unforeseen [h.p.]

AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

In no time at all, Defense Against the Dark Arts had become most people's favorite class. Only Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins had anything bad to say about Professor Lupin.

"Look at the state of his robes," Malfoy would say in a loud whisper as Professor Lupin passed. "He dresses like our old house-elf."

Alex didn't understand the insult until Hermione explained to her what a house-elf was and how badly they were treated.

Alex was affronted. "That's awful! Any type of slavery is wrong, and not to mention entirely cruel."

"It's completely barbaric," Hermione agreed. "I think I'm going start a movement against it."

No one cared about the condition of Lupin's robes, as long as his lessons were always fun and intriguing. After boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblinlike 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 they moved on to kappas, creepy water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds.

The day of Gemma's panic attack, Alex was able to help her with Calming Draught she'd gotten from Madam Pomfrey. It turned out to work very efficiently, and Gemma quickly bounced back in Defense Against the Dark Arts after the boggart lesson. Professor Lupin was completely understanding about what happened, and agreed to let her try the boggart again later in the year, so she'd be prepared in case they came up on exams.

Though Defense Against the Dark Arts was practically the only exciting class, Alex was doing quite well in the others; especially Potions, which was astonishing to everyone, since Snape had been acting particularly mean as of late. She managed to always get high marks on homework assignments and the potions they brewed in class. It took a lot of persuasion to convince her classmates she wasn't cheating.

Alex was quickly getting annoyed with Divination. Not only was it suffocating in Trelawney's tower room, but Alex was completely confident that Trelawney was off her rocker. Alex felt sorry for Harry, who was often regarded to as though he would die any given second by her.

Care of Magical Creatures turned out to be pretty disappointing. Hagrid had lost his confidence after the way the first lesson turned out, which resulted in the next several lessons being focused on how to take care of flobberworms, a dull and boring creature which for sure wouldn't maim any boneheaded students.

"Why would anyone bother looking after them?" said Ron, after yet another hour of poking shredded lettuce down the flobberworms' slimy throats.

"Well, they don't require a lot of effort to take care of," said Cat. "I might get my Nan one for Christmas."

Things started picking up the start of October, when Alex managed to procure a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a Chaser.

"I can't believe he's holding tryouts. Tryouts," ranted Cat, who was pulling Alex along toward the Quidditch field early one Saturday morning. "'How are we ever going to find someone to replace Angelina?' Please. I told him I found a Chaser, but would he take my word for it? No! He wants to hold tryouts."

"No offense, Cat, but it makes sense to hold tryouts. What if there's someone better than me?" said Alex.

"There's not. I call it right now. I'd rather not be stuck on the pitch for hours watching a bunch of second years fall off their brooms trying to out fly me. Never mind, you're about to show him what you can do right now. Once he chooses you, he'll be sorry he ever wasted his time with tryouts."