The Necromancer Amulet

Chapter Five - The New Teacher

Secessa examined herself in the sleepy mirror of her quarters the next morning as she tried on her teacher's outfit. Her clear blue-grey eyes, a bit wider and thinner than was common (Lappish, like her grandfather's) looked back at her without expression, being the only forgiving feature on an otherwise hard face. Since her light features contrasted strongly against the black robe, the lines on her forehead and shadows under her eyes were very visible (a result of stress and bad sleep, although she would never admit to it), but this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A student would have to be brave to mess with her, she decided.

As the entered the classroom a few minutes later, it went immediately from noisy to dead calm. The third-year pupils looked at her with pale faces, and she sat down in her chair and looked out over the classroom, satisfied that she seemed to need little effort to get the little rascals quiet.

"I suppose you are aware of the fact that I am your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," she said tersely, "You will address me as Professor Laburova, and during my classes, you will not speak if I have not given you the permission to do so. Does everybody follow me so far?"

There was a sea of frightened nods in reply.

"Excellent. I see in your syllabus that you have covered some basic theory on beasts, and that you have studied simpler jinxes and counter-jinxes. We will continue with beast theory for the next couple of weeks, which we then will put into practice."

Some of the students sat up straight and exchanged excited glances. She looked at them sternly. "However, I will not tolerate any rash behaviour in my practical classes. Students who show a casual attitude towards these little monsters will not be allowed to attend until they can prove themselves to behave responsibly in comparison. Now, as you have not yet covered Dugbogs I will cover this subject today. I will expect all of you to hand in an essay on marsh- or water-living beasts in four weeks time, so pay close attention to what I say."

The students looked rather dissuaded and brought out parchments and quills with little sighs. Satisfied with their response, Secessa stood up and began to write on the blackboard as she spoke.

"Now, Dugbogs are well-disguised little fellows that may be found in marshes in most countries in the Northern Hemisphere..."

*

When she sat down at the dinner table that same evening, Secessa thought her day had turned out rather well. Having managed to order in a varied range of lesser beasts for set dates during the school year and introduce a first-year class to the basics of general safekeeping, she had felt confident enough to calmly put out a staff-alert for Boggarts at tea-time (pretending not to look at Professor Snape, who seemed even more brooding than the day before). The other teachers had responded to the alert with some amusement, although she couldn't at all make out the reason for this. Surely, it was common practice to include Boggarts in the third-year syllabus?

She dined in silence, exchanging the odd polite comment with Professor McGonagall and Madame Hooch, who sat nearby discussing some of the new students. Half through the dinner the chair to her right was pulled out and Professor Snape sat down.

Still feeling very uncomfortable at having spilled out one of her so far well-kept secrets in anger to such a disagreeable man, she tried not to look at him, and to her relief he ate quickly and efficiently, which left little room for words. When the dinner was ended, however, he turned to her and she could not ignore him any further.

"I trust your classes went well." It was a statement. A peace offering? She watched him guardedly.

"Yes, I would say so. I am a bit surprised at their reluctance towards homework, though. The Durmstrang students were, shall we say, a bit more disciplined." She tried to sound indifferent.

"I am sure."

There was a pause. He seemed to look anywhere but at her.

"It has come to my attention that you are teaching the sixth-years tomorrow," he said smoothly. "A couple of my house students did not pass his Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL last year, but that was more due to the incompetence of the last Dark Arts teacher than their own. I wish for them to join your NEWT class."

So that was it - no peace offering, but a try to favour his Slytherin students again. She should have guessed. Her anger was rising, but she kept her countenance calm.

"They may join, but I will keep a close eye on them. I hope you understand that I will not spend time on them if they are having trouble catching up. I have no patience for students who waste my time. But then I am sure you will be there to help them since they are in your House." She gave him a little frosty smile as he glanced at her.

"Good. This is settled then."

"What are their names?"

"Parkinson, Malfoy and Bulstrode. And now, I hope my removal from your company isn't entirely unexpected."

And with that, he rose and left. Secessa swallowed the hex on her tongue, waited awhile and then rose herself, careful to avoid the unpleasant experience of running into him in the corridor.

*

The sixth-years that she met the day after was a rather noisy bunch of students that included among others the duelling-culprits Malfoy and Potter, and Granger, the bushy-haired girl with the (polished?) prefect-badge that she also had met previously on the train. As she entered the classroom, however, they settled, and they responded to her icily surveying glance with absolute silence.

"I expect only the best from my NEWT classes, as I hope you all understand," she said, and looked them in the eye, one by one, as she spoke. "I have been informed that some students in this class are of sub-standard level. Let me make myself clear of my opinion right now: I do not accept sub-standard work. I expect you all to work hard, and if your performance so far has been weak you will simply have to work harder. The tests I will set for you at the end of this year will be difficult, as I do not wish to keep under-performers any longer than necessary."

Some of the students swallowed and looked worried; two of them were Parkinson and Bulstrode. Secessa smiled inwardly as she continued. "We will start by working on stronger shielding charms, and after that we will deal with incapacitating spells, cloaking spells and defensive spells. That should bring us up to Christmas, and after that we will see how we move on. Are there any questions concerning the syllabus?"

The students were quiet, and some of them glanced at each other. Granger, seated right in front of her, looked rapt and attentive, whereas the red-haired boy next to her seemed slightly nauseous.

"Good. Now, the first spell I will teach you is a rather difficult one - an air shield - but the reason I bring it up on your first lesson is that you will get more time to practice it then. Also, this is a very useful spell that can be used as protection from air-based spells as well as lesser curses. The incantation is Aerodensa, but you need to put most efforts into the movements of you wand as these form the basis of the spell. A skilled wizard or witch can perform the spell without the words, by simply focusing the mind and moving the wand. I will show the movements to you now. Pay careful attention."

Secessa performed the spell slowly in front of the students, who were scribbling furiously, and when she had finished, the air in front of her went thick. She then produced a lightning-ball with a flourish of her wand that flew straight into the shield and disappeared with a swoop. The shield cleared, and several 'Oohs' could be heard from the class. She smiled coldly. "And now...we practice."

Secessa was rather dismayed as she walked round the classroom. There was certainly nothing special about this class, and the postures of some of the students as they moved their wands were deplorable. They worked hard, however, and she contented herself with walking around and correcting them, occasionally having a glimpse at the hourglass on her desk.

When the lesson was almost ended, she heard a "Blimey, Hermione!" from the front of the classroom, and walked up to find the Granger girl proudly producing a thin, gleaming shape in front of her. A dark haired girl squeaked "It's so pretty", and Secessa eyed her sternly, indicating towards the shape.

"What is this?"

The class went quiet and Miss Granger looked proud. "My shield, Professor."

Secessa eyed the shield with distaste and lifted her wand, yelling, "Tarantellegra", pointing at the girl. The spell flew straight through the shield and landed on Granger, who slumped backwards in her seat with a shriek, her legs moving uncontrollably.

Flicking her wand casually, mumbling, "Finite Incantatem", Secessa turned to the class, while the girl tried to compose herself, looking distraught.

"Some of the students here in this room seem to believe that they are in Charms class," Secessa said with a little smile, "however, the spells you perform here will be judged by their effectiveness, not how pretty they are."

The Potter boy looked at her with a frown. She could hear sniggering from the Slytherin corner of the class and turned to them.

"Ah, Mr Malfoy!"

She walked up the smirking blonde Slytherin pupil. "Would you care to share your little joke?" He started and the smirk disappeared.

"Please perform your spell," she said casually and with pleasure. Snape's doting on the boy had caught her dislike, and since she could say nothing to the Professor himself, well...

Malfoy started moving his wand but she interrupted him curtly before he was finished. "Pathetic! Ten points from Slytherin for not paying attention in class!" She had found out about the points system the day before and thought it was an excellent tool.

There was complete silence as she walked up to the top of the classroom.

"The essence of a shield spell lies is the willpower of the performer. The stronger the mind, the better the spell. You will need to focus your mind and willpower while performing this spell, and, as I mentioned at the beginning of this class, I will not accept any work that is sub-standard. At the end of this month I will test all of your shields and I expect them all to be functional by then. Class dismissed."

The students hurried out of the classroom, murmuring to each other. Secessa felt that she had not made herself very popular that day, and that her bad mood was probably to blame for it. Nevertheless, she had always been strict in her classes. Composing herself, she made her way to her office for a nice cup of tea.

*

Wednesday morning Secessa had no class, so she decided to make her way towards the staff room on the ground floor, where she could perhaps spend some hours of lesson-planning in the company of other teachers. However, as she entered the long, oak-panelled room with its cosy, mismatched chairs, it was empty except for one teacher - Professor Snape. She tried to exit the room quietly but was too late; he had not looked up, but seemed to have noticed her anyway.

"Ah, Professor Laburova, please have a seat," he said casually, in a voice entirely different from that of the days before.

Her eyes thinned. What was this new nonsense?

Advancing through the room slowly, she sat down reluctantly in a chair not too close to the Potion's master, but not too far away to be rude. She relieved herself of her large roll of parchment and was just about to start writing when she was interrupted.

"I did not see you at dinner yesterday, Professor." The words were still casual, but he seemed to watch her intently.

"I was tending to my owl and was delayed, so I decided to have dinner in my room."

"I see."

There was a little pause, and she looked up; the man not far away from her had a little smile on his lips. She wondered angrily what he was playing at when he spoke again.

"I taught the sixth-years yesterday, and I was most surprised at how quiet they were. I rarely get the pleasure of conducting a two-and-a-half hour Potions class in peace, especially not the one containing Miss Granger, whom I find quite insufferable. I was merely curious at the cause of this...unexpected event."

Secessa felt her cheeks redden slightly.

"I merely showed to the class, rather graphically, the hazardous effects of a badly composed shield spell, that happened to be Miss Granger's," she said haughtily. "I assume the performance was most effective, considering the students' reaction. This is the way I teach my classes, Professor Snape, and if you wish to criticise my teaching method I suggest you bring it up with the Headmaster, who employed me."

"I assure you, Professor Laburova, I meant nothing of the sort." His eyes were glinting. "As I implied to you just now, I have not held such an enjoyable Potions class in years. Tea?"

He pointed his wand at the table between them, and a tray with a steamy teapot and some cups appeared with a pop. She eyed it suspiciously.

"If I wished to poison you, Professor Laburova," he said, smirking, "I would choose a more subtle way to go about it."

Nevertheless, there was some time before Secessa ventured to have a cup. As she did, he gave her another viciously content little smile. They worked in silence over their tea for an hour or so, after which he stood up, gathered his scrolls, gave her a small nod, and walked away.

When he had left, she shook her head to herself. She had obviously pleased this sullen man, but she was not sure she was happy about the way it had all come about.