Clarke's Second Law (2/?)
Title: Clarke's Second Law
Author: tinyrose65
Summary: Rose finds it impossible that her seventh year at Hogwarts has already arrived, bringing with it a new, bow-tie wearing professor and his American friend in tow. However, something darker is lurking in the shadows, and when it emerges, Hogwarts will never be the same (Third in Clarke's Laws series).
Note: Final story in the series here! Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Professor John Smith
Rose’s favorite part of the year- or at least one of them- was the Start-of-Term Feast. Something about the Great Hall all done up, the first years all wide-eyed with eagerness and fear. This year’s feast was especially important, since Rose knew that it would be her last.
After arriving at the Great Hall, Rose separated from Hugo, and she and Al (who had found her on the train) found some seats towards the end of the table, near the professors, with some of their good friends. As they waited for the first years to be walked in, Rose took a look at the professors and noticed that there was a new one sitting up there.
He was young, especially compared to the others, and tall and skinny. His hair was black and shiny, his skin pale, and his eyes were a startling blue. He had a rather pronounced chin, but Rose had to admit that, as far as blokes go, he was still a good looking one.
That’s when she noticed something else and nudged Al, who looked at her. She pointed subtly at the new professor and asked, “Is that man wearing a bow tie?”
Al squinted to look and then let out a startled laugh. “I suppose he is. You know how some wizards are, though. Absolutely no dress sense.”
“Do you recognize him?” Rose asked.
Al shook his head. “My mum mentioned that they were finally going to force Professor Binns into retirement, so maybe that’s his replacement.”
Rose didn’t say anything, but she had to admit, if this man was Binns’s replacement, she’d enjoy her History of Magic class a whole lot more.
She noted, “He’s a bit young, ain’t he?”
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop thinking it,” Al said, looking at her sharply. Rose stuck her tongue out at him and went back to talking to Shareen and Keisha. Shareen was giggling and throwing her hair over her shoulder, wearing an incredibly flirty face. Oddly enough, it wasn’t directed to one of the students, but at a man a bit younger than her parents. He was standing off to the side of the room at the end of the professor’s table. Occasionally, he and the bow-tie wearing professor would lean in and whisper things to each other.
Whoever they were, they were clearly good friends.
“Who’s that?” Rose asked, referring to the other man.
Keisha said, “The new caretaker, apparently. He’s fit, isn’t he?”
Rose had to admit that he was rather good-looking (and oddly familiar), but her eyes kept darting over to the new professor. Al noticed and
snorted.
“Like mother, like daughter.” He was referencing the oft made joke about Hermione and her massive crush on Gilderoy Lockhart in her second year. Rose kicked him in the shins- not hard enough to hurt, obviously, but hard enough for him to scowl and glare at her.
“Welcome all to Hogwarts,” Professor McGonagall said, standing up. Rose had seen portraits of McGonagall from back when she taught transfiguration. She might’ve been older, her hair much grayer, and slightly more feeble looking, but her eyes were no less sharp and her voice no less cutting than before. It was no wonder that the first-years looked a bit intimidated. Rose knew from experience, though, that
McGonagall’s bark was far worse than her bite and that she truly cared for her students.
“We will begin now with the Sorting,” McGongall continued, wasting no time, as always. Rose loved to watch the Sorting. It brought her back to her own first day at Hogwarts and how nervous she was. Some of these first-years looked as though they would be sick.
As the Sorting progressed, Rose’s eyes kept darting over to the new professor and caretaker. They both seemed overjoyed at the whole thing.
The new professor’s eyes never left the ceremony, but, much to Rose’s amusement, the new caretaker kept throwing winks to McGonagall.
Instead of chastising him, McGongall actually blushed at his advances, which Rose hadn’t even realized was possible.
It was slightly disconcerting.
By the time the Sorting was over, the new caretaker had flirted with every professor (man or woman) at the feast. Al had begun giving Rose a theatrical eyebrow waggle every time he caught the caretaker doing it. Rose was breathless with giggles when Professor McGonagall once again stood up.
“Before we begin the Feast, I have several announcements to make. The first, as always, is for our new students: the Forbidden Forest, as its name might suggest, is strictly forbidden. Anybody- new or old students alike- caught trespassing will face detention and a loss of House
Points.”
This was an announcement that had been given since long before Rose’s parents had shown up at Hogwarts.
“Second, I would like to welcome to Hogwarts two new staff members.” McGonagall continued. “The first, working as our new caretaker, is Jack Harkness.”
The handsome man who had been flirting with McGonagall (and everybody else) grinned and waved, finishing off with a theatrical bow.
McGonagall gave him a stern look. Which he promptly ignored.
“I would also like to welcome Professor John Smith as our new History of Magic professor.” The professor in question stood up, gave a small smile and an awkward wave, and then sat back down. McGonagall continued, “I expect you to show them both the respect afforded to all Hogwarts staff members.”
“We show professors respect?” Al muttered out the side of his mouth to Rose.
Rose stuck her tongue out at him and then raised an eyebrow, “I’d like to show him something.”
Al looked at her, surprised. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
It took Rose a moment to snap out of it. This mood- whatever it was- was not normal for her. Oh, sure, she liked to flirt as much as the next person, but not nearly so overtly and not to a man (not a student, not a boy) she didn’t even know.
“Rose?” Al asked again. “You alright?”
“Yeah. Fine.” Rose said. She changed the subject back to Professor Smith. “Class with him should be interesting.”
“You’ll find out first thing tomorrow, won’t you?” Al asked, stuffing his face with some of the food that had appeared moments ago. The House
Elves seemed to have outdone themselves from last year. In fact, they always outdid themselves. Rose, remembering that this would most likely be the last time she ever had the chance to have their food, piled as much as she could onto her plate.
“I have History of Magic first thing,” Rose confirmed.
And, sure enough, first thing in the morning, she found herself sitting in the front row of Professor Smith’s classroom. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy class- well, she enjoyed some of it. Occasionally. She liked to learn the interesting stuff, like to do things with the stuff she learned- but she wasn’t usually so eager.
There was something about Professor Smith...
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one. A few of the other students seemed curious about his class as well. Even a few of the Slytherins, who had the remarkable ability to look bored despite whatever was going on, seemed curious.
And Professor Smith didn’t disappoint.
“Hello!”
Everybody in the class gasped and turned around. Instead of coming out from his office, as they had expected, he had come from the back of the classroom, where the students entered.
Like the other professors, he wore an official set of robes- basic black. They were offset by the bright, blue bow-tie he had somehow managed to tie on top of his outfit. He wore a quiet grin that Rose found very strange on his face.
Not that she had ever met Professor Smith before.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He was soft-spoken, but something about him screamed confidence. Often, with a new professor, it took them a while to gain any backbone with the students. It didn’t look like this would be the case with the new professor. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He bounded up to the front of the classroom and Rose got a better glimpse of him. He looked at all the students as she said, “Here’s how it works: I show you respect, you show me respect. I teach you things about your history that you couldn’t even imagine. Square deal?”
Nobody answered him so he frowned and turned over to his desk. There, he had a list of all the students. Picking at random, he called out,
“Rose Weasley?”
“Yeah?” Rose said immediately. He turned to look at her and, for a moment, Rose swore that his eyes were dark brown, filled with the same look- old and young at the same time, broken and fixed- and then they were ice blue and heartbreakingly familiar.
“Rose Weasley,” he repeated, drawing the name out, as though trying to taste it on his tongue. “Square deal?”
Rose nodded. “Sounds like, yeah.”
He grinned. “Fantastic.”
(Next chapter here)