A/N: Another chapter done. Hope you like it.

'Look at this.' Hermione showed Harry the piece of paper. 'It says that Hogwarts is the only school in the entire world which uses house elves.'

'House whats?' Said Harry, clearly puzzled.

'Elves.' Hermione enunciated clearly, 'Here, read this.'

She shoved the bit of paper into his hands.

'Hogwarts,' Harry read, 'The premier school of Britain, thought to be situated in Scotland, has devised a completely novel method of catering to the needs of its large student populace. It has been obtained from a reliable source that house elves are employed for meeting the daily requirements of the castle, …It has the largest population of house elves in a single accommodation in all of Europe.'

'This!' Hermione shoved her finger onto the line that Harry just read, 'Can you imagine, Harry? The food we eat, the mess we make in the common room - the house elves take care of all of it!'

Harry nodded confusedly, 'That's good, I guess.'

Hermione irritably turned over the paper and showed it to Harry,

'Read this! It's written here that the house elves aren't paid for their work. Not a single penny. It's all slave labour. Can you believe it?'

As a matter of fact, Harry could believe it. The kind of things he had come to expect from wizards matched exactly with what Hermione said. But he couldn't say that to her face.
But she had already continued talking,

'But this book is pretty old. I'm sure Dumbledore pays them, don't you think so?' She said.

'Ye-es.' Harry said unconvincingly.

'I'll have to ask him. Remind me to do that, Harry.'

She would have gone on to say more but Harry interrupted her.

'I… umm, Hermione.' He said apologetically, taking a quick look at the non-existent watch on his wrist, 'I have to go to another class, I'll get late. I'll see you around.'

He quickly retreated around a corner, trying not to laugh at Hermione's incredulous and slightly annoyed face. He walked quickly, trying to locate the classroom.
But soon, despite the clear instructions he had been given, he was lost. He kept walking around the place, trying to elicit some English from a few of the students he , with a relieved sigh he noticed Aurelie walking in front of him.

'Aurelie!' He said, falling in step with her, 'I need your help.'

Aurelie looked at him with a pleasant smile on her face.

'Harry, I didn't expect you so soon.' She gave a small emphasis on the word 'soon'.

Harry grew slightly red.

'No, its just that I can't find the defence classroom.' He said.

'You want to attend Mr Durant's class?' Aurelie asked in a slightly surprised tone.

'Yes.' Said Harry.

'I don't think you'll want to.' She said, after a moment.

'Why not?'

'It's just,' Aurelie shook her head, 'You'll find out. Come with me. I'm going for defence right now too.'

Harry looked at her in astonishment.

'You're in fourth year too?'

'Yes.' She said, 'Why? You look surprised.'

'Nothing.' Harry mumbled, 'You just look older.'

Aurelie gave a slight tinkling laugh.

There was an aura about the Defence classroom that Harry just couldn't grasp. It was slightly dark, lit only by a few lanterns and… majestic, for the lack of a better word. There was a huge space cleared front of the class for duelling and the seats were arranged in a semi-circular fashion around it at a slightly higher level.

Harry took a seat at the front alongside Aurelie, much to her amusement.

'You could've sat anywhere and you choose to sit here.' She teased him.

Harry stumbled at a few words before speaking,

'It's just that… you're the only person I know in here.' He said.

He only got back an amused look.

'Relax, Harry,' Aurelie said, 'I'm only teasing you. Both of us know why you wanted to sit here.'

This time, Harry wisely kept his mouth shut.

Mr Durant walked inside in a black cloak in a way strangely reminiscent of Snape. But he unfastened the cloak and kept it on a chair afterwards. The room grew silent with expectation as Mr Durant's eyes roved over the group of students. He kept making little comments as he looked at each student. He said it without much force, but somehow it carried throughout the room.

'Very good Michel, you've haven't forgotten to practice this time around, have you? And you, Sophia - looking as charming as ever - but lets hope your spells are just as potent. Ah, Mr Black - I see you've finally done us the favour of attending my class.'

The little stream of observations continued until they came to a stop on Harry.

'And who's this here? I don't recall seeing you here before, young man. What's your name?' Mr Durant asked, his voice dangerously prosaic.

'Harry Potter.' Came the reply. Harry was sure the man knew his name but still purposely made him say it.

'Ah.' Said Mr Durant softly, 'Le garçon who lived, isn't it? You are one of those who came from Hogwarts, I expect. I've heard only sixth or seventh years were brought. But then, you've always been quite exceptional, haven't you?'

Silence intruded upon the gathering but Harry was not forthcoming with a reply.

'Alright then, let's see what you're capable of.' Said Mr Durant.

He whipped out a wand as fast as lighting and shouted out 'Stupefy!'. Almost as fast, Harry's green shield was shining in front of him. But no spell hit it. The professor had not cast any spell at all.

'Very good.' Said Mr Durant, almost to himself. 'You may sit down.' He told Harry.

Harry sat down, a bit puzzled, wondering if he had done the right thing since no spell was cast at him. But he had a small feeling of pride at being able to produce the Protego so quickly.

'That was marvellous, Harry! Did you see that look on Mr Durant's face?' Aurelie said in amazement.

Harry muttered a small 'I don't know.' but inside that feeling of pride grew. He hadn't done much, but for what it was worth, Mr Durant would know that he wasn't completely inept.

Meanwhile Durant had already started teaching,

'Today, my lesson will consist of two parts. For the first part you are required to pair up and practice the disarming spell.' He stopped for a moment, looking at the incredulous faces of his students.
'No, I am not mad, I assure you. I expect you to be relatively proficient at this particular spell; or at least, you should be. But this time your aim will primarily be not to cast it, but to defend against it. For the lack of a better word, immunise yourself to it. Have you ever wondered why so few duels end with the wand flying out the owner's hand? It is because, with considerable experience, one can become so attuned to their own wand that disarming techniques will become obsolete against the wizard. The wand will resist to go away from the wizard. But I talk of something far beyond you. I want you to practice with a very low powered disarming spell. Cast the spell as carelessly as you can. Your partner will not attempt to block it but rather focus on his/her own wand. Try your best to not let it slip out of fingers.'

He directed a wry smile towards his students.
'Let's see what you can do.'

Then he flicked his wands as the chairs and tables all vanished.

'I trust you kept your wands on your person, as any sensible wizard should. Else you will have to wait until the end of the class. Anybody who has done so may leave the class and come to collect his/her belongings after it over.'

He waved his wands as the doors opened, allowing a bit of light to come in.

'No one?' He asked, his eyes roving over the students, 'Mr Black?'

Mr Black gave the professor a baleful look and walked out of the room. The doors shut with a bang.

'Well, this should allow you to pair up completely.' Mr Durant said and suddenly gave a short, silky laugh.

Nobody else even smiled.

'Get to work, then. I will be watching.' He said as everybody obediently got into pairs and stood about five feet away from each other. Mr Durant had been correct, there had been no odd one left.

Harry focused on his wand and motioned Aurelie to start. He gripped his wand tightly. But nevertheless, inspite of how weakly the spell had been cast, his wand landed ten feet away on the ground.

He picked his wand up and looked at motioned Aurelie to cast again with a determined look on his face. His knuckles grew almost white as he clutched his wand only for it to tremble a little before falling to the ground, but not as far away.

They continued this way for quite some while before Mr Durant called out.

'Exchange your roles, please.'

Aurelie smiled charmingly at Harry. 'Looks like its my turn now.'

Harry looked at her amusedly, 'You know, its not easy.'

'I noticed.' She motioned around her at all the others who were having as much, if not more difficulty than Harry did.

Harry shrugged.

'Okay, then.'

True to his word, her wand went soaring into the air.

Mr Durant took this moment to arrive on the scene.

'So, let's see how you two are faring.'

'Not very well, sir.' Aurelie said dejectedly.

'I wouldn't expect you to,' Said Mr Durant, 'Only a wizard of very caliber could be expected to even partially resist it.'

Aurelie frowned towards Mr Durant.

'If it's so hard, why are we doing this at all?'

He sighed, 'Your magic, dear girl. I said earlier that as you practice this, your wand will become more attuned to your wants and respond better than before. As a result, your spells will become stronger and more precise. It is very important to keep trying, trust me.'

Aurelie nodded in understanding, appreciating the depth of what she was doing.

'Okay then, show me how far you've reached.' He said.

Harry got into position and shot a very weak 'Expelliarmus' towards his counterpart. She, as instructed, did not block it. Her wand predictably flew out of her fingers.

Mr Durant went on to explain how it was more of her focusing on keeping the wand to herself rather than gripping it tightly that mattered.

Harry was slightly fascinated by the entire proceedings. At Hogwarts he had never yet had a teacher whose career was based on teaching Defence. It was always somebody whose profession was never teaching, and even they wouldn't stay for more than a year.

It was interesting to see how teaching was done in France. It was refreshing, to say the least.

After another half an or so, Mr Durant called the proceedings to a halt. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief as they picked up their wands for one last time. The drill had quite inexplicably exhausted everyone even though there was not much physical or magical exertion involved. The desk and chairs came back once more as the students collapsed wearily on their seats. The obsidian walls gave off a slight flicker from the torches as Mr Durant spoke up again.

'You have done well.' He said in a voice that indicated he wasn't completely satisfied.

'You see, a point I want to make is - this is important.' He said gravely, 'Understand this, I cannot emphasise enough on how important this is for wizards and witches of you age. It will enhance your magic. It will bring improvement in all aspects. I want you to arrange a partner and practice this whenever you can.'
He looked into everybody's eyes one by one. 'We will do this once every week for the rest of the year and I will gauge how much you have been practising.'

'And now,' He continued, ' to come to the second part of today's lesson. This should be…ah, more restful for you but I expect the same amount of concentration you have shown until now. Understand that I will be making some effort to show you how a duel should be fought and exhibit certain tactics that are commonly used nowadays. Today morning's debacle should not serve as a basis for your knowledge of duels. I have asked one of my best students to assist me in instructing you by acting as duelling partner. Please welcome - Fleur Delacour.'

Fleur emerged from the shadows at the back of the class dressed in blue duelling robes and hauntingly beautiful to Harry's eyes.

A/N: Yeah, I'm going to stop right there. This chapter's long enough as it is. Tell me how you thought it was and any suggestions/constructive criticism is always appreciated.