Chapter 67: chapter - 68 : Challenges and Choices
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By the end of the day the whole school was talking about their newest professor. While the Hogwarts students had had many different teachers over the years, some good, some bad and (in the case of Binns) some dead, none had ever given rise to such a huge surge of speculation. It seemed Harry's class had not been unique in their experience earlier that day - every student who had had Defence had been given variations of the same lecture.
In the Great Hall that evening groups of students at every table had their heads bent together and were whispering furiously, occasionally turning to stare up at where Professor Footswitch was calmly eating his dinner. It was clear from the snippets of conversations Harry overheard that there were many varying reactions towards the teacher and his unusual lessons. Some students claimed Footswitch was obviously a Death Eater who had managed to avoid Azkaban, while the more hysterical among them insisted he was really Voldemort in disguise. Several of the Gryffindors refused to believe their beloved headmaster would ever hire a Blood-Purist and told anyone who would listen that the Defence Professor must be under some evil wizard's imperius curse. A few Hufflepuffs even hopefully suggested that Footswitch might just have had an off day, and that really he was a lovely and open-minded person deep deep down.
None of the students seemed to care that these theories made very little sense, but Harry was used to disregarding the exaggerated rumours that swirled around the school. He was just glad he wasn't the Boy Who Lived anymore and so was no longer an attractive target for their gossip. Yet while the Hogwarts students in his old world had normally been united in their opinions of Harry (as either an attention-seeking git or a noble saviour), here their attitudes towards Professor Footswitch were less uniform.
The muggleborns in every house looked upset and in some cases mutinous, but that was only to be expected. Amongst the wizard-raised students the reactions were more mixed, with many seeming not to know quite what to think. The Slytherins, however, were almost all united in their general approbation of the man.
Montague and Flint spoke openly of how pleased they were to finally get a Professor who was prepared to speak out against Dumbledore's muggle-loving ways. Pucey - another member of the Quidditch team - disapproved of how blatantly Footswitch had revealed his pureblood supremacist beliefs, thinking that he lacked subtlety. However, he and the other older Slytherins all agreed Footswitch was much better than their last Defence Professor, who from all accounts teacher had been an incompetent idiot that hadn't taught them how to defend themselves against anything more dangerous than a Flobberworm.
In comparison, Footswitch had already taught the upper years several rather impressive new spells as well as innovative uses for old ones and was seen as an excellent instructor. Lionel Moon was delighted by a new compulsion spell his class had learnt, while his fellow prefect Fiona Urqhuart professed herself to be particularly interested in the various uses they'd been shown for an over-powered Aguamenti charm. Footswitch certainly seemed to have a knack for holding his students' attention and keeping them interested in the material.
All-in-all he seemed to be a capable teacher and if it weren't for his political views Harry would actually consider him to be one of the better Defence professors he'd had over the years. Remus Lupin would always be his favourite, of course, since the man had only accidentally tried to kill him - a step up from most of the others. Compared to professors such as Dolores Umbridge, Gilderoy Lockhart or the stuttering Quirrell, Footswitch seemed to not only be lacking any murderous impulses, but also to be a wonderfully informative instructor. At least the students weren't being taught by an actual Death Eater, and so far no one had been tortured with a blood quill.
Although, considering the usual level of Defence instructors, Harry wondered whether it was only a matter of time before Footswitch was revealed as something more sinister than simply an intolerant wizard. Harry actually found it rather reassuring that Footswitch wasn't hiding his anti-muggle sentiments, since it suggested Footswitch was neither an aspiring Dark Lord nor secretly in league with Voldemort.
It did beg the question, however, of why he was allowed to teach at all when his views so obviously contradicted the Headmaster's. Dumbledore had made many rather odd decisions in both worlds, particularly when it came to hiring staff, but Harry had yet to completely give up on trying to find some method to the man's madness. This time he remained baffled though, unable to understand what the hell Dumbledore was thinking.
The older Slytherins sitting within earshot of the first years were apparently wondering the same thing.
"I just can't believe Dumbledore actually hired him. Is he going senile in his old age and just somehow missed the fact that Footswitch is an obvious Blood-Purist?" Terrance Higgs asked, dunking a bread-roll in his stew.
Fiona Urqhuart sneered at the Seeker's table manners. "You're assuming that Dumbledore was the one who appointed him to the position," she pointed out. "It was the Board of Governors who insisted on employing him. Apparently Dumbledore couldn't refuse since there were no other respectable candidates."
Higgs considered this. "The Governors don't normally interfere in decisions like that though, do they?"
"No, but I heard they did it in revenge for Dumbledore insisting on a decrease in tuition for all muggleborns," Moon said, leaning over to join the conversation.
"Really?" Higgs said, his bread roll forgotten as he stared at the Prefect.
Pucey remained more sceptical. "Why would Dumbledore want to do that? He must have known the schools governors such as Lucius Malfoy and Tyron Yaxley wouldn't stand for it."
"And the muggleborns already pay less than the rest of us," Fiona Urquhart added.
"It's true though," Moon insisted. "Dumbledore wants to encourage muggleborn attendance and lowering school fees is one way of doing so."
"At our expense," Pucey grumbled.
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