A/N: The next chapter! I love this title, don't you? I wouldn't mess with Rial if I were James; it's not good for his health. And for those who were disappointed with Rial's quick forgiveness, I think I made it clear Draco's not completely forgiven just yet. REVIEW! Mild Language

Chapter Fifteen- Fuse, Meet Fire a.k.a. Defense Class

Defense Against the Dark Arts hadn't met since the toad Umbridge had been sacked and brought on trial. Today was the first Gryffindor Slytherin class, the first class which had James Potter teaching his own son and the child he'd punished as a lesser being for almost 17 years. It was, Draco reflected, going to be an explosive class.

He walked next to Rial and Pansy, staring at the black-haired pureblood. Just because Rial had forgiven him for the fight didn't mean he was entirely back in the wary teen's good book. Draco had unknowingly raised all his insecurities by hitting him on the face, the exact same way James Potter had struck him the previous year. However, Draco was confident he could mend the friendship and tentative relationship he was developing with Rial Black.

He'd already started. Terry Boot had thrown a fit when Draco had informed the Ravenclaw that their relationship was over. Of course, lesser person that he was, he'd started spreading the rumor that it had been him to end the relationship. Draco had felt less sorry for the fool when he'd seen him hanging around Zachary Potter and his cronies.

It had been two days later that Blaise had informed him of the truth behind the whole 'relationship.' Zachary Potter was friends with Terry Boot and had offered the Ravenclaw 'compensation' for his time if he would try and break Draco and Rial apart by appearing interested in Draco. What made Draco more annoyed than his stupidity in the first place was the fact that it had almost worked.

The group of three walked into the nearly full Defense class and grabbed seats near the back, holding one for Torian and Blaise. Their other two friends showed up just before James Potter appeared through a door in the back of the room. Lazily the former Gryffindor walked forward, scanning the group of fifth years.

"Welcome," he said coolly, "to Defense Against the Dark Arts. As this class is called 'Defense' a great deal of your grades will be based on hands-on work. Today I need to assess your abilities, so we shall be having one-on-one duels. I will draw two random names and the students called will come up here and use any spell learned to date that is considered legal to the Ministry to defend themselves and disarm their opponent."

Eying the Slytherins with particular distaste he added, "If blood is spilled in any class the offending party will have appropriate house points removed, so consider this your only warning."

He then instructed the students to write their names on a piece of paper and place it in the tin bowl he placed on the corner of his desk. After the last student had placed their name in the bowl the students stood to either side of the room as James cleared the center of desks, lining out a dueling corridor.

James began to call names. The students showed varying degrees of talent for using spells and Potter for the most part remained objective. He did take pleasure in giving grossly enlarged amount of points to Gryffindor for their spells, but if that was the only fault Draco could find it was a small one. Severus did the same with Slytherin and it was well-known through the school how much he preferred his own house.

Draco looked sideways at Rial and noted the clenched jaw and narrowed green eyes. Just being in the same room as the older man was making him edgy and tense. Draco closed his eyes and hoped that James would neglect to call his companion's name today.

"Zachary Potter and Rial Black."

Damn.

-D-N-S-D-

If that was random I'm a Hufflepuff, Rial snorted to himself. Nevertheless he strode gracefully forward, taking his place at the end nearest the door. Zachary grinned at his father as he took his place opposite Rial, withdrawing his holly wand with what he thought was a flourish. It actually looked quite ridiculous as the snickers of the Slytherins proved.

Rial flicked his left wrist and neatly pulled his wand out of his sleeve. Holding the wand of Salazar Slytherin in his left hand he crouched on the balls of his feet and waited. Zachary was impatient so it shouldn't take long…

"Rictusempra!"

Rial ducked out of the way of the Tickling Hex and sent back a mild Blasting Hex. Or at least he tried to. He could pronounce the word, but there was no affect. Alarmed, he burrowed into his mental shields, searching for a block. He dived forward into a roll when he couldn't produce a shield charm to block the Jelly-Legs Jinx. He could hear the Gryffindors snickering.

Rial ignored them and attempted to push his magic outwards. Nothing. He flicked his eyes involuntarily to where James Potter stood and noted the man's malicious smile. It was when he shoved his magic outwards again and ran into a block just past his own mind that he realized what was happening.

He's suppressing my magic again! To say that Rial was incensed at this was a major understatement. This was how the Potter Lord had blocked him from attending Hogwarts in the first place, by placing a block and suppressant over his magic. When he shoved his magic against the shield again and James' malicious smile turned into a smirk he lost it. The infamous Black temper ignited the anger held back by his emotional control and he barely suppressed a growl of fury.

Rial started building his power near his own core, layering level upon level of pure magic. He was building it to such an intensity that it was beginning to burn and give him a severe headache. Using the mental abilities that made him such a natural Occlumens and Legilimens he forced the pure magic into shape, taking a mental hammer to it and forging it into a thin, powerful spike.

Gripping his wand tightly he debated which spell to use. Nothing that did damage, the amount of power behind this could kill if he used an offensive spell. Defense would be fine, he'd win anyways. Thinking about he suddenly gave a feral grin. The spell he was thinking of would do nicely.

Zachary hadn't stopped firing spells, but he was watching him cautiously in-between. Rial let him back up a few paces before he began to walk to the left, toward the crowd of Slytherins. His pace was that of a hunting cat on the prowl, poised and rippling with power and strength. With a grin he opened his mouth and let go of the spike of pure magic as he shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

The red spell shot from his wand as if launched from a cannon. The BANG when it hit Zachary was loud enough to rattle windows and flung the Gryffindor off his feet and through the air. He slammed right into his father who took the brunt of the impact against the wall, both of them hitting the floor with dazed expressions.

James recovered first and stood, stalking toward him to the soft gasps of the students. He stopped a few feet from Rial and said in a soft voice, "I highly doubt you needed that much power to produce such a simple spell, Black. 15 points from Slytherin for showing off in front of others."

Incensed, Rial glared at him and snapped, "I wouldn't have had to 'show off' had some asshole not been attempting to suppress my magic again."

James eyes suddenly flared with anger. Rial held his ground as his much taller professor closed the distance between them until less than a half-foot of space remained between them. The rage, roiling power and sheer hate between them was enough to make a couple Slytherins breath catch. Rial glared into James' brown eyes without blinking, waiting for the man to speak.

"For such an accusation against a student, I should hope it wasn't against a Professor, you will serve a week's detention with McGonagall and lose Slytherin another 20 points. Class dismissed."

Rial spun on his heel and left. He didn't stop or slow down for the other Slytherins, heading for Severus' office with his fury nearly tangible. He knocked once, sharply. Opening the door he made his way into the lab, taking in a deep breath in an attempt to calm his temper. From the way Severus' onyx eyes widened when he looked up, he hadn't been successful.

-D-N-S-D-

Severus was working on a dosage of Veritaserum when he heard a sharp knock on his door. It opened a minute later and he shrugged off his annoyance. There were only three people that would enter his quarters without waiting for confirmation. Dumbledore, Draco and Rial. He pinched the bridge of his nose and hoped it wasn't the first; he'd had enough of Dumbledore today.

He heard the door to his lab open and looked up. He couldn't prevent his eyes from widening in shock at the sight. It was Rial and he was furious. His shoulders were shaking with anger and his green eyes had somehow both darkened and began to glow with power. Long slender fingers were clenched into a fist as he sat down, dropped his bag on the floor and closed his eyes, attempting to regain his control.

Severus had seen the infamous Black temper enough times from Sirius, but with the combination of that short fuse to the quick flame of Lily's temper he suddenly knew Rial was far worse than his father if he lost his temper. Rial laughed shortly, eyes still shut and said, "You're not going to be happy. I managed to lose Slytherin 35 points in one class."

Severus blinked at the strange comment and said, "Which class?"

"Defense," Rial said simply. It was all he needed to say.

"How did you lose 35 points?"

"First I beat his precious Zachary in a duel which lost 15 then he took another 20 when I made the mistake of accusing him in front of the class."

"You accused James Potter of what?" Severus asked sharply.

"When the duel started I found that I couldn't cast a single spell. After a few minutes I realized it was James. He prevented me from attending Hogwarts earlier by blocking and suppressing my magic. He was attempting to do so again. So I built up a reserve of power and put it into a rather powerful Disarming Charm. He had the nerve to accuse me of showing off."

Severus blinked. "How powerful was this Disarming Charm?"

"Strong enough to rattle the windows and fling both Zachary and James into a wall," Rial snickered in reply.

Severus shivered. That was one powerful spell. It would drain the average wizard for a day just to build the power levels up, let alone cast it. But Rial was far from your average wizard as Severus had figured out within a few months of meeting the teen.

"I am going to be glad," Rial added in annoyance, "when I can just kill him and not be bothered with his arrogance and malicious nature anymore."

He stood up and gathered his bag, walking to the door of the Potions lab. "Thanks for listening Severus. I just needed to vent a little before I went and blew something to pieces in another class."

Severus closed his eyes. When most people said something like Rial just had, he could easily brush it off. The average teen couldn't have the conviction to actually commit murder. With Rial he was more than convinced the teen could do it and would, especially in the case of James Godric Potter.