章 115: Year Five - Chapter Eleven

The classroom I had for detention was, ironically enough, the Room of Requirements. Since I had asked for it, and since it dealt with handing detention, I could book it. There was a certain sense of pleasure in witnessing the room opening up to resemble a classroom, if quite large, with an equally large blackboard, and desks with chairs standing by the sides of the walls rather than in the center.

I examined the room carefully, my fingers tracing on the blackboard ever so briefly.

I exhaled slowly, and turned to watch the first of the students walk in. My heart beat just that tiny bit faster. I smiled as I watched Amanda step inside first, followed by Megan and Wayne. They furrowed their brows at the strange disposition of the seats, but then took those closer to the chalkboard.

"Professor Shade," Amanda said, raising her hand, "Do we get points if we answer correctly?"

"I'm afraid I can't give those out," I said in reply, even as I heard the door open, and a few other students enter. "I can take them away for misbehavior, though, and since this is detention, I do have permission to take them away from all houses equally."

As the rest of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs stepped inside, I smiled at the gathered students. It was the full Umbridge class.

"Now," I said to the gathered class, "Let's get this show on the road as quickly and painlessly as we can. First things first, counter-jinxes, counter-hexes and counter-curses," I began to walk in the middle of the classroom, the students' eyes on me. "Each of them is required, each of them must be mastered," I looked at them all, "And each of them can be easily replaced with the Expelliarmus."

I took a halt in the middle of the room, "I will need one volunteer," I said amiably. "Who wants to come here for the glory and little else?"

A few hands raised, and since I didn't want to show any favoritism, I picked the Hufflepuff prefect Hannah to take the stage.

The blond-haired girl neared with a bit of awkwardness, perhaps not used to the crowd's gaze on her. "Now," I said amiably. "The Expelliarmus is the default defensive spell par excellence," I made the motion very slowly, and as I did, the wand movement appeared on the blackboard. "Downward thrust, circle back up," I made the motion, a tiny flicker of red appearing by the tip of my wand. "Hit the enemy, their wands fly away." I gently threw the small jet of red towards Hannah, who found herself losing the grasp on her wand.

She quickly recovered it, "Now, there are various degrees of potency attached to this simple, yet effective spell," I continued. "For this circumstance in particular, I'll remain in the range of normality. Though rest assured, you can harm your opponent if you put enough practice behind the spell," I smiled, and swished the wand properly. This time the jet sizzled properly, struck, and Hannah's wand flew off her hand much to her surprise.

Another student grabbed it in mid-air, and then gave it back, much to Hannah's muttered thanks.

"Notice how I've yet to speak a single word? Well, that's because I don't want to hurt anyone. You, on the other hand, will need to pronounce Expelliarmus," as I said that, a mannequin propped up behind me with a wooden sword in hand. I spun, recited the incantation to the best of my ability and slammed the wand forth. The rippling crimson jet soared like a beam of plasma through the air, creating ripples as it struck the mannequin sending it to fly off its base and shatter with a violent thud against the opposite wall.

The whispers in the classroom descended to absolute silence after the feat, the still fuming mannequin's base resting there, a silent testament of the magical prowess of my wand.

"Rest assured, unless you actually put in months of training without pause or rest, you will not reach that level," I said next. "Now, the final use of the Expelliarmus is to deflect incoming jinxes, hexes and curses. Notice that this will not stop the Unforgivables, so don't you dare try it. Anyway, if you ever face a Dark Wizard who's using those, you'd be better served getting the hell out of there and calling in the Aurors."

I looked at Hannah, and smiled. "Give me your best jinx."

I took a stance, and the girl hesitated ever so briefly before flinging a Jelly-Legs jinx my way. The moment she did, I silently cast my own disarming charm, striking the spell in mid-air and sending it to harmlessly rebound off the wall. "Notice, you still need to aim," I said in the end. "That's why normally you need to understand where your arm arrives at the end of the incantation and wand movement, it's normally in the dead center of you, so if the enemy's aiming at your head, either raise your wand quickly or duck."

I then turned towards the blackboard, where my words had been scribbled by a floating chalk in the meantime. "Now this will be all the theoretical for the time being; do find a partner to practice the spell on one another, and do try the Jinx deflection only once you've managed the spell successfully, and only with harmless, temporary jinxes. If you do not know said jinxes, a good one is the Jelly-Legs. Have Miss Abbott here teach you that one at a later date. I'd give you points," I said in the end towards Hannah, "But unfortunately I can't, so good work."

"Thanks," Hannah answered, moving to find a partner in Susan Bones.

With that being said, I had to cram in the theoretical parts of the OWL in Defense Against the Dark Arts in order to make a lesson out of it. Those lessons would be boring, but there was little I could do about it.

What I could do was ask for help from the professors, who were more than willing to give pointers on what would be expected. With that being said, my next punishment-lesson would involve the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses, and that would have to go way differently from the one of the tender Hufflepuffs and witty Ravenclaws.

When the golden trio stepped inside, they arrived at the head of their house, Hermione literally sitting down with triumph etched all over her face, first row, first seat, first-everything. Ron and Harry sat behind her, since the desks were in single lines, rather than paired.

The Slytherins arrived too, some cowed by the lack of an actual professor, others looking interested, but not really bothered. I wondered what the sixth and seventh years would do; perhaps they'd have professor Snape teaching them. The lower years instead would get their curriculum boosted through the other teachers' charms. I was in charge of the fifth year, ironically enough.

"Hello class," I said with a charming smile, "If you still have the old professor's book on Defense Against the Dark Arts, please burn it at your leisure." There were a few chuckles and a couple of hollers of 'Hear! Hear!'.

"Now, for what concerns the actual subjects of these lessons, we will be dealing with practical spells that are bound to come up, and-"

"And I'm like, why should I bother coming to these lessons? He's not that better than me!" Draco's voice cut through the classroom's silence, while what I believed to be Pansy giggled loudly at that.

I sighed, thrust my wand out from my holster, and slammed a sizzling violet spell straight against Draco's chest, petrifying him on the spot while Pansy had barely the time to widen her mouth before she too was hit by the same spell. "I'd like to point out how Petrificus Totalus will be used on all students that dare interrupt me, or speak without due cause," I continued nonchalantly. "This will apply to both Houses, of course. You will either respect me, and the punishment we are all here to suffer through," I glared at both sides, suddenly wide-eyed and quiet, "Or I will ensure you are properly cowed into submission by the use of excessive force. I have removed the previous professor from her post; do not force me to show you what happens when you get me angry."

As my gaze went by the students, there were a couple of quiet nods from both sides. Thus, I continued.

"I will tell you this. How many of you know of the saying that blood runs thicker than water?" more than a few hands shot up, many from the Slytherin's side rather than the Gryffindor. "It is a simple saying. The bonds of family are stronger than anything else, that is what it means," I hummed as I crossed my arms behind my back. "Yet, the actual, original saying goes like this," I lifted my wand, and the chalk wrote my thoughtful words on the blackboard.

The blood of the covenant is stronger than the waters of the womb.

I smiled. "The bonds that tie two people together are stronger than those of family for a simple reason," I continued, "You cannot choose your family. You can choose your friends," I chuckled, "And so, I would like you all to reflect on this. Family is important; the people you surround yourself with? They are even more important. You can choose to stick with the bad apples, and never become anything more than that; or you can choose to become something more. Some get the lesson, and become wonderful wizards and witches. Others do not," I glanced towards Draco, the briefest of glances, really, but it was enough, "And they suffer the consequences of their arrogance as they are beaten, again and again, and dragged through the mud that they bring upon themselves."

I chuckled, and shook my head. "But we are here to learn about the wonders of the Expelliarmus, the disarming charm needed to counter jinxes, hexes and curses if properly applied, and which is a staple of any and all wizard that wishes to become an Auror, or know enough to self-defend themselves against the Dark." A mannequin propped up.

I chanted the spell.

The mannequin was torn off the base just like in the previous lesson, fuming and burning as it struck against the wall.

"Do not worry," I said nonchalantly enough, "You will not achieve this result less you practice quite intensely, and with quite the desire," my eyes brimmed with confidence. "I will need a volunteer for this next part."

Some hands rose, hesitantly enough.

My eyes glanced towards the Gryffindor and the Slytherin sides equally, and then I picked the one I knew would give the best results.

"Mister Longbottom," I said with a genuine smile. "Do come forward. Don't be afraid now."

Neville blinked. He didn't even have his hand up, but I knew he'd do fine.

He warily made his way to the middle of the class, and I gently pointed my wand at him. "Now, throw a jinx in my direction. Any jinx will do."

Neville blinked, perplexed and puzzled in equal measure. He fumbled with his wand, worriedly looking at me. "I'm-"

"Going to do just fine," I said, "I have the utmost trust in the boy known as Neville Longbottom, so please, by all means."

He swallowed his fear, and threw a Jelly-Legs jinx in my direction. I easily deflected it with the Expelliarmus, and then had the class divided into pairs to work on it.

By the time we left the room, our punishment done, I un-petrified both Malfoy and Parkinson.

My eye-twinkling was wonderful...

...my draconian smile, perhaps, even more so.