No new POV this time. I think that no one in comments and reviews managed to guess this POV. This is probably a first.
This chapter begins in the middle of the previous chapter.
CHO XIII
She woke up very early this morning. This was the first day of her sixth year at Hogwarts. Around her, Cho saw that all the other girls in her dormitory were still sleeping. Carefully, she stood up from her bed, changed clothes for the day, and left the dormitory, then the common room.
The corridors of Hogwarts were empty and silent so early in the morning. No one was probably awake yet. Cho listened to the sound of her footsteps echoing against the stony walls as she climbed down the many steps going from the Ravenclaw Tower to the grounds. She knew the castle like the bottom of her pocket. She had spent five years of her life here. As she got to wander alone across the castle, she realized that at the actual moment was one of the very few times she was actually alone since she arrived at the castle five years ago. She was always with someone else, usually with a group of friends. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. Before, between and after lessons. In the park. During Quidditch training. While studying. While doing her homework. Even when she was going to the washroom, there were always people around her. Cho had never experienced solitude since she came to Hogwarts. She never even really experienced being with only one person. Not until last year. Not until Cedric.
She refrained tears. She had dreamed of him last night. Again. She dreamed of him all the time. She used to wander those corridors with him. She and Cedric were in different years and houses. He was prefect, and champion of the Triwizard Tournament while Cho had to go through her O.W.L.s. This left them very little time together, and they used it as much as they could. They arranged themselves to be in each other's company whenever it was possible. Cho wanted to spend this time with Cedric and Cedric alone. So they both put distance between them and their friends, giving as much time as possible to each other. But today, all the time she now had alone felt empty, meaningless. Without Cedric, how useful could that time be? And at the same time, she didn't feel like filling this empty space with her friends. She felt like it would be a betrayal, a treason for Cedric. She felt that even being happy would be wrong now that he was…
She could barely think about this. She shook her head and continued to follow her path. At some level, she heard footsteps behind her. It caused her to almost jump, and she looked behind… to see Harry heading in another direction, following a corridor perpendicular to hers. He didn't seem to have noticed her. Cho remained frozen for a moment. She carefully went to see this corridor. She looked in the direction where Harry just disappeared to see him take a flight of stairs leading up. And he disappeared again.
Cho pressed her lips together. Should she try to follow him? She had wanted to talk to him yesterday. She had gone wandering through the Hogwarts Express, hoping to find him. She didn't know exactly why. Probably only to talk. She felt that she needed to. But when she finally fell upon him, it was to find him covered in a strange, green substance. At the memory of this, Cho let a strange laugh escape. She almost cried by the same occasion. It was hard for her to laugh. Cedric sometimes managed to make her laugh very hard. Everything reminded her of him. Anyway, Susan Bones had been present when it happened, and she joined Harry right away in his compartment. Cho felt this wasn't the right moment to talk to him, so she walked away. And today, the day after, she did the same. She walked away.
There was mist on the schoolyard as she emerged from the Entrance Hall. Cho walked through it, knowing the way from five years of habit. She remembered the times when they walked together here, both during winter, spring and summer. Guessing the presence of the Black Lake from far away, she remembered the times they discussed before the second task as Cedric anticipated the moment he would have to swim into the lake in February. And this also reminded her of this task where she found herself thousands of feet deep into the icy waters.
Everything here reminded Cho of Cedric. Cho's summer had been horrible. When the day to come back to Hogwarts arrived, she had felt both relieved and worried. She thought, like Marietta did, that a change of air would do her some good when compared to her parents' home. But she was also afraid of the memories it might bring back, and it now seemed that her fears were justified. From the moment she arrived at King's Cross, there hadn't been a single place that didn't remind her of Cedric.
Walking through the damp grass of the school grounds, she finally arrived in front of the tall towers that the mist couldn't manage to hide from close. She had reached the Quidditch pitch.
But she didn't enter it.
Instead, she looked at one of the entrances. It had been there, through this entrance, that Cedric had walked into the labyrinth in June. Where Cho currently stood, benches had been positioned back then to welcome the crowd that came to support the four champions. Cho had been part of this crowd. She had been with Cedric's parents, encouraging her boyfriend. She remembered how proud they had been of their son. Mr Diggory was particularly excited and supportive. Maybe a little too much. After the first two tasks, Cho was sure that everything would go well for the third. There was a real atmosphere of celebration as champions headed into the maze. But the atmosphere had slowly turned more concerned, especially after Fleur Delacour, then Viktor Krum were both brought back from the labyrinth. And when they started sending other people inside the maze without explanation.
That was when Cho had gone to discuss with Lily Evans, Harry's mother. She had met her when she was only thirteen-years-old, during her second year at Hogwarts, when Cho visited Harry at the infirmary at the end of the year. She had come across the woman a few times again over the following years, including when she came to attend Gryffindor's Quidditch games, and also when Cho's parents were unfortunately involved in one of Peter Pettigrew's attempts to enter the school grounds. Cho had asked the woman what was going on. She had tried to reassure Cho, though Cho saw that she also needed reassuring herself. In fact, Cho had been discussing with her, asking her for news of what was going on in the maze, when Harry and Cedric reappeared. That was when Cho had realized that Cedric was dead. She had seen his lifeless body next to Harry who still breathed.
Cho had unconsciously moved until she stood at the very place where she thought Cedric's body had landed. She felt something coming up in her throat. Tears streamed down her eyes across her cheeks. She looked around as she silently wailed, taking a look at the benches and tall towers of the Quidditch pitch. Cho had loved the sport as far as she could remember. She never thought that someday this place would be associated with the most heart wrenching moment of her life. The moment when she realized that the boy she loved was dead.
She stayed there for an unknown time, until finally her tears dried up. She then headed back towards the castle, as the mist, although still there, began to lose in intensity. Inside the Great Hall, she found some of her friends already sitting and joined her.
"Where have you been?" one asked.
"We were wondering where you had gone," Marietta explained. "I was a little worried."
"I just… went to take a walk around. In the park," Cho said, without wanting to say more.
"Okay. If you want, Cho, we can come with you the next time," her best friend offered.
"Thanks. I'll think about it."
Cho took some toasts and eggs. Food seemed to taste like cardboards. She tried to not look at the Hufflepuff table. She knew the person she would instinctively look for wasn't here.
"I'm eager to resume Care of Magical Creatures," one of her friends said all of a sudden. "Especially now that Professor Grubbly-Plank is back. She's way more serious and interesting than that Hagrid."
Almost everyone agreed around the table. Even Cho had to recognize that the gamekeeper made a poor professor. He was kind, no doubt about that, but the subject of Care of Magical Creatures didn't prove to be quite a serious course under his supervision. Grubbly-Plank would definitely make for a better teacher.
"By the way," someone else asked, "the new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, is it true that she is the mother of Harry Potter? I heard someone say it last night."
"Yes, that's her," Cho confirmed. "She and my father are… used to be colleagues when she worked at the Ministry of Magic. She was an Auror."
"Wait. Wasn't that the Auror they talked about in the Daily Prophet? The one who got fired?" a girl asked.
"Yeah, I recall. First, Mad-Eye Moody. Now this. Is Dumbledore juggling with failed Aurors?" another replied.
"Well, he's losing his mind, so it shouldn't be that much of a surprise."
Cho heard without participating much further to the discussion. She didn't want to. She hadn't learned of Mrs Evans resignation, for it was a resignation and not a sacking, through the newspapers, but from her father, who informed her the day after it happened. Cho was very surprised. Her father seemed to disapprove it, as he described Lily Evans Potter's departure as a forced resignation, that the Ministry put pressure on her to leave after her son was accused, then cleared of accusations for unlawful use of magic. Cho was shocked when her father told her the news. Harry, accused of unlawful use of magic? She needed to ask him questions repeatedly, but her father, in the end, had told her what he knew of the situation.
Apparently, Harry had used a Patronus Charm at the very beginning of August. The Ministry had wanted to confiscate his wand and expel him from Hogwarts right away, but Dumbledore had put a stop to it. The Ministry then held a trial to condemn Harry, but he was cleared of all charges by the Wizengamot. His mother resigned from her position as Auror the day after, over rumours that the Ministry put heavy pressure on her to leave. There were also other rumours circulating at the Ministry, though her father didn't know what to think about them. One was that Harry used a Patronus Charm to repel an attack of Dementors. Cho's father was totally uncertain about this, but he had briefly spoken to Lily Evans before she left the Ministry, and according to her, Harry really did use a Patronus charm to defend himself against Dementors. For Cho, it was horrible. The nightmares of last June were not over.
As breakfast neared its end, Professor Flitwick, the Head of their house, distributed their timetables. For Cho and her comrades of sixth year, it took a little more time than usual, given they had to select subjects based on the results of their O.W.L.s. Individual schedules had to be prepared for each one of them.
"Well, Miss Edgecombe, I see you obtained an Outstanding in Charms. I will be more than happy to accept you in my N.E.W.T. class this year. Though I'm afraid your Acceptable in Transfiguration disqualifies you for Professor McGonagall's lessons. She only accepts students with Exceeds Expectations or Outstanding."
"It's fine," Marietta said, though she looked to regret it.
"So, Herbology, Charms, Muggle Studies, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Defence against the Dark Arts. We're okay with that?" Following Marietta's nod, Flitwick made a program appear for her.
He then turned to Cho. Marietta could have left right away. Cho saw that she had a lesson starting this very morning at the first hour, but she seemed to be waiting for her.
"Miss Chang," Flitwick said, a kind smile on his lips.
Cho forced herself to smile back. Professor Flitwick had always been very kind with her, including after Cedric died. He was way more sympathetic as head of house than McGonagall or Snape. That was one of the things Cho appreciated the most in Ravenclaw. People might be knowledgeable, but they were kind as well.
"So, let's look at your results from last year. You had very good marks at your O.W.L.s. No failure. Almost only Exceeds Expectations and Outstandings, except for Potions and History of Magic where you got Acceptables. I'm afraid that you will have to give up those subjects in N.E.W.T.."
"It's alright. I didn't intend to continue them anyway," she replied.
"Good. Then in this case, you are free to take whatever other subjects you want. Though I must warn that if you take them all, it will make eight subjects to follow. If you believe this might be too much, you can drop a subject or two."
Cho thought about it. "I'll drop Astronomy and Care of Magical Creatures."
"Are you sure, Cho?" Marietta asked next to her. "You love Astronomy. And for Care of Magical Creatures, we have Professor Grubbly-Plank this year. It should be interesting."
"I said I wanted to give up those subjects," Cho snapped. She regretted it immediately. She knew that Marietta had good intentions, but Cho wanted to get rid of those subjects. They were also associated with memories that were too painful for her, and she didn't think they would bring her anywhere in life anyway.
"As you wish, Miss Chang," Flitwick said, producing a timetable for Cho with a struck of wand. "But if you ever change your mind, know that you can re-select those subjects within the first two weeks of class. Don't hesitate to come and tell me if you change your mind."
"Thank you, Professor," Cho replied, looking at her timetable.
"And don't hesitate if you ever need to talk," he added very kindly, before he moved to the next student.
"We both have Defence Against the Dark Arts to start the day," Marietta said. "We should head there right away. Who knows how crazy that new teacher may be."
Cho barely gave any attention to her words. She nonetheless seized her bag and headed to the classroom for this subject. She and Marietta arrived just in time. But the professor was not here.
"Late?" Marietta wondered after two minutes. "It doesn't give the right first impression."
But Lily Evans Potter showed up a few seconds later, walking straight to the teacher's desk as students stopped talking to look at her. They also whispered as her back was turned on them, but they stopped the moment she faced them. They were from all houses in this classroom, the N.E.W.T. lessons being common to all houses given the reduced number of students taking it. Mrs Evans, standing up, looked at them over a parchment.
"I see some of you are late," the new teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts commented. As to emphasize her point, another student walked in right away into the classroom. "No worry. I was late me too, and I suspect your heads of house are taking their time to make your schedules. I myself arrived half an hour late at my first Potions lessons when I was your age, so I will not hold it against you for today."
Her smile managed to lift some tensions in the classroom. Cho wasn't sure what kind of professor this woman would be. From her previous interactions with the woman, she seemed like a serious, decent person, well intentioned, but it didn't tell much on her methods of teaching. The general behaviour in the classroom didn't help to forge an idea either. Students looked at their new teacher with varying expressions. It went from curiosity, expectation and even admiration to nervosity, uncertainty, and something akin to disdain or even disgust, especially among Slytherins.
When the last latecomer finally arrived in class, Mrs Evans took the register and called their names one by one to confirm their presence. When Cho raised her hand at the announcement of her name, she felt the gaze of their new professor lingering on her for longer than the other students before she crossed her name on the list and moved to the next student.
She finally put the register away after the last student confirmed her presence.
"Good, you are all present. I am the Professor Lily Evans, and I will teach you Defence Against the Dark Arts this year. Before we begin, have all of you bought the schoolbook on your list for this course? Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?" There were a few mutters of approval. "Please all place your copy on the corner of your desk."
The whole class executed the order. Once all books were in place, their professor waved her wand in the air. All together, the books flew from their desks and piled in a corner of the classroom.
"I apologize. I'm afraid this schoolbook was chosen before I accepted this position, and while reviewing it, I realized it wasn't appropriate for your level of magic and this course. I'll order new, more appropriate works that you will get next week."
Some people muttered in the class, annoyed to have bought useless books, but Mrs Evans continued to talk nonetheless.
"Now, you all are here because you obtained at least an Exceeds Expectations at your O.W.L. last year. I assume you took this course with the objective to have your N.E.W.T.. I will make something clear from the very beginning though. The main objective of this course is not to get you an Outstanding next year. It's not even to get at least an Acceptable. The results of your N.E.W.T.s are secondary."
They were shocked by her declaration. After spending an entire year preparing their O.W.L.s, the students were expecting anything but a teacher telling them the results of their exams were unimportant.
"The title of this course is not Defence Against the Dark Arts for nothing. The objective is to teach you how to defend yourselves or others when you or other people are in dangerous situations. Right now, you are at school, and you may believe that you are in a totally safe environment. But sooner or later, one day, and that day might come sooner than you think, you will have to defend yourself, or to protect someone you care about. And this day, without wanting to quote your previous professor, you will have to be ready, and vigilant."
The words were written in Cho's mind, with the many times Professor Moody made them jump by barking to constantly to remain vigilant. At least, their new professor did not surprise them all the time by shouting the words.
Someone raised his hand. Mrs Evans turned to him. "Mr… Ridgeway? You have a question?"
"Yes, Professor," the boy from Hufflepuff said. "Last year, Professor Moody once told me you had been his student as well. Is that true?"
"It is true. I was an Auror before I came to teach here. During my training, although Alastor Moody no longer worked as an Auror, he was still called to supervise the training of new Aurors. So yes, I was partially trained by this man, just like you. And… Although I cannot argue against the efficiency of his methods, I'm afraid that I do not agree with all of them. So don't expect to receive curses and counterjinxes all year long."
There was a wave of relief at the announcement. Then another student, one from Gryffindor, raised her hand.
"Miss Bell?" Lily Evans asked.
"Did you… You really survived You-Know-Who?"
If anyone in the classroom didn't already know who their new professor was, this was no longer the case. All students stared at Mrs Evans, waiting for an answer. Very slowly, she answered.
"Yes. But… This is not a story for today, I'm afraid."
"Did Harry really fight You-Know-Who in June? Is he really back?" someone at the back of the classroom asked.
"Come on, you idiot! He's not back. It's only lies to make himself interesting," another student countered before their teacher could reply.
"Who's telling these are lies? No one told us how Cedric Diggory died except him and Dumbledore." Cho's heart made a turn at the mention of Cedric.
"Dumbledore is losing his head. You haven't read the papers?"
"Yeah, he's turning completely dumb."
All of a sudden, a loud sound was heard, and the entire class went silent. Cho felt as if her tongue was stuck inside her mouth.
"I understand this is a controversial matter, but it will not be discussed here," Lily Evans said, holding her wand high. "In this classroom, you are to learn to defend and protect yourselves, and this is what I'm going to teach you. If you want to discuss another matter, it will be for outside the lessons. And I would ask you to show some respect for your headmaster. You are in his school right now. Any show of disrespect towards a member of the staff will result in losing points or other disciplinary sanctions."
She lowered her wand, and Cho's tongue was free again. No one dared to speak afterwards.
"Good. Now, let's go to the matter of this course. I'm going to ask you a simple question, yet you will find the answer to be far more complicated. What are the dark arts?"
For a long moment, no one dared to answer. Between the spell their teacher just threw at them and the many potential answers to this question, no one first dared to try his luck. Then someone in Cho's house raised her hand.
"The Unforgivable Curses?" she tried.
Lily Evans pointed her wand at the blackboard, where the three Unforgivable curses were written. "A good example of what is considered by many to be dark arts. A single use of any of these curses could warrant you a life sentence in Azkaban," their professor explained. "I suppose you all agree that these three curses are dark arts."
The students muttered in agreement.
"Then, let me give you a hypothetic situation. You are aboard the Hogwarts Express. You see someone standing on the rails ahead. The driver doesn't see this person. The only way for you to save this person is to cast an Imperius Curse on the driver to make him stop the train. What do you do?"
The entire class remained unsure as to what to tell for a moment. Then someone answered.
"Why don't we just ask the driver to stop the train?"
"You can't. You cannot reach him in time, or he will not hear you in time to stop. Like I said, the only way to prevent a death is by using the Imperius Curse. So, I repeat the question. What do you do? Those who would throw the curse, raise your hand."
Mrs Evans waited a while to let people decide. Cho herself wasn't sure about what to do. Last year, they were told that those curses were entirely forbidden by the law, that using them was horrible. Professor Moody said that it could be even used to force someone to commit suicide. But if it was only to save someone's life… She finally raised her hand, like a majority of people in the classroom. Even Marietta raised her hand.
"If I told you that the moment you use it, people from the Ministry will arrest you and sentence you to a life sentence in Azkaban. Are you still going to use it?" their professor further asked.
Someone decided to answer at this moment while keeping her hand raised. "We should use it all the same. I mean, we would save life."
"Yes, I see what you mean. But I'm not asking you what you should do. I'm asking you whether you would do it. And don't be shy to tell the truth. There is no shame in saying you would hesitate to do the right thing when threatened to spend the rest of your life surrounded by Dementors."
Cho remembered the experiences they all had with Dementors the year they guarded Hogwarts. She tried to think whether or not she would use the Imperius Curse knowing this. She couldn't be sure of what she would do. With the uncertainty, she dropped her hand, as did many others. Only a few remained high.
"And now, if I told you that the person on the track is a child of five. Would you use the Imperius Curse?"
Hands were back in the air in an instant. Even some people who said they wouldn't use the curse before now said they would.
"You can drop your hands," Professor Evans told them. "As you can see, the ethics of using what is considered to be dark arts are not as black and white as we might first suppose."
One student raised his hand, and the professor allowed him to speak. "For the Imperius Curse, maybe. I mean, it allows us to control someone else. If we don't force him to do horrible things, it could be alright, I guess. But the Cruciating Curse or the Killing Curse, I don't think it can be used for good reasons."
Most of the class seemed to agree. Professor Evans smiled. "This seems like a correct assumption. After all, how can we justify the act of torturing or killing someone? Again, I will give a hypothetical situation. A man is buried deep into the ground. He's about to die from asphyxia. There is only one person who knows where he is, but this person refuses to give his location before he dies. An Auror who leads the investigation brings this person inside for questioning, sends away the other people working with him on the case, and he uses the Cruciating Curse on the person to get the location of the buried man. He obtains the information, and he manages to save him from death at the last instant. Was he wrong to torture someone? Raise your hand if you believe he was wrong."
Again, students hesitated. But when they finally decided, they were a little more numerous to raise their hands to disapprove.
"What if I told you that this happened in real life? That the Auror in question truly saved a life and was sentenced to spend his life at Azkaban. While the man he saved got married, today has three children and is even working in the Minister's Office. Do you still disapprove?"
Some of them dropped their hands.
"He was really sentenced to life in Azkaban for this?" one student asked, unbelieving.
"Yes. Though he only spent a single year in prison. The Ministry finally decided to grant him conditional freedom, but he was never allowed to practice as an Auror again."
It seemed the majority of the classroom approved the resolution. The Auror was punished, but not to the full extent of the law.
"I'm not trying to tell you that it is acceptable to use Unforgivable Curses. If their use is criminal, it is for good reasons. What I want you to understand is that they are not necessarily dark arts in themselves. It is how we use magic that make them dark arts. And it applies to all uses of magic. You all know that Levitation Charm, I believe. Wingardium Leviosa. You must have learned it in your first year." The whole class muttered an approval. "What if someone, and I'm giving an example that has already happened again, used this charm on a Muggle at the top of a skyscraper. He makes the man levitate from the roof of the building into free air, and then he drops him. The Muggle makes a fall of dozens of storeys, and he dies. Would you consider this is dark arts?"
Again, most of the class approved.
"This is not the spells or the curses in themselves that are dark arts. It is the way we use them that make them so. Any magic can be used for evil purposes. The goal of this course is to make sure you can defend yourselves as much against an Unforgivable Curse than against a spell you learned on your very first day at school. In fact, the title of this class is misleading to a certain extent. It should probably be called Defence Against the Evil Forces. Let's ask ourselves another question. Are giants a good example of evil forces?"
Again, the class mostly agreed, but Cho felt that their professor was waiting for them with another trap.
"Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper and one of the professors of this school, is half a giant. Do you consider him to be an evil force? Or even half an evil force?"
No one dared to answer by the affirmative. Cho remembered last year, when rumours spread about Hagrid's mother being a giant. She had been surprised by the news, even frightened to a certain extent. But she never really considered the gamekeeper to be dangerous. Maybe he could be, considering how tall and strong he was, but she never saw or heard anything bad or violent about him.
"Another example," the professor continued. "Werewolves. Are they evil forces?"
Katie Bell answered before anyone could raise his or her hand. "Most of them, maybe, but not all necessarily. We had a professor who was a werewolf two years ago, and he was probably the kindest and best professor we ever had."
Lily Evans smiled widely. "I'm glad to see that Remus left a good impression on you." Cho had a faint memory of Harry mentioning their previous teacher was a friend of his parents. "But if you had met him during the full moon, after he changed, do you think it would have been safe to be around him at this time?"
Most seem to have a negative answer, although they only reluctantly muttered or showed it.
"If you had found yourselves in such a situation, I can tell you without risk of being wrong that Professor Lupin himself would say that you have the right to defend yourselves against him, and you must be taught how to defend yourselves if such a situation arose. For if there had been someone who defended Professor Lupin while he was a child, he would never have been bitten, and he would never have become a werewolf himself. But most importantly, I want you to understand one thing. Evil can take any appearance, any shape, any age. Evil is not limited to a certain range of magic or people. It can manifest itself anywhere and anytime."
She then made a swift move with her wand. Some kind of projector appeared out of nowhere, with a white screen in front showing an ancient photo of what looked like a class of students.
"This photo was taken at Durmstrang many decades ago," the Professor Evans informed them. "Can you see a sign of evil on this?"
Everyone nodded by the negative. Though they took their time, getting used to their teacher's tactics. Still, Cho herself found nothing dangerous with those students who didn't seem older than she was.
"Let's zoom in," their professor said, and with another movement of wand, the image focused on one young student in particular. "Now? Anyone sees anything threatening?"
Again, they looked carefully, but no one could see anything.
"I'm going to show you a photo of this young man, dozens of years later."
Another photo, this one with a headline on top of it, appeared next to that of the young student. It dated back to the 1920s and announced the arrest of Gellert Grindelwald in the United States. Cho then realized the facial resemblance between the grown man and the child.
"We might remember Grindelwald as the wizard who almost managed to dominate the world, but he had been a child, an adolescent, a young man before that. And already back then, he showed disposition towards evil. That is why he was expelled from Durmstrang at the age of sixteen," their professor explained. "Let me show you another photo."
This time, the photo was unmoving, black and white, and showed men dressed in purely white clothing sitting on benches, facing the person who held the device.
"Why aren't they moving?" a student asked.
"Because this photo was taken by a Muggle device," she explained. "It was taken during the First World War and shows Muggle soldiers in a hospital, while recovering from injuries. Do you notice anything?"
Again, no one said a word. She then zoomed on one of the men posing. "And now?"
Again, no answer. Cho didn't see where Lily Evans wanted to go. This man looked totally normal. He wore a cap, like almost all men on the photo. His hair seemed perfectly combed. He wore a serious expression with arms crossed, and he had a mustache, smaller than those of the other men with him.
"No one recognizes him?" Still no answer. She shook her head. "And now, twenty years later?"
Another unmoving photo appeared next to this one, but it was way different. It showed who looked to be the same man, older, in a military uniform, with several flags behind him.
"Those of you who recognize him now, raise your hand."
Almost half the classroom raised it, and fairly quickly, without hesitation. Cho and Marietta were not among them. She noticed that the flags behind the man on the photo displayed a strange cross in the middle of a circle.
"Now, all of those who have at least one Muggle parent, please lower your hand."
Everyone dropped it. Everyone except one person. A Slytherin. He looked around, seeing that he was alone, and almost began lowering his hand too.
"Mr…" Mrs Evans said, and he stopped his movement. She looked at her register. "Hoffman." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then looked at the Slytherin with compassion. "You lost someone, didn't you?"
The boy didn't answer for a while. But then he did. "My grandfather. He died at Auschwitz." A silence of death fell upon the room. Cho wasn't sure she understood why, but the photo was beginning to remind her something, as if she saw this one day. "He was a Muggle," the boy then added.
The classroom remained further silent. Although it was not unusual nor automatically condemned, Slytherins usually didn't talk about their Muggle ancestry, if they had any. So saying it out loud in the classroom was a big deal for this student. Some of his comrades looked at him in disapproval. The Slytherins had been the fewest to raise their hand at the sight of this photo. Yet this one in particular put on a proud face when he revealed his origins.
"I'm sorry," Mrs Evans said. She looked to be truly regretful. Cho still didn't know why, but she felt that whoever the man on the photo represented, it was nothing good. "I'm now going to show you something. We call that a movie. Muggles often make them. It is like a very quick succession of photos. It will show you something that many of you will find… disturbing, at the very least. But you are all about to become men and women. It's time for you to see the worst that the world has to offer. These images were taken in 1944 and 1945."
She lowered the lights a little, and showed what she called a movie. The photos disappeared to reveal moving images, but Cho quickly understood they were not enchanted photos. First, it only showed buildings. It almost looked like what the Muggles called factories. First, Mrs Evans gave them explanations as the images unfolded.
"The year 1945 is well known in the wizarding world. This is the year when Gellert Grindelwald, the most powerful dark wizard of the time, was finally defeated by Albus Dumbledore, and the Global Wizarding War came to an end. But in the Muggle world, this year was marked by the end of what they call the Second World War. And at the end of this war, which was started by the man on the photo you saw earlier, Adolf Hitler, Muggles found something horrible on the territories previously occupied by this man. They called them concentration camps. And in some cases, extermination camps."
She then let the movie unfold as it showed people dressed like prisoners in those camps. Cho opened her mouth in horror at seeing how thin they were, so much that you could see the bones on their skin. Then the movie began to show piles of bodies. Some people in the classroom began to cry. Cho closed her eyes more than once. Finally, it was over, and the lights returned.
Their professor looked at them with a very serious expression, with gravity. "It is estimated that over sixty million people died during this conflict. Among them, more than six million Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Blacks and communists were slaughtered in those extermination camps. For their religious beliefs, their sexual orientation, their political opinions, their color of skin… For their origins. Slaughtered like beasts because they didn't fit the world's vision of one man."
She then waved her wand, and a magically moving photo appeared. It showed another mass grave. And Cho, still with tears in her eyes, watched in horror, while noticing their professor of last year, Alastor Moody, standing next to the grave and staring at all the bodies within it.
"When Lord Voldemort was at the peak of his power over a decade ago…" Mrs Evans continued. Almost no one reacted to her use of the name, so troubled they were by the images they were seeing. «… he used Inferi, bodies of all the people he and his supporters slaughtered over the years, enchanting them to do their bidding. The Ministry of Magic never managed to find all the bodies of the people Voldemort and his acolytes murdered. But it is estimated that thousands of innocent people, both Muggles and wizards, were turned into Inferi. After his fall in 1981, mass graves full of Inferi were found in some places across the country. This is only one of those mass graves."
With a wave of wand, she turned the projector off. The images finally faded. Cho almost sighed in relief.
"I'm telling you and showing you this so you may understand that evil takes all shapes and can come from all places. It can come from men or women, young and old, rich or poor, Muggles or wizards, from all origins, all nationalities, all paths of life. And it can appear anywhere at anytime. Anywhere in the world. Even here at Hogwarts."
She reactivated the projector, and Cho feared it would show other horrible images. But instead, only the photo of a young man with black hair appeared. The boy was probably seventeen, for he wore the Head Boy badge, and he looked quite seductive.
"This young man you see is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He graduated from Hogwarts in 1945, the year Grindelwald was defeated and imprisoned. Prefect, Head Boy, recipient of many honors, one of the best students Hogwarts ever had. When he left, many thought he would go on to become Minister of Magic. He never did. Instead, he left Great Britain and only came back many years later, under another name. And today, everyone remembers him not under his real name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, but under the name he gave himself. A name almost no one in the world dares to say out loud."
Cho immediately what she meant. So, this young man, this Head Boy who looked so handsome, and who Cho even found to share some of Cedric's physical traits, was You-Know-Who.
"This is the reason of this course. Defence Against the Dark Arts is not meant to be another subject you can proudly brag about that you got an O or E at your N.E.W.T., or as an opportunity for career advancement. It is meant to teach you how to master magic, and how to use it in order to prevent this kind of events from ever happening again. And I warn you. If you do not enter this classroom with this objective in mind, then you are at the wrong place."
No one said a word. Lily Evans looked at each one of them, as if she searched for someone who would decide to leave the classroom and never return. But no one did.
"For the remaining of this lesson, I would like you to write a dissertation. Tell me what you expect to learn this year, why you want to learn it, and what you intend to do with this knowledge after you leave Hogwarts. You may begin right away."
The rest of the lesson was spent writing. Cho did her best to write as much as she could. But she didn't dare to write her deepest desire, what she wished she could learn the most, because she knew it was impossible. For if Cho had the possibility to choose anything she could learn, she would learn how to bring back the dead among the living. She would bring Cedric back to life. Instead, she wrote about things completely different, and when the bell rang, she had a very long parchment in front of her, like many in the class. Mrs Evans then wished them a good day and invited them to think about what they wrote today. She would read their copies before the next class. In this very instant, without thinking, Cho scribbled at the very end of her dissertation that she wished to learn how to bring Cedric back to life. She then left with Marietta, her mind heavy with what they were just shown and told during this lesson. Almost everyone else looked to be in a similar mindset as Cho, as they all discussed almost in whispers, as if afraid of what they might say.
"Well, that was some kind of lesson," Marietta said.
"Yes, it was," Cho confirmed.
"I think she's going a little too far. I mean, Professor Moody last year was strong on staying vigilant all the time, but her… By the way she's talking, it looks like a war is waiting for us outside and that we will have life-threatening decisions to make on which the whole world will depend. I mean… It's a little far-fetched. Especially if you compare the present with horrors that happened decades, when not centuries ago."
"Yeah, maybe," Cho replied, distracted.
"I mean, come on, maybe, maybe some of us will have jobs where they will risk their lives, but… She kind of assumes the worst for us when we will leave school. I mean, who among us are going to have to take huge decisions? Who among us are going to face death? I don't see how useful it could be to terrorize us."
"Perhaps Cedric would still be alive if he had heard this."
Cho had spoken rudely. And the moment she said the words, she regretted them.
"Cho…" Marietta said on an apologizing tone.
"I need some time alone. I'll see you later."
Cho walked away from her best friend. She was angry at herself for snapping at Marietta. And she felt a surge of sadness coming up after what she said. But she contained it. She didn't want to cry. Not now.
This course had been heavy with emotions. At the same time, strangely enough, Cho somehow felt… better? She didn't really understand why but… It felt as if the lesson shook her up. Writing down the essay Professor Evans asked of them… If felt liberating. Even writing quickly her deepest wish for Cedric had somehow felt good, to a certain extent. She had spent the entire summer ruminating, almost talking to no one. Not even to Marietta or her parents. Being shaken like this, she felt a certain… reinvigoration.
She sighed. She still felt fragile, but right now, a certain part of her felt better. Maybe it was only temporary. Maybe she would end the day crying somewhere this evening, either in her dormitory if it was empty or in the girls' washroom. Anywhere she could be alone. But for now, she felt a surge of energy. For once in a very long time, she didn't feel apathetic.
Cho didn't have another lesson for the morning. In sixth year, the advantage was that they had a lot of free periods due to the fewer lessons they had. Cho knew these periods were meant to complete their homework, but this morning, it wasn't the case. They only had one lesson so far, and Mrs Evans didn't give them any homework, aside from asking them to think about what they wrote today in class. She even duplicated their works so she could have their originals while they kept copies. So Cho was heading towards the Ravenclaw tower. She walked through one of the many courtyards of the school… and saw him.
Harry was there, protecting himself from the thin falling rain, with his two friends Cho always saw him with. Harry may not be wandering everywhere with a large group of friends like Cho usually did, but he had a select few who almost did the same. It was rare to see him alone.
Today, however, he was only with his two best friends, and only them. His girlfriend was not with them. Cho always felt uncomfortable talking to Harry when she was around. This time, however, she was nowhere to be seen. So Cho took her decision, and she headed towards him.
"Hello, Harry!" she hailed him.
"Hi, Cho," he replied. He looked a little surprised to see her.
"You got that stuff off, then?" she asked him, uncertain as to what to tell in the presence of his two best friends.
"Yeah," he replied, looking a little embarrassed.
"So… Did you have… a good… morning so far?" he literally stammered.
"Yes. It was good. In fact…" She thought about just the right thing to say. "I just attended my first lesson of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Your mother… She seems like a good teacher."
"Oh yeah? Well, good then," he smiled a little.
Cho's father had been quite displeased by her sacking. He confided to Cho that although Lily Evans officially willingly quit the Ministry, she had been in fact forced to leave by the Minister who wanted to get rid of her, particularly after Harry was cleared of his accusation for unlawful use of magic. For him, it was unfair, and Cho also thought it was unfair.
"My father told me…" she began, but she was interrupted by the tall boy with red hair sitting next to Harry.
"Is that a Tornados badge? You don't support them, do you?"
"Yeah, I do," she retorted, not liking the tone of his voice.
"Have you always supported them, or just since they started winning the league?"
Cho didn't react for a moment. What? What did he say? Seriously?
"I've supported them since I was six," Cho stated, angry. This was the truth, but obviously the young man in front of her thought otherwise, judging by his expression. She turned to Harry. "Anyway. See you, Harry."
She walked away. It had been a mistake to approach him while his friends were around.
For her first class, I imagined Lily would not have had time to prepare a proper lesson, given she accepted the position very late. So I tried to imagine how she could kind of introduce students to Defence Against the Dark Arts. And I believed her Muggle background could lead her to present dark arts in a way no other professor did before her.
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Next chapter: Lily