A/N: Alright, so here's the second chapter of this story. Chugging right along, isn't it? I hope to keep this up for a while, as I bounce back and forth between this story and my other ones.
Chapter Two
The Dice Are Trying to Kill Me!
"What a joke... Platform nine and three-quarters?" Aromi scoffed. "That's bull. There's only platform nine and ten!"
At the moment, the young new professor, with his small amount of gear, was standing in the space between two brick pillars. Apparently, the train he was supposed to take was nearby – but not it wasn't in sight. He was told it was an elegant-looking train, with gold and red on it, unlike the bland ones he stationed on platforms nine and ten. With a sigh, Aromi paced the space between the pillars for a bit, then sighed again as he leaned against the wall opposite the one supposedly blocking his way. What was he supposed to do, break it down with force? That's when he finally noticed it... the shadows were off. The light should have had a shadow going right onto the target bricks... but the shadows were going through the wall, it seemed. Maybe he had to walk through it...? He knew that the wall wouldn't open up the same way the one to Diagon Alley did, so that didn't leave many options. Taking a deep breath at the prospect of walking into a brick wall at full speed on purpose, Aromi decided to just get it over with and walked briskly towards the looming wall, leaning slightly into it as if hoping it would get it done sooner.
"What the hell!" The young man exclaimed softly when he appeared somewhere else totally different. Looking around, he noticed a nice, fancy train – the one he was to be taking – and a sign that sign nine and three-quarters. "...Weird. But cool."
Then with a shrug, he headed over to the completely empty train, found a good compartment, and quickly took a seat. He set his larger bag on the overhead compartment, and the smaller one at his feet, from which he pulled a book and quickly set to reading it. Not too much time passed before he was ina light sleep, the book still open in his lap as he dozed.
Somebody once told me
The world is gonna roll me
"Hurry it up, you lot!" Exclaimed the woman as she hurriedly said farewell to her children with tight hugs. Which happened to include the two darker-haired children, despite the fact they were obviously not related. "Now be good! Fred and George, don't cause trouble for the Headmaster!"
"Aw, mum!" Fred said calmly, with his trademark grin plastered to his countenance, his twin looking just the same.
"We wouldn't do that," George said.
"We would..."
"...Never think of..."
"...Doing such a—"
"Alright, alright!" The woman, known as Mrs. Weasley, finally exclaimed as she gave up. "Just get your trunks and get going!"
With a grin, the twins grabbed their stuff and quickly made their way onto the train and into a compartment where their friends were. Mrs. Weasley sighed at their obvious disregard to her instructions, but she was pleased when the other three children waved to her calmly, having obviously listened. When they got on with their large trunks, they looked around for a few minutes, having to pause and hold on to the railing when the train started moving. They then took a full minute of standing there, looking a little clueless as they tried to decide where to go from there. At last, the bushy-haired girl sighed and led the way to a mostly-empty compartment. The only visible occupant was someone that was fast asleep with a book in his lap, a bag at his feet, and second bag in the compartment above his head.
"Hermione, why here?" The redhead asked quietly, looking at the odd man the entire time.
"It's the only one this open, Ron," Hermione replied sternly as she walked in and put her stuff above her seat before sitting. The other two boys reluctantly entered after her and did the same. "Besides, he's fast asleep."
"Good," Ron said. "He's weird enough with that clothing."
"It looks like muggle clothes," The other boy said.
"Maybe he's another first-year mudblood," Sneered a despicable voice from the compartment's doorway. The owner was a moderately sized boy with blond hair slicked back with some strong gel or something.
"Yeah, right, Malfoy," Hermione scoffed. "He doesn't look young enough. I'd say he's a seventh-year at least."
"Nobody asked you for your opinion, mudblood," Malfoy said coldly to the brown-haired girl.
"And nobody wanted asked to hear your voice," Snapped the 'sleeping' young man, a strong sense of authority suddenly rolling off him in waves as he spoke. "So shut up and get lost."
"So the filth wakes up and decides it's acceptable to insult his superiors? I'll—"
"You will go back to your compartment right now, because I can guarantee you that nobody here wants to hear another word from you," Interrupted the new man, that authoritative sense piercing his voice and cutting Malfoy off. "As for who's superior, I'd say that it's me. Now leave, you brainless twit."
With a snarl and a promise that his father would hear about this and that the new boy would pay for his insolence, the nuisance known as Malfoy left with his two ape-like bodyguards. The sense of the young man being in charge vanished as soon as the blonde was out of earshot. At that point, he rolled his eyes at what had happened and sighed before closing his book after marking his spot with a receipt, but he was quick to also smile to the trio as he put the book away.
"Well, now that he's gone, the train ride seems a lot nicer, doesn't it?" The man said simply, as he leaned back to relax in his seat.
"Yes, it does, thank you," Hermione said gratefully.
"That git always thinks he's the best around," Ron growled.
"And that will only get him into trouble this year," The mysterious man said simply, but the confidence he put in the statement made it difficult to argue with him.
"But...! His father's in the Ministry, a-and...!"
"That may be so, but the Ministry is all the way in London. Hogwarts is not. Therefore, it is rather difficult for such a governmental system to control what happens at the school. Even if they do find a way, I'm sure they'll find that this year will be very... difficult to understand."
At that moment, a letter flew in through the cracked-open window. It would have landed on the floor, if the strange man hadn't caught it. He unfolded the parchment, and smirked, muttering something like "oh, well" under his breath before pocketing the object.
"Now then, what're your names?" He asked politely.
"I'm Hermione Granger," Said the bushy brown-haired girl politely, then she gestured to her friends, starting with the ginger. "This is Ron Weasley, and the last one is Harry Potter."
Harry Potter, eh? Thought the man. Dumbledore wanted me to keep an eye on him during my time here, so I'll have to memorize how he looks...
"I'm Aromi Nozawa."
"Nozawa... that sou—"
"Are you a foreigner?" Ron blurted out, cutting Hermione off, which earned him a solid glare that silenced him. Aromi, however, laughed good-heartedly.
"I suppose you could say that. Although this enjoyable conversation will have to wait. We're almost there. I'll see you there, eh?"
With that, the strange man grabbed his two bags as he stood, and left the compartment with a wave. The other three glanced at each other, having the unanimous thought that the encounter was rather... odd. The golden trio soon shrugged it off and shrugged on their robes over their current clothes. Almost immediantly after, as the man had guessed, they reached their stop and stepped out. Hermione, finding the man rather intriquing due to his unique nationality, wished to find him and speak with him again. Unfortunately, it seemed that he'd run off, no longer in view...
Well the years start coming,
And they don't stop coming
Upon arrival into the Entrance Hall, Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediantly found their seats and sat there. Wondering if the new man would arrive with the first years for sorting, assuming he was a simple foreign exchange student – although Ron had to be informed of what that was, since it was mostly a muggle thing. As they waited, the rest of his family came. Rather predictably, the twins sat across from them with their younger sister, and immediantly began asking questions.
"So, brother dearest," George began... or was it Fred? Better yet, who could tell?
"We hear," The other continued.
"That you've..."
"...Made a new..."
"...Friend already."
"Is it..."
"...An ickle firstie?"
"Actually, no," Hermione cut in, earning a 'You cut us off again?' look from the twins. "He seems to be either a seventh-year foreign exchange student or a transfer student."
"Either one..." A twin began.
"...Would be very interesting..."
"...To have at our esteemed school!"
"Indeed, it would be, FredorGeorge!"
"Why, yes, we should give him a proper welcome, FredorGeorge!"
"Oh, knock it off, you two gits!" Ginny hissed when the doors began to open. "And sit down, for Merlin's sake!"
The twins, momentarily pleased with their quick ruckus, nodded to each other and sat down. As the first years filed in, the six of Gryffindors kept a close eye out for the man that had disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Slowly, one by one, each of the first years were sorted; each house gained a few students... but none of them the man that the six had been looking for.
"That's odd," Hermione frowned. "He should've been there."
The boys shrugged as they dug in. Sighing and rolling her eyes as she muttered something like 'stupid boys' under her breath, she began to eat at the same pace as Ginny, the two girls chatting as the conversational level in the Hall increased greatly. After a decent length of time, the food vanished, every member of the building's stomach quite content. Once a few moments passed and the talking had down just barely enough, Headmistress Professor McGonnagal gently tapped her glass with a utensil and quickly silenced the room. With a quiet and polite thank you, Professor Dumbledore stood and moved forward to his podium that had appeared in front of the staff table.
"Now that we have all been welcomed and sorted and fed, I shall go over the rules for the first-years and reminders for all returning students." He began, a touch of amusement twinkling in his sparkling blue eyes. "As a reminder, the Forbidden Forest is absolutely off-limits to all students unless accompanied by one of the staff. Mr. Filch would like me to remind you that Ever-Banging Boomerangs are forbidden as well; those of you that are interested, please see the list posted outside his office door.
"I would also like to introduce a few new teachers that we have for this year. First of which is a replacement for our Defense Against the Dark Arts position, Professor Dolores Umbridge. Second –"
"Hem hem," came a high-pitched voice from the end of the table that Dumbledore had just gestured to. He took a moment to glance at the source, then tried to return to his speech, but was interrupted again by that irritatingly high-pitched voice. "Hem hem."
"Professor Umbridge? Would you like to say something?"
"Why, ye –"
"Excuse me, Professors, but no, she would not," said a new voice. "Professor Umbridge, I mean no offense, but it is far more polite to allow Headmaster Dumbledore to finish his speech before you begin your own. I would appreciate it if you would allow him to do so before you begin."
"...Very well," growled out that annoying voice.
"That voice!" Hermione exclaimed in a hushed tone. "That's him!"
"Can't be," Ron said in the samed quiet voice, glancing at the table. Before he said a word, however, Dumbledore spoke again and he had to shut his voice.
"Thank you," Dumbledore said with a curteous nod that was returned. "As I was saying, we have a second new professor. He will be teaching a class that has not been offered at this school for several years. Those of you third-year and above were given the option to either take Care of Magical Creatures by or these rarely-taught course: Care of Strange Creatures. This course is entitled in such a way for a reason, and it will be taught by Professor Nozawa!"
"...Bloody hell," Ron murmured, eyes wide as the newly introduced professor stood and gave a small bow before taking his seat again.
"Now that our introductions have been made, and we have all been well-fed, let us be off to bed. You are all dismissed."
The golden trio, along with the other three Weasleys, left the room in a bit of a daze. After all, they had all chosen to take this new, strange course. Hermione was surprised because she hadn't thought the school would need a foreigner; Harry thought the same thing, while the Weasleys were just dazed because they Ron had told them what had happened on the train. Once they reached their dormitories, they each said the thought the same thing:
Bloody hell, we're screwed.
Fed to the rules
And I hit the ground running
As the students had made their way to their dormitories, the professors had begun standing while Umbridge, the rude pink toad-like woman, quickly stormed up to Professor Dumbledore and began hissing things angrily at him. What served to make her madder was the fact that he was absolutely calm about it. Professor Nozawa, having spent years in the wilderness and surviving on his own, had well-honed senses. He heard every word as he stood off to the side and discreetly watched/listened, pretending to check that he had everything in the knapsack he kept with him at all times, no exceptions.
"You never told me that this... this... foreigner... would be here!" She hissed angrily.
"I did not feel I needed to," Dumbledore said calmly. "Do not worry; he has been cleared by the Ministry."
"Even so, why choose someone such as him? He is obviously unversed in our culture and does not know a thing about magic!"
"That is true; however, I felt it best to request his assistance in teaching the new subject. After all, not many in his world are as capable as he is."
"I do not care! You will send him back at once, because he –"
"Can hear every word you're saying," Aromi said, calmly walking over. The only thing giving away his annoyance was his voice. "Professor Umbridge, I can vouch for Professor Dumbledore that the subject I am teaching. Although I would admit that there are a few that would be far better than me at teaching the theories involved in my subject, I am probably the best choice right now for teaching every thing else."
"Y-You! How dare you –"
"Interrupt you?" He said calmly, frustrating her ever more. "Oh, I dare; mostly because I can honestly say your arrogance is something that annoys me beyond belief. I have seen it countless times before, and I can honestly say that there is nobody – nobody you know better at teaching my class. Other than that, stop worrying about such trivial things; you'll shorten your lifespan, and yes, that is a proven fact. Anyway, Headmaster, did you review the lesson plans I sent you?"
"Yes, they will do fine," Dumbledore said calmly.
"Then I will go to bed. Good night, Headmaster."
"Good night, Professor Nozawa."
"Please, Aromi is fine."
"Then good night, Aromi."
With a gentle smile and a wave, the new professor quickly left for his own room, hearing Umbridge still hissing angrily and Dumbledore calmly replying as he left, but he ignored it. Quickly changing into his pajamas and releasing a Pokémon at random once he was in his room, and ending up with his Staraptor released, he quickly fell asleep with said Pokémon at his side...
A/N: Alright, so that's chapter two, and that was incredibly fun messing with Umbridge! :D I should be able to be on enough of a roll to get to chapter 4, at least. Please review! =)
Credit: Song lyrics written and sung by Smash Mouth in their song All Star.