Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Warner Brothers bought me out.
"What's wrong with my idea?!" Hermione yelled at Ron. Harry was torn between amusement and disgust. It was only the first day of class and the two were already arguing. But at least they were basically arguing the same cause, for the most part.
"Listen," Ron demanded, "He's been making fun of us for years! I say we get him back in front of the whole school. We could get a photo of him holding the wisp, and then put posters around titled 'Malfoy, King of the Dead Flobberworms'! It would be great!"
"Come on, Ron!" Hermione wailed, "Everyone would forget that within a few weeks! I think we should goad him up, and make him take it as a personal challenge to communicate with it! That way he'd get poor marks in the class after he failed abysmally!"
"Leave it to you to base revenge on school work," muttered Ron.
"Let's have Harry decide," Hermione suggested.
Personally, although he felt Malfoy deserved a bit of comeuppance, he didn't deserve either option. He knew what public humiliation felt like from Potions. And he knew about getting bad marks, well, from Potions. And as much as Malfoy grated on his nerves, he didn't want to put the same on someone else. "I've got an idea," Harry said in jest, "Why don't you take the photos now, then wait until he fails his class before you humiliate him in front of the entire school. Maybe you can utterly crush him!"
"That's a great idea!" Ron said excitedly, missing Harry's point entirely.
"Harry's right," Hermione groaned.
"I'm sure Malfoy's already going to be embarrassed enough by spending one class period holding a dead flobberworm," Harry consoled.
Hermione saw the look of disappointment on Ron's face, and decided to change the subject. "You ready for dark arts? I'm really eager to see how Professor Dumbledore will teach," asked Hermione. Harry noticed she had already packed her bag for the class – she probably did it as soon as she got back from Care of Magic Creatures.
"Yep," Ron replied, although he hadn't packed his bag. He then turned and asked Harry, "So how do you figure we'll lose Dumbledore this year?"
"Ron," Hermione sighed, "there's no such thing as a curse on the dark arts position."
Ron winked at Harry and said, "I figure he'll lose an arm, at the very least."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Hermione hissed.
Harry caught on, but tried to decide whether to play along. He finally said, in mock thought, "Well, I think he'll be attacked by rabid centaurs, be thrown into the lake, and eaten by the giant squid. That's if he's lucky."
"You two are impossible!" Hermione moaned, and left for class.
As Ron packed up his books, Harry said, "You know, she's going to kill us one of these days."
As the two left the commons, Ron joked, "Yeah, well, you know Hermione, and how she loves making schedules. So I figure I'm safe until Malfoy dies."
"I believe that's everyone," Dumbledore announced as Sally-Anne walked in the door, "So let's begin class. Since you've had a different teacher every year, I think we'll need to review what you know already. From what I gather, you've already learned lycanthropy, narcissism, and grand conspiracy."
Harry let out a chuckle at the joke, and Dumbledore smiled back. "Perhaps," Dumbledore continued, "the best place to begin is determining what makes a dark wizard. Any ideas?"
"Evil," Ron answered immediately.
Dumbledore smiled again and said, "Pretty simplistic answer. If you wish to look at it that way, what makes a dark wizard evil? Or more precisely, how does a wizard become evil?"
Hermione raised her hand and said, "By performing immoral actions."
Dumbledore looked at her for a minute before asking her, "Is it possible to be evil within? Can a wizard be evil, even though they have not killed anyone, or hurt anyone? Or is a wizard pure until they actually cast the first spell?"
Hermione thought a minute and responded, "I guess it depends on what the person is thinking."
"Now we're getting close," Dumbledore said, smiling. "What type of thoughts are evil?"
Harry looked at Ron and Hermione while he said, "Wishing ill upon someone."
Dumbledore nodded and asked, "Why would a person wish ill upon someone else?"
Terry Boot ventured, "Because they feel hostile?"
"Exactly," beamed Dumbledore, "Five points to Ravenclaw. The crucial point to becoming a dark wizard lies in feelings. What emotions can corrupt?"
"Hate," Harry answered.
"Envy," Neville ventured.
"Pride," provided Mandy Brocklehurst.
Padma surprised the class by saying, "Love."
"What?" Ron blurted, "Love can't corrupt!"
"Really? I'd like to show you something, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said, and then snapped his fingers. An image of Hermione and Viktor Krum was created to his right, and the imaginary pair began kissing passionately. Harry noticed that Ron was breathing hard and his knuckles were clenched tight. Dumbledore snapped his fingers again; the image disappeared. "Is there anyone in the room that wants to curse Mr. Krum right now?" Dumbledore asked, while looking kindly at Ron.
Ron realized what was going on and gently shook his head. Dumbledore patted him on the shoulder and continued, "The important lesson isn't to stay away from these emotions. The important lesson is what to do with them. For instance, I am sure that the Dursleys have dealt with anger by being forced to care for their ungrateful and foolish relative."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gasped, not believing what Dumbledore had just said. The rest simply looked in confusion, not knowing who the Dursleys were.
Dumbledore didn't seem to notice the odd reactions and continued, "Of course, it would be easier if he wasn't always bragging about how good he is, and how he's saved the world, and how he's perfect at quidditch. To tell the truth, Harry Potter's a pathetic wretch."
The class all gasped this time. Harry was amazed as Dumbledore hunched over and looked at him. "Tell me, Mister Potter," Dumbledore loudly demanded, "What gives you the gall to think that you're worthy of learning here? I've seen more intelligence in Hagrid's flobberworms!"
Harry was still in shock from Dumbledore's odd behavior, but felt his face flush with anger. Dumbledore slowly advanced on Harry and acidly said, "What? No clever comeback? The Boy-Who-Does-Whatever-He-Wants doesn't know what to say?" Harry's hands trembled a little, and he knew that he was getting red in the face.
Suddenly, Dumbledore stopped. The twinkling eyes and smile reappeared on his face. "Class," he called, "look at Harry. What does he look like?"
Terry Boot cautiously said, "He looks about ready to hex you."
Dumbledore laughed and said, "Exactly. He was in a state where he would actually attack another person. And all it took was a minute of anger. Never underestimate emotions. 10 points to Gryffindor – Harry, I'm sorry about what I did there."
Harry took a deep breath, and cursed himself for not realizing what was going on. Had he actually believed the headmaster hated him? "It's ok," he said to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore patted Harry on the back, and went back up to the front. The headmaster snapped his fingers, and there were several words floating in the air. Harry quickly jotted them down – Love, Hate, Envy, Pride, Reluctance, Stubbornness, and None. "I want each of you to write a small report on the emotion, and give an example how it led to the downfall of an evil wizard – extra credit if you choose none, since that will a bit more difficult than the others. I think we've done enough today – class is dismissed."
Harry left the classroom, not knowing exactly how he felt yet about the lecture.
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Ariel: Glad to hear from you again!
Micro-Chick: You know, I never even thought about that reason – Hermione laughing about the wisp being female. I've been trying to keep this trilogy and the previous one separated, so I doubt there will be a return of the faeries, or at least the same type of faeries. I might put 'faeries' in another story, but they'll be a different type – maybe something like the Cornish pixies. It'll be a bit before I have to worry about it, though.
LauraTheCat: If you want to read more, I've got a completed 100k+ word trilogy posted, starting with 'Harry Potter and the Two Draughts'. I'm still reading over your story (give me time…) Unfortunately, the Voldemort issue is a big problem of mine. I've gotten a lot of feedback about rushing the end, and Voldemort will not actually make an appearance for awhile. When we get to the end, let me know if I've written it ok – I'm trying to fix how I do the endings.
Lakergurl13: Glad you like it! I don't think the obliviators would tell Vernon what they were doing during memory modification (heck, just them talking with Vernon could be a story in itself… hmmmm….) and even if they did, I doubt Vernon would understand much. So he doesn't know/understand that they modified Marge's thoughts.
Sherman: Wow, it seems everyone loves dead flobberworms…
Chaser: Glad you like it! I think I'm going to shoot for updating on Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday – three times a week. But if I start getting overwhelmed, I might have to back down a little. Still, don't worry, this story will be finished in a timely manner. My final goal is to finish this trilogy and the sequel to the previous trilogy before the semester is done.
Penda: Don't worry, there won't be many perfect characters in the story, at least I hope there won't. About Harry and Ginny – I'm not saying to rule it out. I'm saying to rule out the possibility of them 'realizing their infinite love' and staying together for eternity. Harry's going to go on dates. He's going to go the the dance. But neither are going to be extremely serious (flashback – Junior High School). Don't worry about reviews I get. If I only get one review that points out what's good/bad with the chapter, I'll be happy.
Feel free to review
