In no time at all, almost everyone liked Defense Against the Dark Arts the best.
Only gits like Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins had anything bad to say about Lupin.
"Look at the state of his robes," Malfoy would say in a loud whisper whenever Lupin would pass. "He dresses like my old House Elf."
Twelve of the Slytherins, including Malfoy, had to go to the Hospital Wing with broken noses because I punched them all in the face.
No one else cared that Professor Lupins robes were patched and frayed. His next few lessons were just as interesting as the first. After Boggarts, we studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin-like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed: in the dungeons of castles and the potholes of deserted battlefields, waiting to bludgeon those who had gotten lost. From Red Caps we moved on to Kappas, creepy, water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds.
I only wished I was as happy with some of my other classes. Worst of all was Potions. Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood these days, and no one was in any doubt why. The story of the Boggart assuming Snape's shape, and the way that Neville had dressed it in his grandmother's clothes, had traveled through the school like wildfire.
Don't tell anyone, but I'm the one who started it.
Snape didn't seem to find it funny. His eyes flashed menacingly at the very mention of Professor Lupin's name, and he was bullying Neville worse than ever.
"What do you suppose Professor Lupin will be teaching next class?" I would say in a loud whisper in the Potions class, emphasizing 'Professor Lupin'. "Because Professor Lupin is the best Defense teacher we had. Do you suppose Professor Lupin knows that? Because Professor Lupin-"
"QUIET POTTER!" Snape snarled across the class. Best potions ever.
I was also growing to dread the hours I spent in Professor Trelawney's stifling tower room, deciphering lopsided shapes and symbols, trying to ignore the way Professor Trelawney's enormous eyes filled with tears every time she looked at me.
I couldn't like Professor Trelawney, even though she was treated with respect bordering on reverence by many of the class. Padma Patil and Lavender Brown had taken to haunting Professor Trelawney's tower room at lunch times, and always returned with annoyingly superior looks on their faces, as though they knew things the others didn't. I would throw bread at them when they sat away from us in the Great Hall, so they didn't know it was me.
They had also started using hushed voices whenever they spoke to me, as though I were on my deathbed.
"I can't hear you," I lied as they walked with me to my next class.
"I said that I like your hair today," Padma whispered louder.
"Still can't hear you, can you speak up?" I lied.
YOU ARE READING
Harry Potters Twin Book Three
FanfictionThis year Nixie Potter is determined to beome an anmags. She practices in the shreiking shack with a stray black dog she found when she runs away from the dursleys. She doesn't know who the dog is, or why it follows her, but it does create suspicion...
