When at last I thought I had him forever, he slipped through my fingers again.
When at last I thought I could find that ray of sunshine in the sudden storm, it disappeared behind even darker storm clouds.
There was no way I could continue chasing th...
Bill's arrival honestly could not have come at a better time. Perhaps I was a bit too quick to feel hopeless, after all.
Standing together with my friends in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, my sister standing in the front where she could see Bill, I felt a sense of unity radiate from the few of us--even if Merula and Ismelda were there, it didn't affect the surging uplift of hope that pumped through my being. To be fair, I think it was the first time we were all standing together in one room without any other clueless students or teachers holding strict authority around. So long as we worked together as one united force, we could face any obstacle ahead. The warmth that radiated within felt very different from the cold boldness I got from Rakepick last year when I worked as her apprentice curse-breaker--that, at least, was a good change.
Well, not to mention that we needed a better professor than the one we had now.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Thank you all for coming," Bill told everyone, a huge smile on his face as he looked at the group. "You might be wondering why I've called you here."
Ben shook his head stiffly in response. "I don't waste time wondering anymore. I just take action."
"Blimey, Ben!" Tonks exclaimed, shock written all over her face. "When did you get so interesting?"
"'Interesting' isn't how I'd put it..." Penny warned her friend, a look of embarrassment crossing her face.
"As I was saying, Charlie told me your Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is particularly useless this year," Bill continued, as if the interruption never happened. "And since I have some down time between my Gringotts curse-breaking missions, I figured--"
"Get to the point. I have revenge to plot," Merula snapped.
I could feel little Em recoil against me, and I almost face palmed myself at the interruption from Merula. Why did she even have to bring up her desire to--well, I won't even bring it up anymore. Even I couldn't think about it without feeling some sort of disgust toward her.
"And I really need to get back to feed my toad, Sir Ribbithe," Liz added.
Bill chuckled at Liz, turning away from Merula as he looked over at everyone else. "Then I'll make this quick. I've decided to visit Hogwarts from time to time to teach you new defensive spells," he announced. "This is all informal, of course--I'm not replacing your professor, just tutoring. I've already got Professor Dumbledore's permission to use this classroom after classes finish for the day."
"Not that we're not grateful, Bill...but why?" little Em piped up, tilting her head in intrigue.
Bill nodded at little Em then, his face serious. "If the events of last year have taught me anything, it's the importance of being able to protect yourself," he responded. "If Rakepick of any of her lot return, I want to make sure you are as prepared as you can be--and from the sound of it, that won't be possible with your current Professor. Not that I'm forcing you to do this, of course," he added quickly. "You can leave if you're not interested. But I think there's a lot I can teach you if you decide to stay."
