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Chapter Four – Professor Sombra

"Wow! How romantic!" Hermione gushed as they walked down the halls. The note was in her hands and the rose was up in the dormitory. "Like Adonis you bring the highest passion . . . Harry, whoever this is, they're really serious about you!" She lowered her voice as the entered the Great Hall and took a seat near the far end of the table, away from any eavesdroppers.

"But what does it mean?" He asked, reading the note upside down. She scanned it once more.

"Well, Adonis is one of the Greek Gods of Beauty; in other words, someone thinks you're really attractive. And the person is definitely a – Ohmygosh! It is riddle!"

"What do you mean?" Ron tuned in. Hermione turned the note around so Harry could see it better.

"Read before the lines? Don't you get it? What spells out a word in here?" There was no answer, "Look. What comes before the lines? The first letter. Here, see. O W L E R Y. Owlery! And there's this 'one of the many signs.' Signs, like clues. I really think you should go to the Owlery and see if there's something there. I'll bet you a galleon each there is!" Hermione sat back in triumph and Harry scanned the poem. It was a pretty big coincidence that the poem spelled out 'Owlery.'

"I don't know . . ."

"Come on, Harry. Whoever it is put a lot of thought into it. What do you have to lose? Besides, don't you want to know who it is?"

"Well . . ."

"No. Just do it. When you get some free time, go up to the Owlery and look around. Now, eat breakfast," Hermione ordered, "Ooh, here are our schedules. We all have Defense first. And then there's Arithmancy . . . oh wait, neither of you take that . . ."

Harry scanned the note, and then raised his head to see if anyone was staring at him, if there was anyway he could get a hint. He folded up the note and tucked it into his pants pocket. Maybe he would go to the Owlery . . . there was really nothing to lose.

After breakfast, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went up to Defense against the Dark Arts early, to check out the new professor. She seemed nice enough; and at the very least, not like any of the other professors they had. Well, maybe with the exception of Remus.

In the classroom, there were boxes stacked here and there. One was on the corner of her desk, dangerous close to falling and others were in corners or on the counter. A door behind the classroom (presumably her office) was open. Professor Sombra walked out and smiled at them cheerfully as she picked up another box from the counter.

"Oh, why – ugh, hello there. Early ones? Well, at least you won't be late for the bell." She smiled and walked through her office door.

"Do you need any help?" Hermione called.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks."

"Oh . . . It's Malfoy," Ron said as they sat down. He and several students came in at the same time as their professor came back in from her office, shutting the door.

"Now, Mr . . . . Weasley is it. I do not condone rude behavior or comments in my classroom."

"Yeah, Weasel, learn your manners," Malfoy sneered.

"If it is all the same to you, Mr. Malfoy, that was not a one way street. Please, take a seat everyone. Fill in the seats up front, thank you," She motioned to some of the teenagers trying to take a seat in the back. Draco took one directly behind Harry.

Professor Sombra smiled at the newcomers and, while awaiting the rest, she opened her office door and squatted, as if beckoning something to come out. A small cat did, with long black fur and a pretty tail. The door closed and the woman picked up her cat, nuzzling her and carrying her around for a bit, just for some companionship. She set the feline down on a random desk. The cat crawled into Hailey Smith's lap (a seventh year Ravenclaw) and made herself comfortable.

The bell rang and with a wave of a wand, the door shut. Professor Sombra took a seat on top of the desk as opposed to at her seat or standing. She crossed her ankles and smiled at the students, waiting for them to quiet down. Once there was absolute silence (except the purring of a cat,) she began.

"Hello, my name is Professor Sombra. The cat in the young woman's lap is mine her name is Shadow. I ask that you treat her with respect, treat me with respect, and treat your fellow classmates with respect. Not hard to follow, I hope." She gazed around the classroom, "Twenty-three of you, this is a large class and we will be using a lot of dangerous spells.

"My number one rule is, and will always be up until the day you leave end this year is that there are absolutely no distractions during spell casting. No rude remarks, no sudden gestures, nothing. A single syllable pronounced incorrectly, one movement of the hand the wrong way, one missed target could lead to disaster. If someone gets hurt and it is your fault, you will be punished. Severely. Does anyone not understand this? Good."

"My second rule is that there will be no bull shit in here. Yes, that is right; I swore she said, looking at one of the Hufflepuffs. "I am very serious when I say this. I don't care who you are or who cheated on you outside of class, in here; it's training to defend yourselves. Likewise, I will not tolerate any insults towards anyone in my classroom, whether or not said people are there at the time.

"However, I enjoy talking to students and helping people with problems. You can come to me outside of class when I have free time and we can talk. I will keep whatever you say secret, what is between us will stay between us.

"I do not grade homework," There were cheers all around; "It doesn't really matter. Those of you who are determined to succeed will do your homework whether or not it is graded. You will soon find that practice is important, you learn by repetition and studying. However, I cannot force that down your throats, so I won't bother trying."

She turned around for a moment before taking out what looked like a grade book or notebook. Reading and scanning and flipping pages, she talked. "I have to say, you really did learn some . . . eh, interesting things through your school years. Professor Nigel, as you seventh years might know, did a suitable job in teaching you the basics, as did Professor Quirrell. Sure, he wasn't in the right frame of mind, but he did teach you properly.

"When it came to Lockhart, I noticed, you did learn a little bit. Whether it was important at the time is beside the point. Personally, that would have been more of first year studies; with some of the stuff he taught the sixth years and even you seventh years. Professor Lupin seems to have done the best job in my opinion, so although he has resigned for teaching, I'll refer to him as a professor." There was a shout from one of the students, "Yeah, never mind he was a werewolf!" She did not respond but continued on. Harry wished that she would have yelled at the mysterious heckler. "Moody was a bit of a harsh teacher and focused mostly on the Unforgivables. I can understand briefing you on their history at that time, but not actually doing them. I would save that for seventh years, but since you already know about that, I won't have to do it.

"And that Umbridge woman last year . . . was basically full of it," She smiled and the students laughed. "Hopefully I'll consider myself a good teacher this year." There was a pause as she gazed around the classroom. Hopping off her desk, she walked down one of the rows and towards a student, a Slytherin seventh year Adrian Pucey.

"Mr. Pucey here seems to have a dislike for certain creatures. Tell me, Mr. Pucey, when did Professor Lupin transform into a werewolf?" She spoke directly to him. He grinned, almost nervously at his fellow housemates.

"On the full moon."

"And what about all the other times? What was he then?"

"A human . . ."

"Please remind me of one of my second rule, Mr. Pucey."

"Oh all right," He grumbled, rolling his eyes and looked at the table.

"Mr. Pucey?"

"Don't insult people in here, I got'cha."

"Good," Professor Sombra stared at him for another few moments before turning around and walking back down the row. "Werewolves, up until 1947, were considered beasts, and a note has been added in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; the book I'm sure all you have heard about and read of. Werewolves are not dangerous, or evil. The persona of the wolf in its human form can be, however. The wolf part acts out purely on instinct and nothing more. However, there is one creature that does not act out instinct, besides trolls and giants. This creature knows between right and wrong, but does not care. Does anyone know what it is?"

A hand rose up, "A dragon?"

"No, but that is a nice try, Miss. Chang. Dragons normally attack for food. When you hear stories of them swooping in on villages, it is either doing so for one of three reasons: Food, territory, or fear. Anyone else?" Hermione's hand rose.

"Dementors?"

"Very good! That is excellent; five points to Gryffindor. Dementors may not speak, but they do indeed have coherent thoughts; studies proving this. They may not necessarily have feelings, for that would defeat their existence, but they do know from right or wrong. They do not have to feed solely on happy thoughts, much to the common disbelief. They are evil, by their very nature, and could easily take away bad thoughts but choose not to in order to hurt us. Yes Miss. . . . Patil?"

"Yes. Um, so that's the reason that they guard Azkaban? To punish the prisoners?"

"No. Being in Azkaban itself is enough of a punishment, as muggle crimes do. But where are you going to put such creatures as them? There really are no other places except that. However, they do seem to be working very well at Azkaban; the Ministry hasn't decided to move them, although it'd be a bit hard, now."

"Why isn't You-Know-Who affected by the dementors?" Parvati continued to inquire, listening to the professor. The 'You-Know-Who' got people stirring a bit more than they already were.

Professor Sombra flicked her wand and two glasses of water and a cauldron appeared, floating in the air. "Say this glass represents dementors and say this glass represents Voldemort and his followers. What do the glasses have in common?" She nodded towards Hannah Abbott.

"They're both filled with water."

"Right. And what do dementors and Voldemort have in common?"

"They're both . . . both evil."

"Exactly. So, if I put these two glasses of water into the cauldron, nothing happens to the water, does it? Two evils do not affect each other. However, like the water in the cauldron, combining the two makes the amount larger. So if I were to say, throw a glass of water on Mr. Malfoy here or throw the cauldron of water on him, which would be worse?" There were grins exchanged between Harry and Ron. Malfoy remained neutral.

Lisa Turpin spoke up, "The cauldron of water would be worse."

"Yes, but why?"

"The force is greater?"

"Precisely. Five points to Ravenclaw. The force is greater, like when the forces of evil combine. But we can fight it back, by combining other forces, say, this school with Durmstrang. I know it sounds corny, but really, it is true." She flicked her wand again and the glasses disappeared, with a teabag reappearing. Professor Sombra placed the teabag in the cauldron and began stirring it about.

"And don't look at me like that. I only did the demonstration like that because I wanted some tea."

"A bit of a nutter, she is." Ron said as they met up again at lunch. "But I like her. I only wished that she would have "proven" her point."

"Ronald!" Hermione scorned, "Harry, why don't you go up to the Owlery and see if your admirer left you anything. We have a lot of time before our next class."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Harry said, pocketing a bun. "Do you guys want to come?"

"Harry, I don't think we should. This admirer intended for the note to be directed towards you, not us. I really think you should try figuring the rest of the riddles out on your own."

"So you're not going to help me?" Harry asked, frowning.

"If the riddles were directed towards me, then I would. But no. And don't go asking anyone else. Besides, I need to do some Arithmancy studies." She finished up her bun, "But I'll walk out with you till I have to head for the library. Ron, don't you go getting involved in this, either. Besides, you definitely need to study up on your Potions this year, some come on."

Having his sleeve tugged at, Ron grumbled and got up. The trio walked with Harry until they had to turn the corner to the library and then he was on his own.

He was a bit annoyed that Hermione was refusing to help him, but she did have a point. The writer must have thought that he could figure them out by himself, although whoever she was was ten times more creative then he'd ever be.

The walk up there was pretty far. There were two entrances to the Owlery, one was outside, about two hundred meters away from Hagrid's hut and lead up to its entrance with a spiraling staircase. The other one was on the third floor. So he had to climb stairs, walk down a hall, climb more stairs, and repeat the process.

Upon reaching said Owlery, he gazed around, looking for a large neon sign that said "Look here." There wasn't one, of course. He walked around the circular room a few times, peering out the windows now and then and avoiding all possible "gifts" from the owls. He sighed.

"This is so stupid . . ." Harry was about to turn around when an owl came shooting in. It was a magnificent sight, actually. It turned from a bullet into a monster, spreading its wings out to slow down. Without stopping, it dropped a note and a rose into the Gryffindor's hands and kicked off a wall, going back the way it came. Harry stood, speechless in his position, and watched until the bird disappeared.

Harry put the rose in between two fingers and opened the note. Inside it was another poem:

I once protected many from harm,
Yet where I'm near
Now it is clear,
I did not protect the people here.

I'd like to thank Cassafras from Gaia online for creating the latest riddle. Thank you!

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