Chapter 26: Quirrell’s classes are boring
Like a fool, I forgot to put in the speech of Dumbeldore the part where he talks about the support courses of Evelyn so we will say that he talked about it.
Our first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Quirrell, and do you remember when I said this course had potential? In reality, with him, this class is incredibly boring. It feels like he's competing with Professor Binns to see who can give the most soporific lesson.
He boasts about the feats he's accomplished, but when we ask questions, he just stammers and can't provide a plausible answer.
We got so bored that Marie and I decided to use this class to study the real theory that should be part of a second-year Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum.
In the following days, I continued to teach Hermione about the history of the school and shared some anecdotes I had found.
I went to the Gryffindor table several times to check if Neville was doing okay.
Apparently, during Potions class, Neville almost made a big mistake by adding an ingredient at the wrong time, but he remembered my advice to read the recipe carefully before starting and to double-check before doing anything, so nothing strange happened.
He told me that Harry Potter failed to answer Professor Snape's questions and was reprimanded, with Snape saying that being famous wasn't everything.
As usual, Professor Snape is somewhat ambiguous in the way he gives advice.
When I asked Neville about the questions Snape asked Harry, I was surprised.
"Do you know the meaning of plants?"
"Yes."
Then Neville started thinking, suddenly realizing there was a good chance that Professor Snape, in a very subtle and coded way, was expressing his feelings of guilt and mourning towards Lily Potter.
But it's not certain because we don't know the relationship the teacher had with Harry's mother.
I warned Neville not to mention it because we're not sure if it's true.
After that, I went to the Botany class where we discussed the Mandrake, a plant with a deadly cry but often used in potions with medicinal properties.
When the weekend arrived, I went to Hagrid's cabin to learn more about the Thestrals that would pull our carriage to school.
When we arrived at the cabin, we saw Harry and Fred and George's younger brother, already having a conversation.
We were planning to come back later when Hagrid called us to join them.
The conversation mainly revolved around how Professor Snape seemed to have a grudge against Harry.
I couldn't speak about my assumption regarding the hidden message behind the first question, but I could at least warn him that it was just a warning and he shouldn't be overshadowed by his fame.
After this discussion, they left us alone with Hagrid.
He told me about the place where the Thestrals lived, and I asked if I could see them. However, since they were in the Forbidden Forest, I couldn't.
It was disappointing, but I wasn't going to break the rules just to see the Thestrals.
The next day was my first time giving a lecture to support other students' questions, and surprisingly, there were many people who needed my help.
I considered bringing Hermione along to assist me, but I didn't want to overload her with work while she was still discovering the magical world
But I promised myself that I would involve her in the future so she could help me.
After answering most of the students' questions, I went into the classroom on demand to practice some Defense Against the Dark Arts spells that should be learned in the second year.
We decided to learn slowly, or we'd be using fourth-year level spells by October.
In this place, we also took the opportunity to do our duties. Some might say that it's cheating because, with our perception of time, we have more time to complete our tasks, but they only had to find this place.
"Am I being unfair for not telling anyone else about this place but you?"
I asked Mary this question.
"This place is perfect for those who need it, and others need time to catch up because they've procrastinated, so don't worry about it."
Then Mary took me into her arms.