"We have a Dark Arts class?!" Virgil hissed to Genny as they continued walking, "What?! We-?! With-! And it's taught by-!" he felt himself starting to panic, Genny aggressively ruffling his hair in - possibly - an attempt to calm him down.
"Sounds interesting, personally." Genny shrugged, "But what in the bleeding hills is the 'Duelist Wing'? I've never heard of that part of... Hogwarts..." she trailed off, stopping as she looked around, confused.
This way and that. Back and forth.
She swirled, Virgil finally catching her before she could collide with an older student that was passing by. She scratched her tangly, black hair, before putting her hand in front of her mouth.
"Where are we?" she narrowed her eyes, "I certainly don't remember that skeleton being there."
She pointed to an enormous kelpie skeleton, which stretched to and fro, back and forth, overlapping itself several times due to the enormous length of its tail. Virgil recognized it as the Loch Ness Monster, but was pretty sure that it wasn't meant to be on display in Hogwarts. It wasn't even supposed to be dead, from what he remembered.
"What do you-"
"Excuse me!" Genny grabbed a passing Hufflepuff who was quite a bit taller than her, "Where's the Duelist Wing?"
The student gawked at her for a moment, before smiling gently. She looked quite nice, so Virgil wasn't worried about her taking a cynical view of their ignorance. Instead, she just pointed in a general direction before articulating the path they'd need to get there.
Genny looked miserable by the time she was done.
"I swear, if all of bloody Hogwarts has been rearranged!" she grumbled, "That was the one thing I knew better than you!" she drove a finger into Virgil's stomach, "And I was really hoping I'd get to lord it over you for a while!"
Before Virgil could question this, she grabbed his hand and turned his brain off, dragging him along the path the Hufflepuff girl had laid out for them. Virgil felt himself shudder as he reached a part of the castle that just felt... wrong. Genny must've felt it, too, because he felt her squeeze his hand a little as they entered it.
It reached into the hills surrounding Hogwarts by way of a wide, tall and brilliant hallway. A series of heartbreakingly beautiful stained glass windows looked out over the rolling hills below, Virgil having not realized they were on quite so high a bridge until he saw people riding broomsticks weaving below them.
It felt more like the sort of scene he'd seen in the Ministry, not Hogwarts. White, gold and brown stone melded together, leading straight towards an entire wing that neither of them had ever even heard of before.
And a giant owl statue marked its entrance.
"Lumenlock..." Virgil murmured.
"Do you suppose their Common Room's located in this wing?" Genny looked around suspiciously. If she was trying to spot a student from the Fifth House, however, it was fruitless. They were so few compared to the other Houses that finding one was like spotting lightning on a clear day. Still, Virgil couldn't help but feel uncomfortable being in what was most certainly their home territory.
Genny stopped to ask for directions again before they finally reached the classroom, which was located up another three floors. Virgil froze as they reached a landing, the sound of spells in the distance. He managed to spot a flash of red light from around a corner, followed by a hastily shouted 'Prote-'
It was interrupted, a Gryffindor suddenly flying into view, landing flat on his back on the unforgiving marble floor. He fought to his feet, but as he did his entire head suddenly twisted around. Then his left leg. It didn't seem to hurt him at all, but it caused him to stumble and fall as his other limbs began to twist and untwist.
"Alright, alright! I give!" he shouted out, eyes wide with panic.
"Winner: Alfonse Tarot." came a cold woman's voice, "Points to Lumenlock."
Virgil shuddered, suddenly filled with the overwhelming desire to get as far from the duel as possible. Genny seemed to realize this, dragging him up the stairs as they went. The idea of officially sanctioned duels felt... strange. Dueling was part of being a wizard in many ways, but to actually be able to earn House points by hurting your fellow student?
He shivered, a cold wind cutting through his robes.
"You got lucky, kid." Quint's voice appeared, Virgil finding his ancestor walking up the stairs next to him, "Now dueling's an official subject. You know what that means?"
Virgil stared at him. He couldn't say anything, so he just had to make it clear what he meant with looks alone. And that was easy, because he truly had no idea what Quint meant.
"That 'Eldred' prick's probably gonna be ten times the duelist he already was in this timeline. And you're still just... you." Quint casually let a student phase through him as he continued ascending the stairs, "I doubt you could beat him even if you got the drop on him this time."
Virgil turned pale, his face clearly screaming 'Did I not already have enough to worry about?!'
"Sorry, kiddo."
The Ravenclaw released his wand.
"This is it." Genny breathed as they stopped at the door, "The Dark Arts Classroom."
She stepped in without a hint of hesitation, Virgil forcing himself to follow suit. It felt wrong. The Dark Arts was never something he wanted to study in any form. Even if they were mostly teaching simple Jinxes and Curses for dueling purposes, it felt so wrong to train students to use such magic.
Even if he knew some normal Charms were more dangerous than half the Jinxes out there. Even if he already knew Curses himself. But they were taught to him by Quintinus. This was taught by the former Headmaster, who might not have even been the Headmaster in this timeline.
The classroom was about on par with what Virgil might've expected from a Dark Arts classroom. It was unappealing, murky and gloomy. Desks sat in rigid rows down the middle, leading up to a main stage where the Professor would address them. The room had been decorated with a number of skeletons, taxidermied monsters, anatomical diagrams and astrological drawings.
Virgil came to a stop as he spotted something suspended from the far wall that made his blood run cold. At first he'd thought it was just a horse skeleton.
And then he noticed the single horn protruding from its forehead.
"Is that..." Virgil gulped, "A unicorn skeleton?"
Genny pushed him towards a set of chairs off to the side, by a pair of clear, colorless windows. She faced outward towards the rest of the class, eyes narrowed as she searched for Slytherin that looked like they might become problems. She shot a quick glance to the skeleton, visibly shivering.
"They might've just found a dead one." she whispered back to him, "Just because it's there doesn't mean they killed it." she paused, "Right?"
"I would politely ask all of you to fall completely silent." the Professor's voice rang out across the rapidly filling room, drawing all attention to it. Professor Black emerged from a side staircase, rising out of the ground like a zombie from a crypt.
He looked... bad.
He held a hip flask in one hand, walking with a slight hobble that seemed to indicate a limp. Virgil stared at him, not quite believing he was the same as the snooty, proud man he'd spoken to just the night before. He certainly hadn't known much about the original Headmaster, but he could still barely recognize them as the same people.
Because... they weren't.
Their names may be the same and they may sort of look the same, but their lives could have been completely different. Different decisions, different problems, different triumphs and failures and fears and dreams. The Professor stomped across the room, lifting himself up onto the teaching platform as his students fell silent.
He took a quick swig from his flask before putting the stopper on it and sticking it into his jacket pocket. His hair was bedraggled and stringy, as if it had absorbed an entire bonfire of smoke. His goatee was overgrown by just enough to look scruffy and unprofessional.
And his eyes.
Virgil shuddered.
There was something wrong with his right eye, but he couldn't tell what. It just looked... wrong. Different. It was too wide and seemed to dart about out of sink with the other. He stumbled to the main podium, making Virgil wonder if he really had a bad leg or just a bit too much to drink.
A drunk Professor at Hogwarts?
That seemed... wrong.
The Professor took a moment to study them, his eyes eventually sinking into Virgil like a pair of serpent fangs. Instantly, the Ravenclaw was reminded of what the new Headmaster had said.
"Banham. Greenteeth. See me after class." he seemed to sober up a bit as disdain soured his drunkenness. His words sent a chill down Virgil's spine, causing him to bow his head from embarrassment. Genny, on the other hand, just shot a look around the classroom to make sure nobody was laughing at them.
The Professor's eyes unfocused a bit.
"Who here knows at least one Jinx, Hex or Curse?" he asked, candidly.
Every single hand in the class raised, Virgil included.
"Exactly." Black sighed, "And are any of you ravening lunatics who ought to be hunted down by a team of Aurors and executed sight. on. scene?" he glanced around, "No. You are not. The 'Dark Arts' do not a 'Dark Wizard' make. Dark Wizards are made by darkness in one's heart and mind, which learning Curses can lead to, but..." he bristled, "That is why we learn."
Virgil was horrified that he almost sort of got it. Their interest - or, at least, Black's interest - wasn't in teaching them evil magic just for the sake of it, but was teaching them spells and how to use them responsibly. Still, what was really the point in them learning these spells at all? The only reason he knew Mimblewimble was to end duels without hurting people.
What kind of other spells were they going to learn? Were they actually going to be taught deliberately cruel and petty ones, like the Bat-Bogey Hex? Or Furnunculus, for that matter?
The first lesson was right up Virgil's alley, though, as it involved no actual spellcasting and a load of note-taking. Black was very deliberate about setting the stage before teaching them anything, though he did let them know what the first spell they'd be casting would be:
Colloshoo.
The Stickfast Hex. Relatively harmless, especially when used by first years. And they weren't casting it until they'd learned extensively about the history of the Dark Arts, which drew more than a few groans from the class.
"I already know that Hex." Genny said, snottily, "Or..." her brow furrowed, "Wait, was it that or the Charm that turns your hair into drippy slime?"
She spent a minute tracing wand movements in the air with her finger while mumbling to herself, Virgil busying himself with writing notes down. He jumped as he heard a loud snore from behind him, turning around to find that a First Year Gryffindor boy had fallen asleep completely. His head hung back, his mouth open, his snores drawing the attention - and laughter - of the entire class.
"What an admirable display." Black's face flickered with irritation. He picked up a dried up rosebud from a nearby collection of mostly-dead flowers and held it in his palm, "Waddiwasi."
With a flick of his wand, it flew from his hand and straight into the gaping mouth of the Gryffindor boy, who instantly choked on it. He doubled over, spitting it out before clawing the flavor from his tongue as the rest of the class laughed.
"Points from Gryffindor for that little stunt, Mr. Potter." The bell rang. "Dismissed. Except for you two." his eyes met Virgil and Genny, who lingered in their seats as the rest of the students filed out. Some were still laughing at the Gryffindor boy, while others glanced at the Ravenclaw duo.
Virgil quickly rose to his feet and approached the Professor, who was busy sorting some documents out on his podium. He didn't look up as the two walked up to him, giving Virgil a chance to gawk a bit at his eye.
It wasn't an eye. It was an eyepatch with a fake eye painted over it. The paint had begun to crack, but that didn't stop the eye from looking around and blinking, a bit out of sink with his real one. The straps were colored to blend in with his skin and his grey-black hair, making it almost impossible to tell from a distance that the patch was even there at all.
Black looked up at the two, finally.
"Detention, then." he groaned, "It always happens this time of year: some Gryffindor or Hufflepuff charlatan falling asleep in my class. And I'm running out of flowers. I need something else." with that he set a giant box of gum on the desk, "This is your punishment."
"Gum?"
"Nice to know you can read, Ms. Greenteeth. I can see why you were sorted into Ravenclaw, now." he smiled, thinly, "I would suggest not looking at your Professor like that, young lady. Now, quite simply, I want you both to chew up all this gum and deposit it in this bowl for me." he set a wooden dish on the table next to the boxes, "That's all, really."
"That's revolting."
"That's the point, Ms. Greenteeth." Professor Black raised an eyebrow, "Flowers are just annoying. Mouse skeletons worked for a while, but were a bit too... pointy." he grimaced, "I think 'chewed gum' will be the solution I've been looking for."
"When do you want us to do that?" Virgil stared at him.
"After your last class and until dinner." Black tapped his wand smartly on the giant box of gum, "And you'll keep at it every day until all the gum is chewed up. Sounds simple enough, I take it?"
"Yes, Professor." Virgil said, before Genny could say anything snippy.
"Excellent. Dismissed."