Chapter 20 First-year Insanity

Corin walked into the DADA classroom and set the folder with Lupin's notes on his desk. The classroom was the same one used when he'd been in school. There were several cages and aquariums set around the classroom, complements of Lupin. Sirius had added some foe glasses and several auror posters from his auror training days. Corin had used a sticking charm to mount several elvish swords, daggers and bows on the walls to finish the classroom decorations.

He still had fifteen minutes before his first class started and wandered to one of the glass tanks which held a grindylow, which at the moment was squishing its face against the glass at him. There was a sound at the door and he turned as the first years started arriving. It was Gryffindor and Slytherin, apparently Albus hadn't given up hope that putting the two warring houses together in classes would make them get along. He rolled his eyes and steeled himself for the inevitable insanity to follow.

"Take your seats please." The class quietly chatted as they found desks and waited for the bell to ring to signal the start of class. Finally, all the students were seated and it was time to begin his lesson.

"Welcome to your first class at Hogwarts. My name is Corintur Raumoraa, but please just call me Corintur. I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year." Quickly, he took roll, taking care to memorize names and faces. After he'd finished, he paused to study his students. The Gryffindors had seated themselves on his left, the Slytherins on his right. So far he had kept their attentions and just hoped that attention would last through the class period.

"Now, as you can tell, I am an elf." He raised the hair that was covering his ears and let them get a look at the points. "You may be wondering 'what can an elf teach me about wizarding magic?' Please be reassured, I had several wizarding instructors and am fully qualified to teach you what you need to know." He paused and let them take this information in and saw a bit of relief on some of his student's faces. "I'd like to start off this year with a question and answer session. I believe that letting you know a bit about me will help me to be able to teach you better. You may ask me any questions you like within reason. For example, I may not be able to tell you anything about Hogwarts defenses or anything sacred to the elvish culture, but I'll answer all I can. So, hands up if you have a question."

Predictably, Jemma was the first to have a question. "Who was that girl to drag you over to the healer last night? I'll bet she was your girlfriend! Was she? What's her name? Is she a better fighter than you? How many p--"

He held up his hand to stop the torrent of questions and chuckled. "One question at a time please, Jemma. That was Laurea Isilmolor. Yes, she is my girlfriend, or more accurately my soul mate. Actually, yes, she is a better fighter than me, at some things anyway. I'll probably be bringing her in as a guest speaker sometime in the coming year, or if you take the wandless fighting class, she'll be one of the instructors. Now, next question please."

A boy on the Slytherin side raised his hand next. His name was Landon Sherk if Corin recalled correctly. "Why do the elves side with Dumbledore when it's obvious The Dark Lord is going to win?" Landon's voice oozed innocence, but Corin could hear an air of superiority in his voice. The class burst out in talking, the Gryffindors yelling at the Slytherins and the Slytherins yelling back, both sides calling out insults.

"Enough!" The students went silent. "I will not allow name calling in my class. As for the question, it was a fair one." He held his hand up against protests. "No, hear me out. What you need to know about elves is that they cannot serve the dark. They are born light and will always remain that way. Even under pain of death, elves will always oppose evil. Now, as for your statement of Voldemort—"the class shuddered at the name, "-- winning, that is yet to be decided. Yes, he is powerful, and he has many allies, but so does the light. Also, you must look at what he stands for, the supremacy of purebloods." Several Slytherins nodded, "That's what Voldemort pounds into his followers: death to half-bloods and muggleborns." He paused, "But why do they follow Voldemort when he himself is a half- blood?"

The class froze and he went on. "Yes, it's true. His mother was a pureblood witch and a descendant of Slytherin, but his father was a muggle."

Corin looked out at his stunned class and continued quietly. "Please think on this. Why follow Voldemort, when in the end he is nothing but a hypocrite? I'm not saying he isn't powerful, I just want to encourage you to think for yourselves and not blindly follow your parents' beliefs." He could see the class pondering his words and checked the clock.

"Okay, we have about ten more minutes of class. I'll take about five more questions, then give you your homework."

Jackson raised his hand and Corin pointed to him. "What will we be learning in this class? My older brother Jaren is a third year and told me about some of the teachers he's had. He said that some focused mainly on hands-on stuff, and others stuck mainly to book learning. I'm just wondering what your style of teaching is."

"Good question. I'm going to focus mainly on defensive spells for this class. Depending on how far we get, I might bring in some magical creatures, but we'll see. I'm more of a hands-on teacher, but I will be giving you homework in the evenings that you'll have to research." Jackson nodded and Corin went onto the next person. The rest of the questions had to do with his likes and dislikes, his family, his home, and the elven culture.

Finally it was the end of the period and he held up a hand to stop the questions. "Alright time to go. Homework for Wednesday: I want one roll on the charm Expelliarmus, pronunciation, wand movement, magical history, and practical use in dueling. Feel free to come to me if you have any questions. See you then!" With that, everyone stood up and headed for the door. Well, everyone except for his four guardians.

"Wicked class, Oh Mighty Professorness! You didn't let me finish the question about how many pets you have though." Jemma said with a sarcastic pout.

"Very well, I have three. An owl, a knealin, and a snidget."

"Ooooo! What are their names?"

Corin thought quickly, it wouldn't be smart to say his owl's name was Hedwig. "Er, Harmony, Artue and Miri."

"Could we see them sometime Corintur?" Raven asked quietly. Her midnight-blue eyes were practically begging. How could he say no?

"Sure. Maybe after class sometime." She nodded happily and after a few more words they said their goodbyes and headed off towards their next class.

He checked his class schedule and saw that he didn't have another class until ten o'clock, which was in an hour with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years. Since he didn't feel like sitting around for an hour, he headed back to his rooms.

Hedwig was keeping an eye on Artue from a perch on the back of the couch. Artue had found one of Corin's old socks and was systematically shredding it. Corin raised an eyebrow, but just shook his head resignedly and sat on the couch next to his faithful owl.

"Hey girl." Hedwig hooted and nuzzled his chin. "Know what, we're going to have to change how you look for awhile until I'm ready to show people who I am. You're very recognizable." She clicked her beak in annoyance at the thought of her beautiful white feathers being tainted. Then sighed in defeat and gave a soft hoot. "How about some pretty light brown feathers mixed in with the white?" He asked her. She cocked her head, and then hooted in agreement. He stroked her wings as he whispered in elvish and random feathers all over her wings turned light brown. When he was finished, he leaned back to study her. She now had a speckled look and was preening and flapping her wings, getting used to her new color.

"You look beautiful." She gave an adoring hoot and hopped up onto his shoulder. "How's the name Harmony? Just until I'm ready to reveal who I am, then you can go back to the name Hedwig." She hooted again in agreement and they settled down to watch Artue some more until his next class.


Next chapter!! Aren't you excited? I might have waited longer to post this one, but one of my friends who's apparently obsessed with the story threatened to murder me if I didn't post the next one soon. (okay, so I'm exagerating this just a teensie bit...) Anyways, hope you like this one, I can't wait to post Chapter 21, it's awesome!! I've made it my new favorite chapter. Either that one or the chapter where Artue chases Mrs. Norris and Corin and him have a 'conversation'. Anyways, I'll probably upload it tomorrow morning or afternoon, so you won't have to wait too long. Lets just say I have to ask one of my friends about ferret behavior for reference. (don't you just love ferrets? I'm jealous, she owns four!!) Anyways, enough of me babbling!

Arye