The Dark Lord had been defeated, those that were at the battle of Hogwarts seldom talk about what took place that day but everyone knew that Lord Voldemort was no more and that Harry Potter had saved the wizarding world. Harry, Ron and Hermione had sacrificed a year of their lives to destroy all the Horcruxes and finally put a stop to Voldemort once and for all but once the next year had rolled along only one of the good friends was on the train back to Hogwarts. Harry and Ron had decided not to return and instead believed they had enough knowledge and experience to become Auror’s, Hermione now 19 years old and a year older than her new class mates wanted to learn more and even after having a three-hour debate trying to convince Harry and Ron to return with her she was the only one on the Hogwarts Express.
Hermione’s first lesson of the year was the defence against the dark arts, she had made her way down to the dungeon where the class was now held out of respect to Professor Snape. The room was colder 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. Hermione entered after all her classmates had seated, but she saw an open seat at the front and sat down next to Ginny Weasley, Ron’s 18 year old younger sister. “Did you see who the new professor is?” Ginny asked Hermione shook her head “No, McGonagall didn’t announce who the new professor would be last night and after all the teachers we have had it could be anyone now” Hermione thought back to all the professors they had through her years at Hogwarts. Professor Quirrell, Professor Lockhart, Professor Lupin, Professor Moody, Professor Umbridge and Professor Snape. Out of all the Professor’s Lockhart and Lupin were the only ones that didn’t have a connection to Voldemort, Lockhart was a fraud who stole the adventures and stories of other wizards and Lupin was a werewolf which when revealed caused him to be practically chased out of the school by the scared parents of students.
Hermione, Ginny and the rest of the class jumped as the door to the dungeon closed hard, they all turned around and saw a tall man standing at the back of the class, he slowly examined the room then smiled and walked to the front of the class. He wasn’t wearing a robe like all the other Professors or students but was wearing a long brown coat, under the coat was a blue suit and a red tie, but to Hermione the thing that stood out the most was the converse sneakers that he wore on his feet “How is he getting away with wearing them” Hermione whispered to Ginny, Ginny shrugged and was about to respond when the man announced “Well, Defence against the dark arts, dark arts, arts” he clicked his tongue as he walked back and forth “So I guess we could get started, just call me the Professor” he smiled and all the tension was lifted from the room and students suddenly relaxed. He stood still for the first time and looked at the class “I know a lot of you were part of the battle last year, I wasn’t, was dealing with a creature in a metal box” he broke off and looked out the window with a somber look then quickly snapped out of it and turned back to the class “Anyway so a lot of you know about the arts and how to defend yourself, but there are a few little things I could still teach you, I need a volunteer” another big smile beamed from his face and half the room had their hands up instantly, including Hermione and Ginny.
The professor scanned the room and finally lifted his hand and pointed “You there, come up here” Hermione smiled ear to ear as she got up from her seat and practically skipped to the front of the class. The Professor put out his hand and smiled “Hello there and who might you be?” Hermione blushed “I’m Hermione Granger,” she said as she shook his hand. “Of course you are, Well this should be easy for you” he turned to the class “Now there are some curses that can be defended by simply rebounding them back to the one that cursed you, the curse can change with the rebound, however, depending on how much power is used to rebound it”. The Professor took five paces back from Hermione “Now Hermione if you can give me a curse I will rebound it back and if you feel up to it try to rebound it back to me” Hermione was feeling nervous “A curse? What type of curse?”. The tall man smiled “Oh yeah” he clicked his tongue once again then said “How about a simple transformation curse, turn my lovely red tie into a long scarf, I haven’t worn a scarf for years” he smiled.
