The Marauders: Year Three | #Wattys2016

The Screechsnap

The Sceechsnap

The first week of term was flying by. They'd attended their Herbology class following the introductory Divination course on Tuesday, followed by Charms and Transfiguration on Wednesday, and then History of Magic first thing Thursday morning. It was after lunch that they were to attend their first Defense Against the Dark Arts course for the term. For the first time in as many years as they'd been there, it was not them who met the new teacher first, and it left them with having to hear hand-me-down stories from Frank Longbottom, Andy Woodhouse and even Meg Johnson about what the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was like.

"His name is Ned Veigler. He's rather brilliant - mad, I'm sure - but brilliant," Frank had appraised the professor on Tuesday after having his first class with the man.

"Mad?" asked Remus, "What's so mad about him?"

"You'll see," replied Frank Longbottom.

This, of course, had intrigued the boys and they kept speculating about the Professor.

"Frank's right, he's a nutter," said Andy Woodhouse on Wednesday, nodding vigorously.

Meg Johnson, who was in Andy's year, agreed, "Yep, definitely crazy, but he's really smart, too."

By the time Thursday afternoon came about, the boys were itching to meet this brilliant nutter and they hurried through their lunch to get up to the Defense corridor and visit Professor Veigler. They were so quick about it that they even beat Lily Evans up the stairs. "I feel like we're always running up here to meet new professors," Sirius said as they leaned against the wall around the door.

"Every year," Remus said.

"Twice first year - we had Moody for half the term," James reminded them.

"I wish they'd given us more detail about Professor Veigler," lamented Peter. "Did anyone hear if he's easy on the grades or not?" He sounded worried.

Sirius shrugged, "Nobody said but I reckon everyone's going to be a bit harder on us this year than they have been, seeing as we're getting older."

"Yeah," said James, "Expectations can only go up."

Peter sighed.

"Any sign of Veigler?" Lily called, running down the hallway to join them.

"Not yet," Remus replied.

As though on cue, however, there came around the corner behind Lily a young-ish man with slick dark hair and a pair of thick glasses with squarish frames that matched his squared jaw. The man had a cleft that was slightly off center and a way of holding his shoulders that was also off centered, one side seemingly much lower than the other. He carried a funny looking plant that seemed like some sort of odd, black, slimy thistle with a wide, fanged mouth across it, which was snapping and biting at the air as he walked.

"Morning," he called, withdrawing a large ring filled with dozens and dozens of keys from his pocket as he approached the door with the hideous plant. Sirius ducked out of the way as the plant took a snap at him, his eyes wide. Professor Veigler jangled the keys for a few moments, hunting for one in particular. "There it is," he said, and he held the ring in his teeth, selecting the one he wanted from the loop, and inserting it into the keyhole, shoving open the door. "In you go," he nodded for them to pass through as he held open the door. The Gryffindors made their way inside and Veigler followed, letting the door slam shut behind him.

The desks were gone - leaving the center of the round room completely empty. The students stood awkwardly in a cluster near the front, where the teacher's desk normally stood, but it, like the student desks, was missing, as was the great big chalkboard that usually stood at the front. Lily looked about, "Was there a robbery?" she asked.