Jung Hoseok and Rapid Reading
Hoseok hummed to himself as he entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, ready to spend another class period as a study hall. For the past few months, the new Professor Kim had let them do whatever they wanted. He often had a chapter of their textbook to read, but he never enforced the reading, or asked if anyone even did. He rarely was even in the room, often, he’d just sit in his office and work on something of his own.
Hoseok would never admit it out loud, but he only read the first chapter. Life just got so busy, Prefect duties, Quidditch, other class homework, it was too much. Professor Kim didn’t seem to care, and so neither did Hoseok.
Everyone had such high hopes for Seokjin’s older brother. They hoped that having a real auror as a teacher would mean exciting and unique topics, but it just turned out to be more Ministry O.W.L. prep. He was no better than their last professor, who only did hands-on learning once a month. At least Professor Kim didn’t assign actual homework.
“Hey Namjoon,” Hoseok said, setting his bag down next to his chair. His tablemate smiled at him, then immediately went back into his textbook. Hoseok was pretty sure Namjoon was the only person in the entire school who actually read the material.
Hoseok glanced up at the chalkboard, where a hastily scribbled ‘Read Chpt. 25’ had been scrawled last class. Normally, there would be a new chapter, but Professor Kim must be running late. With nothing to do, Hoseok took out his Potions homework and started writing. If he ran into something hard, maybe one of his fellow Hufflepuffs, or even a Ravenclaw in the room could help.
Five minutes later, the classroom door crashed open, and the Professor marched inside. He walked quickly and with a purpose, his robes billowing behind him. Everyone’s heads snapped up, watching the Professor send the chalkboard flying away with a spell. It crashed into the wall, breaking a little. The Professor didn’t care.
“I assume everyone completed the readings,” he said quietly, his soft voice not matching the scary and powerful stance he held.
“What?” A random Hufflepuff said up front.
“Chapter 25 was the last chapter in the textbook for O.W.L. fourth year material.”
Hoseok swallowed hard, and silently put his potions homework away.
Professor Kim scanned the room, eyeing all the students who only stared back in shock and fear. He scowled, pulling his wand out and pushing every table in the room against the walls. He left all the students sitting in their chairs, isolated and afraid.
“I gave you plenty of time to read the material, now, we do the material.” Professor Kim twirled his wand and all the chairs students were sitting on transformed into black smoke, harshly dropping people to the floor.
“Uhm, excuse me Professor?” Namjoon called, getting up from the floor. “I’m Ravenclaw Prefect Kim Namjoon, I think I speak for the whole class when I say I’m just a little confused on what you mean. Typically, Defense Against the Dark Arts is taught-”
“By idiots who know nothing of real dark magic.”
Namjoon swallowed hard, unsure how to continue. Everyone bristled behind him, unsure what to expect from the Professor.
“I’ve seen real dark magic, and I know none of you are ready to defend yourselves from it.”
“Professor, what do you intend to teach?” Namjoon asked. Seokjung stared at him, as if studying Namjoon. He took his time to respond, leaving the room in an anxious silence. Hoseok saw his eyes dart to the unopened textbooks on the tables. He must know they haven’t read the books, he must know how scared and unprepared they are.
“We begin real classes in two days, so tell your friends and fellow students to finish the readings I have assigned all year.” Professor Kim strode past everyone towards the door, pausing once his hand was on the handle. “And you better have it all memorized, I won’t be stopping to re-explain.”
He left the room in a flutter of black robes, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. Quickly, students gathered their books and things, rushing out the doors to begin reading from page one, to the end. Hoseok hurried to his abandoned table, throwing his things in his bag.
“This is bad, this is bad-” Namjoon was muttering to himself while he packed his quills away.
“What do you mean, bad? You’ve actually read all this stuff!” Hoseok laughed nervously.
“No, not me. Jimin, Jungkook, Taehyung-shit. None of them have even opened their textbooks, and they never had a decent dueling class before-”
“Dueling? You think Seokjung will make us duel?”
“Maybe? Maybe not. He’s not exactly a predictable case.”
“But he’s a Ravenclaw, you’ve got to at least have a little idea of his mindset,” Hoseok rambled, following Namjoon out of the class.
“I have no idea,” Namjoon sighed. “He’s less of a Ravenclaw than we think he is. He’s been out of Hogwarts for only a few years, but he’s been through it. Long lists of dark witches and wizards, muggle curses, monsters, beasts, giant wars, you name it, he’s probably seen it. Not to mention his partner dying recently. They probably sent him here for a mental break.”
“But he’s an auror. They’re like, untouchable.”
“No, they’re just like any witch or wizard, just more gifted. You saw how he moved the tables, transfigured the chairs. He didn’t even speak Hoseok.”
“So what do we do? Duel? What’s he going to do to us?”
“Best you can do is probably skim-read the entire book. Try to learn as many physical defense spells, seeing as that is what he was going on about.”
“Going on about? He barely spoke in two sentences!”
“I don’t think he did speak in two sentences,” Namjoon muttered. “I’m going to touch up on the spells too. Maybe. . . maybe this is good though.”
“Good? Good? Our once apathetic and uninvolved ex-auror teacher storms into our class, takes control and acts like a Slytherin warlock for no reason. And you say that’s good.”
“Well, yeah?” Namjoon turns the corner, heading towards the courtyard. Hoseok doesn’t have a class till Astronomy tonight, so he follows the fellow fourth year. “I mean, we haven’t had a real DADA teacher in, like, ever. Professor Jones only taught basic variations and simple O.W.L. material. The Professor before her was so focused on magical creature defense, he barely taught simple defensive charms. And remember the professor from the first year? He didn’t even show up till three quarters of the year.”
Hoseok frowned, realizing that it was true. They hadn’t had an actual teacher in that class. He had very little knowledge about defensive spells, and honestly, if he were to get in a duel, Hoseok would rather use his fists simply because he knew how to use them better than his wand. Transfiguration and charms were great courses, but they dealt with passive objects. Nothing ever attacked him while turning mice into teacups, or during a levitation spell.
“Well. . . you’re right. I’ll do what you said, skim-read and what not.”
“If you’d like, I’ve got a mini study group that meets in the woods everyday. I know it's a bit cold out, but it’s refreshing down by the lake,” Namjoon offered, pointing towards where he was headed.
“Oh, thanks for the offer, but I’m going to go tell Jin what his brother did today. I’m sure he also isn’t prepared for his class.”
“No problem. See you around!” Namjoon waved and headed towards the woods, leaving Hoseok alone. Part of Hoseok kind of wanted to follow Namjoon. The Ravenclaw was nice, smart, decently funny, just an all around good guy. They’ve never really hung out before though, and Hoseok knew Jin would be mad if he didn’t tell him about what had just happened. Shrugging, Hoseok turned and went back to the castle, continuing his day and wondering how he was going to read 25 chapters in 48 hours.