Chapter 187: The New Professors
By the time Tamara entered the Great Hall, the Sorting Ceremony had already concluded.
Hundreds of candles floated in midair, illuminating the enchanted ceiling overhead, where a brilliant starry sky stretched across the hall as clearly as the real heavens outside.
The four long House tables were laden with a lavish start of term feast. Golden plates overflowed with roast beef, chips, Yorkshire pudding, and countless other dishes, while the rich aroma of food mingled with the excited chatter of hundreds of students.
Yet none of that lively warmth could dispel the oppressive atmosphere surrounding Tamara.
She took her usual place at the centre of the Slytherin table, her exquisite face carrying an unmistakable warning that no one should approach her.
"Tamara! Where did you go just now? I thought Madam Pomfrey had kept you in the Hospital Wing!"
Draco immediately leaned closer.
The moment he noticed Tamara's foul expression, however, he wisely lowered his voice. Even then, he could not completely suppress the hint of malicious delight in his tone.
"Are you still angry about what happened on the train? Forget about Scarhead. The whole school already knows Harry Potter fainted in front of the Dementors like a little girl. He even screamed!"
Halfway through, Draco abruptly remembered that Tamara had also been affected by the Dementors.
His instinct for self preservation immediately kicked in.
"Er... I mean, obviously those creatures are disgusting, and everyone was affected to some extent. But who else made such a spectacle of themselves like Potter? It's an embarrassment to the wizarding world!"
Pansy Parkinson giggled beside him.
"Exactly. I heard some man dressed like a beggar had to use magic to drive the creatures away. If nobody had stepped in, Potter probably would have stayed collapsed in the corridor until the train reached Hogwarts!"
Normally, Tamara might have responded to such flattery with a contemptuous sneer.
This time, she did not.
Without expression, she picked up her silver knife and fork and began cutting the lamb chop on her plate with strangely mechanical movements.
Screech.
The silver knife scraped hard against the golden plate, producing a sharp sound that made everyone nearby wince.
The surrounding Slytherins immediately fell silent.
They watched helplessly as the unfortunate lamb chop was reduced to shreds beneath Tamara's knife.
Judging from her expression, it was difficult not to imagine that she was cutting through someone's throat rather than a piece of meat.
Tamara stared fixedly at her plate.
Hostility churned within the depths of her pitch black eyes.
These suicidal fools.
Every word they spoke was like another perfectly aimed slap against her wounded pride.
Collapsed in the corridor?
Making a fool of herself in public?
If the System had not been constantly watching her, Tamara would have gladly sewn both of their babbling mouths shut.
"That's enough, Draco."
She did not look up.
Her voice was icy.
"When I'm eating, I don't want to hear the names of people who irritate me. Especially Potter."
Her patience was already dangerously thin.
If someone mentioned that damned saviour one more time, Tamara could not guarantee that she would resist driving the dinner knife straight into Draco's throat in the middle of the Great Hall.
"Oh... right. Of course."
Draco swallowed and immediately fell silent, lowering his head to concentrate on the potatoes on his own plate.
At that moment, Albus Dumbledore rose from the centre of the High Table.
As the Headmaster stood, the noise throughout the Great Hall gradually subsided.
Dumbledore looked over the assembled students with a gentle expression.
"Welcome!" he called, spreading his arms. "Welcome back to Hogwarts for another school year!"
"Before all this excellent food makes you too sleepy to listen, I have several important announcements."
His expression became serious.
"First, as many of you have already discovered during your journey here, Hogwarts is currently hosting a number of Dementors from Azkaban. They are here on official business at the request of the Ministry of Magic."
At the word Dementors, uneasy whispers immediately spread throughout the Great Hall.
Many students visibly shuddered, clearly still shaken by what had happened aboard the train.
Tamara sneered inwardly.
Idiotic Ministry.
Stupid Fudge.
Did they truly believe a few Dark creatures could protect Hogwarts?
Dementors had no concept of loyalty.
They submitted only to those capable of providing them with greater quantities of prey, fear, and despair.
Once Lord Voldemort rose again, Tamara was certain that a simple promise would be enough to make the creatures stationed around Hogwarts abandon the Ministry and become part of her forces.
Dumbledore clearly understood their nature as well.
His voice carried an unmistakable warning as he continued.
"Dementors are stationed at every entrance to the school grounds. I must warn each and every one of you that they cannot be fooled by tricks, disguises, or Invisibility Cloaks. Dementors are not creatures capable of mercy or forgiveness."
"Therefore, I strongly advise you not to give them any reason to harm you."
Dumbledore paused, allowing the warning to settle over the students.
Then, almost miraculously, his expression brightened once more.
"Now, on to a rather more pleasant subject. I am delighted to introduce two new members of our teaching staff."
"The first is Professor Remus Lupin, who has kindly agreed to take over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."
Dumbledore began applauding.
Scattered applause followed throughout the hall as the man sitting near one end of the High Table slowly rose to his feet.
The moment Tamara's eyes settled upon him, her knife stopped moving.
Her brow furrowed.
The man looked almost destitute.
His robes were old, faded, and covered in patches, with several edges visibly worn thin. Grey had already begun creeping through his hair, while his pale face carried the unmistakable exhaustion of someone in poor health.
He looked less like a Hogwarts professor and more like a vagrant who had wandered in from some miserable Muggle district.
"Merlin's beard..." Draco muttered beside Tamara, his disgust obvious. "Look at those robes. Is he a professor or a beggar? Is Dumbledore turning Hogwarts into a charity home now?"
But Tamara was not frowning because of Lupin's clothes.
Her pitch black eyes narrowed as they fixed upon him with the focus of a venomous serpent.
Remus Lupin.
A core member of the Order of the Phoenix.
One of Dumbledore's loyal followers.
And...
A filthy werewolf.
Tamara almost could not believe it.
Albus Dumbledore, the great White Wizard whom so many in the wizarding world practically worshipped, the man who constantly preached about love and tolerance, had openly hired a werewolf to teach at Hogwarts.
A creature whose mind would be overwhelmed by bloodlust during the full moon.
A beast capable of attacking humans once transformed.
In Lord Voldemort's eyes, werewolves had never been respectable beings.
She had once commanded werewolves under Fenrir Greyback, certainly, but they had been little more than crude tools used to terrorise blood traitors and spread violence and panic.
Tamara had never considered those creatures true equals to wizards.
She certainly would never have invited one into a noble institution and allowed it to lecture children.
And now Dumbledore expected her, the great Heir of Slytherin, to sit in a classroom and listen to a werewolf teach?
What an utterly absurd farce.
Those fools in the wizarding world had always portrayed Lord Voldemort as an irrational madman.
Yet from Tamara's perspective, Dumbledore was far more incomprehensible.
He stationed Dementors outside the school, hired a werewolf as a professor, consumed sweets endlessly, and somehow considered all of this perfectly reasonable.
He would rather employ werewolves and fools than accept the job application of the great Dark Lord.
Tamara's face darkened until it looked almost black.
Whatever remained of her appetite disappeared completely.
She turned her head and glanced toward the High Table, wondering whether even one of those useless professors would object to such a ridiculous appointment.
Her gaze travelled across the hall.
Then it landed on the Head of Slytherin House.
Severus Snape.
Tamara paused.
Snape sat only a few places away from Lupin, staring directly at the newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.
While the other teachers offered polite or enthusiastic applause, Snape had not lifted a hand.
His already pale, gloomy face had twisted into an exceptionally ugly expression.
His lips were pressed into a thin, bitter line.
Within his deep black eyes burned unmistakable hatred and disgust.
It was far more than simple dissatisfaction.
Snape looked as though merely having Lupin within his sight was an offence.
Across half the Great Hall and a sea of students, the two Slytherins wore expressions of startling similarity.
The same darkened faces.
The same downturned mouths.
The same icy eyes filled with undisguised repulsion.
"Heh..."
Seeing Snape's expression, some of the hostility in Tamara's eyes faded.
In its place appeared a trace of interest.
It seemed her loyal servant had also noticed that unpleasant dog smell.
Now that was the instinct a Slytherin ought to possess.
More importantly, Tamara could see something else within Snape's gaze.
His hatred toward Lupin was far too deep to be explained by prejudice against werewolves alone.
There was a personal grudge between them.
"Interesting."
Tamara withdrew her gaze and lifted her goblet, gently swirling the pumpkin juice within.
Her irritation over Harry actually eased somewhat at the prospect of future conflict.
Since Dumbledore insists on inviting a wolf into his house...
Her peripheral vision drifted toward the Gryffindor table.
Harry Potter was applauding Lupin along with everyone else, apparently delighted by the appointment.
Tamara laughed coldly to herself.
I look forward to the day you discover that the man standing at the front of your classroom is a monster capable of losing control and tearing out your throat.
I wonder whether you'll still be smiling then.
After introducing Lupin, Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"As for our second new professor, I believe most of you are already very familiar with him."
A brilliant smile appeared beneath his beard, accompanied by an almost playful glint in his eyes.
"I am delighted to announce that our longtime gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, will be taking over the Care of Magical Creatures class."
The Gryffindor table immediately erupted into enthusiastic cheers.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione applauded so fiercely that their palms turned red.
Hagrid's enormous face flushed crimson with excitement, while tears gathered in his eyes. He shifted awkwardly in his chair and nearly knocked over the golden plate in front of him.
The Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors had initially strongly opposed the appointment.
After all, Hagrid had been expelled from Hogwarts fifty years earlier.
However, during the height of the Chamber of Secrets incident the previous year, Hagrid had been imprisoned in Azkaban for investigation.
The eventual resolution of the Chamber incident had effectively cleared him of suspicion regarding those attacks, leaving the Ministry with little choice but to acknowledge his innocence.
Tamara watched the scene from her place at the Slytherin table with cold detachment.
Then she scoffed.
She did not believe for a moment that this half giant, whose head seemed filled with rock cakes, was capable of providing proper instruction.
The assigned textbook alone was enough evidence.
The Monster Book of Monsters.
A vicious book that would happily try to bite off a wizard's fingers unless its spine was stroked first.
Tamara's gaze once again settled upon Albus Dumbledore, who was smiling and leading the applause at the High Table.
At this rate, these students would be ruined by the old man before they even had the chance to become qualified Death Eater candidates.
Tamara's lips twitched.
This old fool truly had no regard for his students' lives.