Ding-ding-dong~!?
As soon as Hogwarts' caretaker, the Squib Argus Filch, rang the bell, the thirty or forty fourth-year students finally poured out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom in a great hurry, as if some terrifying monster inside were driving them out and scaring them away.
By the time the rest of their yearmates had nearly all left, Harry, Hermione, and Ron—the trio bringing up the rear—finally squeezed out, clutching their textbooks and looking a little hurried.
After the three of them left, the classroom was empty. The only one left inside was the shabby old man still seated there, leaning a cane against the lectern. He had a head of white hair, an old face covered in scars, and a blue magical eye. He was sipping something from a silver hip flask with a curved shape.
That disheveled old man was none other than Mad-Eye Moody—Alastor Moody—who had shown up at the last moment on the day of the opening ceremony, giving the teachers and students a fright, and had then been appointed by Dumbledore as this year's Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, responsible for teaching hundreds of students across the school.
"Hey!"
"Hermione! Ron!"
"What did you think of that Defense Against the Dark Arts class? Wasn't it great? I've never had a Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor like Professor Alastor Moody. He actually taught us how to counter and recognize those three terrifying spells, and even showed us all three in full! That was amazing!"
Fresh out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and on their way to Potions Class, Harry couldn't contain his excitement and kept cheering to his two companions.
"..."
"..."
Unlike Harry, who was bursting with excitement, Ron seemed a little shaken. Hermione silently frowned, clutching her