Hogwarts' exam week was not disturbed by the outside world in the slightest.
Especially the appearance of the Dark Mark at Azkaban before the start of term.
It seemed to have caused no stir at all, apart from Umbridge's frantic antics. After all, the same thing had already caused an uproar last year.
With no one paying any attention to it, exam week ended.
The second week of September.
The air in the Defense Against Dark Magic classroom carried a damp chill.
The second-year students entered the classroom early. They had just survived a hellish first week of term.
During that first week of exams, the teachers had not held formal lessons, but besides taking exams, the students had been required to preview the new textbook material.
"I wonder what we're doing for the first lesson?"
"Shh, keep it down. I heard from an older student that the professor likes to strike hardest when everyone lets their guard down."
"We'll probably go over the exam papers, right?"
"The professor's here. Stop talking."
As the students discussed it in hushed voices, Douglas entered the classroom through the side door.
When they noticed that Douglas had no exam papers in his hands, a collective sigh of relief went up around the classroom.
Douglas surveyed the room with a gentle smile.
"We won't be going over the exam papers today. Put your textbooks away, too."
At those words, the students excitedly hurried to put their textbooks away and prepared to draw their wands. A practical lesson for the very first class of term-this was bliss.
Before they could draw their wands, Douglas added, "Oh, you won't need your wands either."
An ominous feeling immediately rose in the students' hearts.
"Today, we'll just pick a few students to recite the preview work assigned during