Disclaimer: This story and characters is a work of fantasy. Any similarities with the work of authors or companies are unintentional. That'd be of course if they were mine.
Monday 4th September
Day 1 of Classes
First day of the school. He couldn't not be apprehensive. Things did change in a thousand years. For the better or for the worst, to close one more of history's circles, it didn't really matter. They changed. Just as people did. And though he had taught years in schools around the world, magic was something totally different. He skipped breakfast, he never really had any, so that he could steal some more minutes of sleep. He really did hate waking up early in the morning. When he finally got up, he took his books, dressed himself in one set of his newly acquired robes, fixed his hair - he had forgotten that long hair required quite some more time if they were to be presentable – and left his rooms to his classroom.
He walked slowly, not really paying any attention to any of the students that looked at him. He had other things on his mind at the moment. His first class was Gryffindors and Slytherins. What the Headmaster tried to accomplice with that was a mystery to him. He knew of Severus class, had heard all about it from other Professors and had already decided that joining these two houses wasn't good. Especially not when one house represented the opposite side of the other in terms of white and black. Or good and evil, he thought smirking. And he also was aware that he was about to teach the sixth years. The one year that included the famous Harry Potter. Who had been giving lessons to some of the rest of the children. From every house except Slytherin.
He really didn't like that. This discrimination. They had told everyone they thought trust worthy. And that everyone was from any other house than Slytherin. Which meant they thought all Slytherins were bad. And the worse thing according to Severus was that the Slytherins them selves tend to believe the same thing after years of hearing insult upon insult from the 'light' houses. Not that all of them were angels. Derian snorted. Far cry from it. Slytherin wouldn't accept any one with out a little darkness in him/her. Not because he himself was evil – as many would probably think he was or even is – but because that's how the world worked. And he would have to teach those children about the balance the world needed. For if there was no evil, how can you possibly define good?
He stepped inside his classroom noticing that most of the students were not in yet. He sighed and looked at his clock. Well, it was five minutes before the hour begun. He should wait. He left his books down and sat at the edge of his desk, totally out of a Professor's character if the looks he received from the few students in the classroom were any indication, and set out to discover his students. At least those who were in.
"Mister Malfoy." He said pleased he remembered the boy. "Nice to see you again."
"Professor." Draco smiled. "So, how was your first night in Hogwarts?" more than one student turned to look at them. After all not always did you have students who could ask such stuff. And not always a Professor simply smiled and answered.
"Oh, you know. Swearing half the night for all the things I forgot to bring with me." Many student's snickered, trying to pass unnoticed. After all they didn't know him yet. It was probably that moment that he realized something. All the magic he had been doing – and it wasn't that much if you forgot about the hair and his rooms – he had done it without his wand. In fact he didn't have a wand. He cursed inwardly as he tried to smile to the children who entered the room. How could he have possibly forgotten he needed a wand?
"Well, seeing that its time to start why don't you close the door?" Derian said to the last boy that entered and still was at the door. He would have to deal with that problem later on. Now it was time he taught those children something new. He then motioned him to sit, noticing that there were certain people missing. Still.
"As you probably know by now, my name is Derian Deofol. If you so want, you can call me Derian, though I would, please, beg you not to call me with my last name. I find it, ahm, a bit well...anyway." He was satisfied when he saw some of them grinning. That was good. "This is my first time as a teacher, but I would warn you not to think that I am rusty with any of my magic. So, what we will be-"
"Sorry sir." A girl with blonde hair said as she walked into the classroom, delayed, interrupting him. "I am afraid I lost my way coming here."
"I see." Derian said, amusement clear in his eyes. "And you are?"
"Pansy Parkinson, sir."
"Yes. Miss Parkinson. A Slytherin, right? I suppose you are aware that you are a sixth year, right?"
"Yes, sir."
"And as such I find it difficult to believe that you do not know this castle well enough not to take into consideration the tricks it can play. That will be, lets see you are 2 minutes late, that will 2 points off your house, for not planning for the worst." He said as he motioned her to sit down. "I suppose most of you believe that Ethics of Magic is a simple class, where we will be spending three hours per week doing nothing else but talking. Well you are wrong. This class is go-" the door was once more opened and another three students came in, flushed and out of breath. "Well, well, well."
"Sorry sir, we..."
"No need, Miss Granger right? Do sit down please. I suppose you lost your way coming here as well?" he asked rather sarcastically. "What, the stairs chose to change place while you were on them? And I suppose they wouldn't change back, so you had to take the long way, right?"
"How the..."
"As a matter of fact..."
"Well, yes." Three voices said together.
"I see." Derian didn't think there was any point in telling them that he had arranged the whole thing. "Well, seeing that you came three minutes later that miss Parkinson, that will be 5 points of each of you. Gryffindor, if I remember correctly?" He had to show them that he favored no one.
"Yes, sir." They said, clearly put off at loosing 15 points in the first day. In their first lesson.
"Good. Now as I was saying, before interrupted, twice, I have to teach you about magic. Not the spells, but the reasons behind them. It's not history, it is philosophy. In your DADA class you are supposed to learn how to think for the best and plan for the worst. How to analyze any situation and producing plausible solutions, and plans to act. How to see the Dark arts. Now, this is no easy at all. Usually it is not even possible to see them.
"In that class you try to learn what magic is Dark magic. What spells are not to be used and how you will block them. In my class I ask you to forget all these, for really they are nonsense." A low murmur spread all over the class. "In my class there will be no dark magic, for this is a label we ourselves created. In my class we will be talking about everything. Any topic you might want, I might ask you to prepare or think about. From all points of view. Either you think it is wrong, or right, evil or not.
"It is the only way I can think of, to make you understand that there are no lines to be drawn. In a case of life or death all are permitted. Proud heads, and honor will only lead you to death. Ethics can lead you to death, as effectively as any 'dark' spell. For ideals and beliefs are what people are manipulated to fight over nowadays in what we hypocritically call advanced countries.
"This will not be just some theory class. Here you will learn to understand all kinds of magic."
Derian was quite pleased with himself to see that most looked at him as if his was crazy. After all this was supposed to be an easy class with some essays and stuff like 'why you can't raise the dead from...well the dead'.
"Any questions so far?"
"Sir, you are not allowed to teach us the actual dark arts." Granger said raising her hand.
"That was not a question." Derian replied with a smile. "But since you brought that into attention, let me ask you a question. What are the Dark Arts?"
"Well..." Hermione sat back biting her lip, clearly thinking. "I suppose those spells that hurt the one you cast it upon. When you force someone to be in a position he has not chosen."
"Very well said." Derian said watching the girl beaming in self satisfaction. Time to change this. "Can you tell me one spell that cannot do that?" Hermione opened her mouth to answer this stupid question, when she realized what the question was. Loudly she closed her mouth and thought about it harder. And then some more ignoring the rest of the students that were amazed she didn't have an answer to a question. "Can any of you answer this question?" Derian asked the rest of the class, quite pleased to see that many were going through the spells they knew thinking over them and discarding them as able to cause harm to another person.
"What about lumus?" Parvati Patil proposed. "I mean it just provides light, it's innocent."
"A good example. Can anyone think a reason why this could be a dark spell?" Derian waited for a minute and when no one answered he sighed. "I suppose you are aware of a certain species called trolls." The class nodded. "These are nocturne animals. That means they prefer dark to light. They come out during night to hunt and hide in their nest during day light. Now these creatures can and have hunted humans." He noted the Gryffindor trio to shiver a bit. One more thing he should learn about. "They are very difficult to kill as they are so huge and hard skinned, which means anything you throw at them has to be thrown quite hard if it is to do any damage. There is, though, one way to kill them. A certain way to kill them. And that is a huge amount of light. An amount of light that can and has been provided by your innocent spell lumus. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't think that any of the trolls will willingly be put in a situation where they turn into stone forever, virtually dying." Derian said noticing their confused glances.
"But if they do hunt you and want to eat you, then is it considered bad to protect yourself?" Hermione asked.
"No." Derian was very pleased on how easily these children where manipulated to ask the right questions. "But it would be evil if you weren't hunted by them and killed them because you could."
"But they are not humans."
"So? They are life. A unique form of life. They might be stupider and uglier but that doesn't mean they don't have the same right you have in life. They were created after all. That means they must have a purpose. Even if that purpose is one you cannot understand."
"But some life forms are inferior to others." That must have been a Slytherin as well.
"Sure they are." Derian agreed. "Life forms vary in their powers and abilities. Lions are stronger than humans, but humans are smarter – or at least think they are –"the students laughed at that. "Sharks are very dangerous to us, as everyone would claim, but who is the predator and victim in this case?"
"The Sharks. They kill us." Weasley said confidently.
"True. But how many of us? They kill eight or ten people each year world wide, because they mistaken us most of the time for seals, or even to feed from us to survive, but we kill around several thousand – if I remember correctly – each year, just to use their fin to make soup. Something we could do with out. So yes they are very dangerous, and have evolved to fit almost perfectly in their natural habitat, but who is the evil here? Who performs genocide?" there was no answer. He didn't expect one. Not really.
"And to return to magic. Avada Kedavra, I am sure you are all familiar with" – they simply nodded – "is consider Dark Arts, punishable with life time in Azkaban. Yet if you use it to kill someone threatening you or your family? Is that dark arts? What if you used it on someone injured so badly that cannot be saved, or ill with a terminal disease? Is that evil or compassion? Is compassion such a bad characteristic to be punished? Do you know how and who first created this curse?" surprisingly one hand shot in the air. Well maybe not that surprisingly.
"Yes Mr. Malfoy?"
"It was created by Selest Snape, in 1050. It is thought that Salazar Slytherin himself helped her." Derian nodded in agreement as he heard murmurs of dark witches and wizards.
"And would you also know who Selest Snape is? Except, that is, the ancestor of your Potions Professor?"
"She is considered to be the best Healer of all times." Malfoy answered well aware for some time now what his professor was leading them to see, to understand. And he respected him even more for this. "She is said to have cured even Godric Gryffindor from a serious disease, even when he had tried to get her to trial as a Dark Witch when she rejected him for Slytherin after her husband died mysteriously, leaving her with two daughters."
"Impressive." Derian said silently, trying not to fall back on memories both too fond and hurting for him. "I wasn't aware that this was common knowledge."
"It isn't. One of the daughters married a Malfoy and this story is always taught down in the family. Any Malfoy would know it." Draco answered.
"Well. Let me assure the rest of you that is it true. I own the diaries of both the founders and have read this story from both their hands." He said to the rest of the students. Half of them really disappointed that the founder of their house could have done something like this. "So, are you also aware of why Selest Snape created the Avada Kedavra spell?"
"I think it had something to do with the plague."
"Yes. At that time conditions weren't the best that could exist, we have the muggles to thank for the wonders of the moderns technology of heating and pluming. As a result many epidemics were waiting around the corner to kill a few more people. You will certainly know the Black Death early in the 14th century." Thankfully he hadn't been there at the time. Arabia was such a nicer place than Europe that time of era. Especially with Kronos lurking in the shadows. "Medicine wasn't as good as it is today, so Selest Snape decided that it was best to kill those who wished it rather than let them suffer days or even weeks before they slowly painfully died. She offered them an easy way to pass on, with out pain. Trust me when I say she was viewed as an angel rather than a Dark Witch."
"But Avada Kedavra is evil." Potter said from his place next to Hermione. Derian sighed. This was the fine point they had to understand.
"Avada Kedavra is a spell. It is not evil. It has no power by it self. It is like any other spell you know. A little bit more difficult, but no different none the less. It is the humans that we are evil, or at least a part of all of us is evil. It is that part that we call, the reason why we cast a spell that draws the line between good and evil, light and dark. Magic is just that. Magic. We are the ones that use it and manipulate it. It is our decisions and intentions that are Dark or Light. And make no mistake. No one is only good or only evil. There is no black and white in real life. Only shades of grey. And that is a fact." He said in a final way.
"What about Voldemort?" That had to be Harry Potter, again.
"What about him?" Derian decided to play the boy's game. After all he had heard of the last year, he knew the boy was confused.
"He is the Dark Lord. He is evil." The boy said with a certainty that spoke volumes.
"Is he? Is he really?" Derian raised his eyebrow. "Why? Because he has certain ideas that –right or wrong it doesn't matter- don't sit well with you?"
"He thinks a whole portion of the population is beneath us." Potter said clearly getting angry.
"And are they not? We are more powerful than they. We are better than muggles in that aspect. They usually are smarter than us, for wizards rarely use our heads, they are better than us in that aspect. But we can use our brains, otherwise there wouldn't be those among us that are brilliant. Or do you doubt that a man like Lord Voldemort is less than that? Look what he has done. You don't have to agree with it. In fact you cannot judge him for you know nothing for the man,-"
"I know enough."
"Would you bet your life on it? Your friends' lives? Mr. Potter, how can you hope to defeat someone you know nothing about? You understand nothing about? Do you know why he fell into the dark arts? Why he became so powerful, with so little respect to life? Who are you to say that he is not right in his views about the world?
"Let me tell you this. The victors are the ones that write the history. If your 'light' side wins then Voldemort will be the one wrong, deranged, mad. If his 'dark' side wins then you will be the fools, that couldn't see the truth that was staring at them all along. The weaklings that will run to obey to his every wish, for frankly you will have no choice, and will be quite happy with yourselves and life that have succeeded keeping him happy for one more day and your selves alive."
"If this is how the future will be with him in power, I'd rather be dead."
"You say this now. Now that you think only of you. What about all the others that have to think about family? That have more reasons to live than freedom. You know slavery isn't such an alien aspect of human kind as you might think. Slaves seized to legally exist not two hundred years ago. And Slaves are still here in the world as we speak. In many countries, even though you might think it is not slavery. And what about the house elves? They are slaves. Work with out payment. But who do you think has a better time, the House elves in Hogwarts or some eight year old child that works twelve hours a day earning far less than what the poorest of you does?" no one answered. No one would speak. Some of them had never considered of these things. Some of them had but had no way to say what they were thinking.
"Our world is made in such a way that some people will always be above others, not because they are always worth it, but because of the circumstances, because of what we call life and blind justice. It is the way things work. Ultimate equality cannot be reached, because frankly, it doesn't exist. But that does not exclude total equality in the face of the law and opportunities. The human kind has yet to reach it. In older times, it still wasn't possible, even though, maybe in secluded small settlements such traits could be found.
"You cannot berate people for trying to do what they think is best for them, or their kind. You can try to do this without hurting others in the process, though it is unrealistic to even think that change can come to you without influencing, sometimes even badly other races. Life is about survival. Those who cannot fight they die. It is so simple. We just choose to forget it when convenient.
"Mr. Potter, you might be surprised to find that Lord Voldemort used to be married with a beautiful witch. I believe that she was put in trial for being a dark witch – and I won't claim she didn't research them or even practice them with her husband. She was condemned to life in Azkaban and died there when she gave birth to her child, just seven months after. The child's fate remains unknown." He added when he saw some of his students getting ready to ask the question.
"And I assume you know how Lord Voldemort was abandoned as a child because his father – who was muggleborn – believed that he was evil seeing that he was the spawn of a witch. Do you know what it is to be raised in an orphanage sixty years ago, and be totally different to the ones around you? I really doubt it. Voldemort didn't decide one fine morning to wake up and take over the world, or say that muggles are inferior to wizards. His life gave him those stimuli, leading him to believe what he is saying.
"Truthfully, where I in his position I would have done the same. He is trying to revenge his family, his life in the only way he knows. And in doing so, he offers us a great lesson. Think about it. And try never to judge before collecting as much information you can get." Derian stopped as the bell rang. Most of the students were so absorbed in what he was saying that they literally jumped from their seats or squealed.
"Right. Since this is the first lesson of the year, I suppose I could allow you a ten minute break." Derian said and jumped of his desk, only now realizing that he had been sitting in one spot for the whole hour. "From next week we won't be having breaks. It's a three hour slot for a reason. You are allowed to bring any books you might want and something to drink or eat.
"Also from next week the class will not be just Slytherins and Gryffindors. You need to see different ways of speaking, and since the Houses exist we should use them for something good for once. So before you leave, write down your name and that of three people that you want to be together in class. Either from your House or another. I won't promise I will manage to put you with all you would like to be, but I'll try my best.
"Well. That be all. Be back in ten minutes."
"Sir?" Granger asked.
"Yes?" Derian said, surprised that the whole class stopped just incase something interested was asked. Well, he certainly never had such success on students before. These children where hungry of something more. Something new. Hadn't anybody seen it?
"You never said what book we are to be using." Derian smiled at that, as the rest of the class groaned. Trust miss Granger the school's Know-It-All to inquire after books.
"I am not giving you one." Derian smiled. "You are old enough to decide for yourself what books you might want to study. The school thinks that you are responsible enough to borrow any book from the library. After all books are just books. They are not evil. It is us that define this with our choice of use of what we learn from them. If there is any book you want to read and for some reason there isn't in the library, or is taken, feel free to ask me about it. Chances are that I will be able to provide you with a copy. That is, unless of course Professor Snape hasn't got his hands on it first."
Some of the students laughed at this, most Slytherins, knowing the love their Head of House had for books that were very rare, and more than once forbidden or dark.
"But..." Derian raised his voice to be heard, forcing them to stop sort. "Some of these books are considered Dark and Evil from our all Knowing and all Wise ministry, and therefore are illegal. So. I want written permission from your guardians that they allow you to study them. For some of these books, either me or some other Professor well framed with the Dark Arts will have to be present there when you consult the book. Some of these books are so old that have gained the essence of their owners. And that makes them less than safe. For anyone that cannot get such a permission, but is dying to read a book that needs permission to do so, come and talk to me and we'll work something out. I've been a researcher most of my life. Trust me when I say I have far more books than Hogwarts can hold."
"I just want you to remember that there are only two rules in life. What a man can do and what a man can't do." He smiled at them as they gathered in the door. "Ten minutes, people." He reminded them.
"That went well!" Derian exclaimed aloud when he was left alone in the classroom.
At least he had managed to keep them from fighting, while providing them topics to think about, sometimes playing the Devil's advocator sometimes not. He could see where he would have success even from now. Draco was ready for something new, probably because his father wasn't around any more, still in prison, though he supposed that this wouldn't last long. Yet the fire had been lit and it would be really difficult to put out.
Hermione also seemed to be grasping things well enough, and even if it was obvious that some things she didn't get, she was willing to try and to understand, that would help her. But he had to make her see that not all knowledge was to be found in a book.
And then there were those two quiet ones. Bullstrode and Longbottom. They weren't ready yet to participate, but their eyes shone at his words. Derian knew they understood more than they would let the others know.
The rest of the class was going to be tougher. They were interested, sure they were. But they got half of what he was saying. They would hear him out, but they were not listening to what he was saying.
And then there was Potter. The boy understood perfectly well what he was saying, but he didn't want to accept it. Scratch that, he fought himself for accepting these things. The boy was trying to harden himself in order to kill. In order not to feel anything when time came. A time that should not come. But life was unfair. And the child would not be allowed to escape this mission. Severus and he had to find a way to make it look like the boy had defeated the Dark Lord. And they would have to make the boy believe that as well. That would take time. And effort. What had he gotten himself into again! He groaned. The bell rung. Time for the rest of his class.
A bit philosophical this one, no? Hope it didn't tire you but I had to write what exactly Ethics of Magic is. It only took me 4000 words. There were some important points in there. Hope you spotted them. If not, don't worry. They'll come up later on.
To Kyer: There was no way I could have included an explanation of the watchers in the chapter, so I thought I simply include it as a note. Thus, a Watcher is a mortal that belongs to a secret organisation called – big surprise – the Watchers and bears a tattoo on the inside of his wrist that looks like a one and a half w inside a circle. If you do a search in yahoo or google you probably will get a picture of it. So, Watchers exist for about 4000 years – though I think I must have missed the episode were that was discussed so I can't give you more info on it. It usually is just speculation of how they found about immortals and why they watch them. Did I mention that before? Watchers have three main rules. Watch and record but never interfere. That last one was broken all the time be Joe Dawson, Duncan's MacLeod watcher who turned out to be a good pal of Adam Pierson and later of Methos. In some instances individuals turned bad and hunted down immortals, but mainly they simply record the history of Immortals so that MacLeod can read it and decide how many of them he has to whack off. Adam Pierson is an identity of Methos who joined the watchers around 1980-4 and researched the Myth of Methos. He made sure he corrected his chronicle and probably other immortal's chronicles as well, so that he would remain a myth. Unfortunately, for him, but never for us crazed fans of him, he was found by MacLeod when Joe send him to his place to protect him! He's been hanging around since then, even though the Watchers did find out about him eventually. Me thinks that he would have disappeared if it hadn't been Joe. And I know that many say he stays for MacLeod, but allow me to believe otherwise.
I hope that this made it clear. Anything else you ask and I'll answer. It's just that usually I have the next chapter written already when I post one so it might not always make it into the story, if I can't integrate it into.
As for Nebet. A little patience please. After all House-Elves are very intriguing creatures. One has to wonder what is their relationship with Elves.
Lastly, I made a subtle change in chapter 4. You don't really have to go through it if you are bored, but it might be helpful for a future chapter. It concerns Sibyl.
I am very pleased that you enjoy this story. Honestly, I am writing this as much for you as for me. So you should know what is expected from you, now.
Till next time.