Harry groaned as he sat in his seat next to Ron. "I hate Potions," he mumbled.

"Well, considering Snape isn't here yet," Ron drawled.

Harry glanced over at Draco Malfoy. Once again, the Gryffindors were-blessed-by having Potions with Slytherins for another year. Draco was sitting in the midst of Crabbe, Goyle, and several other wonderful Slytherin scum.

Harry had wondered how Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle had been allowed back into the school-after all, Harry had witnessed their fathers joining their master when he had risen again. But it turned out that their fathers had disappeared, supposedly for business reasons-at least, that's what the Ministry said. The Ministry was still trying desperately to ignore the return of Voldemort.

Draco was doing what he did best. "Did you see that new teacher? At first I thought she was Moody's daughter!" Laughter rose amongst the Slytherins- Harry couldn't understand why. Professor Figg was pretty in an average way, and she seemed to be the exact opposite of Moody.

Draco continued bashing her. "And did you see how she tried to attack Professor Snape? He didn't do a thing to her. I think when my father returns, I'll have to tell him about how violent our new teacher is."

"I don't believe even your father could do anything about her, Draco." Snape stood in the doorway, a sour look on his face.

"And why not, Professor?" Draco said with a smirk.

"Because even your father would be unwilling to cross with Figg. She has her own rules-her own way of doing things."

"And doing people. Isn't that right, Professor?" Draco replied, feigning innocence-if it was possible for a Slytherin to feign such a thing. "You were telling us about her in the common room yesterday."

Snape smirked as he sat at his desk. "Let's just say that I knew Miss Figg during my school years here-and she was very loose around a certain werewolf teacher."

The Slytherins started snickering. Harry was a little indignant that Snape would go around saying that about Remus and Professor Figg.

But it was Hermione that said it out loud. "Professor Snape?" she asked, her eyes narrow. "Do you have any proof that Professor Figg actually did such things? Because to mar the public image and integrity of a fully trained Auror can't be, healthy, can it?"

The Slytherins stopped snickering-Professor Snape glowered at Hermione. "Twenty points from Gryffindor, for questioning my authority," he coldly said. "And if I hear one more word from you, Granger, that's twenty points more."

Hermione sat back in her seat, a slight look of triumph on her.

Harry and Ron were in shock. They looked at Hermione in awe and surprise.

"Now take out your supplies," Snape snapped as he continued. "We've wasted enough class time over that damn Arabella Figg!" Harry and Ron took out their quills and books. They could barely wait until Defense Against Dark Arts, in hope that they would finally meet the Auror who obviously knew how to push Snape's buttons.

bd

They practically flew down the hall to Defense Against Dark Arts. "Hermione!" Ron panted as they wheeled around a corner. "That was amazing!"

"What made you say that to Snape?" Harry asked as they tore up the staircase.

"What Snape said reminded me of what Skeeter said about me-and you know how incorrect that was!" she replied.

They finally reached the Defense Against Dark Arts room. They burst threw the doorway.

Remus and Professor Figg were caught mid laugh. Professor Figg was sitting on the desk, while Remus was leaning up against the blackboard. He straightened up in surprise as he looked at the heavily panting Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Hello! Where are you all coming from in such a hurry?" he asked.

"Potions," they gasped in unison.

Professor Figg made a snorting sound. "Leave it to Snape to scare students away," she snickered.

At that moment, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan burst through the door. "Hermione! That was amazing what you said to Snape after what he said about Professor Fig…" Dean trailed off as he noticed Professor Figg sitting there.

"What did he say?" she asked, an unpleasant look crossing her face.

"Er, er…"

"How dare he make Professor Figg sound like a slut!" Lavender furiously said to Parvati. Then she noticed Professor Figg. "Opps…"

"What did that no good slime ball say now?" Professor Figg said as her frown deepened. She looked at the sea of unwillingness before her. The rest of the class showed up from Potions, and obviously got the hint to stay quiet.

Professor Figg furiously sighed. "Listen," she growled, "The only person that is going to get it is Snape, now SPEAK UP!"

"He said you were loose around a certain werewolf," Neville squeaked in terror. Figg's eyes lit in understand.

"And it was said in a highly suggestive manner," Hermione spoke up in outrage.

"Yeah! He was suggesting that you were sleeping with Professor Lu," Dean trailed off again as he looked at Remus.

"Oh, the rat fink," she said, shaking her head. "Did you catch that Remus? Snape is spreading around school that you and I are sleeping together."

"Oh, I caught that the first time," he replied, as he uncomfortably stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Is it true?" Seamus abruptly said as he slyly smiled at Remus. "Because if it is, way too go Professor Lupin!"

"Yeah!" Dean exclaimed. "You dog you!"

Professor Figg burst out laughing. "Did you hear that Snuggles?" she said as clutched her stomach in pain, tears running down her eyes. Sirius came plodding out of the supply room-if a dog could grin, he was. "Remus is a wolf in dog's clothing!" She caught the look on Remus' face. "Oh, come on Remus! Think about it-it's funny!" she forced through her uncontrollable laughter.

"Not when the rest of the school hears about it," he replied.

Arabella starting hiccupping from laughing too hard. "So that's what that no-good bastard was up too. Trying to ruin my spotless reputation."

"If that was what he was trying, then he doesn't need to try that hard," Remus mischievously said.

Arabella shot him a look. "Don't be surprised if you find something incredibly nasty in your drink at dinner for that," she threatened. Looking back at the class, she cleared her throat as her face became solemn. "I would like to assure you now that Remus and I are not an item."

A disappointed look must have swept over the faces of the class, because Professor Figg's face spilt into a grin again. "Well, I'm terribly sorry, but Remus and I have only been friends since our first year at Hogwarts and nothing more."

"Aww," Lavender and Parvati sighed together. Arabella and Remus' eyebrows rose, puzzled. "That's so cute!"

Arabella looked dumfounded. Shrugging it off, she got up off the desk. "Anyway, I think Severus Snape has disrupted our class time enough. Lets move onto Defense Against Dark Arts." Her voice became subdued, though every word could still be heard.

"As you have probably deduced, my name is Arabella McKenzie Figg. I was an Auror during the height of Voldemort's-get used to the name, for I'll be using it often," she snapped at the reaction of the class. "During Voldemort's reign of terror. I worked with Moody and Fletcher, and we were responsible for the capture and imprisonment of many, many of Voldemort's supporters." She gave the class a slight smile. "Not that I'm bragging.

"I'm going to be dead honest with you. This year, it is Professor Lupin's and my job to train you in the hope that some of you will move onto Advanced Defense Against Dark Arts next year. I am telling you this now-and I'm probably going to keep telling you this as the year goes on. Voldemort is back. And believe me, all the training in the world won't truly prepare you for him.

"I can speak from experience-once on a raid, Moody and I were captured by a gang of Death Eaters, and taken to Voldemort." A painful look from the memory suddenly crossed Arabella's face-Remus rose in slight alarm. But the moment past, caught only by a few. Remus knew that that memory was going immediately into her pensieve.

"Moody and I were fortunate…we didn't break and give any information to Voldemort. But others, weren't so lucky." No one knew that the face of Wormtail had appeared in Arabella's mind-but once again, she pushed the memory back.

Harry stared at Professor Figg with a slight sense of hope. He himself had seen Voldemort-if anyone would understand why he couldn't rid himself of the memories from that meeting, she would.

"There is only one thing that can and will save you-it has saved me on numerous occasions. It's constant vigilance." It was said so softly, that the class almost missed it. They were used to having it yelled at them. "Practice constant vigilance, and you'll have the upper hand.

"That's your first lesson-do I have to give you a formal invitation to sit down and take notes?" she said, a twinge of mockery in her voice.

The class rushed to the desks-for the first time, the back row was empty. Arabella had a hold of them-her low voice and brutal honesty had ensnared them. Remus sat behind the desk, and watched Arabella like a student. He himself was taken in by her words, which only left him with a yearning to hear more.

"This year, I will be teaching you defense against curses, while professor Lupin will be teaching defense against the more dangerous dark allies of Voldemort." Arabella sat once again on the desk. "Now, if you have any questions you'd like to ask, please do so now."

"Why didn't you let Professor Trelawney read your future today?" Lavender said, the question bursting out of her mouth.

Arabella gave a weary smile. "I have no patience for the future-especially when Trelawney predicts it. She has a knack for predicting the many ways one person can die," she replied, her voice hinting intolerance. "Besides, one of the first things I learned as an Auror was 'never have your fortune read.'" Arabella frowned at the disapproving looks on Lavander's and Parvati's faces. "When I was an Auror, I had to be ready to lay down my life in the fight against evil. I don't think that I would have had half the nerve I needed when I went on Death Eater raids if I had an death omen hanging over my head!" she snapped.

"I don't need to hear about my future. Everyone eventually dies, and I long as I take down a few Death Eaters with me, then I'm alright with dying." A smile reappeared on her face. "I believe, that when it comes to death, ignorance is bliss."

Harry wholeheartedly agreed.

"Now! Are there any other questions that do not concern Divination?"

The class shook their head in unison.

"Fine-then I'll take a roll call, and you can leave." Dean, Thomas and Ron started cheering; Hermione looked scandalized. "You're homework is to relax tonight, because tomorrow we start real Defense Against Dark Arts."

Arabella rose her wand and Summoned a piece of paper and a quill-she pointed to Neville. "You start-say your full name, and then you can leave."

"Neville Longbottom," he squeaked. Something flashed across Arabella's face, almost like sorrow. But yet again, its appearance was too brief.

Arabella pointed at another boy. "Dean Thomas."

"Lavender Brown."

"Ron Weasley."

"Hermione Granger."

"Before you leave, I would like to have a word with you, Miss Granger," Arabella said without looking up from her list.

Hermione gave Harry and Ron a confused look as Harry said his name. "Harry Potter."

Now, Harry was expecting some kind of reaction from Professor Figg. A pause, a glance at his forehead-the same thing that everyone did.

But Professor Figg did nothing of the sort. She just moved on to the next person without acknowledging Harry as 'the boy who lived'. Harry, being so used to such treatment, was surprised, if not taken back.

Professor Figg finally finished taking a roll call. "Go forward, my fellow Gryffindors," she dramatically said. "Enjoy your last day of freedom. For tomorrow," Arabella gave a smirk, "you're ours."

The class filed out of the room, unsure whether to laugh or to afraid. Soon, all that were left was Professors Figg and Lupin, Harry, Hermione and Ron.

Remus shook his head in disgust at Arabella. "You and your need to intimidate," he scorned softly. "You haven't changed a bit, Ink."

"Why change perfection?" she asked innocently.

Both Snuggles and Remus glared at her. Snuggles laid down behind the desk.

Arabella sighed as she got off the desk and closed the classroom door. "I'll leave you to put up warding spells," Arabella told Remus.

While he was doing that, Arabella motioned for the three to sit. "So how many points did Snape take off for answering him back?" she asked Hermione.

"Twenty," Hermione proudly said.

Arabella whistled. "I'm not worth twenty points!" she said as she sat back on the desk. Remus had finished putting up the wards, and walked back over to the desk.

"You're selling yourself short again," Sirius said as he stood up from behind the desk. The three were shocked-Sirius looked healthier than he had ever looked before. Standing in between Remus and Arabella, the affects of Azkaban were almost gone. His eyes no longer held the dead look of Azkaban-in fact, they were laughing.

Sirius walked over to Harry, and enveloped him in a hug. Harry returned the hug, twice as hard. "Sirius," was all that Harry could get past his tightened throat. He hadn't seen Sirius since the end of school last year.

"You look well, Sirius," Hermione happily commented.

"No thanks to Arabella's cooking," Sirius and Remus muttered.

Arabella sighed. "I accept my fate-I can make any potion you point out, yet I can't even boil water." She looked back to Hermione. "Anyway, thanks for sticking up for Remus and I-I appreciate it. Twenty points for Gryffindor."

Sirius smirked. "Severus isn't going to like that, Ink."

"Well, Padfoot-Severus could do us all a favor and sod off," she scoffed. She looked back at Harry. "Well, well-so this is James and Lily's boy!" Arabella boisterously said, a bittersweet twinge in her voice. "I'd say you're a spitting image of James, but I'm sure you're sick and tired of hearing that!"

Harry grinned. He definitely liked Professor Figg's way of looking at things. "So you were a friend of my parents?" he asked.

Sirius and Remus snorted.

"No more friend than conjoined twin!" Remus replied.

"A very annoying shadow!" Sirius laughed.

"Honorary Marauder."

"Kamikaze Quidditch beater!"

"Academic failure."

"Damn good mischief maker."

"An all around good guy-er-girl," they said in unison.

Arabella's eyes narrowed. "What this is-'Bash Arabella' day?"

"Extra points if we top Snape," Sirius said, nodding.

Arabella sighed. "Any who," she said, looking at Harry. "I just want you to know that any time you want to see Sirius, just come straight to me and I'll arrange a meeting for you. From now on, Sirius is Snuggles,"

"I still like Snuffles better," Sirius interrupted.

"Snuggles," she contradicted, "my pet dog."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at Arabella.

Arabella counterfeited indignation. "How dare you, you fiend! You brute!" Arabella jumped off the desk. "I challenge you to a duel!"

Sirius and Arabella confronted. Standing hardly a nose width apart, they sized each other up.

Remus shook his head in mock disgust. "Children, children!" he said, wagging a finger at them, his face an unmistakable imitation of McGonagall's. "Now don't make me break you too up!"

Ron and Harry broke out snickering. Hermione looked shocked at their display.

Arabella and Sirius broke away, and grinning, shook hands.

"Well, we've wasted enough of your lunch time," Remus said as he picked up his wand to take down the warding spells. Sirius shrank back into his dog form.

"Visit anytime," Arabella assured them. "Don't be a stranger now."

Remus opened the door for them, and waved them off. Hermione, Harry and Ron walked out of room, and the door shut behind them. Boisterous, maniacal laughter burst forth from the room after them.

Ron looked at Hermione and Harry, shock mirrored off of their faces.

He shook his head. "Completely bonkers, all of them," Ron muttered.

"Do you think it's because they were all Marauders?" Hermione asked.

Harry didn't have an answer for her question. "Well," he started. "So much for a boring year at Hogwarts."

~Well well well…what do the last of the Marauders have in store for Hogwarts?

^_^ Wouldn't you like to know!! Please R/R, because I am a review junkie. Any flames will be used on Snape courtesy of Arabella Figg. Hope you enjoyed!!

~*Ink'n'Imp*~