Disclaimer: All rights go to JK Rowling. Anything you don't recognize is mine.

Updated as of 3/28/2019.

Chapter Three

The New Professor

It was no secret that the entirety of the Hogwarts' student body despised History of Magic the most. Even the most studious, strong-willed Ravenclaw would agree that they could hardly keep their eyes open during a lesson, even if they took a dose of Everett's Everlasting-Energy Potion to sustain them.

Though the subject itself was not horribly dull, it was the ever-monotonous tone and melancholic demeanor of Professor Binns that made the class so dreadful. (Then again, perhaps if one were a ghost teaching the same subject matter for a few centuries, they, too, would completely give up on making the lessons interesting.)

This was Cassie's opinion on the matter, at least, and this is what she chose to think about instead of listening to Professor Binns drone on about the importance of O.W.L.s. (The same speech had been made in every one of Cassie's lessons the day before, which only made Binns's spiel doubly boring.)

With this class being her first of the day, combined with Binns's flat voice and her stomach contentedly filled with five bacon sandwiches (a number Marlene had found appalling at breakfast), Cassie felt as if she could fall asleep right then and there – if it weren't for James Potter and Sirius Black.

They had chosen to sit in the row on her left, across the aisle, flanked perpetually by Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. She tried not to think too much on their proximity to her, warily convincing herself that it was coincidence only; after all, she had arrived not too soon before them, but had been late enough to relegate herself a seat in the very back with a snoring Hufflepuff boy beside her (an unfortunate consequence of her infatuation with bacon sandwiches that morning. So that meant the other back row had been reserved for the most obnoxious of her classmates, naturally. At least Lupin was the closest one to her – he actually seemed to be the sensible one of the lot.

It was quite hard for her to fall asleep, however, as Potter and Black seemed incapable of shutting up. Sniggers and whispers kept penetrating her slip into unconsciousness, and her annoyance was growing with each sleepless minute. What could they possibly have to say to each other so constantly? They were worse than gossiping girls, honestly.

Unfortunately, her troubles didn't seem to be present amongst anyone else in the class. Most of the students were already sleeping with their head on the desk or slumped in their seats, while the rest stared into space with slack jaws and glazed eyes. The only ones who seemed remotely awake were Potter and Black, of course, and Lily, sitting in front with a dozing Marlene while she listened raptly to Binns's ongoing monologue of monotony. Even Lupin – one of the top students in their class, much to Cassie's incredulity – was oddly subdued.

"…O.W.L.s are the most important exams in defining the rest of your school years and the careers you wish to pursue afterwards…" Binns went on, and Cassie closed her eyes in silent prayer.

For the love of Merlin, please let it end.

"Psst. Hey. Hey!"

This isn't what I meant. Please just let me die, is what I was asking.

"Adderfall!"

"It's Alderfair, idiot."

Anytime now…

"Alderfair!"

Cassie opened her eyes, scowling when a rolled-up piece of parchment bounced across her desk in an attempt to get her attention and hit her snoring Hufflepuff mate in the face, but he slept on. She whipped her head around.

"What in the bloody hell is so urgent?" she snapped. Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin all stared at her, though Lupin was the only one with enough sense to turn away and pretend to listen to Binns.

From the cocky grin on Potter's face, she guessed he had been the one to throw the parchment. Pettigrew watched in mild amusement, which only made her more suspicious, but the most surprising of all was that Black, for once, was not even paying her attention. It seemed that his staring spell the day before had worn off.

"Calm down, Alderfair. I was just gonna ask if you had a spare quill I could use." Potter looked to her earnestly – too earnestly, but Cassie was so caught off-guard she barely even noticed. Not once, in the past four years, had Potter ever spoken to her; she'd been with Lily numerous times whenever he tried one of his moronic advances upon her, but he'd never registered she was ever there, apparently. And now he was asking her for a quill.

Cassie blinked once before reaching into her bag and pulling out one of her extra quills. She was reluctant to hand it over; it was a nice eagle-feathered quill, very sleek and elegant, and even had her initials monogrammed in gold on it. It had been a gift from her mother last Christmas, and seeing as she only had three, she was very protective of them. But if it would get Potter off her back…

"Fine, here," she muttered, thrusting the quill at him – or rather, Lupin, who took it across the aisle hesitantly before handing it off to Potter.

Potter grinned, a twinkle in his eye she didn't like as he said, "Thanks."

Cassie said nothing, instead trying to focus back on what Binns was saying, as her chances of a nap were nonexistent at this point. She had been listening for all of about ten seconds before something flew through the air, right at Binns, and passed through his transparent forehead, causing him to stop mid-monologue and for half the class to suddenly wake up as the object clattered to the flagstone floor.

Cassie was frozen, staring at her professor in horror as he frowned and looked at the object that had passed through his head – an eagle-feathered quill with her initials engraved upon it.

There was a very long, tense silence, before Professor Binns gestured vaguely to Frank Longbottom, who was sitting nearest the quill.

"Mr. er…Longshanks," Professor Binns intoned. "If you wouldn't mind…"

Frank nodded dumbly, his eyes still looking very glassy, but he picked up the quill and held it out to Binns nonetheless. Potter snickered heartily while Cassie's heart beat madly.

"Who threw this object?" Professor Binns sighed, his melancholic expression never wavering. The class was silent, save for Potter's and the other boys' muffled laughter.

"There's initials, sir," Frank pointed out, and Cassie wanted to scream; damn Longbottom and his integrity! "C.A."

"C.A…" Binns mused, sounding almost bored. "I believe that would belong to Castor Aldfield back there, perhaps?"

He inclined his translucent head at her, and Cassie felt her face flame when the half of the class that was awake turned around to stare.

Marlene made a face at Cassie as if to say what the hell, Cass? But Lily's green eyes immediately sought out Potter, and they flashed when she saw he was laughing with his mates.

"Cassie didn't throw that quill, Professor," she said, turning back to face Binns with a steely glint in her gaze. "It was Potter and his childish friends back there."

Professor Binns didn't seem to hear her, rather looking at Cassie as if he had never seen her before as she grit her teeth, her face still hot.

"Landburrow, please return Miss Anderfan's quill to her," he finally said. "I will inform Professor McGonagall of this incident at a later time."

Frank walked back to where Cassie sat, grimacing apologetically as he handed her back her quill.

Cassie shook her head once, hoping he would understand it to mean that she didn't blame him. Luckily, he seemed to get it, and gave her a tiny smile as he went back to sit with Alice, who was glaring at Potter.

"As I was saying…" Professor Binns continued his speech as if nothing had happened, which gave Cassie an opportunity to whirl on Potter, her face still flushed angrily.

"What the hell are you playing at, Potter?" she hissed.

He had the audacity to scoff at her. "Oh, come off it, Alderfair." He smirked, and she had the sudden urge to jump across the aisle and slap that smug grin off his face. "You were bored to death back here. I just wanted to liven things up a bit."

"You didn't have to do it at my expense, though!" she said hotly, before throwing Potter a last dark look when it was clear he was not going to apologize. "And you wonder why Evans won't date you."

With that, she turned back to the front of the room and stared straight ahead, fuming. She could hear Potter spluttering and trying to defend himself while his friends laughed, and she felt a sort of vicious pride go through her.

Maybe the comment about Lily's rejection of Potter's advances had been a bit harsh, but she doubted she would take them back if she had the chance. Cassie had listened to enough of Lily's rants in their dorm to know what she thought of the "immature, absolutely childish, arrogant toe-rag of a human being" that was James Potter. And suffice to say, she felt that she had hit the nail on the head with that one.

After another agonizing hour spent with Professor Binns, the class finally ended. Cassie rushed out the door, waiting some ways away from the classroom to avoid Potter and his merry band of miscreants as they exited, luckily walking in the opposite direction of her as Lily, Marlene, and Alice joined her, quickly leaping to her defense.

"I cannot believe Potter would do that to you!" Lily immediately said, shaking her head in disgust. "The nerve of him!"

"Do you think Binns will tell McGonagall, though?" Alice asked, as the four began to walk down the corridor together. Cassie shrugged.

"Dunno," she said sullenly, though she was glad she had their support. "He's a stickler for rules, but I wouldn't be surprised if he forgot about it until Easter."

"I'd be shocked if you actually did get into trouble over this," Marlene said. "You've never even gotten a detention before!"

"Yeah," Cassie said, her stomach turning slightly at the thought; getting a detention wouldn't help her anonymity, and so far, she was enjoying being unrecognizable this year. The stares and the whispers that had followed in her wake last year had disappeared, and it seemed she was going back to her invisible self, finally.

"We should go to the library for break," Lily said, and the other three looked to her as if a third arm had suddenly sprouted from her chest. She stared back, puzzled.

"Lily, it's the second day of school," Marlene said in bewilderment. "What do we possibly have to study for?"

"It'd be nice to get a head start," Lily said defensively. "We have O.W.L.s this year, and you know how important they are!"

"Mar's right," Alice pointed out. "I'm not saying we shouldn't study!" she said to Lily's glare. "But those exams are ages away; we should just enjoy the free time while it lasts, yeah?"

Lily seemed to ponder on this, uncertain, before finally sighing after catching the hopeful looks on her friends' faces.

"Fine," she conceded, raising her voice to be heard over their cheering. "But just this once!"

"The Great Prefect has spoken!" Cassie announced dramatically. "We are free!"

The other girls laughed, and warmth rushed through her at the sound. She didn't have many friends at Hogwarts, but she would be forever grateful for the bond she shared with the three girls. After living with them for the majority of a year since she was eleven, they had grown so close, and they were part of what made her love Hogwarts so much.

They escaped the confines of the castle and made their way across the grounds, the sky shimmering blue and the air blissfully cool, and all thoughts of Potter and Black were pushed from her mind as a sense of peace washed over her.

Of course, Cassie's good mood did not last.

After a very long and uneventful day following the disaster in History of Magic, she arrived at her last class of the day with Alice beside her, both of them curious and slightly apprehensive to finally see their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

They walked into the classroom on the fourth floor where the rest of their Defense classes had been held years prior, but the first thing Cassie noticed upon entering was that there was no decoration at all.

Their previous professors had all attempted to give the same classroom their own personal touch (she shuddered after remembering Professor Swann's twinkling fairy lights that seemed intent on burning every student before the year was up), but now the high-ceilinged classroom was devoid of anything – even desks.

"Um…" Alice stopped and stared. Cassie paused as well when she realized that none of the students were sitting, but rather standing in a nervous cluster in the middle of the bare room.

"Did they give her a new room?" Cassie wondered aloud, as they ventured deeper into the classroom and joined the huddled Gryffindors. She was disappointed to see that they would be sharing their class with Slytherins this year, as she took in the green and silver ties of the other half of the students standing some feet away from them. And by the disgruntled looks on her fellow Gryffindors' faces, she could tell that they weren't positively thrilled, either.

No one answered her, for just then Potter swaggered into the classroom, laughing royally at something Black had said as Lupin and Pettigrew followed along, chuckling quietly but still looking very amused as Black smirked.

The other Gryffindors eyed the group with expressions ranging from amusement to exasperation, with Cassie and Alice falling into the latter category. As a few girls struck up conversation with the boys, Lily and Marlene sidled to their sides, Lily positively glaring at Potter as he tousled his hair and winked at one of the girls.

"Ugh, he is so full of himself," she said, rolling her eyes. "Did he even apologize to you, Cassie?"

Cassie shook her head, watching another girl – Karen Hartley, she remembered – practically drooling over Black. "Nope."

Lily made a frustrated noise. "Of course not. He's got as much manners as Peeves."

"Have you lot noticed anything…strange going on here?" Alice said, only half-listening to Lily as she stared at the four boys with an odd expression on her face.

"Definitely," Marlene affirmed, nodding as she looked also, though Cassie noticed her eyes fixed upon Black. Even Lily seemed knowledgeable as to what they were talking about, but Cassie looked at all of them in bewilderment.

"Can someone explain to me what's so strange?" she said.

Marlene took her eyes off Black long enough to give Cassie "The Look", which told her she was being incredibly dense.

"The Marauders," she said simply, and sighed when Cassie gave her a blank look. "It's what they've taken to calling themselves this year: Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew."

"That's…stupid," Cassie said. "Yet oddly fitting."

"I wasn't talking about that strange thing," Alice broke in. "I was referring to the fact that nearly every girl in fifth year has taken a liking to them."

She gestured to the fawning girls still crowding the newly dubbed Marauders, and Cassie made a face while Lily snorted derisively.

"Have they no sense?" she said. "How could any girl fancy a bloke like Potter, or Black? Lupin, I understand, and though Pettigrew is a stretch, he's actually very sweet. But Potter? And Black?"

Marlene shrugged. "You have to admit, they did get more attractive since the holiday."

Lily scowled, but Cassie took the opportunity to study the four boys more closely, wondering where Marlene had even pulled that thought from. However, she had to slightly agree as she finally began to take notice of their growing features.

Potter had always been a decent-looking fellow, when he wasn't being such a puffed-up cream ball all the time. Though tall and lanky, he was still very coordinated, and his untidy black hair, glasses, and hazel eyes only enhanced his looks, which probably attributed to his overflowing ego. Lupin was quite nice, too, with sandy hair and pale green eyes, though several white scars marred his otherwise clear skin, giving his face a hard edge that did not go with his soft demeanor. Pettigrew was as short and chubby as he ever was, though his blond hair was cut in a fashion that appropriately balanced out his round face and watery blue eyes, making him look slightly older. And Black, she was annoyed to see, was coming of age as gracefully and arrogantly as ever. She'd been hearing girls whisper about his fine aristocratic looks since third year, and she had always (pettily) wished he would get uglier as they aged, so his attractiveness could finally go hand-in-hand with his personality. But as she watched the girls continue to flirt with him and the other Marauders, she gave up that wish regretfully and instead turned back to her friends.

"Where's Professor Carlisle?" she asked. "She should be here by now."

"And she is," a frosty voice said from behind her.

Cassie turned to see the new professor gliding into the classroom, the clustered students immediately parting for her as she swept through them, her black robes billowing grandly.

Professor Carlisle turned to face them when she reached the front of the room and regarded them all coolly with piercing grey eyes.

She was a very tall woman, and very willowy, though she seemed unnaturally tense, as if she were poised for a fight. Her hair was so blonde it almost appeared white, pulled back in an immaculate bun that enhanced her dangerously sharp features, her lips tinted a blood-red that contrasted greatly with her alabaster skin. All in all, she seemed a frightening woman, and Cassie opted to stare at her shoes when her razor-like gaze traveled over the class, suddenly reminded of the uneasy feeling she had experienced at dinner the night before.

"Welcome to your fifth year of Defense Against the Dark Arts," she said in her cold, clipped voice. "I am Professor Carlisle."

Silence.

When no one spoke, she extracted her wand from within her robes and flicked it once. Several seconds later, desks came crashing down from the ceiling, narrowly avoiding students as they yelped and jumped out of the way, now standing disorderly amongst the new rows of desks.

"One thing you will learn very quickly is that I am not like your other professors," she said, continuing on as if nothing had happened. "I have read all of your student profiles, and I have seen your past grades, achievements, and shortcomings. And based on this information, I have assigned you all to a seat already."

There was a collective groan from the class at this that was instantly quelled by her cold glare. Cassie's heart sank, and she met her friends' eyes anxiously.

"First three desks in the front will be as ordered: Remus Lupin, far right; Cassiopeia Alderfair, center; and Edmond Avery, far left."

Cassie tried not to look as disgruntled as she felt as she took her new seat; Lupin and Avery were not her ideal seatmates, considering one was a Marauder, and the other a Slytherin bully who looked far from pleased as he sat to her left.

Professor Carlisle went on, rattling names off her roster, and Cassie was miffed to see that nearly all the Gryffindors were separated while most of the Slytherins were still put together. Cassie would bet one hundred Galleons that Carlisle herself had been a Slytherin when she attended school, and this was her way of showing favoritism to her old House as she put Potter and Black on complete opposite sides of the room, yet still sat Kanin Mulciber and Severus Snape side-by-side.

When Professor Carlisle read off Snape's name, there were several hisses from behind her. She turned to see the skinny, greasy-haired boy take his seat, the hisses coming from Potter and Black, namely, as they glared at him poisonously.

Cassie had never associated with Snape, despite his close friendship to Lily that still puzzled her every time she thought about it. She knew Potter and Black detested Snape (for reasons beyond her, but probably stemming from their arrogance), as did practically everyone in the whole school. But he was far enough away from them to avoid any confrontations, which had probably been Carlisle's exact attempt, and she turned back to the front when Carlisle finished doling out names.

"Now," she said, her voice seeming to gain an even sharper edge as she faced the class. "Your previous professors, from what I gathered, were very knowledgeable witches and wizards, yet very unpromising on anything that went strictly beyond what was written in a book."

Several glances and smirks were traded at this, as many students remembered Professor Swann's brilliant plan for a practical "real-world" lesson that almost ended with the giant squid drowning a student. However, Professor Carlisle went on with no heed to this.

"My purpose, therefore, is to start preparing you for what is beyond these walls," she said, her voice stern and serious. "There are powers in this world that not even spellbooks can ready you for, and it is my job to teach you how to distinguish these threats, and how to combat them."

She raked her frigid gaze over the class, and Cassie felt a chill go down her spine when those eyes landed on her. "Miss Alderfair, could you tell the class of the differences between a banshee and a hag?"

Cassie blinked, frantically racking her brain for an answer as those cold eyes bored into her, emotionless and stony.

"Er…one of them screams?" she said. Her face heated when she heard faint snickers and laughs from behind her, but her mind was completely blank.

Professor Carlisle raised a pale eyebrow at her, not looking amused in the slightest, and Cassie slumped in her seat a little at the unsettling look.

"Well, it seems obvious that you haven't even bothered to open your book thus far this year, Miss Alderfair," she said coolly. Cassie grimaced. "I expected better from you, being the daughter of such prominent parents and the sister of quite a Hogwarts legend, from what I hear."

Cassie wished the ground would open up and swallow her; she was afraid she was going to fall out of her desk entirely if she sunk any lower in her seat, but her palms were beginning to sweat as she felt the stares boring into her back, the same stares she had endured the year before when people found out about her brother.

"Quidditch Captain, Head Boy, and as Professor Flitwick puts it, one of the most gifted students in Charms he has had the pleasure to teach," she went on. A mocking smile curled her red lips. "A shame to see where all that potential went."

This struck a nerve within Cassie, and she found herself suddenly sitting very straight in her seat, her fists clenched on her desk as she stared at Professor Carlisle, her argument with her father coming to the forefront of her mind once again.

"Yeah," she said, her voice coming out an octave higher than normal, "having a Death Eater in the family is a right shame; but having a professor that doesn't know how to keep her nose out of business that isn't hers is worse, in my opinion."

There were several gasps that rippled from the class, but Cassie didn't hear them, her attention fixed solely on Professor Carlisle. She seemed unfazed by Cassie's words, but her small smile had disappeared.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for disrupting my class with unnecessary commentary," she said finally, in that same cool voice. "And another five for failing to answer my original question."

This broke through Cassie's angry haze; she could practically feel the disapproving looks she was receiving from her fellow Gryffindors as she forced herself to unclench her hands, breathing deeply through her nose. Twenty-five points gone, just like that. Godric, her Housemates would never let her live that down.

She turned her head slightly when she still felt a pair of eyes on her, and through a curtain of dark hair she could see Avery looking her up and down thoughtfully, as if he were sizing her up.

Gritting her teeth, Cassie ignored him and brought out her book, placing it on her desk with a little more force than necessary. Professor Carlisle gave her a slight look from the corner of her eye as she began reciting the various differences between a banshee and a hag, but Cassie glared right back, the sudden anger that had overtaken her not quite gone.

All in all, she thought, this year was already off to a bad start.

Next Chapter: The Unexpected Exchange

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