Chapter Four:

Chapter Four:

Disturbing Behaviors

H

ermione woke Anna up very early the next morning

"We've got to go down for breakfast. We get our schedules today."

"Oh! Ok," said Anna, jumping out of bed. She changed out of her nightclothes, and into her Hogwarts robes, stuffed her wand into the inside pocket, grabbed her bag, and hurried to meet the rest of the gang in the common room. Together they went down the marble staircase, laughing as they all jumped the trick step together, and sat down to breakfast in the great hall. Right as the food appeared on the table, the stern witch from the sorting ceremony walked up to the table with a stack of papers.

"Schedules," Hermione said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

As the witch handed Anna her schedule, she leaned over her and said, "Hello, I'm Professor McGonagall. I am your transfiguration teacher as well as the head of your house. Feel free to come to me if you need anything. I'm sure one of your friends here will direct you to my office." She finished handing out schedules and then went up to the high table with the other teachers.

"Let me see yours, Hermione," said Anna, taking Hermione's out of her hand.

"Yeah, we have all the same classes!" squealed Anna.

"Of course, we do," laughed Hermione, taking her schedule back. "All the fifth year Gryffindors have the same classes."

"Except," Harry started, "for Wednesdays when we have double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs—"

"And Fridays when we have double potions with the Slytherins! Again? Oh, blimey," yelled Ron, slapping his hand to his forehead and shaking his head wearily.

"Snape is head of the Slytherin house and always plays favorites with them," said Hermione. "You'd think Ron'd be used to it by now."

"Is it so wrong to hope?" asked Ron, clinching his fists and looking up at the ceiling longingly.

"No," Hermione laughed. "I suppose not."

After breakfast they had transfiguration from nine to ten, then charms from ten to eleven.

"At least we don't have Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins this year," said Harry as they walked down the steps of the castle and down the grassy hill to a little hut by the Forbidden Forest.

"Who's the teacher for this class?" asked Anna.

"Oh, Hagrid. He's great—"

"Yes, I know him. Him and my mum were good friends when she went to school here. We talked to him in the Leaky Cauldron. He never mentioned that he was a teacher, though."

"He's my favorite," said Harry. "Well, except for last year. The whole episode with the blast ended skrewts, that was murder."

"Almost literally," joked Ron. Anna smiled.

"'Ello, there Harry!" Hagrid called as he spotted them. He waved one of his massive hands in the air.

"Hello!" Harry called back. They all waved back to him.

"Who've yeh got there?" He asked, squinting his eyes up at them. "Oh, Anna! Don' know how I coulda missed ya! I see ya made friends with Harry here. That's good, very good." He turned his attention away from the four. "Gather round, class, gather round!"

After a class full of review (Or so Anna's new friends said. Some of the stuff Hagrid said, she had never heard before.) they headed back up to the castle for lunch.

The next day ran just as smoothly as the previous one. At lunch on Wednesday the boy named Draco Malfoy swaggered his way over to the Gryffindor table with his two bodyguard-like friends behind him.

"Great…" sighed Fred when he spotted the silver blond haired boy. "Just what we need."

"You guys have fun," laughed George, pushing his chair away from the table and getting up. "We've got better things to do than talk to Malfoy."

As Draco came closer to the table Ron clenched his fists and his ears got pink on the top. Anna swore she saw a bit of steam escape his ears as well.

"Well, if it isn't Anna Morgan…" said Draco, coming face to face with Anna, cracking his knuckles, his now trademark sneer still on his face. "I've heard a lot about you from my father. You may have heard of him as well. Lucius Malfoy is his name." Anna cringed, wondering what he could know. "By the way, I'm Draco Malfoy," he said, extending his hand. Anna glanced at Harry, whose jaw was hanging open in shock. She then extended her own hand and shook Draco's. She felt Harry tense beside her, but he relaxed when nothing happened.

"Well, you already know my name," said Anna, smiling politely, "but what have you heard about me?"

"Time shall tell," Draco whispered. He winked so that only Anna could see, turned on his heel, and strode away back to the Slytherin table.

"What were you guys talking about?" Anna asked, turning back to her Gryffindor friends. "Draco seems very nice." Anna cut into the ham sitting in front of her.

"That was very odd," said Hermione shaking her head. "He's always been so cruel to us. I wonder what made him think to be different to you."

"Yeah, he's never nice to any of the Gryffindors, especially us," said Harry, taking his own piece of ham.

"Guess I'm lucky," Anna said smiling.

They finished the rest of their lunch without saying much and then went off to the green houses for double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs.

Anna found the Hufflepuff crowd to be one of her least favorites. They were very skittish, dropping pots and other things of the like. They also whispered a lot. Anna heard her name several times during the class. She was thankful when the class was over.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Anna walked back up to the castle without saying a word. Anna was worried about what they might be thinking, so she decided to break the silence.

"What class do we have next, Harry?" Anna asked,

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Harry. "Should be rather interesting."

"Why is that? 'Cause of the new teacher?" asked Anna.

"Not only that, but he is the fifth new teacher that we've had. A new one every year," answered Hermione.

"A new one every year?" asked Anna incredulously. "Why?"

"Because every one of them has turned out to be a screw up," said Ron. "The first year we had Professor Qurriell and he was sporting You-Know-Who under his turban."

"Oh, I hear about that one," said Anna.

"The second year we had Gilderoy Lockhart," continued Ron. "You know, the author?" Anna nodded. "Well, he turned out to be a fraud."

"Hm, that's weird."

"It gets weirder," laughed Harry. "The third year we had Professor Lupin. He's the best one we've had so far. He was friends with my dad and Sir— er—and his friends when they were in school."

"What happened to him?" Anna asked.

"Oh, he turned out to be a werewolf," said Harry as though it were normal.

"A werewolf!?" gasped Anna.

"Yep," laughed Harry.

"What about last year?" she asked.

"Professor Moody. A retired Auror from our Ministry. Only, it wasn't him. It was an escaped Death-Eater using the Poly-juice potion. It was really quite a long story. They ended up catching him with the Marauder's Map and the Veritaserum potion."

"Oh," said Anna. She knew about everything except for that map. "What is the Marauder's Map?" she asked.

"Oh, remind and I'll show it to you sometime."

They walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts class and took four empty seats in the back row. Professor Drath seemed to be a little nervous. He was ringing his hands and pacing back and forth in front of the classroom. As the rest of the class came in, his shut the door. He seemed to be bit more relaxed.

"Dumbledore and I have spoken," he began in an American accent, "and since Alastor Moody, or his double rather, saw fit to teach you the unforgivable curses, we see fit to continue that study." He paused as the class broke into whispers, looking around at one another. "Since we have no spiders or other specimens to work these curses on, we will be experimenting on one another." More loud whispers. "To refresh your memories, I will demonstrate each curse. The three curses are Imperius, Cruciatus, and Avada Kedavra. Harry Potter," Drath smirked, "I believe you are rather familiar with all three of these curses, are you not?"

Harry gulped. "Yes, Professor, I am, but—"

"Please assist me then," said Drath, his smirk twisting into an ominous smile.

Harry reluctantly stood up and walked to the front of the class.

"I am told," Drath began, raising his wand, "that you were one of the few that was able to fight the Imperius Curse." Harry nodded weakly. "Prove it," Drath said quickly and before Harry could object, the professor had already said "Imperio!"

Drath pulled out a stool from behind his desk. He seemed to be sending telepathic messages to Harry because his eyes were squinted intensely.

Harry's bright green eyes looked empty. He walked over to the chair hesitantly, his face screwed up as well. He was fighting it, Anna could tell. Harry took a few more steps toward the stool, and finally let out a sigh and his face relaxed. He'd broken it.

"Very well done, Potter, extremely well," said Drath. "Now for the harder curses."

Harry drew back as Drath shouted "Crucio!"

Anna gasped as Harry limply flung to the floor and twisted and contorted about, a look of unimaginable pain on his face.

"STOP!" Anna yelled, and several others joined in, getting quite worried. They'd never seen these curses performed on people.

Drath released the curse. Harry sat up looking exhausted.

"Why did you do that?" Harry yelled, trying to stand up.

"I was merely giving a lesson, Harry," Drath said innocently, tapping his wand on the palm of his hand.

"That's no way to teach! Maybe we should try that one on you, Professor Drath! Have you ever had that done to you before? Do you know what it's like?" Harry's anger seemed to be giving him the strength to stand up and walk towards Drath.

"Actually, Harry, I do," Drath said, as if there were no importance to the issue. Harry just shot him an incredulous look, and rubbed the back of his neck. "There is one curse left. Avada Kedavra, the killing curse." A shiver ran through the class. "I believe Mr. Potter is most familiar with this one," said Drath. He walked up to Harry with his hands behind his back, though he was still clutching his wand. "Brings back memories, doesn't it, Harry?" Drath hissed menacingly. Harry glared at him. "Can you still hear her screaming, Harry? In the middle of the night, pleading, trying to save you?" Harry clenched his fists, his face red with fury. "It was your fault, you know." Drath continued, circling Harry. "If she hadn't been trying to save you, she probably would have been spared."

Anna stood up, as well as Hermione and Ron.

Drath continued whispering to Harry. From out of nowhere, Harry turned around and punched Drath right across the face. The class gasped, even a few screamed, but Anna, Hermione and Ron ran forward to Harry.

Drath fell, and Harry backed away, rubbing his knuckles. The whole class was on its feet, teetering over their desks trying to see the professor. Drath sat up clutching his face.

Just then the door suddenly banged open and in walked Snape, looking quite shook up.

"What's all this noise?" he yelled. "I can hear you all the way in the dungeons!" His eyes fell upon Drath, whose nose had started to bleed a bit. "Drath! What on earth happened?"

"Him," Drath pointed up to Harry who was still massaging his hand. "He—he punched me. He was helping me demonstrate a lesson and he just hauled off and punched me, for no reason at all."

"NO REASON?!" yelled Ron, livid. "We heard what you were saying to him, Professor, we're not deaf!"

Drath turned to Snape. "I don't know what he's talking about, Severus."

"I can't believe you!" yelled Harry. "Professor Snape, he was—he was saying that my mum dieing was my fault and a lot more. I didn't mean to hit him, it was—it was an impulse, I guess."

"Impulse or not, Potter, come with me," said Snape, but he didn't look at all mad.

Harry followed him into the hall. He didn't have to ask where they were going. They started off for Dumbledore's office when Snape shocked him by actually talking to him.

"Listen, Potter—"

"I know, Professor, I know. I was wrong, I shouldn't have done it." Harry cut in.

"Actually, I was going to say that you did the right thing. I wasn't too fond of your father, but your mother and I were friends. Drath has no right to say those things to you, or any one for that matter. Just watch out for him, alright? Oh, I shouldn't be telling you this, and I can't believe I am," said Snape, rolling his eyes, "but I don't like him. Just be careful."

Harry was shocked. Why was Snape telling him this? He thought Snape hated him, and here he was warning him and giving him his own personal opinion.

"I still think you should go in and talk to Dumbledore anyway. I'm sure he'd like to hear about this. Ice Mice," Snape said to the gargoyle, and as the door opened, he strode away with his usually sneer back in place. Harry chuckled lightly and shook his head. Only the third day of term and he was already in Dumbledore's office. He knocked at Dumbledore's door as he reached the top of the staircase. He was surprised when no one answered. It wasn't like Dumbledore to not be around. He could either sit and wait or go back to class. He opted for the latter. He wanted to go tell his friends about Snape and the other weird things going on.

Author's Note: Ya like it so far? It's getting better… hee hee hee! Sorry it's taking me so long to post the new chapters. I got really busy and kinda blocked ::hits self on head:: Ouch… anyway—enjoy and don't forget to review! I love hearing what you guys think, even the flames! Please review!

DISCLAIMER: All these characters belong to J.K. Rowling; Lord knows I'm not that creative! Anna and Emrick Drath belong to Moi! I know I should have put a disclaimer on this story from page one, but, I confess… I forgot, lol.