Thank You: I wish to thank all of you that reviewed my story or placed it on your favorite/alert list! It is very much appreciated! Please leave another review.

Apology: I'm sorry that this chapter took so much longer than the others to write. My first semester is ending and even though I'm a freshman I'm being bombarded with homework! Thank goodness for weekends.

Inuyasha's age: I have to say that at least half my reviews mentioned his age at least once. First off, a few people asked me why I was referring to him as a kid. I'm confused why that confuses you so, as he was referred to as a kid several times in the manga, but I'll explain myself. First off, I have to agree that Inuyasha is most likely at least 100 years old. But you also have to put into consideration that 50 years was spent stuck to the tree with the arrow. Also he was a hanyou but now he is a demon. Demons live a good deal longer than hanyous and they mature slower than hanyous do, so Inuyasha actually decreased in age. Compared to humans I'm guessing he's 17-19.

Warnings: Although I am tired of repeating myself. I feel I ought to warn you that this fic is not meant for little kiddies! But for those old enough to appreciate it, please enjoy!

Strange Magic

Chapter 5: The Lesson

By yllom21

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Harry Potter. If I did, would I really live my life with no cable?

The dank and dismal forest was beginning to awaken. Birds were chirping as dawn approached and animals were beginning to scurry, happy that it was a brand new day. Only one creature was moving with a purpose and that creature was a large white dog.

Tongue rolling, he galloped through the forest, avoiding pine trees and other large obstacles. His mind seemed to be elsewhere, for he scurried past beautiful flowers and even a unicorn without a care. For a dog on a mission, he moved without a confident stride, almost as though he was worried or maybe even depressed. Stopping next to a small opening, the dog descended up the rock with caution. It wasn't until he reached the top that he showed his true form.

With long white hair and a loose kimono he fit right in with the beautiful flowers of summer, the sun radiating off of his gleaming hair. For such a beautiful creature he seemed depressed, ruining the atmosphere just a bit. A squirrel hurried across a branch, nut in hand as he tilted a head towards the creature in confusion. There seemed no reason to be depressed for winter was still a while away. But the child did not seem to notice.

Inuyasha laid his sword across his lap with precision, a frown marring his delicate features. He didn't understand why this was such a dilemma, teaching kids had sounded easy the night the headmaster had suggested it, but now he wasn't so sure. He wasn't a human, rather a demon, and his knowledge of how there magic worked was still rather dim. Sure he had researched it, but he couldn't use it nor fully understand it. His magic didn't need a wand to perform; rather it worked hand in hand with nature. Sooner or later someone was going to realize his lack of humanity; he just hoped it would be later.

"Why am I so worried?" the demon muttered with confusion, "Why should I give a fuck what the wizards think?" The answer, however, was clear. Having been scorned his entire life; he wasn't up to being hated again. He had begun to fit in, even if he had been lying to do so, and he was afraid of them learning the truth and hating him for it.

Shaking his head in hopes of temporarily forgetting his inner demons, he stood up with earthly grace and drew his sword. Hair flailing, he began to do a sword exercise that looked more like an exotic dance than something used for war. Fighting always seemed to mediate him, even for a little while.

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"Dumbledore must have finally lost it," Ron concluded over a plate of bacon and eggs, "He looks our age, perhaps younger. How can he have any field experience?" The gang was currently resting in the Great Hall, granting themselves a large and rather good breakfast. Hermione glared at Ron over her toast, her eyes steaming with anger. It had taken her hours to fall asleep as she couldn't block out Lavender or Parvati's conversation of there gorgeous new professor. She wasn't in the mood to converse about him now, whether it was about the length of his hair or his ability to spell cast.

"We have him first," Harry reminded his companions, waving his schedule under there noses, "Perhaps we should wait till then to grade him. He might actually be good. Haven't we always heard of Japan and there Self Defense arts?" Ron squinted at his newly given schedule, groaning over the fact that Defense was going to be with the Slytherins.

"He better be good," Ron practically growled, "I am not in the mood to have another bogus teacher with the Slytherins. I think I'd lose my sanity," He was regarding Snape of course. Slimy, oily and loathing almost everyone, he always found some way to award points to Slytherin yet subtract points from the remaining houses. With that in regard plus the fact that he scared the students shitless, it was no surprise that they hated Snape more than anyone else.

"If we don't hurry, we'll be late," Hermione reminded the boys, always the good one. Silently groaning at the food that would go to waste, Harry and Ron hurried after her, the later grabbing a piece of toast on the run.

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Inuyasha hurried through the window, growling softly as he landed with a dull thump. He had been so absorbed in his sword dance that he had left the forest later than he usually did, and he was most likely going to be late. Pulling out the drawers in a good speed, he glared at the kimonos while he voiced out loud, "Should I wear red or green?" blinking, Inuyasha suddenly remembered that he was far from vain and that something as petty as color was not of grave importance to him. But all the same he grabbed a red kimono and a gold sash, whinnying silently as he half-heartedly grabbed a pair of sandals as well. The sandals would be the death of him, if Voldemort didn't murder him first.

Jumping out the window yet again, he hurried to the window that sported his classroom. He had spent a day or two remodeling it, as the bland colors had bored him. Now it was decorated in a traditional Japanese style, the walls painted a red and gold (he really did like those colors). There was a space in the middle for dueling and a desk at the front for him. He had never really used it, as he usually did any work required in his bedroom. But it was pretty all the same.

Jumping the ten feet or so into his classroom, he landed on a light fixture on the ceiling. He was rather bored and spying on his students sounded like fun.

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Ron and Harry hurried after Hermione, who was setting a fast pace even though she carried twice as many books than they did. "We're going to be late!" she barked when she heard the boys' panted attempts to get her to slow down. Her eyes were a fierce red and at the moment she seemed even scarier that Voldemort, which was truly saying something.

"Hermione," Ron whined like a child, "Does it matter? It's not like the professor will actually do any teaching," Hermione turned around to glare at him, her eyes even a brighter scarlet than they previously were. Ron's mouth was glued shut the rest of the way.

"Here we are!" Hermione grinned with satisfaction, opening the door just enough so they could see there tense classmates, before the door slammed shut with a bang. The professor wasn't currently anywhere in sight, but the students were still frozen in some type of frozen fear. Of course, the professor didn't exactly look scary; in fact he didn't look like a professor at all. But he could be a giant newt who abducted some Japanese kid to pose as a professor just to feast on there brains at twilight. A bit exaggerated true enough, but hadn't they learned by now that anything was possible?

"Where's the professor?" Harry deemed it safe enough to ask. Hermione's fierce anger had dulled to a bad morning mood and Harry was used to ignoring it from Ron that Hermione was no cause for grave concern, "You think he bailed?" he asked although he did not expect his question to be dutifully answered. Most of the students who weren't muttering about the professor were glancing around the rooms with expressions that ranged from shock to pure amazement. Harry was aiming more for the latter.

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Inuyasha was amused to say the very least.

Watching the students enter and begin to start there whispered conversations was amusing, as he seemed to be personally mentioned at least once or twice. Most of the females seemed to think he was an impossibly gorgeous dream on legs while anybody who did not swing his way were either talking about his ability to teach, or lack of, and there plans to peak up his kimono to see if he truly did possess male organs. Yes, Inuyasha was amused because he knew that if anybody ever dared to touch his kimono they would be bitch-slapped so hard it would leave a scar. After all, why deny there doubts when they were so amusing to listen to?

Only a few of them seemed to be conversing over anything of partial value, and yet his appearance seemed to pop up once or twice every minute or so. It seemed that they had had a pretty-boy before whose ability to do magic was comparable to Miroku's ability to stop his grouping. It was never going to happen. Although Inuyasha was slightly insulted that they would dare compare someone like him to someone as untalented as him, he truly hadn't heard such wacky gossip since Kagome had endlessly talked about her era. It was slightly refreshing.

After realizing that several minutes had passed and one of the more timid students was beginning to wonder if they should question the headmaster, Inuyasha decided it was nigh time he introduced himself. Nothing normal of course, he was the savior of the world after all, and even though his reputation was as famous as that of a tree frog's, didn't he deserve to go off with a bang?

"What's shitting?" Inuyasha suddenly announced, dropping onto the desk with such speed that it appeared as though he had apperated. The entire classroom jumped, some shrieked in panic and a few chosen few decided to fall out of there chairs. He just managed to stop himself from chuckling like crazy, although a few giggles were produced, when he suddenly continued his one-sided conversation, "If you don't mind me asking, what the fuck's wrong with you all? If you enjoy gossiping so much, then I enjoyed it if you filled me in cause I haven't laughed so much since I beat the hell out of Koga, but that's a story for another time,"

The entire classroom was eerily quiet, except for the unconcealed laughs of there new professor who seemed to be sincerely enjoying himself. There mouths were opened so wide that several bees could have flow in and stung the hell out of them, although they somehow were unable to close them.

"I'm Inuyasha," the pretty brunette suddenly announced, "I go by many names, Professor, Yasha, bitch, although it would be much appreciated if you called me by the former instead of the latter. It would be fun to have personal conversations with you all, but I do have a lesson plan for the day and if I'm gonna screw up, then I'm going to at least start the day out right," He suddenly smirked at them, as though he had something particularly devious planned, before he jumped off the desk and began to waltz out the door before he announced, "What the fuck are you all waiting for? Let's get moving! And please don't forget your wands, were would you be then?"

Mouths opened large enough to produce enough room for a Woolly Mammoth or two, his entire class followed.

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Everybody was hot, sweaty and tired, except for there current professor who seemed to be having the time of his life.

Besides that fact that he was smaller and skinnier than the all, despite the fact that he was wearing an expensive kimono and high sandals and despite the fact that he was so damn pretty, Professor Inuyasha was practically skipping up the trail with energy while his entire classroom followed like old sweaty dogs.

"What the hell's keeping you all?" Inuyasha called from further up the path, his black hair gleaming like a cascade of jewels and his kimono glitteringly like a scarlet ray of light. It was against the force of nature that there professor was so much more athletic then the rest of them, for while they were panting like it was nobody's business, he looked as though he had just jumped out of a Jacuzzi. "We're almost there!" he called out when he noticed a small girl's sweaty face, although the encouragement was lost when they glimpsed the smirk on his face. The bastard truly was enjoying himself.

At least ten more minutes had passed until they reached there point of destination, a glade of beautiful turquoise flowers resting near the lake with enough boulders to take place as temporary seats. There professor paused near the highest one and bounded up like a squirrel, pausing near the top to adjust his kimono before he gracefully sat down with a flourish. Everyone else collapsed on there boulders with the grace of a fish out of water.

"Now, I bet you're all wondering why I brought you here," the demon in disguise began, grinning at them all with a smirk, "Well, if you really must know, I thought the flowers were pretty and what better place to teach you how to beat the ass out of people than a place as serene as this?" The irony in his words was more than evident and Harry was beginning to ponder over there true meeting, when Inuyasha cleared his throat, announcing the true beginning of the class, interrupting the rebellious voices of the teenagers.

"I figured we'd start out with a duel, so we'd now where we are," Inuyasha snorted, before he began to examine a clip board that he had brought along, "What about… Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom?" he motioned with his delicate hand towards a spot which held the least amount of flowers, "Oh and Mr. Longbottom, I'll be confiscating your wand," The mysterious smile on his face was more than evident while Neville began to panic about the aspect of dueling, especially without the necessary tool such as a wand.

"What are you playing at?" Ron thundered after he finally digested the older boy's message and realized that there were no loopholes, "How can you expect Neville to put up a decent fight when he doesn't even have a wand? Lockhart may have been loony, but you're loonier!" The rest of the class roared in agreement, although the Slytherin end was grinning in anticipation. Inuyasha just rolled his eyes and mentally added a check to his list of how humans were related to the stupidest species of baboons and sighed.

"You're fucking me, right?" Inuyasha rolled his eyes in annoyance, "I mean, seriously, don't you guys know anything?" his students paused for a moment, breathing in his words in confusion. Analyzing there expressions as oblivious, Inuyasha continued, "Life isn't fair, kiddies, its one hell after another. Do you really expect to always be armed and prepared? Do you really expect a Death Eater to introduce himself and pause for a minute for you to get your bearings before he beats the shit out of you? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but it isn't going to happen, so suck it up!"

Now the entire glass was gaping and even Malfoy sold away his pride as his mouth was parted an inch or two. Inuyasha spoke as though he had actually experienced such evil, as though he had actually lived through a crisis. But he appeared as though he was a new grad; he couldn't be more experienced than they. Rolling his eyes in another bout of annoyance, Inuyasha barked, "Are you going to duel or not? I swear, you guys are accidents on legs,"

Ron stiffened with the insult, glaring at the professor with such a loathing glance that anyone lesser who have shriveled, as it was all Inuyasha did was ignore him and pretend to file his nails. Dangerously glowering, Ron dragged Neville by the collar to the proclaimed dueling ring and unarmed his companion before throwing said wand to the professor, who still had the same smirk etched onto his face.

Turning to face the scared and completely helpless boy, Ron suddenly discovered a small nook of guilt, but that was soon evaporated as he pronounced a simple leg-binding curse. Squeaking almost humorously, Neville just managed to avoid said curse, panting slightly at the unexpected exercise. Glowering, Ron thundered up to Inuyasha, "What the hell do you expect me to do? Blast spell after spell till he's knocked out? That's loony!"

"I've already repeated myself!" Inuyasha said simply as he flicked a strand of hair, "Duel!" With that proclaimed, Ron turned back to Neville with an apologetic look before he began to spell out the words to another spell. This time, Neville was grazed and he fell right on his ass with a thump. The Slytherins were howling and the Gryffinders looked horrified but there professor still held a look of indifference.

A few more spells were casted, and Neville managed to completely avoid three. Ron looked completely horrified at the blood seeping out and even some of the Slytherins looked worried. It wasn't until Ron was in the middle of a stunning spell, that a look of inspiration crossed Neville's face instead of an expression of fear. Just as the redhead was about to finish his final spell, Neville hands plucked a few flowers in hope and tossed them in the air after removing the pedals in frenzy. The effect was ominous, knocking Ron out in a mere few seconds.

"Well done Longbottom!" there black-haired professor exclaimed, "Professor Sprout was correct when she pronounced you as the best herbologist of your year!" Said herbologist turned a deep scarlet while the remaining students looked stunned; what the hell had just happened? But before a rebellious student could announce there claims, Inuyasha had jumped of his rock and scurried over to the redhead. In a mere few seconds said student was up and the teen turned his attention back onto the students.

"Now for those of you that are still lost," Inuyasha began with a smirk, "The lesson of the day was, first off, be prepared for everything, and second, don't depend on your wands for everything. Potions, plants, animals and other substances can sometimes be more useful in times of dire need than a wand. Play to your strengths," there was another pause as he left them time to digest there information, before he began to waltz back down the path, "What the hell are you all waiting for? We're not getting any younger you know!"

Mouths still enlarged to twice there normal size, his class fall beyond him in procedure, none of them believing that there professor actually knew how to teach.

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He hated Inuyasha.

Now his claim wasn't that extraordinary, as he hated almost everything that moved, and some things that could not. He hated some with a passion, he loathed some with a sneer and some he detested with such hatred that it was unspeakable at the least. But Inuyasha was near the top of his list, he almost overtook Harry Potter in the despised department. And that just did not happened.

Yes, he hated Inuyasha.

It didn't help that said person had just graduated from magic school, and the brownie points most certainly weren't added at the fact that he had taken away his job. After all, wasn't he the more qualified? He most certainly knew more than some kid who had most likely just got out of diapers! And the fact that he had managed to befriend almost everybody with a twirl of his hair didn't help much either, added with the fact that nobody paused to even ponder the child's loyalty. Huh, and they thought he was crazy?

But what really iced the icing onto the cake was the fact that he was so damn pretty. It was against the laws of physics for anyone who looked like that to be able to do a decent shielding spell. What with his young, delicate face, lavender eyes, ass-long hair that practically shinned like jewels, added to the fact that he probably wasn't even seventeen, pissed off Severus Snape to such a massive degree that he felt like ripping off his robes and showing off his Death Eaters tattoo just to get a reaction of some sort.

However against popular belief, that wasn't the only reason why he hated the teen to such a destructive degree, rather it had to do with the fact that he was so unbalanced, and unable to read. Snape was a skilled mind-reader, much known to his fellow comrades as someone who knew almost everything about everyone. He knew a man was going to commit suicide before the man decided to do so himself. He knew a woman was pregnant before she realized it herself. Due to his power and his fellow professor's adolescent attitude one who guess that he was aware of the man's very purpose and soul. But he knew zit.

There was a shield around his brain that radiated power grander than that of Dumbledore's. His mind was unreachable, and as much as he hated to admit it, the kimono-clad Japanese boy could actually be a threat. Perhaps Voldemort controlled him himself, and that was why his mind was shielded so. But although the child matched Voldemort ideals of a good puppet, beautiful and young, puppets didn't have a mind of there own. And Snape was certain that no puppet of the Dark Lord would greet people with a loud, "Who's shitting?" Voldemort would die of pure embarrassment.

But that wasn't the point he was trying to make. If Inuyasha did not sail under Voldemort, than whose colors did he claim? He wasn't powerful enough to be a soul agent, no matter his healing skills or his mind shields. Was he a vampire, perhaps a werewolf, or maybe even a veela? He was most certainly pretty enough. But all Snape knew for sure was that he would eventually find out what this so called Inuyasha was hiding. And if he had anything to say about it, then the child would be thrown out on his skinny little ass by Halloween.

He was ready to stake his life on it.

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Hermione was practically glowing.

The entire Gryffindor common room was sitting in shock, mouths hanging wide open and eyes enlarged to several times there original size. First years and seventh years alike were sitting in perfect harmony, unable to believe that there new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor could actually teach. He hadn't sent dragons on them with only flimsy fans to protect them, he hadn't boasted about achievements he had never achieved and he had actually taught them a lesson on there first day.

Nobody was in the mood to hear Hermione pronounce a very loud, "I told you so!"

"He's not that good of a teacher!" Ron protested, still angry about getting the crap beat out of him with flowers, "What type of teacher tells you to duel unarmed?" A few people sat up with a thoughtful air, albeit some where mumbling about the color of his eyes, when Harry broke out, "A good teacher I think. He's right, we won't always be prepared and armed, and he's trying to get us prepared for the world ahead. He didn't inform us beforehand because it would have ruined the lesson. He was pressuring Neville to realize the solution without actually presenting one. That's why he picked Neville in the first place; he's the best herbologist of our year!"

"So, maybe he can actually teach," Ron finally relented, "But I still say he's a witch, who knows what he's hiding under that kimono!"

Some things would never change.

Not exactly my favorite chapter, but it will have to do. I think the ending is too sudden, although the next scene was too long to add to this chapter… Oh, well! Please review folks!