Author's Note: The beginning of the Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson is copied directly from the book. Any text within square brackets [ ] belongs to J. K. Rowling.
Hogwarts Express, London
It had been just over three weeks since Harry had been in the trunk. The portrait of his father in the study had told him not to trust anyone with the truth of what the trunk could do, not even his closest friends, so his arrival at the Burrow had halted his use of the trunk. James had not, however, warned him off reading his notes and journals, much to the annoyance of the Weasleys.
As Harry swung his trunk onto the rack, he pulled out one of his father's notebooks and continued where he'd left off. With Ron and Hermione both needing to visit the prefect compartment and Ginny off to meet with some of her other friends, Harry was temporarily left Luna and Neville arrived, Harry set the book aside while they discussed their Luna pulled out a copy of the Quibbler, Neville and Harry both pulled out a book and the trio began to read in comfortable silence.
When Ron and Hermione arrived at the compartment, Harry and Neville put their books to the side and chatted with the other two. After a while, Hermione reached down and picked up James' notes.
"What's this, Harry? It doesn't look like a proper book," Hermione asked.
"It's not. Those are my dad's notes. There's some really interesting stuff in there," Harry answered.
Excited by the prospect of more knowledge, Hermione opened the book before a look of confusion appeared on her face.
"Er, Harry, this is blank…"
"To you, yes. Dad charmed his notes and journals so that only me and him could read them. To anyone else, they're blank," Harry explained.
Hermione was visibly disappointed but Neville perked up.
"I've seen that sort of Magic before. The Longbottom Family Grimoire has similar magic but that's really complicated. It would have been hard enough tying it to a family but to just two people in that family? That's really impressive!" Neville exclaimed.
"Yeah, my dad included it in his notes about what he did to these books and how. I didn't really understand much of it but what I did understand was fascinating. It's based on a series of runes, charms and even tranfigurations, some of which my dad had to practically invent himself. Although he mentions that he did study the Potter Family Grimoire for inspiration and a starting point," Harry told the others.
"Do you think you could show me his notes on it?" Hermione asked, excited enough to forget the problem.
"They're in one of the notebooks, so…" Harry pointed out.
It took a moment for Hermione to realise the significance of this before blushing at having forgotten something so obvious. The group burst into laughter at her mistake and the train ride passed rather quickly.
Hogwarts
After their free period, Harry and Ron reluctantly made their way to their first class of the term; Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Snape. [Hermione was already queuing outside, carrying an armful of heavy books and looking put-upon.
"We got so much homework for Runes," she said anxiously when Harry and Ron joined her. "A fifteen-inch essay, two translations, and I've got to read these by Wednesday!"
"Shame," yawned Ron.
"You wait," she said resentfully. "I bet Snape gives us loads."
The classroom door opened as she spoke, and Snape stepped into the corridor, his sallow face framed as ever by two curtains of greasy black hair. Silence fell over the queue immediately.
"Inside," he said.
Harry looked around as they entered. Snape had imposed his personality upon the room already; it was gloomier than usual, as curtains had been drawn over the windows, and was lit by candlelight. New pictures adorned the walls, many of them showing people who appeared to be in pain, sporting grisly injuries or strangely contorted body parts. Nobody spoke as they settled down, looking around at the shadowy, gruesome pictures.
"I have not asked you to take out your books," said Snape, closing the door and moving to face
the class from behind his desk; Hermione hastily dropped her copy of Confronting the Faceless
back into her bag and stowed it under her chair. "I wish to speak to you, and I want your fullest
attention."
His black eyes roved over their upturned faces, lingering for a fraction of a second longer on
Harry's than anyone else's.
"You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe."
You believe... like you haven't watched them all come and go, hoping you'd be next, thought Harry scathingly.
"Naturally, these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised so many of you scraped an O.W.L. in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if all of you manage to keep up with the N.E.W.T. work, which will be more advanced."
Snape set off around the edge of the room, speaking now in a lower voice; the class craned their
necks to keep him in view.
"The Dark Arts," said Snape, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."
Harry stared at Snape. It was surely one thing to respect the Dark Arts as a dangerous enemy,
another to speak of them, as Snape was doing, with a loving caress in his voice?
"Your defenses," said Snape, a little louder, "must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the
arts you seek to undo. These pictures" - he indicated a few of them as he swept past - "give a fair
representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse" - he
waved a hand toward a witch who was clearly shrieking in agony - "feel the Dementor's Kiss" - a wizard lying huddled and blank-eyed, slumped against a wall - "or provoke the aggression of the Inferius" - a bloody mass upon ground.
"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" said Parvati Patil in a high pitched voice. "Is it definite, is he
using them?"
"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past," said Snape, "which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now..."
He set off again around the other side of the classroom toward his desk, and again, they watched him as he walked, his dark robes billowing behind him.
"... you are, I believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of a nonverbal spell?"
Hermione's hand shot into the air. Snape took his time looking around at everybody else, making
sure he had no choice, before saying curtly, "Very well - Miss Granger?"
"Your adversary has no warning about what kind of magic you're about to perform," said Hermione, "which gives you a split-second advantage."
"An answer copied almost word for word from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six," said Snape dismissively (over in the corner, Malfoy sniggered), "but correct in essentials. Yes, those who progress in using magic without shouting incantations gain an element of surprise in their spell-casting. Not all wizards can do this, of course; it is a question of concentration and mind power which some" - his gaze lingered maliciously upon Harry once more - "lack."
Harry knew Snape was thinking of their disastrous Occlumency lessons of the previous year. He refused to drop his gaze, but glowered at Snape until Snape looked away.
"You will now divide," Snape went on, "into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. The other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. Carry on."
Although Snape did not know it, Harry had taught at least half the class (everyone who had been a member of the D.A.) how to perform a Shield Charm the previous year. None of them had ever cast the charm without speaking, however. A reasonable amount of cheating ensued; many people were merely whispering the incantation instead of saying it aloud. Typically, ten minutes into the lesson Hermione managed to repel Neville's muttered Jelly-Legs Jinx without uttering a single word, a feat that would surely have earned her twenty points for Gryffindor from any reasonable teacher, thought Harry bitterly, but which Snape ignored. He swept between them as they practiced, looking just as much like an overgrown bat as ever, lingering to watch Harry and Ron struggling with the task.
Ron, who was supposed to be jinxing Harry, was purple in the face, his lips tightly compressed to save himself from the temptation of muttering the incantation. Harry had his wand raised, waiting on tenterhooks to repel a jinx that seemed unlikely ever to come.
"Pathetic, Weasley," said Snape, after a while. "Here — let me show you —"
He turned his wand on Harry so fast that Harry reacted instinctively;] one of the shields from his father's notes flashed through his mind and with a flick of his wand, Snape's spell rebounded and would have hit Snape had he not ducked in time.
"It would appear that Potter might actually have earned that O rather than having it given to him like everything else. Or perhaps dumb luck is simply making him look better."
Snape turned to resume his prowling and noticed that the entire class was watching his interaction with Harry.
"What are you dunderheads gawking at? I have not told you to stop," Snape sneered.
Everyone hurried to resume trying silent casting. With a flick of his wrist, Harry sent a jinx of his father's design at Ron, which he failed to shield against, resulting in his right knee becoming unbearably itchy. Harry resisted the urge to laugh; his father's notes had simply described it as a non-violent distraction and his portrait had refused to elaborate.
"What the hell is Dumbledore thinking, letting Snape teach Defence? I mean did you hear him? He practically worships the Dark Arts. All that 'unfixed, indestructible' stuff," Ron fumed.
"Actually, I thought he sounded like you, Harry," said Hermione.
"How do you mean?" Harry asked.
"[When you were telling us what it's like to face Voldemort. You said it wasn't just memorizing a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts - well, wasn't that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?]"
"Yeah, it is. While Snape's tone was inappropriate, his meaning wasn't. My dad, although he detested most who used them, had a great deal of respect for the Dark Arts and those who mastered it," Harry agreed.
"Your dad respected You-Know-Who?" Ron exclaimed.
"No! He respected those who mastered the Dark Arts, not those who got mastered by the Dark Arts. Voldemort allowed his lust for power and immortality to control him. According to my dad, to master the Dark Arts you need to be able to use them but not be controlled by them."
Ron looked mollified at Harry's explanation.
"So was your dad a master?" Hermione asked.
"No, he only rarely used the Dark Arts. He studied them a lot, in part so that he knew what he was facing but mainly so that he had them in case of an emergency. According to him, sometimes the best way to fight the Dark Arts is with the Dark Arts," Harry explained.
["Harry! Hey, Harry!"
Harry looked around; Jack Sloper, one of the Beaters on last year's Gryffindor Quidditch team, was hurrying toward him holding a roll of parchment.
"For you," panted Sloper. "Listen, I heard you're the new Captain. When're you holding trials?"
"I'm not sure yet," said Harry, thinking privately that Sloper would be very lucky to get back on the team. "I'll let you know."
"Oh, right. I was hoping it'd be this weekend —"
But Harry was not listening; he had just recognized the thin, slanting writing on the parchment. Leaving Sloper in mid-sentence, he hurried away with Ron and Hermione, unrolling the parchment as he went.
Dear Harry,
I would like to start our private lessons this Saturday. Kindly come along to my office at 8 P.M. I hope you are enjoying your first day back at school.
Yours sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops.
"He enjoys Acid Pops?" said Ron, who had read the message over Harry's shoulder and was looking perplexed.
"It's the password to get past the gargoyle outside his study," said Harry in a low voice.]
He, Ron, and Hermione spent the whole of break speculating on what Dumbledore would teach
Harry. Ron thought it most likely to be spectacular jinxes and hexes of the type the Death Eaters would not know. Hermione said such things were illegal, and thought it much more likely that Dumbledore wanted to teach Harry advanced Defensive magic. After break, she went off to Arithmancy while Harry and Ron returned to the common room where they grudgingly started Snape's homework. This turned out to be so complex that they still had not finished when Hermione joined them for their after-lunch free period (though she considerably speeded up the process). They had only just finished when the bell rang for the afternoon's double Potions and they beat the familiar path down to the dungeon classroom that had, for so long, been Snape's.
