What Lies Within

Chapter Five - Professor Malantha Carey

The classroom was like nothing Sirius had ever seen before. The walls had been draped in black velvet that flowed onto the floor and the windows were covered with heavy iron shutters that threw the room into shadows. Instead of the usual desks, there were antique ebony claw-footed tables with matching stools. As a teacher's desk, there was an elaborately carved Renaissance piece with piles of parchment rolls and leather bound volumes on it. An extravagant black feather quill rested in a bottle of ink on the surface of the desk. Behind the desk a large hearth was ablaze with a hearty fire that flooded the dark room with a warm light, added to by the groups of candles on each "desk." At the back of the class, the whole wall was taken up by one huge bookcase filled with more leather bound volumes. The students rushed to get seats near the front, all muttering excitedly.

Sirius and Remus managed to get a table to themselves at the back, having been last in line because of their tardiness. Not that there were many students in the class; this being a N.E.W.T. level class, not many students were up to the challenge. But for those like Sirius, it wasn't a matter of challenge; to be able to move onto his three years of Auror training, he needed all the Defence Against the Dark Arts he could get.

When all the students were settled, all the quills, bottles of ink, and rolls of parchment laid out on the desks, and everyone was facing the front of the class, Professor Carey rested upon the edge of her desk, crossed her arms, and surveyed the attentively waiting class. Only then did she speak.

"My name is Professor Malantha Carey. I will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for the rest of this, your final year. As you have all managed to achieve N.E.W.T. level in this class, I expect extremely high performance levels from each and every one of you. Anyone who does not intend to work hard in this class may leave now and save me the trouble of having to kick you out later." Here, Professor Carey paused and looked slowly over her group of students, daring them all one by one at a single glance to get up and leave her class. No one moved. Satisfied, Professor Carey continued.

"Evil has always been present in humanity. For instance, in Greek mythology there was a goddess named Hakate who ruled over witchcraft, demons, graves, and the underworld along with Hades, god of the underworld. Take Seth, Egyptian god of vengeance, who killed his own brother Osiris because he was jealous of his standing. Now let us jump back to the Ancient Greeks, to a myth evil spirit by the name of Lamia, who abducts and murders children. Her name means 'vampire' in Latin and 'fiend' in Arabic. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Evil is everywhere and has always been since the dawning of time. Let us now move our attentions to a woman named Lilith. This is the Assyrian name of a demon, derived from the word 'lilitu' meaning 'of the night.' In ancient Semitic folklore, this so called demon was Adam's first wife, who was replaced by Eve because she refused to submit to him. Nevertheless, Adam and Lilith did have children together, for the legend also says that their offspring were the evil spirits of the world.

"This is one theory about the origins of evil spirits, but there are more, one in every society. The Greeks state that evil spirits were set loose upon the earth by a woman named Pandora, who let her curiosity get the better of her and opened the box containing the evil spirits of the world today. I'm sure you've all heard of the myth of Pandora's Box?" There was a general mumbling of agreement, but, eager to hear the rest of Professor Carey's speech, silence soon took the room again. Pleased with her students' reactions Professor Carey resumed talking.

"The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting something which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."

The scratching of a quill caught Sirius' attention and for the first time in ten minutes he looked around the class, this time observing the students. At the front of the class sat a blond-haired girl and a darkly complexioned boy who Sirius recognized as a boy named Moonir in Hufflepuff, though Sirius didn't know the boy's last name. A little to the side, but still at the front of the class, sat two girls, one with red hair and one with black hair. Sirius knew them both at once; it was Lily Evans and Raven Storme. Pleasantly surprised, Sirius moved his gaze to the table directly behind the two girls, where McMillan sat with two friends Sirius didn't know by name, but recognized as Ravenclaws. Also in the center of the class, sat three boys named Jonathan O'Hearty, Andrew Stage, and Corey Blackwood. A lonely girl sat at the table next to theirs. Sirius didn't know her personally, but thought her name was Lillian Abbott. There were only two tables at the back of the class; one of them was occupied by Remus and Sirius themselves and at the other table sat the boy with the annoyingly excessive writing problem. Sirius suppressed a gasp.

It was Snape.

And by the looks of it, he had written down every word Professor Carey had just said.

"Your defences," continued Professor Carey (Sirius' attention snapped back to the front of the class), "must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the Arts you seek to undo. This is why we have Defence Against the Dark Arts here at Hogwarts. The Dark Arts are a deadly adversary and should not be taken lightly. Take what just recently happened to the family of a student here. 'Evil forces,' as the Headmaster so aptly dubbed them, killed seventeen people without a single thought. Evil is merciless and does not discriminate about the age, race, gender, or social standing of its victims. Be forewarned, be prepared, be just as sly as the evil you face... this is how to defend yourself. But embrace ignorance, as did Uuert the Unwise and Igor the Ignorant, and you jeopardize not only your own life, but the lives of the ones you love." Sirius could have sworn that Professor Carey's violet eyes rested on his own. Sirius blanched.

Seventeen people...

"Now," Professor Carey's tone became brisk and business-like, not unlike Professor McGonagall, "the Ministry of Magic, able bodied though they undoubtedly are to handle magical affairs, have a different view than I on how to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts to students who are of age. Legally, you are all adults now, and, as I believe, capable of handling that which you were shielded from before. The Headmaster agrees with me on this point. That being said, let us now start today's lesson."

Professor Carey got up off her perch and, navigating the perimeter of her desk, walked briskly up to the blackboard. Sirius blinked. He couldn't quite recall seeing the blackboard upon his arrival in the classroom. And judging by the whispers that had erupted among his fellow classmates, neither had anyone else. Sirius caught Remus' eye and raised his eyebrows. Remus just shrugged and they both turned back to the front.

The blackboard was a standard Hogwarts blackboard (black with a dark wooden surround), but there was one peculiar detail that made it unique: it was floating in midair. Professor Carey started writing on it with white chalk. Slowly, Sirius started to recognize the word being spelled.

Quintaped.

A barrage of whispering broke out among the students as Professor Carey turned to face the class again. She looked pleased to see that most had recognized the word.

"I see you are all familiar with this particular beast, but can anyone tell me what it is, exactly?"

Evans' hand shot instantly into the air. This surprised no one; Evans was forever answering teachers' questions before anyone else could even start to react.

"Yes, Miss Evans?"

Evans cleared her throat and started her explanation.

"The Quintaped resembles something of a tarantula, except instead of being black with eight legs, the Quintaped is a reddish-brown and has only five legs, each ending in a clubfoot. The Quintaped is considered highly dangerous to wizards, as it is a carnivorous beast with a particular taste for humans. The Quintaped can only be found on the Isle of Drear off the northernmost tip of Scotland." Evans finished her spiel and settled back into her seat looking self-satisfied.

Professor Carey nodded her content. "Very apt description of the Quintaped, and yes they can only be found on the Isle of Drear. Drear was made unplottable for this very reason years ago. Now can anyone tell me under what other name the Quintaped is known?"

This time, it was Remus who raised his hand first.

"The Hairy McBoon."

"Also correct. As the legend goes, there once lived two rivalling clans on the Isle of Drear. The McCliverts and the McBoons. These two clans fought for some reason that has hence been forgotten, and the McCliverts ended up turning the McBoons into monstrous five-legged creatures. The McBoons, now what are known as Quintapeds, then proceeded to eat all of the McCliverts. Whether this is fact or fiction, no one knows, and the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures hasn't been able to capture one to find out. Some say this is because the McBoons don't want to be changed back, but this is contradicted by Sir Humphrey Godwick's Law of Magical Relativity. The Law states that once a human being is transformed into something else by magical means, such as being transfigured into a parrot, the human can remember naught of his past life as a human, and ere the charm is lifted and he or she again takes human form, the human will remember naught of his or her experience (as a parrot). Therefore, the Quintapeds cannot remember being human according to the Law of Magical Relativity, if indeed they were human to begin with, and ergo cannot want to be transformed back into something they can't remember being."

There was a pause in which Professor Carey observed the class.

"Well? Why aren't you all writing this down?"

There was a mad scramble to open inkbottles and for five minutes the class was filled with the sounds of students writing as fast as they could, trying to copy down everything Professor Carey had just said. When everyone had written down everything they could remember, Professor Carey turned back to the blackboard and with the flick of her wand, the writing disappeared. Presently, she wrote something else in its place.

Magizoology: The Study of Magical Creatures

"As you may be all aware, magizoology is a big part of the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum. You have studied it in the past. It covers all magical creatures, including those under the Being and Spirit Divisions. Anything that is not human and possesses magical qualities. You have learned, I am told, how to defend yourselves against Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas... most dark creatures rating a two to a three on the Ministry scale. I believe you also covered some level four creatures last year. Your previous teacher, Professor O'Quinn, informed me that you covered Erklings last year. Can anyone sum up the Erkling for me?"

The sound of quills scratching became more rushed. At the front of the class, Lily was hurriedly scribbling down everything Professor Carey had said about Ministry Divisions and ratings. Remus was staring absentmindedly out the window (he frequently got distracted near the time of the full moon). No one else in the class could be bothered to answer such a boring review question. Professor O'Quinn hadn't been the most interesting teacher in the world, and to tell the truth, most had forgotten about Erklings. Taking advantage of the situation, Sirius raised his hand.

"Mr. Black?"

"The Erkling is an elf-like creature with a pointed face and a high-pitched cackle that is particularly entrancing to children. The Erkling will try to lure the child away from its guardian and eat it. It is rated a four on the Ministry scale because once the Erkling succeeds in luring its prey away from others, it will change position very fast making its cackling sound to confuse the child or even an adult. To escape an Erkling, one must perform a Statue Charm to incapacitate it which is not a very easy spell to cast. If cast correctly, the Statue Charm freezes everything in the immediate area surrounding the caster. The Erkling's name is thought to originate from the German 'elf king' called the Erlking, because of the creatures origins in the Black Forest in Germany."

A ringing silence filled the classroom after Sirius' explanation.

"Very good, Mr. Black. A very detailed summation of the Erkling to be sure. For anyone who was wondering, a four of the Ministry scale means specialty knowledge of the particular creature is required, but a talented wizard can cope. As I hope you have all guessed, we will be studying dark creatures this term, but not your everyday ones. We will be studying at length dark creatures with a rating of five on the Ministry scale. This means, for those of you who are rusting on their ratings, known wizard killers. The Ministry of Magic has made it very clear that no wizard is to try and take on one of these creatures on his own without special training. However," Professor Carey paused, her voice taking on a passionate tone, "the Headmaster has a higher opinion of you than that. He, as do I, believe that to learn, you must experience. Therefore, we will be seeing dark creatures like Lethifolds, Nundu, Acromantula, Manticores, Chimeras, Basilisk, and last but certain not least, Werewolves."

Next to Sirius, Remus' attention was abruptly brought back inside the classroom. His face was flushed and his eyes wide. Sirius could have sworn that Professor Carey's eyes rested upon Remus' face for an instant before turning again to the blackboard.

"What the hell was that?" Remus hissed under his breath to Sirius. He looked scared.

"I'm not sure... but I get the feeling that this teacher isn't exactly what she appears to be... have you noticed her eyes? I've never seen anyone with purple eyes." Sirius shivered.

"Me neither. But you think she knows? I'm damned sure she looked at me," Remus pressed, eyeing their Defence Against Dark Arts teacher warily.

"I don't know... but surely she won't tell anyone? She's a teacher! She has to be aware that no one can know..." But Sirius wasn't sure. She was new wasn't she? And did the teachers even know about Remus' condition?

"Once Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin are with us again, we'll continue."

Sirius' eyes snapped up to see the entire class staring at the both of them. Smiling awkwardly, Sirius tried to keep his eyes on Professor Carey. It wasn't really hard.

"Thank you. Now, back to the Quintaped. Has anyone got any idea of what kind of spell might subdue the Quintaped?"

"That was the best Defence Against the Dark Arts class I've ever had!"

Class was over and the students in the advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts class were descending the marble staircase toward the Great Hall and lunch. It had indeed been the best lesson anyone could ever remember taking. Professor Carey actually knew what she was taking about, not like Professor O'Quinn the year previous. Before he could teach anything, O'Quinn had to look it up in his book. His voice had felt like sand paper after an hour of class. The only teacher Sirius could think of who was more boring than O'Quinn was Professor Binns, and Binns was dead.

The Great Hall was bustling with people trying to find their friends. Joining the throng, Sirius and Remus looked around, trying to spot James and Peter. After a minute of searching, Remus spotted them at the very end of the Gryffindor table. Peter was laughing so hard, tears were falling from his eyes, and James was chuckling, shaking his head.

"What'd we miss?" Sirius asked, sitting down next to James. Remus sat across from him.

"Oh, I was just telling Wormtail about my first class. Want to know what happened?" James laughed and turned to his two newly arrived friends. Sirius and Remus nodded, curious about what could have happened in McGonagall's class that could be that funny; McGonagall was one of the strictest teachers in the whole school.

"Well I got to class on time, right? There was no one outside the class, so I just walked in all casual like, and McGonagall was at the front of the class. She gave me this really weird look, but I just thought that my hair was lopsided or something. At first, I thought the people in my class were midgets, you know? Kind of like Timothy Attwood. But everyone in the class was really short. And they were giving me these looks like 'who the hell is this dude?' Then his boy in front of me turns around to see what everyone else is staring at and guess who it was? That first year from last night! Then McGonagall walks back, leans down, and whispers in my ear, 'Intending on learning the basics again, Mr. Potter?' It turns out, my timetable is off and I was supposed to have Herbology with Wormtail instead! Apparently with all the commotion about Tessa," everyone cast a glance at Sirius, who lowered his eyes, " some of the timetables got screwed. Pretty funny, eh?"

"Yeah, hilarious," Sirius muttered. What with his first Defence Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Carey, he had forgotten all about Tessa. Now the weight returned to his shoulders and he didn't feel much like eating.

"And you know what else?" James stammered on, looked worried. "They forgot to do something before school started. McGonagall is trying to fix everything today. But guess what?" James was smiling again and he sounded excited.

"What, did they forget to expel Snape?" Remus asked mockingly.

"No, but that would be good, wouldn't it?" James shook his head. "But that wasn't it. Notice anything different about me? Anything at all?" He spread his arms so they could get a better view of him. It was Remus who noticed what it was first.

"Congrats, Prongs."

Confused, Sirius looked James over. His hair was still as messy as usual and his robes looked the same... or did they. Then Sirius noticed what it was. There, just above the embroidered Gryffindor lion on the front of James' robes was a shiny badge with the letters HB on it. Sirius was surprised he hadn't noticed it at once.

"They made you Head Boy?" he gasped, a reluctant smile spreading across his face. "Why the hell would they do that? You're too unscrupulous to be an authority figure!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought," James admitted.

"But I thought it was only Prefects who could be Heads," Peter said, looking at Remus. But Remus shook his head.

"No, anyone can be a Head, it's not only Prefects... and don't look at me! I didn't want to be Head Boy! It was bad enough being named a Prefect!"

Everyone snickered, remembering the shock of Remus becoming a Prefect.

"I guess we'll have to watch our step now, boys," Sirius had warned, eyeing Remus mockingly. "Mr. Lupin here might throw us in detention!"

Of course Remus had never done anything of the sort and said that he would rather eat Flubberworms than put his friends in detention. The rest of them believed him, because Flubberworms were wholly disgusting.

"So if you're Head Boy, who's Head Girl?" Remus asked.

James opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a voice behind Sirius.

"Hey, boys."

Sirius turned around and came face to face with Lily Evans' stomach.

"Afternoon, Lily. Congratulations on becoming Head Girl!" said Remus jovially.

"Thank you, Remus!"

And sure enough, there on her chest was the shiny badge with the letters HG on it.

"That was some amazing Defence Against the Dark Arts class, wasn't it?" Lily asked, sitting down next to Sirius. "That Professor Carey really knows what she's talking about. Much better than Professor O'Quinn."

Remus laughed, but Sirius just nodded. He was still thinking about Tessa. Lily seemed to notice, because she put a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"I'm so sorry, Sirius," she said, looking sympathetically at him.

Sirius shook his head as if to say he was alright. "Thanks."

"So, Evans, now that were both Heads, will you go out with me?" James interjected eagerly. Remus hung his head in exasperation.

"In your dreams, Potter," Lily replied calmly, and she proceeded to start a conversation with Sarah Pyne on her right.

"Hey, guys, I think she's starting to really like me!" James whispered conspiratorially, leaning forward as thought to block Evans out of the conversation.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all made noises of disgust and helped themselves to food. It was going to be a long year.