Harry entered the tower top classroom where Defense Against the Dark Arts was held for his makeup year at Hogwarts knowing full well that there would be an entirely new professor. The staff table at the welcoming meal and subsequent breakfast had been without any surprises or new faces other than a new Potions teacher.
There had been lots of rumors about who would take the post up. Some even claimed that it was Harry though he figured he would have known if he had been offered the job.
Even as he slumped down around the small wooden table with Ron and Ginny on either side of him it was unclear who would be heading the subject this year. Hermione pressed herself against the table so that she was leaning out as she put her books down and spoke into the center of the group. "I'm starting to think that we won't even be getting a teacher—" she said.
"Not like we need this class anymore," Ron said. "Spent a whole year fighting a damn war…we should have this class down pat."
Hermione shot him a glare.
"He's kind of right, if I didn't need it for my career, I wouldn't have taken it," Harry said in a whispered tone.
A chorus of giggles erupted from behind them at another table. Draco Malfoy was amidst the trio of Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and a Slytherin girl. As Harry spotted him, he smirked, though he looked helpless sitting between the inane laughter. Despite Lavender's still broken leg, she seemed to be in high spirits.
The sound of footfalls outside of the door roused most of the class into a state of silence as they glanced back. Lavender continued to snicker even as Parvati and her other table-mates settled. The imposing figure in the doorway could only be described as a shimmering black leather silhouette, with a skull like black helmet covering its face. On his chest there was a boxy apparatus with a tube jutting from its side, it seemed to be built into his suit.
A cape hung over his arms and hands and his breathing drowned out most of the sound in the room—except Lavenders continued laughter. He pushed the cape off of his arms and there was an audible swish. At the front of the room he stopped in front of his desk to survey the class, his breathing more pronounced now.
"Stop it!" Lavender chuckled just before his eyes stopped on her. She poking at Malfoy as he tried to push her hand away.
The leather clad man at the front of the classroom outstretched his arm and clenched his hand in the air as if to grab some unseen object.
Lavender's laughter was cut off with a gag. Her hands raked at her throat and her eyes bulged. In her struggle to breath she let her mouth fall open.
At the front of the class, the figure spoke—his voice deep and booming. "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts—seventh year…" he dropped his hand and a gasping Lavender brown collapsed onto the desk, drinking in air. "I am Lord Vader your new Professor and Master," he addressed them.
"Blimey," Ron whispered.
Ginny stared over at Harry with an expression of total disbelief but didn't say anything out of fear.
Vader proceeded around to the other side of the desk to stand staring out a window across the grounds. "The Dark Side is the pathway to many abilities which some consider unnatural. Though it is the pathway to raw power—once you accept it, it is with you…forever," as he talked he moved his hand to the inflection of his voice.
Harry glanced back over his shoulder at Lavender, red faced and leaning down against her desk, her gaze averted from Vader's. It seemed like it was going to be more of the same at Hogwarts this year.