Light and Darkness

YEAR 6: TWENTY-EIGHT

YEAR 6:

TWENTY-EIGHT

I awoke to the sound of Jaz slamming books on the floor and huffing and puffing. I opened my eyes and looked straight at her, "Sorry, I can't find my stupid tie." She huffed noticing that I had been woken by her. I climbed out of the bed, scratching my head and walked over to her. I bent down, reached my hand under her bed and pulled out her green and silver tie. "How did you -"

"I saw you put it there last night." I giggled. I walked back over to my bed and got dressed pretty quickly compared to Jaz. "Let's go eat."

We made our way from the dormitory and into the common room where there were several students sitting around, waiting for the morning classes to commence. As Jaz and I walked toward the entrance we heard a call, "Jaz, Pandora, wait!" We turned to see Terence and Adrian jogging up to us, "Getting breakfast?" Terence asked.

"You betcha, I'm starved." Jaz answered as she exited the common room, Terence following closely behind, leaving Adrian and I. We both noticed that we were left and the awkwardness between us and quickly caught up to the others. "How was your Summer?" I heard Jaz ask Terence who replied with the same answer he did every year - Family trip, Quidditch, eating.

We made our way from the dungeons and toward the Great Hall, "Look, Pandora, we need to clear the air." I heard as I felt a hand tug on my arm away from Terence and Jaz, right outside of the Great Hall. Adrian looked uncomfortable, scratching the back of his neck, "I want to be friends."

"Okay." I responded, "I guess I can forget about the last five years or so." I gigged, "I just don't want it to be awkward between us because we're both still friends with Jaz and Terence."

"Exactly. So friends?" Adrian asked, holding out his hand, "Starting fresh."

"Hi, my name is Pandora." I responded, taking a firm hold of his hand and shaking it. "Now let's go eat."

We sat where we usually sat and dug into breakfast, the same old breakfast we always eat. "So what N.E.W.T classes have you guys chosen?" Terence asked.

"Dark Arts, Herbology, Charms and Potions." Adrian answered, "They're the only thing I passed."

"I'm stuck with Divination." Terence sighed. "I didn't get a good enough result to do much else besides Dark Arts, Charms and Potions so they stuck me with the future teller."

"Jaz and I are doing the same, Dark Arts, Charms, Potions and then we've got History of Magic."

"History of Magic?" Terence and Adrian both gasped, "Woah, I'd rather be stuck with the genie than that."

Jaz simply shrugged, "So, who's excited for Mad-Eye Moody's class?" she asked, buttering her toast.

Terence rolled his eyes, "He is a lunatic. Who could be excited for that?"

"I don't think I could take him seriously with his eye whizzing around the room." Jaz giggled, setting down her butter knife and taking a huge bite out of the slice of toast, crumbs flying everywhere. Terence and Adrian chuckled also.

I felt a nudge from Adrian beside me, "Hey, lighten up. It's going to be fun."

"Sure thing." I responded. I wish I could drop Defense Against The Dark Arts at this stage. I never get along with any of the teachers and I am usually excluded anyways.

Terence took a sip of his pumpkin juice, "We better go, class starts in fifteen minutes."

We all gathered our things together and made our way to the Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom, ascending the large spiral staircase. By the time we had gotten to the top, Jaz was struggling to catch her breath. We walked inside to see half of the room filled. I took a seat behind Fred and George, beside Jaz. Adrian and Terence were sitting on the desk next to us. The room had changed quite a bit since Lupin's departure. There was all sorts of equipment surrounding the room; most of which, I had never seen before. A small, square chalkboard stood high and mighty at the top of the room and jars of creatures were spread out across his desk. The classroom quickly filled and Mad-Eye Moody appeared from his office, clanking his way down the stairs with what appeared to be a metal boot on his left foot. "Alastar Moody." He spoke, turning around and picking up a piece of chalk and began to write on the blackboard, "Ex-Auror, Ministry malcontent and your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." He scribbled the words 'Moody' on the board. He seemed a little off, but I suppose that's just how he is. "I am here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story, goodbye, the end. Any questions?" No one dared raised their hand. "When it comes to the dark arts, I believe in a practical approach." I looked around and noticed a few students rubbing their hands together with delight. "But first, which of you can tell me how many Unforgivable Curses there are?"