NOTE: I love Lupin! He's my favorite DADA teacher, hands down. Though in terms of comic relief, that would have to be Lockheart. And in terms of favorite actor, Moody- Brendan Gleeson is fantastic. And if you count Crouch Jr, when he was impersonating Moody, David Tennant is EPIC! Of course, he was the Doctor too, so this only made him more epic. And in terms of being a good villain, Umbridge and Snape were great. Anyway, Lupin is still my favorite, Umbridge coming in a close second. Who's your favorite?
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The second week of class was here. It was as uneventful as classes at Hogwarts could get, until their first Care of Magical lesson, when Malfoy got "clawed" by a Hippogriff. They all had seen- it was his fault. Hagrid had told them quite clearly that Hippogriffs are proud creatures and that you shouldn't insult them. Naturally, because of his own pre-conceived notions, he did not listen to him and did exactly as he shouldn't have. He insulted Buckbeak and got slashed.
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Professor Lupin came into his second Defense class. His students were sitting in anticipation, quiet, with their books in front of them. "You can put those away, those books. You won't need them today. Follow me, please."
Lupin led them to the staff room. He opened the door. The room had only a single occupant- Professor Snape. He was reading the Daily Prophet. As the door opened, he looked up. The Defense class was filing in. "Leave the door open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this." He rose from his chair and strode past the class. Just as he reached the door, he turned around. "I don't know if anyone has warned you about this class. It contains Neville Longbottom and I must advise you not to entrust him with anything too difficult. That is, unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."
Valentine couldn't tell who was more red- Hermione or Neville. She looked at Dean Thomas questioningly. He replied, "Later."
Lupin raised an eye brow. "I was actually hoping that Neville would assist me in the first stage of this operation. I'm sure he'll perform it admirably."
Snape's lip curled and his gaze lingered on Neville before he swept out of the room.
"Gather 'round," said Professor Lupin. He tapped the side of the wardrobe where teachers kept their spare robes and it began to rattle. "Can anyone have a guess on what's in here?"
There was silence for a moment. Then, Dean spoke up. "That's a boggart."
"Very good, Mr. Thomas, five points to Gryffindor," said Lupin. "Now, what does a boggart look like?"
Valentine raised her hand. "A boggart is a shape shifter. It will take the form of whatever the person who is in front of it fears the most."
Lupin nodded his approval. "Very good, Ms. Lynn, take five points for Ravenclaw. There is a charm for beating a boggart, but what really finishes them off is laughter. First the charm. Repeat after me- riddikulus." He had them repeat it a few times. "Very good. In addition to the charm, you need to find a way to make your worst fear seem funny."
At Lupin's instruction, the class formed a line and Valentine ended up near the front, right behind Neville, Ron Weasley and Parvati Patil. Neville stepped up, and Lupin whispered some instructions in his ear. Neville nodded, shaking. Lupin unlocked the wardrobe. Professor Boggart Snape stepped out. Poor Neville started to shake. "R-riddikulus!" Snape staggered back, now wearing Neville's grandmother's clothes- the stuffed vulture hat, the big red bag, and all the rest of it. The class roared with laughter.
"Very good! Ron, your turn!" said Lupin, laughing.
Ron stepped up, and the boggart shifted from Snape to a very large, very hairy spider. Ron made a face, then said the charm. The spider was now on roller skates and could not stand up. Everyone laughed.
After Parvati turned her snake into a jack in the box, Valentine stepped up and for her, the boggart turned into a squid. She stepped back, then brandished her wand. "Riddikulus!" The boggart squid turned as small as a Yorkie, grew wings and flew about the room. As soon as it neared Professor Lupin, it turned into a full moon. Lupin used the charm and it turned into a rapidly deflating balloon that zoomed around the heads of the students. "That's it for today. Thank you!"
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Valentine decided to write her parents. She hadn't yet, this year, but she was sure that both Angela and Chip both had. Maybe Percy and Annabeth had, but Valentine didn't know. So she sat down in the Ravenclaw Common Room; Terry came down and decided to join her and write his parents a letter too.
Mum and Dad,
Malfoy did it again- he didn't listen in Care of Magical Creatures and got hurt. I was talking to a friend from Gryffindor, Hermione, and apparently, he made a huge deal of it in their Double Potions class. She said he came in about half way through the class moaning about how it'll be ages before he'll be able to use his arm again. But Mum, you know what Madame Pomfrey can do with injuries in general. I think he just wants to make trouble.
My classes are going well. We learned about boggarts today in Defense, and we're learning about basic types of special numbers in Arithmancy. Those two classes, plus Charms, are my favorite. Though in Charms so far, we've been reviewing some of last year's material- we haven't gotten started on anything new. Professor Flitwick said that we should be getting started on new lessons next time, so on Tuesday.
How are things over there? Write back soon!
Love,
Val
Valentine put down her quill and sealed her letter. She looked up at Terry, and he had already sealed his letter. "Shall we?" Valentine stood up. Terry followed suit. He looked at his watch. "Want to head down to dinner after we send these?"
Valentine nodded. "Sounds good to me!"
It was a rather windy day. Valentine hugged her shoulders, hair flying around her. She glanced over at Terry, who wasn't faring much better than she was. His hair was getting longer, though still not quite as long as hers was getting. They finally got to the Owlry steps and climbed them quickly. The tower itself wasn't much help against the wind, but it helped a little.
"I need to get my hair cut," said Terry.
"Maybe you can when you get home for Christmas," said Valentine. She called down her owl, Eternity, one of the only two Snowy owls in the school. "Hey, can you take this to Mum and Dad for me?" She nipped Valentine's finger affectionately and took off. She turned to Terry, now tying his letter to a school owl's leg. "I wish we wore our cloaks."
"Let's just get back to the castle quickly. Ready?"
They got to the Great Hall fairly quickly, but their reprieve was short lived. As they were eating, Roger Davies spotted them and rushed over. "Hey guys, practice again tonight. We'll need to practice flying in these conditions for our first game next month."
"What time?" asked Terry.
"Seven," said Roger. "We'll be going for about an hour or so. Can you guys let Chip know for me? I can't find him anywhere."
"Will do," said Valentine.
"See you there," said Terry.
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True to their word, Valentine and Terry looked for Chip. They found him in a corner of the library, working on something, presumably for Transfiguration- it was a chart. "Hey, Chip."
He looked up. "Hullo."
"Did you skip dinner?" asked Valentine.
"I've been in here for hours," said Chip.
"We brought you something, but obviously, you can't eat it in here," said Valentine. "Come with us. Roger said there's Quidditch practice tonight, anyway, and you'll need to come down soon."
"What time?"
"Might as well come down now- it starts at seven," said Valentine.
It was already six forty five. "Might as well. Can you help me clean up?" asked Chip.
The table he was sitting at was strewn with various papers and quite a few books. Valentine gathered Chip's papers in a neat pile while the boys put the library books back. Finally, they were done. The trio rushed over to Ravenclaw tower, changed into their Quidditch robes, grabbed their brooms and practically sprinted down to the Pitch. Unfortunately, when they were still in the castle, it had started raining- it wasn't torrential, but neither was it just a sprinkle.
Roger wasn't deterred, however. Neither was the rest of the team. "There's a chance that we could be playing our first match in this weather," began Roger. "Our first match is next month, against Hufflepuff."
The team nodded.
"Hufflepuff's just gotten a new captain, some bloke called Diggory," said Roger. Erin and Phoebe exchanged giggles. "What's up?"
"N-nothing, Roger," said Erin through her giggles.
"Ok, he's in my year," said Roger, a sixth year. "He's smart, but from what I've heard, he's a bit dim about tactics. We've all seen him play Seeker too and we all know what he's like."
"He's not exactly the right build for a Seeker, Roger. He's too...big," said Valentine. "Not fat, but..."
"Right, we know what you're saying, Val. You have the advantage of being smaller than him. I also know that the Hufflepuff team's brooms are not the best on the market. I think they're all on Comet 260s, or even older models." He looked proudly at his team, clutching a mixture of new and old models, some Cleansweeps (a 5 and six), three Comets (two 260s and a 280), a Shooting Star and a Tailwind. "We know we can out fly them." The team cheered. "Now let's beat them!" The team cheered again.
They went outside. It had begun to rain harder. They were still under an awning, so they were still fairly dry.
"Hey, I know what can help visibility. Tap your forehead and say 'Impervious'! Your eyes or glasses will repel water!" said Phoebe.
The team did as she suggested. Roger and Julian had been carrying the ball crate.
"We'll use no balls and we'll just practice flying as a team, ok?" said Roger. "Follow me." He zoomed to the middle of the field and the team formed up around him. "Erin and Julian, I wanted to try something I saw at a Wasps match over the summer. The beaters fly in front of a Chaser, and pass the Bludger back and forth between then. The Chaser has the Quaffle. Terry, let's say you hold the Quaffle. Let's try it!"
After a while, it was clear that the team could not continue practicing in this weather. The team packed up early, though only with ten minutes to spare. Roger gathered the team in the locker room and told them about more practices on Tuesday and Thursday night.
"The game's on Friday and I want us to be well prepared. They might be pushovers, but I don't want to take the chance."
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The week leading up to the match was exhausting. The year had only just begun, in fact, it was only the beginning of October, but it was as intense as a Quidditch match could get at Hogwarts- that is, very. Valentine had observed that of the House rivalries, none were as intense as the one between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Many Gryffindors and Slytherins took sides in the coming match.
At the last two Ravenclaw practices before the match, the team had done well at the new maneuver that Roger had them practice, along with another maneuver. Valentine practiced something that she planned to use against Diggory.
Through the week, Chip wasn't sure what was worse- people telling him that he'd be great or that they'll reserve a bed for him in the Hospital Wing.
But through the help of his teammates, Chip dealt with it just fine. He'd written to Peter and Lois and told them about how nervous he was, and the morning before the match, he received a letter that fixed it all. He read it and saved it in his dresser drawer.
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The match went well- it started off slowly, each Keeper saving most goals, so that by about an hour into the match, the score was an even twenty – twenty. Valentine and Diggory had each spotted the Snitch a couple of times, but had been either blocked or distracted by the other.
Valentine thought it was the perfect time to deploy her new move. She stopped in mid air, about thirty feet above the match. Diggory was about twenty feet below her, and another ten by her right. She pressed herself flat against her broom, and flew right past Diggory, arm outstretched, seemingly reaching for the Snitch. Taking the bait, he followed her.
Valentine pulled into a shallow dive, heading towards the stands. She didn't see who was sitting there. She was not heading towards the people, but rather, towards the cloth covered wooden structures. Just as she and Diggory were about to hit it, she swerved out of the way. Diggory didn't fall for it, and was still on her tail.
Valentine grinned. It was all part of her plan. She did a hair pin turn, turning around. Diggory still followed her. She pulled this time into a deep dive. She and Diggory were side by side, heading straight for the ground.
Her maneuver was interrupted, however, when the Snitch really did cross their paths. Valentine rammed into Diggory's side, throwing him slightly off course. Then she zoomed toward the Snitch, Diggory slightly behind. Luckily for her, Valentine's broom was faster than his, and she was lighter too, so she flew faster than he did. She pressed herself flat against her broom and flew right towards it. She looked to her left and did a quick barrel roll to avoid a Bludger, her heart jumped a few beats. And she heard Lee Jordan's commentary as she did: "Moore, Hufflepuff Beater, sends a Bludger right at Ravenclaw Seeker Lynn. Aaaaand she does a barrel roll to avoid it! Good show!"
Valentine was only ten feet behind the Snitch, Diggory not far behind her. She urged her broom faster and outstretched her arm. She sped forward and her hand closed around the Snitch. She raised the Snitch in her hands and did a victory lap around the Pitch. Suddenly, a Bludger flew out of no where and smacked her right in the head.
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NOTE: So, what did you think of it?