A/n: Hi there! Just a little note to say that some giant plot stuff is going to crop up very soon, just in case you were wondering about a lack of wands or woe. Lots of Harry Potter though, eh? But thanks for the reviews so far guys - keep them coming! Requests appreciated too.

Harry removed his wand from his timetable, allowing the black box to reform. Looking up, he saw the grinning faces of his friends, just as the bell rang to signal the beginning of the first lesson. The Great Hall slowly emptied as Harry turned the timetable over to see what was needed in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Who's got a free first?" asked Harry. We've got a second year class and a fourth year class first, but I've got potions." Ginny and Luna raised their hands.

"We've got Defence together after break, too. We'll do a short introduction then," said Ginny sensibly.

"Excellent. I see you noticed that there's going to be a problem with the people doing both Charms and Defence this year, but I can still teach the double period on Thursday. Anyway, Luna, can you teach the second year class? Maybe introduce them to pixies and their behaviour. Ginny, can you go for the fourth years?" They all agreed on the plan of action, and the two girls headed off. Harry looked round and saw that the Hall was now completely deserted. "Damn it! We're late for our first lesson! Come on, Ron! See you later, Neville!"

"Sorry we're late, Professor," panted Harry as he and Ron burst into the dungeon. There was an outburst of laughter. Even Professor Slughorn was laughing, albeit rather wheezily. Harry and Ron sat down looking confused.

"No matter, no matter. I know thing will be tough for the first week or so." Even this was accompanied by a huge chortle from the rest of the class. Everybody looked extremely happy. "Today, we're learning about combining the art of Potions with a number of other subjects." The class continued to grin, but the laughter began to subside. "For example, if you cast a stunning spell while making a Draught of Living Death, the effects will be much more prolonged, yet much less damaging. If you cast the Body-Bind curse, however, paralysis is added to the potion's effects. Though we can imitate these effects through the modification of the potions, the effects from the spellcasting can be much more precisely controlled.

"I have given the rest of the class a few drops of the Elixir of Laughter, bolstered by a cheering charm. Just a few drops were as potent as a good swig of a normal Elixir. Today, I would like everybody to make the Elixir, just as you did last year, and cast a cheering charm over it. We will go on to measuring the potency of potion effects in the next lesson. Please, no tasting your modified solutions until we have worked out how potent they are. An overdose can cause what?" Hermione's hand shot up, drawing Harry and Ron's attention to her.

"Uncontrollable and unstoppable laughter, Professor. If an even higher dosage is taken, the muscles of the stomach can snap, hence the phrase 'my sides are splitting'," said Hermione proudly.

"Excellent! Twenty points to the fifth house! Now, you have approximately fifty minutes. Begin!" As the class rushed to the ingredients cupboard to obtain the rarer of the ingredients, Harry and Ron caught up with Hermione.

"When did you leave the Great Hall this morning?" asked Ron rudely.

"Just after Harry announced he needed someone else to teach for this lesson. I knew I couldn't, so I decided not to be late for potions. Now let's get on with the Elixir." They grabbed half an ounce of powdered unicorn horn and some powdered moonstone and headed back to their cauldron, where water was bubbling gently over the flame. The Elixir they made was rather good, as Hermione had at least consented to use the less dramatic of the Prince's instructions in Harry's textbook now that they knew who he was. With ten minutes to go, Ron dramatically pulled out his wand.

"Ron! Leave it to me!" instructed Hermione loudly.

"Why can't I cast the spell?" whined Ron. "I never get to do any of the important stuff." Sensing an argument coming along, Harry decided to use diplomacy.

"How about we split the potion into three, and each cast a cheering charm on our own potion?" suggested Harry. Hermione siphoned off three equal portions of the Elixir into smaller cauldrons taken from the pile at the front. She then waved her wand in a complicated fashion and muttered "gigglius", causing the potion to glow a light pink for a second. Ron did the same, and got nearly the same result, judging by the glow. It then came to Harry. He wiggled his wand and thought of the funniest thing he could while murmuring the incantation.

Suddenly, the cauldron gave of a great puff of pink smoke, engulfing Harry and Ron. They began to laugh uncontrollably, rolling around on the floor. Hermione, however, attempted to suck the slowly growing cloud from the air with her wand, and was quickly joined by Slughorn. The cloud was eventually stopped halfway across the dungeon, causing a number of outbreaks of giggling from those nearest the trio. Hermione, unfortunately, was not amused.

"Boys," she said, shaking her head.

Harry, Ron and Hermione spent most of their morning break outside the Charms classroom, discussing and arguing.

"See? I said you should let me cast the spell on my own," claimed Hermione. "Look what happens when you don't do what I say."

"Yeah, but not for the reason you thought," protested Ron. "You thought it would be me who blew up the potion. Well, surprise, surprise! I actually can do some things. I'm not completely incompetent. You've got to believe in me sometimes."

"Fine," admitted Hermione shortly. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to freshen up." With that, she stalked away with her head held high. As soon as she turned the corner, Ron began to speak to Harry.

"Sorry about all that. We've been going through a bit of a rough patch lately. It's probably my fault somehow. But anyway, I'm sorry for what I said this morning. I was out of line."

"Is this you talking or Hermione?" asked Harry suspiciously.

"Me of course!" Harry raised his eyebrow. "Ok, maybe Hermione told me to give you a year to get to know each other. But if you don't know each other by then, I'll know you don't really care about her. Not that it's not obvious that you don't care about her now," he added hastily.

"Well, boys, you're keen!" Harry and Ron turned sharply to see Professor Flitwick striding towards them as fast as his little legs could carry him. "A bit of wandlore today. I trust you know a bit about that already, eh?"

"Yes, Professor," agreed Harry.

"Filius."

"Sorry. Filius. Oh, and could I make an announcement about the Defence and Charms clash this year? I just need to tell everyone that those doing both Defence and Charms that I'll do their third lesson of the week at the weekend, but tonight this week. It's just a minor timetabling detail."

"Of course, Harry. Why not come in and tell me exactly what you already know about wandlore." By that time, Hermione had come back, and so all four of them went into the Charms classroom. Although most of the class were scratching their heads throughout the entirety of the lesson, it seemed like no time at all before the lunch bell began to ring.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville came out of Charms and walked to the Great Hall, chatting excitedly. They were all glad to be back at Hogwarts, and were looking forward to yet another delicious meal. Having said that, it was common knowledge that Mrs. Weasley's meals were better than those at Hogwarts, but the castle's atmosphere more than made up for it. In fact, Hogwarts often felt more like home than home did to the students. It was big and cavernous, as castles always are, but cosy at the same time, like a cottage.

In the Great Hall, they met up with George, Luna and Ginny. As soon as he saw George, Harry had a sudden brainwave. For George's sake, he decided to wait until they had eaten before mentioning his idea. As George finished eating his cheese on toast, Harry motioned to him and they left the Great Hall.

"What's up, Harry?" he asked.

"I've had an idea for the common room. I want it to be a complete surprise for everyone else though."

"But why do you need me?"

"Because you created the original swamp," grinned Harry. "Yours is the magic I want to use here."

"Fred did most of the swamp," said George sadly, his face falling at the mention of his fallen brother.

"Then let's do this for Fred, in memory of him. I know you can do it." They reached the fifth floor and set to work. It was barely a few minutes before the others came up from lunch, so they worked quickly.

"Wow, Harry! I like what you've done with the place!" Ginny marvelled at the woodland scene before her. Each of the doors from or into the common room had been transformed into rustic-looking hunks of wood entwined with thick vines, and the room had a sense of life about it. The tables and chair looked like tree stumps, and the fluting around the edge of the room looked like the tree trunks of a forest.

"It was all George really," Harry said.

"Wow, George! This is marvellous!" exclaimed Angelina. Everybody looked round to the door where she was standing.

"What are you doing here?" asked George.

"Well that's a nice way to greet me, isn't it? Never mind. I had a word with McGonagall and she said I could retake that Defence NEWT I failed a couple of years ago. I'd never have been able to retake it here without this common room, so this was my only chance. You will have me, won't you Harry?"

"Sure. Do you want to do the weekend lesson with me or the Monday lesson with Ginny?" asked Harry in acceptance. Angelina frowned with thought.

"Well, I'll probably go for Ginny's lessons. That leaves the weekends free." Harry grinned at her as she walked over to sit beside George.

"It's like having the whole of the gang back together," commented Ron. "Who are we going to have back next? Katie Bell?" They looked round at the door again, just in case. Unfortunately, no familiar face was to be found. Looking back to where George was sitting, Harry saw that there was a glint in George's eye that he hadn't seen for a long while. He seemed to be discussing things in a low voice with Angelina, who nodded frequently.

Harry looked at his watch, which featured a number of stars around the edge, grouped in an odd pattern. He spent a few moments interpreting the pattern. It took a little longer than for other wizards, but he was slowly getting the hang of the gift.

"I'd better get to class, guys," he announced. "Anybody else want to come?" Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna all decided to come, seeing as it was a first year class, so they all rose from their woodland seats, Ginny from the arm of Harry's, and walked to the classroom.

The first years were lining up outside the classroom on the sixth floor as the bell rang. They began to mutter amongst themselves, wondering where their teacher was. Suddenly, a Hufflepuff boy spoke out.

"When's our teacher gonna get here?" he whined.

"Expelliarmus!" muttered Harry from behind a tapestry of a hag and a vampire in a chapel. The boy's wand flew out of his hand, caught by Ron from behind a suit of armour.

"A true master of the Defence Against the Dark Arts is ready for any surprise," said Hermione from behind a statue at the other end of the line. Ginny wound up a Decoy Detonator and pushed it on its way down the corridor. Everybody turned to watch it, and were so enthralled by it that they didn't notice Neville stumbling around a giant vase to throw Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder into the air. Under cover of darkness, Luna played her part by scooping up the Decoy Detonator before it got away.

As the darkness cleared, the first years found the six Defence Professors standing in front of them, like a superhero squad. Harry twirled the Hufflepuff's wand between his fingers and began to address the speechless crowd of first years.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts is like no other subject. It is not just remembering a bunch of incantations and complicated wand movements, nor is it the subtle art of simmering solutions. With any luck, Defence will be the most exciting subject you do, but it is also the most serious and the most dangerous. It will never, as History of Magic, stay the same.

"Every situation in which you need to use this subject is unique. The Dark Arts are always changing, and so you too should be prepared to change with them. Times are still as dark as ever, and so it's up to you to bring some light to the world."

"But isn't You-Know-Who dead?" asked a Ravenclaw.

"You-Know-Who isn't the only dark wizard out there. Many of his Death Eaters are still at large, and there have been many more dark wizards leading their own cults across the world. Now that Voldemort has been defeated, there are many more people vying to take up his mantle." Harry noticed that all of the first years flinched at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. "A great man once told me that the fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself. There's no reason to fear him now, so why fear the name? Anyway, come on in. I can see some of you are getting tired out here."

"Can I have my wand back?" asked the young Hufflepuff as he passed Harry.

"Of course, but you've got to take it from me," Harry replied. The Hufflepuff wrested it from his grip, and Harry grinned at him. "Ten points to Hufflepuff." As the class sat down, every face was turned to his, rapt with attention. He grinned at Ginny and put Lupin's briefcase on the desk. Opening it, he found Lupin's complete set of notes, which were much more detailed than their own, but on top of those was a letter addressed to him. "Can you take over for a while?" he asked the others.

Harry opened his letter as he sat at his desk, listening to the others all answering questions about the Dark Arts and Defence against them, a lot of them about their exploits against Voldemort. Silently, he began to read.

Dear Harry,

If you are reading this, I'm dead. I knew it would happen some day, but I could never have told you when. At the moment, you're out searching for I don't know what, but I hope you're trying to save us from You-Know-Who. There are many people I know who would be great at such a job, but I understand that if Dumbledore didn't think you were up to it. I trust in Dumbledore, and therefore realise that you are a truly capable wizard.

There are very few people, however, who I would trust to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, as so few people know the Dark Arts. I hope that one day you will be able to teach others about the Dark Arts, as well as combating them. If you indeed decide to go down this route, I've prepared a few notes for you. I've used the magic of the Marauders' Map to make them tell you what they need to know next, based on what they already know. hopefully this should make it much easier for you, though you'll probably want to go off on a tangent quite often, as it's not perfect.

Nevertheless, I hope that these are useful to you. I've also written a few more letters which you'll find when you need them. However, for now I must bid you farewell. Your father would be proud of you.

Good Luck,

Moony.