A/N:I apologize for taking this long to put together this chapter, but hey, it happens. Either way, please enjoy this chapter! :)


Chapter Eleven

We're not retreating.

We're advancing towards future victories!

Several days had past since Riolu had come into as close of a brush with death as Professor Nozawa would allow under his very, very watchful eye. As the days went by, Malfoy's detention continued, and he was slowly but hopefully learning not to mess with the foreign teacher. While it was true that not a single professor of Hogwarts was a pushover, the young man well and truly brought it to a whole new level. He was quite difficult to fool when it came to messing with the rules, and he had explained it one day, as well.

"Professor?" Hermione said questioningly, raising her hand during a lull in one class after the tournament. After several difficult battles, Harry had been the lucky winner. Espeon was the one teaching, and nodded to the brilliant brunette. "Um... I've been wondering... whenever someone breaks a rule or something, even if you didn't see it, you always seem to see straight through their explanations... how is that?"

Espeon's eyebrows raised, knowing this was a question for her trainer, not herself. When she looked up to said man, she sighed immediantly. He had his head down, pen up and almost touching a paper – but he was fast asleep. Truthfully, it was because he had stayed up all night dealing with business – paperwork and the like – but either way, this was something only he could answer. With the translator spell still active, Espeon sighed again and spoke.

"I apologize for my trainer's behavior," She said calmly, jumping from the stool placed before the chalkboard over to Nozawa's desk. "He stayed up all night doing paperwork and stuff."

After a few minutes of silence as the class watched in anticipation, with the psychic-type's eyes glowing the entire time, her eyes dulled and she took a moment to catch her breath. Obviously, she had used some sort of psychic ability to get into his mind.

"Man, I'm still not good at looking into dreams..." Espeon mumbled quietly, before speaking up. "Alright, I was able to morph his dream for a moment to get the question through, and his answer to your question, Ms. Granger, is actually quite simple. My trainer claims he's good at reading people due to the fact that it's his job as a professional Pokémon Trainer. Without that skill, he wouldn't be as skilled as he is. Does that make sense?"

Hermione nodded, but it definitely made the students feel vulnerable. Afterwards, Espeon went on with the lesson.

Even now, Professor Nozawa had known for quite sometime that something was up around the castle. He hadn't been there when it had been made, but he had his strong suspicions that a certain student attending the school was breaking one of Professor Umbridge's decrees. Whether the foreigner liked it or not, the decrees were approved by the ministry, and as such, no matter how well he broke them down, they still applied... but there was one major flaw. The only way for the perpetrator to be punished was if she was the one to catch the troublemakers in the act. Hence the reason the young man was on the prowl for a very specific room.

I've gotta keep on moving,

I've gotta keep on moving,

I've gotta keep on moving,

I've got troubles on my mind.

After winning the tournament where that annoying boy, Malfoy, had very nearly killed Riolu, Harry and his Pokémon partner had gone on to show the git that they were tougher than that – to the point where the duo won. The raven-haired teen had been told to come into his professor's office sometime the next week, and to bring a friend. While Harry understood what the visit was for, he didn't get the part of having someone with him; either way, though, today's current event was more important to know about.

Checking to make sure nobody was nearby, he and his two friends quickly made the Room of Requirement appear with the appropiate equipment. Today, about mid-November, was the day they would be working on something the entirety of Dumbledore's Army was anxious to try. When, at last, the entire group was there and roll had been called, Harry took control. Riolu was proud to be teamed up with this teen, because of the way they clicked... and the little brave Pokémon loved being able to see his trainer take control of their little meetings so willingly, after initially being so hesitant and nervous.

"Alright, everyone," Harry began to say, no longer nervous about teaching his friends behind Umbridge's back. "I think it's time we went on to some of the higher difficulty spells. Umm, today I'll teach you all the spell for repelling dementors."

There were quite a few murmurs through the crowd, before a frighteningly familiar voice rang out.

"That is indeed quite the difficult spell you're teaching there, Mr. Potter."

In an instant, everyone froze, eyes wide. There was no way. There was just no way they'd been found so quickly. Nobody had given them away, else Hermione would know it from the jinx she put on the sign-up sheet; but nonetheless, that man had figured it out, and now, all of the students turned to him to see that familiar smirk on his countenance. Lucario was standing at his side.

"Now what's with those faces?" Professor Nozawa asked.

"A-Aren't you here to take us to...her?" Ron asked bravely. Aromi chuckled.

"No, no," He said, shaking his head.

"...Wait, why aren't you going to report us to Umbridge?" Harry asked, frowning.

"Haven't any of you read those annoying decrees?" Nozawa asked with a grin. When nobody replied, he sighed. "While it's true that they require all clubs like this to be disbanded, it does not require any of the other teachers to do anything about it. As far as the decree is concerned, the only person allowed to disband this group is Professor Umbridge, and that's as long as she's the one who finds out. So, no, I'm not here for any of that."

There was a shocked silence among the group. They were... getting away free? Nobody was in any trouble?

"Besides," He continued. "Don't any of you remember the question Ms. Granger asked a couple days ago?"

"You mean the one of how you know when someone's making excuses?" Hermione asked. An affirmative nod clued her in. "So you used that experience to figure us out... but how?"

"I'll admit, you hid this group very well," Professor Nozawa said calmly. "I had no more than a sneaking suspicion of the date and time and such until I was able to sneak into the room."

"You... snuck in?" George asked, impressed.

"Right behind Mr. Potter's group, actually."

Well, that left Harry feeling embarrassed. How had he not noticed?

"Either way, however," Aromi said. "I'm not here as a professor; I'm actually interested in the lesson. I've read up on these... dementors. I'd like to hear what you've got to say, Mr. Potter."

Knowing their professor, everyone in the room being in his class, knew he was serious – but that didn't soften their surprise and shock. He wasn't here to catch them red-handed... he was here to learn? Their reactions were to be expected, however, considering how rarely a teacher was willing to step down from that position of power and humble themselves to allow someone else – never mind one of their students – to teach them. Even so, Harry was able to take a deep breath, and get it together.

"Er... well... welcome, Professor," Harry said, earning a respectful nod from the man. "Um... anyway, the incantation for repelling dementors is Expecto Patronum. In order for the spell to be effective, you must visualize a powerfully happy memory. I know that for Ron, it would be Malfoy, the amazing bouncing furret."

Ron, his secret exposed, felt his ear tips turn red despite the grin on his face and students chuckled. Nozawa gave a smirk, even though he hadn't been there for it. After making sure the group of them had the incantation down, Harry went to demonstrating.

Riolu had only heard of this spell, and knew enough to know the form of the patronus took the form of a creature related to the caster's personality; as a result, he was interested in seeing his trainer's. While the young Pokémon knew he was Harry's personality in the form of a Pokémon, Riolu wanted to know what the teen's non-Pokémon form was. So he watched in anticipation as his trainer drew upon one of his happiest memories. If the aura-reading Pokémon could read minds, he'd know that Harry was thinking of the time the two of them had met.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry exclaimed seriously, and watched as a powerful stag erupted from the tip of his wand.

As the silvery creature settled and the group of students stood in awe, it moved mysteriously towards the professor standing in their midst. Patronus and human took a few moments to just watch each other, before the stag leaned its head forward. It knew when a creature it encountered was powerful and to respect them. With a gentle smirk, Nozawa put his empty left hand – his wand was in his right hand – forth, and let a smile grace his lips as the strange, silvery creature nudged it carefully. After a few moments, though, the stag stepped back and disspated. About a full minute passed with a shocked silence permeating the room. It was extremely rare for something that they'd just witnessed to happen. Once they got focused, though, the entire group began practicing.

"So, I guess I could just take a shot, eh, Lucario?" Aromi said, wondering what patronus would appear from the tip of his Unicorn Hair wand.

"I suppose so, Aromi," Lucario shrugged. "Like you, I'm interested in what will be your... patronus, was it?"

"Hmm... I'm wondering if it's restriced to being a non-Pokémon creature. Any guesses on that front?"

"Well... if you don't have any guesses, I doubt I will."

"Touché," Aromi chuckled quietly. Then he took a deep breath, drawing upon the happiest memory he could think of – that day he and his team had defeated Cynthia, bringing a smirk to his countenance. Then, confidently, he cast the spell. "Expecto Patronum."

The instead the mist-like silvery stuff was expanded from the man's wand, it was very obvious that it was not a Pokémon. Even so, the creature that it did end up being was damn impressive. It wasn't often that someone had a magical creature for a patronus, and even then, the one Professor Nozawa ended up conjuring was quite unique. It made the students of the room stop and stare. Only about half of them had been able to make a little whisp of smoke, and very few of them had made a corpreal form; yet this professor had done it all in one shot. Adding salt to that little wound was the fact that his patronus was a full-blown, impressively-sized dragon.

"What the bloody hell...?" Ron said quietly, shocked and surprised and voicing everyone's thoughts.

The whispy dragon, quite respectable in its size and obvious power, flew around the room once before stopping before the one who conjured it. Despite it having no obvious occular organs, the professor could very clearly feel it looking into his soul. Having experienced the same glare when he'd faced Algida so long ago, Nozawa drew upon that experience and easily returned the hard look to the corpreal patronus. After a few moments, the dragon seemed pleased, and quickly dissipated. Several moments passed before the rest of the group began to return to their own attempts, while Harry went over to the young professor.

"Professor... that was incredible!" Harry said, amazed at how easily he'd gotten it down and the very creature the patronus was.

"How so?" Nozawa asked, genuinly curious. "Is it that rare of a creature for a patronus?"

"It's very rare for any sort of magical creature to be one, Professor. I know that the headmaster has one of a pheonix, but he's the only other person I know with a magical creature for a patronus."

That little fact got the professor's attention; he was one of very few to have a patronus in such a form? Intriguing, indeed. Never-the-less, he nodded to Harry, who soon moved on as did the other students in the room. Aromi talked to Lucario about a couple of things, then decided it would be best to see if he could get better at controlling the spell's corpreal form. When he cast it once more, the dragon was of a much smaller, more conspicous size. Lucario was curious as to what memory he'd used this time.

"What memory did you use to make it so much smaller?" Lucario asked curiously. The Pokémon watched his trainer's countenace, his curiosity growing as the human's smile widened.

"The day you hatched," Aromi said, chuckling a moment later as Lucario blushed furiously. "And went right into battle without a word!"

The Aura Pokémon, embarrassed, did his best to ignore his trainer's chuckles. After a bit though, the man stopped and continued to practice conjuring the patronus and controlling its size and such.

Each day I'm getting stronger,

Each day I'm getting stronger.

"Harry, I think it's time we improved the secrecy of our meetings," Hermione said in the Gryffindor common room. She was still embarrassed at how easily their professor had figured them out.

"No kidding," The boy-who-lived agreed with a nod.

Even Riolu, sensing his trainer's feelings, was kind of embarrassed. The Emanation Pokémon was conversing with Cyndaquil, trying to come up with ideas of security while their trainers did the same. Soon enough, they had made their decisions, shared them, and come up with the plan that going to the meetings in small groups instead of a large one would be better. Hermione used her patronus – it being an inconspicous otter – to send the message to all of the members, now including Professor Nozawa. Soon after, they went to sleep, now content with how things were going. Oh, if only they knew of the surprise Aromi had ready for his classes...


Credits: Opening quote is a "Sargism" from "Red VS Blue", while the song lyrics are from the song "Keep Moving" by Trocadero.

A/N: Now, then, if you would all like to guess what the surprise is, you'll have to review (sneaky, aren't I? :P) – and I would love to hear everyone's guesses! Also, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but I felt that lengthening it would be a poor decision, so... yeah... either way, another story's idea is ravaging my imagination, making it difficult to come up with chapters for this story. I apologize for that as well. Either way, thanks for reading! :)