Disclaimer: All of the characters that are depicted in this story belong to J. K. Rowling except the ones that are first introduced in this story.

Authors Note: Ok I didn't get as many reviews as I wanted, but what the hell. I would have updated even if I got no reviews because that's just the kind of guy I am. All my threats are idle.

Chapter 10

Professor Donovan, and Angie

The next free week passed pretty much without incident. Harry, on the advise of Hermione, spent a lot of time in the library exercising his new unlimited access to the restricted section. He looked up all of the different books on the list that was enclosed with his permission slip. Most of them were large text books that explained the nature of the dark arts and didn't hold Harry's interest for very long. Other books had long incantations that can help reveal dark enchantments. Harry thought these might be useful, but they were to long to memorize.

Before Harry knew it, the week of freedom had passed and it was Monday, the first day of classes. He got his class schedule that morning at breakfast. It showed that he had Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts on Monday Wednesday and Friday, and Herbology and Potions on Tuesday and Thursday with the usual free periods in between classes.

After breakfast, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into their first class of the day which was Charms. Professor Flitwick was sitting at the front of the class on top of his pile of books as usual. "Wands away class. Today we will be…" Professor Flitwick stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed all the odd looks the students were giving him. They all seemed to think they had misheard him. "Er… I said wands away." Everyone looked around at each other and then reluctantly put their wands away. The whole subject of Charms was about using your wand to perform a charm. No Charms lesson ever started with "wands away."

"Today we will beginning work with," Professor Flitwick snapped his fingers and the words Wand less Charms appeared on the blackboard. "wand less charms." Professor Flitwick smiled around at all the now interested faces of his students. "Bet you thought we'd be copying notes didn't you?" he joked. "Anyway, as we all know, the magic that a wizard or witch uses comes from two primary sources. The wizard himself, and the wand. The wand uses its own magic, to harness the magic inside the wizard to cast the magic spell. Without a wand, the magic inside a person can only manifest itself at times when that person is particularly upset or angry. I'm sure this has happened to all of you at least once." Harry remembered the time he had lost control and blown up his aunt.

"Once a witch or wizard has obtained a certain level of understanding of magic in general, they can learn to harness that magic without a wand which is what we are going to learn today. Wands respond to incantations and wand movements. However, all wand less charms must be nonverbal and must be signaled by either clapping you hands, snapping your fingers, or simply pointing sharply." Professor Flitwick demonstrated each motion as he listed them. "Today we will attempt the levitation charm without a wand. Allow me to demonstrate." Professor Flitwick then snapped his fingers and levitated the book he was standing on. The class applauded.

Once he had dropped himself back to the ground, he passed out feathers to everyone in the class and told them all to practice. Most of the students had just last year gotten the hang of nonverbal spells, so it was a pain to have to start mastering something totally new. After an entire class of snapping, clapping and nothing happening (hey that rhymes) only Hermione managed to successfully levitate her feather. Everyone else was given the homework to practice.

"Hermione, you've got to tell us your secret." commented Ron as the three made their way back to the common room for their free period. "I mean how is it that your always the first one to master those new techniques?"

"I haven't mastered wand less charms yet Ron." Hermione replied. "I only levitated it once. And I must say it was difficult. Very different from using a wand."

"How so?" asked Harry.

"It feels different. When you do a charm without a wand, you can actually feel the magic flowing through you." said Hermione.

When Transfiguration started, they were all relieved to find that they were not expected to transfigure things without wands. Instead, the big thing this year was human transfiguration. Professor Grubbily-Plank said that for their N.E.W.T. exam, they would be required to completely transfigure themselves into different types of animals. They started small learning how to enlarge different parts of their bodies. Ron accidentally made his nose so big that he couldn't lift his face. Hermione retuned him to normal. Professor Grubbily-Plank was not as strict as Professor McGonagall, but she was clearly not as good of a teacher.

"What else have we got today?" asked Ron during lunch.

"Free period after lunch and then Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon." Hermione replied.

"What kind of teacher do you think Angie will be?" Ron asked thoughtfully. "Will she be a Lockhart or a Lupin?" Harry smiled at Ron's little analogy.

"As long as she's not an Umbrige or a Snape I'm happy." said Harry.

"I'm sure she won't be one of those. I'm sure she's qualified because she clearly knows all about the subject. I mean she is an ex-hit witch. However, I must admit I'm a little skeptical about her teaching abilities. She just seems to easy-going to be an effective teacher." Harry didn't like the idea that all teachers had to be strict, but he knew that Hermione had a point. With Voldemort on the loose, learning this subject would be more important than ever and they needed a good teacher.

That afternoon, they all headed for their usual classroom. Angie was sitting behind her desk writing something. Ron tried to say hi to her, but she didn't seem to want to acknowledge him. Harry noticed that for the first time that she was not smiling. He had never seen her not smiling. Once the whole class had gotten there, she pulled out the roll and called off everyone's name. She then tapped the blackboard with her wand and the words Professor Donovan appeared. "For those of you that don't know, I am Professor Donovan. Welcome to seventh year Defense Against the Dark Arts." she said. The voice with which she spoke was totally business like and seemed to command respect. "She is Andrew Donovan's sister after all." Harry thought.

"That does it for introductions, now on to business." she continued. "This class has never had the same teacher for more than a year. As a result this class, like all other classes, is behind. It's my job to catch you all up and prepare you for your N.E.W.T. exams at the end of the year. It is also my job to teach you how to defend yourselves against the dark arts, so in addition to the N.E.W.T. criteria, I will be teaching you about several other defensive spells and dark creatures. The reason for this can be answered in one word. Voldemort." The entire class simultaneously gasped at the sound of his name except for Harry, Ron, and Hermione who simply looked surprised.

"That's right I said his name, and I want all of you to start saying his name too. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. Last year this school was attacked by Death Eaters. What if Voldemort just walked into this classroom right now? Would you stand and face him, or would you cower into a corner? How can you be expected to fight him if you can't even say his name?" By now everyone in the class was shocked. No one seemed to have considered the possibility that Voldemort would just walk right into the school. Professor Donovan seemed to notice how shocked everyone was. "Well you've all come of age, and to me that says it's time to stop treating you like children. If I hear anyone utter the phrase You-Know-Who that person will lose points. Now wands out."

The first class was just a refresher class, but a very different experience. Any doubts that Harry or Hermione had about Professor Donovan's teaching ability vanished immediately. When the lesson was over, Harry felt like he had learned three or four new things that he should have learned the year before from Snape. As Harry packed his things to go, Professor Donovan stopped him and asked him for a quick word. "Yes Professor Donovan?" Harry asked. She smiled at him.

"Harry, class is over. Back to Angie." Harry saw that she was no longer intimidating or business-like. It was as if she had a split personality. "Anyway, Ginny told me about something you did two years ago called Dumbledore's Army. What is that exactly?"

"Well it was basically a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts club where the students could learn the defensive spells that Umbrige wouldn't teach us."

"And you taught the classes?"

"Yes." Angie looked impressed.

"How would you feel about starting it up again?"

"Why? You don't seem like a bad teacher." Angie smiled.

"Well I'm not as bad as Umbrige, but there's just not enough time in the scheduled classes for me to teach everything that I think needs to be taught. I would really need a forum to teach the students things like dueling. Dumbledore's Army sounds perfect."

"If you would be the one teaching the classes, I'd be fine with that. I wouldn't have time to teach the classes, what with head boy duties and Quidditch."

"Well of course I wouldn't ask you to teach the classes, but I would need your help in order to teach them effectively."

"How so?"

"Well I'm new here. You've been here for going on seven years. The other students know you and the look up to you. You would know what students would benefit most from this kind of thing and what students shouldn't be allowed to learn it. You wouldn't have to do much, just be my teachers assistant and help me with demonstrations and things like that."

Harry considered her for a moment. Half of him said that there was no way he would have time for this once he got homework, head boy duties, Quidditch, and finding horcruxes. The other half of him felt like this would be beneficial for both himself and for the fellow students. Harry almost felt obligated to say yes, because Angie was definitely right about his fellow students looking up to him. He could tell in the way that they said hi to him in the hallways. "I don't know." Harry finally said.

"Just help me start it up." Angie said. "If it gets to much for you, I can take over."

"Ok." Harry finally said.

"Great." Angie said. "Now get going. It's dinner time." Harry smiled at her and then turned and left.