Chapter X: Defence Against the Dark Arts.
The first week rolled by, and as it was only a half week, Harry, Hermione and the other harem members in his year, only had Potions, Charms, Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures on their timetable. He noted that the following Monday would have both DADA classes either side of lunch, and he had heard from Luna, Ginny and the older harem sisters that Narcissa's lessons were far more enjoyable than Umbridge's.
Monday came around even quicker than expected, and soon Harry found himself, Hermione, and several other harem sisters waiting in the same classroom used by Lockhart, Lupin and Moody in previous years, waiting for Umbridge to arrive. Padma set a paper bird up and let it fly over their heads, whilst most enjoyed the wonderful sight, Seamus hit it, Goyle hit it with a slingshot, before Umbridge entered, and incinerated it.
'Shit! She does look like a walking, furry clitoris!' Hermione thought to the others in the room, and they had to resist sniggering.
"Good morning children" She said from the back of the classroom, making everyone turn. "Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations, O, W, L. More commonly known as OWLs."
'She thinks she's taking to pre-school children, what the fuck?' Hermione thought, and again they had to stop themselves from sniggering.
"Study hard and you will be rewarded, fail to do so, and the consequences may be severe." Umbridge continued, putting on another irritating smile. She waved her wand and thick, untouched books floated down the aisles and dropped in front of each of them. "Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you'll be pleased to know, that from now on, you'll be following a carefully structured, Ministry approved course of defensive magic."
The book was clearly also aimed at nursery level children, with cartoon imagery on the front and the title 'Dark Arts Defence: Basics for Beginners.'
"And what does that make Professor Black's side of the course?" Hermione asked.
"An unnecessary division, for the current climate" Umbridge said innocently. "There is no danger out there, no 'dark lord' threatening you." Half the class coughed and a few muttered 'bullshit.'
"Then why didn't the Ministry object to the two separate sub-sections?" Hannah asked from the back of the room.
"Because the Minister was forced by the future Lord of Hogwarts into a corner." Umbridge said, Harry noted that she clearly didn't know that 'the lord' in question, was a few rows in front of her.
"You seriously think that Voldemort isn't out there? When the Ministry has admitted he is, and Death eater attacks and muggle disappearances are steadily increasing." Harry stated.
"Students will raise their hands when they speak in my classroom." Umbridge said coldly, and Harry snarled.
"I'm sorry, but everything you have said doesn't add up." Harry said, standing up, to the gasps of the other students.
'Harry sit down!' Hermione urged him in his head, but Harry knew that Umbitch had to go as soon as possible.
"You've said that if we don't study hard that the consequences will be severe, and that you're following the Ministry's course of theoretical teaching" Harry said, stepping forward slowly, as Umbridge tried to stand her ground. "Yet you have also said that spell-casting and more practical defence is pointless. You also seem to be deluding yourself that Voldemort isn't out there right now, when your precious Ministry has confirmed he is."
"Fudge was forced…" Umbridge began, but Harry was on a roll.
"Fudge wasn't forced into admitting it, the truth leaked, and he admitted the truth of his own free-will" Harry said lowering his tone slightly. "Sure he was saving his arse from the media fire, but he still admitted it freely." Harry turned to address his fellow students, who were all looking at him in amazement. "I will admit that I had a part to play, but frankly sitting back and watching the Ministry's dumb ignorance of the truth get thousands killed was something I could not do. And I think that if we all do not practice ACTUAL spell casting, that the consequence will be severe, the Ministry will have dead students on its hands, which it failed to train properly in defensive spells!"
"But theory is also important for…" Umbridge tried to speak, but Harry interrupted her again.
"For when there IS NOT a war raging in the magical world, granted it's more of a cold war at the moment, but it'll only take one spark to set this powder keg off." Harry said, moving back to his seat. "So don't act like Voldemort won't harm students, because he will, he wants me dead; and all muggleborns, half-bloods and muggles killed or segregated from so called pure-bloods, and that certainly means killing, torturing or imprisoning students. So go ahead with this 'Ministry-approved' plan, but we're not idiots, we're not ignorant children, and it'll take more than 'beginner' level books to properly prepare us!" With this Harry incinerated his book, the other students cheered; some threw their books into the air and incinerated them in mid-air, whilst Umbridge went bright red.
"Detention Mr Potter!" She yelled, and the room went quiet, ash raining down.
"It's Lord Potter!" Harry remarked, "If you're going to try and boss us around, be respectful, you walking clitoris!" Before Umbridge could speak the room erupted in laughter, Umbridge stormed off into her office.
"Nice one Harry!" many students cheered, before they quickly got up and left, incinerating the last few books.
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"That was not smart master" Pansy said as they made their way to the Great Hall for an early lunch.
"She'll punish for making her look bad" Padma said quietly.
"I have every faith she will, and I doubt she'll hold back in trying to crush my spirits." Harry smiled.
"Master?" Parvati said confused.
"She's got three strikes and she's out permanently, spread it around, this'll likely be the first, I need people outside the harem to break the other two, in a way where I can't be implicated." Harry said in a low voice as they entered the Great Hall. 'Spread it around to cause Umbitch as many problems as possible, force her to break the law to punish us.' The different house members rushed off to their tables, to spread the word.
"Master, this doesn't seem like a good idea" Lavender said as the Gryffindors sat at their table, all sitting close to Harry. "Won't it be suspicious if she's ousted so quickly?"
"I doubt anyone will act so soon, they'll wait for the right opportunity to strike, but I've made the first move" Harry replied as they sat down, and food appeared at the table.
"How do you think she'll punish you?" Hermione asked, holding him close to her.
"I'm not sure, but it won't be legal, I made quite a show of putting her down, and she'll undoubtedly respond in kind." Harry said quietly, kissing Hermione on the cheek. "I may need to use our bond to shield myself from it, both so she doesn't get the satisfaction of hurting me, and so when she tries it, there'll be proof of her using nefarious means to punish me."
"Clever master" Lavender purred in a low voice.
"Nice trick Potter" Draco said approaching Harry, with his two bookends flanking him. "I'll admit I'm impressed by your wordplay, but you're just another mouth-piece for Dumbledore's lies. When the Lord of Hogwarts hears of it, I doubt you'll last long with an attitude like that."
"You think the Lord will immediately oppose Dumbledore?" Harry said, trying not to laugh. "Considering how much proof he has for the Dark Lord's return, or will he believe the son of a convicted death eater?" Draco snarled, and moved for his wand, but he had seven wands pointed at him before he could even touch his.
"Don't bother Draco, he's not worth it" Goyle said in a moronic tone, before the two thugs dragged their 'boss' away.
"I'll make sure the Lord hears of this when he arrives!" Draco yelled as he was dragged away.
"How does no one know?" Hermione asked in a low tone, when everything had settled again.
"Probably Fudge trying to guard his dignity, and Dumbledore trying to protect master's interests." Ginny said as she joined them. "After-all, the Lord of Hogwarts also a student, and key figure in the fight against Voldemort, very dangerous thing to reveal at the wrong time."
"Hey Gin!" The others said as she sat with them.
"How was Umbitch?" Ginny asked quickly.
"Master put the bitch down when she tried to smear the truth about Voldemort, and then some." Lavender said excitedly.
"Well done master" Ginny said smiling.
"She's put me in detention, but it's all part of my plan" Harry said coolly, before they all started to have their lunch, but Ginny cast a privacy charm, before sliding under the table, quickly unsheathing her master's cock and sucking on it.
"Ginny!" Hermione hissed quietly.
"Leave her be Mione, she did take the precaution of casting a privacy charm" Harry moaned as he enjoyed Ginny's seasoned blowjob skills. Harry leaned back, and watched as Ginny sat cross-legged on the floor, sucking on his cock, her head bobbing up and down on his erect eight inches.
'I'm your sex slave master, feed me your seed!' Ginny purred in Harry's head, this seductive come-on made the sensation build from nowhere. He felt Ginny suck harder on his stiffening erection as he came in her mouth, shooting load after load down her throat, as she swallowed every drop.
"Thank you master" Ginny purred when she took his flaccid cock from her mouth, she slid into her seat and sat quietly, waiting for her master to finish eating.
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As the clock rang out for the first afternoon lesson, Harry and the other fifth year classmates were lined up outside the neighbouring DADA classroom, as Filch was cleaning up the ashes in the main one.
"Oi Potter!" Draco sneered from down the queue. "Don't show off in front of my mother!"
"No need Malfoy!" Harry yelled back so everyone could hear. "I only show off to Cissa in private!" Draco snarled and moved for his wand, but saw several witches and wizards had their hands on their wands before him. "And she's quite satisfied with me already!" Harry's comments were clearly wounding Draco's pride, but Harry didn't care, it was about time someone put him down a notch.
"Thank you Lord Potter, that'll be enough boasting, for now" Narcissa said, poking her head out of the classroom door. "You may enter" she said in a gentle tone, and the students eagerly clamoured to enter, already preferring her to Umbitch.
The classroom was long, with six large windows on either side, which were currently covered by black shutters, Harry noticed the four founder's coat of arms on four of the shutters, the other two had the Peverell and Black coat of arms on them, she hadn't put the Potter one up. Cissa had set up two columns of desks on either side looking in, with a large space in the middle, and her desk at the end, with a blackboard accompanying it. As everyone took their seats, Harry unsurprisingly found himself and Draco on either side, in the seats nearest Cissa's desk.
"I've heard how your last few years have worked out, and I find myself impressed, though not with Mr Lockhart's year, that was frankly abysmal." Cissa said, pacing up and down the area in the centre. "With Professor Lupin you learnt about the dark creatures that inhabit this world, including with Boggarts." She paused, "And though Professor Moody was actually a death eater polyjuiced as Moody, you still learnt about the three Unforgivable curses."
"He was a what?" Seamus spoke up, Harry saw Cissa smile politely, clearly differing herself from Umbitch.
"I am no liar, not to students like you, so I won't lie now" Cissa said simply, resuming her pacing. "Last year, the man you thought was Professor Alastor Moody, the former Auror," Cissa said, making sure everyone heard her. "Was actually a high-ranking death eater, Bartholomew Crouch Junior, whose sole purpose was to get Mr Potter into and through the Triwizard Tournament, where he would be port-keyed to a location where he was forced to resurrect Lord Voldemort."
"So he only won because of a death eater's help?" a Slytherin girl asked from the far corner of the room, from where Harry was sitting.
"No Miss Greengrass, Junior only hinted Mr Potter along, making sure he was prepared for each task, but it was left to Harry, to perform in the tasks." Cissa said, stopping by the blackboard and smiling politely at Harry.
"What ritual brought him back?" Seamus asked quickly.
"A dark ritual, which the very use of is an abomination. And there are no books in Hogwarts on it, or a professor of any subject will teach it." Cissa said coldly, her eyes looking at the floor. Her mood quickly shifted, catching everyone off guard. "Now then, for these first few weeks, you'll be learning how to summon a Patronus charm. Can anyone tell me what a Patronus charm does?" Several hands shot into the air, "Miss Brown?"
Harry was surprised, but remembered that all their knowledge was now shared between them.
"It's a charm to ward off Dementors and Lethifolds" Lavender said eagerly.
"Correct," Cissa said, waving her wand at the board, where she had all four houses written, the chalk tallied ten points to Gryffindor. "Professor Dumbledore has also found a means of using a Patronus to contact witches and wizards over great distances."
"How?" Draco immediately asked.
"I'm afraid you'd have to ask Dumbledore himself how, I'm afraid I do not know." Cissa said, smiling at him weakly. "Can anyone tell me why I've said it'll take a few weeks to learn?"
"Because it's an incredibly advanced spell, which takes great concentration to master" Cho said from down Harry's column of desks.
"Correct Miss Chang, normally it is taught in your sixth or seventh year, but Dumbledore has deemed it necessary for your year to learn, as the Dark Lord has many Dementors on his side." Cissa said as the chalk tallied ten points for Ravenclaw. "Expecto Patronum" Cissa waved her wand and the She-Wolf burst from her wand, and the students gasped in amazement.
"Why isn't it a snake?" Draco asked, disgusted by the wolf.
"Because I'm not a snake-loving git like your father, now raise your hand when you wish to speak Mr Malfoy!" Cissa said coldly, making the other students laugh. "Now it may surprise you to learn, that there is one other person in this room, capable of summoning a full body Patronus." There were murmurings from the other column of desks. "Mr Potter?"
"Expecto Patronum" Harry said waving his wand, and his Stag leapt out and stood next to the wolf, which almost matched it for size. The two patronuses paced up and down in the centre of the room, to the awe of the other students.
"Blimey Harry, how'd you manage it?" Dean said as the Stag passed him. Cissa and Harry dismissed their patronuses, and Harry stood to answer.
"Back in our third year, when we had Dementors at the school." Harry replied, "I had to learn how to defend myself after they developed a liking for sucking out my happiness."
'That's our job!' Angelina giggled over the link.
'Sshh!' Hermione scalded her.
"He fought off over one hundred of them at the end of the year" Ron said eagerly, this made people stare at Harry in amazement.
"They were going to kill my Godfather" Harry said as he sat down.
"Sirius Black is your godfather?" Pansy asked, her eyes flashing to Cissa who quietly nodded.
"You protected a convicted mass murderer and escapee from Azkaban?" the Greengrass girl exclaimed.
"Sirius Orion Black, my cousin, was never tried for that crime." Cissa said, sitting on the desk, her hand wiping her forehead. "It's clear there are a lot of things you have been misinformed of by the Ministry. The real mass murderer framed Sirius, before cutting off their finger and vanishing into another guise. The real culprit was also responsible for the deaths of his close friends, James and Lily Potter, and therefore, the attempted assassination of Mr Potter here." She gestured to Harry.
"Who was he?" a girl beside Greengrass asked quickly.
"He is Peter Pettigrew, who until two years ago, was disguised as a rat. When Sirius escaped, it was to bring him to justice, but the rat escaped again, and was the very man who performed the ritual that brought Voldemort back." Cissa said, before quickly standing up again. "But back to the lesson. The Patronus charm requires a simple wand movement, with the words 'expecto patronum'."
"That it?" Ron asked, as he and several others moved for their wands.
"That's not all Mr Weasley; it also requires a memory, a happy memory." Narcissa said smiling. "It requires the happiest, most uplifting memory you can think of to power it, and fight the emotional draining of a Dementor's presence. I'd like you all to take a few minutes to think of the happiest memory you can, and then let the emotions fill your body, before waving your wand in a small circle, and saying the words, Expecto Patronum!"
"What about me professor?" Harry asked, as the room went quiet, with everyone sifting for memories that might be powerful enough to summon the Patronus.
"You may help those in your house who have trouble" Cissa said warmly, Harry saw Draco scowl. "Now who thinks they have found a memory powerful enough?" Three hands shot up, before two fell, clearly not powerful enough. "Miss Brown, please step up" Cissa crossed the classroom as Lavender moved into the middle.
"I think I have one" Lavender said timidly, as everyone turned to look at her.
"Mind if I ask what it is?" Cissa said playfully, Lavender shook her head timidly, Cissa stepped forward and listened as she was whispered it. "Oh my, well if you think it's powerful, have a go." Narcissa took a step to the side, out of the way.
'It's us fucking her!' Hermione said to Harry through the bond, Harry remembered, and suspected it wouldn't be strong enough.
"Expecto Patronum!" Lavender said, a cloud of white smoke flew from her wand and disappeared.
"It was powerful, but not strong enough" Cissa said apologetically. "If I understand it, you're a mother, correct?"
"Yes" Lavender smiled warmly, "a little girl." Harry noted many distasteful looks from the non-harem women in the room.
"I can already see it's a lot stronger in making you happy, focus on her, and try again" Cissa said supportively.
"Expecto Patronum!" Lavender said smiling. This time the cloud appeared brighter and more physical than last time, but it didn't take shape.
"Interesting" Cissa said looking closely at it. "I've never known a Patronus to be incorporeal, a very unique Patronus, you may sit down." Lavender hurried back to her seat, and began talking excitedly with Parvati and Padma. "Who else? Mr Malfoy, why not you." Draco paled and stood up, before stepping into the middle, in front of Harry.
"I have one" He said proudly. "Expecto Patronum!" Harry wasn't surprised when a snake burst from his wand, but was caught off guard when it took flight.
"A winged-serpent, rare but not unheard of" Cissa said, watching it flap its ethereal wings. "Your father has a snake, unsurprising. You may sit down, Miss Chang, how about you?" Draco snarled quietly before sitting down, as Cho took centre stage.
"Expecto Patronum!" Cho said confidentially, on the first try, a large brilliant white swan flew from her wand and circled over the class.
"Beautiful!" Cissa breathed excitedly, as the swan landed beside its mistress. "I think it's a Pen Swan as well, female for those not interested in nature." Cissa smiled and gestured for her to retake her seat. "Now how about someone from Hufflepuff to even things out, Miss Abbott, step forward, and then we'll call it a day." There were multiple moans of disappointment, as Hannah took her place in the middle.
"Expecto Patronum!" Hannah said timidly, and Harry was surprised when it spawned a squirrel, that was closer to a Chihuahua in size. It scampered across the floor and ran rings around Cissa.
"Impressive my dear, an abnormally large doe Squirrel" Cissa smiled, as Hannah's Patronus vanished. "Though you should be more confident, when delivering the spell." Hannah nodded before taking her seat again.
"How are these forms supposed to protect us from Dementors?" the woman next to Greengrass asked indignantly. Harry looked at the blackboard and saw that the chalk quickly crossed out the ten points next to Slytherin, replacing it with a five.
"These forms give off an aura, which will ward off the Dementors and Lethifolds." Cissa explained. "And in some cases will project a bubble shield around you, and push the foul creatures away." Cissa looked at the small clock by the door and sighed. "I'm afraid that's all we have time for, your homework is a simple one, find a memory that will power your Patronus, but do not cast it."
"Why not?" Greengrass asked, clearly insulted.
"Because as you've seen, to cast one is something for others to marvel at, why ruin it by casting it outside this room" Cissa smiled, Harry noted the chalk now crossed out the five. "Class dismissed!" Everyone got up and filed out of the room, "Mr Potter, hold back a moment, I wish to discuss your outburst in Professor Umbridge's class in private." Harry heard Draco snigger as he left the classroom. Harry followed Cissa into her office and she closed the door behind her.