A few days after the tea party, Albert sighed as he found himself facing the entire Gryffindor quidditch players in front of him who looked sheepish as if they were just caught stealing cookies from the jar. He glared at Fred and George Weasley who was trying their best to look innocent, while the rest of the team were waiting nervously for his judgment.
"What am I going to do with you all?" He sighed once again, starting to get a headache.
"I don't know, Professor." One of the twins replied.
"Maybe you can let us go?" The others followed with the same innocent tone.
Oliver Wood and Harry Potter who were dragged to this mess by the twins wilted in fright when they heard them speaking like that to the professor, while the girls who knew the inside story just glared at them, blaming them for this situation.
After a while, Albert stared at the twins as he spoke, "Honestly, don't you learn anything from your experience before and the story of your uncles that I told?"
While the rest looked at each other confusedly, the Weasley twins who decided to hide the story of their uncles from the team winced as they realized why their professor was so pissed off.
"Not to get caught?" One of them smiled weakly.
"Yeah, and why do you think you are in front of me right now?" Albert asked sarcastically.
"Because we got caught by Professor Sinistra." The other twins sighed in defeat as he also realized their mistakes.
"Exactly! I have already told you I will close my eyes on your shenanigan as long it is to protect her and you all didn't get caught. But not only you you get caught, you even dragged all of your quidditch teammates to this? And Miss Spinnet!"
"Yes, Professor!" The braid-haired girl straightened her back, looking at Albert nervously.
"You are a spinnet, for God's sake!" Albert cursed, frustrated. "If I know anything about your father, subtle and sneaky should be your second nature. So, if you got dragged into this mess, why the hell didn't you think about a more mature plan that wouldn't expose you all?!"
Alicia had a blank expression on her face. She had expected to be scolded, but not because of this. It was as if her new potion professor was encouraging her to do this more sneakily in the future. The other students who heard that also had a similar reaction. They didn't expect that Albert would be so chill about the outrageous prank they just did to the poor Ravenclaw girl.
"So, are we going to get a punishment, Professor?" Katie asked hesitantly.
"Unfortunately, you do," Albert replied, eliciting groans from the twins. "You are lucky that the worst thing that happened to your victim is only that giant pimple in her forehead, the non-stop hiccup with that smelly burp, and her skin that turned ugly yellow, no permanent harm was done. But I will expect you all to apologize to her and Professor Flitwick once they are out of the infirmary, okay?"
"Yes, Professor." All of them replied simultaneously with downcast expressions.
"As for your punishment, you will spend the next two days helping me correct the grades of the first-year students. And no, Mister Weasley, I will not give you the parchment from Gryffindor or Slytherin students." He glared after seeing the glint of mischievousness in their eyes.
"I will not deduce point from you since your house is already in a miserable position." Harry winced when he was reminded of the big minus in their house point due to his stupidity with the flying car before the term even began. "But I will expect you to do your detention seriously, okay? If not, I will tell Professor McGonagall to forbid you all from the quidditch activity."
"NO!" Everyone jumped in shock as they heard Oliver Wood suddenly shout with a horrid expression. "Anything but that, Professor!" Having aiming for the trophy for a long time, Oliver was unwilling to let anything hinder his chance.
"Well, your first training will begin in two days, right? That's why I am giving you two days' detention, now and tomorrow. But if any of you mess up or run away, I will put the entire team responsible, so you have to control your players, okay, Mister Wood?" He said the last part while glancing at the Weasley twins who were trying to look innocent.
"Don't worry, Professor. I will not let them mess this up." The Gryffindor captain nodded solemnly, also glaring at the twins.
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"Man, this sucks," Fred grumbled while playing around with his quill. "Who cares about the opinion of this Lindsley girl about what would happen if porcupine quills were added before taking the cauldron off the fire?"
"Just search in the first chapter of 'The Potion for Beginner' and you will find the answer," Oliver said without raising his head. "And keep moving, Fred. I swear if our training is canceled because of this, I will make you pay for it."
"But I am George, Wood." Fred grinned, trying to lighten up the mood.
"Yeah, Fred is me." George had the same grin, cooperating with his twin.
"Enough!" Alicia suddenly slammed the desk, surprising everyone in the room. It was probably the first time anyone saw her losing temper like this. "Let's just finish this all and move on, okay?"
Fred and George looked at each other confusedly while whispering, "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know. Maybe it is her time of the month?"
Angelina who overheard that coughed, stiffened a laughter. "No, it shouldn't be. I know her time had already passed last week." She chimed in.
"So, it is not because of her 'monthly' time?" Fred wriggled his eyebrows while putting an air quotes to the word 'monthly'.
"I think she is embarrassed." Katie who was next to them couldn't help but butt in.
"Embarrassed?" George raised his eyebrows.
"Ah, you mean because Professor Shafiq said she is not as subtle and as sneaky as a Spinnet should be." Fred nodded in realization.
"He didn't say that!" Alicia shouted once again, glaring at her friends. Her face was red due to the embarrassment, which only made it all true.
"Well, technically, he didn't say that, indeed." Angelina nodded with a playful smile. "Then, why are you so bothered?"
Alicia opened her mouth, wanting to deny the accusation. However, before he could say that, Oliver coughed, interrupting their conversation with a wry smile. "Maybe I am not clear enough, so I will say it once again. I swear, if our first training session is canceled because of this, I will make you suffer when the time comes."
Seeing the dark aura surrounding the captain while remembering the bad memories of the time after a long, intense training in the past, they all shuddered and turned their attention back to the parchment in front of them. Oliver nodded in satisfaction before turning around to the youngest member of the team.
"Are you alright, Harry?" He asked kindly.
The messy-haired boy rubbed the eyes behind his round glasses tiredly while smiling back at Oliver. "Don't worry, Captain. I am okay."
"You don't have to be too polite, Harrykins," George said. "We all know this is not a normal detention and very exhausting. You can just complain here if you feel tired."
"Yeah." Fred nodded solemnly. "You also still have detention with Filch, right?"
"Oh, no." Harry's expression suddenly lightened up. "Professor Shafiq is kind enough to communicate with Professor McGonagall to treat this detention as the same as the one with Filch so that I don't have to do a detention twice a day."
"Wow, that's nice for him and for Professor McGonagall to do that." Oliver raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"If only he could assign nicer detention, it would be perfect." Fred sighed.
"I know, right."
Even though checking the homework for the first grade was not a hard task, Professor Shafiq didn't give them the answer directly, so they had to search for the answer by themselves. It should be easy for them to do that since the homework was pretty basic. Unfortunately, it was a long time since they were in the first grade, and their professor at that time was Snape. It was basically impossible for any Gryffindor students to learn potion in his class.
Only Alicia who was the daughter of the Spinnet family who was famous for their potion craft and Oliver who had already done his OWL test last year and still go for the potion NEWT were able to check the grade without even looking at the book.
Harry didn't hate it, though. In fact, he was grateful for this chance. After his first two potion classes, he realized how far he was left behind compared to his peers in terms of potion knowledge, and no matter how unwilling he was to admit, he hated that feeling. The opportunity to review the last year's lesson like this was a chance for him to fix this problem.
"Are you okay?" Suddenly, a soft, dreamy voice greeted his eardrum. "You seem to have a lot to think."
"I am okay, don't worry." Harry waved his hand without even raising his head. However, after a few seconds, he suddenly realized he was not familiar with the voice that just greeted him. The moment he turned around, he blinked a few times, processing his thoughts as he saw a blonde girl suddenly appear next to him, sitting casually as if she were familiar with this office.
"Who are you?"
"I am Luna Lovegood." The blonde girl answered. The moment she introduced herself though, five pairs of eyes suddenly snapped, turning around at her in surprise. "You all know me?" Luna tilted her head curiously.
"Well, you can say so."
Even though they only knew her name from the twins' mouths, at least it gave the girls an image of what kind of girl Luna Lovegood was. As for Oliver and Harry, they both looked at each other confusedly as they were only dragged by the twins in the last prank and didn't know the reason why they did that.
"Oh, you have heard about me? Is it about the Loony Lovegood?" She asked casually as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What, of course, no!" Fred denied, his voice rose a few pitches.
"Yes! Don't you forget about us, Luna?" George asked with the same dramatic tone.
Luna blinked a few times as if trying to remember something before realizing, "Of course, how silly of me! You both are Ginny's big brothers!"
"Yeah!" The twins nodded their heads like a bird pecking its food.
Luna tilted her head once again, trying to process something inside her head before asking, "Why do you suddenly notice my presence, though? You have never done this before even when we were at The Burrow, always busy with your prank."
Both twins winced, especially when the three girls next to them glared at the same time. Harry and Oliver who didn't know about Luna took over the conversation by introducing themselves.
"So, you are Luna Lovegood?" Oliver offered a handshake. "I am Oliver Wood, Gryffindor's quidditch captain. Nice to see you."
"Nice to see you too, Mister Wood," Luna replied. "You can call me Luna, or if you want to follow the crowds, Loony."
The sound of the quill dropped could be heard, yet no one cared about that as the seven students from the house of Lion there frowned at the same time, didn't like the implication of her words. It hit hard especially for Harry, as it reminded him of his situation back in the Dursley.
"Luna, if I may call you that, what do you mean by the crowds call you Loony?" To everyone's surprise, it was Harry who took the first initiative to ask. Even though Harry had the status of a celebrity, he had never taken the initiative to start a conversation, so it was a rarity for him to do that.
"Of course, Harry Potter." Luna smiled softly. "As for everyone call me Loony, well, that is the reality. It is either that or they will completely ignore me."
The twins and the girls growled, unhappy with this revelation.
"Why do they call you that, though?" Oliver asked, trying to be the neutral party here. Even though he saw something he didn't like here, he knew someone had to act clear-headed and ask the reason behind it.
"I don't know. People always look at me strangely. Maybe it is because their head was filled with Wrackspurt."
"Wrackspurt?" Harry looked at the other with a confused face. Seeing the others were as clueless as him, he decided to ask, "Can you tell me what is that?"
"Oh, it is a nasty invisible creature that always floats in through your ears and makes your brain go fuzzy. In fact, I am here because Professor Shafiq gave me suggestions to draw it so that people can visualize it. Let's see here." Luna flipped a pretty large drawing book, searching for the work she had done.
"Miss Lovegood? What are you doing here?" Before they could see what Luna wanted to show, the office door suddenly cracked open and Albert's voice took all of them aback.
"Professor Shafiq!" The entire Gryffindor quidditch team gulped nervously, racking their brain as fast as possible to think of any made-up reason for them to stop working. However, when they saw their professor raise one of his hands slightly and signal to stay quiet, they complied as they were also curious about the girl.
"Oh, hello, Professor Shafiq." The blonde girl greeted him back, not bothering to look up even for a second. "I have already done with the wrackspurt drawing and I thought you would want to see it. Ah, here it is!" She tore up one of the papers from her drawing book and gave it to Albert.
"You know you can give it to me tomorrow, right?" He said helplessly. "If Professor Flitwick or Professor Sprout knows that you hang out in my office again at this time, they will have my head on their wall."
Albert still received the paper though, and once he saw the drawing from the girl, he gasped in astonishment. The Gryffindor quidditch players who were curious since the beginning leaned their head forward, trying to peek at the paper. They gasped simultaneously in the same manner as him when they saw the level of realism that she drew, couldn't believe their eyes at all.
It was basically a humanoid creature that they had never seen before, with the unproportional size of the head that was way bigger than its body and showed a nasty smile that promised trouble. It was how she drew the expression of the creature with so much detail that made them all have their jaws drop, as if she breathed life into the creature through her work.
"Incredible." Albert folded the paper carefully before turning to Luna with a serious face. "I will make sure to stay away from them if I ever see one."
"That's good." Luna smiled brightly. "Well, then, I will go back first to my dorm before you get into trouble. Bye, Professor Shafiq! Bye, everyone!" She waved her hand to everyone before running away cheerfully. Once she was out of sight, Albert's face hardened as he called, "Inky!"
POP!
"Yes, Professor Shafiq!" A house elf suddenly appeared, surprising everyone. Harry frowned when he saw the creature, trying his best to suppress bad memories caused by the same creature this summer.
"Follow Luna secretly and bring back her things to her room, please. I will talk to Professor Flitwick."
"Sure."
The house elf disappeared once again, leaving no trace as if it had never been there in the first place. Now that it was only Albert and the rest of the Gryffindor quidditch players, the potion professor suddenly had a solemn expression on his face.
"Now you know why I ask you to protect her, right?"
"Yeah." The twins nodded with the same solemnity. Even though it was an open question, they knew it was directed at them.
"At first, I hoped this was just a playful prank, with the worst being name-calling. However, just now, I found another suspicion that the older girls in Ravenclaw started to hide her thing, and I am convinced that she is bullied by the other claws."
The three girls cursed at the same time.
"Is that why we pranked the claw's girl before?" Oliver asked. Gone was the approachable aura that was often associated with him, replaced with a dangerous glint as if someone owed him blood. "Is that because that girl is one of the culprits here?"
"Yeah." George nodded, not hiding anything. "Professor Shafiq approached us and asked for a protection service. He even allowed us to do the revenge as long as we didn't get caught. It was Fred and my negligent that Professor Sinistra caught us in action, but we didn't regret it."
"Count me in if you are doing this kind of project again, okay?" Oliver growled.
"And me too," Harry added to everyone's surprise. "I hate bullies like them." No one questioned his reasoning and just nodded along.
"Unfortunately, I will have to cancel that service now," Albert said, surprising the twins. "I will have to talk about it to Professor Flitwick first. But if nothing changes in a week, you can go crazy as long as you don't get caught, okay?"
All seven of them grinned menacingly, knowing that this would be a fun project.
"Oh, and one more thing." Albert suddenly turned solemn once again. "If possible, can you include Luna in your group too? I know that you are not close to each other only because of Quidditch, and I know it would be hard to bring a claw into your group. You don't have to always include her, but at least, can you all befriend her? I know she is an odd girl, but believe me, you will be amazed by her brain."
All of them looked at each other before the three girls nodded. "Don't worry, Professor. Little Luna will be safe around us."
"Thank you." Albert sighed in relief. "Oh, and I will say it again, wait for a week while I try to talk to Professor Flitwick, and if nothing changes, you know the rules. Don't get caught and no permanent harm, okay?"
The twins had the same grin that made everyone in the castle shudder in fear as they both hoped that the conversation between Albert and Professor Flitwick would fall before schooling their features into a mask of pleasant placidity.
"Well, Professor, I hope you have a good time with Professor Flitwick."
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Author note
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