A/N Just FYI, U2 is great, no question about it. And Cadbury Eggs have more sugar than I know how to handle. We will now return to the regularly scheduled chapter.
Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this every chapter? You'd think saying it once would be fine. It's gets incredibly boring after a few chapters. I don't own the Harry Potter characters.
As Sirius, James, Remus, and Kevin walked up the stairs to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, they were joined by Peter.
"So is the new professor the same guy that was breeding animals?" Peter asked nervously.
"The exact same," Sirius replied, and Peter shuddered. "What's the problem?"
"Animals don't like me," Peter answered as forcefully as his mousy voice would allow.
"They're not that hard to handle," Kevin said from a few feet away, and Peter looked at him for the first time. "I'm Kevin. New here."
"Oh," Peter responded, obviously a little shaken up by the newcomer.
"This is Peter," Remus introduced when it was apparent that the other boy had lost his tongue. "He's in Gryffindor as well."
"Where were you last night, Peter? I don't think I saw you in the dormitories," James recalled.
"I, uh –" Peter smiled sheepishly. "I got lost on the way." Sirius snorted, and James barely contained his laughter. Remus smiled and shook his head. Go figure.
By now, they had reached the classroom. Opening the door, they found that they were the first ones there. Not even Professor Anon had arrived yet.
"What's that?" Kevin was looking at the dark space under the teacher's desk, where a red light was floating in midair. Suddenly, a monkey leapt out, chittering madly and jumping around the room on the desks. Remus tried to get a good look at it when it was turned towards him. The red light they had seen was still glowing brightly in the middle of the monkey's forehead. A shriek from Peter made him jump, and then he heard sharp barking from behind them.
"Don't wet yourself, Pettigrew," Sirius smirked, crouching down to pet a small dog. Remus noticed that there was something odd about the dog as well; its tail was forked.
"A crup," said a voice from the other side of the room. The boys looked up to see a younger man walking out of the teacher's office, and Remus assumed it was Professor Anon.
"And that's a clabbert?" Remus asked, indicating the monkey. The professor smiled slightly.
"Yes. I see you already know a bit about magical creatures, then. You'll be Remus?"
"Yes sir," Remus replied, wondering how the man already knew his name. Maybe Dumbledore had pointed him out, given his condition.
"We'll be studying a great deal of them this year," Anon said as a few more students began to enter the room. "Please take a seat – near the front if you please – fill up the front rows first, you'll want to be getting a good look at creatures. Don't mind the clabbert –" as more students entered the room – "don't worry about the animals, they won't bite. Sit up front please, sit up front."
The class quieted soon, everyone eager to see what Professor Anon was like. Even Sirius seemed to be more interested watching the new teacher than picking on him.
"I am Professor Anon, and you will obviously be learning Defense Against the Dark Arts from me this year," he told the class. "We'll start simply for today by studying the clabbert, which you may have noticed swinging around on the ceiling. I've owned that particular clabbert for several years, so it is particularly tame and will not attack unless extremely provoked. If any of you are stupid enough to provoke him – " Remus noted that his eyes strayed towards the Slytherins – "you would do well to cover your eyes and start towards the Hospital Wing straightaway. Now, observe. Tell me the magical qualities of the clabbert."
There was dead silence, and students stared at each other. How were they supposed to know? A few people tried to take out their books, but Anon stopped them. Finally, a dull Slytherin voice said, "Its head glows." There was a bit of laughter at that, and Anon nodded.
"Good observation," he said, and Remus couldn't tell if he was sarcastic or serious. "Most clabberts only glow as a warning, but this particular one is either born that way or just paranoid. Watch more closely, class."
As Remus stared at the little monkey-like creature, he noticed that the clabbert rarely held onto anything with his fingers. "His hands and feet grip flat surfaces," he suggested, and Anon smiled slightly.
"Very good, Remus," he said. "Five points to Gryffindor for the first difficult answer. The clabbert's hands and feet can stick to anything he wishes them to, but he can slide down things as well, if he wants to."
Slowly, James, Sirius, Kevin, and a couple of other Gryffindors began to notice things as well. Extendable tail, hovering for just a second or two – they were subtle, barely noticeable even after watching the clabbert's movements for a while.
The class was somewhat shorter, as it had started late, and Remus was glad. It seemed almost a waste of time to spend a whole class just watching an animal. As he exited the room, he noticed Anon's eyes following him and his friends, studying them just as they had studied the clabbert. With a sense of unease, he wondered if they were being singled out for some strange purpose.
A/N wow. This chapter kinda, well, it was slow. It does add somewhat to the plot. It's a little short, but it's been stuck on my computer for weeks and it might as well be out there for you to read. My apologies for the decreasing quality – soccer/football season is now over, so I will have more time to work on the details. Next chapter will be up by next week, so check back for another chapter of Royalty and Werewolves!
TheDudeLordOfFantasy – Ok, so there wasn't exactly more excitement, but there will be next time! I swear! Thanks for sticking with me!
Io - Thank you for noticing that! I knew that part sounded kind of awkward but I couldn't think of why! I'm glad you like my stories - it's always fun to get reviews! Thanks for the input!