Ch. 8
The first day of term dawned bright and early for Susan. Looking over at her friend she saw that Hannah was still soundly asleep. A mischievous grin spread over her face as she picked up her pillow, took careful aim and threw it at the sleeping head of her friend. The pillow flew true and Hannah woke up with a string of curses that were thankfully muffled by the pillow. When she finally removed the pillow from her face she glared at her friend who was laughing madly.
"That was not funny Suzy, I was having a wonderful dream that you shamefully interrupted."
"I would have to disagree with you Hannah that was hilarious. Maybe next time, you can avoid being woken by flying pillows if you remember to set your alarm." Susan managed to say between laughs. "Now come on, let's get ready, Sally-Anne and Megan are already ready."
Still grumbling to herself Hannah got out of bed and together they got ready for their first day of classes. When the two girls walked into the common room, they found an already waiting Harry standing next to Justin Finch-Fletchley. The two boys seemed to be in a lively debate on the merits of football clubs. Over the summer Harry became a diehard Manchester United supporter while Justin seemed to be arguing the superiority of the London Arsenal.
"They haven't even won one game yet in the regular season." Justin was saying. "Arsenal has won their last three games."
"So they've had a slow start. They won the majority of their preseason and friendlies earlier in the summer. Just wait and see, Manchester United will take the league this year."
"Ok boys I think that's enough of that, shall we head to breakfast?" Susan asked interrupting the argument. The two boys looked around and saw the rest of their fellow second years standing around with looks of either complete confusion or boredom. Ernie looked at his doormats with a confused look trying to figure out who or what they were arguing about.
"Sorry, got a little carried away their" said Harry looking around sheepishly. "Let's go eat shall we?" Together the second years made their way to the great hall. About halfway through breakfast, they were interrupted by a rather excitable first year. Harry was taking a drink of his juice when out of nowhere a person right behind them shouted his name. When Susan, Hannah, and Harry turned to look to find the source of the voice, they were greeted by the bright flash of a camera.
"Hi Harry, I'm Collin. I just started and was sorted into Gryffindor. I read all about you and was so excited to meet you. Is it true you stopped You-Know-Who twice now? That is so cool. You are such a hero. Why aren't you in Gryffindor? It's supposed to be the house of the brave and heroic, I was sure you would have been in there. I'm a muggleborn and my parents were so happy to finally know what these strange things that happen around me are and my little brother is the same though he is 3 years younger than me. I'm taking pictures to show them and someone told me about a potion I can develop them in so they move." All of this seemed to be said in a rush with one breath. Susan had to admit that was quite impressive if not a bit annoying. Harry didn't seem to know what to make of the first year.
"Uh, hi Collin, it's nice to meet you. Um, yeah, well Hufflepuff is a great house and I'm glad I was sorted into it. Nothing against Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat thought Hufflepuff was the best house for me and it was right. Can you please not take any pictures of me; I really don't like a lot of attention."
Colin looked devastated. "But how will I prove to my parents that I met you?"
Susan seeing the crestfallen face of the first year decided on a compromise. "Hi Colin, I'm Susan. How about if you take one picture of all three of us" Susan motioned to her two friends next to her. "And that way you can show your parents you met Harry, and give us three prints of the picture. Then after that if you could refrain from taking pictures of us unless asked."
"Oh, sorry I was just a little overexcited. Ok you three group together."
Hannah, Susan, and Harry stood up and scrunched together and smiled as the picture was taken. With the picture taken they sat back down and tried to eat their breakfast in piece. It was not to be though. No sooner had they taken their seats then an unwelcome drawling voice came from behind them.
"Bet you enjoyed that eh Potter. Can't even sit and eat without having your ego stroked."
"Shut up Malfoy. Your foul stench is driving away my appetite" replied Harry.
Malfoy sneered back "I would think that would be from the little Mudblood that was just here. Pathetic the people they let in now. I guess our new headmaster is just as big a Mudblood lover as our old one. A pity they couldn't get a decent wizard to be our new Headmaster like they have in Durmstang."
"Is that so Mr. Malfoy? I see you have volunteered to be an example of our new rules" an American accented voice came from behind Malfoy. Susan watched as the blonde ponce turned even paler as he turned around to see Headmaster Foote standing right behind him. "Let's see, I think I heard you use a racial slur twice, so that will be two weeks detention with Mr. Filch and 100 points from Slytherin. That's 50 points and one week for each instance of using any racial slur."
"When my Father hears of this…"
"Yes go ahead and tell him how his son has already sent his house into the negative and got two weeks of detention before the first class. Let me make something clear to you Mr. Malfoy, I do know care who your father is or how much money he throws at the Minister. I will not stand by and let anybody be bullied or subjected to bigoted thinking. I will be having a word with your Head of House about this." With that, the Headmaster turned around and continued to the head table to eat his breakfast. Malfoy glared at his back and then sulked over to the Slytherin table where he received icy glares from many of the students.
"That was awesome" said Hannah after the git had left. "I like the new headmaster. I'm glad someone is finally trying to reign in the bigots."
"I agree Hannah, this sure has been an interesting first day and we haven't even gotten our schedules yet." Susan commented. Just after she spoke, Professor Sprout made it to the Second Years and handed them their schedule.
"You all have your first class with me this morning with the Gryffindors. We will be starting with a bit more dangerous plants this year." With that their Head of House moved on to the other years to finish handing out their schedules.
"Wicked, I wonder what we will be working with this year. Neville and I have been growing some Devils Snare in his greenhouse over the summer. He wouldn't tell me where he got the sprig of it though. All he said was his Gran had it potted for him when he came home over summer" Harry told them excitedly.
"Yeah but right after that we have History of Magic. Nothing like a little nap after working in the greenhouse I guess" added Hannah. "And we don't have DADA until Friday."
"Come on you two lets go get our stuff and head to class" Susan said as she stood from the bench. Together the three went and collected their stuff and made their way to the greenhouse. When they arrived at the greenhouses they found the Gryffindors already their milling about outside. After a few minutes of waiting they were let into the greenhouse. Susan paired with Hannah as Harry paired with Neville. They learned about Mandrakes and their magical properties while they worked with their partners to repot them into bigger pots. Susan looked over at Neville and Harry who seemed to be working well together and were the first to finish their tray. They sat there talking for the remainder of the period about Mandrakes. Harry seemed to be trying to explain to Neville some of the more interesting uses for Mandrakes in potions while Neville talked about some of the trickier parts of their care.
After herbology the two houses split up and the Hufflepuffs made their way to History of Magic. The first week trudged on with nothing out of the ordinary happening. The majority of the class slept through History of Magic, in Transfiguration they started turning a beetle into a button while in charms they learned the Skurgeafy Charm. When they entered their first Potion Class of the year with Ravenclaws they received their first surprise of the year in the form of the Headmaster sitting in the back of the classroom.
When Professor Snape walked in he looked at the Headmaster with an unreadable look before getting the class started. Susan smiled to herself as she watched the greasy potion master try to not fall back on his normal mode of teaching through bullying. He still just tapped his wand on the blackboard and the potion for the day appeared. As he walked around the classroom he still mostly ignored the students. Snape was able to refrain from his usual scathing remarks but Susan could see the strain of him holding his tong. After the class was over and they placed their samples on the desk Susan, Harry, and Hannah got up and left the classroom.
HC
After the last student left the classroom Professor Foote rose from his seat in the back of the class and closed the door. "Severus, there are a few problems we have to discuss. The first one is your teaching style. You can't just put the potion instruction on the board and tell the children to brew it. If that was all potions required then we wouldn't need you and we could just have them use the book. You have to actually explain the why of the potion and the ingredients."
Snape scowled at the headmaster. "These dunderheads wouldn't be able to grasp the intricacies of potions."
"You don't know that unless you give them the chance. Starting with the book you assign, it is mostly just a cook book. It does not explain anything about the properties of the potions or anything about the ingredients. I want you to assign another book to go along with it. I talked to the owners of Florish and Blotts and it seems that the only students who do buy the other book are Slytherins and a few of the more inquisitive students. Most of the Slytherins have mentioned to the owner that they bought the book on your recommendation. Why is it you tell the Slytherins to get the book and no one else?"
Silence was the only answer he received. Letting out an exasperated breath "And that leads into the next topic I wanted to discuss with you. Your blatant favoritism of you own house. I have gone over the detentions and points for the past 10 years since you became a professor and the results are startling. I now see why Slytherin has won the House Cup every year you have been here. Not only that, but you have allowed bigotry and bullying to run rampant in your house. Your students have been allowed too much leeway."
"I have to protect my students from the prejudice of the other students just because of their house. If I wasn't looking out for them then no one would."
"Maybe but in doing that, you have increased the divide between Slytherin and the other three houses. The last thing is your NEWT class. You can no longer only allow students who achieve an O. The standard is an E and you will stick to the standard. I will make an announcement tomorrow at breakfast about that and any who want to continue with their NEWT will. You have to do a better job of actually teaching. I have had complaints from both the Auror Department and Saint Mungo's to do something about the lack of qualified potion students ever since you took over. I am putting you on Probation and removing you from Head of Slytherin House. You have the rest of the year to improve your teaching and your dealings with students or you will be removed. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Headmaster." Snape snarled out.
"Good, thank you for your time."
HC
The Hufflepuff second years left the potions class room and made their way to the DADA classroom. Susan watched her fellow second year girls start to go all doe eyed in anticipation of their first class with Lockhart. She shook her head in exasperation at the silliness of her gender. Hannah was practically skipping to class for Merlin's sake. When they entered the classroom Susan looked around and was greeted by walls plastered with photos of Lockhart smiling at everyone. Susan rolled her eyes and took a seat in the back much to Hannah's annoyance. As the last student took their seat Lockhart entered the room with a flourish of his robes and smiled his perfect smile at the students.
"Good afternoon class. Welcome to your first day of Defense Against the Dark Arts. As you know I am Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five time Winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile" he said as he beamed his pearly whites at the class. "But before we get started our lesson for today, I have a small quiz for you just to see how carefully you have read my books and where we should start."
Lockhart passed out a sheet of parchment with questions on it. Susan read the questions and looked over to Harry who mirrored her look of disgust. She leaned over and whispered to Harry, "What does his favorite color have to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
"Maybe if he was ever polyjuiced we could ask him it." Both Harry and Susan snickered. Susan looked over at Hannah who was filling in the answers quickly with a look of excitement on her face. Susan looked back at her quiz and decided to have a little fun.
'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color? Gold"
'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest ambition? To blind someone with your teeth.'
Harry looked over when Susan giggled and saw her answers to the questions. Together the two of them spent the rest of the time on the quiz coming up with ridicules answers. Much to the annoyance of Hannah, they couldn't hold in the giggles as they came up with more and more ridicules answers. When the time was finally called and Lockhart collected the quizzes and returned to the front and started to read through some of the answers. "I must say some of you did not read my books very carefully. Miss Abbott was the only one to know my greatest ambition was to market my own hair care products. In fact, Miss Abbott scored a perfect score. Well done, 10 points to Hufflepuff."
Susan looked over and saw her friend grinning stupidly at Lockhart and just shook her head. "Now," Lockhart continued "what I have to show you is quite dangerous. Do not let their small size fool you. They are devious and troublemakers." Lockhart lifted a large covered cage on to his desk. As Susan was looking at it she saw it shake. Lockhart reached down and removed the cloth. Inside the cage were about 20 small blue winged creatures.
"Cornish Pixies?" said Ernie, "Well they aren't very dangerous are they."
"Ah Mr. McMillan, do not judge them by their size. They can be quite a handful, let's see what you make of them." With that he opened the front of the cage and the Pixies flew out of it. Calling the effect of opening the cage total chaos would be an understatement. Susan watched as the pixies zoomed around the room throwing papers, quills and books around. Quickly the kids decided to take cover under their desks to avoid the thrown objects. "Come on now, they are just pixies, round them up" cried Lockhart. "Fine, I will handle this." He pulled out his wand and in ridicules swishing movement shouted "Peskipiksie Pesternomi" Susan would have laughed out loud at the ludicrous spell if the pixies hadn't just thrown a book at her as another one of the pixies flew at Lockhart, grabbed his wand and threw it out of the window. "Well, you seem to have it under control; I will just be in my office if you have any questions." With that, Lockhart hightailed it into the office.
"That stupid Ponce," scowled Harry. "What's his game at running away like that?"
"He just wants us to get some practical experience Harry." Hannah defended.
"Ha, ya whatever you say Hannah. Ok everyone; if we work together we should be able to get this under control. Use the Impediment jinx. The incantation is Impedimenta and it is a sharp jab at your target." Harry rose from behind the desk and demonstrated on the first pixie he saw freezing it in its tracks. Susan followed his lead and froze another pixie. Soon the rest of the class was up and freezing the pixies. Susan watched as Harry moved around and helped his classmates with the spell and soon all the pixies were frozen and placed back in the cage. When the last pixie was rounded up and put back in the cage the class filed out of the classroom.
HC
That Friday night the first staff meeting of the year was held. Headmaster Foote walked in and took a seat at the head of the staff table. The house elves passed tea service around and the teachers made themselves comfortable. "Good evening everyone. I hope the first week went well." Professor Foote began. "First of all, as I mentioned before term began, I would be assessing everyone at the beginning of the school year. For the most part, I am pleased with what I saw, that being said, there are a few things that need to be addressed. I am sorry to announce that Severus Snape, Sybill Trelawney, Charity Burbage, and Gilderoy Lockhart are on probation. Also, Severus will no longer be head of Slytherin House. I would like to ask Aurora Sinistra to be the new head of that house. I have already discussed it with her and what I hope for her to achieve in that position. I have also decided to sack Professor Binns as soon as I can find a new history teacher. I will make the announcement of the change of head of house tonight at dinner but there is no reason for anything else to be revealed to the students." Professor Foote took a look around the room reading the faces of the teachers. Severus had a sneer on his face and was obviously displeased with the changes.
Professor Lockhart looked at the Headmaster like he was crazy. "Headmaster, there must be some mistake."
"Professor Lockhart, you gave the students a quiz that had nothing to do with Defense and you ran away from your own classroom after letting out a cage of pixies. This is unacceptable. You need to actually teach your subject."
"But Headmaster, I felt I needed to get a base line to see how well the students read my collective works. I can now use the results to know which of my experiences to focus on."
Headmaster Foote just gave Lockhart a disbelieving look. "Maybe but my decision stands."
Professor Burbage looked resigned. When he had inspected her class he had no problems with her teaching skills or methods, just the content. It was at least 100 years out of date. "Professor Burbage, I would like to call in an expert to help you update the Muggle Studies class. I would also like you to take some time next summer to go out and live among the Muggles. My friend will gladly go with you to help you learn more about muggles. We truly do not give them as much credit as they are due and the Muggle Studies class is not doing the students any favors by teaching things that are a century old." The muggle Professor just nodded in acceptance. Professor Foote took one more look around the room. He had already outlined the problems that needed to be rectified by each of the teachers on probation privately and felt no need to mention them again.
"Unless there is any other business to discuss, I believe that is all I have for this meeting. Let's adjourn and head to dinner." With that the teachers rose and made their way to the Great Hall for dinner. When Headmaster Foote announced the change in Head of House, ¾ of the school cheered in happiness whereas a small group of the Slytherins looked on with mutinous expressions while a large part of the house kept their faces blank.