DADA: Lesson 1, Pod 4

(Yeah, I know, if you look closely, the intro posts are all the same. Forgive me, but I really wanted the class started. Hopefully each pod will make the class their own.)

Michael found himself, once again, as a Hogwarts professor. He had agreed to substitute, but here he was already subbing, and for Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was certain few people knew much of anything about him. He would merely appears to them as if he was only an old man, and, for the most part, he was content in letting them believe that.

Unless someone had been unduly paying attention, they would not have noticed that at nearly every skirmish that they'd had requiring the fire power of an accurate wand, Michael had been there. Every time Minister of Magic Robert Lupin had needed backup for himself, Michael was his back up.

Who he was and what he did was not important. Teaching young witches and wizards how to protect themselves was. He poured himself a mug of tea from the kettle that was over the fireplace in his office, decended the stairs to the classroom and perched on the edge of the desk, checking his watch. It would be interesting to see who showed up for class and what skills they brought with them

Ben made his way to the third floor, navigating through hoards of other Hogwarts students as he did so. He weaved and zigzagged excitedly up the staircase, clumsily bumping into some and smoothly spinning around others. Most students in the castle were taller than Ben but size was your enemy when trying to get from class to class. Ben was able to cut in and out of the crowd, always taking the path of least resistance and usually being able to arrive at his objective before anyone else. Traditionally, Ben’s problem was his tendency to be easily distracted. He would be hard-set on his mission to make it from point A to point B and then, somehow, find himself talking to several of the moving paintings that hung along the walls of the Castle, or chasing down one of the house ghosts inquiring about death and all its mystery. He had been late before.

This, however, would not be one of those instances. Ben’s next lesson was Defense Against the Dark Arts and boy was he curious. ‘The Dark Arts!’ he thought to himself, narrowly avoiding being knocked over the banister by an exceedingly large Slytherin boy.

Ben did not understand exactly what the Dark Arts were or how they were tied in to the Wizarding World but from the bits and pieces he gathered from his texts and other students, he was able to determine that they were definitely not good. In fact, it seemed like most of the Wizarding Community was scared of the Dark Arts and the troubles that are caused because of them. Ben knew that because it was called the Dark Arts, they were not particularly acceptable but that was one of the reasons it intrigued him so greatly. He would be learning to defend himself from this evil that he did not yet understand and the idea of that flooded Ben with anticipation and even sparked the slightest of panic in his chest.

He jogged the length of the corridor and into the classroom where he abruptly stopped, accidently dropping his school bag on the floor at the sight of a student-less room and his new teacher.
Ben picked up his bag hurriedly and, as he did so, he realized that he knew nothing about his Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, not even his name. Ben knew the name of every one of his Professors and had even herd several informative stories about them but this teacher was a clean slate for Ben.

The Professor was perched on the edge of the desk, and Ben felt rather intimidated by the elder man. The Dark Arts was cold and mysterious to Ben and its ominousness was only amplified by the presence of the Professor.

“Good Day.” Ben said timidly walking in the direction of the nearest seat, heart still pounding from his journey and possibly from this new encounter.