Perfectly Grey || Kakasaku

First Class

As it turned out, Sakura's seventh year just couldn't be a normal year. This year, for the first time in decades, the triwizard tournament was taking place again, this time at Hogwarts.

Considering that the last time the Triwizard tournament had happened people had died from it, Sakura was very skeptical about this one, too. There was a reason why the tournament had been banned decades ago. She wondered which fool in the ministry was behind this. Or perhaps, it was Dumbledore this time?

She'd voiced her reservations to Ino, who'd just rolled her eyes and called her paranoid. So much for supportive friends.

As a part of the Triwizard tournament, three other schools would be arriving at Hogwarts in a month or so. Durmstrang, Beauxbatons and Mahoutokoro. It would feel weird having foreign people roaming the hallways, but at the same time, it'd be a bit exciting.

The people at Hogwarts had gotten predictable. Except for the wide-eyed first-years, Sakura knew them all and found most bland. The only one to get her interest had been Ino, who had a way of worming herself into peoples' hearts with her sense of humor and shameless comments.

Sakura took a seat in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the classroom already almost full. She'd gotten a bit delayed while practicing magic in the room of requirements. It was the only place where she could practice more dangerous magic without being seen by the old coot or any of his minions.

There wasn't anything quite like searching for clandestine spells and learning them, or even making new spells herself. Sakura revelled in feeling the power coming out of her body, channelled through her wand.

Sakura and Ino entered the classroom. Today was their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, and Sakura couldn't help but wonder just how terrible it'd be. After years of terrible teachers, she started to believe that no good Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher existed.

The first thing she noted upon entering was that the new teacher - Professor Hatake - had changed the classroom a bit. Namely, the curtains were half-shut, only some light seeping into the classroom.

The redundant paintings had been removed, the walls bare with nothing on them. It was painfully depressing. The classroom gave off a very lonely and sad feeling to her, which she didn't particularly like.

Her eyes slid over the teacher's desk, where Hatake was sitting in a chair, leaning back in it as his half-lidded eyes surveyed the students coming in and out. His eyes met hers for a second, before he looked at the other students coming in from behind her.

Feeling a bit disturbed by the silence and the atmosphere, she took a seat in the back of the class.

"I think he's emo," Sakura whispered to Ino, who couldn't help but silently laugh. Hatake's eyes were back on them for a moment, but Sakura doubted he'd heard her comment considering they were seated all the way at the back, he'd probably heard Ino's laughter.

Students continued filling the classroom, until all desks were full and everyone was present. That was when Hatake chose to speak, still seated in his chair.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Hatake Kakashi, your professor for this year," Hatake began.

"I will not only be teaching you material you'll need to pass your NEWTs, but I'll also make sure that you are able to defend yourself. In short, rather than theory, I'd like to focus on practice, so make sure to have your hands on hand every class," he continued, his words causing some students to start whispering to each other.

So far, if she chose to ignore Lupin, practice lessons had been very spare. Sakura felt a wave of interest. So far, Defence wasn't looking completely hopeless.