The first official day of school was like Christmas to Hermione. The feeling was a minority on her part, as Hermione's face was the only one shiny and smiling at breakfast the next morning. Ron's eyes were bleary, and Harry was swearing over the fact that they had a boring first class.

Being back at Hogwarts gave Hermione a feeling of uplifting: she was finally where she belonged, where she could work without being disturbed. And be with Harry and Ron, of course.

Hermione poured over her schedule, happily commenting that they had History of Magic at 9 o'clock, and then Defense Against the Dark Arts at 1. She did a double take after reading they had D.A.D.A., but nobody noticed. She attributed the sudden racing of her heart to the fact that school was just about to begin. The classes were about to begin, that is. Like Defense Against the Dark Arts…

* * * * *

"Nothing's changed, has it?" Ran commented, as all three of them were walking out the doorway of their History of Magic classroom. "Tell me again, Hermione, why you are forcing us to take this class?"

Hermione smiled ruefully; when Ron and Harry thought about dropping their history class last year, she had convinced them to stick with it.

"Besides for the obvious enjoyment of seeing you suffer miserably, you have to take the class for your Auror training. Remember?"

Harry and Ron brightened up somewhat. Both were planning on becoming Aurors after graduating from Hogwarts, and it was something they were both looking forward to.

"Oh yeah…" Ron said vaguely, looking off into nowhere, tripping on the rug in the D.A.D.A. corrider. "I just hope it won't be as boring as that."

"Not with all the Dark Wizard activity lately," Hermione muttered darkly.

That shut everyone up.

It was with a rather depressed feeling that they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Oliver wasn't there yet, so they took three front row seats and pulled out parchment, quill, and wand. They were all silent as the rest of the classroom filed in, and slowly conversation began to fill the quiet corners of the room. Hermione took the time to look over the large mahogany desk in the front of the room, and then to the painting of a Quidditch team above it, then the small iron chandelier that illuminated the classroom…

Hermione did a double take. What was a picture of the Quidditch team doing here? She squinted her eyes, and noticed about 14 assorted players wearing dark blue robes with a large P splashed across their chest. Sure enough, Oliver was standing in the middle of the group, his arm around the shoulders of a short blond girl. The transformation in Oliver was amazing; in the picture his face was smiling, his eyes mischievously twinkling, his pose suave and his smile laconical. Now he seemed to be dark and brooding, resenting the fact that he lived and shamed by the fact that he was back at Hogwarts.  

But just then, Oliver walked into the classroom, and almost everyone fell silent. The boys all had looks of eager anticipation on their faces, as all of them had known Oliver a few years back and were eager to see how he would teach possibly the most important course of their lives. Most of the girls had mildly interested expressions on their faces, though their curiosity was more due to the fact that Oliver happened to be handsome, rich, and about to be internationally famous.

 Hermione in particular suddenly paid careful attention to her hair, making sure nothing was out of place. She was aware that Ron was watching her out of the corner of his eye, but when she looked over at him he quickly averted his gaze, instead turning around to talk to Lavender.

"Class," Oliver said, dropping his books and sitting on the front of his desk. He paused a moment to reflect upon the word, savoring it, and gazed upon the students whom he had known, had even been friends with. Someone commented upon Oliver being a pro Quidditch player, and the silence broke as everyone began to talk excitedly. Oliver's eyes flashed.

A small explosion suddenly rocked the room, and everyone stopped talking at once and looked for the source. At the front of the class was Oliver, his wand still smoking, his smile strained and dangerous.

"Rule number one," he said, his voice low. "Any mention of Quidditch is limited to that poster behind me, and all you're allowed to say is how handsome I look."

It was meant as a joke, but nobody was laughing. Some were shocked, their mouths hanging open. It wasn't until just now that Hermione realized to what extent Oliver was suffering.

"Okay," he said briskly, once silence had been restored. His shoulders relaxed visibly, and his frown lessened, but the class still listened with bated breath. "I don't care what you call me in here, as long as when Dumbledore's around it's Professor. Now, I'm doing this as a special favor to him, and I'll only be here for one year. Then I'll be healed…"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron smiled grimly. That sounded familiar.

"I'm here to teach you how to defend yourself. There's a lot of Dark activity occurring now, mostly in the southern and eastern regions, but don't deceive yourself if you think you're safe. There are people out there who wouldn't think twice about taking your life… or your families'."

Everyone was now hushed, gazing at him with wide eyes and bated breath. The class was all unconsciously leaning forward on their desks, wanting to hear more than just rumors inspired by fear, drinking in every word like thirsty flowers. The hold Oliver had on the class was incredible, and they were all staring at him in rapture.

Oliver coughed, and clapped his hands once. The spell broke. "Okay," he started. "We should start with the Alucinor spell. Can anyone tell me what it is?"

To nobody's surprise, Hermione's hand was the first in the air. Oliver nodded to her.

"It is a spell commonly used by Dark wizards to allow them to see into the minds of others. The Ministry strictly forbids it in daily life, as the spell caster has the ability to control the mind of his or her host, and it can go dreadfully wrong. Inexperienced wizards often end up going crazy, because they have an overload of memories, experiences, and longings coming in from both him and his host. It's often referred to as the Minor Imperius Curse."

Oliver appraised her silently, and slowly rustled some papers he had in his hands. He cleared his throat. "10 points to Gryffindor. Very good, Miss Granger."

She flushed with pleasure, but as she was putting her hand down she felt a slight disappointment that he hadn't called her Hermione. He hadn't referred to Lavender as Miss Brown.

The rest of the class was spent on the Alucinor spell, how to prevent it, and once it was administered, how to block it. Like Snape and McGonagall, Oliver had a way of making the class hang on his every words: maybe it was just because the subject they were dealing with was highly dangerous and rare, but Hermione was mildly impressed that Oliver had such a grasp on the subject. Where had he learned all this? Hermione found herself learning a lot more than she had previously known, and was impressed.

Oliver ended the class with a warning.

"You'll always need to be on your toes. Constant vigilance! Sometimes a split second of awareness is all it takes to save your life. Constant vigilance," he ended softly.

Hermione started. He sounded so much like Professor Moody, but Moody had come to teach at Hogwarts after Oliver had graduated. She frowned, and thought about mentioning it to Harry and Ron later that night, but she thought she'd go to the library first to do some homework.

Looks like Oliver had his own secrets to tell.

* * * * *

A/N: I keep hinting at a lot of things, like Dark activity, Oliver's past, etc. etc. Don't worry, it'll all reveal itself. Next chapter involves Hermione in the library… and who else happens to be there but our favorite Quidditch player? (No… not, Harry… or Ron… or Draco…) J

L'eau Goddess- I look forward to your comments now (no pressure, though) J I hope you like the way the rest of the story is going, and that you still think it's good in a few chapters or so. Your review rocked, and is definitely one of the reasons I'm working to update a quickly as I can.

Trinityelf- Thanks! You are so nice! I'm glad I cleared up the Head Boy thing for now, it won't come up for a while but I thought I'd lay some groundwork. Thank you for reading~

grahamcrackers- I love O/H, and I'm glad you like it too. Naturally, since there aren't as many writers for O/H as there are for say Lily and James or Ron and Hermione, there won't be many reviews. I'm doing this because I really like it. Thanks for the review!

Athene Saile- I tried to incorporate a little of the student teacher interactions here, and I hope to develop them later on. One of the reasons I'm writing this story is to try to explore the teacher/student relationship (and besides, I like Oliver) J

brunet-barbie-84- I'm glad you are starting to like O/H. That makes me so happy that I could have helped with that. Your review rocked!

JagFanatic- Awesome. I'm glad you like it!

Nevtassere- Thank you! I think O/H make a really cute couple too, in the younger girl/older guy crush type. Very intriguing, to me at least. J Thanks!

By the way, I tried to review your alls stories, but there's an ad/pop up blocker on my computer that won't let me. I really wanted to return the favor because you all have been so nice! Feel free to e-mail me!

I'll stop talking now.

~Faith