The Theory of Magic (Book 1)

16 // Tutoring & Weird Witches

To be honest, Harry really didn't know what to think of Professor Dullahan.

Ron's brothers Fred and George would tell anyone who would listen that she was "the best professor around," though they didn't have her class. She was always very kind to Harry, but not in the same way other professors or witches were. Most sighed and, at one point or another, made some reference to him looking like his dad or having his mum's eyes. Harry enjoyed thinking he was like his parents, but he had grown a bit exasperated by the comparison. He liked that Professor Dullahan didn't seem to know who his parents were.

She'd attended Ilvermony apparently, and Hermione had gone on at some length about the American school. Some of his classmates whispered her House there had been just like Slytherin, founded by one of his heirs, and that deep-down the Professor was just like Snape, who hated Harry with a passion. Harry wasn't sure, but it did make him a tad wary.

"She's very helpful!" Hermione said, a fervent note in her voice as they walked along the corridor with Ron. "I've come by during her office hours before. She can be—." Harry heard the hesitation in Hermione's voice, and he knew his friend wasn't completely sure of Professor Dullahan either. All the same, Harry was glad Ron and Hermione were coming with him today. "She can be a bit abrupt. I think sometimes her mind wanders and goes on tangents the rest of us aren't privy to."

Ron snorted. "She's a nutter."

"Oh, Ron, I wish you wouldn't say that...."

They continued to bicker as they passed through the cold Magical Theory classroom and approached their professor's office door. Harry knocked once, swallowing, and a clear voice called out, "Come in."

Professor Dullahan was a short witch with thin features and a loose braid of black hair that fell nearly to her waist. Her eyes reminded him of Ollivander's in some ways, pale and searching, but where Ollivander's gaze felt oddly vacuous, Professor Dullahan's was heavy, unyielding. Even Malfoy, the git, couldn't meet her stare when he was being impertinent in class. Peace seemed to radiate from her, but it was a peculiar peace, a stillness before a storm that hovered but never came. He dreaded what it would be like to truly see Dullahan lose her temper.

"Hello, you three," Professor Dullahan greeted from behind her desk, where she was reading a stack of essays and dipping her quill into an inkwell. A large, dark green bird perched on the back of Dullahan's chair and gifted Harry and his friends with a hard, searching glare. Harry had heard the bird—an Augurey, the professor said—in class before, but he hadn't seen it. It looked a bit terrifying and Harry had to swallow his nerves. "Need something?"

"We were, uh," Ron said, also looking at the threatening bird with some reticence.

"We wanted to know if you would tutor us in Potions, Professor Dullahan," Hermione finished for him. She'd been to the office in the past and had met the Augurey already.

"Ah, excellent!" Professor Dullahan stood and the bird hopped to her shoulder without her seeming to notice. Ron and Harry shuffled backward as she came around the desk, and sensing their apprehension, Dullahan frowned—then glanced at the glowering Augurey. "Puck, shoo, you miserable pigeon. They're not off-put by your sulking."

Harry was very much off-put, but the bird obeyed the professor's order and returned to his roost with an unhappy cry. Dullahan shook her head. "Sorry. He's possessive of my time."

The three students gave their teacher nervous smiles as she stood before them, hands on her hips, ink smudged on her fingers. "Yes, well. Potions! Potions, potions. Where should we begin? Is there anything in particular you wanted to ask? A specific potion, perhaps?"