Chapter 247: Professor of DADA (1/2)
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”What's the use of sitting here when nothing's going to happen,” said Eddie, his arms crossed with a frown marring his face. ”I could be dueling you in the grounds outside than sitting here wasting my time.”
Quinn flipped a page on his book; his facial features softened, his features relaxed. ”If you want to, we can play Accio-Tug-of-War to pass the time,” he said.
”No, I'm not feeling like Accio-Tug-of-War right now.”
”You just don't want to lose.”
”Nuh-uh!”
Marcus sitting between Eddie and Quinn, placed his palm on his open book in his hand and looked straight up. ”If we are called here, then there must be a new Professor who will teach us today.” He turned to Eddie, ”it would look good if you do a revision on the theory — no, I'm not talking about Umbridge theory — be ready in case someone does come to teach us so that we don't embarrass ourselves. It'll do us no good to blame Umbridge now, so try to brush up on the topics.”
Today was the first day after Umbridge's arrest, and first thing in the morning, they had been called to the Defense Against The Dark Arts for a supposed class.
”Do you know about something,” asked Eddie, taking out an actual Defense Against Dark Arts book from his bookbag. ”Did the Professors tell the Prefects something about who's coming for the class?”
Quinn shook his head. There was no notification to the Prefects about what was going to happen in today's class.
”Do you think Alastor Moody is going to come in?” asked Marcus. ”Or maybe an Auror would come to teach us? That'd be exciting.. . do you think they'll answer my questions about the Azkaban Eleven?”
Quinn chuckled, ”Why're you already assuming that it's going to be an Auror?”
”What if it's a Hit Wizard?” Eddie asked. In his mind, Hit Wizards, who were exclusively combatants with much more firepower, were much more interesting than Aurors, who were a mix of combatants and investigators.
”Who do you think it's going to be?” Marcus asked Quinn.
”I can't say,” said Quinn, ”maybe, Professor Lupin would return till the end of the year.”
”Or-Or, maybe-maybe,” said Eddie, raising his finger, ”we're looking at it the wrong way, and it's not something one from outside — I bet it'll be Snape. Didn't he want to teach Defense Against The Dark Arts? I'm sure he wants to get his stinky hands on the job.”
And so it happened that Eddie was indeed correct, or at least partially true, as his words were immediately followed by an amused chuckle from near the classroom's door.
”Professor Snape did ask to be put in charge of the Defense Against The Dark Arts, but with the OWLs and NEWTs so close, it wasn't a wise decision to give a teacher the duty of two subjects.”
Quinn, Eddie, and Marcus turned their heads towards the back of the room, and there stood Dumbledore smiling by the door, his hands behind his back, peering at them through his half-moon glasses that sat near the edge of the bridge of his nose.
”And because I found myself free, I decided to take on teaching,” Dumbledore smiled widely as more and more students started to turn to look at him — immediately straightening up at the sight of the Headmaster standing by their door.
Dumbledore walked through the front of the class. He took out his wand and, with a flick, the green board on wheels pulled out from the corner to the front of the class. A stick of pinkish-red chalk rose from the board's ledge and wrote Albus Dumbledore on the board.
He faced the class and was about to address the students but stopped to look at the windows in the classroom. Another wave and the numerous mirrors and lenses hanging around the room, fixed on ends of mechanical arms, adjusted themselves — with every adjustment, the stream of light coming from the windows would get directed by the mirrors and lenses to light up the classroom better than it had been ever before. No Defense Against The Dark Arts had been in the position long enough for them to get proficient at the lighting system.
”Good morning, dear children,” Dumbledore's beard rose at the edge of his mouth. He didn't get a good morning back because of the stiff-surprise in the room. ”From today till the end of this year, I'll be taking Defense Against The Dark Arts for all years — first to seventh — as your Professor. Unfortunately, you won't be able to find me in the Professor's staffroom like the others, but I'm willing to stay behind after every class to answer your questions. Yes, Mr. Belby, please ask your question.”
Marcus lowered his hand and asked, ”Sir, aren't you a Transfiguration teacher?”
”That's correct, but before I was the Head of Transfiguration and a Professor of Transfiguration — I was a Professor of Defense Against The Dark Arts — in fact, it was my first full-time job. So please be assured, I'm qualified to teach you the subject.”
.. . That wasn't ever a doubt, though the entire class. The greatest magical in the country as a long-time educator was a dream that even the uninterested of students would pay attention to.
Quinn replaced his book into his bookbag, took out a notebook and pen to pay attention. No way was he going to do other homework or work on his Occlumency when Dumbledore was teaching a class.
”Now I understand that it's too late for us to follow a formal curriculum and get all of you caught up with what a sixth-year student would usually learn,” students looked at each other worried — even if they had performed well enough in their OWLs to attend a NEWT level DADA class, if they didn't score well in their sixth-year, they would be removed from the seventh-year part of the NEWT-level course, ”so we aren't going to follow a formal curriculum; instead, our classes will be a series of interactive sessions about Defense Against The Dark Arts, that I think will be beneficial for all of you. Please don't worry, the end-of-year examinations will be adjusted accordingly, and I'll personally set your papers and practicals based on what we discuss in our sessions together.”
That alleviated tension from the shoulders of students worried about the end-of-year examinations.
”Yes, Mr. Hopkins,” Dumbledore said to Carl Hopkins, Gryffindor, who raised his hand.
”Professor, what would we do about next year? The NEWTs cover everything we were supposed to learn this year and will learn the next year. We haven't learned anything from Umbridge, and that would affect our NEWT scores.”
”I'm already in talks with Madam Professor Griselda Marchbanks — the Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority that runs OWL, NEWT, and WOMBAT. She sympathizes with the egregious errors made this year and has already put into the process to change the criteria for OWLs and NEWTs. Of course, next year, your batch will require to learn an extra amount to at least cover topics required to contribute to the seventh year curriculum.”
”That seems fair,” said Eddie aloud for everyone to hear.