Chapter 17 - Professor Yaxley
"Have you guys seen this?"
"Hello James. Had a good summer James? Been anywhere nice?"
"Sorry." James said, putting down the paper apologetically. "I'm very keen to hear how your summer was. I am actually… but you need to see this first."
Sirius leaned over his shoulder to read the headline James was so interested in.
Professor Rachel Richards Dead at 87.
"Why do they have to say it like that? 'Dead at 87'. It's so horrid." Peter said with a little shudder.
"There's no dignity for the dead." Sirius said. "So go on, what happened. Let's hear it."
So James read.
It was just the four of them in the compartment. Sirius was already lounging in here when James had arrived and the pair of them had intercepted Remus and Peter as they'd gone past too.
"Killed in a duel?!" Peter said, eyes round and disbelieving. "Wasn't she ancient?"
"As already established, she was 87." James said. "Anyone can duel, Pete."
"Apparently not always successfully." Remus said grimly. "They didn't say who she was dueling, did they?"
James scanned the article. "No, it's very vague." He scratched his head. "But you know what this means."
"No dueling after eighty?"
"We're going to get a new defence against the dark arts teacher."
"Oh that's a shame. I liked Professor Richards." Peter said.
"Well I'm pretty sure she's not an option anymore Pete." Sirius said. "Unless she wants to apply for the position posthumously. She wouldn't be the first…"
He was referring, of course, to Professor Binns; the ghost who taught A History of Magic, who hadn't let his death stand in the way of his teaching career either.
"No one's teaching as a ghost." Remus said to Peter, who clearly hadn't understood what Sirius had said. "Except the ghost already in post."
"The ghost with the most."
"The most boring lessons I've ever had the misfortune of attending. Don't you think someone who's lived for three hundred years would be a bit more interesting?"
"But he hasn't lived, that's the point."
They continued to argue 'the point' for a while longer until James grew bored and got up to go to the bathroom.
He saw Lily Evans in the corridor on his way back to the compartment. Instantly recognisable by her bright red hair, which really was quite lovely, now he came to think about.
"Hi." He said, smiling at her and wondering if perhaps they could start afresh. They were second years now after all. But Lily gave him a contemptuous look and vanished back into her compartment where James expected if he went in he would see Snivellus' ugly face.
James frowned as he made his way back to his compartment. What was it about him that Lily disliked so much? He didn't understand at all.
"James, we need your help." Sirius called from the window. He and Remus were working on the crossword and they appeared to be stuck. "Which country won the quidditch World Cup in 1966?"
James looked at them incredulously. "Is that seriously on the crossword? What is it, a crossword for kids?"
Sirius flipped it over and read the front page headline: Death and destruction on the rise. "No I don't think so."
James sighed. His friends really were hopeless. "It's England. Obviously." He said.
Sirius wrote it in and James peered over his shoulder to see if he could help with anything else.
"You've misspelled Corbin."
"Huh?"
"Sunny Corbin, the Irish national team chaser. Six across."
"That's Corban you pillock. Not everything in this world is quidditch related you know."
"I don't see why it can't be." James said, reading the clue for six across: "Author of 'Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy'. He sounds like a ponce."
"Yes, Corban Yaxley. My parents have a copy at home. Obviously. I've also met the snobbish prat who wrote it. He's a family friend. Again, obviously."
"Owls of a feather." James agreed.
While Sirius and Remus finished the crossword, James and Peter played gobstones, until the game was interrupted by the train suddenly swerving and upsetting the board, sending their pieces flying off across the carriage.
"Oh sod it." James said, getting down on his hands and knees to crawl under the seat and throw the pieces back into the box.
As they were second years now, they made their way up to the castle by horseless carriage rather than boat. "This is more like it." They saw Roma Lestrange of Slytherin say, climbing up to the carriage as though she were wizarding royalty. Sirius and James snorted.
They sat at their usual place on the Gryffindor house table (the exact same spot Sirius had chosen to sit when he'd first been sorted last year) to watch the new first years be sorted. James thought how very small they looked compared to them.
James had been too overwhelmed to really listen to the sorting hat's song last year so was very pleased to be able to hear it this time round. The hat opened its 'mouth' and sang...
"Once upon a time
As the muggles like to start
There were four great friends
(Until they grew apart).
We know them by their houses' names;
Gryffindor's red and gold
For Godric took the students who
Were mostly brave and bold."
James and Sirius acknowledged this with a loud cheer.
"And then Rowena Ravenclaw
Who hated any fight
Decided that for her she'd take
The students who were bright.
Hufflepuff for her part
Hated being blue
And she was kind and honest
So took the students who were true.
And then shrewd Salazar
Disagreeing with the rest
Said to him the pure and cunning
Were the students who were best.
So there they are
The four great friends
Of magic blood and kin
And now you've heard
Now you're ready
The sorting may begin."
The great hall exploded into applause and all four boys grinned appreciatively.
"They sound like us."
"But who's who?"
"You daft pillock, what kind of question is that?!"
"What do you mean?"
"Well which one's Slytherin?"
"Oh. Not me."
"Still glad you're a Gryffindor?" James asked, grinning at Sirius.
Sirius looked at the hat thoughtfully as though remembering a conversation he'd had with it. "I always thought the hat decided for me, but now I wonder if it was really me all along."
After the sorting was over Dumbledore got to his feet to deliver a few start of term announcements.
"Couldn't he do this after we've eaten?" Peter moaned.
"Welcome students, and welcome back." Dumbledore said, beaming at them all from his gold winged podium at the front of the hall. "Now, a few start of term announcements before we become lost in our very excellent feast. Firstly, Mr Filch has asked me to tell you all there is a ban on every item on a list on his office door. I am told there are over two hundred items on the list. And that it is very important we all check it." His lip twitched a little as he went on.
"The forbidden forest, in true nominative determinism, is indeed still forbidden. The whomping willow stills whomps (also best avoided) and could I kindly ask Hufflepuff house not to feed the giant squid leftovers from the breakfast table. I am told it is getting fat."
"Now, as some of you may have read, it is with deep sadness that our Professor Richards lost her life over the weekend. She was a gifted witch and an excellent conversationalist. We shall all miss her dearly." There was a moment's pause as Dumbledore paid silent respects to his colleague. "We are fortunate however, that her post has been filled by published author and keen ex-duelist, Professor Yaxley."
There was applause as a tall, thin man with a shrewd-looking face got to his feet. James however noticed that Dumbledore was not clapping. In face he even looked a little uneasy as Yaxley waved a hand in acknowledgement of the applause and sat down again.
"Yaxley? The man your parents know?" Remus asked Sirius, connecting the dots from the train.
"That's the one." Sirius said, looking at the new teacher with deep dislike. "Can't wait to be taught the dark arts by him. Er, I mean defence against the dark arts." James wasn't sure if his friend was joking or not. Sirius sometimes had a slightly unusual sense of humour.
They ate their dinner and exchanged greetings with other friends, then made their way upstairs to their dormitory, the sign for which now read 'second year boys'.
As Peter went off to have a shower and Remus unpacked his trunk, James approached Sirius.
"So what happened?" He asked his friend quietly.
Sirius, who had been tugging a comb through his wet hair, looked up, a little guardedly. "That's a rather general question, Potter. Can you narrow it down for me?"
"Last time I saw you your mum was dragging you out of Lupin's house. It was a bit dramatic, or didn't you notice?"
"Oh." Sirius said, avoiding his eye. "Yeah, sorry about that."
"So what happened?"
"Oh can't we leave it?" He said, sighing and sinking back onto his bed. "They were angry, now I'm here. It's all fine."
"Why didn't you just tell McGonagall what they're like?" James asked, unable to help himself. "Your chance was right there. You needn't have even gone home at all."
"Teachers aren't always the superheroes you read in your comics." He said, and there was something sad and tired in his grey eyes as he spoke. "There's nothing she or anyone else for that matter can do. They'll win. They always win." James hated the defeat in his friend's voice.
'They don't have to', was what he wanted to say, but he let the matter drop. Sirius would figure things out in his own time. He replaced Peter in the shower, whipping his towel at him as he passed, which landed successfully. Sirius gave an appreciative laugh from behind and James grinned.
As they collected their timetables from McGonagall (James avoiding her eye completely this time), they saw that they had defence against the dark arts for their second lesson.
They were very keen to find out what this new teacher Dumbledore had hired was going to turn out to be like and if he would be a 'poncy prat' as previously predicted.
The girls, it seemed, were also curious.
"He's quite handsome, I suppose, for an old man." Sylvie Smetheyck said to Mary MacDonald as she helped herself to pumpkin juice. "What do you think James?" She asked, beaming across at him.
"I agree he's an old man." James said. "How was your summer, Sylvie?"
"Not bad thanks. Better than Lily's at least. Her sister Petunia isn't speaking to her apparently because she's jealous she's not a witch too. I mean can you imagine anyone being so petty?"
Peter opened his mouth to offer an insight, but Lily interrupted. "Please Sylvie, don't involve these emotionally incompetent twits in my personal life. It was bad enough having one self-absorbed idiot to deal with other the summer, now I've got four."
"Remus isn't an idiot." Sirius said fairly. "And James has his moments." He added.
Peter coughed, but it seemed he was finished.
Sylvie kept James and Sirius talking for so long and pouring them glass of pumpkin juice after glass of pumpkin juice that they completely missed the start of charms. The three of them ran in just as Professor Flitwick was hanging out teacups. "Just a few backflips, that's the stuff." He told them, demonstrating with his wand.
After charms (there was no small amount of broken china on the floor) they headed to the defence against the dark arts classroom to meet the unknown new entity that was Professor Yaxley.
His eyes narrowed suspiciously as they entered and, recognising Sirius among them, told him to sit at the front.
"Why?" Sirius asked, pausing on their way to the back of the classroom.
"Because when a teacher tells you to do something, you do it." He snapped. "Front row. Now."
James thought the whole thing was incredibly unfair as no one else seemed to have been given assigned seating, but he and the others joined Sirius at the front nonetheless. They couldn't have their friend suffering alone.
When the class was all assembled and he'd taken attendance, Professor Yaxley introduced himself. He didn't mention the book he'd written (James could understand why), but spoke instead of his background in duelling. And then he spoke about the dark arts, and it was quite unlike anything James had ever heard before.
"The dark arts is something many fear, but few possess. It is a branch of magic so dark and dangerous that few but the very bravest will ever penetrate its mysterious vortexes."
What on earth did that mean? It sounded like some sort of space mission.
"The dark arts are not taught at Hogwarts, but that does not mean we cannot go near them. As we defend, so must we understand. We must draw near our enemy. Close enough to taste, and extract its secrets. It is then and only then that we may truly know power."
Sirius was staring at Yaxley with a mixture of disgust and incredulity. "Reckon Dumbledore took a bludger to the head over the summer?" He muttered to James out of the corner of his mouth.
Professor Yaxley wrote down a few curses on the chalkboard and then turned back to them, smiling in a way that made him look like one of those muggle clowns kids were so scared of. "Let's practice."
"Practice the curses?" James asked, reading what he'd written on the chalkboard. He recognised some from his dad telling him about them. His father had been a good dueler in his day, and though he strongly discouraged his son from doing any dueling himself (until he'd learned how), he had told James what to be wary of.
"Well how else are we to learn to defend ourselves?" Yaxley snapped.
Sirius was staring at him as if he were mad. "You're mad!" He said. "Are you telling me you're expecting us to practice 'dolor corpus' on each other? That one's bloody agony! Er - so I hear."
Yaxley approached his desk, glaring down at him in such a way James was surprised Sirius didn't recoil.
"Are you questioning my authority Black?" He said, his voice hard and menacing.
"No sir, just your common sense." Sirius replied and James snorted appreciatively.
"I see." Yaxley said coldly. "And when I write and tell your mother how disobedient, uncooperative and foul-mouthed I find you, what do you suppose she will do?"
"Probably agree with you sir."
James burst out laughing and Yaxley slammed his wand down on his desk, causing both James and Sirius to jump and look up.
"Detention, Potter. And detention to you too Black. I don't appreciate being spoken back to by anyone. Not even the famous first born of Orion and Walburga Black."
They didn't practice the curse that had disgusted Sirius so much, but James did need to double his efforts on maintaining his shield charm as Sirius (who was partnering him) reluctantly cast the others his way.
"I suppose there's some logic to it." He told his friend, sweating slightly from the exertion. "You do end up with stronger defences."
At the end of the lesson, Professor Yaxley told Sirius to stay behind.
"What does he want now?!" He muttered incredulously to James.
Though the others tried to stay and wait for him, they were told by the irritable professor that Sirius didn't need an entourage and what he had to say was none of their concern.
"None of our concern… None of our concern Merlin's bum." James said as they made their way slowly to herbology. "Did you hear him talking about the dark arts? What an evil, twisted, jumped up -"
"Talking about Yaxley?" Sirius had caught up with them. He was panting as though he'd just been running but clearly eager to join in the abuse of the teacher.
"Yeah, what was Dumbledore thinking?! And why does he hate you so much?"
"Well he hangs out with my parents. As you so kindly pointed out Potter, they have things in common."
"That can't be all it is."
Sirius shrugged. "Poor bloke's probably jealous, truth be told. My parents have got all the stuff he cares about. Status, money, china tea sets…"
"Is that what he was doing just now then, inviting you to tea?" James said, gesturing back down the corridor.
Sirius' expression changed. "No." He said darkly. "Apparently my dear mother's told him to do anything he has to to bring me in line this year. He wanted to let me know some of his favourite methods."
"He can't do that." James said. "It wouldn't be fair. He has to treat us all the same."
"I've told you before and I'll tell you again Potter, you live in fairy land."
They made their way into greenhouse two today for herbology. James and Sirius were partnering with Alice and Michael from Hufflepuff where the four of them had been given a flutterby bush to prune together.
Sirius snorted when he saw the task they'd been set. "I found Andromeda snogging Ted Tonks from Hufflepuff behind one of these things last term." He told James. "She swore me to secrecy though. Said I mustn't say anything because…"
James saw his expression change to one of horror as he looked up and realised what he'd just done.
"Ted Tonks was dating Andromeda Black?!" Alice said, turning to Michael with her mouth open.
"You idiot." James told him. "When someone says something's a secret it usually means don't tell anyone."
Sirius swore loudly.
They had flying lessons in the afternoon and James busied himself telling Professor Clancy he was going to definitely try out for the Gryffindor quidditch team, and did he think he had a shot, and could he put a good word in, and could he just watch James shoot a few hoops and let him know what he thought?
"Oh leave the man alone Potter." Sirius said, pulling his friend away from the teacher. "He doesn't care. He turned down flying for England."
"Quiet, you'll hurt his feelings." Remus said, but Sirius didn't seem to care.
By the time they all crawled into bed that night they were quite exhausted. James had considered insisting that they all go on a nighttime adventure (he'd shown Gideon and Fabian their map at dinner and the twins had made a couple of good suggestions for where to try next), but despite how fun it was sure to be, he supposed it could wait until tomorrow. They had a whole term ahead of them after all.
"But you mustn't forget." He told a drowsy Sirius. "You promise to come with me tomorrow night."
"I promise." He said. "Believe me, I need as much fun as I can get after the summer I've had."
And, glad he could help, James turned out his lamp.
...
A/N: I doubt if I was being completely compliant there would be a future death eater as a Hogwarts teacher. I just think it would be too confusing when he became a death eater for all the students at Hogwarts who knew him. And vice versa... But I needed someone of his ilk, and he popped into my head and wouldn't leave (much to our characters' chagrin). He does serve a good purpose though. As our boys are realising, what doesn't kill them makes them stronger! And what's a story without a villain anyway? Please let me know what you think.