A Modern Day Harry Potter

I finished my assignment!

There were good parents. There were bad parents. And then there was Willow Weasley. For the three years that her children had attended Hogwarts, she’d managed to lose them in the chaos of Kings Cross station. And now she was their Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The Weasley children, and the Potter children knew they were in for something.

“Alright, okay,” Professor Weasley said nervously as she stared at the little children in front of her. First years. She could see her daughter, Faith, her nephew, Albus, and her niece, Rose, sitting before her, amongst the other students. “So, I’m Professor Weasley,” She said for the third time in five minutes. “And – okay I’m cutting the crap now – put your books away, pull out your wands, we’re doing the important stuff now.”

Albus threw his books into his back without hesitation. His wand was already sitting on the desk, just waiting to be used. There was excitement ringing through the classroom.

“Okay, so as you should know, if you pay attention in History, or if you have even the vaguest idea of the recent past – there was a very bad wizard called Lord Voldemort. He murdered, tortured and worse. He’s infamous for being the worst wizard of all time.” She stared down at the eleven-year-olds, who were hanging on her every word. “My first year at this school, my Defence teacher happened to have Lord Voldemort sticking out the back of his head, and he was pretty evil – also a terrible teacher. My second year, the chamber of secrets opened, my now sister-in-law was possessed by Lord Voldemort and he tried to come back from the dead, again. My third year at Hogwarts, a supposed mass murderer and Voldemort supporter broke out of Azkaban and came after my friends and I – although he was totally innocent, it was actually my brother-in-law’s rat who was evil. Anyway, my fourth year, a Death Eater impersonated someone and became my Defence teacher and tried to kill me and my brother. My fifth year, my teacher was a total bitch, and we learnt nothing at all. My sixth year, another Death Eater became my teacher, and tried to kill us all again.”

“This story is boring the eightieth time around,” Faith Weasley muttered to Albus Potter.

“Faith, you’re my daughter, but it won’t stop me from giving you detention.” Professor Weasley butted in. Faith scowled. “My seventh year, I ran halfway around the country – and world – trying to destroy Lord Voldemort, and it payed off in the end. So class, I know a little bit about defending yourself. And I’m going to teach you some awesome stuff.”

The lesson was spent trying to produce patronuses – and the phrase ‘expecto patronum’ didn’t even sound like words anymore.

“The spell is too advanced for all of us.” Rose Weasley complained, as everyone continuously failed.

“Rosie,” Professor Weasley smiled, standing behind her. “You’ve got your mother’s brains, and your father’s heart – if anyone can produce a patronus in this room, it’s you.”

“It’s too hard, Aunty Will.”

“It’s Professor Will to you,” She smirked. “Believe in yourself!”

“Expecto Patronum.” Rose said.

“Say it like you mean it, Rosie!” Professor Weasley said loudly. The whole class turned to watch. “Think of something happy – when you got sorted into Gryffindor! The last family Christmas! Something!”

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!” Rose shouted, and a silver owl flew out the end of her wand. She held it there for a second, but in her shock, it vanished into vapour.

“You did it!” Professor Weasley/ Professor Will shouted in excitement.

“I did it!” Rose said, and she hugged Faith tightly.

The whole class cheered, and their spirits were raised quite a bit, so a few more patronuses were made – they were mere vapour though, nothing quite as solid as Rose’s.

Professor Willow Weasley stood out the front of the class, and frowned. They were having fun. They were making patronuses. But they weren’t safe. She’d been called in to work by Professor McGonagall, because she sensed something not quite right in the castle. There was something stirring, something happening just out of sight.

Willow had only hoped they’d find out what it was before anyone got hurt.