary. Next to her, Bettie was looking at David and sulking.
"I hope she's nice," said Rachel, motioning up at their new teacher. "She seems all right."
"Yeah," said Liz, looking up the woman at the High Table. She was sitting to McGonagall, whose other neighboring seat was filled by Professor Weasley. Next to Professor Magus was tiny Professor Flitwick, who was old and bent even lower with age. Then came Professor Stickler, the Ancient Runes teacher, sitting rigidly in his seat. Professor Longbottom was clumsy, knocking his glass off the table while trying to cut his meat with a fork and knife. And among all the others, Liz spotted someone that she had seen once before and never thought she'd see again. Her jaw dropped.
It was Giselle.
"Rachel, look!" Liz said, pointing. "It's the lady from the jewelry shop!"
Rachel's eyes widened. "Oh, my gosh! What is she doing here?"
"I recognized her! You know, the day we wee in Diagon Alley. She looked familiar to me. What does she teach?"
"Who are you talking about?" said Michael, a lot of food in his mouth and even more on his face.
"Her," said Rachel, pointing. "What do you reckon she teaches?"
"Professor Armanda? She teaches Divination. I only know because Jessica took it and she pointed her out to me once," said Michael. "Why did you want to know? She's been here since we started here. It's not like she's new."
"She was in the jewelry shop we went to in Diagon Alley!" said Rachel. "She said her mother owns it, didn't she?"
"Did Jessica say Divination was rubbish?" Liz asked, thinking of something her mother had written in a letter once.
"No, she says it's great. Professor Armanda is supposedly a wonderful teacher. Jessica aced the Divination O.W.L. because she gave her extra help." He bit into a leg of chicken. "I don't know, it sounds like a lot of fishy guesswork to me." He swallowed, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "That's one reason I opted for Muggle Studies. Maybe I should've done Divination." He chewed thoughtfully.
"This is so weird," said Liz. "I mean, I've never really noticed her before, and then, right after we go to her store, we see her here! Who is she, really?"
Rachel looked up again at Professor Giselle Armanda, who was slicing carefully into a large hunk of meat. "I don't know. She doesn't seem like a fraud."
Michael shrugged and turned back to his food, which he had never really abandoned in the first place.
When the feast was over, a seventh-year prefect told Liz the password so she could open the portrait hole for the rest of her year. "See, you already have a reputation as prefect material," said Rachel as Liz climbed up the stone steps, leading all the Gryffindor Tower. Liz rolled her eyes at this comment and continued.
"Gubraithian fire," she pronounced carefully when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. The large woman nodded and sung forward on her hinges to allow them access to the common room.
Liz climbed the stairs to the dormitory and flopped on her bed, not heeding the others. Rachel practically emptied her trunk right then and there on her bed, searching for nightclothes. Liz contented herself with kicking off her shoes before she fell asleep.