The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and my Dark Arts teacher, Professor Seymour was an elderly man who, I realized, did not tolerate a whole lot of bullshit. In fact, he used those very words as soon as I walked through the door.
"Ms. Kingsley. I do not tolerate bullshit."
"Er, right," I replied.
"Professor!" I hastened to add.
"Do you know why you are learning the Dark Arts?"
"Um…"
"Because you are studying wandlore and wands are designed to produce dark magic as well as light."
"Now, on your feet. Draw your wand."
Nervously, I gripped my wand stood on my feet.
There was no movement and then he suddenly flicked his wand up.
I went crashing down the classroom, finally banging into a desk.
"I thought the previous Professor taught you non-verbal magic. Why weren't you able to sense that?" Professor Seymour asked me, frowning.
"I don't know," I managed to say, massaging my side as I got up. This man is insane.
"Hmmph, try again."
I was thrown backwards again and landed butt-first on the ground.
"What are you doing, girl? Are you completely inept in magic?" he asked exasperatedly.
"Is this what you're doing with the Defense Against the Dark Arts class too?" I wheezed as I stood up again. I couldn't imagine people not complaining after a lesson like this. At least Elgar has warned us, this maniac just cursed us to fly across classrooms!
"Ah", Seymour said and grinned rather triumphantly, "Of course not. But there's a difference, isn't there?"
"What?" I said wearily, still grasping my wand tightly in case he ambushed me again.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts is just that. Defense. Thus, it is a form of light magic and light magic favors systems, structure, reasoning. It is to be taught through patience and pure heart. But the Dark Arts… Well, that's something difficult altogether, isn't it?"
"Professor?"
He waved his wand again. Unable to react again, I simply dove out of the way. The curse hit the desk and rebounded off into the empty fireplace which suddenly burst into black flames.
"See, that's it," Seymour said approvingly as I tried to untangle my limbs and get back up again. "Dark Arts is not level-headed and systematized, it is chaotic, passionate, selfish, unexplainable. It is about unconditional survival and possession."
"Dark Arts are created for wizards who wish to survive no matter the ost and those understanding the Dark Arts can best do so by surviving them, not by defending efficiently against them."
"So-" He flicked his wand again and this time I went flying, having let down my guard.
"If you find a way to get past an hour without being hit by my spells," he said, as I scrambled to grab my wand, "I'll consider you to have passed the midterm."
The only way to pass that midterm is to stay hidden in my bed. This man has completely lost his marbles!
I was so relieved when class was over. I headed up to Gryffindor Tower to drop off my bookbag before going to lunch and met the others up there as well, changing from formal student robes into everyday dress.
"You know Professor Seymour?" I said, opening my bag and taking out my unused Dark Arts textbook. "He's very hands-on, isn't he? I mean, he's kind-of a maniac."
"Is he?" Lily asked, surprised. "In Defense, he's very theoretical."
"Yeah, seemed like a sleepy guy," Dorcas agreed,."We didn't use our wands once and our homework was a three-parchment essay on the theoretical use of incorporeal shields. Inarguably useful, but dead boring."
"Oh no," Alice bit her lower lip. "I must've left my Astronomy book up at the Tower just now."
"That's all right. We can go get it before dinner starts," Lily replied.
I wanted to groan at the thought of all those stairs, but I kept silent.
"So what's up with you?" Dorcas asked Marlene as we clambered up the stairs of the Astronomy Tower a few minutes later. "You've been quiet, and that usually means you're upset."
"It's nothing. Just tired," Marlene mumbled.
"You know what, straight after we find Alice's book, I'm going down to the Great Hall to catch Sirius and ask him what he did. Every time Marlene's down, it's his fault," Lily said angrily.
Marlene just shook her head, though she did seem slightly more cheerful after that.
We tiredly clambered up the winding staircase, rubbing our eyes and yawning though it was only lunchtime. Thursdays always seemed quite long. When we finally reached the top, we were surprised to see Frank Longbottom up there as well, holding his jacket and Alice's textbook.
"Oh, is this yours?" Frank asked, holding out the textbook. "I forgot my jacket and when I came back up here… this book was here as well."
Alice was silent for a moment and when she replied, "Yes, it's mine." I realized her voice sounded slightly more feminine and the smallest blush was lingering in her cheeks.
Although I'd already clearly gotten the message, Marlene not-so-subtly elbowed me in the ribs.
"Ow!" I cursed under my breath as Marlene waggled her eyebrows at me. From the sudden intake of breath on Marlene's other side, I knew that Lily had gotten the Marlene's other elbow shoved at her ribs.
"Okay," I whispered in Marlene's ear rapidly before she stepped on my foot, "I get it."
"Alice, we're really tired from that dreadful climb. Why don't you and Frank go on ahead to dinner? We'll be there in a few," Marlene said, obviously over-exaggerating how tired she was. I almost burst out laughing at her horrible attempt at acting.
Alice was torn between embarrassment and amusement as she shook her head and said, "I can wait for you, Marlene, if you're so tired. I'm actually a bit worn out too."
"Well, Thursdays are always the worst of the week," Frank said agreeably. He smiled at us and said, "I'll see you girls around then. Take care."
Alice shyly waved good-bye as he left, but as soon as Frank left, she and Marlene shrieked at each other. Marlene was yelling at Alice for not taking the chance to be alone with him and Alice was half-shouting, half-laughing about how obvious Marlene had been.
"Now," Professor Slughorn puffed himself up proudly at eight in the morning, "I'm very pleased that Alchemy has had sufficient demand for this class to exist. There are twenty of you sixth and seventh years here. And of course, the Headmaster, who is a profoundly accomplished alchemist himself, is also quite pleased. In fact, he corresponded with his longtime alchemist partner, the famed Nicholas Flamel, to ask for this sample so that I may show you firsthand one of the greatest achievements of alchemy to date."
Professor Slughorn held up a tiny vial with a clear but almost-glowing potion. "The Elixir of Life," he announced grandly, and as desired, many students gasped loudly.
"Its incredible effect is that it grants extended life for as long as the user drinks it regularly. Therefore, this little vial won't do much. However, this is truly the pinnacle of alchemy as we know it today. Now, does anyone know the other two common goals of alchemy?"
From Hufflepuff, Madison Jane's hand shot straight up.
"Yes, Ms. Jane?"
"The transmutation of common metals into gold or silver and the discovery of a universal solvent," she recited smartly.
"Yes, well put, five points to Hufflepuff. Now, we shall partner up as the very first step to alchemy is a messy one of testing for non-universal solvents and I am sure it will require more than two hands and one brain."
Slughorn paired us up at random, and as luck would have it-
"We're partners," I said impassively.
"Go get the materials, then," Snape said equally as impassively, matching my carefully disinterested stare with a sneer.
I remembered that Lily said she had spent the summer with him, implying that he lived very close to her. I wondered how this summer had gone between them, what with the disaster after O.W.L.s.
"Aren't you going?" he snapped.
I walked over to the cabinet and began rummaging around for all the different potions we had to test against each other. There were at least twenty and by the time I'd gotten all twenty in my arms, I was not the prettiest picture of stability.
"Watch it!" I shouted, feeling a vial at the very bottom slip past my wrist. Evanna Weasley, Head Girl, and a beautiful redhead, just managed to stick her foot out in time to keep the vial from shattering. She placed it carefully just at the top of the pile in my arms.
"Thanks," I told her. I staggered my way over to Snape and simply released the pile on the table all at once. They rolled around everywhere and one of them caught on the edge of Snape's textbook. The stopper came loose and the green liquid spilled over onto his page.
"Watch what you're doing!" he said angrily. Using his wand, he immediately siphoned off the gunk covering his textbook before slamming it shut. The cover of the book was familiar. He'd had this book last time we had been partners in Potions. He'd scribbled all over his book, I recalled. Things like "Knight of Walpurgis" and "Sectumsempra- For Enemies". He stowed the book away in his bang and took out some parchment and ink.
Sectumsempra?
I hesitated. "Sn-"
"A frog?" What's a frog doing croaking around here?" Reginald Cattermole, a seventh-year Hufflepuff at the table beside us, leaned down and picked up a very familiar frog.
"That's Trevor!" Dorcas said, coming over. "Frank's been looking for him for ages. Here, I'll give him back."
"Well," Snape demanded besides me, "Aren't we beginning?"
"Yeah", I said. "Do you want to write down the observations or should I?"
"I'll write them," he said decisively. "I doubt you would write anything of value, Kingsley."
I studied him over the salamander blood I was pouring into the cauldron. His skin seemed much sallower and his eyes seemed almost sunken. His face was always drawn into an unpleasant leer while his eyes seemed both angry and wary.
Sectumsempra? In Advanced Magical Theory, we had gone through the roots of spells. Sempr meant 'one's enemy for life' and sec meant-
"That's wrong," Snape hissed, grabbing my wrist. "You're supposed to mix salamander blood with foxtail grass, not silver-leaf geranium."
"Oh..." I said. "Right. Sorry."
Sec was a derivation 'to cut' used mostly in aggressive, dark magic. The effect of the spell was likely to be some sort-of deep gash that could possibly be fatal if done with dueling intent. In short, the incantation stank of irreversible darkness.
Snape had not hesitated to use it on Sirius that night last year and from the looks of it, he himself that created that spell. What else is he capable of?
Again, with Snape's keen eyes and intellect, we finished before most of the class. As I copied down his observations after we had cleaned up, the image of his handwriting scrawled across the page was still in my mind. Sectumsempra- For Enemies.
Snape looked down at my notes and said in an exasperated tone, "No, we mixed the purple hyacinth with the nasturtium and the hellebore with the amaranthus. "Really, are you always this inattentive? Or perhaps you're just stupid? How did you get into this class? Where is your focus?"
"What about your focus?" I found myself asking him. I shook my head, half because I wanted to take back what I'd said for fear that he would curse me and half because I was disappointed in Snape.
The image of his handwriting scrawled across the page was still in my mind. Sectumsempra- For Enemies.
"My focus is none of your business, Mudblood," Snape snapped.
"Haven't you learned not to use that word yet? You ended up calling Lily that and she-" I retorted angrily. Don't you remember what it did to Lily last year? And you still use that word.
"Shut your mouth," Snape replied stiffly. He looked furious, his jaw clenched tightly.
"You've become crueler, Snape. Or maybe you always have been and I've just been, as you've said, inattentive."
Snape's eyes flashed.
Suddenly, there was a large crash.
"Trevor!" Dorcas cried.
"He's fine!" Evanna said, crouching down to look at Trevor. "Only…only he's got a bit of potion of him."
Suddenly, Emmeline Vance let out a loud shout of laughter as she realized, "Wasn't that vial filled with Elixir of Life? Merlin, it's an Immortal Frog!"
The class burst into a chorus of rambunctious laughter.
But Trevor the Immortal Frog was in danger of becoming very mortal as Slughorn, with an indignantly quivering mustache, bellowed at us for dropping that immeasurably precious vial, wasting the pinnacle of alchemy on the likes of a frog, and shouted at us. "Class dismissed, get out, all of you!"
Dorcas quickly scooped up Trevor and dashed out before he was squashed under the foot of a hostile Slughorn.
"Alice," Dorcas sang, skipping through the common room to where Alice and Lily were sitting together. "I've caught you a present."
"You what?" Alice asked, looking up.
"Present!" Dorcas chirped happily, and shoved Trevor at her.
Alice let out a little shriek and leapt up, trying to avoid the slimeball flying at her.
"Go give it to Frank," Dorcas smirked. She nodded her head over to a table at a different corner. "He's over there."
He was sitting at the table, his quill suspended over parchment as he laughed at a joke another seventh-year Gryffindor girl was telling him.
Alice hesitated. "Go," Lily urged. So Alice carefully scooped up the dazed frog and holding him tightly between two hands went over to Frank.
"Um, your…s?", she said, and as though Trevor was some sort-of offering, she abruptly held him out still clutching it tightly with two hands.
Frank looked down at the slightly eye-bulging frog and said, "Yeah, he's mine!" He took Trevor gratefully and said, "Wow, thanks, I've been looking for him for ages. Where'd you find him?"
"Oh, um…" Alice blushed slightly before saying, "H-he was a present."
"What?" Frank said in utter bewilderment.
Dorcas silently facepalmed herself while Lily had to fight hard to keep tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks.
I quickly snuck over to Alice and slung my arm around her shoulders and said loudly, "He was present- in our Alchemy class!"
"Oh," Frank said, some of the confusion in his eyes clearing.
"He might've imbibed some Everlasting-no I meant, Elixir of Life potion, so if he seems like a nice spotless toad now compared to before, that's why. He's got a long life ahead of him, might be the first toad ever to y'know, grow a beard and whatnot," I chattered on nonsensically, trying to give Alice some time to get over her nerves and actually make a nice introduction of herself.
And finally, after I'd pondered aloud whether amphibians had the ability to grow any type of hair at all, Alice stuck out her hand and cutting through my babbling, said with a shy smile, "Hello, I'm Alice Baker."
Frank's mouth, hanging open in the air as he listened to me rattle on shut and he looked at this shy, blushing girl in front of him.
He smiled a little, took her hand, shook it, and said, "Yes, I know you. Sixth year, right? Friends with Dorcas and Lily?"
Alice nodded.
"Well, I'm Frank. Frank Longbottom."
"Ray!" Lily suddenly called, "I need you over here. Help me with this bit…"
I obliged, sitting down with Lily and Dorcas again.
"Wow, I've never heard you speak such rubbish in my life, and that's saying a lot, that is," Dorcas smirked at me.
"Shut up," I replied. "D'you think Alice can do it?"
"Of course she will. She's been meaning to for ages," Dorcas responded.
"Sh!" Lily shushed us both and we strained our ears to hear.
"Will you… will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" Alice asked, shuffling her feet uncomfortably. "J-just as friends, of course."
"Oh…" Frank said, surprised. "Yeah, I would like tha-"
"Frank," the girl beside him cut in, "that's not fair. You promised to come with us this time."
"Oh, right," Frank said, sounding slightly put out. "Yeah, I'm sorry, but I promised her and a few of my other buddies that I'd come with them. Sorry. Maybe next time."
"That's all right," Alice said quickly. "I mean, I never expected you to- well, have fun!"
Frank looked as though he had more to say, but Alice quickly rushed over to us and hid her face behind a book.
"It's all right," Lily said gently. "I'm sure he really wanted to go with you, he just-"
Her words were cut off as someone's conversation spilled into ours. One voice sounded accusing and the other exasperated.
It was Sirius and Marlene, having just walked in through the portrait hole. A minute later, Marlene sat down at our table, looking very ticked off.
"Are you all right?" Alice asked, genuinely worried. I watched Alice as every thought about herself flew out of the window and her entire being was worrying over Marlene. Marlene flopped over and groaned and Lily rubbed her back soothingly. Alice's eyes caught mine and she asked me, "What is it?"
I spoke exactly what was on my mind, "If Frank doesn't marry you someday, he's an idiot."
Alice put the book up in front of her face again.
