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Peyton- Yes badass Gena struck again, and I love that line! I wrote that chapter so fast just cause I wanted to write it, is that weird? Probably
Note: Something funky happened with the e-mail alerts so make sure that you didn't miss chapter six- because you know? This is 7. So oh yea
Also Note: In case you havent noticed, my "creative juices" have been running on high lately so enjoy it while it lasts, because there probably wont be a new chapter for a while. (And I have no definition of what a while is- 1 week-1 month? w/e)
Chapter 7: Hogwarts New Professor
That night Persephone couldn't sleep, although the bed inside her quarters was comfortable and the fireplace was burning brightly she was restless. She had seen Harry at the opening feast tonight and he had been solemn, barely eating at his table with his friends, she had tried not to look too often but she couldn't stop. He looked so like his parents that she almost found it uncanny, that hair and those bright green eyes that she could see from across the hall kept showing in her mind whenever she lay her head down on the goose feather pillows. It was one a.m. and it was clear that she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon so she grabbed her cloak and headed outside to sit by the lake.
The castle was dark and cold, the stone walls looked sinister with the torches reflecting evil looking shadows off of them, she wrapped her cloak tightly around her and walked down the hallway. As she walked she thought back to the feast that night, Dumbledore had been livid with her but it was fantastic because he couldn't do anything about it in front of the students and she managed to sneak off before he could catch her afterwards. She smiled to herself as she thought about the look on the students faces when she blasted through the doors, sopping wet, she must have made quite the entrance because while she was staring at Harry she noticed many of the students staring at her. She found it a bit unnerving to tell the truth, many of the Slytherins looked and pointed, whispering things to their friends. Apparently Voldemort hadn't exactly kept this secret, Persephone let these thoughts carry her away until she reached the lakeside. She could see Hagrid's cabin in the distance, a little speck of light and warmth on the grounds and something else….was that? Harry?
Someone with dark shaggy hair and bright green eyes was standing on the threshold of Hagrid's cabin, they had just taken off what looked to be an invisibility cloak, the half giant opened the door and motioned him in and Persephone could see no more. So she wasn't the only one who was restless tonight? She sat by the lake a while longer, waiting to see if he would come back out but by 2:30 the lights were still burning brightly in the cabin so she got up and went back inside the castle. Persephone went upstairs to her quarters and found that a house elf had left her class schedule on the nightstand, she looked over it and saw that she had sixth years tomorrow morning and afternoon. (She had accepted anyone who wanted to learn, regardless of their test scores but the more advanced students came in the mornings) Suprisingly Dumbledore hadn't argued over this, it was a bit unconventional but due to these times she would have preferred anyone who cared to learn how to defend themselves to come and do it. Who cares about test scores? If they were dreadful they just needed more practice right? Anything to stop Voldemort, and if she couldn't do it then she would equip the next generation as best as she could. Thinking these thoughts Persephone fell into an uneasy sleep.
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Harry's first day of classes dawned bright and warm, not quite how he was feeling inside. Ever since Sirius's death he had been angrier and liable to curse anyone in sight, Hermione and Ron still stood by him, although he could sense Hermione's patience was wearing down. What the hell did she know anyway? She didn't see him die did she?
The trio sat down for breakfast and McGonagall came down the row passing out schedules, the three of them had Defense Against The Dark Arts first this morning, not knowing anything about the new professor they ate their breakfast quickly and made their way across the castle. When they reached the corridor they saw a long line of students formed outside the doors.
"Whats going on?" Ron asked Lavender Brown.
"She hasn't said yet, she just been calling people in by their last names, nobody comes back out so we don't know yet. Amelia hasn't come back except to call in Justin and Justin went in about 2 minutes ago. Harry and his friends waited outside not long before Justin came out white faced, "Hermione Granger!" he called before quickly retreating back into the classroom. Hermione picked up her bag and her wand and headed inside, everyone tried to listen at the door but it was clear that some sort of sound charm had been put on it. Harry began to pace impatiently, this was annoying. Hermione did not come back for the longest time of anyone yet and when she did she simply called out, "Neville Longbottom!", her face was flushed but she had a big grin on her face. Harry kicked at the wall, the only reason Neville was in this class was because of him and Dumbledores Army, and now he had to wait in the hall for Neville to finish. Due to his grief, this made him angry. All the students were surprised when Neville came back only about 20 seconds later and called, "Draco Malfoy." Nevilles face had been flushed, but by embarrassment, not pride. Harry paced some more while they all waited for Malfoy to finish whatever they were doing, he was inside the longest of anyone before his blonde head stuck itself outside the door and called for Harry. He had had blood on his head and seemed to be trying not to cry.
Harry roughly grabbed his bag and went inside the door, his wand clutched tightly in his hand. Inside the familiar classroom Harry's new professor stood smiling coyly in her muggle outfit of jeans and a black t-shirt. The other students were sitting at their desks, expectant looks upon their faces. Hermione looked nervous and Draco Malfoy looked as though Christmas had come early, sick anticipation upon his pale face. The teachers hair was long and dark, but not menacing like Bellatrix Lestranges was, she had amazing grey eyes, and a tall strong body. Her face was ovular and her teeth were a brilliant shade of white with full lips to cover them. She wore no make up, but Harry doubted that it would have mattered, she would have been stunning regardless. Her smile turned into a welcoming one and she spoke in a powerful but feminine voice,
"No need to ask if you are Harry Potter, you look exactly like your father." Harry had no response, partly because he had been told this so many times but mainly because he couldn't have thought of anything to say to this woman. She was imposing and graceful all at once, Harry hadn't realized at the feast last night but she was unsettling in the way she could look at someone. Harry was left alone with these thoughts for no time whatsoever before he could feel her probing into his mind, her occlumency pushing down on him with such force, Harry screamed and forced it back. She was too strong for him and rather than letting him see her thoughts she broke the connection, smiling she said,
"Impressive Mr. Potter." He didn't know whether to remain on the defensive or take the compliment. The other students still looked up expectantly, as if waiting for the rest of the show to come. Harry could see her hand inch for her wand and he waited, seeing what she would do next. The teacher quickly pulled her wand and threw a spell at Harry which he easily blocked, rolling down behind her desk he cast back. The new teacher merely sighed and vanished the desk so that Harry was left with no guard, her sigh riled him up and he casted numerous spells at her the first few she easily deflected but by the fourth or fifth she was slowing down, Harry had her on the run, or so he thought. The woman preformed the summoning spell and Harry sped towards her, he was so surprised that he didn't even think to do anything with the wand hanging loosely by his side. When they were a foot apart Harry tried to perform a conjunctivus curse but she smiled and simply hit him with her fist. Harry fell backwards and slammed onto the stone floor, blood spurting from his newly broken nose. She leaned down and repaired the damaged bones with a quick flick of her wand,
"Excellent now please go out and call in Mr. Weasley then take your seat." Harry didn't know what to make of this, her test seemed awfully unfair. She held out her hand to help him up, he grasped it and pulled, coming at just the right angle Harry thought he saw something poking out from underneath her sleeve. Something tattooed on her skin. Catching him looking she pulled her sleeve down and smiled, ushering him towards the door. Harry was so surprised by the mornings events that he didn't argue with her and thought no more of the strange mark on her arm.
When Ron came in almost the same sequence was done on him except he broke down faster, and his dueling was ended by a spell, not some dirty trick. The three friends sat and watched while the rest of the class was tested, it seemed that no one besides Harry and Malfoy had ended up with blood on them. When Blaise Zabini was finished the students sat staring at this strange woman, who even after all the dueling, hadn't been touched. She grinned at the class and stepped down from her newly transfigured desk, her hair billowed around her shoulders and she spoke to the class.
"I am Professor Persephone Parker and as I'm sure many of you have already guessed this will be a practical course, your books will merely be used as reference for homework. Don't bother bringing them to class, they will just get in the way. I'm sure you can also tell that I am an American, so forgive me if my manners are not quite up to par." Harry looked over at Hermione whose face was in the expression that meant she had just thought of something, never a good thing in Harry's opinion. " In this classroom you will learn about different curses, hexes, jinxes, and counter-jinxes but I will also require you to learn a certain number of muggle combat forms." Draco Malfoy scoffed
"Why in the world would we do that? Muggles cant do magic so we would just use our wands wouldn't we?" Professor Parker inclined her head,
"Well Mr. Malfoy you have a valid point but I would have thought that since you were one of the 2 people who were bested in combat by muggle techniques that you would have understood. Since you do not, lets ask Mr. Potter." Harry pondered the question for a moment, "Because you never know what weapons your opponent has or what they'll use?"
"Absolutely correct. If you Mr. Malfoy had known how to either take a punch, block it or anything, we might still be dueling or you could have won."
The bell rang to signal the end of the period,
"Now don't even try to tell anyone else what we did today I have already put a secrecy spell on all of you, so unless you want to have something to happen to your person, you might want to keep your mouths shut. Have a good afternoon, no homework."
The students grabbed their bags and headed for the door, once outside Ron asked Harry,
"So what do ya figure?"
"I don't know, she seems strange but kinda cool." Ron laughed, "Harry, you think she's cool but you have blood on the front of your robes."
Harry grinned, "Yea Dumbledore probably wont be too happy once he hears about this. Students bleeding in class."
Hermione cut in, "Well at least she healed it all. Hey, did you guys think she was familiar? Like we had met her somewhere? Her name sounded memorable." Harry and Ron both shook their heads and the three of them headed off to Potions with Snape.
The dungeon was as cold and dreary as ever, Harry was shocked that he had managed to even get into this class with the test results he had last year. He had a slight feeling that McGonagall had something to do with it since she was the only person Harry had ever told about his desire to be an Auror. As she had reminded him "Potions are essential on the path to your chosen career as an Auror Potter!" or something close. Harry was disappointed that he had to deal with 2 more years of Snape sneering at him but what other choice did he have?
Harry, Ron and Hermione took their usual seats in the back of the classroom and waited patiently for Snape to come in. When he finally did walk inside he gave his usual self important wave and wrote ingredients on the board, "Begin." he instructed and everyone went to the cupboards to get their things. Harry meticulously chopped and added his many ingredients to his steaming cauldron, knowing very well that Snape was watching him, waiting for him to screw up. At the end of the hour everyone stood next to their finished products while Snape came around and did an inspection. He glowered at any potion maker that didn't belong to Slytherin house, Harry knew something bad was coming because Snape seemed to be saving him for last.
When the Professor arrogantly glided up to his table Harry already had his hand on his wand, how he longed to curse the bastard walking towards him. Harry wouldn't take any of his bullying this year, he refused it, Harry felt that what happened to Sirius was mainly Snapes fault. The spy should have known about the plan in the ministry and if he had taken time to be a good person rather than cruel to Harry Sirius might be here today. Snape took a ladle full of Harry's lime green potion (it was supposed to be emerald green) and gave a disapproving characteristic sneer, letting it drip-drop back into the cauldron.
"Tell me Potter with every loved one you lose do you just get dumber or what?" Harry raised his wand and Ron tackled him before anything could happen,
"Geroff me Ron! I'll kill you!" he yelled at Snape. Ron was finding it even harder to hold onto Harrys struggling body and Snape smiled, "Detention Potter, today at 5 o'clock. Don't be late." With that Snape left the room and Ron finally let go of Harry who screamed at him,
"What the hell is wrong with you! I could have taken him!"
"Yea the blood on your robes really proves to me how tough you are." said Ron in a mocking voice, Harry didn't even bother cleaning his cauldron and he just grabbed his bag and headed to lunch, eating before either Ron or Hermione could get to him.
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At five o'clock that night Harry went down to Snapes dungeon to serve his detention. Hermione had pleaded with him to hold his temper tonight but Harry hadn't promised anything. He wanted his revenge and he was going to take it out on someone if it was the last thing he did, Snape seemed like the most obvious choice. But when Harry arrived at his office he only found a note explaining his instructions, Harry was to clean out Snape's jars of floating things in his office. Harry wanted to retch but his recently broken nose wasn't doing all that well at sniffing things so Harry was spared the unpleasantness of having to smell the preserved feet and etc. He finally finished his job 4 hours later, since it was way past dinner he decided to head upstairs to take a shower and get all this off of him.
When Harry rounded the corner on the fifth floor he ran smack dab into Professor Parker, it was the second time today that he was on the floor in front of her. She held out her hand one more and helped him up, her nose twitched,
"Oh my God Harry what is that smell?" Harry's face flushed and he answered,
"Professor Snape had me clean out his….uh…. preserved items for a detention, I'm just going to take a shower to get it off." He went to leave but she held him back,
"Do you mean the jars in his office?" He nodded yes and she grimaced, "A shower isn't going to get that potion off. Follow me, I have just what you need in my office." Harry followed Professor Parker to what used to be Professor Umbridges office, among others. He was glad to see that the kittens and dolies were gone but they hadn't been replaced with anything. There was just a stone wall and a desk with papers on it. Professor Parker went to a cabinet (the only thing in the room that looked as though a human being had touched it) and pulled out a large bottle with blue potion in it, she poured a small amount in a cup and handed it to him.
"Mix it in with the soap and you'll be good as new."
"Thanks." Harry replied, taking the small cup from her hand.
"Besides I think it'll really burn Professor Snape that you managed to get it off. He probably just assigned that to you to embarrass you." She gave a small laugh and Harry arched his brows,
"How would you know that?" She smirked, "After the relationship he had with your father I'm sure someone as vindictive as Professor Snape would do anything to get to James's son." Harry smiled,
"You went to school with my Dad?" Parker thought twice, "No, but the animosity is almost legendary isn't it?" Harry could tell the conversation was over so he bid goodnight and went to the showers. When he walked into Gryffindor Tower later on Hermione articulated how nice Harry smelled, he just grinned.