Chapter 20: A Black Day
The night was dark, and full of terrors. A black dog lay in a cold bare cell, shivering and whining softly as it tried to sleep. It was emaciated, with a mangy coat and eyes that had an all too human look of despair and hopelessness. Not because of the spectral jailers that haunted the halls of Azkaban prison, but because of the memories the dog continually relived, even though the dementors could not touch it in this form.
The house was quiet, the front door shattered and the living room a mess. James lay on the floor, glasses askew on his face, as he stared up at the ceiling. Upstairs, Lily was spread eagled before the crib, her arms open wide as her eyes looked into the blackness of eternity. The baby in the crib wailed until he picked it up, crying as he bounced the boy in his arms to try and soothe him. He was late, too late, and it was all his fault. There could be only one explanation. Peter. Peter had betrayed them all.
There was a noise downstairs, and with a snarl he drew his wand, hoping that somehow he could extract enough revenge to pay for the pain he felt inside. But there were no death eaters, only Hagrid.
Take Harry, Hagrid. I have to fix this.
The dog shivered again, whining softly. He hadn't fixed it. Killing Peter hadn't been enough. They had dragged him off to Azkaban, and he hadn't protested. After all, what was the point in living? His best friend was dead, Lily was dead, and it was all his fault. He belonged her just as much as anyone else.
There was the sound of boots and a whiff of human scent, and the ragged dog became a ragged man. He picked up the tattered blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders, crawling into a corner as the door swung open. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the light that blinded him as men strode into the cell.
"Sirius, my boy. I am so sorry."
He blinked his eyes open, looking up at the mournful face behind the half-moon spectacles. "Headmaster?" his voice was ragged. He hadn't spoken in...he didn't know. When was the last time he had spoken?
"Here, my boy, chocolate. Eat, please. We're taking you away."
"But I killed James," Sirius mumbled as he shoved the sweets into his mouth, barely chewing before he swallowed. "He's dead, and it's all my fault."
"See, he belongs here after all, Albus! He admits he told You-Know-Who the secret and-"
In a flash he was across the room, his hands wrapping around the neck, the green bowler hat tumbling to the floor.
"I would have died!" he roared. "I would have died before I told anyone the secret! James was my brother, and...and it was all my fault." Strong hands yanked him off of the sputtering fool at his feet. Who this idiot was, he didn't know. He let himself be yanked, wishing only to be left alone, to be left to his grief and memories. He wept openly, staring at the blank wall, but not seeing it. "At least I got the rat bastard."
"No, Sirius." It was Dumbledore again, motioning aside the two men and putting a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Peter is alive. He was at Hogwarts, with one of Harry's friends. We believe he may have been spying on-"
"Alive?" Sirius looked up, grabbing on to the headmaster's arm, his eyes wild. "He's alive? But I killed him. I didn't mean to blow him up like that, but I must have. I got him, the little coward is dead. I made him pay for what he did, for betraying James. It was my fault, all my fault for letting him be keeper, but I made him pay, oh yes, I made him pay."
"He's mad," one of the other men muttered.
Sirius spat in his face. "Go to hell Dawlish, you prick."
"We'll get nothing useful until he's away from the Dementors," Dumbledore said firmly. "Come, Sirius. We're taking you to the ministry for questioning there."
Sirius let himself be led away, not certain if this was all real or not. It wasn't until the presence of the dementors faded, until he was in a DMLE holding room, being given chocolate and hot soup that he broke down and wept, crying that he deserved Azkaban for leading James to his death, that he had to kill Peter, and then they could take him back.
But first, he would kill Peter. It was only fair. Blood for blood. The law of the pack.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
The day after the students returned dawned cold and clear, with a few feet of snow still hanging round. Still, Hermione found herself rousted out of bed and an ungodly early hour by Katie, Alicia and Angelina. After dressing in warm clothes, she found the boys all waiting in the common room. Harry and Oliver looked determined, though the rest of the boys looked varying degrees of sleepy and grumpy. They all trooped down the halls together and out to the quidditch pitch, where Harry led everyone in basic warming exercises and stretches, then led them on a brisk 2k run around the pitch, while in the background Hermione saw Hagrid sitting outside his cottage, staring at the odd show.
To no one's surprise, Oliver and Harry took the lead, keeping a steady pace and trailed by Ron, Fred, George, and the three chasers. Hermione and Neville were trailing at the end, but Percy stayed behind them, wordlessly encouraging the two first years not to give up. Neville struggled, limping along with a grimace of pain on his face, and Hermione stayed with him, knowing it all hurt him a whole lot more than it did her. In the end, Neville had to bow out after one lap, his body still not healed enough for the exertion.
To Hermione's surprise, when they finished Mr. Prewitt was waiting for them, dressed in a jogging suit. "Right, that wasn't bad for a bunch of kids. First day's usually pretty easy. It's coming back on the second day that's going to be hard. Don't give up though, all worth it in the end. Right, push ups now you lot."
Hermione followed the new caretaker's instructions, eyeing the man. Unlike Filch who was not only filthy but also rather scrawny and haggard, Mr. Prewitt looked to be the picture of health. He was in his early 30s and well muscled, his red hair cropped short and the beginnings of a beard on his face. He assisted Neville through the exercise, encouraging the boy to do his best, and then helping him to lay down to rest when the strain got to be too much.
"Very good, very good," Mr. Prewitt said once everyone had finished their exercise. "Now double time it to the Great Hall, they should just be serving breakfast. Same time tomorrow, I expect that's when we'll separate the lions from the lambs, eh?"
Though she was exhausted, Hermione forced herself to eat at breakfast, sticking with hot tea and porridge to warm herself up from the fridge air outside. The few students who had already been at breakfast, mostly Ravenclaws, gave the group of Gryffindor's odd looks, as well as the wizarding group giving Mr. Prewitt's jogging suit naked stares.
"I thought that went really well," Harry said brightly as they dug in to breakfast. "If we keep that up everyday we'll all be fighting fit in no time."
"I'm not so sure this was a good idea," groaned Katie. "I've got loads of classes today and I'm going to be exhausted."
"It will be worth it if you find yourself face to face with Voldemort," Neville said quietly. Everyone else at the table fell silent, looking at the slightly less chubby boy with the cane. Neville sat quietly, sipping at his hot cocoa, lost in his own thoughts.
Harry cleared his throat. "Too right. Plus, we'll demolish Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."
"Who's banging on my 'puffs?" A cheery voice demanded, and the students looked up to find Tonks grinning at them. "Heard you lot were up early, boss had me on morning patrol. What were you doing, running about like that?"
"Fitness training," Harry explained. "So we're ready in case another dark wizard attacks. And so we crush Hufflepuff in our match in May."
"That's months away though," Tonks said, looking at Harry oddly. "And I'm not sure that doing laps around the field is on the DADA curriculum."
"Maybe it should be," a new voice snarled, and everyone jumped as Mad-Eye stomped towards Tonks. "Physical fitness is a key part of becoming a good auror. You know that, Recruit Tonks."
"Oi, I'm Professor Tonks now, same as you Professor Boss," Tonks declared, standing up a little straighter as her hair went an impressive shade of sunshine yellow.
"Hmph. Still, you could take a leaf out of these sprogs books," Moody growled, then hobbled off to the staff table where he glared at his goblet, and then reached for his hip flask and took a swig.
"He's mental," Ron muttered.
"To right," Tonks agreed. "But he's the boss. See you lot in classes later. 'cept you, Wood, Percy. Good luck, you're with the boss today."
"I'm looking forward to it," Percy declared with verve.
Tonks winked and him and skipped up to the table, where she had no problem drinking from her goblet, despite glares from Moody.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
When Percy walked into the empty new DADA classroom, he was too busy talking to Penelope to really notice that their was no professor at the front of the classroom. Once everyone had taken their seats, Percy had just started to take out quill and ink when there was a loud bang from the corner.
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
Ink spilled everywhere, and Percy swore as he jerked his wand out and pointed it to where the bang had originated from. It flew from his hand as did several other wands. With a bellow, Percy dashed towards the figure, seeing only the glowing red eyes in the smoke. He wasn't going to stand aside this time, not and let another dark wizard hurt his family. He swung his fists into the smoke, only to find himself knocked head over heels and go sprawling on the floor. Instead of lying there, Percy tried to roll to the side, scrabbling for something to use as a weapon. He found his fallen ink pot, and hurled it into the smoke. It was shattered with a bang, and Percy found himself levitated and held in mid air. He glared at the smoke, which vanished to reveal…
A dark robe with two glowing remembralls where the eyes should be? Percy blinked in confusion.
"Not bad, Weasley. Didn't figure out where I was, but at least you made an effort."
Percy tried to spin around, but was unceremoniously dropped. He landed hard on the seat of his pants, groaned and stood to find Professor Moody right at the front of the room.
"How did you-"
"Disillusioned myself. Didn't do a proper job of it either. You should have noticed the faint shimmer in the air. But none of you did because you were not practicing CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
Percy sat down in his seat as Moody began to pace the front of the room, his magical eye spinning madly in its socket. "I've read your essays you turned into that monster. I've looked at the lesson plans. Weasley, you had good grades."
Percy started to smile, until the magical eye spun and glared and him.
"AND NONE OF THAT MEANS A BLOODY THING IN THE REAL WORLD!" He pointed his finger at Penelope. "Your girlfriend there was smarter than you. She started casting protective charms and looking for where I really was. I didn't have her fooled for long. You rushed straight into the killing zone like a moron and triggered all the defensive charms I'd placed. What. An. Idiot."
Percy paled and looked down at his boots.
"You've all got a lot to learn this year," Moody declared as he stood in place. He flicked his wand at the blackboard, which showed several advanced curses and counter curses. "I'm not a big believer in text books. They're all well and good for theory, but theory tends to fall apart fast on the battlefield." Moody noticed one of the hufflepuff boys dutifully copying down his notes, and began to stalk towards him in surprising silence. "Plus, if you have your nose buried in a book, it's pretty easy to sneak up on you because you aren't practicing CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"
The boy fell out of his desk, ink spilling all over his notes. "Clean that up," Moody growled, then hobbled back up front. "Right. Two things were working on today. Hominum Revelo, and the counter charm. The revelo is good for finding out of someone's waiting to ambush you, like I was, and the counter is a good way of preventing someone from sniffing you out when you don't want to be found. You perform them like so." Moody demonstrated the charm and counter twice.
"Right. Gryffindors against Hufflepuffs. You will practice the revelo and its counter. I've got this whole corridor cleared out. The Gryffindors will hide first, Hufflepuffs seek, then switch. The house that does the best at hiding gets 10 points, same for seeking. A bonus five if your house succeeds the best at both tasks. If you are terrible at hiding and seeking, your homework will be to practice until you get it right. Don't skive off, because I'll bloody well be testing you. Begin!"
The rest of the period was spent in frantic searching and hiding. They managed two rounds, with Gryffindor proving much better at seeking, and the 'puffs squeezing out wins both times at hiding. Moody informed both groups that they had better team up after class and learn how to hide and seek properly. "Knowing how to find what is hidden and remain hidden from those that want to find you are both vital survival tactics. Saved my skin more than once, I can tell you that. Tomorrow I'll test you once more, and we'll see if you can manage to impress me. And remember-"
"Constant Vigilance," the students intoned.
"Bloody right. Dismissed!"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
As the last class of the day was DADA for the first years, they were all rather excited to see what classes would be like with Tonks as teacher. When they walked in with the Slytherins, the front of the class stood vacant, with no professor visible. The students sat at their desks expectantly, looking around.
"Hey, Hannah, what are you doing here?" Neville asked suddenly, looking at the first year Hufflepuff who'd come in quietly with the rest of them and sat the back of the class. "Don't you have transfiguration now?"
"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Hannah shouted, leaping to the front of the class as she set off sparklers with her wand. The room filled with smoke and loud bangs, and the Slytherins dived under their desks. Harry tackled Hannah with Ron's help, and Hermione and Neville drew their wands and pointed them at the oddly acting Hufflepuff student.
"Oof. Alright, alright, you pass you pass. Five points to Gryffindor if you gerroff me." Hannah squeaked. She suddenly grew much larger, her hair changing to a bright pink.
"Professor!" Hermione gasped in horror, as Harry and Ron quickly stood and got off of the staff member they'd just assaulted.
"Not bad, not bad," Tonks said happily. "The second year 'puffs and 'claws didn't do nearly so well earlier." She clapped her hands and smiled at the students. "As you all know, I'm Professor Tonks, and I'm here to help you practice constant vigilance. Harry, you and your mates did a pretty good job. Top marks for Neville for noticing me. Pavarti and Lavender, at least you had the sense to get your wands out, even if you didn't do anything. But you lot!" Tonks turned to the Slytherins. "Cowering and hiding is pointless! At least have the sense to run, even if that won't get you very far most of the time, it's action. And in a survival situation, action is what will save your life dontcha know. So, I think that should be ten points for Neville, and one point for Hermione, Lavender and Pavarti, and five points for Harry and Ron to split."
Tonks turned and sat on her desk, smiling at the students as she kicked her legs, causing her robs to flutter. "Right then, time to find out what you lot know. First year DADA lessons are supposed to cover basic defensive hexes and counter curses. Show me what you know. Whose first? Yeah, you Granger. Come on up."
Hermione demonstrated a good lumos charm and the nox counter, then Tonks had her sit back down. Pavarti showed how to do and undo a full body bind curse, though she admitted that was because she and Lavender had been using it for pranks on each other and not because it was something professor Quirrell had taught them. Malfoy proudly showed off several curses and hexes that he knew, which earned him a point from Tonks. "Don't underestimate taking to offensive," Tonks lectured. "If you hex first when someone is after you, that might save you a lot of trouble down the line. Anything else?"
Everyone managed to show off one or two hexes or counter curses, even Crabb and Goyle. At the of the period end, Tonks nodded. "It's not bad. Realistically you should all know a whole lot more, but I have a feeling that's not due to talent so much as it is having a teacher who was actively trying to sabotage you. Read up on chapter two tonight, and tomorrow be prepared for a practicum on basic counter curses against simple hexes and jinxes. Right, off you go, I'm hungry!"
As the students walked to dinner, the Gryffindor's clustered together, Pavarti and Lavender joining with Harry's usual group. "That was loads better than any DADA lesson we've had before," Pavarti remarked.
"I think I may have actually learned something, seeing all those curses and jinxes and their counters," Ron said. "That bastard never really taught us anything."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I think Tonks is brilliant. Glad we have her instead of Mad-Eye. She's nice, and he's creepy."
"I'm sure Professor Moody has a lot to pass on to us," Hermione said, putting her nose in the air.
"Oh come off it Hermione," Lavender snorted. "Maybe he's a brilliant auror, but do you really think he has what it takes to teach? Always stomping around on that peg leg of his, magical eye glaring at everyone."
Ron shrugged. "I'll ask Percy at dinner. He had Moody today. I bet it's interesting at least, learning from a real war hero. I'm a bit disappointed he isn't our teacher."
At supper, the students swapped stories about their experiences in DADA lessons.
"Moody was unorthodox, but I can see how he got results in the field," Percy observed.
"Tonks was great! She disguised herself as Hannah and snuck into class with us. Must be dead useful to be a metamorphmagus like here," Harry said.
"I think I learned more in class today from Tonks having us demonstrate the curses and counters we were each good at than I did from all of Quirrell's stuttering last term," Hermione declared, clearly pleased that they had such a capable professor.
Oliver laughed and shook his head. "Tonks was always doing that to play jokes on people last year. She snuck into each and every common room that way at least once. I think the Slytherins almost murdered her, her dad's a muggleborn who married a pureblood, you know."
"Why does that even matter?" Harry grumbled.
Percy put a calming hand on the younger boys shoulder. "It doesn't, Harry. But some people think it does. And that's why we had the war last time."