Panic Switch [Justin]

[Dean Thomas]

The sound of the bell called for the end of class. Dean got up from his chair and grabbed his textbooks to put in his bag. Term had just started and homework seemed to pile up already. Sure, Dean had been looking forward to coming back to Hogwarts, but that was to be with his friends and experience the enchanting wizard life he couldn’t experience over vacation. However, the gap between the months of June to September had made him forget the homework and the dull note taking he had to take in class. Just when he thought sixth year couldn’t be worse than last year, after having that Umbridge woman controlling the whole school with her iron fist, Snape had been chosen to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. “NO!” he had shouted when Dumbledore announced it at the feast on the first day of term. Snape? Why did it have to be him? How could he be given the Defense Against the Dark Arts place? That slimy black haired git Dean thought as he swung his bag over his shoulder and followed the other students out of the dark classroom; quite different from how Dolores Umbridge had it laid out.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of the classes Dean had been looking forward to entering, since he had gotten an ‘Exceeds Expectations’ on his O.W.L. exams—thanks to all the D.A. practices last year. When the owl arrived with the letter, he had been too nervous to open it and had his mother open it and read it out loud to him:

“Well, I don’t understand what these scores mean, but you’ve gotten an ‘O’ in Muggle Studies, ‘E’ in Charms, Transfigurations and Defense Against the Dark Arts, an ‘A’ in Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, a ‘P’ in Astronomy and History of Magic, and a ‘D’ in Divination.” He wasn’t surprised that he failed Astronomy, History of Magic, and Divination they weren’t his strongest subjects, but getting an ‘A’ in potions and even an ‘E’ in Defense Against the Dark Arts was not something Dean had expected. He left the examination feeling somewhat confident, thinking the score would be an ‘Acceptable’.

At least next year Snape would be gone thought Dean, but a whole year with him would not be tolerated very easily. If only the D.A. still met, perhaps classes wouldn’t be so hard to endure. Sneaking around the school to get to the Room of Requirements and making sure Filch or Miss Norris didn’t catch them was a heart-throbbing, yet thrilling experience. Learning to duel, to defend, and to produce a patronus were not things Dean thought was too advanced for students at his age to do. But with the amount of daily work and class work they had been receiving, Dean had a feeling the D.A. would be difficult to get back together, especially now that the whole school knew about it. Nevertheless, Dean made a mental note to ask Harry about it during lunch, as he started walking slowly down the hallway.

Word Count: 515ish
Tag: Justin Finch-Fletchley
Notes: I didn't know how to exactly write this so...kind of rambled on XD

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin wandered through the hallway, feeling slightly tired. Charms, one of Justin's least favorite classes, had just ended and had not helped him to recover from the lack of sleep he had gotten the night before. He looked down at his schedule to make sure he knew where he was heading for his next class.

​Defense Against the Dark Arts. Justin groaned. He was not looking forward to being taught by professor Snape, even if the DA had made him good enough to pass the class. Snape was sure to assign piles of homework, just as he always did, and while Justin was good at practical work, writing essays and reading huge stretches of books on defensive theory was not among his many skills. No matter how much he liked to read.

​Justin had to wonder just how somebody like Snape had managed to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. It had always been obvious to him that Snape loved the dark arts a bit too much to teach about them, and with the resurgence of Voldemort, it didn't seem too far fetched to him that Snape could be in league with the Death Eaters. But if Dumbledore trusted him, then Justin would just have to accept it.

​Justin turned onto the staircase that led to third floor. He nearly tripped on his untied shoelace as he jogged up, but managed to balance just in time. He tied his shoe and went on his way to class, still focused on Snape getting the DADA job. Maybe today would be better than usual. He would have to see. Justin walked past the statue of the one-eyed witch, hoping against hope that he was wrong about Snape.

​As he neared the classroom, Justin saw that the previous class was getting out. Gryffindors, from the colors of their robes. Perhaps he had some friends just leaving Confused, he stopped in the middle of that hall, looked at his watch, and realized that lunch was just starting, not his next class. Unsure of where to go, Justin simply kept walking down the hall, hoping to find someone to talk to during lunch among the group of escaping Gryffindors, or at least make it away without being stared at by any confused students.

Word Count: 384
OOC: I'm still new to RP-ing and I've never written anything with Justin before, so this was kinda blah overall. :p I hope to improve with future posts, though!

[Dean Thomas]

I hope there’s chicken sandwiches today, thought Dean as he trudged along with the other Gryffindors out of Snape’s classroom hallway towards the Great Hall. His stomach grumbled at the thought of food. Up ahead he saw his mates rushing out, but he didn’t feel the need to catch up to them. He felt the beginning signs of a headache coming and didn’t want to let it get any worse. Plus he wasn’t alone since there was still a crowd of Gryffindors around him talking about their last class and how terrible Snape’s going to be.

Then he saw a familiar face that he hadn’t seen since before break. It was Justin Finch-Fletchley, a sixth year Hufflepuff and a good natured lad if Dean was to describe him. “Justin? Oi, Justin!” Dean called out. Being tall didn’t always make situations easy. He wasn’t able to go into small spaces and was forced to duck when going through a small door. But this time, Dean was glad to be able to look around himself to find any familiar faces. “How’s your summer been?” he asked the brown haired boy. Dean liked this kid especially because he too came from a muggle home. And he was glad to see him, someone who had been in the D.A. and probably understood what it meant to have Snape as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

With the thought of the D.A., it reminded him about how he was going to ask Harry if they would continue it. He decided to ask Justin what he thought of the matter: “So do you think we should continue the D.A? It might be a bit stressful and tricky.”

Word Count: 280ish
Tag: Justin Finch-Fletchley
Notes: Don’t worry about! Mine is meh. Sorry I haven’t been in my “Dean Zone” these past few days. I promise I’ll post longer and more often :D

[Justin Finch-Fletchley]

Justin was just about to reach a staircase to head to the Great Hall when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him. He turned around, nearly smacking into a passing Gryffindor he didn't recognize. After a quick apology, he realized that the student who had called out was Dean Thomas, a sixth year Gryffindor who Justin had met in the DA the year before. He was a muggle born as well, Justin recalled. Only a few awkward moments passed before he was able to weave his way through the crowd and meet Dean halfway across the hall.

"How's your summer been?" Dean asked.

Justin took a second to think about that. It had been an uneventful summer for him, mainly because his mother had been so scared by what he had told her about Voldemort's return that she hadn't wanted them to be noticed anywhere or do anything that might lead to them being noticed. While Justin had thought that it was an overreaction, he was glad that she was taking things seriously. He had heard that other muggle families had been acting less than cautious about the whole thing.

Before Justin could respond, Dean spoke again. "So do you think we should continue the D.A? It might be a bit stressful and tricky.”

Justin didn't wait to think before speaking this time. "My summer was fairly uneventful, we didn't really go anywhere or do anything interesting. As for the DA, I think it would be great if we started it up again, but I'm not sure how. I mean, without Umbridge I'm not sure if we can pull together all that interest from before. We should probably ask around to see if anybody is interested in starting it up again, namely Harry and his friends."

(OOC: Sorry I took so long to post this, I've had a lot of homework and chores lately. :p Definitely not my best, but I think I'm getting more used to Justin. Don't worry about yours, it was fine.)