CHAPTER 6: UNEXPECTED

It was the face of the strange man that burst through the fireplace three years previous to now, and the face of a strange woman was under it. As Vernon read on, he found that the man's name was Arthur Weasley; he was the father of that Randy or Robin or whatever his name was. Ron, he finally remembered, after his wife's nagging made him think of it. He continued to read and saw that the woman whose picture was underneath Arthur's was Bellatrix Lestrange and she had killed Arthur.

Not that he cared or anything, there were hardly ever any murders from the wizarding world that reached the Muggle newspapers, but Bellatrix had been classified as a danger to both worlds. Vernon shrugged it off and continued onto the sports, he was especially interested in how his favorite golfer had done in the last weekend's competition. Glancing at the page, he found his favorite golfer had disappointed his other fans. He continued on to the weather, there was some good news; it would be sunny until Wednesday.

The next morning at breakfast Ron would find out the same news by owl from his mother and by the Daily Prophet. "Bloody hell…. not him," he said, staring wide-eyed at the picture of his father and Bellatrix. "That Lestrange woman is going down, if I have to take her down myself," he growled, this was the final straw. It was bad enough that Bellatrix had killed Sirius, but now Ron's father? That was it, if Ron weren't at school he would hex her into the next century, or at least that was what he planned on doing, to comfort his now ever-present emotions.

"What now, Ron?" Harry asked as he stabbed into an omelet. If anything, he would expect something about Voldemort, considering the 'not him' comment made by his red-haired friend, but he wasn't at all ready for the answer he would receive. A letter in Molly's curvy handwriting and the Daily Prophet was shoved in front of him, nearly spilling his orange juice all over. He read the letter first; he was astounded at what he saw. The ink was smudged in a few places by what appeared to be tears, Molly must've written this last night.

Ron,

I'm afraid something has happened with your father. He went on call to a raid at the Malfoy Manor, and encountered Bellatrix Lestrange. She urged him into a duel, one he lost. I'm so sorry, Ron, I'm afraid the woman killed your father. Please do make sure Ginny understands and do comfort her, it will take some time, but this time LISTEN! I will keep you updated, I promise.

Mum

P.S.

Do say hello to Harry and Hermione for me. And if you have decided to have either of them read this, let them read the editorial in the Prophet as well, as I'm sure that Skeeter woman will manage out the truth this time.

Harry smiled slightly at the last line of the note then his gaze turned to the editorial that had made the front page of the Prophet, it held quite troubling details, and Rita Skeeter had actually managed to keep to the truth, perhaps Hermione's threats to the woman got through, or maybe she felt some remorse, but whichever it was, it was exactly what had happened. Harry couldn't bear to read it, he placed both it and the letter in front of Ron, whose face matched the color of his hair, and his eyes, along with Harry's were hazy with tears.

"That's what now," he said as he repeatedly stabbed the layers of pancakes that sat piled before him with a knife, eventually getting down to the bottom, having jammed a hole through all three pancakes, the syrup oozing down to fill the newly created empty spots. He got up and went down the table a bit to see if Ginny had received the news, it turned out she had. She broke out into tears at the sight of her older brother, throwing herself into his arms. He comforted her awkwardly, slowly leading her to where he, Harry, and Hermione sat.

They continued on to their first class, all three of them had decided to take Defense Against the Dark Arts, it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more under their belt although they didn't exactly need it, after all they did have the D.A. in fifth year, even if it was discontinued in sixth year due to Harry's lessons with Dumbledore and his appointing as Gryffindor Quidditch captain.

On the way to class, Hermione found herself walking between Harry and Ron, and oddly enough, they passed Snape, which was odd as the man spent most of his time in his classroom or his office in the dungeons. They quickly shrugged it off and continued their conversation, which until the encounter had been about which new robes to wear to the Christmas Ball, which the Headmistress had decided to establish as a regular event.

When they arrived they found that Professor Chase had gotten the room to her own liking, it was decorated with pictures of different magical creatures that looked quite contorted, snapshots of wizards that appeared to be under the Imperius, due to the cloudiness of their eyes, a few that seemed to have been hit by Dark spells, and a small picture of herself sat on the soft mahogany top of the front desk, next to her name, which was spelled out in a rustic-looking cursive text that was engraved on an equally rustic length of copper.

Behind the desk sat the professor, the same curvy strawberry blonde that they had met on the train. Looking up from her attendance book and thoughtlessly striking a check into the boxes next to their names, she let a friendly smile appear on her lips. She rose from her seat, sliding her glasses off, setting them on the desk, and stated in her accented voice, "Welcome to the first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year. Please, do take a seat," and with that statement gestured to the entire empty classroom.

The trio soon occupied their usual spots in the middle of the room, and since the professor sat down when they did, she currently was in the process of finishing off a few notes for the lesson. With a casual wave of her wand, words appeared and Hermione, instantly finding them to be notes, began copying them down, then paused and urged Ron and Harry to do the same.

They did, and as they wrote, many other students had entered the classroom and had also begun to copy down the notes, although even Hermione knew that this lesson would not be purely information, Karisma would most definitely have planned hands-on lessons. Ginny, Parvati, Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and all the other regulars, along with a few others that weren't identifiable and they weren't near the friends, so they didn't quite catch their names.

Karisma rose from her seat once more, and the chatter eventually died down as they all turned their gaze to the professor. "Today," she began, it had only been about twenty minutes, and considering that the bell had only just recently sounded, class was early to begin, "you will be learning the power of the Confundus charm." A slight grumble throughout the group of students signified that they thought it was too simple. "It is not as simple as you might think, it can be used in more ways than your naïve minds could ever imagine."

She now had their attention, she had had a conversation with Snape as there was no one else on the train to talk to, and she picked up a few of his tricks, which needless to say, she hoped would work. Continuing on, she said, "The Confundus charm, as I have said, can be used in many ways. Anything from stunning for an escape to stunning so that the opponent can throw you over the bridge and you can drown.

"Now, considering that wand less magic has not yet been taught here, I will be incorporating both types of magic into this year, as it is the only year I have with the lot of you. If you will take out your wands," and almost instantly, all the students were shuffling through their bags and soon, twenty seven wands were produced and at the ready, "and partner up, I don't care who with, one of you will cast the Confundus and the other will fight it nonverbally. If the defensive gets stunned, 'finite incantatem' will prove useful."

Karisma produced her own wand and stated, "Confundus," with a swift movement of her wand, and one of the unidentifiable students went stiff. With another casual flick of her wand, she said, "Finite incantatem," and the student returned to normal. "Begin," she stated simply, sitting down once more and watching as the students paired up and began the practical portion of the lesson.

The next forty minutes went by at a comfortable pace, and Hermione, who paired herself with Harry, leaving Ron to pair with Parvati Patil, had managed to fight off Harry's Confundus after the fourth attempt, and found further practice after attempt number twenty-three absolutely useless, as Harry also fought back Hermione's Confundus with ease.

Class was soon dismissed and they left, their next class was Dueling with Rafferty, and as soon as they were out of the door, Ron looked to Harry and said, "Bloody hell I don't know which one's better, the Headmistress or the Dueling Professor." This earned a chuckle from Harry and Hermione simply rolled her eyes, then they found the classroom and as they had before, took a seat in the middle, ready to begin. But Hermione's thoughts wandered to someone that wasn't the dueling master.

In fact, as the class continued on, the same person was in her thoughts, then she snapped out of it when Harry nudged her with the force that was anything but gentle, it was time to practice the Freezing Charm. But it didn't interest her, she breezed through the next hour, and every time he asked her what she was thinking about, only she knew and she didn't plan on telling anyone.

Okay so normally my cliffhangers are not this severe, but I think that if you're lucky, you'll know who's been on Hermione's mind by Chapter 8. Anyways, read and review, I'll try to get Chapter 7 up soon!