DISCLAMER: Everything/everyone from the Harry Potter books belong to JKR.

A/N: I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday; I couldn't get to the computer because of all the 4th of July family stuff. Thanks for all the reviews!


Chapter 11: DADA

Harry and his friends got to class about ten minutes early. When they entered the Defense classroom, James was struggling with, and swearing at, his desk drawer.

"What are you doing?" Harry finally asked.

Professor Potter jumped guiltily and spun around; he sighed in relief when he saw who it was. "Come in and close the door. Quickly!" he motioned them in urgently.

"What are you doing?" Harry repeated.

"Preparing for class," he answered evasively. "Sit up here," he led the four Gryffindor seventh years to the middle of the front row. "By the way, when you hear the explosion, duck."

"What's going to happen?" Neville asked nervously.

"Just a little demonstration," James's eyes gleamed manically.

Harry was prevented from questioning his father further by the arrival of the other students taking the N.E.W.T. level DADA class.

"Welcome, everyone," James smiled benignly at his class. "As you know, I am Professor James Potter. I plan to challenge each of you, pushing you to the outer limits of your skills and beyond. I intend to prepare you for life beyond this school. The world is filled with dangers even now that Voldemort is gone." James ignored the class's shudder at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. "Any questions?"

No one raised their hand, so James continued. "For the sake of fairness, I must warn you all of one thing." Suddenly, James's desk drawer exploded! Harry and his friends remembered to duck at the last moment as a dragon swooped over the students.

The illusion dissolved after a moment of chaos, and all of the students slowly turned to their teacher. "I'm a very good prankster," James smiled at them all innocently. "Throughout the year, myself and Professors Black and Lupin will probably create all sorts of random chaos. You are all more then welcome to try to prank us back so long as no one is physically harmed and you don't directly violate any school rules. However, be warned, we will retaliate to any pranks aimed at us, so if you don't want to be a target don't play the game.

"Now, to business," James clapped his hands together. "I understand that you have all had experiences with dementors." The class nodded. "Your homework will be very simple tonight, in fact I don't even want you to use your books. Without any research, I want you to write down everything you know about dementors: what they look like, what they do, how to drive them away, and anything else you can think of. This assignment is meant to tell me what you already know so I know what you still need to learn. Class dismissed."

The room was filled with babble as the students collected their things. Everyone seemed to have something to say about James's 'demonstration' and several seemed to be planning their own.

"What did you think?" James asked his son as the class filed out.

"It was brilliant!" Harry declared.

James smiled broadly. "Oh, your mother wants you, and any friends you wish to invite, to join us for lunch down by the lake."

"We'll be there," Harry promised as the Gryffindor first years filed in and the seventh years headed toward the Gryffindor common room to enjoy a free period.