CHAPTER 3

The next morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. There, they received their time tables from McGonagall. Ginny and Luna were in the same year as Harry now. They did very well for their final year and were able to skip their fifth year.

'We have Defense today, right after breakfast! I'm looking forward to it, ' Ron exclaimed.

'Well, let's go now then,' Harry said. They left for their Defense lessons and were the first ones there. They stood outside the door, waiting for the rest to come then a voice behind the door said, 'Come in.' They cautiously went in and the 8 heros were there.

'Erm… Hi… Morning Professors,' They greeted.

'Morning Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny right?' Ginny nodded nervously.

'You're very early you know. Classes don't begin until 9. You must be hungry, here, eat. I'm guessing you skipped breakfast just to be here early right?' Achilles said.

'Please Professor, we were looking forward to the lesson,' Hermione said timidly.

Patroclus smiled, 'It's ok to look forward. We don't blame you or anything. But you must be hungry, eat. You're gonna need a lot of strength and energy for today's lessons.'

The quartet smiled back and began to eat. 'This is good Professor,' Harry commented.

Achilles smiled warmly and said, 'No need for formalities Harry, just call us by our names.'

Soon, students started to come and waited outside. 'Come in,' Jon said.

The students quickly walked to their seats but was stopped by Achilles. 'Please gather round. From now on, we will be having 3 separate defense class. DADA, Muggle fighting and Sword fighting. We are going to prepare you for the upcoming battles if you ever need to use your wand, draw a sword or even use your own hands to fight. You may call us by our names and there will most probably not be any homework on Defense. Most of it will be done in class, that is why you will have the whole day for defense every Tuesday, which is tomorrow.

'Right, on to business, Briseis, Emili and Sammie will be taking sword fighting with Ginny, Neville, Luna, Dean, Pansy and Seamus. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, with me, Sam and Patroclus. The rest with Jon and Rave,' Achilles led Harry and co. out of the room and onto the Hogwarts Grounds for their lessons.

'First of all, we will practice the patronus charm. Don't worry if you can't get it at first, even full wizards can't manage a spell like that.' As Harry learnt it in his third year, he mastered it easily.

'Nice patronus Harry! 50 points to Gryffindor,' Achilles was interrupted by Malfoy who whined and complained, 'It's not fair! It clear that you're biased towards him!'

'Perhaps I wasn't clear, 50 points to whoever who managed to get it. Unfortunately, you interrupted me, 50 points off Slytherin,' Achilles said.

'My father will hear of this and you will lose this job!'

'What's he waiting for?' Achilles said lazily, 'He isn't in the castle now but I am. Let it be known that while I am around, you should fear me instead. You tell your father, tell the Minister, tell the wizarding world, tell Voldermort but let me tell you this, they can't do anything about it. Class is dismissed. I want you all to master the spell and come back tomorrow, if anyone has any trouble, feel free to ask me. Harry, Ron and Hermione, please stay behind.'

The trio exchanged glances and slowly walked to the muscular seventeen hoping that they had not done anything wrong. Suddenly, they found themselves floating in mid air. They panicked but Achilles told them not to worry while he, Sam and Patroclus also floated.

'I prefer floating than standing or sitting,' Sam commented.

'So do I! It's fun!' Patroclus said, circling around.

'Harry, I heard you had trouble dealing with dementors still?'

'Er… yeah…' Harry replied uneasily.

'And I heard that there's a group which you formed last year? Dumbledore's army?'

'Yeah…'

'I was thinking, if you wanted to continue, that I fully agree to you doing it since everyone who was a member passed their Defense exams with an " E " and higher. So, you might wanna consider continuing it. If you need any help, feel free to approach me of any of us,' Achilles said.

'Really? I could continue? That would be great! I would really like your help Achilles. Thanks!' Harry said excitedly.

The handsome boy smiled and nodded his head, 'I think you better go now. Professor Snape might not kill me but he will give detentions to those who are late. I'll write a note for you and Patroclus will accompany you to make sure Snape doesn't push his luck.'

The trio left for potions with Patroclus behind them, holding the note.

'Hey Patroclus, your cousin is the best teacher I've ever seen,' Ron said.

'He's unpredictable. When he's in a good mood, he is really caring and concerned but when he's in a bad mood, he's like a caged lion.'

The trio reached the classroom and opened the door slowly, however, Snape had seen them.

'50 points off Gryffindor for being half an hour late,' Snape said silkily.

Luckily Patroclus stepped in, 'Achilles ask me to pass this note to you and also to make sure that you don't push your luck,' he paused and smiled to Harry, 'He needed to talk to Harry and his friends about something that is definitely none of your concern. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving.' Patroclus turned and left the classroom. Snape looked as if he had been slapped 100 times in the face. But he recovered quickly and continued the lesson without saying anything. He was going to speak to Dumbledore about the incident later.