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CHAPTER 5 - An Odd DADA Class

Harry was glad to be back. All his Gryffindor friends were glad to see him back. Though there were a lot of questions about why he returned so late, Harry fielded them by giving extremely vague answers. He had seen virtually nothing of Draco Malfoy yet, for some reason they were having potions with Ravenclaw instead and Care of Magical Animals had been cancelled temporarily, since they had to get a new teacher. Where Hagrid had gone, was something no one knew, and Professor McGonagall refused to tell them. Harry thought he had a fairly good idea, but he kept it to himself.

Professor Speller, a young, rather nervous wizard who rather uncannily reminded Harry of Quirrel, was teaching the Defence against Dark Arts classes. However, he did know his subject and the study of the less known curses was always interesting. Well it was until one day…

"Today we are going to study the Respiratus curse. This is one of the worst curses after the Unforgivables, because it kills as surely but much slower. Very few are going to be able to do this curse because it is in some ways even more difficult than the killing curse. The reason for this is that the Respiratus curse draws heavily on the basic element of the wizard. As you all know, that all wizards have a basic element. Which is why the core in their wands differ. However most wizards are incapable of summoning the element. The ones who can touch their element at all should be at least partially successful at the Respiratus curse. Now, is everyone ready?"

Harry slumped back. Another dangerous curse, how many were there anyway? He grinned as he noticed Hermione sitting up, with an expression of deep concentration on her face. "Here goes nothing," whispered Ron.

One by one each student was called up. Dean's wand emitted a streak of blue light, but it wasn't strong enough even to reach the Professor, leave alone hit him. The rest just fizzled out. Finally it was just the three of them. Hermione went up first, a look of determination pasted on her face. She lifted he wand, pointed it at Professor Speller and shouted "Respiratus." A flash of blue light issued from it and hit the professor in the stomach. He collapsed wheezing, unable to breathe but he just managed to point the wand at himself and murmur "Aspiratus." He immediately stopped choking and stood up.

"Excellent, Hermione. Very, very good indeed. You are very attuned to your inner element. Ten points to Gryffindor. Now Ron, you are next. Let us see how well you can do."

Ron, looking deeply apprehensive walked up, held up his wand and said the words. To everybody, including Ron's own, it worked. Not as well as Hermione's but well enough to merit another ten points. Now only Harry was left. After seeing the superb performance of both his best friends, Harry was a trifle nervous. He gripped his wand, pointed it at the Professor and said "Respiratus."

The whole room glowed with the blue light. When the light cleared, he found that all the others, including the Professor, were on the floor panting and wheezing. Harry stared incredulously for a second, before he remembered the part about the curse being deadly. He quickly muttered "Aspiratus" at each person in turn. Bringing them back was a little more difficult and required some concentration, but he managed before any irreparable damage could be done.

Professor Speller stared at him with astonishment. "How did you manage that? Not even Dumbledore could have done it. It's unheard of. How??"

Harry cut him off. "I have to go. I must talk to Dumbledore right now. Please excuse me, Professor. With that, he dashed out followed closely by Ron and Hermione.

"Harry, stop." shouted Hermione. "Wait for us."

Harry stopped and stared at her. "Has it even occurred to you, that I could have killed all of you back there? I would have been a murderer. I could have gone to Azkaban. There is something Professor Dumbledore and I have to know it. Now are you coming with me or not?"

"Yeah of course we are, aren't we Hermione?" said Ron, nudging Hermione in the ribs. Before Hermione could say anything, the two boys had hared off. Hermione followed a few paces behind murmuring platitudes under her breath, too softly for them to hear.

At the gargoyle, Harry said Mars bar and ran through before Hermione reached there. The other two followed more staidly. By the time they got through, they could hear disjointed pieces of conversation. "I almost killed them. What happened? I need to…"

Then Dumbledore's voice calmed them. "Harry, there is something I have to tell you. Something I have to tell all three of you, yes you too Mr. Weasely. I wanted to tell you this earlier, but I couldn't. Now it is time. But before that there is someone here who wants to see you. Come on out."

Three eyes were trained on the door where a dark figure stood silhouetted.

Fawkes - thanks. thrilled you liked the story. wait for the sixth chap, it'll be up by tomm. and you'll know why.

Cherry Blossom - there'll be one up veryday, please keep reading

and to all of you out there, for gods sake and mine R and R