A/N: I wrote this a long time ago, when the story was still going through
my head. I have the general idea of what is going to happen, though it
might take another five chapters to actually be able to fully understand
what is really happening around Hogwarts.
As more about James's complicated past unravels itself, Harry is beginning to learn more things about his late Godfather. But when he discovers too much about the Marauders, Harry's life is thrown into a fatal vortex. Voldemorte is back, he's already failed countless times in killing Harry, and he doesn't intend to fail again.
Between The Heavens, a Trial of Faith: Chapter 14, A Question Worth Remembering
********************
"OK, class," Michelle said, entering the Defense room, "you can put everything away, just make yourselves comfortable."
The classroom looked around, Harry threw Ron a shrug, saying that he didn't know what was going on.
Flipping through papers, Michelle didn't turn around from the chalk board; glancing every now and again at the mirrors she had placed in the corners of the room. "I might not have Moody's eye, Mister Weasley, but I was once young too. Put the note down unless you want a date Friday evening." She said it with no emotions, she was neither mad nor pleased, and her lazy tone of voice told them that.
"Well," she said, turning around to face the class, "my name is Michelle, we will be spending the next year together, so formalities are useless. If you insist, I will call you by your surname, but I must press that to all of you, I am Michelle, not Professor, not Miss, not ma'am, Michelle.
"I spoke to a young Remus Lupin the other night, your only reliable Defense teacher thus far-"Michelle stopped as she saw Snape's eyes leering at her at her doorway, his lip curling at the sound of Lupin's name.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to speak with you, Miss Black as soon as you have a moment to spare."
Michelle met his gaze, "Thank you Severus," she pronounced his first name with the same mocking tone as he had used to pronounce her last.
"We spoke about how you were to address me," he sneered.
"And you me," her mind flashing back to her earlier days in the common room. "You leave my ancestry out of this Severus," she said slowly, "and I will do the same."
In a wave of unorthodox robes, Snape left the classroom.
"You first lesson-"she stopped abruptly, looking at Hermione's waving hand, "yes, Hermione?"
"Are you related to Sirius Black?"
Michelle knew the question, and she knew that someone would have asked it the moment that Snape had used the term "Miss Black". It had been an old nickname that Mad Eye himself had bestowed upon her shortly after her engagement to Sirius. Dumbledore had told the staff that no one was to use Michelle's actual name, much to Snape's protest, so they were either to use her first name, or Miss Black, much to Michelle's protest.
"Not in the slightest," She replied lightly. "Continuing on, you will all go very far in this class if you put effort into your work, I do not take kindly to laziness, I especially don't take kindly to passing around detentions. As fun as it is for me, to spend my evenings and weekends babysitting children who just had to break the rules, I would much rather be spending them by myself, with a good book."
"Oi," Ron whispered to Harry, "she's just like Hermione, that one is."
"Ronald Weasley," Michelle said, this time her voice was raising slightly, "could you stay after class, and us two, we will have a little talk."
Ron went bright red; he had not thought that Michelle could've heard him since he; Harry and Hermione were right in the back.
"Well, before the Potion Master decided to make his unruly presence known, I was telling you that I had a talk with Mr. Lupin, he is doing splendid, for anyone who cares, but he gave me a short run down of what had happened, and what our brave Gryffindors are capable of, so skipping right along, I think we will begin today by having a short discussion.
"Now," she continued, "the best way to defend yourself against an unforgivable curse is to avoid it. That means that you need to be able to read your opponent, who may or may not be a Death Eater. You need to be able to predict what they are going to do, and you need to counter it before they have a chance to jinx, hex, or curse you."
Michelle took out her wand and in a few short waves; the desks that had been in the three rows were now to the side, with the pupil still in them.
Then, looking down at her attendance list, she randomly selected two names, "Neville Longbottom," she called, "Hermione Granger, if you please come up here."
Hermione left her seat from beside Ron and Harry, and stood where the middle desks had once been, Neville got up from the second row to join her.
"Hermione," Michelle said, "imagine you are a Death Eater, and right now you need to kill Neville, lest you face the consequences of failure."
Michelle then turned to Neville, "you're job is to escape unharmed. Hermione, what is the first thing you are going to do, remember; you are at an advantage because presently Neville suspects nothing."
"I'd stun him," Hermione said, "then I'd kill him."
"Well Miss Hermione Granger, you would make a reckless and probably powerful Death Eater, remind me not to antagonize you if you are to ever switch over to Dark Side."
Hermione smiled sheepishly, it wasn't on a regular basis that she was commended for being a good Death Eater, and she felt slightly baffled that the Defense teacher would be teaching them such tactics.
"Neville," Michelle said, "you have just been stunned, what are you going to do?"
"Fall?" Neville asked quietly.
"Yes, but Neville, your life now depends how you fall."
"What do you mean?"
Michelle spent the rest of the class explaining Death Eater fighting tactics, and how thinking and planning ahead could save your life on more than one occasion. Basically Michelle spent the class teaching them what she had learnt through hers years at Hogwarts, though she didn't mention that aspect of the lecture.
When the bell rang it was Ron who took Michelle by surprise as he stayed behind. It took her a few moments to realize that at the beginning of class, she had asked him to.
"Sit down, Ron," Michelle said, sitting at her desk.
Ron pulled a chair from one of the spare desks and sat, looking at her nervously.
"You're a good friends of Harry, then?" She asked; she knew his answer before he even told her that he was, primarily because, despite the students' opinion, she had eyes, and knew in general how adolescent children worked.
"Then I have something to discuss with you, no, Mister Weasley, it is not about note passing or talking, because to be frank, I don't give a bloody damn whether you walk out of my class hating me or loving me, and I don't give a bloody damn whether you choose to spend your time learning how to ward off evils or how to try pass notes behind my back thinking that I don't know what goes on in my classroom."
Ron nodded, "then what is this about?"
"Ideally, I have no idea why I am bringing it up with you, but my instincts rarely leave me astray, it's not listening to them that causes disaster, so Mister Ronald Weasley, this is what I have to tell you."
As more about James's complicated past unravels itself, Harry is beginning to learn more things about his late Godfather. But when he discovers too much about the Marauders, Harry's life is thrown into a fatal vortex. Voldemorte is back, he's already failed countless times in killing Harry, and he doesn't intend to fail again.
Between The Heavens, a Trial of Faith: Chapter 14, A Question Worth Remembering
********************
"OK, class," Michelle said, entering the Defense room, "you can put everything away, just make yourselves comfortable."
The classroom looked around, Harry threw Ron a shrug, saying that he didn't know what was going on.
Flipping through papers, Michelle didn't turn around from the chalk board; glancing every now and again at the mirrors she had placed in the corners of the room. "I might not have Moody's eye, Mister Weasley, but I was once young too. Put the note down unless you want a date Friday evening." She said it with no emotions, she was neither mad nor pleased, and her lazy tone of voice told them that.
"Well," she said, turning around to face the class, "my name is Michelle, we will be spending the next year together, so formalities are useless. If you insist, I will call you by your surname, but I must press that to all of you, I am Michelle, not Professor, not Miss, not ma'am, Michelle.
"I spoke to a young Remus Lupin the other night, your only reliable Defense teacher thus far-"Michelle stopped as she saw Snape's eyes leering at her at her doorway, his lip curling at the sound of Lupin's name.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to speak with you, Miss Black as soon as you have a moment to spare."
Michelle met his gaze, "Thank you Severus," she pronounced his first name with the same mocking tone as he had used to pronounce her last.
"We spoke about how you were to address me," he sneered.
"And you me," her mind flashing back to her earlier days in the common room. "You leave my ancestry out of this Severus," she said slowly, "and I will do the same."
In a wave of unorthodox robes, Snape left the classroom.
"You first lesson-"she stopped abruptly, looking at Hermione's waving hand, "yes, Hermione?"
"Are you related to Sirius Black?"
Michelle knew the question, and she knew that someone would have asked it the moment that Snape had used the term "Miss Black". It had been an old nickname that Mad Eye himself had bestowed upon her shortly after her engagement to Sirius. Dumbledore had told the staff that no one was to use Michelle's actual name, much to Snape's protest, so they were either to use her first name, or Miss Black, much to Michelle's protest.
"Not in the slightest," She replied lightly. "Continuing on, you will all go very far in this class if you put effort into your work, I do not take kindly to laziness, I especially don't take kindly to passing around detentions. As fun as it is for me, to spend my evenings and weekends babysitting children who just had to break the rules, I would much rather be spending them by myself, with a good book."
"Oi," Ron whispered to Harry, "she's just like Hermione, that one is."
"Ronald Weasley," Michelle said, this time her voice was raising slightly, "could you stay after class, and us two, we will have a little talk."
Ron went bright red; he had not thought that Michelle could've heard him since he; Harry and Hermione were right in the back.
"Well, before the Potion Master decided to make his unruly presence known, I was telling you that I had a talk with Mr. Lupin, he is doing splendid, for anyone who cares, but he gave me a short run down of what had happened, and what our brave Gryffindors are capable of, so skipping right along, I think we will begin today by having a short discussion.
"Now," she continued, "the best way to defend yourself against an unforgivable curse is to avoid it. That means that you need to be able to read your opponent, who may or may not be a Death Eater. You need to be able to predict what they are going to do, and you need to counter it before they have a chance to jinx, hex, or curse you."
Michelle took out her wand and in a few short waves; the desks that had been in the three rows were now to the side, with the pupil still in them.
Then, looking down at her attendance list, she randomly selected two names, "Neville Longbottom," she called, "Hermione Granger, if you please come up here."
Hermione left her seat from beside Ron and Harry, and stood where the middle desks had once been, Neville got up from the second row to join her.
"Hermione," Michelle said, "imagine you are a Death Eater, and right now you need to kill Neville, lest you face the consequences of failure."
Michelle then turned to Neville, "you're job is to escape unharmed. Hermione, what is the first thing you are going to do, remember; you are at an advantage because presently Neville suspects nothing."
"I'd stun him," Hermione said, "then I'd kill him."
"Well Miss Hermione Granger, you would make a reckless and probably powerful Death Eater, remind me not to antagonize you if you are to ever switch over to Dark Side."
Hermione smiled sheepishly, it wasn't on a regular basis that she was commended for being a good Death Eater, and she felt slightly baffled that the Defense teacher would be teaching them such tactics.
"Neville," Michelle said, "you have just been stunned, what are you going to do?"
"Fall?" Neville asked quietly.
"Yes, but Neville, your life now depends how you fall."
"What do you mean?"
Michelle spent the rest of the class explaining Death Eater fighting tactics, and how thinking and planning ahead could save your life on more than one occasion. Basically Michelle spent the class teaching them what she had learnt through hers years at Hogwarts, though she didn't mention that aspect of the lecture.
When the bell rang it was Ron who took Michelle by surprise as he stayed behind. It took her a few moments to realize that at the beginning of class, she had asked him to.
"Sit down, Ron," Michelle said, sitting at her desk.
Ron pulled a chair from one of the spare desks and sat, looking at her nervously.
"You're a good friends of Harry, then?" She asked; she knew his answer before he even told her that he was, primarily because, despite the students' opinion, she had eyes, and knew in general how adolescent children worked.
"Then I have something to discuss with you, no, Mister Weasley, it is not about note passing or talking, because to be frank, I don't give a bloody damn whether you walk out of my class hating me or loving me, and I don't give a bloody damn whether you choose to spend your time learning how to ward off evils or how to try pass notes behind my back thinking that I don't know what goes on in my classroom."
Ron nodded, "then what is this about?"
"Ideally, I have no idea why I am bringing it up with you, but my instincts rarely leave me astray, it's not listening to them that causes disaster, so Mister Ronald Weasley, this is what I have to tell you."