"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione asked Marlene as they entered the defense classroom. Hermione had seen this room under many different professors but had never seen it look like this. The desks were all pushed back against the stone walls, there were posters hung up depicting defensive and offensive spells, and the teachers desk was overrun with what looked like coffee cups, strange since almost all their professors drank tea. In honesty, it was the most legitimate looking defense classroom that she had ever seen.

"Professor Williams, he is an auror and he said that with everything going on we need to know how to duel. We went once at the beginning of the year for an evaluation and now we're going again to see what he needs to teach us for the last part of the year." Hermione could appreciate that. At least someone is doing something.

"Has anyone been hurt?" Hermione asked. Marlene nodded.

"Couple of broken bones but it's not like we're using unforgivables. Come on. You'll like him a lot, it's a bummer he's leaving at the end of the year." There weren't too many students that seemed to continue on to NEWT defense. Most were in red and green.

"Why is he leaving?" Hermione asked, unsurprised. They took seats in chairs facing the empty middle of the room.

"He says that he wants to help out there, actively fight. Sucks really because we've had a different professor every year." That wasn't anything that Hermione didn't already know. Lily wasn't in this class but Remus, James, and Sirius sauntered in right as the bell rang.

"Well, well, well, sweetness fancy seeing you here," Sirius said with a wink. Hermione rolled her eyes but before she could respond a young man in what looked to be mid-twenties came out of the office with a drink in his hands.

"Welcome everyone, find a seat along the wall and find your partners," he said. Hermione didn't really know where to go but Marlene pulled her back to sit on one of the desks. She seemed to be partnered with a tall, dark, and unfortunately handsome Slytherin. "Oh, where is the new student?" he asked, turning around and putting his coffee on his desk. Hermione, usually front and center knew that this was the last thing that she wanted to do right now. Being good at transfiguration was one thing – being unbelievable at dueling was another.

Marlene elbowed her.

"Er, here, professor," Hermione said finally, raising her hand up. He smiled and gestured for her to come forward.

"Right, Miss Granger I believe?" Hermione nodded, "We have been practicing our dueling. Everyone else has done an evaluation and you shall be no different. Come on up." Hermione tried her best not to groan.

The three boys in the back had different expressions on their faces. James was eager to see what this girl was going to do. If she was throwing curses at Sirius when she got there then she must know something. Sirius was ready to jump in if necessary. He couldn't win her over if Williams murdered her. Remus … Remus was curious. She had him on edge. There was something about her that just didn't sit right with him. She seemed to know few things that she shouldn't. He caught them no matter how quickly she covered them up. He was quick on those sorts of things. He wanted to see what she was all about.

"Alright Miss Granger," Professor Williams said, "are you ready?" He bowed to her and she returned it, putting her wand arm out in front of her. She had to remember that she was not out for blood.

Don't make him bleed. Don't make him bleed.

"On three, One – Two – Three." He didn't even have time to say anything before Hermione's wand was moving. She was throwing nonverbal spell after hex after curse at him and in his surprise all he could do was put up shield charms.

"Protego!" he yelled again as one of Hermione's hexes smashed through another minutes later. Hermione's hair was coming out of her bun as the professor was finally able to get off an offensive spell. She ducked under it and used her new position to land a spell of her own.

"Impedimenta!" Hermione yelled, her first verbal spell. Professor Williams slowed down and Hermione was able to stand up and move to a better position. The professor used finite and followed her movements suddenly very, very serious.

"Stupefy!" he shot at her. The students around them were watching in awe. Some of the spells they were seeing they hadn't even heard of. Hermione waved it away with her wand easily.

She remembered dueling at Malfoy manor, remembered how angry she was. Her wand was working furiously. Professor Williams was sweating now, trying very hard to keep up. Hermione was red faced and shaking, advancing on him and waiting for the moment that his shield would be broken.

"Stupefy!" she yelled, shattering the charm, "expelliarmus!" The professor's wand flew into her hand.

Both of them stared at each other, chests heaving. Hermione swallowed thickly, suddenly remembering that they had an audience. James let out a low whistle and Marlene clapped her hands a few times but other than that nobody made a sound. Hermione waited for the Professor to inevitably yell at her but he just continued to stare. She eventually coughed and turned his wand around in her hands, wordlessly offering it to him.

"Well," he said, walking over and retrieving his wand from her, "it would seem that Miss Granger here doesn't need any help from me. Who taught you?" he wasn't angry just very surprised. Hermione couldn't give him the truth obviously.

"I had many teachers," she told him eyes flicking briefly over to Remus, "and a lot of experience." Not a lie. He nodded and Hermione assumed that Dumbledore told him her cover story.

"Well that was excellent. You can go ahead and work with McKinnon and Nott for now. We'll revisit this later." Hermione nodded and went back to her classmate, face red as could be. She was doing a terrible job at this time thing.

"Damn, Hermione. Who knew you had that in you?" Marlene said, twirling her wand around in her fingers. Nott was watching the movement with hungry eyes. It wasn't hard to see why. Marlene was leather and lace, motorcycle jackets and red lipstick. Not even being a Gryffindor seemed to put anyone off.

"Everybody actually," Hermione said bitterly but one look from the Professor had them all getting back to work.

When class was over, Hermione was exhausted. Marlene was hard to keep up with. She was an excellent dueler. It was easy to see why she was such an asset to the Order and Hermione determined that she was on her long list of people to save. Nott was just as strong – Derek as she came to know. He worked Marlene hard, throwing some curses that Hermione thought were a little borderline but Marlene took it in stride. Nothing touched her.

"Maybe next time Nott," she told him with a wink as she gathered her bag. He watched her movements carefully.

"We'll see McKinnon," he said, voice low. Hermione narrowed her eyes. She knew that voice. Her mind flashed with images of the castle in ruins. Rubble was raining down around them.

"Crucio!" A voice yelled. Padma screamed as the curse hit her. The Death Eater wasn't smiling but he wasn't lifting his wand either. He was tall and dark with a voice that almost vibrated the floor when he talked. Hermione recognized him.

Theo.

Theo Nott.

Derek Nott's son.