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Chapter 3: New Teacher
Hermione moved slightly, stirring from a deep and peaceful sleep. Harry opened his eyes, feeling Hermione's head on his chest. His heart began to melt - he loved feeling the warmth of her body next to his.
"Hermione?" Harry whispered, kissing the top of her head.
"Harry, I don't want to get up -- it's too comfortable!" She groaned as if a little school girl, begging her mom to let her sleep.
"What are you suggesting, exactly?" Harry said slyly, hugging her closer to him.
"Do you want to skip the first class?" Hermione bit her lip, disgusted at her own thought, but then looked up at Harry, playing it cool.
"Wow, Hermione! This is so un-like you! How long have you been thinking this?" Harry looked down at her, slightly surprised.
"Well, I didn't get much sleep last night." She said, biting her lip again, nervousness washing over her facial features. Her chestnut curls covered most of her face from Harry's view, and to Hermione, this was a good thing.
"Why didn't you get any sleep?" Harry asked curiously, giving the top of her head a suspicious look.
"I was sleeping on something hard." She said, almost too quickly, and with a quick, yet subtle wave of her wand, a book appeared underneath her back. She sat up, and picked up the book from under her. "Oh! Aha, see? There's the problem!" She giggled nervously, showing Harry the book. She wouldn't admit it, but she spent most of the night watching Harry sleep.
Harry raised one of his eyebrows at her, and she blushed slightly. "You sure you want to skip the next
class?" Harry asked. He waited for her to nod, and proceeded. "What do we have anyway?
"Charms." She answered, in her know-it-all sort of an air, as if she had memorized the timetable. "And
Harry, there's a first time for everything!" She added cheerily, a small note of relief in her voice. She was
slightly worried that her, watching him sleep, would freak him out a bit.
"How are we supposed to skip the first class, if we don't have a pl -" He was about to finish his sentence, but then he looked down at Hermione's mischievous grin, and remembered that he had probably the cleverest girl in Hogwarts, sitting beside him. "Okay, what's the plan?"
"Well... All you have to do is fake an injury! We'll come out of the common room about twenty minutes before the class is over, and go straight to the hospital wing. I'll tell Madem Promfery that you and I were late getting up and were rushing to class. You fell down a few steps and twisted your arm the wrong way, and I helped you down to the hospital wing! It works..." She said smiling at Harry's disbelieving face and hitting his shoulder playfully. "So, if any the teacher needs an alibi, we've got one!"
"Geez! You have this all thought out, don't you?" Harry said, looking down at her in slight amazement. He was glad to know that she was on his side and not on the enemy's! Hermione looked up at him pleadingly, and he immediately gave in to the cute look on her face. "Alright, but I better only have to fake the injury!" He said, looking down at Hermione, and raising his eyebrow, again.
"Harry, don't worry about it!" She replied, nestling her head deeper into his chest.
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Sometime later, the plan had worked, and the trio were heading down to their next class, Defense Against The Dark Arts.
"Where were you guys until now, huh?" Ron said looking at Harry and Hermione's grinning faces.
"We were in-," Harry blurted out, but Hermione, thinking quickly, nudged him straight into the ribs.
"Hem, hem... We had overslept." Hermione said over Harry's 'Ouch'.
"Yeah, we overslept," Harry chimed in, making their story seem less believable. Hermione looked back at him, rolling her eyes.
"I wonder who we have this year!" Harry said, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, me too. Sooner or later someone will have to stop supervising this class." Said Ron, his eyes lingering to Hermione's hand in Harry's.
"Yeah, that's true. I'm kind of tired of Madam Hooch supervising, she's creepy!" Harry trailed off kissing Hermione's neck.
Hermione giggled loudly, surprised by Harry's sudden kiss. Half of the Gryffindors were now watching them. Even with everyone's eyes upon them, Harry didn't stop kissing Hermione's neck and Hermione blushed but never stopped giggling. Ron took one look at them and rolled his eyes in disgust and disbelief. Suddenly the doors were opened and the class was finally let in.
"Hi, my name is Professer Burke! I'll be teaching you Defence Against The Dark Arts this year, and perhaps next your too." She looked around excitedly at her new class, almost immediately spotting the famous Harry Potter amongst the crowd.
"Ahh, but Miss - I mean, Professer Burke, your post is jinxed! Not one of our D.A.D.A teachers has stayed more then one year!" Seamus Finnigan blurted out.
Professor Burke frowned slightly. "Well, hopefully I can break the string of bad luck, then." She said walking up to her desk and beginning to call the roll. She did what every new teacher did, she stopped at Harry's name. "Can I see you after class, Harry?" She said politely, looking up in Harry's direction.
Harry groaned under his breath. "What did I do Professer?" He said with a hint of impatience.
"Nothing Harry, dear, I just need to speak to you, is all." She replied, reassuringly.
Harry looked up from his desk and properly looked at Professer Burke. She had red curly hair down to her shoulders, rosy cheeks, blue eyes and a slender fingure. She was very pretty and quite tall. She was wearing robes of blue and had her hair tied up in a neat pony-tail.
Harry, along with the rest of the class, began to take his books out and put his wand away.
"What are you doing, guys!? I'll be teaching you from the books, but not straight away! I need to see your form, and all the spells you can cast. I'll also be giving a practical exam on some basic spells..." The class erupted into groans and boos when she mentioned this.
All except Harry, who leaned towards Ron's ear and whispered, "I think I'm going to like this teacher! Less book-reading and more wand-work!" He finished, with a nod of approval.
"Now, now come on! It will be easy stuff, besides you should all know it anyway! Dumbledore himself, actually told me about a defense club in this school last year, I don't know who led it, but it was supposed to have been very successful." Professor Burke said to the class, seeming quite impressed.
Harry blushed, for he knew she was talking about Dumbledore's Army, the rebellious club he had formed last year with a few Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. He had taught them spells to defend themselves.
"Oh, that was Harry!" Ron blurted out suddenly. Quite a few of his classmates whirled around in Harry's direction, looks of jealousy and admiration they cast at him. Harry blushed a deeper red, wishing Ron wouldn't have said anything.
The class went on fine after that, Professer Burke splitting them up into pairs and telling them to do a tricky spell that bound your opponent's whole body together.
They had already done this spell in second year, but people were still having some difficulty with it, except the former members of the DA - Hermione and Harry in particular.
They kept hitting the spell at each other, and saying the counter-curse over and over, so that everyone around them began to get annoyed, because they were doing it perfectly. Hermione giggled at Harry, and looked around at the sea of jealous glares. Finally the bell had rang, signaling the class's end.
"Alright class, look over chapter ten in your books. We're practicing the stupefy spell tomorrow, but you MUST remember the counter-curse, so pay extra attention to that! Okay, class dismissed!" With that, everyone put their bags on their shoulders and rushed out of the classroom, in a big mob.
"Harry can I have that talk with you now?"
Harry nodded and walked over to her, waving at Hermione.
"I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall!" She was able to call out to him before the crowd pushed her out of the classroom.
"Harry, I just want to say, that it is an honour teaching you this year," Professor Burke now looked at him with hope-filled eyes.
Her comment snapped Harry out of his trance, and he now pried his eyes away from the door to look at her.
Harry waited for the question she was about to ask, knowing one would come. "Yes, but what did you want me for?" Harry looked straight into her eyes, as if unafraid of what she was going to say.
"Dumbledore has told me, that possibly after you graduate from here, if you get enough points in your NEWTs, you might get a spot in the order. But I have to give you extra practical lessons through the week, for this year, if your ever supposed to be ready to accept your place." She looked at him closely, waiting to hear the groan at more work, or the fake smile, or even a dissatisfied stare with an odd silence, but it never came. A smile now spread across Harry's face.
"Wow! Are you serious? This is great! I really do want to be a part of the order, I've wanted to be an auror for a while!" Harry said excitedly, and he truly meant it.
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A/N : Okay... So I had ONE more chapter corrected *smiles* I hope you enjoyed this one! Lol I guess this solves the mystery of the new Defense teacher! Ah well, anyway, hope to get some replies! And I mean it this time, I'm not posting more until I do! *laughs and sticks out her tongue* (Please note: I can be quite childish sometimes! Lol)