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chapter forty-four

MAD-EYE MOODY

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On the first day, Verena had the weirdest lessons she'd ever had before. After reviewing the Freezing Spell, Professor Flitwick taught them the Exploding Charm. For the rest of the class, the only noises made were explosions. The sounds echoed into the halls, and a professor had even rushed to see what was happening after hearing the loud sounds.

"Ah, everyone say hello to Professor Vector, our Arithmancy professor," said Professor Flitwick, smiling at her.

"Hello," the class greeted.

"Yes, yes, hello," she said quickly.

She walked toward Professor Flitwick. Even as Professor Flitwick was standing upon a stack of books on a chair, Professor Vector still had some height over him.

"Filius," Professor Vector began, stern. "What exactly are you teaching your students today?"

"The Exploding Charm," he replied, proud. "They've already got the hang of it."

"You must regret teaching that spell to the Weasley twins, don't you?" Professor Vector said with a sigh.

"Well, it is in the curriculum," Professor Flitwick reasoned. "If I were not to teach them, what would be the use of Charms class? They are here to learn and grow— "

"I am trying to educate my own students," Professor Vector said, finding it difficult to stay calm. "You could have put a charm on your classroom to minimize the sound? It echoes, Filius."

"Ah, right," Professor Flitwick said sheepishly. "The excitement's getting to me. Great events happening at Hogwarts, you know?"

"Thank you," said Professor Vector and she walked out, but before she did, she said, "I hope I need not remind you that despite the exciting events occurring at Hogwarts, your academics still matter."

"Glad I'm not taking Arithmancy," Daphne said quietly. "Damien's dying in there."

"So I've heard," Verena responded. "Strict, she is."

"Well, class, I think that'll be all," said Professor Flitwick. "We should give Professor Vector a break... We will review the charms you learned last year... "

It only got stranger as the day went on. Verena had Care Of Magical Creatures and the day's lesson was anything but fun. She'd rather have the hippogriff lesson than what Hagrid was teaching them.

Hagrid had them handle creatures called Blast-Ended Skrewts. They looked like deformed shell-less lobster scorpions, pale and slimy-looking, with legs sticking out in odd places and no visible heads.

"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we want to raise them?" asked Draco as he and the other Slytherins joined. "I mean, what do they do? What is the point of them?"

"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy," said Hagrid. "Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things – I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer— "

"You're giving us a lesson on something you don't know about?" Verena questioned, staring into the crates, disgusted.

"It's a learning experience, Salvador," said Hagrid, displeased. "Now, I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake – just try 'em out with a bit of each."

For the next few minutes, Verena was with Daphne, trying to feed it. Both of them thought it was pointless as they couldn't see if they had any mouths to begin with. They could barely even touch the frog liver and snakes without being absolutely disgusted. The smell even made Daphne gag as she neared the crate.