At breakfast the next morning Hermione received a fairly large box and a note. When she unwrapped the box she found a radio in it. The note was from her mother and said, "I thought you would like to have it. I noticed that you did not take it along with you."

"This is a satellite radio," she explained, "I found a spell to run electric appliances with magic."

Ron took the radio from her and examined it. It was silver. On the side it had a small black dog and said Sirius.

"Hey what's this," asked Ron.

"That is the brand name," said Hermione.

"Cool," said Ron.

Harry looked over and smiled at the small picture. "Do you think it will pick up any stations here?" he asked.

"Well it isn't a normal radio," said Hermione, "it is a satellite one, so it should be able to pick up music anywhere."

Their first class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts. When they walked into the classroom they found Professor Riddle sitting at her desk at the front of the room. The class was extremely small compared to how big it was the last few years. It only had ten students. The class consisted of all of the houses.

"Well," said Professor Riddle standing up, "I guess everyone is here. I assume that the majority of you are planning on going into the field of Aurors. That is what this class will be training for. In past years this class was required, however now it is only required for those who plan on defending the world against the Dark Arts. Since teamwork is an important part of an Auror's work, we will be dividing into two teams. There will be no individual assignments unless the class gets out of control. You will remain on the same team all year unless trouble arises. You may divide yourselves into teams. Choose wisely." With that Professor Riddle sat back down at her desk and watched the class divide.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry automatically joined the same team. "Hey, Neville would you like to join us?" asked Harry.

"Sure," said Neville.

"Luna, you can join us also," said Hermione.

"Alright," said Luna in her dreamy voice.

"Well," said Ron, "It looks like everyone else will have to be on Malfoy's team."

"I never expected him to be in this class," said Hermione.

"Well, he probably wants to know what we are learning so the Death Eaters can be prepared," said Harry. "I didn't expect you to be in this class either," he said to Hermione, Neville, and Luna.

"Well, I still don't want to be an Auror," said Hermione, "but with the war and a friend like you, I have to know how to fight."

"Hey," said Harry.

"Well, it's the truth," said Ron, "Trouble just seems to follow you around."

"Mostly the Death Eater kind," added Neville, "besides I don't want to let them get away with this."

"Has everyone found their team?" asked Riddle. Seeing that there was no reply she continued talking, "Good. This year we will be learning how to fight in a battle. Each team will be fighting against the other. There will be NO illegal curses. In the next few months I will be teaching you to block curses as well as dodge the ones you can not block. We will not have much book work since you can not learn to protect yourself simply by reading a book. Each person on the team will have a chance to be the leader. We will change leaders each week. No one is going to be a leader twice in a five week period. Is there any questions?"

None of the students raised their hand. "Alright then," said Professor Riddle, "You may discuss in your groups who will be the first leader. You may also discuss if you have any plans to will your battle."

"This sounds like it is going to be interesting," said Ron.

"Yeah," said Harry, "finally a chance to hex Malfoy without getting in trouble."