Snakes and Lions (Matteo Riddle & original mc)

First Day

I woke up to the nonsense of the girls around me, scrambling in the dorm to get ready for the first day.

"What time is it?" I asked Hermione.

"Six in the morning." She said, putting her shoes on. "We have to be at the dinning hall at half past six for breakfast."

"Okay," I said, getting up and grabbing my clothes, and headed for the bathroom.

Hermione and I exited our dorm and found Ron and Harry standing by the stairs ready to go to breakfast.

"Took you long enough." Ron commented, leading the way to the dinning hall.

"We were getting ready." Hermione backed our lateness.

For breakfast, I had toast.

"What's first?" Harry asked.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts." I said. "Mad eye Moody."

"Can't believe they've let him be the new Dark Arts teacher. Wouldn't trust a word he spits." Ron said.

After breakfast, we went back to the Gryffindor common rooms to get our school things and hang out for a while. Then, we went to our Defence Against the Dark arts lesson. The classroom was tall, reaching far up to the roof, and the walls and floorboards were of dark wood. There were many strange trinkets and creatures contained at the front of the class, along with a blackboard.

The seats were arranged in twos. I sat next to Hermione, with Harry and Ron behind us. Just as I pushed in my chair after sitting down, the door at the back of the classroom opened abruptly and Professor Moody walked unstably into the classroom. Everyone was silent.

He faced the class.

"Alaster Moody." He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote Moody onto the blackboard. "Ex-Auror, Ministry Malcontent." He threw the piece of chalk to the side, it landed on the floor somewhere. "And your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?"

His face was far from welcoming or comforting. It was like he constantly looked insulted by everyone, and his eye patch of an eyeball moved differently to his real eye, which caught me off guard multiple times.

"When it comes to the dark arts," He continued in a more serious, educational tone. "I believe in a practical approach."

Just then, the door opened and closed. The whole class turned around to see a tall, attractive Slytherin boy enter the room; Matteo. He said nothing, placing his books on a desk next to Malfoy who held back a smile.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr Riddle." Moody greeted him.

"Nice to be here, Mr Moody." He said, not looking at the teacher.

"That's Professor Moody to you, now sit down." He snapped and Matteo did so on his own accord.

He sat nearly on the other side of the class, but the first thing he did when he was settled was let his eyes linger over to mine. I quickly looked away, and after a few seconds I looked back: he still looked at me. He was almost inspecting of me.

I turned back to the front of the class when Moody continued his teaching.

"First, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?" I had learnt a little about the unforgivable curses in my at-home studies, all I knew was that there were three and that they were all illegal and highly punishable.

"Three, sir." Hermione said after realising that no one else had the courage to speak to this man, apart from Matteo, apparently.

"And they are so named?" He asked, starting to write something on the blackboard.