Harry Potter and the Heir of Gryffindor(01) - Sahits

After lunch, the three trudged up the staircase to their Defense Against the Dark Arts classwith the Ravenclaws and took their seats. Hermione was going about the business ofarranging her parchment and ink so as not to miss a beat of the professor said.Now, Harry was a bit nervous about just who his new Dark Arts Professor would be. In thefour years he'd attended Hogwarts, only one of them turned out to be someone he could trustandeven he turned out to be a werewolf! There was Professor Quirrell in his first year, whomHarry discovered to be nurturing Voldemort back to power. There was Gilderoy Lockhart inhis second year --- enough said. His third year he had Professor Remus Lupin who was afantastic teacher and was nearly able to capture Lord Voldemort's servant Peter Pettigrew--butSnape, who'd loathed Remus since adolescence, saw to it that the school board found outabout Remus being a werewolf and he of course resigned. And then, last year, there was'Mad-Eye Moody'--who really wasn't Moody at all! A Death Eater named Barty Crouch hadbeen taking a potion to appear to be the Professor so that he could help set up a plan thatwould both bring Voldemort back to power and bring Harry back to Voldemort--a plan that hesucceeded in.So needless to say, Harry was on pins and needles as the classroom waited for their newProfessor to arrive. Given his past history, Harry wouldn't have been surprised if the newProfessor was Lord Voldemort himself!Harry shuddered at the very idea just as the door to the chamber flew open.A tall and slender man, dressed most elegantly in rich, gorgeous black robes strode past themto the front of the class. His brown hair was cut rather short and neat-every hair in its properplace. He wore large silver spectacles, that were perhaps a bit too large for his face, for theymagnified his eyes much the way Professor Trelawney's did hers. A thin pencil line of amoustache was the finishing touch on this striking face. . .And Harry, staring at him from his seat up in the front, had the gnawing feeling that he knewhim from somewhere."Good morning class!" Came a voice, considerably higher than Harry would have imaginedfrom such a tall man.He looked visibly nervous and fumbled with some papers he'd placed on his desk."My name is Professor Gray and I should like to welcome all of you to your fifth year! Youmade it!" He swallowed and then continued, trying very hard to sound as composed andcollected as possible. "I attended Hogwarts as well, of course. A Gryffindor, actually."Happy murmurs came from the Gryffindors."And I must tell you, that out of all seven years, my fifth year was my favorite. And I think itwas actually mostly due to this class! There's so much to learn this year-and several, erm,surprises along the way." He cleared his throat. "A--and I also have been educated on therumors that many here feel this position to be. . . cursed?"More murmurs from the students."Well, I must admit, the past several years doesn't give one much confidence. But. . . I'mwilling to take my chances."Harry was staring Professor Gray intensely. . . yes, there was most definitely something abouthim that seemed familiar to him. Oh, well, perhaps it had just been in casual passing. . .Professor Gray opened his textbooks, "Class, if you please, open to the index-right there onthe first page, yes. There are thirty four chapters in this book-all of which are very importantof course, even though to be quite honest, well, most of you are never really going to comeacross Moorish Syads that Chapter Seventeen mentions, as those have long been banishedfrom the wizarding world. Nor will you be likely to rendez-vous with the Gauraneese MaulerBat that Chapter Twenty-Six focuses on unless you find yourself alone in a dark cave in themiddle of night in the Gaura Valley in Transylvania-and if you ever are, well, of course itwould be your own silly fault in the first place for even being there."The class laughed in agreement.26