"Well done Mr. Lovegood and Ms. Nebula," said Pavor, from behind his desk. He scratched the parchment in front of him with his quill, an unreadable look upon his face. He looked back up to the class and said, "Mr. Lupin and Co."
The trio stood up and watched as the corners of the professor's lips twitched, as if he were trying to hide a smile. They made their way to the front of the class. Everyone else, knowing of the enmity between Remus and Pavor immediately silenced and gave the three at the front of their room all their attention.
Demi walked over to the projector and tapped it thrice with her wand. A few images showed up on the screen behind her. "The werewolf, although thought by the ministry to be a bloodthirsty, wild, and untamable beast, is actually one of the few misconceptions that wizards and witches have regarding other creatures. For almost a thousand years, we wizards and witches thought of ourselves as superiors to the other creatures we live amongst, such as elves and goblins."
"We used to think that wizards and witches were immune to becoming such creatures," began Remus. "After Lysandro Lycarthovitch was bitten by a wolf in 100 BC, he became the world's first werewolf. Every full moon, he would go through a painful transformation into a werewolf. Naturally, many of the witches and wizards who once called Lycarthovitch a friend, became threatened by him. They would isolate themselves from him, making it harder for Lycarthovitch to cope with his problem."
"One night, one of Lycarthovitch's old friends came to visit him. Because he and Lycarthrovitch hadn't been in touch for a few years, he didn't know of his friend's condition. Lycarthrovitch's friend made the mistake of staying over at his house during the full moon. Sadly, Lycarthrovitch bit his friend before he was able to escape. Thus, the illness spread," Sirius ended.
"Now, there is one thing you have learnt from this story; the first werewolf was lonely. This means that when the person is in they lycanthropic form, they find themselves drawn to the presence of other living things. This is why they go after humans when they see them, to get over the loneliness. However, because their mind's are in a completely separate state from what they were before they cannot control themselves when it comes to hunger," Demi explained. She looked over at Pavor whose mouth was thin and had a pained expression on his face.
"Now, in order to get you all to realize that werewolves are not as harmful as you may think, we thought of a way to bring the werewolf to the class," Sirius said.
Pavor immediately stood up, "there is no way in hell that I am letting you bring a werewolf to my classroom!" he shouted at them.
"Oh, sir. Although we'd love to bring you a werewolf, we realize how threatened you may feel by it's presence. And we don't want to fail this assignment, we thought of a safer, more controllable, and portable way to teach the class," Sirius replied smugly. Pavor eyed the group as they smiled back at him. Slowly he sat back down.
"Now, back to where we were. Remus, if you'd be so kind" Demi said, moving aside.
Remus shut his eyes, pulled out his wand and cried, "expecto patronum!" The entire class watched as a huge wolf came bounding out of the tip of his wand, and ran around the class, nearly knocking over Pavor's chair.
"Now, the wolf is in the presence of all of us beings. The problem is the lack of creatures in the room. Now, there are three reason a werewolf is safe to be around. The first is that they are easily distracted," Remus said, concentrating on his patronus, which was pacing the length of the classroom.
"The second is that they are not immune to certain jinxes that any witch or wizard can cast. They are just as vulnerable as they would be in their human form," Sirius said.
"The final reason, is that their state of mind is more human, more complex when surrounded by other animals that are not threatened by the werewolf's presence," Demi said. She and Sirius pulled out their wands and muttered the incantation, and soon their patronuses were leaping around with the wolf in the front of the class. The Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs cheered, while Snape and the Slytherins skulked.
Pavor stood up from his chair once more, and the entire class went silent. "I see that th three of you took my words to heart, and decided to contradict most of what I have taught you this year." His thin lips turned up at the sides, into something of a smirk. "However, by contradicting the majority of what I have taught you this year, you haven't shown me that you understand any of the concepts I have explained to you, which is what the project is supposed to demonstrate."
The smiles on Demi, Sirius, and Remus' faces faded away, and were replaced with looks of anger, indignation, and frustration. "Sir, that's completely unfair! You told us to explain how werewolves are completely harmless. You can't just go around changing the rules," Sirius spat.
"Well, seeing as how I am the teacher, my rules dictate all. If I decided to change something I can, and there is nothing you can do to stop me," Pavor explained coldly.
Everyone in the class shivered, as if the room's temperature had dropped 50 degrees.
"But sir, that isn't allowed. Legally, you haven't the right-" Demi began.
"You do not have the right, Miss Dumbledore. I am sorry to inform you that I outrank you. You might be Dumbledore's daughter, or what not. But to me you are an insufferable know-it-all. I'm quite surprised that the Dark Lord didn't kill you instantaneously." Suddenly, everyone knew what was happening. Pavor didn't just hate Remus, he hated everyone except the Slytherins, whom he never said a word against. He didn't just skulk around in the shadows because he was a damned soul, he sold himself into slavery. He'd sold himself to Voldemort, who'd promised to give him something in return for keeping an eye on the younger, more naïve students of Hogwarts. Students that could be recruited into Voldemort's army.
"You son of a *****!" cried the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws.
"I might be, but under the service of the Dark Lord I know I will move on to greater things. It was he who stationed me here for the past year. He who helped me turn house against house. He who has been sneakily watching your progress, especially a select few." He turned back to Demi and rolled up his sleeve slightly, just so she could see what was on his inner left forearm.
She paled and her eyes opened widely. She looked back up and him and laughed, "I might be an insufferable know-it-all, but thank the lord that my intelligence far outstrips your own. I might be a witch, but there is no way in hell I'd ever want to be lumped in with a pathetic excuse for a human such as yourself. You regret that Voldemort (insert shudders from everyone here) didn't try to kill me. Fine. Do it yourself."
Without thinking, Pavor produced his wand from the folds of his cloak, pointed it straight at her heart and . . .
"PROTEGO MAXIMA!" a voice yelled from the back of the room. Everyone, including Demitria and PAvor who were separated from each other by a thin shield turned to where the spell came from. The students parted as Dumbledore made his way to the front of the class, until he was face to face with Pavor. Magic and Power radiated off the wizard, who along with the half-moon spectacles, had abandoned the sparkle usually encased behind them. "Prometheus Pavor. Your actions have no valid explanation. Your treatment of the students in Hogwarts was despicable. Your abuse of the power and authority you held was inexplicable." Dumbledore waved his wand and a pair of shackles moulded themselves around Pavor's ankles and wrists. "You are hereby fired from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and are sentenced to a hearing, in which you will receive the sentence you must face in Azkaban."
A huge cheer erupted from the three usual houses. As Pavor followed Dumbledore out of the class, he whispered to Demi, "Don't get too comfortable. I'll get out soon. And when I do, you'd better watch out. Cause I will pick off your little friends first, and you can watch." He stood up straight and carried on as if he hadn't said a word.
Demi, sighing, turned back to her friends, "Well, we'd better hurry up. If you didn't notice, we still have a few more exams to study for until we can leave this place for summer."
James and Sirius turned to her, "are you sure? I mean, since when have you ever studied for anything?"
"Starting now. I dunno what's going to happen in the future, but I want to be prepared as best as I can," Demi replied sullenly.
"Come on love, you should be excited! I mean, Pavor's gone. It's like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders!" Sirius said, practically dancing out of joy.
"Yeah, well, there will be more of him, I'm sure of it," Demi turned around and was about to leave the classroom before she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Lily, Alice, Frank, and Kiaria. "Hey guys," she muttered weakly.
"You were amazing. I don't think any of us could have done what you did," Frank said, patting her on the back.
"I stood there and yelled at him, I didn't exactly do much," she replied dully.
"You started down a man who was ready to kill all of us, and you didn't flinch," Alice stated, as the others nodded.
"Well, I've had a lot of practice." Demi waited a moment before saying what she really wanted to say. "You guys, I'm sorry for being such a prick. I wasn't treating you like a proper friend. I shouldn't have said all those things to you. I know you were just excited for me and trying to look out for me. I'm just not good with all these, feelings and nice gestures. I've never experienced it before."
"It's okay, we realized we were being a little pushy at times. We didn't know that's how you felt," Kiaria replied.
"S'okay. You guys wanna grab lunch or something?" Demi asked.
They nodded and walked out of the classroom, friends once again.