Arghhh! These last few chapters have been torture! Why won't my fingers just type them properly the first time?! (crying a little on the inside from all my wasted time). Anyway, all advice or comments are welcome! (like, seriously welcome, they're pretty much the only thing keeping me slogging away at the keyboard. Never had writer's block before, but I can confirm that it sucks.)

As usual, the disclaimer: No money made for me. Nope. Writing this story is entirely for my own enjoyment, and very little else.

Beta'd by: Bombadilo Baby. A woman of many talents. She is the Guru, Advisor and Chick-Who-Stops-Me-From-Rambling ;D thank you!

A (pick your own descriptor, I'm too tired :-P) Weekend to You All!

-G

Draco ducked out of Harry's room and into his own to get ready and then the two of them wandered back down the stairs to the foyer, chatting more about his fencing lesson. Draco was just promising to teach Harry their new move as the joined the rest of the family, startled to see that their guests had arrived early before them.

One guest in particular heard their arrival, and turned to see their entrance. Both boy's eyes widened in shock as they saw messily plaited bright turquoise green hair and a toucan beak bounding towards them. "Watcha, cousin Draco!"

Chapter 27: Dark Magic and Walls

Draco walked happily with his friends to class, smiling at the familiar sound of their loud voices bouncing around the long stone corridors. He was amazed to think that it was drawing to the end of their first year at Hogwarts. It had gone by in a flash. Despite how crazy the first half had been, thankfully the only disturbance after the Yule holiday was their new Defence teacher, Draco's falsely imprisoned Uncle Sirius Black. They had all been cautious at first, but over time the Professor had . . . gradually . . . risen in their estimation. He wasn't a favourite, but he was much proffered over others like Binns and Sinistra.

For everyone other than Harry.

Their short Slytherin friend was still leery of their new Professor. And Draco completely understood why. The loathing, after all, was very poorly masked between Severus and Sirius Black. It had only grown worse as Black tried on several occasions to convince Harry to change guardians. Typically, Harry had planted his feet like a erumpet and refused to budge an inch. The more their Defence teacher suggested it, the more Harry took pains to avoid him. Draco was still proud that he was one of the few people Harry was comfortable enough to complain about the situation to. Not that he thought he'd helped much. Just knowing Harry relied on him in some measure made him unbearably smug. Severus' response to the situation had also been a surprise. For as long as he'd known him, the potions master had always masked his emotions. Yet, on several occasions, Draco had witnessed both his clear surprised and quiet amazement to Harry's unwavering support. The more Harry's love and respect for his Dad shone through the more flustered Severus himself became. He'd even gone so far as to smile, very slightly, in public. The response had only fuelled Harry's determination.

Black on the other hand had grown more desperate and depressed in his failure to gain Harry's favour. Draco had started to almost feel sorry for the man, who obviously just wanted that same admiration and love of his Godson.

Draco would willingly admit that he'd been worried it would escalate even further, until 'The Intervention'. And if he hadn't been sure before now, Draco could now say with terrified certainty, that Narcissa and Minerva were a force to behold.

Draco still had no idea what his Mother and Minerva had said to the two teachers that dampened the blazing anger into (very) grudging acceptance, but whatever it was had been . . . startingly successful. Both Narcissa's dangerously glinting eyes and Minerva's grimly smug smile held their wary truce in place, with neither grown man willing to cross the females.

Draco was almost positive that Harry must have been a driving factor for their change in behaviour. He'd seen their slightly guilty expressions when they took in Harry's more relaxed and happy attitude. Now that tensions had subsided, Harry's curiosity had driven him to spend more time with both his Godfather's. The blonde remembered how Harry had quietly admitted, whilst they sat in the Slytherin common room a few nights ago, that whilst he still was uncertain about Sirius Black, he was fascinated and grateful to hear more about his parents.

Draco hefted the heavy bag, slung over his shoulder, groaning as he contemplated the amount of homework he still had to complete later tonight. It was the end of July now, and exams were just around the corner. Which was why the first year Slytherin's were leaving now, so that they'd reach the Defence Classroom with ample time. If the word of other first years was correct, they were about to start a new topic, though Black hadn't mentioned anything about it to them in their previous class.

Draco listened with happy content as his friends chattered, a few of them excitedly guessing what Black might choose as todays topic for class.

"It will be more healing spells!" Pansy said earnestly, eyes sparkling as she strode down the corridor with a bouncing step. Draco tried to hold back laughter at his friends excitement. Pansy had taken to healing spells like a duck to water, so he suspected her guess was more wishful thinking than actually likelihood. A couple of nights ago Draco swore she'd been on the brink of asking them injure themselves just so she could practise more. Thank Merlin they'd been able to distract her or they'd have all ended up in the actual Infirmary! Girls were crazy!

Vince was still mumbling something about Hinkypuffs to Blaise and Daphne. Personally Draco thought neither of his friends were right. Whilst Sirius had never taught at Hogwarts before, they'd soon found out that he'd been a well-respected Auror trainer at the Ministry. He was very good at teaching defence. . . though Professor Quirrell was their only real comparison (aside from their parents).

Almost all Black's lessons so far hadn't been in the textbook, and they found themselves on their toes every class learning new things about Defence. Literally. Some weeks he would set up 'traps' throughout the classroom, just to keep them "aware of their surroundings". Draco grudgingly admitted it was a good strategy, despite the horrible week his hair had been dyed a stubborn shade of soft pink. He scowled remembering the incident. He was certain Blaise still had a photo hidden somewhere in his belongings, but no amount of digging had uncovered it.

Pranks aside. So far in class they'd covered some pretty cool topics. Everything from emergency procedures, basic shields and healing, disarming, and assistance flares. Draco was quite proud of the bright violet flare he'd managed to produce in class last month. A smile tugged at his pale lips as he remembered the near catastrophe that had occurred. Several Gryffindor students had set of their flares in the wrong direction. Seamus Finnegan's hair was still singed.

When they reached the classroom they filed in quietly. Draco looked around, quickly snagging Harry's smaller hand. He pulled a startled but happily compliant Harry to one of their customary desks. He ignored Pansy's pouting face, who'd been about to sit with Harry herself, facing the front as their friends settled into the seats around them. He felt a moment of guilt, which was quickly assuaged once Blaise settled next to Pansy, already talking animatedly between themselves.

Harry was his best friend. Draco told himself that he sat with Harry because they got better marks working together, but the truth was that as a Malfoy he refused to miss out of his favourite part of the day. The part where he and Harry sat with their heads knocked together, whispering and passing notes in class. The raven haired boy was horrible at smothering his laughter, and it made Draco unbearable smug to see his friends face crack with happiness.

Draco set to preparing his desk whilst the rest of the class trickled in, but it wasn't long until Sirius Black bounded through the door behind them.

The Professor stood at the front of classroom. The man tapped his wand against his hand energetically as quickly he scanned the classroom.

"Right!" he suddenly exclaimed, abandoning his desk to stride closer to the students. The grey eyes, not dissimilar to Draco's in colour, made them all unconsciously straighten in attention. "We're going to be covering something different today. Wands and books away." He announced, waving his hand as though he could shoo the objects away.

"Who knows the difference between light and dark magic?" He called out loudly, eyes sparkling with energy as he scanned the crowd.

Draco's brow crease in surprise. He glanced around the room at his classmates, seeing unsure or cautious expressions on everyone's face. He caught Harry's eye and shrugged, for once uncertain about what answer the Professor wanted to hear. He could think of several replies, but decided to keep quiet and just wait for the Professor to answer his own question.

Sirius started tapping his wand against his thigh again, obviously unsurprised but frustrated by their lack of response. He was muttering quietly to himself, before leaping back into the lecture. The man could never sit still.

"Alright, okay. Time to fix that." He rambled, pacing slightly across the front of the room. "We'll start with Light magic." He announced with determination.

"Spells classified as 'Light', are basically everything you're taught here at Hogwarts, or similar spells. They're termed 'Light' because of where the magic used to power the spells comes from. 'Light' magic only uses your magic, directly from your magical core."

He paused. "So, does anyone know how Grey Magic works? Or want to guess?" he asked.

One of the Ravenclaw's hesitantly lifted their hand. "My Mother works at Stone Henge, and she says they use magic from the, err . . . stones?" she replied hesitantly.

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, causing some of them to jump in their seats. "Exactly. Great example Miss Brocklehurst!" he beamed widely at Mandy.

"Grey magic isn't banned by the Ministry, just less common and more complicated then Light magic. Grey magic uses magic that isn't yours. The extra magic has to be willingly given from something living or a magical place. So, places like Hogwarts or Stone Henge. We use the magic of Hogwarts to help power the wards around the school. Now! Because Grey magic has outside magic involved, it can be used either on its own or with your magic." He explained. "But it doesn't hang around after you use it, it goes back to where you took it." He explained to them carefully.

"Dark magic" Professor Black continued, eyes more serious than usual for their energetic Professor. "is when magic is forcibly taken and used, either without knowledge or consent."

The class was silent, no one moving at all as they listened.

Sirius started tapping his wand against his thigh again as he continued. "Ironically enough, Dark magic wasn't originally banned. It was used in hospitals." He told them, making some of their eyes widen in surprise.

Sirius quickly explained "Say you're unconscious," he went on, giving an example "a Healer would use your magic to remove your wounds or spell damage. Worked well because sometimes people react badly to magic not theirs, particularly when it's near ya magical core. Unfortunately magical cores are practically always damaged by offensive spells." He trailed off, frowning.

Sirius shook his head and turned to flick his wand absently, causing the information so far to write itself up on the blackboard. "Despite the use of Dark magic in hospitals and other jobs, the International Confederation of Wizards decided to ban it's use completely. Common guys, any guesses why? Just gave a pretty big hint." he hinted, eyes once more searching the room.

No one spoke, let alone moved, far too interested to bother speaking up. Not even the Ravenclaw's.

Sirius huffed in exasperation, half laughing half grumbling in disappointment as he continued. "Cause it damaged the idiots who used it without training." He summarized. "Qualified Healers used it just fine on their patients. But otherwise, if the person using Dark magic wasn't extremely talented, or channelling a magic like their own (like . . . say a twin or family member) their magical cores were damaged by the spells. Irreversibly. Er, at least almost every time. Cause magical cores hate being forced to combine."

Draco suspected that some of this lecture was going straight over some of his fellow students heads, but didn't particularly care since he'd never been able to wrangle so much information about the subject from either his parents or Godfather before. Even coming from a Grey family, didn't gain him this much information, and he knew more than most his age.

Sirius was still talking. "Anyway, the ban happened round the sixteen hundreds, or something. Europe had an outbreak of people with fractured and tainted magical cores. People using the Dark arts kept on ending up insane. Either that or wasting away after a ton of uncontrollable magical outbursts."

Draco felt the blood drain from his face in horror, along with the rest of the class.

"Anyway, that junk started the witch hunts and executions by the muggles. Drew too much attention to the magical world. Heaps of magical beings died either by muggles or in our hospitals before the International Confederation of Wizards ruled to completely ban Black magic."

"Now take a look around at the world today! Years later and we're still getting people wanting to resurrect the Dark arts. People like Grindelwald and Voldemort are a prime example." He said, ignoring their flinches. "Course, Grindelwald was defeated because of his broken magical core. Made him weaker. And many reckon that Voldemort's mind and power have been slipping ever since he started dabbling in the Dark arts. The one thing in common, neither man had any formal education in the Dark arts."

Sirius stopped his lecture.

"So" he drawled, taking a moment to let that information settle in. "Why do you think I'm telling you this?" he asked the class.

There was a moment of silent. "So we don't use Dark magic?" one of the class offered hesitantly.

Sirius nodded his head, a rueful smile on his face. "Well, yeah. Obviously. You're eleven. But mostly so you learn. You need to know how to shield yourself from Dark magic." He told them. "There are gonna be other crazy, power hungry people out there using uncontrolled Dark magic. And if you don't learn to shied or protect yourself, it's your magical cores that is going to be on the line."

Sirius looked around a the group of slightly terrified students. The rest of the lecture passed by, with mostly revision of their previous classes until the bell rang.

Sirius clapped his hands, smiling. "Anyway! Class dismissed. I want you all to review the shields and healing spells we covered last week, and write up a two foot summary of what scenarios you would use them in!" he concluded happily to the still speechless group. Utterly oblivious to the mild terror he'd incited. Sirius and half the student body had departed before Draco got a hold of himself.

He nudged a frozen Harry. "Hey, Har." He called, drawing the attention of his friend.

"Hmmm?" a dazed Harry turned unfocused green eyes on him. "yeah?" he asked.

Draco gestured to Harry bag. "Come on. We've got Herbology." He reminded his friend.

Harry shook his head, eyes clearing. "Oh. Umm, yeah, give me a sec." he hurriedly gathered his belongings.

Draco waited for his friend before they set out towards the Greenhouse number one.

Both of them were silent, absorbed for the moment in their own thoughts. At front of their small group leaving the classroom they could hear Ronald Weasley loudly complaining (as usual) about something to the other Gryffindors. Draco absently listened to something about a missing pet before he turned to Blaise.

"Does that match up with what your Mum's told you?" he asked.

The Slytherins all turned to listen as Blaise spoke. " . . . Yeah. I mean, pretty much. I hadn't heard a lot about the history, but it all sounded about the same to me." He nodded musingly.

Draco frowned, wondering why his parents had been so hesitant to talk about the subject with him.

Suddenly Harry spoke up, one hand fingering his scar. "Does that mean – I mean, when I got my scar that . . . does that mean there's something wrong with my core?" Harry asked quietly, green eyes avoiding everyone's surprised gaze.

Everyone froze, no idea what to say in their shock to the question. Draco internally cursed Black for not anticipating Harry's reaction.

Draco pulled Harry to a stop beside him. "Don't be an idiot, Har. My Aunt Dromeda checked you over. You're fine." He replied, grey eyes sincere and comforting. He was fairly certain it was the truth.

Greg also piped up as he lazily waited for them to continue to class from where he stood beside Vince. "Nice try Harry, but there's no way we'd let you ditch us that easy." he said smiling lopsidedly.

Pansy chortled. "Yep." Her lips popped, and she linked her arm with Harry's, dragging him along. "Even in insanity, you're stuck with us!" she confirmed.

Blaise started walking forward. "They're right. Besides, if you're worried just speak to your Dad about it after class." He said shrugging.

Harry bit his lip, oddly uncertain despite their reassurances. " . . . You guys sure?" he asked hesitantly. "Because I – I swear. . . " he stuttered.

Daphne looked to Harry with curiosity. "What, Harry?" she asked, shuffling her bag to a more comfortable position as they continued on their way across the lawn.

Harry mumbled indiscernibly, cheeks flushed, his eyes showing his embarrassment.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Can't hear you, Har." He told his friend with fond amusement.

"Been hearing voices." Harry mumbled slightly louder, even then Draco was struggled to make out the words.

The group turned to peer at Harry in confusion. Pansy glanced at Vince before speaking up. "What do you mean?" she asked, with a delicate frown between her brows.

Harry's shoulders hunched uncomfortable with the attention "Just since we got back from Yule." He clarified, as though that made it better. "In the – the walls and stuff. But there's . . . no one there?" he finished, voice raising slightly higher at the end as though it were a question.

Draco frowned. "Why didn't you tell us before?" Draco asked, slightly hurt that Harry hadn't told them already. That he'd been keeping it to himself for, what, months?

Harry's eyes finally swung back up, his brow creased in frustration. "I did." He insisted, mouth twisting as he bit his lip. "Remember? You thought I was talking about the fifth years who snuck off to the Kitchen's." He said in exasperation, hands waving through the air slightly as his voice raised.

Draco's eyes cleared at the clarification, his mouth opened in a small circle. "Ohhh." He mumbled. "Wait! So if it wasn't them, then . . . What were they saying? What did you hear?" Draco asked, trying to remember what Harry'd said at the time.

Harry's brow scrunched up in thought as he sucked on his bottom lip. "Something about being hungry? And finding something for someone?" he said, slightly uncertainly.

Blaise considered the information for a bit before shrugging it off. "Sounds more like you heard someone from up in the Dorms or something. Come on, you crazy shrimp, or we'll be late to class." He joked, laughing at Harry's affronted expression.

"Hey! I'm not that short! And I swear, it sounded like it was coming from in the walls!" he exclaimed, standing up straight automatically to try and emphasise his point.

Everyone laughed at Harry's blatant delusion of height. He really was very short.

Pansy was smiling. "Come on, Harry. Blaise is right, everything echoes in the dungeons anyway."

Harry was still grumbling slightly at the short comment.

Draco smiled, reaching out to tug along his distracted friend so that they actually made it to class on time.

"I swear it was in the walls." Harry muttered.

Draco rolled his eyes, curling his hand around Harry's.