Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. And the spells I used for Alex's lesson plan belong to Squaresoft. =D Or whoever made them up.
Author's notes: In this 6th year fanfic, everything in book 5 happened. Except no one died. I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it yet. If you haven't read it, you shouldn't be here. Go away. Go read Book 5, then come back and enjoy year 6. This is my first POSTED Harry Potter fanfic... Meaning I've written several, but burned them because they were horrible. This one, however, I worked REALLY hard on, and I've been letting all my friends read and my family and my family's friends... Anyway! On with the story! Oh yeah, I just want to let you know... Alexia Moreau is a little on the crazy side! But Dumbledore doesn't like NORMAL people teaching his students, does he? And yes, the beginning is horrible, but I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE it WILL get better. PROMISE!
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HARRY POTTER AND THE HAWK OF GRYFFINDOR
Chapter One: A New Teacher
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"Hogwarts..."Harry Potter said, almost dreamily. "Home again..."
"I can't believe they make you stay at your aunt and uncle's house... EVERY year," Ron Weasley, one of Harry's best friends, said.
"I always end up at your place..."
"Or Number 12, Grimmauld Place," Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friends, threw in.
Harry shrugged then stuffed the last bit of Cauldron Cake in his mouth as the carriages came to a stop. The trio exited the coach, and followed the crowd to the Great Hall.
"Wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is..." Ron said as he looked up at the professor's table.
Harry shrugged as Hermione said, "Dunno... the seat's empty..."
They sat at the Gryffindor table, and waited for the Sorting to start. Ron stared at the Enchanted ceiling.
"Maybe it's Lupin again..."
"What?" Hermione said distractedly, listening more to the Sorting Hat's song than Ron.
"Well, it's a full moon."
Harry shook his head. "We saw him this summer. Don't you think he'd tell us?"
"Maybe he wanted to surprise us?" Hermione suggested, as 'Dillon, Erin' was sorted into Hufflepuff.
Harry stared at Hermione. "Are you... agreeing with Ron?"
Hermione's eyes widened as she stared back, looking taken aback that he'd even think about making such a suggestion, then quickly buried herself in a book. Ron blinked stupidly.
After 'Zernial, Isaac' was sorted into Ravenclaw, Dumbledore stood up to begin his annual speech.
"I would like to say a few words before we begin eating. First of all, just like every year, Mr. Filch would like to remind EVERYONE--" He stared straight at Ron, Harry, and Hermione. "--that the Forbidden Forest is called Forbidden for a reason. No one is allowed in unless accompanied by a professor." He stopped to smile and clear his throat. "Second of all, I am happy to say we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Alexia Moreau. Unfortunately, she could not be with us tonight, she had some important matters to attend to. I believe that is all... Dig in!"
Just as the Headmaster said this, the plates filled magically with food.
"That," said Ron, "is my favorite part."
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The next morning, Harry pushed the heavy doors of the Great Hall open, Hermione and Ron right behind him. The morning sunlight from the enchanted ceiling shone down on them. As the trio sat down at the Gryffindor table, Neville handed them three slips of parchment.
"Schedules," he said with a mouthful of croissant, making it sound more like "sedools".
"Thanks... Neville..." Hermione said with a slight look of disgust, taking her schedule.
"Excellent..." Ron said. "We have Defense Against the Dark Arts right after lunch!"
"Yeah, which is right after Potions..." Harry grumbled. "Snape and Malfoy, first thing, every Monday..."
"It could be worse," Seamus Finnigan interjected.
"How?"
"Remember last year?"
Everyone within earshot groaned at the memory.
"Hogwarts worst year..." Dean Thomas sighed.
Hermione stared at her schedule, ignoring everything else. "Alexia Moreau... Where have I heard that name before...?" She bit her lip in thought then shrugged.
Harry sighed. "Might as well get it over with..."
Ron looked up from his plate, his mouth full of eggs. "Buh we gah 'en ninutes..."
Hermione flinched as a bit of egg landed on her cheek. "Harry's right... its going to take five minutes to get there."
He swallowed. "Fine." He reached across the table and wiped the egg off of Hermione's cheek.
She smiled gratefully as Harry stood.
"Lets go then..."
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Four hours later, the trio was walking out of Snape's dungeon, to the hospital wing, and all three had just served detention. Hermione was desperately trying to cover up a black eye.
"That stupid git! We didn't do anything!" Ron exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Harry agreed angrily. "It was all Malfoy and Hermione!" (Hermione blushed at this comment.) "They're the ones that were fighting, not us!"
"Well, I didn't think Snape would punish you when you didn't do anything... I was the one who gave Malfoy those warts," Hermione said defensively.
"I can't believe YOU threw the frog eyes and WE got in trouble." Ron complained, yet with the air of one in complete awe.
"I got in trouble, too. I hang around you too much!"
Ron grinned, and Hermione smiled. Harry made a gagging noise. Ron hit him on the back of the head.
"Come on, thanks to Snape, we're gonna be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts if we don't hurry up and get in and out of the hospital wing."
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Harry entered the classroom and looked around for the new professor. She was standing at the front of the room. She looked to be in her 30s, with long auburn hair tied back in a half ponytail. She was wearing plain black robes with the Hogwarts crest on them, and they were open to expose a purple wife beater and ripped jeans, making him wonder if she was really the professor. An open denim book bag covered in writing, drawings, and iron-ons lay on her desk, with books and papers spilling out. She smiled at Harry and adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses.
"Harry Potter," she said softly, more to herself than anyone. "I've wanted to meet you for a long time..."
Harry just nodded, his eyes a bit wider than normal. Moreau motioned for Harry to sit. He quickly followed her silent orders, placing himself in a chair next to Ron.
"Now," Moreau began, her voice so calm it was psychotic. "I'm Alex Moreau. Professor Moreau to all of you. This is 6th year Gryffindor, am I correct?"
The class nodded, not knowing how to act around this strange new teacher.
"Okay, just double checking. I can be a bit... slow and confused at times. I've taken a lot of blows to the head, thanks to my friends..." She smiled at Harry as she said this.
"Anyway... We're going to learn a few helpful spells, if you've been injured, there's some for if certain creatures have poisoned you, defense and offense spells in general... Elemental, mainly, and quite dangerous if used incorrectly. Then we'll move onto more complex elemental offense spells, and then we'll learn about non-elemental offense...Elemental, of course, refers to the elements of the earth, fire, ice, earth, air, water, lightning..."
Next to Ron, Hermione was writing down everything Moreau was saying.
"But today, we're going to work on protective spells and two elemental spells. Protect and reflect, fire and ice. I'll need a volunteer. How about... you, Neville?"
Neville, being the shy and terrified boy he was, stood slowly and scuttled quietly and unnoticed as possible to the front of the classroom. Moreau pulled her wand out of her robe pocket. (Which happened to be hornbeam, 12 inches, with a dragon heartstring)
"First, I will show you the Protection Spell. It is a simple spell that will lessen, or dampen, the effect of most spells. Except, Avada Kedavra, of course. Can't weaken death. You're either dead or alive, there's not much of an in-between... Except ghosts, I guess. Not really dead, not really alive..." She stopped and looked up at her class. "Sorry, you have to stop me when I start going on like that.
"Anyway, as I was saying, this spell will act as a shield. It lasts about... half an hour, then it disappears. Now... the spell is Protecta. Say it with me now. Protecta."
"Protecta!" the class repeated together.
"Very good. Now." She turned to Neville and aimed her wand at him. "Protecta."
Neville was engulfed in a silvery-blue sphere of light, then it faded. He looked around with a slight shock.
Moreau smiled and turned back to the students. "You can't see it, but Neville is protected by all but one spell. Let me show you." She pointed her wand at the trembling boy at the front of the room. "Fira!"
Hot flames shot from the end of her wand, illuminating the whole room, and rushed toward Neville, his eyes wide. The fire smashed into the shield and became a great deal smaller, like someone had turned the flame down on a kerosene lamp. It gently landed on Neville, like a bird gliding to his shoulder. He stared at it, unafraid.
"Watera." The flame went out. Neville's sleeve was uncharred. The class 'oohed'.
"Okay, pair up. I want you to cast protect on yourselves, then take turns shooting fire at each other. The spell is fira. Go now."
Ron and Hermione paired up, leaving Harry to pair up with Neville, who still had the Protection Spell on him.
"Don't you ever get jealous?" Neville said as they watched the duo.
"Jealous of what?" Harry pulled out his wand.
"Hermione and Ron. Duh."
He looked over as his best friends. Ron had sent an overly-powerful ball of flame at Hermione, who leapt out of the way.
"What about them?" He asked.
"Haven't you noticed? They've been all over each other lately..."
Harry shot flames at Neville, who wiped the weakened fire off of his shoulder. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Neville shrugged. Truthfully, Harry had noticed. But it was weird, thinking of his friends as... well... you know... after they regularly got into fights that usually ended in non-speaking terms.
"Okay!" Moreau hollered over the shouts of her students. "That's enough! Now, I want you to practice Reflection spells. Everyone sit down. Lavender, come up here for my volunteer..."
She demonstrated a Reflection Spell, which produced a shield that would return most spells to the caster, except the Unforgivables. Harry, who hadn't paid attention, asked Hermione to help him.
"Uhm..." She shot a glance at Ron, who stood waiting some fifteen feet away. "Well, Ron... Ron already asked..."
Harry stared at her. "Oh. Okay."
"I'm sorry, Harry." She went to join Ron.
Neville sauntered up behind him with a very I-told-you-so look.
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A/N: Yeah, it's a bad beginning. It was also a lot longer on paper. 9 pages, instead of six. But, you know... I have big, bubbly handwriting. Sorry about the format, it was SO much better on Word. But I can't just center a couple of lines, it centers the whole damn document. Anyway... Please review! I've already written (not typed, though) seven chapters and I really don't want them to go to waste by not posting them for lack of reviews!! Oh, and another thing, if anyone's interested... I could REALLY, REALLY use a beta reader! If you're interested, IM me on Yahoo! s/n: kagomechanthemiko, lilytheperfect, malontherider, or rikkufish. If you don't have Yahoo!, IM me on AIM at MagiKow. If you don't have that either, email me at thepaperbackriderhotmail.com. Okay, I think I'll have the next chapter up by tomorrow! Ja ne! (Keh, its Japanese for see you. I'm an Inuyasha fanatic, leave me alone.)
