/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Eight

Sirius stood in front of the class, glancing around at the people that he would be teaching for the upcoming year, and probably in years to come. To him, it seemed like half the class seemed too scared to sit any closer than halfway up the room. Only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville dared to sit up in the front desks, and their actions were causing furtive glances at each other as if wondering if they were mad to be sitting so close to a murderer.

Finally, the bell for class to start rang and Sirius began to pace around the room, noticing how the eyes of all the students watched his every move, as if he'd do something if they didn't keep their eyes on him. If Sirius felt like an outcast before, he certainly felt like one now, and it was rather uncomfortable.

"I'm sure that I don't need to tell you all of who I am and why I am here," Sirius began and everybody sat up in rapt attention, "I am Professor Sirius Black and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for this year and possibly next year, as well. I do not doubt that you all are tired of having a new teacher for this class every year, so I will plan on sticking it out so you'll have at least the same teacher for the last two years of Hogwarts."

As Harry listened to everything that Sirius was saying, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride that his godfather was a professor here at school and so far, Sirius was doing a pretty good job of it. Harry just wished that the rest of the class would just lighten up a bit and stop acting like Sirius was going to kill everybody. After all, he had been cleared of all charges and was proven innocent, so why should people be so scared? But like people said, change couldn't just happen overnight. And it would be a nice change to have the same teacher for more than one year at a time for once. Harry was sure it had to be done.

"Since Professor Dumbledore figured I was the best at the job, I expect that each and every one of you will learn a lot by the end of the year to be able to defend yourselves, as I'm sure it'll come in use since we're living in a dangerous time right now," Sirius was saying, "if you learn anything at all in here, you'll at least know something about defending yourselves."

Glancing over at Hermione, Harry noticed that she was nodding at what he was saying and scribbling everything down in a notebook as fast as he was talking. Harry just shook his head. Sometimes he had to think that she was just a tad bit obsessed with learning and what people were saying. But Harry was grateful for the way she was, or he'd never have been able to finish his homework in the years past.

As Harry slid back into the present time, he heard that Sirius was starting on about the history of the Dark Arts and of Dark Wizards and battles. Looking around, Harry noticed that everybody was sitting in an upright attention, obviously getting interested in this sort of stuff. Personally, Harry didn't think that the history of Dark Arts and the masters were the important thing at hand. Personally Harry would rather be practicing things that would help protecting him against Voldemort. What if he did manage to get into the school? Then all the Muggle-born would be dead and the others would might as well be, except for the Slytherins, of course.

"…And of course the most famous Dark Wizard of all time is Voldemort," Sirius as saying.

Harry rolled his eyes at this. Who didn't know that Voldemort was the most famous Dark Wizard of all time? Many people had gasped when Voldemort's name was said, but Harry didn't pay attention. Harry raised his hand high in the air. Sirius nodded in Harry's direction, allowing him to speak.

"Excuse me, sir, but why are we learning about the history of the Dark Arts and the famous Dark Wizards? What's it got to do with learning how to defend ourselves against Voldemort, who is currently out there somewhere? I would personally like to learn some defense moves or something in case I unfortunately run into him on my own without Dumbledore around?" Harry exclaimed loudly.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask that, Harry. Yes, of course learning practical spells are important. But I thought I might begin with a little history of it. Learning about the Dark Arts' history might entail you to know why such things as Voldemort happen. It just helps you know why things happen the way they do. We'll be learning practical defense moves next week," Sirius said confidently.

"But professor—what if something happens before next week? Most of us will be unprepared—" Harry protested.

"I understand, Harry, but there'll be nothing we can do about it, can we? I am sure that most of you will be able to turn to one another for help in the following week if you feel that you need some extra training. But until next week, we will not be learning any practical magic," Sirius interrupted.

Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair as Sirius continued on with his lesson. It wasn't all that bad, but with the way the situation was now, Harry was feeling suddenly paranoid and unsafe. Sirius, of all people, knew that Voldemort was out there and it was best to teach everything he could to defend the students in this school.

Finally, what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang and Harry hurried off to the Gryffindor common room, desperate to get down to dinner and then go to his dormitory and have time to think. There was too much to think about.

"Harry, wait up!" Ron panted as he reached Harry.

Harry sighed and slowed to a halt as Ron came puffing up. Now what did he want?

"Harry, what's the matter? You've been a bit odd lately, ever since we came back to school. What's wrong?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "It's nothing."

"Now, c'mon, mate, I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything. And anyways, we've done everything together, so you might as well tell me," Ron pointed out.

"I don't know. I've had a great time over the summer and everything, but as soon as I got here, I remembered that I'm a part of a prophecy and that I must learn everything that I can or our whole life as we know it will change and never be the same. I should have been working on spells and enchantments over the summer the Muggle world must have changed me because as soon as I came back to this world, I was so excited that I didn't do anything. But now I'm in Hogwarts I realize that I need to keep a go on or I won't defeat Voldemort," Harry exclaimed.

"But Harry, Voldemort's not going to try and kill you this year, is he?" Ron gulped, "I sure hope not because I don't think I could handle Hermione all by myself for a whole year next year."

Finally Harry had to smile. He knew that Ron would probably go psycho with Hermione's persistence with studying and learning. Harry knew that all too well when Harry and Ron became temporary enemies a couple of years ago because Ron was jealous of Harry being famous and all Harry had was Hermione to hang around with. She was a nightmare, because of their different study habits.

Harry patted Ron on the back. "I'm sure he won't try and get me this year, Ron. I couldn't leave you to Hermione. It's just that I'm a little paranoid about everything and I want so much for everything to go back to normal that I want to learn all the spells there is so I can defeat him."

Ron nodded weakly. "You're right. Maybe I'm being a little paranoid, also. But anyways, let's go to supper, shall we?"

Harry nodded and the two of them headed off. But as they walked down the halls, Harry felt a sinking sensation that he wasn't so sure that he would get away without seeing Voldemort this year and that if he did, Harry might not be able to survive the attack.