Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 13: The High Inquisitor's Proud Progeny

The entire student body was silent when Hermione finished the article. It seemed that Harry was not the only one who was shocked at this turn of events. Ron was the first person to speak.

"How did she get into the ministry? What about everything she did at school last year! Not to mention her trying to get some dementors to eat Harry's soul!" He said, his temper flaring up.

"Fudge probably covered all of that up. After all he was one of her main supporters. Her being made to look bad would make him look bad and he was already on shaky ground already after the incident with the tri-wizard tournament and his ignorance of the death eater attacks over the next year." Hermione responded to Ron's anger in her normal rational tone.

"Bit of good that did, she probably set him up! Not that he wouldn't deserve it, the git." Ron was obviously still angry.

"I don't know about that but I don't think there is any doubt that Fudge cleaned up last year's mess. After all it was essentially entirely his fault." Padma pushed her way to the center of the group where the majority of the sixth yeah Gryffindors were sitting as she said this.

"Yeah especially considering all the complaints from the students and the staff...But on a totally different topic don't you all have some cleaning to get too? Wouldn't want to add another week to your sentence now would you?" Blaise tone alone, even without his smile told Harry that he was just trying to be a friend. And of course he was right. So with that the sixth year Gryffindors all grumbled and went off to get their cleaning gear.

After over an hour of cleaning up the same bathroom he had cleaned up before with only Neville and soap to keep him company Harry more then ready to get to sleep the only thing that stopped him was his need for a shower. He and Neville used scourgify to make the trip back to the common room bearable. But even with the magical cleaning (which was a lot more thorough then taking a shower) Harry didn't feel clean until he had taken a long hot shower. After all they had just waded through what was likely not just excrement but Draco Malfoy's excrement. And lord knows where he had been. Neville seemed to concur and so for the next half hour or so they sat there in a room full of steam unable to see anything except the cloud of steam that had filled up the shower room.

The next morning wasn't much better then the previous night. Dean didn't rush out of the dorm room instantly as he had the previous few mornings. But he completely ignored Seamus, who seemed incapable of ignoring him back. The general Rush to get ready was complete chaos this morning as oppose to other mornings where there was some sort of order to it. None of them could find their wands at first and so there was a mad rush to find them before they did anything else. And they found them in increasingly weird places. Harry didn't know how but his wand had somehow gotten into Seamus dirty underpants from the previous day. Seamus apologized profusely until they found his wand which was buried in Ron's bed clothing after which everyone was too confused to care whose wand ended up where. Dean's wand had managed to crawl out of the room entirely and into the bathroom. All and all it was total luck that they found it. Wesley had taken a shower first and nearly tripped on it, tossing it out before taking his usual impossibly short shower by himself. Of course that was better then having the wand ruined by getting waterlogged. At this point sabotage was suspected but no one was sure who had done it. The obvious choice was Dean, who hadn't been on the rest of the sixth year Gryffindors good sides since the event with Seamus a few days earlier. But his wand was missing as well and when Harry thought about it…why would Dean move their wands around? It was totally out of character for him to do something silly and simply annoying like that.

Neville's wand was found by Wesley's snake who slithered out from under George's bed with it in his mouth almost getting stepped on in the process. Wesley had frantically saved it by putting it in his pocket before handing a surprised Neville his wand. "I try to help and what do I get…" Harry heard the snake complaining as it slithered deeper into Wesley's pocket.

Wesley's wand had ended up in by far the oddest and most irritating position, and it was his wand that had proven it had to be sabotage. After all it wasn't exactly possible for a wand to adhere itself to the ceiling in the center of the room. In the end Harry had flown up there with his Firebolt and used finite incantatem in the hopes of canceling the spell. To Wesley's relief, the charm worked.

After Wesley's, Fred and George's wands were a piece of cake. Fred's wand ended up buried in Neville's clothes and George's wand ended up wrapped in Harry's invisibility cloak. Although it was doubtful that the person who did it knew that's what he was doing. Considering Harry was sure that anyone who wanted to do this and actually knew what an invisibility cloak was would have certainly made the cloak invisible.

When they were finally ready to rush off, late of course, to breakfast they found that they were not the only ones to be messed with. For in the common room Hermione, Parvati and Lavender were complaining loudly to each other about their wands being hidden. "It happened to you too?" Was Harry's greeting this morning. He was not in the mood for anything else.

"You mean the entire sixth year was targeted?" Neville said surprised.

"Apparently." Ron said, "Although I have to wonder what the point of all of that was all it did was waste our time this morning and it wasn't even that impressive a prank."

"Definitely not, and it is also in incredibly bad taste. Wands are not something one generally messed with because most wands are relatively irreplaceable." George started then continued, "But shouldn't well all be off to breakfast? I for one am hungry." With many nods of approval the sixth year Gryffindors rushed quickly towards the great hall.

Breakfast was unremarkable and Harry could only be relieved that Percy had not arrived yet. He was sure that he would be watched more so then others by Percy. Percy not only knew about their late night endeavors, but he was also here for many of them. And Harry was not looking forward to Percy Weasley with that much power.

After breakfast Harry, Neville, Wesley, and Hermione said bye miserably as they started off towards potions. They wasted no time getting to their cauldrons so that Snape would have less reason to take off points. Harry then realized that he had completely forgotten to talk to Neville about potions in the chaos of the week, he would have to do that while they were working since they seemed to be assigned together for quite a bit. But he didn't dare talk about Snape with Neville during class. He knew they were being watched like a hawk. And no matter how secretive he could be he would get caught eventually.

Only a few minutes after everyone was seated, Snape entered the room with his usual flair. Harry noticed that Professor Dumbledore had been walking with him, and that he had looked in Wesley's direction before walking off towards his office. The twinkle had never left his eyes.

Snape walked straight to the front of the class and started talking. "Today we will start preparations for a potion that requires a long period of time to make but requires relatively little effort beyond mixing the initial and final ingredients. You will need these things which are not in the regular ingredients cabinet." He then began listing them and putting them on the table. Harry noticed immediately, those were the ingredients for the polyjuice potion.

"The potion is called a polyjuice potion." Harry noticed a distinct glare in Wesley's direction as he said this. When Harry looked over to see why he found that Wesley had a look of pure terror on his face, and he was shaking in his shoes. It looked like he might faint for a second but Blaise steadied him. Snape seemed to take no notice and continued talking. "This potion allows the user to become any other person. It is not for turning into animals or inanimate objects." He smirked in Hermione's direction as he said this. So he knew about them making the potion in their second year?

He then dramatically walked over to Wesley and Blaise' cauldron and Wesley looked more and more terrified as he approached. Upon reaching it he said. "Now Mr. Tinderspoon, you of course are excused from this particular potion," Wesley looked incredibly relieved at that, "and of course you are as well Mr. Potter…" Harry looked up at him. What did he have anything to do with this? "…will be watching, as I see no point in wasting perfectly good rare potion ingredients on a person who has already proven he can make this potion." He totally and pointedly ignored Hermione as he said this. Obviously she was to make it anyway despite her obvious knowledge of the potion. Harry assumed that was for Pansy's sake. "Mr. Zabini will be working with Mr. Longbottom." Snape then motioned Wesley and Blaise towards Harry and Neville's cauldron before addressing Wesley and Harry again, quietly enough so that the only people who might possibly hear him were Neville and Blaise. "Now even though you are not required to actually make the potion you will be watching the others make the potion and taking notes. I expect a four foot essay on the potion from each of you turned in the day the potion is due." He turned towards the remainder of the class before saying, "Now you will all prepare the potion."

Harry didn't dare speak, he wasn't quite sure what was going on but he knew that Snape was up to something. He didn't buy the "I didn't want to waste valuable potions ingredients" as he had never said anything of the sort before and Harry was hardly the only student Snape had had who already knew how to do one of the potions. So Harry decided to look around and see what was really up.

The first thing he noticed was Wesley who was still obviously incredibly scared. His fear was almost a tangible substance something Harry himself almost felt in an odd sort of way. Harry was certain this was not normal, but what struck him odder then the fact that he felt Wesley's fear was the fact that he was this scared at all. What about the polyjuice potion would make him so terrified? And why would Wesley "of course" be excused from this potion? It just didn't make sense. Obviously this was related to what he was hiding that all the professors know as there was no other explanation. But as Harry had no idea what this was nor what a polyjuice potion had to do with it he decided to simply watch the boy more and possibly ask him what it was later before continuing to watch the class.

It became quite obvious quite quickly exactly what Snape was doing as he hovered over Neville and Blaise' cauldron watching it quite thoroughly. As Harry expected Neville was a nervous wreck and it was all Blaise could do to stop him from completely ruining what they were trying to do. Harry realized that if he and Neville were ever going to pass the class that he would have to have that serious talk with him very quickly. Blaise was at least trying to get Neville to calm down and just work on the potion. But Harry knew that that wouldn't work. Even though by this point almost none of the sixth year Gryffindors viewed the wayward Slytherin as a threat that still didn't change the fact that Neville was so scared of Snape that not even his closest friends had been able to snap him out of it. Blaise had no chance of doing that.

Apparently Snape had expected a repeat of Harry's previous years where he didn't take the Potion's class very seriously and concentrated much more on being annoyed with Snape then actually on making potions. With that not being the case anymore and Harry actually reading the class book and doing the course work, and apparently quite satisfactory, Harry guessed that he was doing this to try and single out Neville away from Harry or Hermione who were both safety nets for him as far as the class went. And unfortunately so far this was working.

What actually happened was no surprise to Harry. Neville made the same mistakes he had been making the previous class while working with Harry. Harry found himself more sympathetic to Blaise for being forced to work with the boy. Simply put his immense fear of the man had become a nuisance. So by the end of class not only was Wesley still incredibly agitated for what Harry could tell was no reason but Neville was also so flustered that he nearly knocked over his cauldron, luckily there was nothing in it so that wasn't particularly bad. But it could have been much worse.

Harry was relieved when the class ended. "Neville, I need to talk to you." He said, Neville nodded and they both headed off towards the Gryffindor common room. Harry noticed Blaise pull Wesley away somewhat secretively. And they walked the opposite direction, then they disappeared into what Harry knew had to be one of the many secret passages that were layered throughout the castle. Hermione had disappeared obviously to wherever her next class was leaving them alone in the corridor.

"What are you looking at?" Neville asked in a curious tone.

"Nothing that important," Harry answered and started walking towards their common room, Neville followed. Somewhat to change the subject he decided that then was as good a time as any to tell Neville why he wanted to talk to him. "Neville, I know how scared you are of professor Snape." Neville stopped walking and shivered noticeably. "And as your partner in that class, and now for Blaise sake as well, I implore you to please try and keep a hold of yourself. You never were bad at anything really when you put your mind to it and not what everyone else thinks. You certainly succeeded in the DA." Neville smiled at this.

"Yeah I know what you're trying to say, that I need to stop taking potions and take a different NEWT." He sighed as he said this. Harry spun around and stuck his face right up to Neville's, it obviously shocked him a bit but that was Harry's intention for now Neville was paying very close attention to what he was saying.

"No that is not what I am saying. I am saying that you need to stop worrying about Snape because he is TRYING to mess you up and just do what is required. You are better then Snape. He never beat his fears, you can." Harry wasn't sure what Neville was thinking from the expression on his face. He still seemed scared but was obviously pondering something. "Remember also that we are here to help you." He finished with, "But please don't let one grumpy professor ruin your life." With that Harry reached up and put his arm around Neville's shoulder in an awkward but friendly gesture.

Neville and Harry would have walked that way all the way back to the common room, but their height difference made that difficult at best and so instead they simply walked side by side. I have so many good friends. Harry thought, and for some reason he got an ominous feeling. It wasn't a fear for his friends nor an oddness that he had them but something else that he couldn't quite place. Thinking nothing of it, after all he had had ominous feelings before and only some of the times were they right. He decided to note this and then see what happens. After all that's what he had been doing so far and this year, as bad as it had been so far was infinitely better then his previous one.

After a while of thought Neville said, "You're right Harry, it's just…I don't know what to do I get so nervous when he comes around that I can think of nothing else…"

"What exactly DO you think about when he is around? Why exactly are you so scared of him anyway?"

"That's just it, I don't think of anything except for him."

"Is he doing anything? Anything bad?" Harry was beginning to think this was going to be a lot more difficult then he initially had thought as it was looking more and more like there was no rational for this fear.

"No, not really, he's just there…sneering at me…" Neville shivered obviously thinking of their Potions professor again.

"Oh." Ah bugger this is going to be a lot harder then I thought. As they were heading into their common room they all heard a 'hem, hem' that sounded all too familiar. Harry turned around slowly he did want to make any sudden moves. He wasn't afraid of her but he was afraid of what he would do to her when he saw her. He felt his hand quivering for his wand, itching to hex the woman he was sure was there.

He turned around only to see the very immensely short, frog faced woman he was hoping wasn't there. "Well, well Mr. Potter…I see your hand has healed, I will have to tell Mr. Weasley about that. He would be more than happy to make sure that you are kept in line." Harry almost used the Cruciatus curse he was so mad. That scar had been on the back of his hand for months after those detentions and he was happy when it disappeared as he wasn't even sure it would. To think that people made this woman their minister willingly put shivers down his spine.

"I couldn't come to Hogwarts without visiting my favorite students in Gryffindor house." Her face suddenly and obviously was made into a sneer. "And I see you are still here." She was now obviously looking behind her towards someone. Harry looked and found Remus, Snape, Saren, and McGonagall standing behind him as well as Dumbledore himself.

"Now, now there is not need for that here Dolores." Dumbledore said. If there was a negative thought in his mind at all Harry could not see it. He seemed giddy as he ever had. "Now where is Mr. Weasley so we can show him to his room?"

Harry smiled this was the best thing that could be done given the circumstances. These were the very professors that were mentioned, plus McGonagall, but he had been present during Umbridge's test of her teaching ability and so knew that even if she had no reason to officially denounce the woman, she hated her all the same.

"That will be fine." Harry heard Percy's voice from behind Umbridge, he then saw the man, for that's what he was now a man, walk up from behind her. If any Weasley had changed since Harry had last seen him it was Percy. Where curly fairly nappy hair had been was now short clean hair, with the only note of curls being a slight wave in the slightly longer bangs over his forehead. He had either worked out or simply grown more as well now he had broad shoulders and noticeable musculature, something he never had associated with Percy before. Also his glasses had been replaces with something likely akin to wizarding contacts for his blue eyes shined on his face directly instead of behind his square rimmed spectacles. All in all he looked a lot more impressive then he had even looked during the trial the previous year. His voice was the one thing that made Harry sure it was in fact the person he had known since his first year here. He talked a lot less haughtily however, more composed and with etiquette. Harry could clearly see that while his outward appearance was of a more composed individual, he had not lost his ambition or his controlling nature. He did not know why he knew this but he did. Still Harry was surprised by the new look and demeanor and hoped that this meant there was a change he couldn't see.

"Come, come Mr. Weasley. It had been too long, too long indeed." Dumbledore called him as if he were an old friend and not sent here to control the school.

"Thank you Albus, I hope we can work fine together for the good of the students." Even though they were acting cordial and there was no outward appearance of negativity, Harry could feel the tension between them.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and then a voice he recognized entered his head. "That's it Harry." Saren's voice said to his mind through the hand that he knew was his. "You are becoming more attuned to the feelings around you." The hand then left, and the professors walked off towards the great hall. Dolores Umbridge followed but he could feel a tangible hatred in her. It was so obvious that he was sure he wasn't the only one who felt it and so when he turned around and saw Blaise, Wesley and even Neville shaking he was not surprised.

"That was the most tense situation I have ever seen." Wesley said.

"Well I don't know about that, I certainly felt something." Blaise said. Harry noticed he was holding Wesley's shoulder protectively as Harry imagined an older brother might do. "I certainly hope that that woman leaves soon though. I hated her even when she was ok with the members of my house. Apparently our Psionics class is paying off more then one might think, huh Harry?"

"Apparently…" Harry wasn't at all surprised that he could feel that. And he was certain that it had nothing to do with his psionics class at all. It had to do with whatever was going on, for he was certain that something was. It was only a matter of time before that something came to pass.

Lunch was rather interesting that day. It was announced not far after Harry's run in with Umbridge that everyone was to attend lunch that day. Harry was not surprised, nor very happy at this notion as he would just assume forget that Umbridge and Percy were here.

So when he got there, at the very last second of course to limit his time with "that woman" as they had began calling her, he was not surprised to see her standing, in Dumbledore's chair no less with Percy standing next to her looking as pristine as ever. He quickly sat down to avoid being singled out although he was sure that he would be. Almost all of the sixth year Gryffindors as well as almost everyone else had done almost the same thing and so he wasn't sitting down on his own. A large group of students were all scrambling to get to their places. So at least he wasn't the last one in.

"Hem, hem…" Umbridge's call to attention was abrupt and obviously for effect since she had the attention of everyone in the room already. Harry could tell that even though she was minister of magic and that she claimed power that she was still the arrogant fake woman who wanted everyone to like and adore her as well as agree with her. Or at least wanted everyone to pretend to, appearances meant everything to this woman.

"As you all likely know I am the minister of magic. I know quite a few of you from my gracious choice to teach you all the correct ministry standards for defense against the dark arts last year. Now I have seen that there are many new faces on the staff as well as the student body." She seemed to glare at the Gryffindor table as she said this, Wesley shrunk obviously from her glare. "Now I have tested the returning teachers and have, grudgingly with some of them, allowed them to continue teaching as they were still teaching using ministry standard techniques. Now I will not be able to…" Suddenly a clicking sound that sounded not a lot different from horse trotting could be heard from the hallway. Umbridge visibly shook and her strong stance faltered. "…make sure that all of your…" At this point Firenze the Centaur walked into the room.

He walked towards the front of the room and then said, "Now that I have made an appearance can I go now?" It was directed at Dumbledore, not Dolores Umbridge. However Umbridge seemed to have frozen in horror staring at the centaur and so could not respond. Dumbledore simply nodded and that was the last they saw of the centaur that day. Harry almost wanted to laugh he remembered how the centaurs had carried her off last year, he only wished it would happen again, and that this time no one was there to rescue her.

After Firenze had left and Umbridge seemed sure that he had gone. She started her lecture again with another "Hem, hem…" although this one seemed even more forced then the other one, and it seemed even more so then before to Harry that she was not cut out for positions of power in the slightest.

"Now as I was saying. I will not be able to look in on your classes to make sure that they are being taught by ministry standards, however Mr. Weasley will be here in my stead and it is he who will make sure that you are being taught effectively and that the rules are akin to what Hogwarts has been known for these many years." Harry was certain that none of these things were true. And from the looks that were being given to her from around the room, he was not the only person thinking this. "And here he is, the newly appointed Hogwarts High Inquisitor, Percy Weasley!"

Percy stepped up from his chair looking very much as he had when Harry saw him in the hallway. There were gasps from many of the older students, including the entire Weasley family that was sitting at his table. Charlie was looking at his brother rather suspiciously from his spot at the teachers table which at the moment was behind Percy's field of vision. It seemed that of the people in the room only Dumbledore himself and Hagrid were totally nonplussed at these turn of events. Harry new better of Dumbledore, he was one of the best people Harry knew at putting up fronts. And Hagrid wouldn't be plussed by much of anything, considering that he was sent to Azkaban for a few months and all it caused him when he thought of it was a slight shiver. And after meeting the Dementors the next year Harry was sure that any other man would be greatly more affected by even a few days in that place then that.

"Hello students, many of you may recognize me as a previous prefect and head boy. Now I intend to fulfill my promise to both the ministry with which I work and the school which I hold dear. I promise to make sure that what goes on here at school is the absolute best standard for both students learning and safety." His eyes darted to the Gryffindor table and Harry for a brief but obvious second. Harry thought he could see both compassion and disdain in that brief look. Apparently Percy wasn't as totally cold as he remembered.

"Now I have taken enough of your time and I hope to not be a burden on your normal school life." With that he sat down with a pristine smile on his face and lunch was served.

"This is so odd, I mean it is definitely Percy but he's so different." Ron said from Harry's left as he stuffed his face with food.

"I think we should be even more wary of him then ever before. After all he is working for Umbridge and he did send you that letter last year." Hermione said to Ron across Harry and Wesley.

"He looks different but I can see that he is the same old Percy." Fred said in an obviously displeased voice, "that same old git. Nothing good will come of this appointment I can tell you that."

"Unless of course we make it happen." George put in with a smile. Everyone else at the table looked at him. "Oh come on you don't think he was always like this do you? I mean he was a bit more serious when he was younger but he wasn't a real git until he was made a prefect and got on a massive power trip. I for one think that he could be turned form the dark side. After all, he is a Weasley, and getting into trouble seems to be a family trait, one that I rather enjoy mind you." His smile turned into a full grown grin at this, and then he looked at Fred who was also grinning, they were obviously planning something.

Harry thought about Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Ron, Ginny, and even Molly… They were definitely a group that invited trouble or at least something beyond the norm. Percy seemed to be the only one who didn't have that in him although George would know him better. Hr turned to Ron and asked. "Is there any truth to what George said about him?"

"He certainly got worse after being made a prefect. But he never really was as fun loving as the rest of us. However Fred and George would know what he was like as a kid a lot more then me since my earliest clear memory of him is when he was eight, and it is of him scolding me for something that I did." Ron sighed and grinned slightly at the memory, however he had not stopped eating though out the entire sentence.

"Well at the very least he will be better then Umbridge." Neville said.

"I certainly hope so…" Seamus said rather timidly, he hadn't exactly been on their side that year. It was obvious to Harry that he hated Umbridge as much as anyone else but was still worried about keeping his friends.

Harry thought he'd change the subject and try and cheer everyone up. "Well, at least now we have an actual defense against the dark arts teacher. I wonder what we'll be doing in class today?"

"I heard from Padma that it is going to be curse dodging." Parvati said.

"Yeah, I think that after that horrible display by the larger portion of the class who were not, you know, with Expelliarmus that she thought we would need it." Lavender said.

"Yeah…well there is no time like the present to find out now is there?" and as Harry said that they headed off towards the sixth year NEWTs Auditorium.

The room was set up essentially the same way as it had been the previous week with the desks in two groups with a walkway in between them. As expected many of the people there were sitting in groups based on house. Harry did notice that a group of varied robed individuals were sitting up near the front. As Harry expected the group was the DA members who had decided to sit together outside of the normal house location. Harry also noticed Blaise sitting next to Justin, a bold statement on both their parts. Of course many of the DA members present were in either the potions or the Psionics class so it wasn't that bold from their point of view but it spoke wonders in front of everyone else.

The Gryffindors (all of whom were also DA members) all decided to sit with that group. As they headed over to their seats Blaise called to Wesley to come sit next to him. There they started whispering to each other about something. Harry noticed Justin was paying sloe attention to their conversation as well and soon the three of them were talking about who knows what. It was probably the oddest sight in Hogwarts history and Harry wasn't the only one to notice… a Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin talking to each other friendly and secretively without a care of who saw them? It was unexpected to say the least. Although with those three Harry was not surprised.

Before anything else of note happened, Tonks entered the auditorium and walked up to the front of the room. She almost tripped on the way there but miraculously managed to steady herself doing nothing more then grabbing the back of a random Ravenclaw's chair. Harry just shook his head. He was starting to think that Tonks did these things partially on purpose. After all, it did set her apart from everyone else in some other way then being a metamorphmagus. And she was being a lot clumsier as of late then she had been the previous year.

Upon reaching the front of the room she hopped up onto the stage which earned a gasp from some of the students at the feat of non clumsy acrobatics, as unimpressive as it would have been had anyone else been doing it. Then again they had never seen her do the things Harry had seen her do, such as that night at the ministry.

This time he let the anger from that thought flow through him, trying to test out what Saren was saying. And while he felt incredibly angry he noticed that he felt a lot less violent than when he had been trying to hold it back. In fact oddly enough he felt angry and calm but alert much like he was on a quidditch induced adrenaline high. He couldn't explain it in any other way, but it was certainly a better way of being angry then any other he had ever experienced before.

"I was somewhat unimpressed with your display with the Disarming Charm last week. Many of you don't seem to have been taught anything about spell aiming or evasion. Now I am aware that this is mostly do to a lack of training in this class do to the available teachers but that does not change the fact that we have a lot of work ahead of us as I catch you up to speed. So today we are going to work on curse dodging. But before we get started I want to show you why curse dodging is so important as many of you would rather get to the casting of counter curses before that. But curse dodging should ALWAYS be your first line of defense with countercurses being second as one can still fire off curses while dodging and there are a few dangerous or deadly curses which there is no countercurse for. The last thing to note is that often times one will have no idea what curse is being shot at them and so evasion is preferable to trying random counter curses in the little bit of time before it hits you." Tonks looked at the class as she said this before smiling and saying. "So let's get blimey started then! All of you banish your desks to the wall." Again the majority of the desks were destroyed upon hitting the wall. Tonks just blinked at the class with a queer expression on her face before saying. "I also think you should work on controlling your banishing charms…"

Tonks then pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Ok now for a demonstration of what real curse dodging is and why it is important. I need Harry Potter," Harry looked up at her and raised his eyebrow. She motioned him up to the stage before continuing. "Ronald Weasley," Ron walked up to the stage with an equally odd look on his face. "Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom." Hermione and Neville walked up as well, Neville looked totally confused but it was apparent that Hermione knew exactly what was going on.

There was laughing form the Slytherin section of the audience. "So what is going on? Are you going to have THEM cast curses at you to dodge? As I believe there would be much better choices…" Draco Malfoy's voice rang out throughout the auditorium.

Tonks did not get angry instead she smiled in his direction and said. "No, you, and I do mean ALL of you," she gestured to the entire class as she said this, "are going to try and disarm them." That brought laughing form the entire Slytherin section and confused looks form all but the members of the DA. She ignored this and turned to the four of them. Suddenly it was not lost on him that these were the four people in the class who had not only been with him at the department of mysteries but three of whom had been with him thought the majority of his misadventures. "You are to treat this as if you were being attacked by death eaters without a wand and any of those curses could be the avada kedavra."

Harry understood now, Tonks wasn't talking about curse dodging in a one on one dueling or fair situation she was talking about general curse dodging in life or death situations which all four of them had been in if nothing else last year. Tonks then moved off the stage where Harry looked around for things to hide behind and for other things. He was too preoccupied to see what everyone else was doing. Harry had found his best bet from his current position and so he waited for whatever signal was to come from Tonks.

She yelled "Now" and Harry made his move. A mad dash and dive behind the suit of armor to his left. When he was sure he was safe, and not touching the armor lest it get disarmed form him by a spell he looked to see what everyone else had done. Neville had dove behind the desk and was looking around form behind it with one eye. Ron had dove over the table behind them, he was tall enough to where it wasn't a big jump for him, and had laid down on the floor behind one of the benches. Hermione had done the most interesting thing. She had conjured a statue of herself and was now ducking behind it.

There was more laughing from the Slytherin section of the class. "I thought this was supposed to be curse dodging? Not hide and seek! And they say Gryffindors have courage! HA! That's a riot!" Harry had half a mind to do something but Hermione beat him to it. She quickly stuck her upper body out form behind the statue pointed her wand at him and said "Abra Kadabra!" incredibly loudly. Harry just about died laughing as Draco dove out of the way of nothing. Justin, Dean and a few others who were obviously muggle born and noticed the well known fake magic words that sounded quite similar to the killing curse, were laughing. Most of the rest of the class was either scared or confused. Tonks was trying to remain composed. Harry new she wasn't muggle born but she obviously was aware of the joke. Malfoy stood up and walked to his seat obviously very annoyed at the showing of cowardice in front of almost his entire year.

"Thank you Ms. Granger for that showing of the importance of what you have just seen." She walked over to where Harry was standing. "If all of those spells you cast HAD in fact been the killing curse. Then they did exactly what they needed to do to ensure survival as an object by its very nature cannot be killed."

Wesley raised his hand, a very confused expression on his face. "You keep mentioning a 'the killing curse…' What curse is that? I have never heard of a curse that's sole purpose it to kill its target." He asked, obviously totally at a loss about something. Everyone in the room looked at him.

"God you Americans are so ignorant of the magical world!" Draco Malfoy sneered in Wesley's direction. Harry wasn't so sure about that, Wesley wasn't exactly the greatest wizard Harry had ever seen but he was hardly ignorant. Maybe of British magical custom but he did seem rather knowledgeable about the things he actually studied. Which Harry had to admit didn't' seem to be many of the things that they had studied here, "The killing curse, avada kedavra."

A strange look of recognition and yet more confusion went over his face before another look of intense realization. He then raised his hand again. No one had stopped looking at him in the first place and so after a few seconds he said. "You know Hermione and Harry's hiding places could have been ineffective against that particular charm." His voice sounded totally confident, almost Hermione like as he talked. This seemed rather odd to Harry as just a few seconds ago he had no idea what spell they were actually talking about. He also noticed and was obviously not the only person to notice since Tonks was even looking at him with a really queer expression on her face that Wesley had referred to it as a charm and not a curse. "That statue Hermione conjured could have been completely negated by the charm and if the suit of armor was magically held together then it would be simple for it to be broken with the very same." He sounded like he knew what he was talking about but it made no sense to Harry. He had never heard any of this before.

Tonks smiled before saying, "Actually, Mr. Tinderspoon is right. For some reason that is yet to be explained the killing curse has also been found to be effective at breaking weaker enchantments when it hits them. No one as of yet knows exactly why this is the case." Wesley looked like he was about to say something else but thought the better of it and stopped.

Tonks continued as if Wesley had never asked his question. "So now here is the important list of what NOT to do when curse dodging. Do not wait for the caster to cast a curse at you to evade it many curse are rather instantaneous and even waiting for the caster to say the incantation to know what it is can be very hazardous to one's health. Do not be afraid to get dirty," she looked directly at Malfoy as she said this, "it is very important that you remember that you need not stay on your feet and that you can evade in any direction not just left and right. Do not get caught on the ground however and whenever you dodge there always get up as quickly as possible or be ready to move from your current position. Last, do not get hit by unknown green curses at any cost as the killing curse is green." Harry could not agree with this note more. No one responded or raised their hands and so the class was continued.

As before the class split up into pairs and then the remainder of the class was spent practicing dodging using expelliarmus. As Harry had expected the DA members did much better then the others at this. Wesley was a noted exception to this and again, much like with the expelliarmus practice, he was not hit by a single curse. Harry was also incredibly impressed with his agility. He did a back flip at one point in which his body seemed to bend in a way that no human possibly could. Obviously he must have been seeing things, but the flip was really cool none the less. Wesley seemed to have a quick bouncy movement style overall that none of the other members of the class had, even Tonks seemed to notice this and after a while she stopped the class and specifically addressed Wesley. "Wow, those are some impressive moves you got there. I wonder… where did you learn them?"

Wesley blushed, "Standard dueling evasion tactics in my old schools physical education class. However, I was always really good at them though. My body is apparently built for that sort of thing." Tonks smiled a knowing smile and again Harry was at a loss as to what the boy could be hiding, and it was beginning to annoy him. Hermione's eyes grew big as she obviously got whatever had transpired between them. Harry's annoyance only got worse as he felt like he was one of the few people he knew that was not in on the secret.

"Your school had a physical education class?" Malfoy asked incredulously, "Why would a Wizarding school need that?"

Wesley looked at him with a raised eyebrow and simply said, "Why not?"

Tonks quickly defused the situation by having Wesley demonstrate his style to the rest of the class. Harry noticed that he seemed a lot less fluid during the demonstration then when he was actually dodging curses. When he was actually dodging curses his movements were fluid and graceful, so fluid it seemed his body was more like a liquid then a solid. When demonstrating though it was quite obvious to Harry that he was going through the motions. He thought that Hermione noticed this too, and it was rather obvious that Blaise did (his face was furrowed in thought, and he had to as he was Wesley's original partner) but he wasn't sure about the rest of the class. Tonks likely noticed this too but didn't say anything about that. Instead she clapped her hands and said, "Impressive! I honestly wish we studied more gymnastics in our programs at school, at least about curse dodging. I have been hit by too many curses to count and that seems largely do to a lack of training on our part in that respect." Harry noted that as well. It also struck him that there was no equivalent of a physical education class at Hogwarts. It was like once one is a wizard their body becomes irrelevant because their magic can do all the necessary work. Of course Harry having grown up in muggle household understood how foolish that was. He would no more ignore his body then his wand. He would have to talk with Remus about getting an exercise program together. He really wasn't sure what that would entail (after all he hadn't exactly had one even while at the Dursleys) but he figured that if any wizard might know about that, he would, either that or one of then Aurors in the order.

The rest of the class was spent with more dodging and Wesley continued to impress Harry with his agility. He noticed Hermione was spending more time staring at the boy then paying attention to Lavender (who was partnered with her) and so got disarmed quite a few times more then she should have been. Ron seemed to be taking this class incredibly seriously, however Harry wasn't really into it right now. It wasn't that he didn't think it was important more like he had too many other things on his mind and so got hit a few times when he really shouldn't have. Ron obviously noticed this but didn't comment on it at all.

Harry waned to talk to Wesley after class even more now then after potions but he and Blaise had rushed off and disappeared down some random corridor before he could get his attention. So instead he looked for Hermione, who had also already left for her next class. Having run out of options he decided to simply follow Ron to the common room, annoyed with his failure at gathering the information he desired.

"That was something else that was." Ron said to Harry as they were walking up one of the moving staircases. "I mean I know that we were missing out on our defense against the dark arts classes but I wasn't aware we were missing out THAT much. I feel gypped! If all of our defense against the dark arts classes were that good we wouldn't have ended up in half of the messes we got into! I mean, curse dodging? No other defense against the darks arts, or dueling teacher for that matter ever mentions dodging curses. I suppose counter curses are thought to be more effective in this day and age but still…" Harry tuned out the remainder of Ron's rant about how bad their defense against the dark arts classes had been as for the most part he had heard it all before.

When he reached the common room and Ron had finally stopped ranting, Harry decided to go invite Neville, Dean, and just to see how he would react, Wesley to the next occlumency lesson. He wasn't exactly sure how however and he thought about this as he accompanied a now yawning Ron to their dorm.

At least he didn't have to go find them as Dean, Neville and Wesley were all there. But he was totally at a loss as to how to approach them about the occlumency lesson, especially Dean who would have to be convinced that it was worth working in the same room as Seamus. In the end he just decided that the truth was simple and the better part of valor. That and having his dorm mates know would at least ensure that they could practice without having to hide information from them. He wouldn't give them the whole story as Saren had said that he would deal with that, but he would at least tell them about the lessons.

"Neville, Wesley, Dean…" Harry said as he entered the room. Neville looked up at him with a worried expression, Wesley looked at him with a curious one and Dean glared at him. That did not go as well as I would hope. "Me, Ron, Hermione and Seamus are doing Occlumency lessons with our psionics instructor, Professor Saren. He has invited you along if you're interested…" Harry realized how crappy that had sounded before he even finished. But what else could he say? And it was the truth.

Wesley responded first with a relieved, "No thank you." He said simply with no explanation.

Neville responded next with a shrug, "Ok… I suppose it couldn't hurt could it? After all I hear occlumency is supposed to help you control your emotions and so it should help me get over my fear of p… p…. professor Snape… right?" Neville was obviously nervous but did look serious however scared might may be.

Dean looked indecisive about the matter, on one hand it was fairly obvious he wanted to do it. He also looked very tired and frazzled, obviously missing not just Seamus but all of his friends. After a few minutes of thought he very cautiously said, "Yes. But I'm… I'm… I'm not sure I'm totally ready. I mean he FANCIED me!" Suddenly Harry knew that there was much more to this then just the oddness or wrongness of being fancied by a guy, or even your best friend. Dean had personal reasons for this, whether he wanted them known or not. Whether he even KNOWS them or not...

Harry could see that talking wasn't going to help the situation, however from what he got of Saren this would end up better before it ended up worse. Professor Saren seemed to have a knack with getting people to face their own problems and successfully get beyond them one that very few people had.

The remainder of the day went rather uneventfully, Harry and Neville went back to the Prefect Bathroom near Slytherin and found it in similar shambles to how it had been the previous times they had been there and after cleaning that up they took long showers and then fell into totally blissful sleep. Something Harry hadn't had since Sirius death.

The next Day's Herbology class was spent working on a rather ordinary looking plant that was simply called a Xiv, where the name came from was anyone's guess but the plant seemed to have magical properties even if the plant itself seemed totally ordinary. Professor sprout had explained that the reason it is considered a NEWTs class plant is simply because it was deemed inappropriate for younger students because of one of its more commonly used for properties. It was obvious what that was, as soon as he entered the room he felt his body get hot and he started to notice the little things about everyone in the room. Other parts of him also responded to the smell of the plant and it seemed like he was not the only one. Neville and Ron were looking around at the girls a bit too much for their own good, and Harry was having a difficult time not looking as well. The other students were as well and it wasn't until professor Sprout came out with face masks that the class settled down and she started explaining what it was they were looking at.

"Xivs are very docile plants that are mainly used for healing and recreational purposes." She smiled mischievously as she said this. "They are very common, and their leaves, when dried, are very useful for many healing potions including the bone regrowth and dreamless sleep potions." The rest of the class was spent on how to take care of the plant. Which Harry found to be incredibly boring as it was common muggle gardening techniques as oppose to the magical things for other plants they were working on. "Sometime wands need to be discarded for good old dirtying of hands I always say." Professor Sprout had said during the class. Other then Neville and Justin who seemed to rather enjoy the work, most everyone was ready to leave at the end of class.

Their second charms class was spent reviewing the Charms of the previous year and then practicing the alacritis charm again. By the end of class everyone was ready to go. Although they could all hear though as everyone, except Wesley who still caused pillows to explode, had managed to slow their stops to the point where the bangs were instead small bashing sounds almost like what one would her playing cricket or croquet. In fact the whole evening was rather docile ending again with Neville and Harry in the shower for half an hour before falling asleep.

The next day's transfiguration class was essentially identical to the first one with McGonagall spending the majority of her time tormenting Wesley. So much so that Harry had blocked most of it out, instead daydreaming about quidditch.

Again they spent the remainder of the day in the library so very quickly Harry found himself walking to professor Saren's room with Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Neville, Dean (who was keeping Ron between him and Seamus), Parvati and Lavender (whom Hermione had apparently invited). Upon entering the room Lavender, Parvati, Neville and Dean gasped as they saw Saren floating above the ground in a lotus position much like he was at the beginning of their psionics class. However this time he was balancing his wand, point down, on his nose which was pointed towards the ceiling. After the other things he had seen his professor do, he was not surprised in the least bit.

"I see you all decided to come." He said then leapt form his position to a standing one catching his wand in the process. Neville, Dean, Parvati and Lavender looked even more stunned at this.

"That was really impressive." Neville said.

"Well, I suppose it could be but really all it requires is a bit of balance and a lot of focus." Saren used his calming tone as he said this. "But on to more important things than balancing wands. I take it you are here because you were invited to learn occlumency?" The four new comers nodded. "Then were you told why?"

Dean and Neville looked confused but Lavender stepped forward. "Because we are likely in danger of attack do to our proximity to Hermione, and thus Harry and because he who must not be named is a legillimencer."

Saren smiled. "That is exactly right…Neville and Dean I trust you understand this now then as well?" They both nodded, although Dean's nod was somewhat forced.

"Um…are you really a Dhampyr?" Parvati asked nervously. "Because we read in the daily prophet…"

"Yes I am, and if that bothers you then you may leave whenever you wish." Parvati looked anything but nervous, if anything she was more intrigued. Lavender looked rather nervous however, and Dean looked lost. "Well, if you have no other questions I would like to get started."

Dean raised his hand squeamishly, "Um…yes what exactly are we learning here?"

"How to defend your mind from outside attack and to focus your thoughts," replied Saren.

"Um…I think maybe we should watch a lesson first." Neville said thoughtfully "After all I for one have no idea what this would entail and I wouldn't want to get myself into something I can't handle."

"Of course," Saren replied. "And even if you do take part in the lessons you are free to stop at any time. The only thing we require of you all is to not tell anyone not in this room right now about this." There was noticeable relief from the four students. "Well, if there are no more setbacks I would prefer to begin. Wouldn't want to keep us all up too late now would we?" He smiled at the group knowingly.

Neville raised his hand shakily, Saren responded with. "Why bother, you likely know when interruption is not warranted and other then that there is nothing here that is too personal to ask or reveal as anything could be revealed her as a part of the training." Dean, Parvati, and Lavender looked less inclined again after that statement. Neville seemed to not care.

"How can you be this able if you're blind?" Neville asked quickly and shakily.

Saren smirked. "Actually I'm surprised no one asked me that sooner." He then twirled his wand in his hand. "It is the reason I learned and eventually mastered the arts of the mind in the first place, to be able to function as well as possible despite my lack of sight. It is simply a matter of using the rest of my five senses, along with a honed sixth sense and a seventh one provided by a mental discipline. Simple really, the sixth sense is the sense of where the rest of ones body is relative to itself that many of us take for granted. The seventh sense is truly a magical one it is the sense of patterns of emotion and thought that mark each individual and everything else for that matter."

This time it was Hermione who responded. "So you can read minds without legillimency?" She asked more intrigued then scared, which is what that thought had obviously triggered in everyone else.

"No, not the actual thoughts, that is too much for a simple sense to configure. However general feelings are readily available much as one could see them but looking at bodily motions or hear them in the tone of voice. It is actually one of the more basic things we are going to be learning in class. As for the patterns of thought, it is not actually the thoughts themselves simply how they are wired. It allows me to tell how organized one's thought process is, well at least from my point of view anyway, and allows me to tell different people apart from each other without having them speak as two people with the same thoughts is like two people with the same voice...it doesn't happen." That made sense and it explained how he seemed to always know who was who despite not being able to see them. "Is that all?" No one said anything more. "Ok then, let us get started. I know that Severus started immediately with a mental assault, I find that incredibly ludicrous, the man always was like that though, jumping into things in the middle even when he was a boy." His smile faltered as he said this. "If he knew something he always assumed that everybody knew it or was simply incompetent.

"In any case what would be a much more productive use of this time at least until you are able enough with this to defend your minds is to practice accessing emotions and feeling them. Some would say controlling them, but as I have said before emotions are not something that we can control simply manipulate, steer the direction of. Of course you must be able to truly feel your emotions before you can even dream of really manipulating them in a useful fashion. Remember that controlling and suppressing are two very different things. You may think that you are controlling them by suppressing them but you are in fact simply blocking them off to be released later. Such is the nature of things that flow one can only block so much water with one dam, and if that water keeps getting greater and greater eventually it will flow over the top of it, or worse…break it altogether."

Saren then smirked again. "Oh my! But isn't that a useless metaphor? I can't believe I just told you that! It didn't help me one bit when Dumbledore told me that those years ago at all. But it is about the best metaphor for it I can think of. Really just let yourself feel your emotions, that's all." He then turned his head in Ron's direction before saying. "And it would be good to note that feeling an emotion and reacting to it are two very different things. Emotion can lead to action however it is not an excuse nor cause for it, remember that. As for how you do this it is up to you, if you wish I will legillimens them to the surface for you but I would rather you learn how to feel them on your own."

He then went over to Dean and pulled him aside, and that was the last thing that Harry actually noticed as he got lost in his own feeling. Saren had been right about emotion with everything he had said. He realized that while h had been reacting to his emotions for a while now he hadn't really been feeling them. They had translated themselves into actions and thoughts but not true feelings. And so as he sat there he was finding it rather easy to simply feel himself. In fact it was much easier then doing anything else, as it required no effort whatsoever. Being angry had required energy however feeling anger was totally different. It was in fact calming to feel angry. However Harry wasn't angry right now he was happy. He wouldn't exactly explain why but this was also very different then it had been before. His happiness was always outwardly directed before, based on a person place or event. Here it was inwardly directed and he was finding it rather easy to simply be happy for absolutely no reason. He just let the emotion flow through him as he had let the anger flow through him earlier.

When he let himself come back form the place of pure feeling he had been in (at some point that he could not remember, Harry had shut his eyes) he found it incredibly easy to concentrate on whatever was going on around him, he also felt a lot more alert and generally more energetic. However again it was not an active form of energy, it was calm yet strong. It was impossible to describe the feeling, he knew it was happiness but he could not in any way describe exactly how it felt. Only that it was better then any other feeling he had ever felt in his entire life. When he looked at Saren, he was smiling in his direction.

Harry looked around while in this sate and noticed that the rest of the group was in varying states of mind. Seamus seemed to be simply sitting there concentrating, although he seemed rather serene other then his eyebrows which were furrowing in concentration. Ron was obviously annoyed with himself and was pacing around obviously trying to stop himself but being unable to control his body's reaction to his emotion. Ron apparently was still too outwardly directed to be able to simply feel. Dean and Neville were sitting there and it seemed form their facial expressions that they were in the process of at least trying to do what he had done. He had no way of knowing whether they had succeeded or not. Lavender was simply watching the group with interest and Parvati was intently concentrating on some random point in the room.

It was Hermione who was doing the worst however. She was obviously concentrating incredibly hard and getting more and more angry at herself as she failed at what she was trying to do. Harry found it rather amusing that she was so close and yet so far form where she was trying to get. Then again that was just it. They were all trying. He realized that he hadn't really done anything, in fact the opposite he had basically completely cleared his mind of all effort and let everything just happen. He thought about saying something but it didn't seem prudent after all he realized that it would not help to tell them not to try…in fact he figured it would likely not make any sense at all.

"You seem to have come a log way from the boy who attacked me a week ago." Saren's voice appeared in his head. "Had an epiphany?"

Harry thought back, "No, not really, it simply seems that my apathetic way of doing things has actually proved beneficial for once."

Harry heard laughing before another thought entered his mind, "That it did, it is incredibly apathetic how you get to simply feel. However apathy may get you there but it won't help you do anything while your there, remember that. Apathy is not a bad thing necessarily but there are times when it is prudent and times when it is not. And most times it is not, however I will admit that I wish the other people in here were a bit more apathetic then they are. Neville and Seamus seem to be catching on quite fast. However Ron and Hermione, specifically Hermione have a long way to go. I think I am going to need to talk to them individually about this, as they both seem to be caught up too much on thinking about emotion as oppose to actually feeling it…" Harry simply nodded before letting himself get lost in the feelings again, this time choosing excitement which he found to be a totally different feeling then happiness.

It appeared that everyone had chosen to stick with the lessons for the moment. But Harry was too lost in his own feelings to really get that, they were wonderful and seemed to protect him from his more annoying thoughts while he did nothing but feel them. SO he really just glided around until he found himself on his bed falling into what was likely the best sleep he had gotten in his like. Loosely aware of a warning in Saren's voice about the dangers of ignoring thought. What did he need thought for? It only brought him pain…

He saw a flash of light and then he felt his scar burn. His vision had only two things in it, a silhouette of two people writhing in identical pain. Followed by the face of Percy Weasley…

Afterthoughts

Sorry for the immense delay again I was having difficulty with how to get from important scene to important scene. However now I can get to the better stuff like the DA FINALLY. In any case hopefully I will be updating more often. Oh and I am generally happier and more ready to write when I get reviews specifically reviews that are more then just "here I am still reading" although any reviews are nice, I like to know if my story is actually being read. In any case I may rewrite some scenes in this chapter as by the end of it something I rushed just to get them done. :)