Strange Teachers

Chapter 9

——Harry——

A few weeks into September, I was walking into Defence Against the Dark Arts, happier than usual. Quidditch tryouts had been held over the weekend and I'd been appointed seeker, which meant that I'd be playing with Ginny and Ron (he was much less nervous now and was the team's keeper) for our last year at Hogwarts. The first practice was that night and I couldn't wait.

Anyways, I walked into the classroom and noticed that a newcomer was speaking to the professors. She looked to be in seventh year, with curly hair, dark skin and stunningly golden eyes. I hadn't known that Hogwarts even allowed transfer students. She also looked well acquainted with the two Americans.

As I approached them, I overheard a part of what Prof. Chase was saying:

"When did he go missing? Oh, gods, how's Will taking it?" Has one of their friends disappeared? I hoped not. I knew that if I asked who it was, I'd get some kind of cryptic or confusing answer, though, so I kept quiet. Suddenly, Gin elbowed me to tell me that class was starting. Today's hour was apparently going to be spent duelling with non-verbal spells. I'd thankfully gotten much better at those since last year, but I still wasn't an expert in them. As we were all about to stand up, Prof. Jackson remembered to introduce the supposed transfer student.

"This is our friend Hazel. She uses wandless magic, mainly to create illusions, and wanted to see how your magic is different. Go ahead and start duelling with a partner."

I paired up with Ginny and we took a spot on the mat. A few minutes later, after getting beaten and winning several times, I saw Prof. Jackson and Hazel being left alone by their friend. While she helped a struggling student, Hazel gave the other professor a small navy-coloured velvet box. I wondered what could be in it? Why would a seventeen-year-old be carrying something that he needed, especially if it was as valuable as it looked. Now that I thought about it, it looked remarkably like a jewelry box.

As the box slid into his pocket, his left sleeve rode up a bit and I caught a glimpse of a tattoo. My thoughts immediately turned to a dark mark, but then I calmed myself down. Regardless of whether he used to be a death eater or not, he shouldn't be defined by it. I made the mistake of distrusting Snape, I wouldn't repeat it. I couldn't say that I wasn't curious, though.

"Hey, something wrong?" By Ginny's tone, I'd probably been staring for a while.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's keep going," I replied, pushing my curiosity to the side.

— - — - —

We were in the midst of the first formal quidditch practice of the season and playing a practice game. I was trying my best to focus on finding the Snitch, but my gaze kept falling on either Ginny, who was absolutely smashing it, scoring point after point, or Profs. Chase and Jackson and Hazel in the stands. They all seemed to be amazed and confused, as if this were their first time seeing a quidditch match. That couldn't be right, I was pretty sure it was also played in America.

Bringing my thoughts back to the task at hand, my eyes swept the pitch for a trace of gold.

——Annabeth——

Hazel had showed up this morning at the gates. She said that she'd been curious and wanted to see magic performed with wands. All of them were perfectly fine reasons, but I didn't buy it. She and Percy kept glancing conspiratorially at each other. We were heading towards our first class of the day, Defense with the seventh and eighth years, and I asked about our other friends.

"Piper's doing okay. Getting her degree to teach. Frank's been recruited for Olympic archery, so I've been taking on more praetorship responsibilities lately. Will was doing pre-med school," she paused, then decided to continue, "but now he spends all of his time searching."

"Searching? For what?" Seaweed Brain asked the same thing that I was thinking. By now, we were inside the classroom, alone except for two students.

"For Nico. He's disappeared."

— - — - —

A/N: Thanks for reading and please comment, vote, or both!