AN: OK I decided instead of the monster chapter I had in the works to do it in several smaller chapters, otherwise there would be too big a gap in between chapters, I am doing my HSC this year and I don't have as much time to write as I would like. This way I have about this and the next two updates pretty much ready to go and you will at least get something for the next few weeks.

So look forward to the next chapter around Thursday next week.

Please go check out Shadow Liaison my new Stargate/BTVS crossover!

Thanks

Cataclysmic.

Teaching preteens to eighteen year olds Defence Against the Dark Arts was a demanding task to be sure. Not the most demanding task he had ever undertaken but it ran a very close second.

Harry smiled as he looked out over his classroom, everyone was quietly reading his or her books for the present moment and he was grateful, this was one of the very few peaceful moments he had managed to cultivate in weeks.

Teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts was a lot more work than Harry had ever imagined, even split between the two of them, he and 'Mione the workload was enormous. Both of their schedules had been extremely full on for the past several weeks, he was actually surprised that he managed to fit in several hours sleep a day.

He honestly didn't know how his teachers had ever managed to keep up with everything, between learning or revising the curriculum they had set, essays, homework, lesson plans, trouble making students and meals Harry could easily see why Snape was in a perpetual bad mood. The only hope for salvation Harry could see with the job was that it would probably settle down soon, and next year would not be nearly so bad, he had to believe that the job would get easier with time or he just wouldn't survive it.

He only had himself to blame for his present dilemma though. Well himself and Hermione at any rate. They both wanted to be sure to cover everything the students could possibly ever need or want.

Unfortunately everything the students could ever need or want covered an awful lot of material and the work required to fulfil such a requirement was more than enough to keep two individuals going full time, and then some. He could easily see why their predecessors had let their standards slip; he could also see why only the evil I-want-to-kill-Harry-Potter types had ever applied for the jobs. And Remus and Sirius of course but sanity had to be an issue there… he after all had to question his own sanity in accepting the position.

The teaching standard had not really been lax here in previous years; in fact the teaching standard here was far greater than he could ever remember it being in his own world. However the teaching schedule proved to be a problem with large gaps becoming apparent in the students education. Hogwarts had never set a minimum standard for its teachers and as such important topics were often skipped over due to the teacher's incompetence in the subject or by oversight. So in addition to setting their own curriculum they had been forced to search for and cover gaps and misinformation the students had been taught.

By far the easiest class to teach would be the First Years who would have very little to no previous impressions of Defence Against the Dark Arts and no misinformation or gaps in their knowledge. They were a clean slate on which to start on, a clean slate they were determined to take advantage of. Harry and Hermione had planned the First Year curriculum all the way to seventh year, so even if they left the students would still benefit from their knowledge and experience. Hopefully by the end of it all most of the students would be on par with second year Aurors. Though second year Aurors were not the best out there they were fairly decent at defending themselves and those around them.

Hermione of course had taken charge of the First Years, eager to start filling their impressionable young minds to the brim with knowledge. Somehow he himself had found himself in charge of nearly every class above fifth year, and every Slytherin class above fourth year. Certainly, he thought it was a bad idea to leave Hermione in charge of setting the schedules and most of the curriculum. When he had questioned her on the schedule she had only replied that he was better qualified to teach the older students, but he knew of course she had ulterior motives, she just wanted to get her metaphorical hands on all those impressionable young minds to mould.

He had to say that some classes were just a disaster waiting to happen, nearly total lost causes, such as his fifth year Hufflepuff class:

"You Know Who has a name? I always thought that his name was You Know Who…"

"How thick can you get?" Harry muttered under his breath. But then again these kids had not suffered under the effects of Voldemort's reign, though their parents undoubtedly had, not even able to overcome their own fear of the name to let their children know that You-Know-Who's name was not really You-Know-Who.

He could just see them now, "Mummy who's this You-Know-Who everybody talks about?" here said mother would be rendered speechless before replying "You-Know-Who was a very bad Dark Wizard who was very very bad, but don't worry he's gone now and he's never coming back."

It was just so pathetic, and these were the generation of people who would most likely face the next Dark Lord, and if they were the typical examples of a fifteen-year-old witch or wizard's intelligence, He might actually welcome the change.

Harry had extreme doubts that this peace people had been enjoying so much for the past eighteen years was going to last. It was only a matter of time until someone came along that did not like way things were run, or thought they could do a better job and drummed themselves up some support. There was never such a thing as real peace after all, only the appearance of it. If you looked closely enough, or scraped past the surface far enough you would find some malcontents. Everyone's opinion on matters was slightly different after all.

No there was no such thing as real peace just a break between wars, all the wars determined was the victor, the winner, which side was stronger and all a war determined was the living conditions to be endured during the 'peace' times. War was nearly always waged by a minority, a group who could not get what they wanted through 'legal' means.

He was really appalled by that particular class and he thanked god they were in the minority. He had actually managed to gather a rather intelligent Ravenclaw class, smart even for Ravenclaw's, and they didn't all rely on book smarts. They also had a sense of humour, which was more than he could say for the majority his classes (Slytherins, cough, cough) although it could be that they appreciated his own brand of humour more than the others.

He laughed inwardly as he thought back to his first class with his favourite class:

"Don't worry class, I sometimes go to my own little world, but it's okay, they know me there."

He had decided to start with a bang here, make them think he was a little bit dim, try to throw them off a bit.

The class stared at Professor Potter in disbelief, this was the guy they saw best an Unspeakable without magic? They could not believe it was the same person, there was obviously something missing up there.

One or two recognized the act for what it really was, an act, after all Albus Dumbledore the most powerful wizard in the world was often seen as a senile old man with an obsession with candy, this merited them a wink and enough warning (as they had not taken their eyes off him to share looks with their neighbours) to cover their ears as Professor Potter yelled out at the top of his lungs "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

The silence following the statement echoed around the classroom.

"Never ever underestimate your opponents."

"But sir you are not an opponent you're our teacher…" a Ravenclaw he now knew by the name of Nathan Weatherby countered.

"Whoever said I was not your opponent, sure I am your Professor but you never know it could be a dastardly clever plot to get close to you and kill you."

The class laughed.

Harry remained stoic.

"Whoever said I was joking?" he asked with the most serious expression he could muster. "Happened to me plenty."

"The world, I don't care how peaceful it may seem, is full of people out to get you. You should always be aware of this and prepare accordingly."

"Now today we will be working on the Altra Via curse, can anyone tell me the origins of the Altra Via curse?"

A girl in the third row raised her hand.

"Yes Miss…?"

"Hallier sir… the Altra Via curse was discovered in 1786 during the Giant Rebellion in response to the Goblin curse Hewed Elegiac, Dark Magic which was latter slightly altered by Dark Wizards to form the Elegiac Curse. Altra Via both shields the castor from Hewed Elegiac and the Elegiac Curse."

"Well Done." Harry replied, thinking that at least some people in this school had a modicum of intelligence, and then he shivered thinking about how much he sounded like Snape when he thought like that.

"Now who can tell me the purpose of the Hewed Elegiac and Elegiac Curse?"

A mousy haired girl in the back row was the only person to raise their hand.

"You are?" Harry asked.

"Alexandria Nott sir," the girl squeaked quietly.

Harry smiled kindly at her; he knew who her family was and what they had done, what they had been in the previous war. Not quite Death Eaters themselves the majority of the Nott's were at least supporters of Voldemort, though a few joined the Dark Lord not many of the Nott's had actually gone as far as to become Death Eaters.

He knew that prejudices had ran high in the school since the last war and he knew she wasn't doing herself any favours by answering this question for him.

"The Hewed Elegiac and Elegiac curses are torture curses, designed to maximise pain on the physical, mental and psychological levels the Elegiac curses were used to drive leaders of the opposing side insane before their deaths, the Elegiac curse is used from a distance and can be recognised by its appearance an ice blue netting, the Elegiac curse works extremely quickly and death is likely to occur within twenty four hours if the correct medical attention is not given. If treated within four hours the Elegiac curse can be reversed and there is a good chance the subject will retain sanity, the longer left without treatment the more the subject will deteriorate."

"Thank you Alexandria." Harry said, "The Elegiac curses were used as demoralisers in the 1786 Goblin Wars and were extremely effective, being a new curse that no one had seen before no one had any idea how to treat those cursed or how to block the magic. The Elegiac curses were only used on leaders of the opposing side for the simple fact that it took an extreme amount of magic energy to cast the curse, it was simply not worth the temporary magic shortage the curse caused for the curse to be used on just anyone."

One of the most entertaining ongoing occurrences in Harry's opinion was Melody Black Sirius's wife, who was in his humble opinion the best thing that had ever happened to his godfather. It was funny now that he thought about it but he had never really seen Sirius as the getting married and having kids type. Yet here he was the eternal bachelor of Harry's mind married with a kid on the way.

From what he had seen in recent weeks Melody was a good match for him, and certainly managed to keep his godfather in line. He always had to fight back a laugh whenever he thought of Melody, when she had first arrived; heavily pregnant she had marched right into the Great Hall and dragged Sirius out by the year shouting at him the entire time.

Melody Black was a force to be reckoned with whilst pregnant. He wasn't sure he wanted to see what she was like when she wasn't.

He was more than a little scared though of the friendship Hermione had struck up with Melody, she was one scary lady and he wasn't sure he wanted her rubbing off on Hermione. She was scary enough as it was.

He still wasn't sure where he stood on the idea of Sirius as a parent, sure he had always thought of Sirius as a second father, the father he had never had, but he by no means thought he would be a responsible parent. A cool parent yes, a responsible parent no. Then again Melody seemed to be responsible enough for the both of them.

Thankfully Melody seemed to have some form of control over Sirius. Harry had never seen his godfather act as civilised and responsible than he did in Melody's presence. Sirius actually managed to appear somewhat responsible, well to people who didn't know the marauder in him at least.