Chương 6: Chapter 6: Classes part 1
Beta read by Shigiya and DOOMRAIDER.
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-Hallway-
Our first classes were quite lackluster.
The first day of classes consisted of simple introductions to the subjects we would be learning for the entire year. Every teacher was quite relaxed and patient with our first-year batches.
This week, we had finally gotten our time schedule. Each number would represent the hours of classes we would have.
Monday:
1 Potion
3 Herbology
2 Defense Against the Dark Arts
Tuesday:
2 History of Magic
1 Defense Against the Dark Arts
2 Potions
1 Transfiguration
Wednesday:
1 Flying
2 Astronomy
3 Defense Against the Dark Arts
Thursday:
3 History of Magic
3 Transfiguration
Friday:
1 Astronomy
3 Charms
1 Flying
This was the timetable for the first years and since today was Tuesday, I found myself in a dark classroom learning about the history of magic—a fascinating subject in my opinion.
Surprisingly, we didn't have a normal teacher for this class. Instead, our teacher was a floating ghost who wore old-fashioned glasses and even a suit. Cuthbert Binns, that was the name of our teacher. According to some of the rumors, the man died naturally while falling asleep on his desk after his teaching lessons. Even in death he never stopped his job of passing on crucial knowledge to the younger minds—Now that is dedication.
Some of the students found his class to be boring, since this was our first class he was giving us an introduction into magic itself and how it works. First of all, there was a reason why some wizards found muggles to be inferior and a blight to the wizarding world—because they couldn't use magic. The ability to wield magic itself was a hereditary trait passed on from our ancestors to us. We inherited it instead of learning it from scratch. Though they were cases of Muggles wielding magic by having a long related ancestor being a witch or wizard.
'Basically, magic is an innate gift that cannot be learned or unlearned'
I knew that many of the purebloods believed that having our lineage mixed with muggles could even risk us the loss of magic-wielding. Some said that our magic would grow weaker and our blood less pure.
Which was absolute bullshit considering many of the characters I had seen in the movies who weren't from pureblood families display feats of magic superior to anyone else—Hermione was a good example where she got her ability to use magic through recessive genes from one of her parents.
There was an interesting notion about half-bloods and Muggles in my family. According to Lucius, the Blacks were prejudiced against half-bloods, not the Malfoys. The Malfoys are only prejudiced against muggle-borns—though I'd argue otherwise, but I think he meant that we were more accepting of them compared to others—in summary, my family looked at the glass as half full, but the Blacks looked at the glass as half empty. And what do you know, Narcissa was another good example of that.
Draco had a negative view on Hermione because she wasn't a half-blood but a full Muggle. If she were the former then I'd believe he'd been more welcoming. He even accepted Harry because the boy himself was half-blood with his mother's side being a Muggle. It also helped that half-bloods were one of—if not the—most common type of people in the wizarding world.
Of course, there were other types of people with other species like the veelas and giants.
He then went on a long explanation about feeling the energy—which was magical energy—and using our wands to better channel it. Spelling further helped us in casting any spells and charms. Though it was possible to do wandless and speechless magic—though that would be chaotic and uncomfortable.
I took Jonathan from my pocket and fiddled with it a bit. I could cast a variety of spells, which I learned with Draco and by reading many of the books in my house's library. Simple things like Lumos and Crinus Muto—changing one's hair color—were basic charms, the complicated ones required the addition of strong emotional feelings and others just required an absurd amount of control and practice that I just didn't have yet.
Anyways, after we were done with our classes and headed towards the Dark Arts classroom and it was a real workout. There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Tuesday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and I was pretty sure that the walking armor was messing with the other kids.
'Walking up so many stairs does make me miss elevators a bit.'
I did get jumpscared a few times by the ghosts floating through the doors as I was about to open them. Neville did faint, fortunately, Harry and Ron were there to wake him up. The Bloody Baron and Nearly Headless Nick were the main perpetrators, always doing such pranks with the other ghosts of the castle.
"A-Ah! W-Welco-come s-s-students!" A heavily stuttering voice greeted us.
We reached a dark room with a single closed window dimly lighting the place. Quirrel was standing in the middle of the board with a nervous look on his face—which I knew was nothing but a facade. I felt a chill go up my spine when I remembered that there was an actual moving and living face at the back of his head. 'Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit.'
A head that was after the stone.
No matter what, I had to tread carefully around Voldemort and his minion. Though if I became overly paranoid, then the man would get suspicious of me. 'Hmmm, not like he scares me that much, I know his weakness being Harry's touch and most of the danger lies with Quirrell—Voldemort has no offensive capabilities.' Quirrell for all his fake image of being a frail man, scared of his own shadow could easily transform into a deadly Wizard and blast my head into pieces.
I've had conversations with the worst of humanity, making the Dark Lord look tame compared to some of them. But I wasn't here to try and bring him back to the 'good side'. He was already too far gone for me to try anything to change him.
"P-P-Please, s-sit down." And that stuttering was already getting on my nerves.
"Jarius~" I heard a feminine voice call out to me, it was a young girl. She had a cute face but a nasty attitude and I didn't even need to have the knowledge of the movies to know. She was from a pureblood family—just like me—with a rich ancestral history. One of the more famous relatives she had was her ancestor, Perceus Parkinson. A former minister of magic who wanted to put in place a law against marriage between muggles and wizards.
It didn't work of course.
"Hey there, Miss Parkinson." Shoot, I really needed to let go of that habit, it felt weird. "You need something?"
"Yes, I was wondering if we could sit together?" She asked sweetly, trying to look cute and bubbly.
"Why don't you hang out with Draco?"
"Well," she gave me a sheepish look, trying to act cute but it was not something I fell for. "He is hanging out with Theodore and Blaise over there." And as she pointed it out, he was indeed already at the end of the classroom, actively talking with those two. It put me in a good mood to see him hang out with others, but whether they ended up as real friends or nothing more than yes-men, was yet to be seen.
"So how about it?" Giving me those puppy dog eyes won't change much, because I didn't mind her anyways.
"Sure, do what you want." I shrugged and walked forward in the classroom with Pansy quickly shifting behind me. Was it weird that I imagined her having an evil smile while rubbing her hands together?
I swept the entire place, trying to search for a certain bush-haired girl.
"Say, Crabbe and Goyle looked quite intimidated with you, don't they?" Asked Pansy, watching from the beginning how those two kept a distance from me.
"Yes, they are."
"Any reasons?"
"Meh," I wasn't in the mood to talk to her about the details that'll just fly right above her head. "Oh, there she is!"
"Who?" Pansy wondered, but soon got her answer as she saw me approach Hermione who was already multiple books deep in her studies and the lessons hadn't even started yet! "Er… Jarius, why don't we go sit with the others? Sitting in the back with the rest is better than here with her. You know she's muggle-born, right?"
I kept smiling and walking at the front. Pansy hesitated, but continued to follow me.
"Hello there, bushy hair," I called her out playfully.
"Hey! Stop calling me that!" Hermione exclaimed. "I thought I told you to stop it with the name calling last time. If I didn't know better, then I'd suspect that you were bullying me."
"Oh cheer up," I said beside her at the front of the class. Pansy followed my actions but didn't even offer a greeting. "So, how was your day? You didn't even talk to me—your friend—during our class with Professor Cuthbert Binns." I put on a fake pouting face.
"Oh… I'm sorry, I ho-honestly got so focused on the lesson that I forgot." My eyes narrowed at her sudden nervousness.
'I wonder if anything happened in girl dorms.' I decided to look into this matter as soon as possible. Maybe she was getting bullied for all I knew, so I'll confront her about this possible issue.
Just after this class we had an additional hour of potion class with Professor Snape and another hour of Transfiguration. I could probably try and talk to her later on after classes.
"A-Alright children, se-settle down. Since th-this is our first class together, we will be discussing a-a-about different kinds of be-beasts and how to avoid them. Please open your cla-classroom book—written by N-Newt Scamander—to page 11. H-Here, you will find the des-description about unicorns, a fascinating creature of powerful…" and he went on into a long description of the beast and its properties.
Despite his annoyingly fake stutters, Quirrell was indeed quite a capable teacher. There would be some moments during the lesson where he would get so into his explanations, that the man forgot to stutter. Unfortunately, he would realize this and act terrified by the shadows.
How could Dumbledore not see through his facade was a mystery. I would understand if his background check came out clean, but not his attitude.
My gaze landed on a particular paragraph one the properties of unicorn blood.
'Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something so pure and defenseless to save yourself, you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.'
I wondered what led Quirrell to end up in the state he was in now…
From my research, he was apparently a former brilliant mind of the Ravenclaw house. He was someone very interested in traveling and growing his well of knowledge across the many locations he'd set upon. I guessed that the man—just like a Ravenclaw—was a curious one. I don't know how he could have come upon Voldemort and gotten himself infected by the dark lord like a parasite; maybe this piece of information was explained later on in the movie series. My guts told me that he was merely a puppet and was being controlled to do the dead man's bidding. 'Curiosity can sometimes be dangerous and the price for knowledge can be more then one can ever hope to afford'
The stone held many miraculous healing abilities, one of them might include recreating the dark lord's body from scratch.
Would that free Quirrell from his claws? Debatable at best.
I was lost in my thoughts for the better part of the entire lesson, it wasn't until we came to the end that I realized that class was over. For someone who was acting to be a weak-willed teacher, he sure did give a lot of homework. Though it's not like I minded doing them, learning more things about the wizarding world was another type of fun in itself.
"What do we have next?" I asked Hermione as we walked together through the halls.
"I believe we have two hours of potion-making with the Gryffindors. Have you brought your books with you?"
"Of course I did! It's not like we will need them anyways, Professor Snape will most likely have us go through the basic knowledge and test our memories."
"I heard he favors our house very much. Isn't that unprofessional for a teacher to do so?" Hermione wondered. "Not that I mind it, but I would prefer to earn my house points through my own efforts and not because I'm wearing a green tinted robe."
Well, with her knowing all the answers and being so studious, I don't think Snape will even need to be biased with us. He could give Hermione a butt-ton of points with each of her answers.
"Just try your best, if you are rewarded for your efforts then don't overthink it."
Potion lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls. I believed that this was a perfect environment to conserve any organic materials for a long term.
Just like the rest of the teachers, Snape began taking a roll call and called all of us one by one. When he read Harry Potter's name, his voice did become slightly colder.
"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new… celebrity."
Draco and his friends Blaise and Theodore sniggered behind their hands—even Pansy laughed a bit. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like coal, cold, empty and made you think of dark tunnels.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but everyone caught his every word. Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death—if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."
That certainly was one way to provoke the kids. Hermione was already at the edge of her seat, ready to prove herself. She was giving Snape the most intense of looks, as if telling him to challenge her knowledge on potion-making. Her hand was already twitching, as if she was about to raise it up the moment Snape started talking.
"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? I believed that I knew the answer for that one. It made a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. Bushy hair raised her hands so fast in the sky that I nearly got punched in the jaw. Jesus woman, calm down a bit would you!?
"I… don't know, sir."
The class laughed at the boy.
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" This was just uncomfortable to watch, I don't know what kind of grudge the man may have had with the boy or his parents, but this was taking it too far. Even if Harry did read some of the Book's content, there were thousands of potions and materials to remember. No normal eleven year old could memorize all of that in a matter of days.
"It makes a sleeping potion, sir. Known as the Draught of Living Death." I answered instead.
Gasp!
Everyone around me looked at me as if I was about to die the next moment. Harry as well gazed upon me with confusion on my actions.
"Jarius Malfoy, I presume?" I nodded my head. "Weird, I don't see Harry Potter anywhere in your name."
"..."
"The question was asked to Potter here, not you. If this happens again, I will deduct 10 points from Slytherin. But since you have indeed given me the correct answer, I will reward Slytherin with 5 points. Well done." Even while praising me his tone was as dead as a corpse—nearly looked as one even.
Many of the Slytherins cheered while Hermione looked at me as if I was her biggest rival. I found it to be very funny, not gonna lie.
This time, I raised my hand before talking.
"You have something to add, Malfoy?" I felt like he was going to throw a curse at me at any moment.
"Yes sir, Potter here just returned from the Muggle world where he grew up in. I'm not sure if he had any contact with the wizarding world or learned anything of our culture… yet. Why not just ask other students? This will show Potter the level of knowledge he'll need to have for future classes." I could feel his eyes staring daggers at me, I just continued to act oblivious and returned a smile to him.
"Very well, given Potter is as clueless to the wonders of potion making as a troll, I'll waste no more of my precious time on him." He sneered before asking more questions to the class. "Where would you look if I told you to find a bezoar and what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"
All questions were answered by Hermione who was awarded 10 points for each correct answer, earning us a total of 20 points. She was absolutely preening at the end of it, looking all smug and proud of herself. One could even mistake her for a peacock at this moment.
"Well? Why aren't you all writing that down?"
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And 3 points will be taken from Gryffindor House for your ineptitude, Potter."
While everyone was writing down the notes, I caught a stray gaze from Harry, the latter giving me a nod of appreciation while saving him from further humiliation.
Things didn't improve for the students as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. I was paired with Draco, Hermione with Blaise and Pansy with Theodore. On Gryffindor's side, Harry remained with his friend Ron and Neville got to work with Seamus.
Snape swept around in his long black cloak, watching us weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except me and my brother's group, whom he seemed to like. Hermione's group was also exempt from any scolding as Blaise followed the girl's words to the letter. I did warn him to not cause any trouble, after my display in the commons on the first day; he was too scared to disobey me.
The teacher was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way us Malfoy twins had stewed our horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.
"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.
"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.
"You, Potter, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."
I could see when Harry was about to rebuke the guy but stopped when Snape gave him a harsh glare. I quickly came by his side and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Don't push it," I said. "You'll only be inviting more trouble for you and your friends."
"Oi, we don't need your advice for that." Ron said rudely, guess he still wasn't that fond of me.
"Listen Weasley, I don't care about the grudge you may have against me. But if you don't tone it down a level then Snape will be coming for YOUR ass. Get it?" That seemed to have worked as the boy went a bit pale and quickly nodded his head while looking out for the angry teacher.
Due to the unforeseen incident, our class ended an hour sooner—giving us a free period.
As we climbed the steps out of the dungeon, I saw Harry approach me while dragging Ron with him.
"Hi… Jarius," he spoke awkwardly. "I wanted to thank you for what you did there. I don't know what kind of grudge Snape has for me. Also, sorry about Ron, he is a bit sour with you because of your brother." He shoved Ron's arm with his elbow, the latter groaning and coming walking forward to me.
"Yeah… I guess I'm sorry… for acting mean and all that." It looked like it took a lot for him to say those words.
"No problem, I understand my brother can be a bit of a jerk but he is a good kid inside. And don't worry, I accept your apology… maybe we can play a few games of chess for the occasion in the future?"
"Wicked! You play chess too?" He looked at me with excitement evident in his eyes. I nodded and we agreed upon a match at a later date. "Can we go now? I want to relax for a bit."
We gave each other our goodbyes, things ended up better than I imagined.
I saw Hermione quickly pass by me and head towards the hallway. Her actions couldn't be any more evident than that. I reached for her collar and stopped the girl abruptly in her tracks.
"Cough! Jarius!? I could have choked there for a second!"
"Sorry about that, but before you run away from me once again. Let's have a talk in the backyard of the school okay? And no, you can't decline, let's go!"
Despite her protest, I dragged her off just like Harry did with Ron.
I was going to get to the bottom of this issue before it could get anymore out of hand and actually hurt anyone.
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The next 5 chapters are already available on my p@treon at /NimtheWriter. Also find my other works with some commissioned art works there.
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