What if He had a Choice?

Draco had to admit, after Tom's glowing-sort of-reccomendation of the new DADA teacher, he was quite excited to see how they were. The Transfiguration teacher had not had his stamp of approval, which lead him to be a bit anxious over it. Tom had extremely high standards, but he knew that was normal for the Dark Lord. From what Draco had gathered from his father and grandfather, the Dark Lord had always held everyone to absurdely high standards. He liked that, because it made sense to have someone that had high standards. It was definitely what Draco needed if nothing more. He was grateful to have someone pressure him into doing things properly, and excelling.

Yes, his father had done that, but his father had always punished him harshly should he fail. Tom did not do that. It made Draco calmer, though he was still highly nervous around the Dark Lord, and even more so grateful for the opportunity to learn from him. He was already learning things he knew that his father would be infuriated with. The Dark curses. Yet, Draco felt so much better, using his magic in the way that Tom ordered. He had learned so much, and Tom was so kind as well. It left him flushing when he should be hiding his fluster behind a sheen of ice. He never truly managed that with Tom, and Tom definitely never got angry when he was emotional.

His father was not able to punish him with Tom. Perhaps that was why he was so desperate for the courting. Perhaps that was also why he was so grateful that Tom had allowed it. Draco felt the charm on his neck, feeling a slight smile echo on his lips. The DADA teacher glanced towards him as he passed, and Draco felt his body shut down, arm hastily pulling away from the charm, and eyes shuttering until they were blank. He ignored the strange looks from the trio, and instead let the comfort of Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle besides him give way to calm his emotions. The mask firmly back into place, Draco entered the room and sat towards the back, Crabbe and Goyle sitting on either side, and Pansy and Blaise behind him. He let his eyes drift through the room, taking in the new atmosphere, and the new teacher.

Tom had given them his approval, but still, his apperance was throwing Draco off a bit. His robes were positively ragged, and his eyes had huge dark circles underneath. It was...it was almost painful to look at. His father would flay him if he dared to show his face looking anywhere close to what their newest professor's did. If he wore such ratty attire? Draco could kiss feeling in his back and legs goodbye for at least a few days.

"Goodmorning class," Draco stared, unaable to help himself as the rest of the class murmured the greeting. Good morning? Seriously? Not exactly the best first impression to be having our professor lack the ability to tell what time it is. Still, he reserved his judgements for later. After all, one never knew. He also had faith in Tom. Tom had agreed that this teacher may not look the best, but had halfway decent lessons, and so he had to at least give them a chance. It would be remiss of him to fail to do so, especially after someone with such high standards as the Dark Lord had agreed that he was decent.

Barring that, pretty much anything would beat the last two teachers that they had had. The first one had been a nervous wreck and barely able to get a single word out without stuttering so badone had to replay the last setentence in their head to understand what they were trying to say, and the other had been so self absorbed and a total trainwreck. Needless to say Draco was not surprised that he had failed to cast a spell, or all of them. He honestly did not understand how the man had been a Ravenclaw. He had seemed so dumb. He supposed not everyone fit the mold of the house that they were sorted in, and this was clearly the case with Lockheart.

As it stood, there was little in the way of worse teachers. Plenty of room for better ones. That did not mean that this one would be better, but he had a feeling Tom knew what he was talking about, and so he had to give them the chance in good faith.

"I meant good afternoon, the time simply flies by at hogwarts. I have not been back in such a long time, stuck in memories I suppose." The teacher chuckled, but did not sit behind his desk, and instead leaned heavily against it.

"He looks like one good gust of wind will blow him away," Draco murmured under his breath to his friends. They smirked, agreeing easily.

"For our first lesson, I want to know what you all know of Boggarts." Draco felt his face pale...his entire being seemed to stop, his breathing quit mid step, and he felt his vision go wobbly. There is no way...no..."We will read the chapter in class, and I will give you some time to work on the essay that will be due tomorrow regarding Boggarts. Tomorrow will have a practical on facing a boggart, and so I do hope you take this seriously." Draco stood abruptly, gritting his teeth and glaring, before storming out of the room without another word. No. No way.