The Wandmaker's Granddaughter and the Curse of Hogwarts

AWOL Professor

"But why does he need to be my teacher?" James complained as he sat at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast.

"He mentioned something about being next on the list," Amelia said jabbing at her plate of eggs.

"What does that even mean?" James sighed fiddling with his fork.

"You don't know about the list?" Marta interjected from down the table, at least five people away.

"What list?" Amelia asked which Marta took to be an invitation to walk over and push between Lucy and Amelia.

"There's a list of all the survivors of the Second Wizarding War who have promised to teach DADA for one year.  It's something about breaking a curse and teaching about the past," she said.

"Well I guess I'm the one who's cursed if it's happening my year.  Everyone had just stopped comparing me to him and now this," James said dropping his fork onto his plate with a clatter.

"Come on guys we need to go," Lucy said quickly finishing the rest of her plate of food.

"Speaking of life not being fair, why does our first class back have to be history?" James complained.

"It's not that bad," Lucy said. "At least it's with the Hufflepuffs."

Lucy, James, and Amelia hurried out of the hall away from Marta. Once out of the Great Hall they casually made their way through the castle chatting and joking past every twist and turn of the corridor which seemed to be less confusing than the year prior. They opened the door and entered into a mostly full classroom.

"Are we late?" James asked. Amelia looked at her necklace pocket watch and shook her head.

"No, we're early," she said.

"I guess Peeves was too busy bothering the first years this morning," James said moving to sit down, Lucy close behind. Amelia knit her brows together and followed behind thinking deeply. She sat down behind James beside Lucy who were still talking nonchalantly with each other and other students in class. The rest of the Gryffindor's joined soon after and began settling into their seats while Amelia continued to think.

"Have you seen Peeves at all?" Amelia said. James and Lucy looked at Amelia and began to think themselves.

"No, but it's only been, a day," James said without conviction, Peeves was not the type to go unseen for such a long time. Lucy stood up.

"Has anyone seen or heard from Peeves?" She asked to the class silencing everyone. As realization donned on the rest of the class, the silence grew longer.

"Has anyone seen any of the ghosts?" Amelia said with a smaller voice that still rang through the room. More silence followed.

"They weren't at the feast," a Hufflepuff said. The other students looked around and began talking about the ghosts. Amelia looked at her watch and her heart began to quicken.

It was a minute past the time for class to start and a sinking feeling filled her gut as she looked up at Professor Binns desk.

"Has any one seen Professor Binns?"

The class fell silent and turned to Professor Binns' desk.

"What time is it?" Someone asked.

"Two minutes passed."

They stared at the door behind Professor Binns desk leading to his office and waited for it to open or for him to come floating out. The tension in the room grew as the minutes passed by. Ten minutes went by before a Hufflepuff boy walked up to the door and knocked.

"Professor? Are you in there?"

The class waited in silence for a reply that never came. The boy at the door turned to look at the rest of the class before opening the door. There was no one inside.

"What do we do if there's no teacher?" Marta said without being helpful.

"Should we teach the class?" Another student mentioned.

"Let's just start reading our books and wait for him to come, I'm sure he's just running late somewhere," Athena said though everyone knew Professor Bins was never late.

Amelia looked at James and Lucy. Who looked around the room suspiciously. Half of the students opened their books and diligently began to read while the other half continued talking.

"What's the closest classroom to here?" Lucy asked in a whisper to James and Amelia.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, why?" James said.

"We should go tell Uncle Harry," Lucy said.

"What can he do to help?" Amelia asked.

"He's an adult, he's an auror, and I'm pretty sure Weston, Micah, and Elias are planning something that will get everyone in the room a detention or at least loose us house points on our first day," she said.

"Would detention really be that bad? Especially when you're with friends," James said.

"Then you stay back and set something on fire, I'm going," Lucy said standing and heading for the door. Amelia sighed before hurrying after her with James reluctantly on her heels. They turned down a few corridors before coming to the DADA classroom. Gently, Lucy knocked on the door before opening it.

Inside, the fourth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were sitting while Mr. Potter told a story of his time as an auror. He looked up as the door opened.

"Lucy, James, Amelia, why aren't you in class?"

"We're sorry to interrupt but we can't find Professor Bins," Lucy said while Amelia and James hung back behind her.

"Really? He's not in his office?" Mr. Potter asked, the class he had been teaching now eagerly listening to the exchange.

"No one's seen any of the ghosts or Peeves at all since arriving back," Lucy said. Around the classroom the students began to talk in a buzz realizing that they hadn't seen any of the ghosts either.

"Okay, class, please pack your things and go study in the library. Lucy, James, Amelia, have your class go to the library too while I get this sorted with the Headmistress," he said before leaving the classroom and heading down the hall.

"Dad wait," James said, the group catching up to him. "Let us come with you."

"No, you should go study, the Headmistress and I can start to sort this out," he said before turning and leaving. James looked at Amelia and Lucy who all had the same look. If the adults weren't going to let them help, they were just going to have to do it themselves.