Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize as someone else's.

A/N: Thanks to Aalilyah for pointing out that I skipped a chapter!

Harry sat in Divination. "The crystal ball is an important asset to a seer," Trelawny was saying. "Crystal gazing helps to clear one's mind." She rambled on and on about crystal balls. "Now, everyone look into they crystal. Concentrate and you will see something."

Harry looked into the crystal that he and Ron were sharing. "There's going to be fog tonight," said Ron.

Harry peered into the crystal. The fog inside the crystal arranged itself: The Dark Mark. As quickly as it had come, it vanished.

"Harry," said Ron. "Did you…" His voice trailed off.

"Shhhh!" said Harry. "Don't let Trelawny hear you."

Harry and Ron pretended to look into the crystal; not daring to actually look. They were glad to get out of the hot, stuffy Divination Tower when class was over, even if they had to go to Double Potions.

"Double Potions has to be the worst class ever!" exclaimed Ron when class was over. Hermione nodded in agreement. They were on their way to lunch. Snape had taken tons of points from Gryffindor for no reason at all.

"Hmmm," said Harry. "Maybe Divination is worse."

"Maybe," said Ron as they exchanged looks.

"What?" asked Hermione. "What Happened?"

Ron quickly explained what happened. "Did your scar hurt Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Well, no," said Harry.

"So You-Know-Who can't be close," said Hermione.

"You should write to Sirius and tell him," said Ron.

They entered the Great Hall. They sat down. Jen and Ginny were laughing their heads off and Cadance was talking to them. "What's going on?" asked Hermione as she took a seat next to Ginny. Harry and Ron sat across from her.

"Cadance pulled the most awesome prank on Fred, George, and Lee," said Jen.

"What did you do?" asked Hermione.

"I put exploding chairs on a timer and put them in place of Fred, George, and Lee's chairs," said Cadance.

"Can teachers do that?" asked Ron.

"I'm not entirely sure," said Cadance before she went to take her seat atthe head table.

Fred, George, and Lee walked in sending Jen and Ginny into another fit of giggles. "Your sister," said Fred to Jen, "is our queen."

"Yeah," said Lee. "She is the Prank Queen."

"Wait," said Jen. "You're not mad that she embarassed you during class."

"No way," said George. George shook his head. "I don't know how she does it."

It was at that time that Cadance came back over. "Harry," said Cadance. "I have something that might belong to you. I found it when I was going through the things that Moody… err, Crouch left behind. I forgot about it until now." She pulled a piece of parchment out of her robe pocket and handed it to Harry. "You might be needing it."

Harry looked at it. The Marauders Map! He had forgotten that Crouch had borrowed it.

Then Fred began talking. "C'mon George, Lee. We have work to do. Loads of detentions to get. See you later, Ron. Hermione. Ginny. Harry. Jen. Your Highness."

Cadance raised an eyebrow. "Apparently you're the Queen of Pranks," Jen explained.

"Oh," said Cadance. She shook her head at Fred, George, and Lee's retreating backs.


"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts!" said Cadance cheerfully to her class. After lunch, she had her Gryffindor and Hufflepuff first years, followed by an hour break and now she had her Gryffindor and Slytherin fifth years. The Slytherins looked a little apprehensive and the Gryffindors looked… lethargic, for lack of a better word. "What has gotten in to all of you today?"

Dean Thomas raised his hand. "We just had Divination."

"Who's dieing?"

Harry raised his hand. "Congratulations. You're one of the proud few," said Cadance. "I got my death predicted every other class. You probably get it every class." Some of the Slytherins snickered. "Here's a tip. During class predict that you're going to be sick and Professor Trelawny will let you go early. It works every time." Even some of the Slytherins looked like they would take her advice.

"Now," Cadance began, "we have a lot to do today. We will be learning about a simple charm that will block most curses. The Rindetiun Charm will, when worked properly, send a jet of purple light at your opponent's curse, spell, or whatever. The Rindetiun Charm is Rindet Rivino. Now, I want you to get into groups and send curses at each other. You will each, in turn, block each other's curses."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione started to pull out their wands when they heard a voice behind them. "Do you think you can handle a simple charm, Potter?" They all whirled around to see Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. "Let's go Potter. Me verses you," said Malfoy.

"You're on, Malfoy," spat Harry.

"Harry! You're going to get us all into trouble!" exclaimed Hermione. Ron clapped a hand over her mouth.

"It's just a little duel," said Ron.

By now most of the class was watching. Cadance, who was walking around to help people, walked over to her desk. She sat down and leaned back on her chair, balancing it on two legs and put her feet on the desk. With a flick of her wand, all of the tables were pushed off to the side, leaving an empty space in the middle of the room. She looked highly amused. Harry took his position; he faced Malfoy.

"Serpensortia!" said Malfoy. A snake came from the end of his wand.

"Good think Justin Flinch-Fletchy isn't here," said Ron to Hermione.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" said Harry. The snake was lifted high into the air and with a flick of Harry's wand it wailed out of the window.

"Petrificus Totalus!" said Malfoy.

"Rindet Rivino!" called Harry. A jet of purple light hit Malfoy's curse. "Expelliarmus!" Harry said and Malfoy's wand flew off to the side where Cadance caught it.

"Well," she said. "It looks like Harry won that one." She threw Malfoy his wand back. "Who's next?" They continued. Hermione beat Crabbe quite easily. Ron beat Goyle. Lavender got beat by Millicent Bullstrode. Then class ended. Since this was the last class of the day, everyone was talking excitedly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed after to help Cadance put the tables back.

"Professor," said Harry. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did. But you can ask another."

"Why are you here? I mean, why are you really here? Your sister is a pretty good reason to be here, but I know it isn't the only one," He said.

"You do know Voldemort's after you, right?" asked Cadance as she and Hermione and pulled a table back into place.

"Of course," said Harry. "You aren't here to protect me, are you?"

"Yes and no," said Cadance as they pulled another table out of the corner. "What is keeping Voldemort from killing you?"

"The fact that he can't find me?" offered Harry.

"Only during the summer," said Cadance. "But he knows that you're here at Hogwarts."

"Oh Harry, you're such an idiot!" said Hermione.

"Gee thanks, Hermione," said Harry.

"Voldemort can't do anything with Dumbledore around," said Hermione. "He's scared of Dumbledore."

"Exactly," said Cadance. "What if Voldemort realizes that if he gets rid of my uncle, that you would be easy to get to you? He'll go after my uncle."

"So you're here to protect you uncle?" asked Ron.

"Kinda," said Cadance. "He's a big wizard and he can take care of himself."

"So why did you come?" asked Ron. Another table was pushed into place.

"Well, I was on assignment. I came home and I get a letter from my uncle telling me to come home immediately. So I come home and find out that my sister had been here for a month and I haven't seen her since I was nine. I was poking through the letters on his desk while I was waiting for him to come back from wherever he was and I saw that he was writing a letter to the ministry asking for a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and I told him that I'd do it. It would give me the perfect opportunity to spend some time with my sister. Not to mention teach her to be a mischievous little trouble maker just like I taught Fred, George and Lee."

"So you're the one that we should thank for that," said Ron.

"Are they that bad?" asked Cadance.

"Yeah," said Ron. "Filch has a whole filing cabinet devoted to them."


All right! How did you like it? Please Read and Review! Lily