Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.  That would violate anti-slavery laws.

Harry began to regret telling Ginny it was alright for her to be part of the delegation.    He really missed her, along with Ron and Hermione.  There wasn't anything to do, and classes had really lost their edge.  The Ward duties seemed to be wearing in more than usual as well, making Harry sore at the end of each day.  Ugh, Harry thought, this is worse than the summer!  Harry wondered how he got through the summer, and realized he spent most of his time playing his trumpet.  Harry realized he hadn't done much of that at Hogwarts, and at this rate would never learn 'Hey Jude' for Dudley.

Of course, he realized, this is the perfect opportunity to play it.  So each day at the end of Ward duty, Harry would haul his trumpet to the far recesses of the castle and play until curfew; He somehow felt better after playing it.

Unfortunately, Harry didn't have much to practice.  He no longer had music from Dudley to play along with.  Harry decided upon creating a music source like he did when he danced with Ginny in the corridors last year.  But that music was always exactly what his imagination made it.  There was never anything unexpected, and the melody went exactly where Harry's mind thought it would.  This bothered Harry, because every time he tried to play along, the melody matched whatever he played on his trumpet.  While it was kind of fun to play when you couldn't possibly mess up, Harry knew he wasn't really learning anything.

The next day, Harry was sitting alone eating his lunch, when McGonagall addressed the students.  Harry didn't find this that unusual anymore, since Dumbledore now slept during the day and was unavailable for announcements.

"I've got two important pieces of news," called McGonagall.  "First, Hermione Granger has been selected as the Hogwarts champion."  The Gryffindor table burst into cheers, but Harry felt bittersweet at best.  If another champion had been selected, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione might have come back.  Now they were solidly placed at Durmstrang until May.

"Second, Dumbledore feels that although the Triwizard Tournament is being held at Durmstrang, we should still have a Christmas dance at Hogwarts."  At this, the majority of the girls in the hall giggled.  Harry groaned – hopefully no one would feel the need to ask him to the dance, seeing as how he had been dating Ginny for over a year.

Harry found out his hopes were completely unfounded.  The next day, before he even sat down for breakfast, Harry was confronted by Parvati Patil.

"So, Harry, are you going to ask me to the Yule Ball again?" Parvati somehow managed to say through her giggles.

"Er… no." stammered Harry.

At this, Parvati pouted a little and said, "Why not?"

Harry carefully considered his options.  Of course, the real reason he wasn't going was Ginny.  Of course, he doubted many people would buy this, since Ginny would be gone for several months.  "Well," he replied hesitantly, "I can't because of, er, Ward duties.  You know, guarding the non-immune people who aren't going to the dance."  This was a complete lie; Dumbledore had planned for another recreational activity that evening for the younger students and older ones who weren't going to the dance.  And they would all be guarded by Flitwick.

Parvati huffed off disappointed, and Harry shook his head in wonderment.  He quickly finished his meal, and headed off for Defense Against the Dark Arts.  Fleur seemed to be doing almost as good of job as Lupin, and creatively presented the material.  Harry personally loved the unannounced Imperious curse testing.  In his opinion, it was far more effective to learn how to throw the curse off if you didn't know it was being placed on you to begin with.  Under Crouch's tutelage, each of them knew exactly what to expect and when to expect it.

As Harry walked into the classroom, he found that he was the first to arrive.  Fleur quickly motioned him over to her desk.  "Harry," she whispered, "I need your help."  Harry quickly grew alarmed, until she continued, "We're going to be playing a little game in class, and I need you to pretend to be under the curse – preferably towards the end of the game"

Professor Delacour must have noticed the look of confusion on Harry's face and said, "Don't worry.  You'll understand what I'm talking about when I start the class.  Quick, get back to your seat!"  Harry was feeling even more confused as he walked back to his bench.  Then he realized that Fleur wanted whatever he was supposed to do a secret, as a few other people entered the class as well.

Harry sat pondering what he was supposed to do as everyone trickled into class.  When it was time, Fleur addressed, "Remember the Exorcism spell we learned earlier on in the year?  Well, it can also be used to remove the Imperius curse upon someone.  So we're going to do a combination of the two lessons in a little game.  Here's how it goes.  I'll be teaching normally, except I'll be again putting the Imperius curse on people.  However, you will not do something as benign as singing.  Instead, you will start to curse your classmates."

At her words, most of the class gasped.  Professor Delacour smiled and said, "Really!  Do you think a dark wizard will use the Imperius curse to make you sing?  For the rest of the class period, only three spells may be used: Repurgare, Stupefy, and Ennervate.  When I cast Imperius on you, of course try to resist it.  If you succeed, say 'I resisted the curse for you, Potter or Thomas' or whomever I was telling you to curse.  If you fail, you will start stunning your classmates.  The rest of your job is to stop your classmates from stunning you.  Of course, after an attack, you may revive your stunned classmates.  Is everyone clear?"

The entire class was looking a little shocked at the turn of events.  Harry thought the idea was a creative one, but a little overboard, especially in light of what was happening in the school.  Harry then shuddered when he realized what Fleur was asking him to do.  He was supposed to pretend to be under the Imperius curse and stun his classmates!  He wondered why Fleur was having him do this, and could only come up with one reason.  He was playing the part of an evil wizard, only pretending to be innocent all along!

Fleur had an almost evil smile on her face and said, "Let's begin.  Today we're going to talk about the past uses of the Imperius curse and how they were resisted.  Back in 1529 the German minister of magic attempted to influence the governmental workings of the Italian ministry.  Of course, this was many years before the Imperius curse was deemed Unforgivable and warranted a life sentence.  Anyway…"

Before she could continue, Seamus Finnegan drew his wand and cast Stupefy on Dean Thomas sitting next to him.  He turned around and was about to stun Terry Boot as well, but Harry quickly cast Repurgare on him.  Seamus sat up straight, and noticed that Dean was asleep on the desk.  After blushing strongly, Seamus cast Ennervate on his partner and Fleur said, "Well done, Potter."

Fleur then continued, "As I was saying, the German ministry attempted to use the Imperius curse to affect what decisions the Italian ministry made, but the subterfuge was detected."  Harry tried following Fleur's words, but his mind became blank.  "Harry," a voice called in his head, "This is Fleur.  I take it you realize what your task is in this affair, now?"

This has to be the weirdest Imperius curse I've ever seen, Harry thought, then called out in his mind, "Yes, I'm supposed to play the bad wizard who only pretends to be under the curse."

Fleur's voice responded in his head, "Good deduction, Potter.  Later on I want you to stun people and stop when they cast Repurgare on you.  Then, even later, I want you to keep stunning until someone stops you for real.  Right now, please say, 'I resisted the curse for you, Neville'"

Harry thought about it, and yelled in his head, "NO!", thinking this was just another way to use the imperius curse.  Convince the victim, not force them.

Inside his head, he heard Fleur laugh and say, "Harry, I'm not trying to put you under the curse!  I'm telling you what I want you to do to help out the class.  Think!  Does it feel like you're being compelled to do something?"

Harry had to admit that it didn't seem like the professor was trying to put him under the Imperius curse.  Giving an imperceptible nod, Harry called out, "I resisted for you, Neville."

The rest of the class looked over at Harry, and Neville stammered, "Er, thanks, Harry."

Fleur smiled again, and only Harry knew why.  She is nasty! Harry thought.  Professor Delacour continued her lecture, "As I was saying, this caused the Italian ministry to propose a stricter handling of the Imperius curse."

Harry didn't pay too much attention to the lecture.  Nobody else was either, it seemed.  Everyone was on edge having to worry about the Imperius curse or stunning someone else under it.  Sure enough, Parvati managed to stun Lavender Brown and Mandy Brocklehurst before Seamus stopped her, and Neville stunned Lisa Turpin before Harry stopped him.  Finally, a decent ways into the class, Padma slowly said, "I resisted for you, Harry."  Harry turned around, and gave her a smile.

Shoot!  I have to do my bit!  Harry thought.  A few minutes later, he whipped out his wand and said, "Stupefy," pointing it at Neville.  Immediately after that, he stunned Lavender.  Harry thought to himself Ok, I'm a little sorry about stunning Neville, but taking out Lavender was kind of fun.  Everyone seemed amazed that Harry Potter was under the curse, and Harry was able to stun Parvati as well before two Ravenclaws both yelled "Repurgare!"

Harry faked losing his composure and shook himself.  As he turned back around to face the professor, he noticed that Terry Boot had a puzzled look on his face.  Everyone else it seemed was whispering, wondering if Harry had lost his edge in dodging that curse, but Harry could feel Terry's eyes on him.  He's figured me out!  He knows that I wasn't really under the curse! Harry thought.  He smiled and thought evilly Then he must be the first one to go!

Lavender had her chance, and a few seconds later Parvati fell stunned again.  Lavender didn't have time for another, as Neville exorcised her.  Harry again turned to the instructor and a few minutes later heard an odd grunt behind him.

Harry whipped around, figuring that someone was about to start stunning their classmates.  Harry saw that the grunt was being emitted by Sally-Anne Perks, who was slowly and shakily moving his hand towards her robe.  Everyone in the class seemed to pick up on this, and drew their wand.  As soon as she had her wand out, several Repurgare spells hit her.

"Congratulations, Perks!" Fleur said.

Sally-Anne was confused and said, "But, why?  I didn't throw off the curse!"

Delacour smiled and said, "You threw it off long enough for your classmates to realize something was wrong."  Sally-Anne smiled, and Fleur continued her lecture.

At about ten minutes before end of class, Harry figured it was time for his performance.  He drew his wand and whipped around.  Behind him, Terry's eyes grew wide, but before he could do anything Harry stunned him.  Harry quickly stunned Padma and Lisa, and heard several cries of "Repurgare!"

Harry smiled slightly and stunned Seamus, Dean and Sally-Anne.

"Repurgare!" called Parvati again.

"It's not working!" yelled Neville.

Harry wheeled around and stunned Parvati and Lavender; Mandy Brocklehurst was about to go too, when Neville yelled, "Stupefy!"

Neville looked around the class.  He, along with Mandy and the professor, were the only ones awake!  Neville and Mandy looked at Fleur, who only smiled and said, "Well?  Wake your classmates."

Harry felt himself come to, with Neville staring down at him.  He gave a small little smile and heard Fleur's voice call out, "Harry Potter, who all did you stun?"

Harry answered, "Terry, Padma, Lisa, Sally-Anne, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and Parvati.  8 people."

Fleur's voice grew hard, "Class!  What did you learn from this?  Harry managed to stun almost everyone!"

Several people muttered, "We used Repurgare!"

"NO!" yelled Fleur, "What did you learn!  If you don't learn anything, you're just going to repeat your mistakes!"  Everyone sank back; they hadn't seen Fleur angry before.

It was almost a minute before Lisa Turpin slowly raised her hand and said, "We learned that some people will use the Imperius curse as an excuse."

"Excellent," announced Professor Delacour, "10 points for Ravenclaw.  Unknown to all of you, I asked Harry to help me out in this class.  His job was to pretend to be under the imperius curse all along.  I never once tried to coerce him to stun any of you.  Why did I do this?  Because it's important to realize that there are two types of dark wizards or witches.  One type will openly declare themselves.  But by far the more dangerous type will pretend to be your friend, instead.  How do we combat this?  CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Most of the class cringed at the last two words, and Fleur yelled, "How do we combat this?"

Several members of the class mumbled the answer, but Professor Delacour was obviously not happy.  "What was that?" she demanded.

"Constant Vigilance!" everyone answered.

Professor Delacour eyed them all carefully.  "Fine," she whispered, "Prove it!  Stupefy!" Harry's eyes widened as the professor stunned Neville.  "Stupefy" she cried again, and Terry was asleep.

Harry came to his senses and yelled, "Stupefy!" at the Professor.  Fleur grinned, blocked the spell and stunned Mandy.  However, the rest of the class picked up, and all cast stunning spells at their professor. 

After everyone, including the professor, was revived, Professor Delacour said, "Well!  That was an interesting lecture, don't you think!  Hopefully, you've learned something from all this.  Class Dismissed."

Harry escorted the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students from the classroom, and noticed that everyone seemed to be in a daze from the class.  Half of them expected to be cursed before they made it back to the Great Hall.  Moody would be proud, Harry thought.

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Thanks all for reviewing!  Ok, I know this chapter had the trumpet.  Well, understand that Harry's extremely bored: his best friends are all gone and he has to put up those annoying wards everyday.

Chris, Cait, and Seifer: Don't worry.  I promise I'll have at least a chapter a day up.

Ariel: Actually, you might get your wish of multiple chapters per day.  I'm already working on the elements of a sequel to this, entitled Harry Potter and the Obsidian Tome.  And I'll be gone for Christmas Break from around 12/21 to 1/6, so I either have the choice of posting part of it before break, and waiting 2-3 weeks to get the rest, or writing like a madman and getting both done before 12/21…

Oh, as you've probably guessed, I play the trumpet (otherwise Harry would probably be playing a recorder)  If you have some time, you can check out

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~kweber/concert/SaltPeanut.mp3

It's a recording from our last Jazz concert up here at Iowa State.  I've got the melody most of the song, and the first solo.  Oh, feel free to copy the song around.  There are no copyrights on our performance, so if you like it, you can have it!

Anyway… Review please?!?