One Day They'll Know Your Name

Unforgiving names

Harry stepped into the DADA classroom, almost afraid to see what it looked like under the new professor. After a quick look around he decided that it actually wasn't too bad. Sure there were some weird things hanging around, but Harry assumed they would be learning about them during the class. It wasn't nearly as bad as Lockhart, or even Quirrell had their classrooms set up.

As he settled down in his seat next to Draco, Professor Moody still had not appeared, despite class beginning in less than a minute. There were no strange animals in the room that would indicate that Professor Moody was an Animagus, so he was probably just late.

A moment later the door slammed open. "Constant vigilance!" Professor Moody barked from the back of the room, making the entire class jump. Harry had his wand half drawn before he saw who it was, and he put it back in the holster. "Good lad, Potter. Always be prepared to defend yourself from anything. And even better for recognizing that this is a safe place and knowing when not to be paranoid. Of course, even in a school such as Hogwarts there is no place that is entirely safe. Always be vigilant!"

He reached the desk and flicked his wand, sending a stack of papers to each desk. "Fill this out by the end of class. It's a simple test to see what you have learned so far. Any wrong answers will not be counted against you, and I'm giving this test to everyone, so there will be questions you don't know because they haven't been covered yet. Once you finish the questions you will wait quietly until I dismiss you as apparently it is not appropriate to let children run amok in the halls during classes. Begin."

Harry took a quick look at his test and started. The questions had no order to them, and Harry found himself skipping several, but not as many as he had expected what with Lockhart teaching for a year. Most of the questions about creatures were easy enough to answer, since Moony had taught about them last year. As he neared the middle of the test, he found himself skipping more and guessed that this was where the questions started to be from fourth year and up.

When he finally put his quill down, he noticed that most of the other students had as well. The Slytherins shared this class with the Ravenclaws, so he wasn't surprised that a few people were still writing, especially Hermione. Harry had heard Draco put down his quill just a little bit before Harry had, so he elbowed him lightly and grinned lightly, nodding towards Hermione. Draco grinned back and they settled back to sit quietly.

Eventually everyone stopped writing, Hermione last of course, and Professor Moody summoned the papers. "Class dismissed," was all he said before turning to the papers to grade them.

Harry and Draco shared a glance and shrugged, heading to the door and waiting for Hermione, who had been near the front of the room. She quickly arrived and they walked together.

"I'm cautiously optimistic that he at least isn't a horrible professor," Hermione commented after a moment. "The placement test was a good idea, it'll show where we all are academically and how much we all know or don't know will tell him whether it was the professors or the students not studying."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, but emphasis on the cautiously part. He still has plenty of time to make us regret liking him."

Draco snorted. "I wouldn't go that far. He's too paranoid to be likeable. He praised you for pulling a wand on him!"

Harry laughed. "Well, you've got a point there. What kind of teacher lets that slide?"

Hermione huffed. "Well I'm still hopeful. He is teaching us to defend ourselves. How can we do that without having good reflexes? Plus don't forget that Voldyshorts seems to actually be coming for you, Harry. I say it's better to pull a wand on somebody and maybe hurt them then to let them hurt you, or even kill you, first."