Chapter 4: Proffesor Pin
Kuki woke up in a good mood. She got to meet Angelie's friends, and now, she didn't feel as alone as she did the night before. Even Patton seemed to feel better, because as she went down to the hall for breakfast, she saw him with another Hufflepuff boy, talking about something called Quidditch.
She took a seat next to Angelie at the Hufflepuff table, and soon enough, the Abby and Hoagie waved back at her on their way to their own table. At one point, she also saw Nigel and Wally talking to the Gryffindors, which made her blush a bit, although she had no idea why.
"So, do you guys think that Proffesor Pin will last?" one of Angelie's friends, Virginia, brought up. Virginia was a slightly punk girl who had brown hair which was always tied into two ponytails and had parted bangs.
"I don't know. Do you think the rumors are true?" Muffy, another friend, puzzled.
"Of course! I don't think Proffesor Pin will last very long. What do you think Kuki?" Angelie replied.
Kuki shrugged while taking another bite of her food. "I guess we won't know until we meet her. She might be the first."
Kuki and the others rushed past the other students to get to Proffesor Pin's class on time. They were talking so much that they had lost track of time, and if they didn't hurry, they would be late on their first made it just in time, the rest of the class staring at them as if they had just killed someone.
Proffesor Pin looked up from the book she had been reading, stood up from her desk, and gave them all a disapproving gaze. She was still wearing her emerald necklace from the previous day, but her robes were no longer elegant. Instead of sweeping red robes, she was wearing simple and inexpensive blue robes with sleeves that were too short for her.
"If you had arrived only a moment later, you would have been late Miss Sanban and company," she droned, her pale eyes boring into Kuki's skin. If Kuki had been less intimidated by this, she might have noticed that she spoke with an Irish accent.
"We're sorry Proffesor Pin, ma'am," Virginia saved her. She gave Kuki a comforting glance before continuing. "We seemed to have lost track of time; we are excited after all. It won't happen again, we promise."
"Very well, please take a seat. I have a schedule to follow, you know," Proffesor Pin accepted sourly, sitting back down at her desk.
Kuki gingerly sat down at the table next to Abby and Hoagie and sighed with relief. Angelie sat beside her, and Virginia sat with Muffy a few tables back. Hoagie smiled briefly at her before Proffesor Pin began, which made her feel a little better.
"Well, now that everyone's here, welcome to your first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. As you all know by now, I am Proffesor Pin. Today, we will be learning about basic defense spells that are easy to use if you are in a dangerous situation. The first spell we will be going over is the simple disarming spell, Expelliarmus."
Kuki excitedly pulled out her wand from her Muggle Rainbow Monkey bag and waited in anticipation. This would be the first magic-related thing she would be learning this year, and she was eager to prove that she could be a great witch, despite being a muggle-born.
Once everyone had their wands out, Proffesor Pin took out her wand, a slim and highly decorated one with her first name (Prudence) engraved at the front, and got up, walking down the rows of seats.
"I will explain and give an example once and only once, so be sure to pay attention," she said, her eyes coldly examining the first years. "You must pronounce it right or it will backfire, so be sure you have the pronounciation down correctly."
With a flick of her wand, the pronounciation began writing itself on the chalboard with a piece of chalk that floated gracefully through the air.
"For this, I will need a volunteer," the Proffesor said, stopping where Virginia was seated. Virginia instinctively straightened herself, as if she was about to strike down her prey.
"Miss Sims, I'm sure you would like to volunteer?" she asked, even though it sounded much more like a dare than a question.
Virginia pushed her chair back and bravely walked up to the front of the classroom, waiting for directions from Proffesor Pin.
For a second, Kuki couldn't help but feel admiration for the girl. Kuki knew that she would have never built up the courage to stand up to Proffesor Pin, not in a thousand years. She was far too timid for that.
She now understand why she hadn't been in Gryffindor. What she couldn't understand, however, was why Virginia hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor instead of Hufflepuff. She was certainly bold enough.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Proffesor Pin clearing her throat. She calmly strode over to where Virginia stood and examined her.
"I am going to ask that you, Miss Sims, hold up your wand."
Virginia did so, pointing it at the Proffesor's chest as if she had been told to do so before many times.
The Proffesor held hers up as well and called, "Watch closely."
Virginia narrowed her eyes and stuck her tongue out from the side of her mouth in concentration. Then, without warning, Proffesor Pin exclaimed, "Expelliarmus!" and Virginia's wand was blasted into the air and into the Proffesor's outstretched hand.
The class whispered to each other in excitement as a very embarrased Virginia collected her wand and sat back down, the eyes of everyone following her.
"Now," Proffesor Pin announced. "Each and every one of you will try to disarm me before I do the same to you. I will call you out in random order. Mister Stork, you're up."
And so one by one, all of the students tried and failed to disarm Proffesor Pin. Both Hoagie and Patton got pretty close, but they ended up mispronouncing a syllable or moving their wands the wrong way.
When it was Kuki's turn, she shyly walked up and held her wand up, trying her best not to look too terrified.
"Expelli- hiccup!"
Kuki covered her mouth in humiliation. Whenever she got really nervous, she would start to hiccup.
In a split second, she found her wand in Proffesor Pin's wretched clutches.
The Proffesor walked over and placed her wand back to its owner's hand.
"Thank you Miss Sanban, you may now go back to your seat."
Kuki dragged her feet all the way back to her chair and covered her eyes. She felt like she was gonna cry. Angelie patted her back to try to calm her down, and luckily, it worked.
"Next up is Miss Lincoln."
Kuki watched as Abby fearlessly took her place opposite Proffesor Pin. She grinned mischievously as she took out her wand from her robe pockets, licked her lips like a hungry wolf, and creased her eyebrows.
Proffesor Pin flicked her wand, but not fast enough.
"Expelliarmus!"
To everyone's astonishment, Proffesor Pin's wand was now in Abby's hand. To top it all off, Proffesor Pin didn't seem angry at all. Instead, she looked slightly impressed.
The room was quiet for a few seconds, then erupted into cheers from the other students, including Kuki. This went on as Abby returned Proffesor Pin's wand and took her seat next to Hoagie, who gave her a wink and a high-five.
"Magnificent, Miss Lincoln! I've never seen such a young witch with as much promise as you. Fifteen points to Ravenclaw," Proffesor Pin congradulated when the yelling finally died down. "Homework will be to practice and perfect the spell, for we will try again tomorrow, this time, as a graded assignment. Miss Lincoln, I would like to speak to you after class, the rest of you are now dismissed."
Kuki put all of her things back into her bag, then mouthed the words good luck in Abby's direction before leaving.
Once she was outside, Hoagie approached her and groaned. "I better be prepared to do Abby's homeowork next year, because I don't think anything can keep Proffesor Pin away from this job."