October 16, 2007: Minor revisions. Spelling/grammar, all that good stuff.

original note: I thank ye all fer reading and liking this.

As fer the questions about 'Mione, well, no one was approaching him during dinner 'cause he was pissed off enough to be growlin' like an animal, and when he got in, everyone had shuffled off to their dorms because it was after curfew.

There are elements of a novel I've been (attempting) to write, called "The Living Weapon" in this. That's why it seems a bit strange.

Oh, yeah! Don't expect me to update everyday. I had chapter two half finished when I posted chapter one. As it is, I want to try for some longer chapters, which generally means I have to haul out my notebook and write everything long-hand. I can't estimate how much I have to write when I type it directly, instead of writting long hand and numbering the pages.

I don't own Harry Potter & Co. I do own Daemen Wolfos, however.

Blackened Sunrise
Chapter Two: Professor
The Itch

Harry roughly scrubbed his wet hair with a towel, lost in his thoughts. He was on auto-pilot as he dropped the towel onto his bed, and settled himself onto the mattress. Unconsciously, his fingers twisted in the still damp tangles of his hair.

Why had they brought him back to Hogwarts? They couldn't possibly think that he would be safer here, could they? Voldemort had already inflitrated the school, so thinking that it was as impenetrable as Wizarding Britain seemed to think that it was, was a rather stupid move. Of course, perhaps that was the answer in itself: Voldemort was still on the loose, still causing havoc, still terrorizing, still killing. They probably just wanted their ace-in-the-hole back. As long as they had Harry Potter, they could defeat the Dark Lord.

He gave a short bark of laughter at the thought, and it rang loudly in the stillness of the sleeping dorm. This was enough to stir one Seamus Finnegan from his sleep, and the other boy cracked his eye open to find Harry sitting in lotus position on his bed. With his eyes still glazed in thought, Harry did not notice.

It was silly, really. Anyone could defeat Riddle, they only had to know how to do it. "What fools these mortals be," he murmured to himself, still amused at the thought. He would have failed had they set the Dark Lord on him a year ago. He hadn't had the knowledge of what it would take to defeat the self-styled Voldemort then. Of course, that had been then. This was the now, and now he knew how to do it.

And he would, too, if they would just let him leave the blasted school. Dropping his hand from his hair, he brushed calloused fingers across the cool leather strap around his throat. This was his binding, his prisoner's identification, his band of slavery. This thin piece of animal hide was the way that they had decided to keep him within the hallowed halls of Hogwarts. While the wards on his arms were to seal his power away, the collar and chain around his neck were designed to bind him to the school itself.

In laymen's terms, he was an indentured servant of Hogwarts.

Seamus had pushed himself up into his own sitting position by this point, and was thinking about something that had come to mind the night before. With a frown he called out to his dormmate, "Harry?"

The softly spoken work drew him out of his thoughts, "Hmm?"

"Did you sleep wearing that collar? Wasn't it uncomfortable?"

The young Potter chuckled dryly, "Extremely. Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to take it off. Damn thing is keyed to The Royal Ass, The Queen Demon, and the Dark Traitor's magical signatures."

At Seamus' questioning look, which was no doubt asking for the reason why Harry needed to wear such a collar, the Boy-Who-Lived smirked impishly. "The Ass is his royal majesty, he who cannot stand to not have his way, one Albus Dumbledore. The Queen is the she-bitch who licks at his heels, Minvera McGonagall, and the Traitor is, of course, Severus Snape."

If Seamus thought that Harry was going to be explaining the reason for the collar, he had another thing coming. He had been sworn to secrecy by the Old Man, and he took his vows and promises seriously. So of course Harry found something else to explain, even though it really explained nothing to Seamus. The Irish boy stared at him for a long moment with a frown, but Harry shrugged it off and pulled himself to his feet. As Seamus watched, Potter drifted out of the room without another word.

"Weird," Seamus muttered, then nearly jumped out of his skin when Dean's voice rang out.

"What, that Harry didn't answer you, or that he moves like a bloody wraith?"

The boy turned to face Dean and shrugged, though his expression was troubled, "Both, really."

"Harry!"

The sixteen year old raised his head from his contemplation of the Gryffindor common room's floor, only to find himself staring into a certain frizzy-haired brunette's eyes. He took a quick step back, a bit unnerved at the face that had suddenly appeared in his vision only a few inches from his nose. That she had managed to get so close to him was a surprise. That it was Hermione Granger was not.

"Hullo 'Mione," Harry drawled, his brilliantly green eyes half-lidded and giving him the appearance of still being half asleep. Once again the slave-chain had been tucked into his robe and slipped down his sleeve so he could wrap it around his wrist. Opposite of him, Hermione had her hands on her hips in the classic female 'I'm-pissed-off-at-you' pose.

"Where on Earth have you been, Harry? And don't call me Mione!"

"Places," He ignored her request in regards to the nickname, and gave her a lopsided, almost insane grin that looked even more creepy due to the fact that his eyes were almost fully closed now, and he was peering out at her through his eyelashes.

The young woman had to fight off a shiver. Some primal instinct, deep within was screaming an unworded warning of danger in her ear. It wanted her to back away, to get as far from Harry as possible; but Harry was her friend, and she'd be damned if she didn't get the information she wanted out of him. Her frown was deep, but she was making an attempt to keep her voice level and patient, "What sort of 'places', Harry?"

The strange smile was still on his face as he shrugged, "Places that I don't think you would like very much, 'Mione," and ignoring her next few questions, the Potter heir turned to stroll out of the common room much like he'd strolled out on Seamus' questions earlier in the day. He had almost gotten to the portrait when Hermione reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Please Harry, tell me. I was so worried!"

He tilted his head to one side, and his eyes glazed over for but a moment. Then he seemed to snap out of it, and he frowned at her. With a pat to her hand the frown became a sad smile, "Some things, Hermione, are better left unsaid." And then he was gone, leaving the girl to stare at his back.

She frowned to herself then, crossing her arms. There was no way, no way, that she was going to let Harry just get away without telling her. They were friends, good friends at that. She had always been willing to stand with him, to help him, and a year apart would never be able to change that in her heart. She was going to find out why Harry was acting the way he was come hell or high water!

When Severus Snape entered the Headmaster's Room, he was in for something of a nasty shock.

There was a man seated across the desk from Albus, and he was a far cry from young in any sense of the word. His beard was a dusty gray and sprinkled liberally with shots of black hairs, while his long gray hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a black tie. He had lost the majority of the hair off the top of his head. He was dressed in navy robes with silver trim around the wrists and collar, and a large oaken cane lay across his lap. A pair of sparkling lavender eyes peered up form the chair, and a soft chuckled left his lips, "Hello there, Severus."

"Wolfos," Snape ground out form between clenched jaws. Dumbledore clapped happily, and it was all Severus could do not to curse the blasted old fool.

"Ah, you do remember each other. Good, good," the even older headmaster grinned wryly at the both of them, "Do have a seat, Severus. Daemen has agreed to come out of retirement to become this year's DADA professor."

The older wizard smirked at the dark look that Snape shot him over that particular little tidbit of information. It wasn't fair that the blasted man got pulled out of retirement to take the position that Severus had wanted for himself.

"I've been told you took over potions, Severus. Quite a surprise, given how utterly pathetic you were with them."

And that would be why the Potions Master had despised Daemon Wolfos for so many years. While Daemon had primarily taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, he was also Horace Slughorn's favorite substitute when he need to go off to some high-too-do and fancy occasion during what should have been class hours. The older man had been in Ravenclaw at one point, and even James Potter had agreed that he would have fit in perfectly with certain Slytherin circles, given the way that he had taught his students.

Severus purposely ignored the fact that he was teaching his students in a similar manner, however Snape could honestly say that he was being a whole lot nicer than Wolfos had ever been.

Daemon Wolfos grinned a ruthless grin back at the dark looks he was receiving, then returned his attention to Dumbledore. Age had changed the man, but in Wolfos' eyes, Dumbledore was still the spectacular Transfiguration professor that he had grown up under. They had discussed a number of things as they had sat in the Headmaster's office, and the most important of these had been why Daemon hadn't arrived in time to be presented to the school during the Sorting Feast as was customary.

The old man had chuckled, simply mentioning something about getting into England late a night earlier, and then slept in. The result was completely missing the train of Hogsmeade, where he had planned to hike up to Hogwarts. Instead, he'd had to catch a later train, and when he had gotten to Hogsmeade it was already past midnight.

Finally, the stood and headed out of the office and towards the Great Hall. As they walked, something tickled in the back of Severus' mind. There was something that felt... off to him about Wolfos. When Dumbledore had turned away from Daemen there had been a strange look on the man's face. He was frowning darkly, and his purple eyes seemed to flicker here and there and yet not see anything.

The way he moved was familiar, too, but Snape just couldn't seem to place it. It was like had had seen it before, but only a few times, and that was hardly enough to recognize it.

Gryffindor House had once against settled themselves in for breakfast, this time with a slightly vacant, but no where near as pissed off, Harry Potter at the table. He had a firm grip on the end of the chain, which was humming and throbbing almost painfully in his had. Apparently it wanted to attach itself to the table as it had the night before. The 'captive' glowered at it for a moment, before he reached out with his free hand to snag a bun, and tore into it viciously just as Dumbledore, Snape, and Wolfos entered the hall.

Of course, no one knew who Wolfos was; he had retired shortly after Snape's class had graduated, citing that he needed a break especially given how intensive Defense classes had gotten after Voldemort's first rise. For this reason, all eyes were on the man as he headed to the Head Table alongside the Headmaster and the Potions Master.

Noting that he already had everyone's attention, Dumbledore smiled brightly, "As you can doubt see, we have a new resident of Hogwarts. This is Professor Daemen Wolfos, and he will be taking over the Defense Against the Dark Arts position this year. I do suggest that you all get to class promptly when you have him."

Wolfos smirked at the Houses, before his gaze swept over them, as though he were examining them all and deeming them utterly worthless. Lavender eyes met emerald, and Harry half lifted his bun in a salute. Wolfos' smirk widened into an almost sadistic grin. This would be a fun year, Daemen and Harry thought as one. A fun year indeed.

Shivers ran down the spines of everyone in the hall.

original note: End Chapter

Next chapter the reactions of the students to their new DADA professor's way of teaching.

Not to mention a bit of information about the wards Harry has to wear. If you want something similar to what the wards Harry wears do, think of Hiei from Yu Yu Hashuko. grins

October 16, 2007: I need to get ready for class. That said, the revision for chapter two has finally come to pass. I meant to do this on the third, but these things, they happen. Mostly just some sentences reworked, some grammar and spelling mistakes fixed (and others made!). God, I can't believe it's been five years since I started this monster. See you next revision.