A/N: I am so sorry that this chapter took me so long to post. You see, I just got a new MP3 player and sort of went a little nuts with it. Downloading left and right you see. Anyhow, here's the new chapter. I hope you like it. Please review!
Meet Professor Bright
Harry awoke the next day to see Hermione still fast asleep. Her head was now lying atop her crossed arms and her hair was tossed wildly around her. The sun was glimmering in through the window that stood behind the desk. It's light was bathing the room in ethereal sunshine. And the light was illuminating Hermione's bright, bushy hair. She stirred suddenly, Harry could have sworn he had just heard her mumble something in her sleep. Harry smiled inwardly and chuckled. He walked over to the desk and around it and next to her sleeping form. He patted her shoulder lightly. "Hermione," he said softly. "Wake up."
She stirred once more then finally lifted her head. Blinking wearily, she turned to face a smiling Harry. "Harry." she said smiling slightly. "What...oh we must have fallen asleep reading."
"Yeah." Harry said as he offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. As she stood, the sunlight hit her face and she winced fiercely and turned away. "Ugh, the sun is too bright for my
liking right now." said Hermione, rubbing her eyes and moving in towards Harry's bedroom. Harry lingered behind to put the Quidditch book he had left on the sofa back up on the shelf. As he reached up to put the book in its proper place, he heard a shriek come from his bedroom. Dropping the book he quickly ran in. "What's happened? What's wrong? Hermione, are you okay?"
Hermione stood in the middle of the room and pointed to the large clock hanging on the wall. "Harry, we slept in!" Hermione yelped in a panicky voice. "We're going to be so late for Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Harry barely had time to register what she was screaming about until she came dashing towards him to go back into the study. He wheeled around after her and saw her collect her bag that she had laid down on the floor, then she zoomed past him and out to the common room. "Harry, hurry up and change! I'll go and get changed and meet you out in the hall in 2 minutes." Hermione said hastily and walked though the portrait hole.
Harry nodded to the back of her head and rushed to go and change his clothes.
When Harry met Hermione in the hallway, she was pacing back and forth waiting for him. "Hurry up, let's go." she said to him and pulled him down the corridor. "Hermione, we're not even that late." Harry said to her, trying to make matters seem better. "We're only late by about 5 minutes." At this Hermione managed to break her mad - dash pace and go into a full on sprint. Finally, they reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. When they walked in, the were astonished to find everyone in the classroom talking amongst themselves and no teacher in sight. Immensely relieved, they walked down the aisle and took their seats next to Ron.
"Late? Head Boy and Head Girl late for a class?" Ron said to them in a mock disapproving tone. "Tsk, tsk."
"Shut up Ron!" Hermione said and rolled her eyes. "We fell asleep reading in Harry's study last night."
"Oh." Ron said. "Reading huh?"
"What?" Hermione asked snappishly.
"Nothing." Ron said looking away from her and to Harry. "You two are both lucky. The new teacher hasn't come in yet."
"Really?" Hermione asked looking surprised. "You mean the teacher is late?"
"Yep." said Ron. Harry looked at Hermione. "Lucky us then." They all began to laugh lightly, when the doors of the classroom flew open. Everyone turned around to look. There, in the middle of the doors archway was Professor Bright. She was dusting off her robes and then finally walked in.
She walked into the classroom up to the front. As she passed, Hermione noticed her hair falling out of place. Professor Bright reached up and fixed it quickly before she reached the front of the classroom. She stopped suddenly. Everyone was looking at each other as if waiting for something extraordinary to happen. Then, Professor Bright turned around to face them all. While standing, Professor Bright was very tall. She had dirty blonde hair and looked around the age of 26 and had a very sweet look about her.
"Good morning." she said in a calm yet rushed voice. "I am so sorry I'm late. I had a little trouble getting started this morning." She stopped speaking and put a finger to her chin and tapped it several times before speaking again. "Hmmm..." she said, stopping the tapping. "Maybe I'm just nervous." The class was silent and still. Professor Bright looked up at the ceiling, apparently in thought. "Anyway," she said looking back at the class. "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Delia Bright. And I beg you please, please...no jokes about the Arts and my name Bright...really, I've heard them all summer and they're getting rather annoying."
The class laughed and she picked up a piece of parchment lying on her desk. She skimmed over it quickly and then looked out at the students once more. "I would like to make the first part of the lesson an introduction. I'm new and I want to learn your names as quickly as possible. So, when I call your name could you please raise your hand." She went through the entire list, then finally began to walk up and down the aisles and explained her policies on homework and rules of the class. She turned out to be extremely lenient. As she approached Harry she looked down at him. "Ah, Mr. Potter," she said. Harry looked up mildly startled. "Look I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I heard at the age of 15 you were already able to produce a Corperal Patronus?"
"Yes." Harry answered.
Professor Bright was beaming. "Well that's extremely amazing.
Would you mind at all if you could demonstrate for the class. I daresay it will be more for my enjoyment, but uh, 10 points for Gryffindor are in store." she said smiling. Harry quickly agreed and went up to the front of the classroom. He heard a loud huffing noise from Malfoy as he pulled out his wand. He disregarded it, Malfoy was such a git. I bet he can't do it. Harry thought to himself. Then he let his mind drift to a happy memory. He thought of the night before. He thought about he, Ron and Hermione reminiscing about how they had become friends. Then, with that thought in mind, he shouted, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Out of his wand, came the familiar silvery mist and then the image of a stag. It stood tall and proud, then faded after Harry lowered his wand.
"Excellent!" Professor Bright said clapping her hands. The class clapped also, all except half of the Slytherins of course.
Harry felt over praised. He turned to Professor Bright. "Others can do it to you know." he told her. Professor Bright looked astonished. "Really? Who?" Harry quickly pointed at Hermione.
"Hermione can." Hermione's face went scarlet and her eyes bulged, then she glared at Harry. Harry gulped.
Looking absolutely delighted, Professor Bright motioned for Hermione to stand. Very reluctantly, Hermione stood and walked to the front of the class and stood next to Harry.
"You are going to pay Harry."
Harry smiled at her and laughed. "C'mon Hermione, your Patronus is perfect." Hermione glared at him again.
"Yes, please continue." Professor Bright said encouragingly. Hermione then raised her wand. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" she yelled. The same silvery mist that had come out of Harry's wand was expelled out of Hermiones. Her Patronus, instead of turning into a stag, turned into a beautiful sea otter. It wisped around the room and circled Harry for a moment before fading. Hermione pocketed her wand and took a deep breath. "Very good!" cried Professor Bright. "Another 10 points to Gryffindor." Harry and Hermione smiled at each other and took their seats.
Professor Bright then began to explain about the proper emotions and feelings that must be used to execute spells correctly. The class began to tell her of Professor Moody's lessons. The rest of the lesson was wonderful. Professor Bright had turned out to be the students' new favorite teacher. As class ended, Harry, Ron and Hermione collected the things and made to leave the classroom. They were just about to leave the class when Professor Bright called for Harry and Hermione to stay behind. They told Ron they would meet up with him in Herbology later.
They walked over to Professor Bright with curious expressions on their faces. Professor Bright noticed their expressions and calmed them with reassurance that it wasn't anything bad. "Don't look so worried." she told them. "I just wanted to know how you learned to produce your Patronus'." Harry and Hermione sighed in relief. Harry explained his situation with the dementors to her and how he just happened to teach Hermione. "Well, they were both very impressive. How `bout another 10 points for kicks eh?" Harry and Hermione smiled at her. "Thanks Professor." they said together.
"Well you both deserve it. It's no wonder the two of you were chosen to be Head Boy and Head Girl. Congratulations on that by the way."
"Thank you." Harry and Hermione said once more.
"Well, you both had better be off to your next class then." Professor Bright said to them.
Harry and Hermione were nearly to the door when Hermione's books fell free from her grasp and made a loud thumping noise when they hit the floor. Harry picked up Hermione's book and handed it back to her.
"Thanks." she said to him.
"No problem." Harry told her. They both turned to look back at Professor Bright. She was gone. They looked back at each other and Harry began to laugh.
"What?" Hermione asked him perplexed. Harry continued to laugh. "Hermione, you - ", he began, then reached out with his hand and wiped her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "You have ink on your face." he told her, laughing. He showed her the ink that had transferred from her face to this thumb.
"Oh my - " Hermione gasped and suddenly began wiping her face with her own hand. "Why didn't you tell me before?" she exclaimed.
"It wasn't there before." Harry said, still laughing.
"Stop laughing Harry." said Hermione now cleaning her face with a handkerchief. "How did it get there anyway? I didn't even use ink in class today." Harry watched her and smiled.
"I dunno Hermione. Look, it's gone. We'd better get going to Herbology." Hermione nodded and followed Harry out of the classroom.
Meanwhile, behind them, still in the class, a grinning Professor Bright glided up to her office. "I love this job." she said to herself.
Harry and Hermione had nearly arrived outside the doors to the greenhouse, when Liz came running behind them at top speed. "Am I late?" she panted.
"No." Harry and Hermione said to her.
"We've got 2 minutes still." Hermione said checking her watch. Liz let out a breath of relief. "That's great!" She looked exhausted. Her hair was unruly and her robes seemed as if they were flailed onto her body. She composed herself slightly and walked ahead of Harry and Hermione into the greenhouse. They looked at each other grinning at Liz's appearance and followed her into class.
Professor Sprout's lesson had been the same as usual. She'd shown them many unusual plants that anyone could have imagined. She had asked various questions about the plants, and to everyone's surprise, Liz had answered all of them correctly...before Hermione. Hermione hadn't seemed to notice as much as everyone else had. Liz had managed a great amount of points for Gryffindor in less than ten minutes.
After the lesson, Ron went to find Luna...they were skipping lunch, as usual and off to the Room of Requirement. Luna had been good for Ron. He seemed to have a lot more self-confidence and was more assertive at things, not wanting to disappoint Luna. She gave him encouragement and inspired him often and treated him like her prince. They loved each other very much it seemed. Sometimes, they could be seen, simply holding hands and talking out in the courtyard. To everyone who knew Ron and his personality, had been certain it was Luna who had greatly pushed him in the direction of maturity.
Harry had gone to the front of the classroom and was asking Professor Sprout a question about the homework assignment, leaving Hermione and Liz alone. Waiting for Harry to go to lunch, Hermione noticed a necklace around Liz's neck. It was a beautiful sapphire orb that hung form a black chain, the orb seemed to be covered with gold stars. "Wow, that's beautiful." she told her.
Liz looked down at the necklace. "Thanks." she said. Hermione reached out to examine the orb, then suddenly Liz grabbed her hand, stopping her half way. Hermione looked startled and pulled her arm back. "I'm sorry." Liz said to Hermione. "It's just that, my parents gave it to me when I was a baby. It's a family necklace. Only family can touch it. If anyone else tries to, it er...it will...well, your hand will be in A LOT of pain."
"Oh." Hermione said, as Harry walked up to them. "Ready?" he asked the two of them. Hermione quickly agreed and followed him out the door. "You coming Liz?" Harry asked, peering over his shoulder. "No." Liz said. "No, I think I'm going to go freshen up. I'll see you both later." Harry and Hermione said goodbye and set off for lunch.
Harry and Hermione sat down at the table and did not speak for at least ten minutes. "What do you think of Liz?" Hermione asked Harry, who was drinking, stared back at her behind his goblet of pumpkin juice. He set it down and considered the question. "Well," he began. "She's really nice. And she seems to be really smart too. I dunno, she's alright. Why?"
"Oh, nothing." Hermione said absent mindedly and returned to her lunch.
"Is this about her answering all of those questions before you?" Harry ventured and eyed her closely.
"No. What?" Hermione said swiftly. Harry simply grinned at her and continued to eat his pie and whipped cream. He had abandoned his sandwich, for he was more in the mood for sweets. As he set down his fork after finishing, he noticed Hermione was staring at him. "What?" he asked.
Hermione was looking at him almost in a pitying way yet with a smile. "Harry, you've got er..." She reached up to point out the spot on her own face where Harry now had a large spot of whipped cream. Harry tried to find the spot and failed. Hermione laughed once more and reached out to him and brushed the cream off of the corner of his mouth with her thumb. As her thumb slowly neared the corners of his mouth, she brushed his lips slightly. She pulled away slowly as if nothing had happened, then felt an odd sensation in her stomach. Harry had felt the same sensation. They both stared at each other for a moment until Harry laughed. "Well, you got it then."
"Yeah," Hermione said looking at the cream on her fingers. "I got it." They both laughed nervously in ways that didn't seem their own. Hermione wiped the cream onto a napkin. The rest of lunch was spent in an awkward silence.
A/N: I hope you liked it. More info on Liz is sure to come. And as for Harry and Hermione... I know it's going slow, but it will kick it up here soon enough.
Well, to be honest...if I were to read this chapter myself...as the reader and not the author, I really wouldn't know what exactly to be thinking...Hmm....Please Review! I love reading reviews!
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