The last chapter was supposedly to include the Defense lessons but it was extremely longer than I thought it was going to be. So this is the Defense lesson and, yeah, so okay. Great, now that we got that over with. Thanks to my reviewers, arne and Vivian Kain (yes, I love my name too! It's so creative!). Without further ado, here's chapter 9!!!!!!!!
Chapter 9: Defense Lessons
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"You know, you are risking your life coming here," said Lily severely. "And what if Harry sees you?"
"So what if he does, Lily? He's my son!" James said indignantly.
"In front of the entire school? I think not. You know, I thought you had more sense than that."
"I do. It's just that I wanted to see you. Staying at Hogsmeade is completely dull if you are not there," cooed James.
"Don't think that you can sweet talk your way around me, James Malcolm Potter," said Lily. "I know your tricks very well."
James frowned. He looked around the room. He smiled wickedly. He remembered all those times the Marauders huddled in the same classroom planning some of their some precious pranks back in the days. He was lost in thought that he did not notice a woman entered the room.
"All right, what was so important that 'I had to come immediately,'" said the woman breathlessly.
"Annie, I'm nervous. The Gryffindor sixth years' class is right after lunch. I don't know what to do," complained Lily.
"Well, you do have a lesson plan, don't you?" asked Briana.
"Yes, but seeing Harry is my problem. I don't think I'm going to be able to concentrate."
"Lils, you'll be fine. Look, I first time I saw Harry, I could nervous too but if you just keep cool, then everything will all right," reassured Briana. She looked around and spotted James. "What are you doing here? Do you how dangerous this is? You walking around Hogwarts?"
James rolled his eyes. "Look I know how dangerous it is, but I just want to see my wife."
"Don't you two see each other in the other world all the time?" asked Briana. James opened his mouth to say something but Briana interrupted him. "Oh, look, lunch is almost over. I think you better go inside your room and stay there."
"All right," he got up from his chair and noticed Briana's singed robes, "what happened to you?"
"Oh, er, nothing, just trouble at the dungeons," said Briana casually.
"Nothing? It looks like something. What happened, Annie?" asked Lily.
Briana sighed. "Draco Malfoy got caught on fire during my first Potions lesson and I had to put him out. It was really distressful, so I don't really want to talk about it."
"How did he catch on fire?" asked James eagerly.
"That's the weird thing, I don't know. He just did," said Briana.
"You mean spontaneously combusted? Can people just do that here? And now?" asked Lily.
"I don't know. Look, I have to go now," said Briana, looking at her watch.
"Why don't I come with you?" asked James. "I need to talk to Dumbledore about something."
"All right, good luck, Lily," said Briana.
"Right, good luck, darling," said James, giving her a kiss.
"Luck, I'm going to be needing those things," muttered Lily.
Meanwhile…(A/N Harry's POV, people)
Ron, Harry, and Hermione were sitting at the Great Hall. Hermione was reading their Defense Against the Dark Arts book. Ron was talking to Dean Thomas. Harry, in the other hand, was staring into space, still thinking about the incident down at the dungeons.
"Harry, what's wrong? How come you are not eating? Are you all right?" asked Hermione.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. I'm just thinking," he answered.
"You better not be thinking about what happened to Malfoy, Harry. Because for the thousandth time, what happened was not your fault. Anyone could have tried to set him on fire. I mean the whole entire Gryffindors hated him. It's probably Neville or Seamus or Parvati," said Ron, taking a bite out of his baked potatoes.
"Ron's right, it's nothing to be worried about. I'm sure he just had an accident. His robes probably got caught on the fire of the cauldron or something. Trust me, it's nothing to fuss about," reassured Hermione.
"For me, all I know is that I didn't do that. I wished I knew who did. If he didn't just accidentally do it himself," added Dean, seeing the annoyed look on Hermione's face.
"Is anyone sitting here?" asked a girl. Harry looked up. It was Ginny. He stared at her, unable to find any words to say.
"Nobody is sitting there, Ginny," smiled Hermione, "you can sit there."
"Thanks," grinned Ginny, taking the seat. She looked around them. "What are you all talking about?"
"Nothing," said Ron. Ginny frowned.
"Fine, you know, I'm not a spy from some dark secret place, Ron. You can tell me anything," insisted Ginny.
"Well, it would just bore you anyway. Why should I tell?" asked Ron.
Ginny turned to look at Harry. She smiled at him and asked, "What were you guys talking about, Harry? You would tell me, right?"
Harry smiled weakly. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out but a weird gurgling noise. Ginny looked at him with her brows furrowed.
"We were just talking about the incident that happened at Potions this morning," said Hermione irritably. "Apparently, Draco Malfoy caught on fire by himself. This three are interrogating as to who would done it."
"Oh, wow, that would have been fun to watch. Draco on fire," chuckled Ginny. She tried once again to make conversations with Harry. "So what class do you have next, Harry?"
"Er, Defense, er, Against, er, the D-Dark, er, A-A-Arts," said Harry finally.
"Oh, Defense Against the Dark Arts. I already had her. She's really nice. Professor Evans is really smart. She seems to know a lot about the Dark Arts. She didn't say if she's an auror or not. To tell you the truth, she didn't really tell anything about herself, aside the fact that her name was Professor Lily Evans."
"Lily?" asked Harry suddenly, forgetting his shyness.
"Yeah, she said she'd prefer to be called Lily than Lillian. She said it sounded too formal. She's pretty funny," chuckled Ginny. "What's wrong, Harry?"
"Er, nothing, just really tired," said Harry.
"Tired? But its only noontime," said Ginny. At that time the bell rang signaling the start of the afternoon lessons. Ron, Hermione, Harry, and the rest of the Gryffindors made their way to their Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Ron looked at Harry. "Don't tell me you are thinking that Professor Evans is your mum? I mean come on, your mum teaching at Hogwarts. Isn't she dead?"
"Ron's right, Harry. I mean it's ridiculous. And besides, there must be many women with the name 'Lily,'" said Hermione.
"I know that, but doesn't it seem a bit odd that her name is Lily. It has to mean something."
"It's not a bit odd, Harry. You're just being paranoid," said Hermione irritably. Harry looked at her. "Well, don't you think it's just all right if we have a normal Defense teacher for once?"
"Well, I don't think she's normal. I mean you heard what Ginny said? We don't know where she came from," said Ron. They arrived at the classroom. The door opened and Professor Sullivan came out with, to their surprise, the same hooded man they had seen at the entrance hall.
"Oh, hello, you three," said Professor Sullivan. She quickly left with the man down the corridor. They all looked at each other. Before any of them can say anything, Professor Evans stood in front of them and let them in.
"Good day to all of you," said Professor Evans. Harry noticed that her voice had a hint of quiver in it. "Shall we get down to business, then? Let's see, let me take attendance."
While she was doing that, Harry heard Lavender say to Parvati,
"She's pretty nervous, isn't she? And will you look at her robes? Could they be anymore old?"
She was right. Professor Evan's robe seemed old looking.
Professor Evans called out everyone's names to see if they were there. When it came to calling Harry's name, she paused. Come on, Lily, say it. After all, it is your last name too! You gave him that name now say it!
Meanwhile, Harry felt that Professor Evans hasn't said anything for two full minutes.
"What's going on?" asked Ron.
"I don't know," muttered Harry.
Professor Evans sighed silently and said, "Potter, Harry?"
"Present," called Harry.
Well, that was good, thought Lily. After she had called roll, she looked around the classroom. She always hated speaking to large crowds. Looking back at the faces of the students reminded her how she gave presentations to her classes back when she was a student herself at Hogwarts. She cleared her throat and said,
"I am Professor Lily
Evans and I will be your temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Since I will only be teaching all of you for
couple of months, we would only be covering so much during that time
period. While I will be your teacher, we
will cover the devices of the Dark Arts.
Now if you would all get out a piece of parchment and a quill, then we
shall begin."
There was a sudden sound of students rummaging through their backs for their
parchments and quills.
"Right, then, now, the first device we will be discussing today is called the Golden Rod of Ralien. Ralien was said to be a dark wizard during the first century who was said to have wanted to gain control of Britain at that time. He had concocted such rod to control all the magical creatures at that time. House-elves, dragons, dwarves, goblins, and giants are just some of the examples that he attempted to control."
"Many tried stopping him. But at the end, a great wizard named Godric Gryffindor have said to have defeated Ralien."
Murmurs of excitement swept across the room. Hermione raised her hand.
"Yes, Ms. Granger?" asked Professor Evans.
"Er, Professor, do you mean that one of the founders of Hogwarts have defeated a great dark wizard?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, is it that impossible? Gryffindor was always known to many as one of the greatest wizards of all time."
"But how?"
Before Professor Evans could say anything, the bell rang and everyone got up to go to their next class. During dinner, Hermione dragged Ron and Harry to the Professor Evans's office. They were almost there when Ron was complaining.
"Hermione, why do we have to come with you?" complained Ron, rounding down the corridor.
"You're supposed to come with me. You're my-" but she suddenly halted in front of the professor's office and blushed.
"You're his what?" asked Harry. Ron and Hermione blushed deeply. Ron became amused with his sneakers and Hermione was avoiding Harry's gaze. "What's going on? Is there something you two would like to tell me?"
"Uh, well, you see, Harry," started Hermione. She looked at Ron who looked almost like he was about to throw up. "Ron and I are…well, he's my…I mean during the summer, we…"
"Do you mean you two are a couple?" asked Harry, smiling, almost grinning. Ron and Hermione looked at each other and they slowly nodded.
"Yeah, only don't tell anyone," said Ron, shifting uneasily next to him.
"Why?" asked Harry.
"Well, nobody knows but you do and we don't-"
A door opening behind them interrupted him. It was Professor Evans.
"Oh, hello, I thought I heard some voices out here," she said cheerfully. "Do you need anything?"
"Oh, yes, Professor," replied Hermione. The professor let them inside her office. "When you said about how Gryffindor defeated that dark wizard Ralien, I really wanted to know more about it. Do you perhaps have any recommendations as to what to read?"
Ron gaped at Hermione. "That's what you were going to ask her?" he whispered. Professor Evans heard him and laughed.
"Yes, I do. Why don't you go to the library and ask Madam Pince where you can find a book called The Rise of the Dark Wizard Ralien. It might be in the restricted section so why don't I give you a note because when I was here it was…"
Hermione, who knew the library by heart now, said, "Oh, you don't need to. I think I know where that can be."
"Oh, all right," smiled Professor Evans, her emerald eyes glittering. (A/N: Dumbledore performed some kind of charm so that Harry cannot recognize Lily's eyes right away, but trust me it will wear off) "Well, is that all you were going to ask me?"
Hermione nodded but Harry said, "Professor, you went to this school too?"
Professor Evans said calmly, "Of course, where would you expect for one to learn all about witchcraft here in Britain other than Hogwarts."
Harry blushed and muttered, "I'd just thought you might know my parents and Professor Sullivan because you seemed to know each other very well."
Professor Evans must have heard him because she answered, "Well, I have known Briana a long time, yes, that's true. I might have known your parents."
Harry looked up at her. "Are you an auror too?"
My, my, quite a little me, aren't you, dear? Always asking questions, thought Lily. "No, I just happened to know a lot about Dark Arts, Harry," she chuckled. She noticed that he was becoming a bit too suspicious and so she added, "I should think you three should get a move on with those homework. You don't want to start the year off the wrong way. Now, off you go."
Ron, Hermione, and Harry started to leave when Harry turned around and said, "I just thought-well, never mind. It's just that-I thought you might be someone I know, because you have the same first name as her. But I guess not."
Professor Evans remained silent. She tried to smile but couldn't seem to find the muscles to move her face. Harry then said good-bye with Ron and Hermione and left. Lily stared at the doorway. Behind her, a closet door opened. James put an arm around his wife.
"Don't worry, Carrots. He'll find out soon, very soon. I'll promise you that."
"I hope so, Prongs, I hope
so."
Dun dun dunnnn!!!!! Well, sorry for the long wait. I can give you tons and tons of excuse but then I would just be kidding you. To sum it up I have had a writers' block and a little bit of laziness. But I got over it! Yay!!!!! Oh, and I know how I said Harry might find out about his parents this chapter but I decided it should be the next. It's a work in progress, people! Don't hate me!!!!! Oh, well, just one more thing, read and leave a review! Please let me know what you think! I love reading your review!!!! ~villageidiot333~
