Class 2 -NEWT

Keera rubbed her eyes; she was extremely sleep deprived and the small
letters that were printed on the textbook in front of her didn’t help that fact
one bit. She brought the quill she was holding to the page and started scr-
-ibbling notes in the margin; she wasn’t good at teaching to begin with, let
alone teaching things directly out of the book, she would have to explain
things her way if she ever wanted to get through the lesson.

She looked up from the page she was working with and stood up from the
desk, knocking the chair she had been sitting on previously, to the floor. She
looked back for a moment at the chair and snorted, clearly amused. She then
turned away and headed out of the office within the greenhouse. The green-
-house was surprisingly bright compared to the room she had just exited, “ugh,
as if my eyes didn’t hurt already,” she complained, closing the office door be-
-hind her. Keera walked to the glass door, pushing it open so to save herself
the trouble when the students arrived. They had at least five minutes until it
was time for the lesson to start and Keera was taking advantage of those five
minutes, using them to prepare for the lesson. “I can walk over to Hogsmeade
after this is over and get some rest,” she told herself, looking forward to the
relaxation after a long night of restlessness.

Keera leaned against the wall, staring off as she waited for the silence to be
broken by the chattering students that were to arrive any moment.

“Hmmm?” Keera asked, turning her eyes towards whoever had spoken, her
eyebrows raised as she eyed the young woman. “Oh, yeah…. Howdy!” She
said with a forced smile, her pink lips nearly reaching her eyes, revealing two
rows of yellow-ish teeth. She pushed herself off of the wall with her foot and
walked towards the student, extending a hand, “You’re early,” she said, it w-
-asn’t a question, anyone could tell by the flat tone she used while saying it.
Keera only held her hand out for a few seconds before dropping her arm to her
side, hardly giving the girl enough time to look at her hand let alone shake it.

Keera pointed in the direction of the greenhouse door which was wide open,
“That little blue creature- patronus. Did you conjure it?” she asked, her curiosity
quite clear. Keera was hopelessly obsessed with power, and if a student at
Hogwarts could conjure a patronus- a talking one especially- she would have
to make sure she made friends with said student for obvious reasons. Keera
flashed the girl another smile and held up her index finger, “I almost forgot!” she
exclaimed, dropping her hand at her side once more, “My name is Keera Mast,
I- you know- work here at Hogwarts,” she explained simply.

Keera nodded curtly, “Good for you…” she replied flatly, her mood changing abruptly,
it wasn’t surprising, it happened quite often, it wasn’t exactly a voluntary thing either.
In fact, sometimes it happened so often that people could see the difference between
each shift.

She paused for a moment, thinking over the information she had just retained.
“A relative? Is said person still a student here at Hogwarts? You can understand my
curiosity, I’m sure; it isn’t every day you meet a student who is able to produce an affec-
-tive patronus. You can produce one as well!? Outstanding!” Keera replied, ecstatically-
yet another shift in moods. So there was one student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry that could use advanced magic affectively. Keera suddenly found herself
remembering why she was there at the large school in the first place; to ‘collect’ as many
powerful young students as possible. They would be wonderful ‘employees’ during any
of her plans, in the future. Keera shook her head; she couldn’t get lost in her thoughts,
she still had a class to teach.

“My last name?” – Keera laughed heartily – “I’ve always thought so as well. A Hufflepuff,
eh? I don’t think I have ever met a Hufflepuff before, or at least, not since I graduated from
Hogwarts,” she replied as she turned her back to Mariana and walked to the front of the
greenhouse. “well, have a seat, the others should be here any moment!” While her back
was to the child she brought her hand to her temple, pressing hard against the skin there
in a futile attempt to sease the ticking that was literly driving her crazy- though she already
could have been considdered crazy, it was still a heavy burden. She twitched slightly and
dropped her hand to her side, turning around once more. "Are you wearing a watch?" she
hissed suddenly.

Something inside Keera snapped when Mariana lifted her arm a bit to reveal
a watch strapped around her wrist. Her eyes rolled up into her skull for a m-
-oment from behind her closed eyelids. She knew she had heard the ticking
of a watch, but she hadn’t expected how much impact it would have on her
to actually see it. “T-take…” she growled but did not finished her sentence.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick, came the clock within her head. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock,
came the second hand of the student’s watch. It was too much for her. Calm
down, you cant afford to lose it in front of these students. There are two of
them now and you will not get away with it if something happens, Keera’s th-
oughts warned her. She nodded to herself and opened her eyes once more.
“Take it off,” she ordered with more malice in those three words than any thr-
-eat to ever leave her lips. Keera glanced at the male student, but only for a
moment, her attention was focused on Mariana & her evil watch.