Chapter 3
Defending Yourself Against What Is To Come

The next morning, Jamie, her friends, cousins and brother sat down at the Gryffindor table to eat breakfast. The Professors were beginning to hand out schedules.

"So, Jamie," Richie spoke up as he was trying to spoon scrambled eggs onto his plate, "Have you given any thought to when you will hold Quidditch tryouts?"

"No, but I will have to think about it," said Jamie.

"Good, because I am going to try out for Keeper again," said Richie.

"And hopefully not miserably fail again," joked James.

"I didn't miserably fail," said Richie, "There was just someone better than me last year."

"And unfortunately he was a seventh year last year," said Jamie, "So I have to get another Keeper again."

"It will be me," said Richie.

"Richie, just because you are my cousin doesn't mean you are getting it that easily," said Jamie, "You will have to work for it."

"I know that," said Richie, "And I will work for it."

A couple minutes later, Professor McGonagall walked over to where Jamie and the others were sitting. She handed everyone their schedules and walked off.

"Ahh, dangit," said Richie, "Divination again! I didn't want to take it in the first place last year. I don't want to see anymore cups telling me I am going to be the mascot for a world champion Quidditch team one day instead of the Keeper!"

"Trelawney is getting crazy in her old age," said Jane, "That is why I quit Divination Studies."

"You are definitely your mother's daughter, Jane," said Jamie, "She quit Divination Studies as well when she was in Hogwarts."

"Like me, she was smart," said Jane, "She still is too."

"Oh come on," said Alice, "Trelawney isn't that crazy. She has made some good predictions. Including some about your dad, Jamie."

"Yeah, we know about those predictions she made about my dad, Alice," said Jamie, "I hear about it all the time in History of Magic."

Jamie knew Alice really admired Professor Trelawney, but she still remember how annoyed she was when her father's name turned up on a few questions on her O.W.L exam her fifth year.

Jamie decided to finally look at her schedule. She had Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic on Mondays and Wednesdays. And she had Charms, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She had Fridays off... which she personally enjoyed.

A/N: I know that most students don't take CoMC after their fifth year, maybe sixth year... but Hagrid is so cool, I have to add his class.

"Oh, cool," said Jane, looking over at Jamie's schedule, "We have the same classes as each other!"

At this remark, Joseph pouted.

"What is wrong?" Jane asked him.

"We don't have all of our classes together," said Joseph, "I was hoping we would."

"Yeah, but Joseph," said Jane, "You don't like Care of Magical Creatures, I do."

"Yeah, but instead I got Divination," said Joseph, "For some reason Trelawney thinks I do really good in her class."

"Oh, I always thought she fancied you," joked Jamie.

Joseph rolled his eyes at this comment, but everyone else around him laughed.

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After breakfast, Jamie, Jane, Joseph and Alice headed out to Greenhouse Three for Herbology. The Gryffindors would be in the class with the Ravenclaws. Professor Longbottom smirked at his daughter as they walked in. Of course she was his favorite student, which she personally got a little annoyed about. It is kind of weird when your father is a teacher... but thankfully she wasn't the only one she knew who had to go through that.

"All right, seventh year," said Professor Longbottom, "This is of course your last year at Hogwarts and I know some of you will like to start a career in something with Herbology, so this will be very important. But before I begin, I have some bad news. As you will notice, Hogwarts' prized Venemous Tentacula isn't here anymore. Over the summer, I am sad to say, it died."

A couple of students gasped, but most of the students silently gave a sigh of relief. The Venemous Tentacula wasn't very popular, because it had taken a liking to attack various students without warning... some victims had been sent to the Hospital Wing.

"Now, as I said," continued Professor Longbottom, "This year is your last at Hogwarts as students, so I have to make sure you know what you can about Herbology. In honor of this, I have selected some pretty rare plants for us to take care of. Now, a couple of these are newly discovered plants, and others are older plants. But most of them are poisonous and maybe deadly. So, I have given you a little present so you will be safe. In front of you, you will see gloves that are very popular in the Magical Plant and Wildlife Division in the Ministry. They can keep you from getting poisoned or bitten, but I will always have antidotes, which have been selected by our dear Madam Pomfrey. Now, with that said..."

Professor Longbottom walked over to a ledge and took a box of small potted plants back to the main table. He put on his gloves and held up a small orange plant.

"Can anyone tell me what this is?" he asked.

Unsurprisingly, Jane, whom had always taken a liking to asking questions, raised her hand. Alice raised her hand too. This was a surprise though. She never participated much in her father's class. She was afraid she would get embarrassed.

"Ah... Alice?" said Professor Longbottom.

"That is an Orange Jawstone plant," said Alice, "It comes from Africa."

"I thought you might know about this one," said Professor Longbottom, "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, the Orange Jawstone is named because of its defense. Okay, let's see."

He walked over to another table and took a jar of flobberworms and brought it back.

"Now, the Orange Jawstone doesn't like to be bothered," he said, taking a flobberworm from the jar and lowering it over the plant, "If it feels threatened it..."

Suddenly, the plant quickly opened what seemed to be its mouth and took the flobberworm, swallowing it whole. The students gasped.

"It... does that," said Professor Longbottom, "As you can see, it is named the Jawstone because it has a mouth and it clamps its victims in it's jaw and doesn't let go easily. Nice little defense, huh? Well, it needs this defense because many creatures like to eat these plants. The plants aren't poisonous, they just bite. Magical Creatures will consume them for their vitamins."

"Swooners like them alot," said Alice.

"Yes, that is correct," said Professor Longbottom.

Some students giggled. Professor Longbottom, like his daughter and wife, believed firmly in creatures that were so rare, they were thought to be made up.

"So, this is what I want you to do," said Professor Longbottom, "Don't worry, you won't have to touch them... yet. I want you to draw and diagram these plants. Your Advanced Herbology books should help you with this. I expect the diagrams on Wednesday... if you please."

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After Herbology, the Gryffindors headed inside for Defense Against the Dark Arts Class. When Jamie and the others arrived, they noticed that Malfoy and the Slytherins were also in the class.

"Great, this class is always with the Slytherins," said Jane.

Jamie and the others took some seats in the front. A couple of minutes later, Professor Lupin walked in and up to his podium.

"Well, it is good to see that all of you are safe and back at Hogwarts," he said, "As you know this is your last year at Hogwarts, so this will be a very important class. This year, I will teach you about spells in which you will need to know for your future lives, including defensive spells. Now, I believe that last year we didn't get around to mastering conjuring spells without speaking them, so we will begin with those. As you know, I do quite a few hands-on lessons, like we will do today, but you will also be referring to your books. The book for this year happens to be one of my favorites: 'Defending Yourself Against What Is To Come'. Now, this was written when the magical world was still at war, but it is still quite useful. As we all know, there are still many dangers in the world and we have to defend ourselves against them if we have to. So that is what I will make sure you know by the time you leave Hogwarts."

Professor Lupin walked in front of his podium and looked at the students again. He usually did this when he was figuring out who he would use as his "guinea pigs" for the class, which he did a lot.

"Miss Potter," Profesor Lupin said, "Would you please come up to the front?"

Jamie nodded and walked up to the front of the class. She wasn't that surprised he called her. She was one of his favorite students. All she was worried about was that Professor Lupin would also call up...

"Mr. Malfoy," said Professor Lupin, "Up here please."

Ugh! Anyone but him, Jamie thought.

Unfortunately, Professor Lupin had never been known to be very good at reading minds. Romeo shrugged and walked up to the front of the class.

"All right," said Professor Lupin, "Now, I want to see how well you remember doing non-verbal spells. So, Miss Potter, I want you to have a disarming duel with Mr. Malfoy, and please only use non-verbal spells. Also, blocking spells are very good too... remember that."

Jamie sighed, but walked over to one side of the class room. A duel with Romeo Malfoy... not exactly what she wanted! Although Jamie did very well on a broomstick against Romeo, she had never been known to duel very well, especially using non-verbal spells.

"Now remember," said Professor Lupin, "Non-verbal disarming spells and blocking spells only. And I will know if you don't do it right. One... two... three."

Jamie was trying to concentrate on the non-verbal spell, when she was thrown backward on the floor.

"Well, well, very good, Mr. Malfoy," said Professor Lupin, "Ten points to Slytherin."

Jamie was about to get up when Malfoy walked over to her and offered her his hand.

"Oh... thanks," said Jamie.

Jamie grabbed Romeo's hand and Romeo helped her up. As she let go, she felt a shock rush through her hand.

"No problem," said Romeo.

"All right, you two may sit back down," said Professor Lupin, "Thank you for participating."

As Jamie walked over to her desk, she couldn't help but think about what just happened. It seemed that for a moment, Romeo was actually being nice to her. Something Jamie thought would never happen. And what was that strange shock that went through her hand? Static, she thought, Yeah, that is what it was. The static raced through the floor and up through my hand. That was the only explanation.

"All right," said Professor Lupin, "Now, I want you to open your books and read about non-verbal spells. By Wednesday, I want you to practice them so we can do more in the class, understand? Find a partner and practice by then. Open your books to page thirteen and read the chapter 'So you thought you knew all about non-verbal spells...' A very good chapter, indeed. It will help you out."

Jamie opened her book and started turning the pages. She heard whispering and turned around. Malfoy was talking to his friends. When he noticed she was looking at him, he smirked at her. Rolling her eyes, Jamie turned back to her book.

The rest of the day wasn't very eventful. The History of Magic lesson had a bit to do with the second war and Harry Potter's involvement, which Jamie probably knew anyway, so she rested her head on the desk, something she was used to doing in History of Magic. Later that night, as Jamie was doing some of her homework, she was about to ask Jane for help, but she noticed that Jane was occupied with Joseph. She smirked at her best friend and decided she had to much to think about so she went up to bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.

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Okay, so it wasn't the best chapter so far... but I hope it was good. It will get better...

Feedback very much appreciated as always!