A Winter at Hogwarts

An Old Friend

The bell rang and Jamie and I were released from the flying lesson. I got out as quickly as I could before Jamie could throw some kind of other insult at me. My last class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts. This was the one I had been looking forward to. I met up with Zane and Winter, and we all walked into the classroom.

The desks were all stacked up on the side of the wall. Everyone else was just standing there, confused, wondering what we were going to be doing. When the class was as full as it was going to get, the bell rang, and we heard the door behind us shut.

"Good afternoon, class. Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. My name is Professor Lupin. My father may have been the greatest teacher in this subject, but I am going to try to be the best that I can. Some of you may have heard rumors that a long time ago, this class was cursed, because no Professor was able to stay for more than two years. I can assure you those rumors are false. I have taught here for almost three years, and nothing has happened.

"Now, today, we are not sitting in our seats, because this class is mostly about self-defense, and in order to learn the first spell of this class, we are going to need a lot of room. Today, we will be learning about disarming your opponent. I want each of you to find a partner, I will give you one minute."

Winter and I exchanged looks and smiled. "Partners?"

"Partners."

I looked at Zane and said "You okay with that, man?"

"Yeah, it's fine." He replied. "I got you for History of Magic and Potions, right?"

"Yeah, you can totally copy off of me." I winked and Zane went to find his partner. It looked like he teamed up with the girl Karley from our house.

"Read any of this stuff beforehand?" I asked Winter.

"No...but my mum did tell me about the first D.A.D.A. class, so I know what we'll be doing." She replied.

"Okay."

A minute later, the class fell silent, waiting for Professor Lupin's orders.

"Okay, now. Let's get started. Everyone, stand about six feet apart from your partner, facing each other." Said Professor Lupin. I took a few steps back and faced Winter. "When you're ready, here's what is going to happen. Of course, if anyone has had charms class today, you will remember to believe in yourself, and believe that it can work. However casting charms is different than defending yourself. Will I judge anyone who does not make it the first time? No. However, this spell takes a lot more time and practice than a charm.

"In order for this spell to work, there is no swish and flick. However, there is a way of waving your wand. You have to move your wand in a seven shape. Let me give a demonstration. Winter, will you join me, please?" Winter looked down and joined Professor Lupin slowly. "Don't be shy." He said, "Take out your wand."

Winter took out her wand from her robe.

"Point it at me." Said Professor Lupin.

Winter did as she was told and Professor Lupin continued. "See this, students? If you ever find yourself in this position, with someone pointing a wand at you, here's what you do." Professor Lupin waved his wand as if he were writing an invisible number seven, and said "Expelliarmus!"

Winters wand went flying from her hand and up towards the ceiling. Professor Lupin then said "Accio." and her wand went into his hand. "Thank you, Winter, you can step back down now." As Winter made her way back to her spot in front of me, Professor Lupin continued. "Disarming your opponent during a battle can be a very important tool. Your opponent becomes defenseless, but that doesn't mean you attack. Key word in this class is 'Defense'. We don't want to attack anyone, we don't want to harm anyone. In the hour that remains, I want all of you to practice disarming each other. Keep your focus, don't be discouraged if it doesn't work the first time. Off you go."