Extra Defense Lessons (Aldrich and anyone interested)

Daniel was standing in front of the DADA Professor's room, with his fist raised to knock on the door. And he had been doing that for at least half and hour already. He kept raising and lowering his fist, biting and releasing his lip, and changing his mind. The reason for his indecisiveness was simple: he wanted to ask his Professor for extra defense lessons. It wasn't that he was doing bad in class (on the contrary, DADA had always been one of his best subjects); on the contrary, actually. He wanted to know and practice even more, and possibly get some ideas to his spells and maybe create even more new ones.

And that takes us to his main problem: how to ask the Professor? He was sure the Professor had more than enough work without having to waste his time on Daniel. But what if he had free time to teach some eager students like himself?

There was only one way to find out. With a deep breath, Daniel finally knocked on the door and waited to be called inside.

Aldrich was in his room, a quill poised between his fingers as he stared at the parchment. The fingers of his other hand was stroking the quill gently, the fibres tickling the pads of his fingers. His mind was a blank, so he stayed there staring at the sheet in front of him. What had he even been writing again? He didn't know any more and he kept being distracted by the feeling that there was someone outiside his door - it had been there for hours! He shuddered as he felt it again.

Suddenly, finally, there was a knock on the door, he was free from the trap of the damed parchment. He hurriedly picked up his inkpot and started to write jiberish, to look busy. "Come in." He said nonchalantly.

"Good afternoon, Professor" said Daniel as he entered the room. He looked at the Professor working, and immediately felt guilty. Of course he was busy, he probably had no time at all to help out eager DADA-nerds like himself. Well, he couldn't back out now, could he? He took a quick breath to compose himself, and blurted out his request. "Professor, if you have the time, would you mind giving me a few extra lessons? I'm really interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts and I would like to learn more than we do in class! I-I don't mean we don't learn enough in class of course, but I would like to know even more. A-and I'd like to ask you to help me with that." He cut himself off with that sentence, now extremely embarrassed.

He had managed to insult the Professor and his class in one go, while trying to ask him a favor. He was tempted to smack his own head, but with the Professor still watching him, he decided he shouldn't convince him further of his idiocy.

Aldrich put his pen down and listened to the boy nervously chatter away about wanting extra defence lessons. A small, cruel (German) part of him wanted to prolong the boy's torture, but he pushed that away; the boy was actually being a good student who was equal to learn. He put his quill down and looked at him, now, what was his name? He knew it, but he had so many students to learn the names of and it was very early in the year. "Well..." He pursed his lips, "I think that perhaps I could put aside an hour or so a week for some extra lessons." He stretched, tilting his neck and wincing at the small crack. He had been sitting their too long and he was very stiff.

He opened his diary, "What day and what time? I think I'm free after dinner monday, wednesday and thursday, then of course there's weekends." It would actually be interesting to teach a small group of people who wanted to work; he could teach them interesting and useful things like the patronus charm. It would be hard but enjoyable, "Feel free to bring anyone along."

Daniel brightened up immediately. So the Professor didn't think he was loony or something! And he even agreed to help him! He let a triumphant grin spread on his face. He couldn't believe his luck! He quickly shook himself out of his stupor after he realized the Professor was waiting for an answer.

"Whichever day is fine with me, sir, except for Wednesday. And I will ask my friends, sir." said Daniel gratefully. He waited for the Professor to name the exact day and time. He was already eager, and couldn't wait to start learning. Inwardly, he was already daydreaming about the new things he will learn. He didn't care how nerdy that was.

Aldrich pursed his lips as he thought, wondering what day would be best. He tapped his hand against the table, "Alright... How about we say eight o clock on a monday?" Monday would be easiest; he would be fresh from having the weekend to unwind, and being late in the evening, he would have had time to recover from monday as well. He moved his hands again, this time folding his arms across his chest and leaning back.

"Please." He said, "Take a seat." He held out his hand to the chair, "and tell me what sorts of things you would like to learn about. Paticular spells or just general, like defensive magic. I might even teach you about dark magic, if you were interested, though I certianly wouldn't teach you to do any of them."

Daniel nodded. "Monday, eight o'clock. Sounds great, sir." he said and really did mean it. Monday was his first thought too, actually. Monday was a disgusting day for being the first one of the week, so he needed something to brighten it up. While most people probably wouldn't count extra lessons as brightening their day up, Daniel was excited to learn new and quite possibly advanced spells.

"Thank you, sir." he said and took a seat. He thought of the Professor's question. What did he want to learn? The answer was obviously anything and everything. But he couldn't say that! After a moment of thinking, he said "To be honest with you sir, I haven't had anything particular to learn in mind. I am most certainly interested in defensive magic, especially advanced defensive magic. However, I'm also interested in dark magic." He widened his eyes when he realized that that could be taken in the wrong way. "I-I don't mean that I'm interested in using it, of course. I'm interested in how they work, what kind of dark spells there are, and how to defend myself against them." he said, hoping he managed to clear his mistake.

"Alright," He nodded, scribbling it down in his diary. "I'm happy with that," he nodded, tapping his quill lightly against the table, meaning spots of ink dripped on to the desk.

"You're welcome," He smiled and nodded. He waited patiently, watching the boy think about what he wanted to learn. He hoped he would be able to get to teach some interesting things. He was surprised that he hadn't reacted nervously to the idea of studying dark magic. Perhaps Daniel was like him; fascinated by dark magic but careful not to let it affect him.

He started to explain what he wanted to learn and he nodded, moving again to write down notes on a spare scrap of parchment. He was certianly eager, it was nice to see. He almost laughed at the panic the boy had when he agreed that he would be interested in dark magic, "I understand what you mean, Daniel." He assured, "The dark arts are as fascinating as they are terrifying."

"Is that all?" He asked, putting his pen down, "If so, then you can leave - I'll see you on Tuesday." He smiled, "I've gotten a few good ideas. Please, bring anyone you want." He stood and reached over to shake his hand, a habit from hears of bussiness transactions.

He smiled at the Professor, relieved he had understood him. "My feelings exactly, sir." It was strange and exciting that he was willing to teach him about the Dark Arts. He was sure his old DADA teacher would have had a fit if he ever dared to ask for such thing. Professor Beilschmidt seemed to be a very interesting and knowledgeable man. He was sure he could teach him many things.

He was a bit surprised when the Professor offered his hand for a handshake. He grinned at him and shook his hand firmly; where he came from, a firm handshake was a sign of respect. He hoped it was like that here too. "That is all. Thank you, sir. I will ask a few people who might be interested." he said and, with a respectful nod, turned around to leave.

Daniel had a nice firm handshake. Aldriched like that in a person - a firm handshake was a sign of a strong individual and showed respect in a way. At the very least it was more pleasant than a weak handshake. "I look forward to Tuesday, it's nice seeing a student take the initiative in these things." If he ever had to write a reference for Daniel - for a job or some kind of higher education then he reckoned he would have a lot of good things to say about Daniel.

He picked back up his pen as the other teen vacated the room, hopefully able to work better now that there wasn't the niggling feeling that someone was watching him. Perhaps he would jot down a few ideas of what to do in Daniel's extra lessons. This would be fun, he was rather anticipating it.

Tuesday afternoon saw Daniel standing in front of Professor Beilschmindt's door once again, although much less scared this time. He was alone, just him and his wand. His friends either didn't have free time or simply didn't care enough about DADA to sacrifice their free time for extra lessons. Daniel didn't see it as a sacrifice, of course.

He knocked on the door much more confidently than last time, waiting to be let in. He just couldn't wait! The Professor knew what he was doing and he was even willing to teach him about dark spells! Those would be helpful with his other spells, mostly the ones meant to protect a person from dark magic.

He'd had a sneaking feeling that nobody would come to the class, just Daniel, a lot of people didn't like to learn extra defence, but then, you never knew. He stretched, not sure what he was going to do in the lesson. He was very poor at planning his classes, honestly. He had a vague idea that perhaps they could duel, he needed a little excitement and he could get a feel for what the boy already knew.

He tapped his table lazily, picking up his wand and twirling it around, waiting for Daniel to knock. He smiled when he did hear him and called, "Come in." and he stood up.

He opened the door and walked inside swiftly, his whole being radiating excitement. "Good afternoon, Professor." he said, bowing a bit in respect. He closed his door and turned back to his teacher, immediately realizing that he already had his wand in his hand.

What would he teach him first? Maybe defensive spells? He didn't think the Professor would start with offensive magic, but you could never know. Daniel certainly wouldn't mind. Dueling maybe? Yeah, maybe in his wildest dreams. Even if they did duel, the older man would definitely have him kneeling in defeat in a few seconds. Daniel knew he was a good dueler, he was the best at home, but he couldn't defeat a teacher. Not yet.