Next chapter of the "Hogwarts Sage", this continues from the previous chapter.
There may be mistakes in this chapter as there tends to be in all of them.
Title: Defense Against the Dark Arts
Characters: Sarah, Barty Crouch Jr. Disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, and mentions of Hermione.
Word count: 1,588
The first few weeks were confusing to say the least. Sarah was stuck in the Harry Potter story, because an angry King placed her there, she wondered how long he was going to leave her. Every day she had attempted to call him, and every day she was met with silence.
Another fact that she was still trying to wrap her mind around, was that she was almost certain the Goblin King did not exist in this world. She on the other hand did. She was only Sarah Williams in her memories, in this world she was Sarah Kingsley, oddly enough she had memories of that life as well. Sarah was trying to balance this new life, while still keeping her old intact. Sarah knew it was only a matter of time until she went home, she just had to wait out the Kings rage, and she knew just how stubborn he could be, so she would not let him see just how much he bothered her. She would call him still, but she would not let him think that she could not handle this world, or whatever lesson he felt she needed to learn.
Sarah had debated on going to the Headmaster with her predicament, only to change her mind. She knew she could not change what was going to happen, as well as the fact that she did not have much information to contribute, as she hadn't read that far ahead. Several nights she wished she had been more interested in the stories, prior to getting stuck in it, she was just as lost as to what was going to happen as the others around her.
A perk to her job was she could pick which classes to go to, and which to skip. Just as long as she said that the students in the particular class she was staying in, needed the help more than the others.
So she did what she could, she relearned her job in this world, which was easy enough being a teacher in her world already, the only difference was here she was a tutor, which seemed like more work, having to keep up with all the classes for each year. She had office hours for when individual students had questions, and everyday she held a class for each year to help them study as a group, with the exception of Monday and Tuesday where she held two classes, as to have the weekend free. On Saturdays she had a short office hour to assist any individual who came to her for last minute help, or Hermione Granger. Sarah could count on one hand all the students that had attended every lesson, Hermione was the only fourth year to attend each of the fourth year lessons, the rest were in the seventh year. The Gryffindor amused Sarah with her enthusiasm, but Sarah had to give the girl a constant reminder that school wasn't everything.
Sarah sat in on certain classes each day, learning along with the students, she had a desk off to the side in each class, and managed to keep an eye on the class as a whole. It was still odd for her to remember the information as the lessons progressed. The best way she could describe it would be to listen to a song you used to play on repeat. It takes a while to remember the lyrics and then you can sing along perfectly without having to really think about it. In some cases, once you remember the lyrics, you want to change the station least you become annoyed or bored.
No offense to Professor Binns who taught History of Magic, but he was so boring that Sarah decided to skip his class with the fifth years in exchange to see the Dark Arts class with the sixth years. Sarah remembered DADA was taught by Remus the prior year, a nice man with who she got along with just as well as the others did. Sarah had to remind herself that it was Kingsley's memories of Remus, least she start to believe that she really belonged in this fictional world. Yet, she admitted that she had a lot in common with her magical self, which made sense as it was still mostly her, just in a different setting.
This year was being taught by Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. A very odd man that gave Sarah the creeps. She knew from Dumbledore that Alastor Moody was a man that was rough around the edges, but something about him unnerved her, and it was more than his unconventional teaching methods that kept her cautious of him. She wondered if she had been living under a rock back home in her real world. How did she know so little about these stories, his name lead to no recognition of who he was, but if Dumbledore trusted him, than so would she, to an extent.
Sarah had been going through her notes of various classes, and jotting down main points that would help the students the most as she sat in the Dark Arts class, when she felt as though a bucket of ice water had been poured down her back. She raised her eyes to see that Moody was talking to the students, but his magical eye was trained on her. She tried to ignore it, but to no avail. More and more she thought she would have fared better in Binns' class. She wished she had thought to sit in on Charms instead of being ogled at by Moody.
"Practice the spell work, and remember constant vigilance! Class dismissed." Moody finished gruffly, and students started to shuffle out of the classroom. Sarah wanted to run out but every move she made was instead to seem calm and collected. "Did you enjoy my class Professor Kingsley?" Mad-Eye asked as he hobbled his way over to her.
"It was very informative, as your classes always are Professor." Sarah responded with a smile trying to keep the conversation as short and polite as she possibly could.
"I wasn't expecting you in here for the next few days. What do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" If he were talking to anybody else Sarah was certain that the words would have sounded sarcastic and suspicious. Instead the question sounded almost as if he were pleased that she was there.
"I decided to take a break from History of Magic, Professor." Sarah responded shortly and honestly, as she started to get her things in order, so she could be on her way.
"Professor Binns is a very simulating educator indeed." Sarah couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her lips, she quickly cleared her throat, and continued to collect her items. "Are you in a rush to be somewhere Miss Kingsley I have an open period after my next class, perhaps we could discuss what the students need to work on over tea." Sarah looked up to respond, she saw the wide smile that was on Moody's face and for a moment he looked like someone completely different.
"Professor you didn't happen to have auburn hair when you were younger did you?" His smile fell and his tongue darted out to the side of his mouth. Sarah cleared her throat and continued. "It seems as though the color would have suited a younger you quite well." Sarah noticed that he reached into his coat perhaps to get the flask he always drank from that he hid there, it made Sarah wonder if it was bottomless. "As for the offer of tea, I would love too, however I have Double Potions to sit in on." Sarah said closing her bag and picking it up off the table.
"Yes, Snape, the two of you are like peas in a pod." He sneered. Sarah found that to sound just like Moody, it was no surprise that those two would never see eye to eye, no pun intended. However, Sarah could not understand what he meant by that statement, she spent no more time with Severus than with any of the other professors, with the exception of Minerva. If anything the saying suited the Transfiguration professor and herself far better than with the Potions professor, she and Minerva had spent much free time in each others company, they had a lot in common and were friends. The only difference she could assume was that her bantering with the Slytherin head if house was mostly always done in public, so everyone would see that Severus did not seem to mind putting up with her.
"I wouldn't say that, I do happen to enjoy teasing and annoying him, and he tolerates me better than others would under those circumstances." Sarah replied. Moody mumbled something before drinking from the flask. "You know that probably isn't healthy for you." Sarah said knowing that the man would probably tell her off.
"Is that your way of saying you care about me?" He asked in the tone that made her skin crawl, and he had that smile on his face that Sarah could swear did not belong on that man.
"Well, if you don't care about yourself. Someone should." Sarah stated, she wished she could take the words back just as quickly as she said it. She instead kept her head up and took her leave, the entire time she could feel that damn eye watching her as she left.
A/N: I can't remember where this idea came from, but I know I wondered how a disguised Barty Crouch Jr. would react to a pretty pure-blood witch who is close to his age, 8 years isn't really that big of an age difference, and Sarah is around 24 years old here, a good age for a pure-blood to marry. All poor Sarah sees however is Mad-Eye trying to flirt with her, I'd be creeped out too.
I debated on having a follow up with Barty/Mad-Eye, but I can't think of anything else that could happen between the two so this is pretty much all the interaction these two will have in this universe, maybe they could meet again in some other time period, but I don't have the inspiration for that, yet, but don't take me at my word.
Thank you for sticking with me and happy readings.
