Disclaimer: I own only the obvious, the rest belongs to JK Rowling.

Authors Notes: Thanks for the reviews. Hope you like this chapter as well as the last. Not Beta-ed. The correct version will be up as soon as my Beta is finished.

-Chapter Nine-



Harry watched as everyone in the Great Hall got their timetables from McGonagall. Soon enough she had reached him and handed him three timetables.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Two of those are for Mr Weasley and Ms Granger, Mr Potter." The Gryffindor Head of House explained. "Please give them to your friends when they get here."

"Yes Professor." Harry replied. He looked over his own timetable. 'Defence with the Slytherins first thing?! Well, might as well start the day off with a bang.'

Ron and Hermione choose that moment to enter the Great Hall, followed by the Gryffindor first years. The newest additions to the House were listening carefully to what his friends told them, gasping and giggling. Nearly Headless Nick floated past them and greeted them. Most of the first years just gaped.

"Hello Sir Nicholas." Hermione greeted politely. "Is everything well?"

"Very well, thank you," the ghost replied. "How was your summers?"

"Wonderful." Ron said, then turned to the tiny first years. "This is Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the resident House ghost of Gryffindor House." The ghost in question looked proud of the fact that Ron hadn't called him by his nickname. "He's also known as Nearly Headless Nick." The proud face quickly disappeared.

"Nearly headless?" the gothic girl, Acacia Alcander, spoke up. "How can you be nearly headless?"

Harry felt a strange sense of déjà vu at that moment, as Hermione had asked the same thing the first time they had met the ghost in their first year.

"Like this." Sir Nicholas pulled on his head, and it fell onto one shoulder, held in place only by a thin piece of transparent skin. The ghost looked smug when several of the kids gasped and screamed, even Acacia went paler than she already was. He put his head back on and floated over to the Fat Friar from Hufflepuff, and the two of them started chatting about something or other.

"Come on!" Hermione cut in. "Get something to eat, then hurry off to classes. If you need help finding the classroom, or are lost, ask a painting or ghost, and they will help you; just watch out for Peeves the Poltergeist and the moving staircases."

The group headed to the Gryffindor Table and sat down. Ron and Hermione sat opposite Harry, while Acacia Alcander once again took the seat at the end on the table, right beside him.

"Here." Harry said handing them their timetables.

"Thanks." Hermione replied as she read through it, while at the same time reaching for a piece of bread. "Defence first thing with the Slytherins."

"What a way to start the day!" Ron complained. "There's nothing worse than sharing the first class of the day with the Slytherins... No, wait, there is! Potion first thing with the Slytherins, which we have on Friday. What are the teachers trying to do? Kill us?!"

"Don't hyperventilate Ron." Harry said, calmly munching on a toast. "At least we have Hagrid right after Potions."

"Great! If we don't die in one class, the next is certainly going to take care of that!"

"He ain't a mornin' person, is he?"

Harry turned and smiled at Acacia who was sitting beside him. She was looking at Ron, amusement clearly written all over her pale face. Once again the black lipstick and eye-shadow was on, along with the pentagon- necklace around her neck.

"Not when the first class is Potions, or when we have to share the first class with the Slytherins." He replied. "And this year we have every first class with the Slytherins, so he's going to be extremely grumpy." The eleven-year old giggled.

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Defence class should've started ten minutes ago, yet there was no sign of Cian anywhere. The rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins either gossiped amongst each other, or discretely tried to hex people from the other house.

"Where is the Professor?" Hermione asked looking worriedly around. "Do you think something happened to him?"

"Trust me, you'd have to be out of your mind to try to attack him." Harry replied. "Ron, stop trying to curse Malfoy," he said without looking at the redhead. "The Professor could come in any second now."

"But-" Ron didn't get further. The door to the classroom banged open in the same manner the doors to the Great Hall had last night, and in came Cian; arms loaded with books and parchments.

"Sorry I'm late, couldn't find my way here." He put everything on the desk, then turned to the class. "As you know, I'm Theron Joyleaf," the vampire looked straight at Neville, who tried not to gulp. "First I want to see what you learned in this class the last five years, and if you remember it. You won't need your bags this time, but take them with you in case this takes more time than expected. Follow me."

The class looked curiously at each other, then hurried out after their new teacher. They followed Cian down several old corridors that didn't seem like they had been in use for ages. Once they ran into Peeves, but when the Poltergeist saw the Professor he went deathly pale and disappeared as fast as possible.

//Cian, do you have any idea where we're going?// Harry asked the First Vampire.

//Certainly, Mr Potter,// came the reply. //We're going to the old Duelling classroom.//

//Oh no.//

//Oh yes.//

'This is all your fault, you know.' The voice told him. 'If you hadn't tricked Cian into taking the Defence job, you wouldn't have to meet him in a duel. And you can bet that the guy looks forward to meeting you.'

'Thanks pointing out the obvious.'

'You're welcome!'

'I'm sooooo dead.'

'No shit Sherlock.' The voice replied. 'By the way, Kanchigai has replied to your last letter. It's waiting for you in the room opposite Sir Cadogan. What are you going to do about that werewolf-suspicion of yours?'

'Well, tomorrow's the full moon, so all I have to do is follow the girl around after dinner.'

'And what about Hermione and Quis? When do you plan on letting them meet?'

'Not until I need it, or something happens. Oh good god, we're here.'

'Good luck.' The voice told him. 'I was just wondering, what do you want the inscription on your tombstone to say?'

'Optimistic, aren't you?' Harry replied. Squaring his shoulders determinately he walked into the room first, followed by the rest of the class.

'And what do you call yourself then?'

'Realistic.'

'I give up!'

'Good, I need to concentrate.'

'Ah, you have a plan! Tell me!'

'Bugger off.'

'Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!'

'After I'm finished with the duel.'

'Spoilsport.'

The room was bigger than a normal classroom, yet not as big as the Great Hall or the Entrance Hall. There were four windows in the room, all of them right up with the high ceiling. More than two hundred years worth of dust was lying on the floor, and the walls weren't exactly clean either.

Cian stopped right inside the door to the room with the class behind him. He looked around the room, sneering in disgust at the dust and the dirty walls. He shook his head, then made an elegant gesture with his hand. A second later most of the dust was gone, and the walls looked somewhat clean.

The students could now make out lines here and there on the floor, and it was clear that the walls had once been white marble. The vampire looked critically at his work, shook his head once again, then turned to the class.

"This is the old Duelling room, where students were taught to duel both Muggle and magical. Now, as I understand, last year you had an Elf teach you the Muggle ways of duelling, and a Duelling class with the Defence Professor." Several heads nodded. "Then this shouldn't be too difficult. When I call your name, walk to the muddle of the room and position yourself in the correct starting position. Then we'll duel."

The students gaped and stuttered, Harry himself didn't feel too confident and Neville looked close to fainting.

"W-we're supposed t-to duel with you?!" Pansy Parkingson shrieked.

"Who else?" Cian asked her, making it sound like a normal, every-day question.

"Each other!" the Slytherin girl shrieked back. "Gryffindors against Slytherins! Or girls against boys! Or girls versus girls, and boys versus boys!"

//Imaginative little girl, isn't she?// the vampire thought in amusement.

//Don't get used to it.// Harry replied.

"Until I know at what lever you're standing, Ms Parkingson, I don't dare to put you up against each other; especially not Gryffindors against Slytherins." He walked to the centre of the room, then once again turned back to the students. "Now, if no one has any more objections, shall we start?" he was met with dead silence. "Good. First up: Brown, Lavender."

The girl in question visibly gulped before she got a determined look on her face, drew her wand and walked up to Cian.

//I was wondering if that infamous Gryffindor courage hadn't disappeared since I last visited this school.//

//Well, that depends on how you look at it.// Harry replied. //Slytherins would call Gryffindors bloody, idiotic goody two-shoes who run headlong into everything.//

//To each his own.// The First Vampire replied. "Are you ready Ms Brown?" Lavender nodded, squaring her shoulders. "Then we begin."

"Wait! Where's your wand?"

"Not everyone needs those silly sticks to perform magic." Cian said. "Expelliarmus!"

Lavender squealed and ducked the sudden attack.

"Stupefy!" she yelled pointing her wand at the Professor who wasn't there anymore.

"Expelliarmus!" Cian said from somewhere behind her. Lavenders wand flew into the air and the vampire caught it neatly. "Nice going Ms Brown. Here's your wand," he handed the piece of wood back to its rightful owner. "Next is Bulstrode, Millicent."

The Slytherin girl stood proudly in front of the Professor, as if she was daring him to even think about hexing her. The First Vampire didn't even blink before he shot a Cheering Charm at the girl, who, a second later, doubled over laughing.

The Slytherins groaned. They had just been humiliated in front of Gryffindors!

It went on like that. Cian would call out a name, the student would go up to him, get beaten and then step down. Hermione, Ron, and Malfoy were the only ones that lasted more than a few seconds.

//Strategic move vampire,// Harry said in amusement. //Get rid of the rest of the class, and take your time with me. The joy of Telepathic abilities, eh?//

//Yes, well, with you it is going to be very interesting.// The immortal replied as he knocked out yet another student. //Since I cannot read your thoughts, I won't know your next move. It's going to be a challenge.//

//Yes, it is.// Harry replied as the vampire called his name. They bowed respectfully to each other and got into the starting positions.

"Stupefy!"

Harry ducked it easily, and retorted with a Disarming Charm.

The duel drew out; neither of them seemed ready to give up and both were too stubborn to forfeit it to the other. The rest of the class watched with interest as Potter duelled with Professor Joyleaf. The Slytherins didn't know if the fact that Potter still hadn't lost was a good thing or not, while the Gryffindors were cheering their champion on.

//You're better than I first thought.// The First Vampire commented as he ducked a Cheering Charm.

//I have to be,// Harry replied waiting for the vampire to make the next move, and jumped out of the way when the hex came. //With Voldemort running around like a headless chicken, and the Pretender-work I do, lets say that duelling is crucial.//

//How about we call it quits for now, and continue another time? You're going to be late for your next class.//

//Alright, we'll continue another time.// Harry stopped and straightened up, Cian did the same. Then they met in the middle of the room and shook hands.

"Very good Mr Potter," Cian said so that the whole room could hear it. "We will have to continue this another time, and see who comes out as the victor. But for now class is over. Dismissed!"

-------------------------

"Wow! Where did you learn to duel like that?!" Seamus asked as they walked towards Charms.

"Picked it up here and there; but mostly from my encounters with the Dark Lord." Harry replied while checking his book-bag for quills and parchment. "Damn!"

"What is it?" Hermione looked at him worriedly.

"I've forgotten parchment. No, I won't borrow anything from the rest of you. I know for a fact the you barely have enough yourselves."

"What are you going to do about it then?"

"I'm going back to Gryffindor tower and find my parchments." Harry pushed them towards the Charms classroom. "There's no need for the rest of you to be late as well. Go ahead. I won't be long."

"If you insist." Lavender said.

"We'll tell Flitwick where you are if he asks." Parvati reassured him.

"Yeah, and Harry, if you see Trevor jumping around the common room, catch him and put him back in his box for me, will you?"

"Sure Neville."

"Come on!" Dean said. "The Ravenclaws have already arrived."

-------------------------

Harry was about to round the last corner before entering the corridor with the painting of the Fat Lady, when he heard someone crying.

'Quickly,' the voice in his head spoke up. 'Turn into a white, royal- looking, wolf!'

'Ah, Accalia Amaris. Must say I didn't plan to see if I was right until tonight.' Harry replied as he pictured the perfect wolf inside his head, then began to force himself to change shape.

'Plans change, Harry, never forget that; and you are going to visit her tonight too if she is a werewolf. Trust me on that one.' The voice was silent for a while. 'Wonderful shape, couldn't have done it better myself.'

'Thanks. You won't mind if I ad a few effects to this?'

'Be my guest. You still have to tell me what your plan for the duelling with Cian was.'

'Later, voice. Let the Game begin.'

Harry trotted around the corner. Accalia Amaris was sitting by the Fat Lady, her knees drawn up to her chest. She had her arms wrapped around them, and her head resting on her arms. Her dark brown hair spilled all over the place. The little body was shaking with the effort to keep the sobs to a minimum.

He used the shadows to his advantage, and sneaked up to the tiny girl. Harry drew himself up to the full height the wolf-form would allow, affected the air of an ancient and magical creature, then nuzzled the girls cheek.

Golden-brown eyes met unnatural piercing green. Accalia looked him up and down, no fear showing on her face. Harry nuzzled her again, and she threw her arms around him, buried her face in his fur and started to cry once again.

//What's wrong cub?// he asked. She drew back in shock, and stared at him as if he had grown another head.

"Y-you c-can speak?"

//Mind-speech, cub; but what's wrong?// Harry replied patiently.

"I-I'm..."

//You're what?// he probed gently when the girl stopped.

"I change into a wolf every full moon." She whispered.

//Ah, you're what the humans call a werewolf then.//

"Yes."

//Then what's wrong?// Harry asked once again. //You don't like your wolf- form?//

"It's not that, I like being a wolf. But I'm afraid."

//Of what?//

"The future. Humans don't take well to werewolves. What's to become of me when I'm finished here at Hogwarts?"

//What about your pack? What about play-mates?//

"My family are trying their best to give me a normal upbringing, and I have no friends. I'm afraid that I'll hurt them if they follow me one night."

'Voice, I'll need your help here. I need the sound of footsteps coming closer.'

'You got it mate.' Was the reply, and a second later the 'footsteps' could be heard, gradually getting louder and louder.

//I have to go cub.// Harry said to Accalia. The girl refused to let go of his fur. //I'll pick you up tonight when you change. I promise, you won't be alone in this.//

"A-alright."

Harry gave the girl an encouraging wolf-smile, nuzzled her cheek one more time and slowly and gradually turned himself invisible. To Accalia it would look as if he was dissolving into thin air.

When he was sure that all of him was gone, Harry apparated to the corner where he had changed into the wolf, changed back into himself and walked around the corner.

"Hey," he said as he reached her. "What are you doing out here?"

"I-I couldn't r-remember the password." The girl replied. "I-I forgot m-my book-bag this morning in the common room. C-could you help me?"

"Sure, no problem. The password is 'redhaired pranksters'." The Fat Lady opened with a cheery nod to Harry, and the two students entered. "I'm Harry."

"A-Accalia." Accalia said and shook his hand after staring at it for a while.

"Pleased to meet you Accalia." He found his parchment on a chair under Crookshanks who was using them as a bed. "Off with you Crookshanks, if you don't behave I'll tell Hermione about it, and you don't want to go through another training session do you?" the cat looked at him in horror, then was suddenly hiding under the couch.

Accalia sniggered, but stopped when he turned back to her.

"It's alright to laugh Accalia, no one's going to hurt you for it," Harry said and smiled. "Don't worry, Hermione just tends to bug her animals. It's a phase-sort-of-thing. Two years ago she fought for House Elf rights, demanding that the House Elves got paid for the work they did and got holiday and so on."

"She's one of those people, huh?"

"Yeah, can be quite annoying at times, but she's the best person in the world. Especially if you need help with homework. She's practically a walking library." Harry told her as they exited the common room. "Now, what was your next class?"

"Potions with Slytherin." Accalia replied. "And I've no idea how to get there."

"Don't worry, I'll take you there. Professor Snape can be, um, slightly annoyed if a student is late for class."

"But what about your class?"

"Oh, nothing to worry about, I'll just ask Hermione later." The tiny girl laughed freely this time. "And besides, I have a message for the Professor anyway."

"Thanks."

"Your welcome."

-------------------------

Harry knocked on the door to the Potion classroom.

"Come in!" came the sneered reply. He opened the door and let Accalia enter first. "Ah, Ms Amaris, how nice of you to finally show up. I'm afraid that will be t-"

"Professor, may I speak with you?" Harry asked putting a supportive hand on the shaking girls shoulder.

Snape glared down at him, but he refused to be intimidated by the Potion Master. The class followed the glaring contest in slight awe.

"Can't it wait Potter?" the Professor sneered. Accalia looked at him in surprise. "If you hadn't noticed, I'm in the middle of a class, which you also should be."

"I'm afraid that this cannot wait." Harry replied. //Come on Snape, this bloody Polyjuice is running out, and I don't have anything left!//

Surprise flashed through those coal-black eyes, but it was quickly hidden.

"I trust you can manage without me for a few minutes, and hopefully not blow something up in the process." Then the man stalked towards the door. "Well, what are you waiting for Potter?"

Harry quickly followed him out of the classroom. When Snape closed the door, he let himself change into Rex Chase again. He stretched and rubbed his neck.

"God, I hate using Polyjuice."

"Then why do you do it?"

"You think that the rest of the school would've let me go after those charming articles in the Daily Prophet?" Harry walked around a bit, pretending to stretch his legs. "Even if one student as much as glimpsed me, the Ministry would be here five seconds later."

"What are you doing here, and what's so important that it couldn't wait until the class was over?"

"I'm here to tell you that I'm leaving for a long period of time," Harry replied. "But a couple of my friends will take my place and report back to you."

"And why are you telling me this?"

"Because then you can tell it to the Headmaster, and you won't hurt my friends when they finally show up." Snape raised an eyebrow. "They're kinda weird-looking, but the heart's where it should be... at least I think it is. Not too sure with Quis though."

"Alright, alright; what are their names?"

"Quis, Joyleaf, Mayon, Ze-"

"Hold it! Joyleaf?! The same Joyleaf as the DADA teacher?"

"Yeah. As I was saying; Quis, Joyleaf, Mayon, Zev, Athan and Ramses. One warning though, Mayon and Quis aren't exactly what you'd call normal."

"Sure, sure, how are you going to get out of here?" Snape asked looking nervously at the classroom door, expecting an explosion to happen any second.

"There's a secret passage here in the dungeons that only lets people out, but not in." Harry started to walk down the corridor. "Say 'hi' to the RAV for me, will you?" he disappeared into the shadows, leaving a slightly stunned Potion Master to return to his still intact classroom.

-------------------------

~*~

"Remus!"

He ran as fast as his paws could carry him.

"Reemuuusss!"

That voice. He needed to find the owner of that voice. It was important. Could save lives, he was sure of it.

"Remusssssss..." it ended with a whisper. Like a wind bowling softly through the treetops above his head.

Darkness. The full moon was gone, as were the stars. He was falling into a pit of darkness. Alone. No, wait! There was some light over there. Walk towards it. Hurry! Something's closing in on your tail. Run! Almost there!

The light disappeared. The darkness had him. Hopeless.

~*~

Remus Lupin sat up in his bed, bathed in sweat. The dream in itself wasn't scary, it was the feelings and emotions he had that was the scary part.

He rubbed his hands over his face and sighed. He had had the same dream for a couple of weeks now, and each time the light disappeared just as he reached it. He looked over at the couch. Sirius was sleeping soundly in his dog-form, tail wagging now and then and small, satisfied yelps came from him.

'At least someone has a good time.' He thought as he threw off the sheets and went into the bathroom.

Remus found his toothbrush and toothpaste, and started brushing his teeth and everything with his eyes closed. He yawned. God, that dream felt so real. His eyes fluttered open and he lost his brush and his mouth dropped open.

There, in the mirror, where his reflection should be, was a wolf-head. And it was looking straight at him.

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Well, what do you think? Longer than the others, but don't expect it every time. Please review.

Thanks to:

Korinna Myorin, WolfMoon, Fair Lady Ravenclaw, Naia, Harry and Hermione's Daughter, Justice Seeker, Sophie W., Mike Potter 2002, WeasleyTwinsLover1112, MythX, A-man, RJLL, JUDGEMENT, aurora*sky, Rachel A. Prongs, BloodRedSword, Arizosa, Usa Yui and Usa Kou, Ruskbyte, Hermione HP, Rouge1615, smg, Miranda Flairgold, daemonhart, Ashley, Dragonsbane, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Amber Evans Potter, coconut-ice agent h/h, Dragonhope, TheUnknown, Richan, Bookworm, Old Fawkes, npetrenko, SilveRain, Blizzard, The Fierce Deity, God of War; Icewind Stormfire, Exploding Snap, Alexandra, Witchmaster, Liza Potter, bubblegum*girl.

DAEMONHART! I need your mail address, I've lost it! And ATHAN'S LIFE STORY will be posted as soon as I can be bothered to type it up. It'll be under HP, and I guarantee that you'll recognise it once you see the title. Thanks for all the reviews!