Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Warner Brothers bought me out.
"I thought you had forgotten me."
Harry smiled as he faced the wisp's enclosure. The sun was starting to settle down over the lake. Within an hour or so, the landscape would probably start to grow dim. "I keep my promises," Harry answered the green-brown ball, "What's going on?"
"Going on?" the wisp asked slowly.
"Going on," Harry replied, "as in, anything interesting happen lately?"
The wisp took a moment, and then answered, "I met a person that can talk with me."
Harry groaned involuntarily, and the wisp quickly asked, "Are you… are you a parselmouth?"
Harry nodded, and replied, "It's a relic of an encounter with another man named Voldemort."
"AAGH!" screamed the wisp, "NEVER say that name!"
Harry was astonished by the reaction. While many wizards and witches feared Voldemort's name, he was surprised that snakes were afraid as well. "Er, an encounter with You-Know-Who," Harry said, falling back to the standard synonym. "Why are you afraid of You-Know-Who?"
The wisp was silent for several seconds, and Harry grew worried that he had offended the creature. Finally, the ball of light hissed, "Although you are a parseltongue, you appear to be noble. However, the man you speak of knows nothing save evil. Understand this, parseltongue is not merely talking with snakes. Have you ever seen a snake disobey you?"
Harry thought back to the zoo the summer he found out he was a wizard. Well, I really didn't tell the snake to do anything, so it really couldn't disobey me. Then it occurred to him – the duel during his second year. He had commanded that the snake leave Justin alone. Yet a simple command couldn't explain why the snake went completely docile – surely it would still be on edge from being thrown in the air! Harry shook his head and replied, "No."
"That's because a parseltongue exerts a certain power over snakes. Some can't defy a parseltongue at all. When the evil parseltongue you spoke of fled through the lands, he tried to get snakes to aid him. The man arrived before my family and commanded that I serve him. It was rather odd, since he was in what appeared to be a half snake, half baby body. I found I could refuse his orders and demanded that he leave. Suddenly, I felt my insides blacken and his voice echo inside my mind. He had somehow possessed my body."
Harry gasped and stammered, "I'm sorry."
The wisp flashed slowly and continued, "No. That is not the worst part. While he was in me, I could feel my body break down. Even during this, the man made me hiss commands at my wife, Nagini. My wife was not able to resist the parseltongue as I had, and was completely helpless. My last four days alive were spent hostage in a breaking down body while my voice commanded my wife to do his evil bidding."
Harry stood silently, not knowing what he could say. The wisp finally asked, "Will you take me back to my cage?"
Harry nodded and led the wisp back to the Care of Magic Creature's area. As Harry closed the iron door behind the wisp, he asked, "What's your name?"
The wisp flashed a few times before replying, "Hector."
"Well, Hector, I'll see you tomorrow in class." Harry then remembered what the wisp had just told him and hastily corrected, "I mean, I'd prefer to see you tomorrow, if you like."
As Harry left back for the commons, he heard a soft hiss of thanks from the wisp.
"Everyone set your essays on the desk," Dumbledore asked as class filed in. As everyone laid their reports on the desk, and Harry was suddenly reminded of the articles he wrote during the summer. In all the events that had been happening, he had completely forgotten to hand the assignments in. He smiled, hoping that the efforts would at least wrangle Gyrffindor a few points. Well, he didn't hold much faith that his 20 roll parchment on truth potions would get a reward from Snape.
"Today we're going to talk about imps," Dumbledore announced.
The class murmured in confusion. Finally, Harry asked, "We're not going to talk any more on what makes a dark wizard?"
"No," Dumbledore replied, eyes twinkling, "If a student enjoys a topic, they will want to find out about it anyway. And if they don't like it, spending more than one class isn't going to make them learn. We're going to spend the year covering a broad variety of subjects. The next few weeks we'll focus on some new dark creatures. Do you have a problem with my lesson plan, Harry?"
If any other teacher had asked that he would have meekly backed down, but Harry could see Dumbledore was asking playfully. Harry smiled and shook his head no.
"Now, I'm sure most of the wizard-born students have already had to deal with imps and are wondering why a 5th year defense against the dark arts class would be covering them. However, unless I'm mistaken, the only student here that has heard of death imps is muggle-born."
Dumbledore looked kindly at Hermione who failed miserably at hiding a smile. Dumbledore chuckled and said, "Death imps are not merely a more annoying form of the common imp. In fact, the ministry had long talks whether to even classify them as imps. You see, death imps are capable of casting spells, which makes combating them a far more difficult experience. Please watch carefully."
The class leaned forward in anticipation. Dumbledore noticed this and smiled. He then reached into his robes and pulled out a small sack. With a spare hand, the headmaster conjured a small ball of flame, and he carefully sprinkled a little powder from the bag on it. Suddenly, the fire burned a dark blue, and Dumbledore quickly reached into the flame and grabbed something.
The class gasped as suddenly a loud yell filled the room, "BUGGER! WHAT THE BLOODY...!"
Harry saw a small figure struggling in Dumbledore's hands which looked like a tiny knome, and the headmaster was merely smiling down at the offensive creature.
"You sodding, puss-licking son of a niffler!" screamed the miniscule imp, who then cast a spell at Dumbledore.
The creature missed however, and Dumbledore quickly dropped him on the floor.
Dumbledore didn't take his eyes off the imp and called to the class, "The first lesson with death imps is to treat it as you would a dark wizard. Do not let your guard down for a minute, and never underestimate them. Stupefy!"
The imp cackled, deftly avoiding the spell, and cried "Expelliarmus!"
The headmaster calmly blocked the spell, and the two opponents circled each other, every so often casting a spell. The headmaster took the opportunity to say, "Notice how it's not using complex spells – imps are not capable of using them. There is only one difficult spell they know, and they don't use it until they're out of options."
Dumbledore pressed the attack, shooting spell after spell at the tiny creature. The imp's cackle slowly changed into a desperate whine and a few minutes into the attack the creature suddenly disappeared. Dumbledore whirled around and yelled, "Stupefy!"
Everyone looked to where Dumbledore had cast the spell, and indeed the imp was laying unconscious there. "It knows Apparation?" Hermione asked.
Dumbledore lowered his arms and said, "That is correct, Miss Granger. However, Apparation is not usually used in dueling. The reason is quite simple. It leaves the caster disoriented for a few critical seconds after they reappear. It is usually used when trying to escape."
Dean raised his hand and asked, "But how did you know where the imp apparated to?"
Dumbledore smiled and said, "Each time a person apparates, they leave a sort of magical dent which can tell a wizard where they apparated to. The shorter the distance of apparation, the more precise the trail. Before any of you take on the imp, we need to learn tracking."
Dumbledore suddenly vanished, and reappeared several meters from where he started. "Try to feel the anomaly. It will tell you where I moved to."
Harry looked at where Dumbledore used to be, but he couldn't feel a thing. Harry concentrated, but nothing came to him. Dumbledore reapparated, and Harry concentrated on the second departure point. But he still couldn't decipher where Dumbledore had moved to. Harry was glad to notice that the rest of the class seemed as puzzled as he was.
Suddenly, Ron's voice called out, "I got it! I felt it!"
Dumbledore smiled and disapparated, but didn't reappear in the room. Everyone looked at Ron, who said, "He went straight up. He's either in the Arithmancy or Ancient Runes classroom."
Hermione piped up, "3rd years have Ancient Runes now, but Arithmancy is empty now."
Ron smiled and said, "Well? Let's go." Everyone followed Weasley up the main stairwell and back around to the empty arithmancy classroom.
As Ron threw open the door, Dumbledore smiled down on them and said, "5 points for Gryffindor."
Dumbledore led them back down to their classroom. For ten minutes, Dumbledore apparated around the room until almost all the students could track him. Finally the headmaster said, "Now we're going to play a little game…"
Everyone watched as the headmaster vanish, but grew confused as they couldn't detect any sign of where he apparated to. Harry finally laughed and said, "He didn't apparate. He turned invisible."
"Indeed," chuckled Dumbledore's disembodied voice. "Now, let's see how well you track me when I'm invisible. When you think you know where I'm at, cast Profluere at me. Let's begin!"
Harry closed his eyes, realizing that his sight wasn't going to be very useful at the moment. Several seconds later he could feel a small anomaly, and followed the path.
"Profluere" called several voices along with Harry, who opened his eyes to see water dripping from the middle of nowhere. Another dent appeared, and the class followed the trail, yet again soaking the headmaster with streams of water. After a third time, Dumbledore became visible again, his long white hair and beard dripping wet. "Excellent! Simply Excellent! 5 points to Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."
Everyone smiled, and Dumbledore magically dried himself. "Now, for the last 15 minutes I need to show you a special building I've constructed for the class. Please follow me."
The class was intrigued, and followed the headmaster out of the castle and onto the grounds. On the other side of the Herbology greenhouses was a new building. Strangely, it seemed to shimmer in the sunlight and Harry couldn't tell whether it was red, blue, green, yellow, purple, or some other color. It seemed to be all of them, yet none of them at the same time. Just looking at it was slightly mesmerizing, and Harry had to tear himself away from gazing at it.
Dumbledore led them inside the building and they were all greeted by…
"What?" Ron cried, obviously not believing his eyes.
"Hello, and welcome to the Defense Experimentorium," called what appeared to be an exact copy of Dumbledore.
The real Dumbledore turned around with a smile, "Three years ago, the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor told me, 'Whatever you do, wherever you go, always put your face on it.' A nice bit of advice, no?"
Everyone in the class laughed, remembering Professor Lockhart. Dumbledore chuckled, and said, "Everyone please stand against the walls. And I'll need a volunteer."
Harry looked over, and saw that Dean was raising his hand. Dumbledore smiled, and asked, "Dean, what creature do you wish to fight?"
Dean thought a minute and said, "How about a vampire?"
"Dragon it is," Dumbledore affirmed.
"Er, sir," Dean said in confusion, "I said vampire, not dragon."
"Three dragons?" Dumbledore asked in mock confusion, "How about two? Situation: Two dragons in a flatland, please."
Suddenly, a large white translucent sphere descended from the ceiling and settled on the ground in the center of the room.
"Well, Dean, would you please step inside?"
Dean was a little nervous and stammered, "I asked for a vampire, not two dragons."
Dumbledore chuckled and said, "I know, Dean. Please step inside."
Dean was a little nervous, but was nudged towards the sphere by Seamus and Lavender. Dean entered the bubble, and suddenly the walls became filled with pictures. It was a large field on a calm summer day. However, there were two giant dragons laying in the sun, and Harry recognized them as Chinese Fireballs.
Harry looked back at the sphere, and saw that Dean was suspended in the center of it, and appeared to be trying to walk. Sure enough, the walls showed Dean creeping around the plain, surveying his opponents. One of the dragon's heads snapped up and began sniffing the air – it had obviously picked up on the intruder's scent.
Dean noticed this and yelled, "Conjunctus!" blinding the dragon. The other dragon noticed what happened to its companion and took to the air. Dean tried hitting it with the same spell, but the flying creature avoided each attempt. A great roar sounded through the valley, as the blinded dragon got balanced again. Another roar, although much softer, came from above, and the grounded dragon began trotting towards Dean.
"The dragon in the air is directing the one below!" Harry cried.
Dean must have noticed this as well, and began evasively creeping around the field. Everyone yelled in fright as the Fireball on the ground shot a burst of flame at Dean, who barely managed to step out of the way. Dean, ran under the blinded dragon and sprinted away behind it. The creature awkwardly turned around and began to chase after the student.
Dean looked behind him to see the dragon blindly chasing him down.
"NO! Turn back around!" half the class yelled involuntarily. Dean obviously didn't hear them, and kept running while looking backwards, when he suddenly ran into a large rough obstacle. Dean fell over and looked up, to see the gaping maw of the healthy dragon descending on him.
Dean screamed, but the dragon's jaws stopped just short of him, and began to dematerialize.
"Good try," came Dumbledore's voice from around them, although Dumbledore wasn't talking, "A few pointers. First, dragon's have good scent. You wandered upwind from them, which alerted them to your presence. Second, you should have considered what to do if your attack failed. Instead of trying to outrun two dragons, you should have tried to escape. The best approach would be to dig a magical hole. Another good attempt would be to fly, since only one could attempt to follow you. Third, you should have considered exactly what the blinding did. The dragon on the ground, which was the one who distracted you, could only do what the dragon above told it. If you had assaulted its other senses, it would no longer been able to attack you."
The sphere vanished and Dean made his way back to his classmates, still a little nervous about almost being killed. The real Dumbledore spoke up, "Before you leave, there are a few things you need to know. First, this is to be used for class. Keep in mind, my image will dictate who does what. So there will be no long walks by the beach, Miss Patil."
The class laughed as Parvati and Padma both blushed. Dumbledore smiled and said, "That will be all. I will see you all at dinner."
Harry felt Dumbledore's style of teaching was brilliant. He knew that the headmaster wouldn't spend another lecture on Imp tracking. But he was equally sure that everyone in the class would come down to take on an imp on their own.
---
Long chapter! But there was no good place to break (unless you wanted a 600 word chapter with just the wisp) Anyways, long story short, my computer is not on the internet temporarily because of a network problem – but hopefully I'll be able to get the problem fixed so I can check my reviews and post chapters (without running across campus or borrowing another person's computer)
Erinamation: Thanks!
Ariel: Thanks!
Lakergurl: I've got a lot of feedback about the golems not making much sense. I think I'm going to review the last few chapters and see if I can improve it any.
Micro-Chick: I'm glad it's starting to make sense, but I should've written it clear to begin with. Time for me to review my work…
Sherman: As soon as I got your review, I took another look over the chapter, but I'm actually pretty happy with it. Still, could you please tell me what you think I can do better?
Katani: Thanks!
Feel free to review
