Whispers Abound

The Great Hall was filled with hubbub for the evening, students talking over one another as they filled their plates, while the staff slowly filtered in after readying their rooms for classes. It was one Professor's name that was on everyone's lips, and had been for the last week, going on two.

"Professor Kampf is a really good professor though?" A fourteen-year-old cocked her head as she listened to her older sister's rampant complaints. Andromeda sighed, a pensive frown on her face.

"I can't really argue against that," Andromeda allowed, "But I have three new tomes that I need to read several chapters from each week! Then I need to give a write-up, with Professor Kampf counting words instead of parchment length for some unidentified reason, requiring us to learn an entirely new spell that he seemingly just made, then he goes and reveals he expects students wanting to obtain EEs and Os in future years needing to take Arithmancy as an Elective, with self-study of the elective being heavily encouraged." The seventeen-year-old ranted with an aggrieved demeanor.

"You can't really say the professor is bad though." A boy sitting next to Andromeda stated, one Ted Tonks of House Hufflepuff. "I mean, the guys a total hard ass with his essays, stappling entire pages of criticism to a piece of parchment." Ted gave a chuckle, "I've seen kids run to bathrooms crying as he hands back papers, lambasting them with critique for their English."

Andromeda frowned, "Not everyone can afford a dictation quill, Ted."

The Muggleborn rolled his eyes, "Then learn English properly." He snorted, "Relying on a fancy magic quill to write words for you is a bit…I 'Dunno, lame?"

"Pathetic?" Narcissa offered.

"Yeah, that." Ted nodded. "He doesn't really do it with higher years, I'm pretty sure, and I've seen some of their papers when I'm grading things for McGonagall."

A dark-haired woman sat next to Andromeda, sighing despondently, "No, he just deducts points from 'Essay Integrity' on his grading scale, dropping your grade by a letter." Her eyes were slightly bloodshot, and she looked rather tired.

"Yikes, Sixth Year that hard? Thought you were done with OWLs?" Narcissa questioned, looking up at her older sister with undisguised curiosity.

"No, just DADA." Bellatrix sighed, "How was the run, Andromeda?" She asked with a superior smirk.

"Shut up." The middle child grumbled.

"You guys went to the Physical Club thing?" Ted asked.

Bellatrix snorted, "Andromeda got snatched a quarter through."

"And you joined me in the bag a few minutes later." Andromeda countered with a nasty glare.

"And then when we ran again, I didn't get caught once." Bella preened.

"Because that fucking Knight kept saving you!" Andromeda growled.

Bellatrix giggled, and rolled her eyes, "Yes, fascinating construct it was, did you see the runic horn that was blaring that music? Professor Mercanti was bugging Professor Kampf all day to get a chance to study it; a student went and brought him pensive memories, and he's been hounding him since." She laughed, glancing over to the table where Professor Kampf sat with his glowering stare into nothing, ignoring the prattling professor sitting by his side.

"That guy has too many talents." Ted muttered, "How is Sixth Year DADA, by the way?"

Bellatrix swallowed thickly, a frown on her face. "We're a disappointment." She grudgingly uttered.

Ted and Andromeda raised an eyebrow, with Narcissa giggling at the comment. "A disappointment? So, is he…"

Bellatrix shook her head, "I have no doubt Professor Chaoskampf is capable of teaching us," She grumbled under her breath, "More like overqualified, but whatever." She took a quick breath and resumed, "The last seven or so days we've had classes with him have been practice tests, exhibition exams, practicals, and dealing with visible disappointment in his eyes." She started to curl one of her strands of hair, a frown on her face as she sighed, "You two are learning Arithmancy, correct?"

Ted and Andromeda nodded hesitantly.

"In both classes?" She asked.

They nodded.

Bellatrix sighed, "We've had three separate exams testing our mathematical knowledge, our arithmetic, and our arithmancy. I preformed…Adequately." She muttered.

"You only took one class of Arithmancy, right?" Andromeda asked. Bellatrix nodded with a frown.

"The more Professor Kampf talks about it, the larger and more important it seems to become. I wish I'd stuck with it." Bellatrix admitted, "It's the foundations for…everything. Honestly, every seventh or so word that man speaks goes over my head."

"He's really good at simplifying things if you just ask." Narcissa offered, "A student in my class just raised their hand and said they didn't understand something, and he changed the entire pace of the class to bring clarity." She tapped her chin in thought, trying to remember something, "He mentioned that he last taught the Seventh Years, and was in that 'mental frame' of teaching, or something."

The older students hummed in understanding, "He was speaking to First Year students with vocab that even the Seventh Years would struggle with." Ted snickered.

"Hey, Bella, how has that Mastery thing you were talking about going?" Narcissa asked randomly.

All three of the older students groaned. "Most everyone has given up." Bellatrix reveled. "The entire 'patience is a virtue' speech had people wait for a bit, and with his classes…" She coughed, "Well, it's safe to say very few students believe themselves capable of meeting a prodigious genius' standards."

"Do you?" Narcissa asked.

Bellatrix grimaced, "I want to, but…" She sighed, "Maybe if I was in my fifth year."

Ted hummed, "I heard something from McGonagall about that." He commented, drawing all three sister's attention, "She mentioned Professor Kampf was complaining about a lack of time to teach the sixth and seventh years, and that he was going to broach remedial classes during the weekends, and possibly even over the Summer. Or various breaks."

Bellatrix's eyes gleamed, "Really?" She asked the Muggleborn, who nodded quickly at the passion in her voice.

"If you're serious about that Mastery, well, Professor Kampf doesn't have a NEWTs class right now, so he effectively has an open period for that Remedial class. Then there's the possibility of studying after-school." He snorted in amusement, "McGonagall really respects the man; he'd be sacrificing literally every hour of his day, and his break, to help his students succeed. Really won a lot of points with her."

Andromeda pipped up with a frown, "That would depend a lot on the School Board. They're not going to want to pay Professor Kampf over down-periods."

Ted shrugged, "Professor McGonagall didn't really say much else then mention that, but…" He frowned, "I'd imagine he'd go without pay, and if not, he'd need to convince the Board; and the man's rather persuasive." He grinned at Andromeda. "After all, he got you to study like the hounds of hell were after you."

Andromeda rolled her eyes, "My parents would raise hell if I didn't get an EE or higher in DADA. It might not be The Dark Arts, but they're the closest comparison in Hogwarts."

Bellatrix meanwhile gazed at the bored looking professor that hadn't touched his plate. Then she shook her head and stood from her seat.