Disclaimer: Well, still not owning Harry Potter, the characters, or the ideas represented in the Harry Potter Books. No one is sending my any money for writing this. I'm poor. Please don't sue me.

Defend Yourself

Hermione, Harry, and Ron slowly walked down the hall that led to defense against the dark arts class. They had just come from care for magical creatures where Hagrid had been trying to get them to work with some sort of giant, orange, snail. They had shared some good laughs when Draco had refused to work with the snail and had gotten slimed as a result of showing it disrespect. Apparently the snail had the uncanny ability to move faster than most land animals would be able to, which seemed terribly ironic to Harry, since the only snails that he had come across had been extremely slow and crunched under foot.

"Going to this defense against the dark arts class really doesn't seem that important to me anymore…it isn't like we are going o get to know the teacher for future reference next year or anything. They always seem to end up in disaster, which is kind of funny when you think about it." Harry to spoke, "Not in the 'ha ha' sense of course, but none the less…"

Hermione glared at Harry. Ron was just walking silently, so it was obvious that he wasn't going to have anything to say on the subject. She sighed before she spoke softly, "Harry, you are the biggest target for dark forces. Maybe you should be trying to learn a few things about how to defend yourself against them."

Harry rolled his eyes at Hermione, "Hermione. I haven't been zapped by Voldemort yet, have I? I don't think I'm in very much danger if I can dodge a dark force like that."

Hermione almost stopped walking, the vision from her dream flashing back to her where Harry had come to save her. He had ended up dying right in front of her. If she could stop that from happening right now by making sure that Harry didn't skip out on a class then she was going to do it. She wasn't going to let Harry skip out on a class and then die as a result. She just wasn't going to end up staring at him as a flash of green light from the dark lord Voldemort killed him. She wasn't going to do that!

She grabbed Harry's wrist to make sure that she had his full attention, "You aren't skipping out on classes while I am around to make sure that you get to them, do you understand? I just won't let you do that sort of thing. You might not need the course to save yourself from some kind of evil, but you need it in order to pass and eventually graduate."

Harry sighed. He had known that Hermione wasn't going to let him skip out on the class no matter how useless it was to him. She wasn't the kind of person that would let him just give up and have that be that. He knew he couldn't win against her so there wasn't even any point in fighting with on the subject. Not that it mattered very much. He'd just wander into class, know everything that he needed to know and come out with a terrible mark anyway when the teacher didn't like him.

"Look, you're either going or you aren't." A voice came from behind them, "I don't really care all that much what you decide to do with you're time here, I intend to pass, and can't do that with you blocking the way in."

Harry almost froze. That sounded exactly like the sort of thing that Malfoy would say. He had been itching to tear Malfoy a new one ever since that comment he had made about Sirius. Now he finally had the chance to say or do something that would make up for the way Draco had made him look. He spun around and was about to say something when he ended up staring into the emerald green eyes of the new boy.

Blake blinked as he looked back into the glasses of Harry, "Hello? Fellow Gryffindor? I'd like to get past you so I can get to my class please?" Harry blinked slightly and stepped to the side to let Blake into the class. He hadn't expected one of his housemates to be like Malfoy and was kind of shocked. Blake stopped and looked at Harry for a long moment, "Wait a minute…you're that Harry Potter guy, aren't you?"

Harry nodded softly, "Yeah, that's me."

"Cool. I guess I'm kind of sorry about the snipping at you to get out of the way. I suppose you don't even need to attend class in order to pass this one, eh?" Blake smiled softly and walked into the class before Harry had a chance to answer.

Ron watched Blake enter class and then looked over at Harry who still seemed swallowed up by the whole shock of the situation, "That guy is a little weird. I wouldn't let him get to you Harry…but I don't think he was trying to be mean or anything."

Hermione smiled softly. She wasn't especially happy, it was just very odd and she didn't want to look like she was so freaked out that the others worried about her. It was just that Blake guy was more than just kind of weird. He was out and out weird and everything about him frightened her, even if only a little bit. She shook off the feeling and stepped into class. Being publicly freaked out by some student wasn't any good. Ron would be making snaps to her about how she would have been overjoyed if some ogre was taking an interest in learning and that being upset about a normal student with some odd hair was totally unfair and judgmental.

Harry blinked a few times, trying to assimilate what had just happened. He had just about to spin around and punch out this guy, and then he had felt like carrying through with it, even though it wasn't Draco, and then he had turned out to be half decent. Not only that but he hadn't made a big deal over the fact that he was Harry Potter, the boy who lived. It was just like he was any other student.

Neville came running down the hall looking a little panicked, "Why are you guys out here? Didn't class start already? I mean I forgot where we were and I was all the way at the other side of the school I thought for sure that I was going to be late."

That was what Harry needed to snap him back to reality and he spun around on his heel, rushing into the class, closely followed by Neville and Ron. He blinked for a moment as he looked around and took the open seat next to Hermione. He took notice of how Draco was sitting near the back of the class with Crabbe and Goyle, and also of how Blake was sitting on the other side of the back of the class with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn't pay much attention to the teacher as he sat down since he wasn't sure that he saw one yet.

A younger woman with half moon glasses and long blonde hair that was tied back into a ponytail came out of the office that was connected to the defense against the dark arts classroom. She smiled as she looked over the room with startlingly green eyes taking notice of everyone in the class before looking down at some parchment that she had, probably a lesson plan for the day.

She spoke softly with a kind and soft voice that made Harry feel a lot better about this class, "Well, I'm pretty sure that you are all here. I was unfortunately met with an unexpected delay when I was headed over here and missed the welcome back feast. I assume everything was good there?"

"For those of us that didn't get punched." Draco growled as he looked over at Blake who just stared uncaringly forward as his book, taking no notice of the blonde boy and his comments.

The professor slowly stepped forward, her long black dress swaying softly with the movement. She examined Draco for a long moment and then smiled softly as she looked back to the rest of the class, "Well I can understand how a punch could ruin an event like that."

Harry smiled softly. There was Draco wining to the teacher like he always did whenever he got the chance. Of course this teacher had no idea what he was talking and wasn't going to care that much. She didn't even know who Draco was, so why would she care if he had gotten punched. For all she knew he had deserved it, which he had. It was too bad that that part of the story was going to be left out when Draco decided to tell what happened.

"I was just talking to some of my friends at the Gryffindor table and then that new kid came over and punched me." Draco snorted, "Maybe you should keep an eye on him to make sure that he doesn't do anything like that again. I'm not sure that I feel particularly safe around him." He pointed at Blake when he said 'him'.

Blake was still paying no attention to any of this and was quietly and idly flipping through the pages of his book. He didn't care about the attention. It wasn't like it mattered all that much. He stopped to read one of the pages while most of the class was looking back at him to see what kind of reaction he would have to Draco's pointing him out in the middle of class like that.

"Yes, I'll make sure to keep an eye on him, Draco. I won't let him get close enough to punch you again." She smiled reassuringly at the Slytherin boy.

Draco smashed his hands into the desk and stood up getting most everyone with the exception of Blake and the teacher to jump, "And what if he casts some sort of spell at me, what are you going to do then?"

The teacher smiled wider at Draco, "Well, my dear student. That is why you are here. I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself so that if any other student or other wizard were to attack you with magic, you would be able to defend yourself against it." She turned and walked back to the middle of the front of the class again, "Now if you would be so kind as to sit down I will begin the class."

Neville raised his hand slowly, "Um…ma'am?"

The teacher nodded to Neville, her hands behind her back, "Yes?"

"What is it that we should call you? I mean we could just call you professor, but we don't know your name." Neville spoke, almost nervously.

The professor smiled softly to him and nodded, "How foolish of me. I haven't introduced myself. I just assumed that they would have told you who I am at the starting of the school year ceremonies." She smiled softly and bowed slightly, "I am Clarissa. I'll only call you by your first names, so that is all I would ever expect from you."

Hermione raised an eyebrow as she stared at this new teacher. She was an odd one. She was very odd indeed. It was like she could really argue with a professor though. If she wanted to be called by her first name all the time then that was perfectly fine. Professor Clarissa didn't sound very proper, but it wasn't like there was much of a choice in the whole situation.

"Today we will be learning why it is important to protect yourself against dark arts and the sorts of things that can happen to you if you were to meet a dark wizard and were not prepared for a dark spell." She adjusted her glasses on her nose, "I know book work isn't very exciting, but it is important to know why it is that we study this and what can happen to you before we do anything. It well help to explain why it is that even Harry Potter, is taking this class."

She began to write the numbers of the pages that the students would need to read to understand the importance of defense against the dark arts as a class on the board. Harry noticed that Draco was putting more effort into whispering to his Slytherin cronies than he was spending on taking down the page numbers, but that was his problem. The Gryffindor boy just shook his head as he flipped open his book to the first page he would have to read. Malfoy always had something to say about everything. Always.

((AN: Hey dudes. Again I feel like I am bombarding you with Blake rather than important people like Harry, Hermione, and Ron. That is why I threw in some Neville for this chapter…and because he is kind of a secondary major character…anyway, here is to hoping that this starts working soon, eh?))