Déjà Vu [Harry Potter]

Chapter Six : Potions and Quidditch

"A pen?"

The young man noticed that the whole table was looking at him, listening as intently as the little girl. He smiled, to try to make them at ease. Elias really did not want to seem as mean as Professor Snape did.

"Yeah. It's like a quill, but instead of needing to put ink on it every few words, it's already inside," explained Elias. "It's a muggle thing."

Since they seemed confused, he opened his notebook to a blank page and scribbled a circle. The apparition of the ink on the paper seemed to amaze the students. Elias had a small laugh. How cute they were.

"Professor Filch?" spoke up the same Gryffindor girl that had asked about the pen. Elias did not remember her name. However, he knew that the Slytherin beside her was her twin brother.

"Yeah?"

She sent a hesitant look to her schoolmates.

"Why don't you have a wand?" she asked.

"Sorry?" Elias said as blinked.

The question had caught him off guard. He had supposed that everyone in the school knew that he was a squib, but since he hadn't been presented as such –Professor Snape was strict, but not mean enough to introduce him as a squib and had only explained that he was his assistant.

The girl looked around, as if she wanted to make sure that no one else would scold her for such a question.

"Why don't you have a wand?" she repeated.

Elias realized that he had no answer ready. Had she asked how much of sunflower root to use, or how to cut a bulb to get the most seeds, the young man would've answered her without any hesitation. However, as of now, he was a teacher. He had to provide her with an answer.

"Well," he started with what he wished was a confident tone, "not everyone is born with the same gifts. I'm just not good with spells."

"Huh," replied the girl with a confused expression.

"My brother said that you're a squib," spoke up a Slytherin girl from another table. With her dark brown hair and piercing eyes, she seemed like she was trying to figure out what kind of monster Elias was.

"That would not be wrong," breathed out Elias. He passed a hand in his hair. The whispers running in the class were driving him crazy, but he needed to calm down. They were just children. They didn't know any better. He was doing a good job. Even if he wasn't a sorcerer. He was fine. Fine.

"You see," started Elias while trying to not think too much about anything, "you were born with magic. You can do incredible things, and Hogwarts will teach you to get to your full potential. But you're gonna have to work hard for it. One day, you'll all be powerful sorcerers because you put the effort necessary to develop your skills. I might not have same kind of powers you all have, but I am still here because I had sufficient skills. I made it all the way here to Hogwarts by my own hard work. So, if you continue to work hard, you'll get powerful too."

Before Elias could judge the reaction of the students, the door slammed opened. Professor Snape walked in like he owned the place. He sent an irritated look around the classroom, as if he was disappointed that the students hadn't caused a magical disaster. Elias instinctively took a step back from the table.

Professor Snape went behind his desk in silence, in front of the black board. It was full of white chalk making small letters and a diagram of a cauldron. In the last weeks, Elias had learned that Professor Snape was not a nice person, but that his explanations were clear nonetheless. He tended to be rough and somewhat rude to everyone, but made sure that the material got across. He was definitely better at teaching seventeenth years than first years. His mercilessness came across as scary in the first years' hearts. He did not hesitate to give detentions the moment someone moderately irritated him. Strangely, few Slytherins were victims of his severity. Elias thought it was unfair, but he couldn't do anything. The most he could do was try to be as nice as possible to the students. They always seemed so scared of Professor Snape!