Disclaimer: These people don't belong to me...wish they did, but I can't write as well with them as Joanne K. Rowling does. I just own this little scene:
The next morning, Harry lie awake for a moment wondering where he was. Then his memory came back in a flash. He remembered all that had happened the day before. He remembered the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Wondering if the new professor was another joke or a success, Harry pulled on his robes. Ron was just waking up as well, his hair dissheveled and his eyes tired.
After they had dressed, both boys made their way to the common room, where they met up with Hermione. The trio left in silence towards the Great Hall. They had expected Hermione to be wide awake on their first day of N.E.W.T. classes, but she was obviously still tired from the day before. After all, it had been a long day.
When they reached the Hall, everyone mutely sat down and began to eat. Hermione threw curious looks to Professor McGonagall every few minutes. At first, Harry was confused by this, but then the deputy headmistress stood and came to the Gryffindor table, handing out schedules.
When McGonagall reached the trio, she smiled at Hermione. Harry glanced at his friend to see that she was looking hopefully at McGonagall with anxiety in her eyes.
"Miss Granger, I assure you you're in about a hundred N.E.W.T. classes," she said, smiling. Hermione let out a breath that she'd been holding since McGonagall arrived at their table.
"In fact, you've kept...all of your classes?" Professor McGonagall said, looking at Hermione's schedule with raised eyebrows.
Hermione opened her mouth in surprise, but then accepted her schedule with a large smile.
Next, Professor McGonagall reached Ron and handed him his new schedule. Lastly, she handed Harry his own before moving on.
"What're you in, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Obviously Defense," Hermione said, looking at Harry's schedule.
"Yeah, I have Defense, Charms, Transfiguration..."
"POTIONS?" Ron asked, looking over Harry's shoulder at his schedule in disbelief. "How'd you get Potions?!"
"I passed my O.W.L., but I didn't think I'd gotten a high enough score to get in Snape's N.E.W.T. class..." Harry muttered. He stood up and walked up to Professor McGonagall.
"Er--Professor...did you give me the correct schedule?" Harry asked nervously.
"Of course, Potter," she answered with a cool, brisk voice.
"But--how did I get into N.E.W.T. level Potions?"
McGonagall now turned to face him, a slight smile on her normally stern face. "I just took a certain matter in my own hands," she said simply.
Harry gaped at her for a moment before smiling back, nodding, and walking back to his seat. He sat down slowly.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"McGonagall got me in..." Harry said slowly.
"What?! She actually helped you get into a class?" Hermione said, wide-eyed.
"She said last year...for career advice...that she would help me become an auror..." Harry said slowly.
They sat in silence for a moment before Ron asked what other classes Harry had. He listed them all.
"I didn't ever finish the History of Magic exam, so I failed that one. So basically, those are my classes," Harry finished.
"Well, I'm in all your classes and some more," Hermione said.
"Yes, well you didn't fail a single exam," Ron said bitterly.
Harry glanced at his schedule for Monday to see that their first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"So we get to start off the day with Professor Lysander..." Ron said, voicing what Harry had just been thinking himself.
"Hope he's good," Harry muttered.
When the time came to go to class, the trio ran to get there things before going to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. When the door opened--of its own accord--Harry was the first to enter. He hesitated before sitting at the front with Ron and Hermione on either side of them.
When the rest of the students came in, they looked around curiously, and Harry did so as well, while he was waiting for class to begin. The walls were covered in thousands of pictures of people, mostly witches and wizards. Harry looked at them, spotting one of Dumbledore and even one of Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron.
A few moments later, Professor Lysander entered exactly when the bell rang. He walked slowly over to his desk, looking at every student as he passed them. His eyes came to rest on Harry, and the professor continued to look at him until he had reached a desk at the front of the room.
The professor, Harry noticed, was not wearing his Wizengamot robes this time. Instead, he was wearing deep black robes and a grey-blue cloak.
"Good morning, Gryffindor sixth years," Professor Lysander said in a very calm voice.
A few students started to say, "Good morning, Professor Lysander," but stopped midsentence. They had gotten into the habit of greeting the Defense teacher like that just last year, but at the look of surprise from Professor Lysander, they stopped immediatly. Lysander recovered from his surprise quickly and continued.
"Will everyone please put your books away and get your wands out. I'd like to start with a basic duel to discover how far along you all are," he said. Everyone did as he said, and they all stood as he cleared away the desks.
"Now make a line, I will fight each of you in turn, starting easy and getting harder as we go," Professor Lysander said, before he called forward Neville.
He did surprisingly well, compared to what most of the class thought would happen. He lasted quite a while, but all he did was the shield charm for a long time, not daring to hex the teacher. Finally, Lysander used a curse that was stronger than Neville's shield, and he fell back, dropping his wand and declaring Lysander the winner.
Professor Lysander fought many people after that, many afraid to attack him, until he reached Ron.
Ron was very ready to curse Professor Lysander. "How often do you get to fight a teacher?" he had hissed in Harry's ear. So, Ron had fought for a longer time than anyone before him. They dodged curses for a while before Kiron Lysander stunned Ron in the chest and he fell over.
"Enervate," the professor muttered before turning to the line, where Harry stood next. "Harry, if you would?" he asked, motioning for Harry to step forward.
Harry did so, moving nervously to the front. They bowed before Harry immediately shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
Lysander dodged this quickly and said calmly, "Blakaut," but Harry dodged this just as easily as Lysander dodged his disarming spell.
"Impedimenta!"
"Stupify,"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Lamenesca!"
"Tarantallegra!"
This spell hit Harry, and his legs went into a sort of tap dance. But Harry just threw himself to the ground as another curse flew through the air, muttered "finite," and continued to fight.
The duel went on for half an hour with neither person making much of an impact. Eventually, Harry had had enough. Just as he ducked another curse, he jumped sideways and shouted "SILENCIO!"
Professor Lysander continued to move his mouth, but no words came out. Harry took that opportunity to finish it.
"Expelliarmus," he mumbled, before giving the professor his voice back.
"Hermione, you're next," Professor Lysander said, as if nothing had happened. The rest of the class stared at him, and Hermoine stood there for a minute, looking at the professor as if he were mad. But then she fought Professor Lysander as well.
When the entire class had stopped fighting, Harry gathered his things and made for the door with the rest of the sixth years.
"Harry, could you wait a moment before leaving?" said a calm voice behind him. Harry turned to see Professor Lysander's intense blue eyes looking at him.
"Yes, sir," Harry said hesitantly.
"Thank you."
Harry sat back down in his desk, looking at his wand absently as he waited for the rest of the class to leave. Then...
"Nice job today. I was wondering if you would defeat me. Now, I believe you wanted to speak to me about a certain defense group?" Lysander asked. For a brief moment, Harry wondered how Lysander knew about the D.A., but he recovered quickly and answered.
"Er--yeah, would you mind if a defense group was--continued--this year?"
"Of course I wouldn't mind. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the head of this association," Lysander said, a glint in his eyes.
Harry laughed, "Yeah, sir, I sort of am. Anyway, we started it last year when...a certain teacher wouldn't let us practice anything."
"I understand. I suppose you already have a place to hold these meetings?"
"Yes, sir."
"Anyway, you have a great talent for Defense. I'm sure you've heard this from your teachers?"
"Er--sometimes, sir," Harry said, thinking of the time McGonagall had commented on his abilities in Defense classes.
"Well, we ought to go to lunch," he said. They left the room deep in discussion.
"So what house were you in?" Harry asked the professor.
"Ah, Harry, I was in Ravenclaw. I always admired Gryffindors though."
"Did you know any Gryffindors?"
"I did actually meet your parents when I was in school. They were in a year slightly ahead of mine. I became okay friends with Remus, actually. And--between you and me--I'm also in the you-know-what but Dumbledore's keeping it a secret. I just got back from out of the country recently, so I haven't been able to do much yet...but..."
Harry knew that Professor Lysander was talking about the Order, and he was glad to know that Dumbledore had gotten a member to work at the school.
When they reached the Great Hall, Harry took a seat next to his best friends, who instantly began talking to him.
"You dueled with a teacher and WON, Harry!"
"Why in Merlin's beard didn't he say anything about it?"
"That was really--"
But Harry didn't hear the rest of what Ron was saying, for Ginny had walked over, sat down next to Harry, and asked, "How was your first class?" Everyone went silent when she asked her question.
"It was okay," was all Harry said. He didn't want to talk about his first class in detail, and Ron and Hermione seemed to realize this. They both started talking about other things, and Harry was very grateful.
"You're lucky. I had potions first. Snape was dreadful, making all the Gryffindors look like idiots," Ginny said, scooping mashed potatos onto her plate.
"He's always like that, isn't he?" Harry asked, wondering if Snape could possibly be worse than last year.
"Yes, sometimes. But he's gotten worse this year, I suppose. You'll just have to see when you get to his class."
Harry didn't like the idea of an even more unbearable Snape. But, as he had double potions after lunch, he got his things after he'd finished eating and walked slowly towards the dungeons, Hermione in his wake. Ron left them at the Entrance Hall, since he didn't have potions with them.
"Wands away, cauldrons out," Snape said, when they sat down in their usual place in the back. Snape was writing the ingredients on the board, so the class did as they were told, very quickly.
"I understand that you have all passed your O.W.L.s, some with flying colors, but you have a long way to go. By the end of this year, you should be able to make this potion--and many others--perfectly," Snape said, pointing to the heading on the board. Harry read it.
THE POLYJUICE POTION
Harry stole a glance at Hermione, and she was smirking mischieviously back at him. Together, they looked back at Snape, who began to talk again.
"We will be making much stronger potions, and many of them are against school rules. This, of course, means that no one will be taking any bit of their potions out of this room at the end of class. Now, someone tell me the function of a polyjuice potion."
Harry looked around the room. There weren't many people in it, but the few Gryffindors and Slytherins there were all stumped. A few looked like they vaguely remembered something about Polyjuice potions, but most looked like Crabbe with a stomach ache. Harry decided to risk raising his hand to answer Snape.
When Snape's eyes had caught Harry's, his lip curled unpleasantly. "Alright, Mr. Potter. Tell me, what does the Polyjuice potion do?"
"Sir, it makes it's drinker look like someone else for a full hour when brewed correctly."
Snape continued to talk, not even commenting on Harry's answer. After instructing the class to begin, Snape didn't even go near Harry and Hermione. Deciding that he would rather be ignored than sneered at, Harry began to make his Polyjuice potion. The project would last a month, and Harry was willing to bet that he could pass.
A/N: Congrats to Changa923 and Lorelei Lupin for answering my previous challenge. I'll tell you what the name Kiron Lysander means as soon as I have more time to "show his true colors".
Okay, so you'll find out a few things in the chapters to come, such as why Sev isn't making as much fun towards Harry, lots more information on Kiron Lysander, and some boy/girl stuff as well.
I figured it's close enough to Harry's normal character to be able to beat Lysander, mainly because he's so gifted in Defense. More D.A. information is coming up, as well as some stuff about Harry's N.E.W.T. classes. R/R please!
The next morning, Harry lie awake for a moment wondering where he was. Then his memory came back in a flash. He remembered all that had happened the day before. He remembered the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
Wondering if the new professor was another joke or a success, Harry pulled on his robes. Ron was just waking up as well, his hair dissheveled and his eyes tired.
After they had dressed, both boys made their way to the common room, where they met up with Hermione. The trio left in silence towards the Great Hall. They had expected Hermione to be wide awake on their first day of N.E.W.T. classes, but she was obviously still tired from the day before. After all, it had been a long day.
When they reached the Hall, everyone mutely sat down and began to eat. Hermione threw curious looks to Professor McGonagall every few minutes. At first, Harry was confused by this, but then the deputy headmistress stood and came to the Gryffindor table, handing out schedules.
When McGonagall reached the trio, she smiled at Hermione. Harry glanced at his friend to see that she was looking hopefully at McGonagall with anxiety in her eyes.
"Miss Granger, I assure you you're in about a hundred N.E.W.T. classes," she said, smiling. Hermione let out a breath that she'd been holding since McGonagall arrived at their table.
"In fact, you've kept...all of your classes?" Professor McGonagall said, looking at Hermione's schedule with raised eyebrows.
Hermione opened her mouth in surprise, but then accepted her schedule with a large smile.
Next, Professor McGonagall reached Ron and handed him his new schedule. Lastly, she handed Harry his own before moving on.
"What're you in, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Obviously Defense," Hermione said, looking at Harry's schedule.
"Yeah, I have Defense, Charms, Transfiguration..."
"POTIONS?" Ron asked, looking over Harry's shoulder at his schedule in disbelief. "How'd you get Potions?!"
"I passed my O.W.L., but I didn't think I'd gotten a high enough score to get in Snape's N.E.W.T. class..." Harry muttered. He stood up and walked up to Professor McGonagall.
"Er--Professor...did you give me the correct schedule?" Harry asked nervously.
"Of course, Potter," she answered with a cool, brisk voice.
"But--how did I get into N.E.W.T. level Potions?"
McGonagall now turned to face him, a slight smile on her normally stern face. "I just took a certain matter in my own hands," she said simply.
Harry gaped at her for a moment before smiling back, nodding, and walking back to his seat. He sat down slowly.
"Well?" Ron asked.
"McGonagall got me in..." Harry said slowly.
"What?! She actually helped you get into a class?" Hermione said, wide-eyed.
"She said last year...for career advice...that she would help me become an auror..." Harry said slowly.
They sat in silence for a moment before Ron asked what other classes Harry had. He listed them all.
"I didn't ever finish the History of Magic exam, so I failed that one. So basically, those are my classes," Harry finished.
"Well, I'm in all your classes and some more," Hermione said.
"Yes, well you didn't fail a single exam," Ron said bitterly.
Harry glanced at his schedule for Monday to see that their first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"So we get to start off the day with Professor Lysander..." Ron said, voicing what Harry had just been thinking himself.
"Hope he's good," Harry muttered.
When the time came to go to class, the trio ran to get there things before going to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. When the door opened--of its own accord--Harry was the first to enter. He hesitated before sitting at the front with Ron and Hermione on either side of them.
When the rest of the students came in, they looked around curiously, and Harry did so as well, while he was waiting for class to begin. The walls were covered in thousands of pictures of people, mostly witches and wizards. Harry looked at them, spotting one of Dumbledore and even one of Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron.
A few moments later, Professor Lysander entered exactly when the bell rang. He walked slowly over to his desk, looking at every student as he passed them. His eyes came to rest on Harry, and the professor continued to look at him until he had reached a desk at the front of the room.
The professor, Harry noticed, was not wearing his Wizengamot robes this time. Instead, he was wearing deep black robes and a grey-blue cloak.
"Good morning, Gryffindor sixth years," Professor Lysander said in a very calm voice.
A few students started to say, "Good morning, Professor Lysander," but stopped midsentence. They had gotten into the habit of greeting the Defense teacher like that just last year, but at the look of surprise from Professor Lysander, they stopped immediatly. Lysander recovered from his surprise quickly and continued.
"Will everyone please put your books away and get your wands out. I'd like to start with a basic duel to discover how far along you all are," he said. Everyone did as he said, and they all stood as he cleared away the desks.
"Now make a line, I will fight each of you in turn, starting easy and getting harder as we go," Professor Lysander said, before he called forward Neville.
He did surprisingly well, compared to what most of the class thought would happen. He lasted quite a while, but all he did was the shield charm for a long time, not daring to hex the teacher. Finally, Lysander used a curse that was stronger than Neville's shield, and he fell back, dropping his wand and declaring Lysander the winner.
Professor Lysander fought many people after that, many afraid to attack him, until he reached Ron.
Ron was very ready to curse Professor Lysander. "How often do you get to fight a teacher?" he had hissed in Harry's ear. So, Ron had fought for a longer time than anyone before him. They dodged curses for a while before Kiron Lysander stunned Ron in the chest and he fell over.
"Enervate," the professor muttered before turning to the line, where Harry stood next. "Harry, if you would?" he asked, motioning for Harry to step forward.
Harry did so, moving nervously to the front. They bowed before Harry immediately shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
Lysander dodged this quickly and said calmly, "Blakaut," but Harry dodged this just as easily as Lysander dodged his disarming spell.
"Impedimenta!"
"Stupify,"
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Lamenesca!"
"Tarantallegra!"
This spell hit Harry, and his legs went into a sort of tap dance. But Harry just threw himself to the ground as another curse flew through the air, muttered "finite," and continued to fight.
The duel went on for half an hour with neither person making much of an impact. Eventually, Harry had had enough. Just as he ducked another curse, he jumped sideways and shouted "SILENCIO!"
Professor Lysander continued to move his mouth, but no words came out. Harry took that opportunity to finish it.
"Expelliarmus," he mumbled, before giving the professor his voice back.
"Hermione, you're next," Professor Lysander said, as if nothing had happened. The rest of the class stared at him, and Hermoine stood there for a minute, looking at the professor as if he were mad. But then she fought Professor Lysander as well.
When the entire class had stopped fighting, Harry gathered his things and made for the door with the rest of the sixth years.
"Harry, could you wait a moment before leaving?" said a calm voice behind him. Harry turned to see Professor Lysander's intense blue eyes looking at him.
"Yes, sir," Harry said hesitantly.
"Thank you."
Harry sat back down in his desk, looking at his wand absently as he waited for the rest of the class to leave. Then...
"Nice job today. I was wondering if you would defeat me. Now, I believe you wanted to speak to me about a certain defense group?" Lysander asked. For a brief moment, Harry wondered how Lysander knew about the D.A., but he recovered quickly and answered.
"Er--yeah, would you mind if a defense group was--continued--this year?"
"Of course I wouldn't mind. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you were the head of this association," Lysander said, a glint in his eyes.
Harry laughed, "Yeah, sir, I sort of am. Anyway, we started it last year when...a certain teacher wouldn't let us practice anything."
"I understand. I suppose you already have a place to hold these meetings?"
"Yes, sir."
"Anyway, you have a great talent for Defense. I'm sure you've heard this from your teachers?"
"Er--sometimes, sir," Harry said, thinking of the time McGonagall had commented on his abilities in Defense classes.
"Well, we ought to go to lunch," he said. They left the room deep in discussion.
"So what house were you in?" Harry asked the professor.
"Ah, Harry, I was in Ravenclaw. I always admired Gryffindors though."
"Did you know any Gryffindors?"
"I did actually meet your parents when I was in school. They were in a year slightly ahead of mine. I became okay friends with Remus, actually. And--between you and me--I'm also in the you-know-what but Dumbledore's keeping it a secret. I just got back from out of the country recently, so I haven't been able to do much yet...but..."
Harry knew that Professor Lysander was talking about the Order, and he was glad to know that Dumbledore had gotten a member to work at the school.
When they reached the Great Hall, Harry took a seat next to his best friends, who instantly began talking to him.
"You dueled with a teacher and WON, Harry!"
"Why in Merlin's beard didn't he say anything about it?"
"That was really--"
But Harry didn't hear the rest of what Ron was saying, for Ginny had walked over, sat down next to Harry, and asked, "How was your first class?" Everyone went silent when she asked her question.
"It was okay," was all Harry said. He didn't want to talk about his first class in detail, and Ron and Hermione seemed to realize this. They both started talking about other things, and Harry was very grateful.
"You're lucky. I had potions first. Snape was dreadful, making all the Gryffindors look like idiots," Ginny said, scooping mashed potatos onto her plate.
"He's always like that, isn't he?" Harry asked, wondering if Snape could possibly be worse than last year.
"Yes, sometimes. But he's gotten worse this year, I suppose. You'll just have to see when you get to his class."
Harry didn't like the idea of an even more unbearable Snape. But, as he had double potions after lunch, he got his things after he'd finished eating and walked slowly towards the dungeons, Hermione in his wake. Ron left them at the Entrance Hall, since he didn't have potions with them.
"Wands away, cauldrons out," Snape said, when they sat down in their usual place in the back. Snape was writing the ingredients on the board, so the class did as they were told, very quickly.
"I understand that you have all passed your O.W.L.s, some with flying colors, but you have a long way to go. By the end of this year, you should be able to make this potion--and many others--perfectly," Snape said, pointing to the heading on the board. Harry read it.
THE POLYJUICE POTION
Harry stole a glance at Hermione, and she was smirking mischieviously back at him. Together, they looked back at Snape, who began to talk again.
"We will be making much stronger potions, and many of them are against school rules. This, of course, means that no one will be taking any bit of their potions out of this room at the end of class. Now, someone tell me the function of a polyjuice potion."
Harry looked around the room. There weren't many people in it, but the few Gryffindors and Slytherins there were all stumped. A few looked like they vaguely remembered something about Polyjuice potions, but most looked like Crabbe with a stomach ache. Harry decided to risk raising his hand to answer Snape.
When Snape's eyes had caught Harry's, his lip curled unpleasantly. "Alright, Mr. Potter. Tell me, what does the Polyjuice potion do?"
"Sir, it makes it's drinker look like someone else for a full hour when brewed correctly."
Snape continued to talk, not even commenting on Harry's answer. After instructing the class to begin, Snape didn't even go near Harry and Hermione. Deciding that he would rather be ignored than sneered at, Harry began to make his Polyjuice potion. The project would last a month, and Harry was willing to bet that he could pass.
A/N: Congrats to Changa923 and Lorelei Lupin for answering my previous challenge. I'll tell you what the name Kiron Lysander means as soon as I have more time to "show his true colors".
Okay, so you'll find out a few things in the chapters to come, such as why Sev isn't making as much fun towards Harry, lots more information on Kiron Lysander, and some boy/girl stuff as well.
I figured it's close enough to Harry's normal character to be able to beat Lysander, mainly because he's so gifted in Defense. More D.A. information is coming up, as well as some stuff about Harry's N.E.W.T. classes. R/R please!