DADA Classroom
September 2nd, 1997
Harry was nervously pacing in front of his desk. It was the last class for the day and it was with the 7th years. The class which not only included Sirius, Remus and Alice, but also his parents, Marlene, Dorcas and others. He had seen Marlene and Dorcas in the album Hagrid had given him at the end of his first year. But he never got to know more about them.
He was thinking how will he be able to teach them when Ginny came out of their office. She saw him pacing in front of the desk and instantly knew what was bothering him. It wasn't his usual nerves like he had before the first meeting of the DA. That was something however she found cute and amusing about him. It wasn't so much as teaching a class to some 7th years that was making him nervous. What was making him nervous was teaching them to the people who had taught him these things. Teaching it to Remus, who was not only one of the best professors they ever had, but was also one of the closest and most trusted professors Harry ever had. Teaching it to Sirius, who taught him so many spells when they had been at 12 Grimmauld Place during his 4th and 5th years. And in the end, teaching it to his parents, when everyone he knew had told him that their spell casting was brilliant, as was their spell knowledge. It was all of these combined that was making him nervous.
Ginny went to Harry and said, "Nervous about teaching your parents?" Harry nodded. She said, "I remember you being this nervous when you were going to teach the DA for the first time. Remember that day. You were constantly muttering how this was a bad idea and how Hermione should have been the one doing the teaching." Harry laughed and said, "Of course she should have been the one to do the teaching. She is the one who knows most spells and how to do them." Ginny nodded and said, "But you taught us brilliantly and were a wonderful teacher Harry. I knew that you would be a great teacher then and I am sure now as well. You will do good Harry." Harry smiled at her and said, "Thanks Ginny." Before he could say anything else, he saw the students entering the class.
After few minutes, nearly entire class was filled. But Harry and Ginny both noticed that James was not in the class. Since he was the head boy, they thought it might some head duty that may have held him back. But Lily was in the class, as were rest of the marauders. They then saw James enter the class. He said, "Sorry for being late professors. Some Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years asked for help in going to the greenhouses." Harry said, "No problem Mr. Potter. Come in." After James got inside and got to his seat, Harry and Ginny took the roll call and then started the class. Ginny said, "Welcome to your NEWT DADA class. As professor Dumbledore told you during the feast yesterday, I am professor Taylor while this is professor William and we are your DADA professors this year. Before starting today's class, we are going to recap what you all would have learnt till now and then tell you what you will learn this year."
Harry then said, "So till your OWLs, you would have learned about various dark creatures and the defence against them, along with several basic curses with with their counter curses. In your sixth year, you have studied in depth about the various advance defensive jinxes and curses. Am I right?" Everyone nodded. Ginny then said, "Till now you have not learned any dark, powerful and vicious curses. In this year, you will learn about various shields, the Patronus charm, cutting and severing curses and at last the unforgivable curses and other dark curses. We will go in depth about each spell. Let us start by a small quiz that we have prepared. We will give you either a curse or a counter curse. You have to list everything you know about it. Depending on that, we will give points to your house. Let's start with an easy one. What is verbal command for the disarming spell?" The quiz started with that question. It was a girl from Hufflepuff who answered it. After that, the questions got progressively difficult. They started asking about creatures and defense against them,
To Lily's surprise, the Marauders had scored the most for Gryffindor. They had even beaten Snape, who knew the most about the curses and was the best at DADA. She had never seen the Marauders participate this much in any class before. She knew that they were smart, considering not only the pranks they pulled, which required a lot of magical knowledge of charms and transfiguration, but also considering their marks in the exams. All of them were always near the top. Something was surely going on.
Harry and Ginny were very pleased with the knowledge the seventh years had. The Marauders had answered a lot of questions, even some of the more difficult ones. It was clear to them that James knew most about defensive curses. Similarly, Sirius knew most about offensive and dark magic while Remus knew most about the creatures. Peter wasn't strong in any one particular thing but had good knowledge on everything. They combined had scored 16 points for Gryffindor. Second highest had been Severus at 8 while Lily had 7. At the end, Gryffindor won 35 points, Slytherin 30, Hufflepuff 25 and Ravenclaw 30. It had been a great class and the students were excited for their next DADA class.