Bab 109: Professor Eustace Burke
The Defense Against the Dark Arts class was worse than James initially expected for two reasons: the professor and his method of study and that they again had to share classes with Slytherin.
The professor's name was Eustace Burke. A middle-aged wizard with some wrinkles, dark skin, brown eyes, and glasses. His aura didn't command any respect. He looked like a kindly old man you would find sitting on a bench feeding pigeons.
He wore a light green tunic with a hat of the same color that didn't help to command any respect either. His voice was barely audible. When the professor took off his hat everyone could see his shiny bald head.
After a poor, brief introduction, he began to read from the book, Dark Arts Defense: Basics for Beginners. The book for James and all the students was full-blown bullshit.
The first few pages of the book talk about strange and embarrassing positions to evade an attack. On the pages were little drawings of a person demonstrating the positions: step one, step two, step three, and so on.
Instead of magical methods to evade dark spells, they looked like Muggle pirouettes to try to dodge a charm traveling at incredible speed. Like a backflip. Roll quickly. Leap by spreading your legs so that the spell will pass through them.
"That's all for today. Study well the defensive techniques we saw. Next class, there will be a little test," said Professor Eustace with a smile that looked like he was watching his grandchildren.
'Techniques...?' thought James, unable to believe his ears.
If he used one of these stupid sequences of moves in a real fight, he was sure he would be dead in seconds.
Worst of all in the movement sequences, the dummy had a wand in his hand at all times when he wasn't even using it.
"This year's Defense Against the Dark Arts classes are going to be tough..." said Lupin as he walked with the marauders to the next class of the day.
"How did that geezer end up with a professor position in Defense Against the Dark Arts?" asked Sirius in disbelief.
"Me being a professor could teach more useful things," he added with a grimace.
"We only had one class... maybe it gets better with time," said Toby, who didn't want to be pessimistic.
To everyone's bad luck, Toby wasn't right. Not only that. The DADA classes got much worse especially for the Gryffindor students.
The little test Professor Eustace named was to call the students to the front of the room and have them demonstrate the embarrassing sequence of movements.
The bad thing? It was that he only called the Gryffindor students. It seemed that he wanted them to embarrass themselves in front of the Slytherin students, who, realizing that the professor didn't call them out, became quieter and started laughing at the embarrassing poses the others were doing.
"You didn't practice enough, Peter Pettigrew. You need to jump more and stretch your short legs. Five points off for Gryffindor. I hope you practice diligently next time," said Eustace with a kind smile as if he was telling him some good news.
Peter's cheeks were flushed. It was very embarrassing to make those moves in front of all the students. Especially the Slytherin ones who kept laughing, and the professor was turning a deaf ear.
"Unacceptable..." muttered Lily through gritted teeth glaring at the professor.
The redhead couldn't believe how the professor was so unfair to Gryffindor. Not only did he make them perform humiliating movements in front of everyone, but he also deducted points if they made a small mistake.
Also, it was obvious that he favored the Slytherin students, as he didn't deduct points for laughing, and he didn't make them come to the front to perform embarrassing moves either.
Peter quickly returned to his seat. He didn't want to be watched anymore.
"Mm, let's see. Sirius Black, come here," called Eustace, looking at a list.
Sirius got up from his seat and walked slowly towards the front of everything. He had a scowl on his face and an expression only seen when confronted by some Slytherin student.
"A Black in Gryffindor. First time I've seen him," Eustace said, examining Sirius and clicking his tongue dismissively. Implying that he was a disgrace to his family.
"This is bad..." muttered Lupin as he saw Sirius's gaze looking increasingly angry and with less and less patience.
"Perform sequence number 3. Intercept a Jinx on the fly," said Eustace, walking backward to give Sirius room.
'Oh no...' thought James. Sequence number 3 was the longest and most embarrassing of them all.
It was a sequence of sixteen steps: A few jumps, the occasional somersault, and quick steps back and forth. It looked like a comic dance sequence.
Everyone was watching Sirius, who remained static on the spot. His gaze was straight ahead, and his back straight, showing confidence as always.
The Slytherin students laughed under their breath wanting to see Sirius act embarrassed, but seconds passed, and Sirius remained still and did nothing.
"What's the matter, student Sirius? We don't have all day," said Professor Eustace.
"I won't do that stupid, embarrassing sequence of moves," said Sirius, looking at the professor with challenging eyes.
'This guy...' thought the marauders, rolling their eyes at Sirius.
"Oh... what you'd expect from a Black. Haughty and looking down on everyone," said Eustace with a dangerous gleam in his eye that quickly disappeared. The only one who noticed it was James.
"Ten points off for Gryffindor and two weeks punishment for you, Black. You are to clean the trophy room Monday through Sunday without missing a single day. Starting today afternoon," added Eustace as he waved Sirius back to his seat.
James, Lupin, and Toby were saved from having to do the sequence of moves in front of the entire class. For the rest of the class, Professor Eustace had them read their useless books in silence while he went about his business.
If a Gryffindor student spoke out loud, he was reprimanded and punished. On the other hand, if a Slytherin student did so he was ignored by the professor as if he didn't exist.
"That damned baldy! His preference for Slytherin is obvious. He doesn't even dissemble!" said Sirius with a vein in his forehead as they headed to the next class.
In the first week of school, he already had a two-week detention and had lost ten points for his house.
"He's from the Burke family. It's obvious he was a Slytherin student and hates Gryffindor," commented Lupin, who was in a grumpy mood. It was only a matter of time before he was called to the front of the class and had to demonstrate the movement sequence.
The Burke Family was a pureblood family belonging to the Sacred Twenty-Eight.
'Where do I know the surname Burke from...?' thought James trying to remember.
Within seconds a name popped into his head: Borgin and Burkes. An antique store located in Knockturn Alley.
When he visited the murky alley to buy dark arts books, he passed by the front of the store that had an old, worn sign with the name on it.
If the store is in Knockturn Alley it must be because it sells dark magic items and dangerous magical objects.
'Maybe the store belongs to a relative of the professor...' thought James. 'If he used 'Burkes' for the name of the store it can't mean anything other than that it belongs to the Burke family.
Behind the facade of a kindly old man with a smile, there was a person with a grudge against twelve-year-old Gryffindor students and his family owned a store of dark and dangerous objects.
How did he end up as a professor at Hogwarts?
...
Two weeks passed. During this time James' routine remained the same, and he stuck to it to the letter. Lupin accompanied him to the Room of Requirement, and they studied Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Dueling together.
Now and then Peter, Toby, or Sirius would accompany them, but they didn't have much fun. They already had a lot of studying and homework every class. It wasn't very interesting to go to the Room of Requirement to continue studying and practicing complicated charms.
As for pranks, there wasn't even a single one. They didn't plan any big pranks like they did in the first year. With what little time James had free, they used it to explore the castle and go mapping.
They were doing more justice to their name: The Marauders. Instead of planning complicated pranks.
James finished the book: A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration.
In these two weeks, he had mastered all the missing second-year transfiguration charms. He could now take the second-year theory and practical exam and pass with a perfect grade.
It was time to read the intermediate transfiguration book that covered three full years of Hogwarts (3rd, 4th, and 5th). James had never seen a book so thick and with so many pages. It would take him a long time to read it completely and properly understand all the concepts and theories in the book.
Although this time he will do theory and practice at the same time. He will not study the complete theory first and then move on to practice.
As the classes with Professor Eustace of DADA were useless and a waste of time, with Lupin they began to study the following book: Charms of Defence and Deterrence. The masterpiece of Catulo Spangle a highly respected former researcher.
Most of this book was about the Patronus Charm. An immensely complicated and extremely difficult defensive charm. This charm was beyond NEWT level. That is to say that it is not taught to seventh-year Hogwarts students.
As for James, he was not intimidated by the knowledge that the Patronus was extremely difficult. He already knew many more advanced defensive charms such as Protego, the Imperturbable charm, the disillusionment charm, and more.
He thought he was fit enough to learn the Patronus. As for Lupin, he was not afraid of the challenge. Although he was not as advanced as James in defensive charms, no rule said you must know all those defensive charms before attempting to learn the Patronus.
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