AN- Sorry for the very long delay, life was overwhelming for a while, and even though I never forgot this story, I simply didn't have time to write. I'm slowly getting back in the loop, so we'll see how long it will take me to update.


To develop true compassion, first we must know that suffering is real, and that sufferings hurt.

- Thupten Rinpoche

Chapter 19: New professors, old classes

The first morning of term dawned bright and windy. As Harry looked at the grounds on his way to breakfast, he could see the threes of the forbidden forest bending and trembling under the strain. It made him want to go outside, feel the wind on his skin, run through the grounds. Things he hadn't done at all during the whole of his summer. But he could not. In fact, if he wanted to have any kind of breakfast, he needed to hurry to the Great Hall.

He had wondered how he would be able to keep up with his training at school, but that very morning had realized how futile his worries were. His body had had no qualms in waking him up way earlier than he needed to get to class, just as he had for the last three months. He'd had time to do the whole sequence of exercises that allowed him to keep a tight reign on his powers, and still have time to shower and make it to the Hall in time to grab a bite to eat. That was a great relief, Harry thought; he really didn't want to have to start struggling with his magic again - especially not in a school full of children, who didn't know what they were dealing with.

It was one less problem, Harry reflected, running his hands through his hair, wet from his quick shower, and thinking back to the letter burning a whole in his pocket. He'd have to deal with that soon, and probably have one more chat with the Headmaster in the process. And the sooner the better, since Ragnok did not seem like the kind of person who appreciated waiting for a reply.

He let his thoughts slid down that path for a moment, getting darker by the moment, before shaking himself internally. This was his first day at school, after all, and for now, he wanted to focus on normal things. Normal problems. In particular, what his first class of the term would be. With a slight smile, he slid in the vacant space beside Ginny in the Gryffindor house table.

"Morning everyone," he quipped, reaching for a piece of toast and some scrambled eggs.

Ginny, eyes still drooping from sleep, grumbled a monosyllabic response while sipping on a cup of coffee, hopping beyond hope that the caffeine would make her brain start working before her first class.

His other housemates, in various states of wakefulness, gave a chorus of replies. It was really a normal day at school, Harry thought. Down to the gossip mill, already full to bursting with unflattering reports about the newest staff members.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione turned to him, saying in an annoyed tone: "They're saying that Professor Tedakis isn't human, can you believe it? They have theories from her being a Fairy to her being a descendant from Circe, ready to enchant us all."

Harry grinned, comforted almost in spite of himself by the normalcy of it all. "And do you have a better explanation for her swirling eyes, Hermione?"

The girl harrumphed in annoyance. "I wasn't here yesterday, Harry, I didn't-"

"She hasn't had time to go to the library yet, Harry. How could she have an answer?" cut in Ginny with a smile.

"Of course. How silly of me," he answered, laughter evident in his voice.

Before Hermione had time to answer, Professor McGonagall passed by distributing everyone's schedule. Once Harry took a good look at his, he couldn't help but feel a small wave of apprehension rush through him.

"Let me look at yours, Harry," asked Hermione, who had also frowned slightly. "They seem to have upped the number of hours in class for some subjects… I suppose they want us better prepared. Six hours a week of Defence… The same for Duelling… Professor Dumbledore isn't taking any chances," she mumbled, apparently talking more to herself than to those around her.

Meanwhile, Ron had also been comparing his schedule to Hermione and Harry's. Raising his eyes, he said with a smile: "Man, am I glad I didn't get into Potions! I have Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons free, at least. That's a relief!"

Harry nodded absently. What was really worrying him was the prospect of the advanced training Dumbledore wanted to add to his schedule… If things kept pilling up, he had a feeling he'd have to start choosing between sleeping and eating. And he'd have to make time for Quidditch and the DA as well... It wouldn't be an easy year.

Beside him, he heard Ginny groan. "Uhg. My very first class is Potions! Potions on a Monday morning! I can't deal with Snape this early in the week!"

"I'm sure he is equally unable to cope with Gryffindors, Gin. You'll do fine. Think of it in terms of getting it over with once and for all." Harry smiled encouragingly at her, remembering Snape's particularly terrible moods during first periods.

"Or simply ruining a perfectly good week."

"Don't be so pessimistic, Gin. You'll do fine. You told me you actually enjoy making potions, so just ignore him and focus on whatever it is you like about the class. It never worked for me, but then, the old bastard always went to great lengths to make my life miserable." Harry took a bite of toast, and focused once more on his breakfast. Ragnok would have to wait a few hours. So would the headmaster. Right now, he had a Transfiguration lecture to attend, and he was determined to make the best of it.

NEWTs level transfiguration was a small class. Harry would realize later that most of his classes had fewer students, even if the four houses now had joint lessons. The level of skill demanded was such that most students simply chose those subjects they needed or enjoyed the most, and dropped the rest. Hermione excluded, obviously.

He had hesitated slightly at the door, wondering if he should take his usual seat beside Hermione and Ron near the front. Hermione, noticing he had stayed behind, turned round and motioned for him to join her. It was settled, then, he sat down.

Professor McGonagall swept her eyes around the room, meeting each of her student's eyes and gave the class a small, rare smile.

"Good morning, I am very pleased to see you all in NEWT level transfiguration. I would like, first of all, to commend you all on your more than respectable results in the exams. I was exceedingly happy to note that your hard work paid off.

"We cannot, however, lose time over such pleasantries. We have a very heavy program to complete and more than a bit of advanced magic to conquer. I'd like, first of all, to give you a general view of what we will be working on this year."

She moved to the front of the class and waved her wand at the black board. A small piece of chalk appeared seemingly out of thin air and started printing the word CONJURING at the top.

"Conjuring," said the professor in a loud voice, pointing at the board. "The study of this particularly tricky but highly useful type of magic will occupy the first part of the school-year." She paused, turning to the class. "I will not allow, however, any of you to be lax on your revision: I want all your skills to be flawless, not only the ones we are currently working on. For this purpose, we will have bi-weekly practical evaluations, where you will be asked to blend a number of skills and techniques."

Hermione seemed to be gulping down every word the professor was saying, a light flush lending a rosy tint to her cheeks, eyes glowing. "Wow, this will make us work really hard! Amazing…" she murmured.

Harry didn't know just how amazing bi-weekly practical exams were, but he knew McGonagall would keep them on their toes. He could physically feel the weight of the work pilling over his head, and it was not a pleasant sensation. Stealing a glance at Ron on the other side of Hermione, he was faintly amused to see the other boy looking pale and decidedly queasy.

Waving her wand, McGonagall continued, "CROSS-SPECIES TRANSFIGURATION, as some of you might realize this is the first step of the animagus transformation. Now, I don't expect any of you to actually accomplish that, but you might manage, with some work, to do partial, or maybe even a whole body incantatory transfiguration. Who can give me a precise definition of incantatory transfiguration?"

Half a dozen hands flew up at the question, and McGonagall pointed to Susan, saying, "Miss Bones?"

"It's transfiguration that requires the use of an incantation and wand movement to work. It's different from the Animagus Transformation that can work only mentally," said the girl with quiet confidence.

"Precisely. Five points to Hufflepuff." McGonagall started pacing once more, and continued her lecture. "Any wizard can theoretically manage an incantatory transfiguration, with enough training. However, an animagus is born, not created. To be able to accomplish that sort of transformation, one must have certain genetic traits. For those interested, we will be conducting tests later on in the school year. But even those that test positive don't necessarily accomplish the transfiguration: that takes hard work and a certain level of skill. So don't think that any of you is likely to become animagi any time soon."

She paused and pointed once more to the board. "Those two branches of transfiguration are this year's program. Do not think for even a moment that this means this will be a light year. We will study those two branches in dept, practically and theoretically. Please note down the bibliography that you are required to know and that I expect you to use as reference in essays and papers..."

As Harry finished noting down the last name on the list, the Professor was already moving forward, to the actual lecture. With a flick of her wand, the board cleared, and as she talked, complex plans started appearing, detailing energy transferral and magical reactions. But what surprised Harry the most was that he was actually able to follow the lecture, and he understood most of what McGonagall was teaching. It was more advanced magic than any he had attempted in school, but merged quite neatly with everything he had read during the summer.

With an internal grin he realized that his compulsive search for knowledge of the summer would serve him well, and that spell structure was something he was now perfectly capable of understanding. As McGonagall finally allowed them to take out their wands and start practicing, he felt fairly confident – quite a long shot from the usual bewilderment that normally followed a purely theoretical lecture.

"As you attempt this simple transfiguration, keep in mind that conjuring is not creating matter out of nothing, but actually the transfiguring of air particles. You need to visualise that as well as the final object while you cast. You may proceed. I will be stopping by to see your progress." And with those parting words she stepped down and started circling the desks.

"Visualise air?" muttered Ron. "How can you visualise air?"

"It's a figure of speech, Ron, you just need to remember that you are transforming one thing into another and not creating things, changing the balance. You should know this," Hermione answered irritably. "Just start small, if you don't get it we'll go over it tonight."

That caused Ron to scowl indignantly, and turn to his empty desk in annoyance.

Harry, taking his time, and sure, for once, that he could do what was asked of him, was reviewing the schemes on the board, when McGonagall stopped beside him.

"Are you still with us, Mr. Potter? Or are you waiting for time to pass?"

Harry smiled slightly and answered, "No professor, just making sure I understand the logic of the energy flow before I try it."

"Very well, let's see what you can do then," she said, expectantly.

Taking a deep breath, and gripping his wand, Harry concentrated of the empty space on his desk. He'd start small, a needle. He felt his magic reacting to the incantation, and carefully waved his wand. The air in front of him quivered. He was sure it would crystallize into something but after a moment, everything settled, and his desk remained as empty as before.

"You're thinking too much, Potter. It's blocking the magic. It knows what to do, just let it flow. Try again," said McGonagall.

Nodding, Harry closed his eyes, relaxing, and felt for his magic again, letting it guide his wand, barely whispering the words of the incantation. A moment later, the air shimmered and, right in front of him, there was suddenly a perfectly formed needle.

Smiling, he saw his professor's eyes shift, and with a small nod, she said, "Good job, Harry, very good job. You can try bigger things now: buttons, quills, bottles and dishes if you can manage. Just keep it inanimate, for the time being, and don't try transfiguring a conjured object. That's much more complex."

She continued her tour of the class, and Harry started examining his work, inordinately pleased that he was achieving complex magic with minor effort. It felt strange using a wand again, he could control his magic with ease once more, and that gave him confidence with difficult and powerful spells. Looking at his friends beside him, he noticed that Ron was waving his wand around, reciting the incantation loudly but with no real intent behind... He hadn't grasped at all the nature of the magical flow for this type of magic, Harry realised, and Hermione, though concentrating tightly hadn't yet solidified her needle.

She shot him an annoyed glance when she noticed him watching and snapped "Why don't you help me instead of gawking, Harry? What am I doing wrong?"

Surprised at her candid – if irritated – demand, he said, "I think you're just forgetting the final twist, you know, the one that solidifies the construct and seals the transfiguration."

She seemed surprised for a moment, but, frowning slightly, waved her wand once more in the circular pattern that brought fort the image of her needle, then, quite determinedly, twisted her wand and finalised the incantation, squeaking joyfully at her success.

"Harry, I did it! Look!"

He smiled, glad that she hadn't taken his interference as an attack – perhaps old habits from the DA were coming back, and she was ready to learn from him – and felt truly happy for his friend. Catching her eye he gave an imperceptible nod towards Ron, and she understood immediately. He would not enjoy Harry teaching him something, their friendship was healing slowly, but it hadn't gone quite that far yet.

As Hermione turned and tried to simplify the theory of Conjuring, Harry decided to have a little fun and go wild with his magic – yep, Dean would look very nice in a pink wig.

At the end of the period Harry was surprised to notice that very few students had accomplished a complete conjuration even of the simplest objects. McGonagall hadn't been pleased with his humorous attempts, but he noticed she was kind of proud of the ease with which he had grasped the whole concept. During Charms, a quick revision of everything they were supposed to know to date, he had once more been surprised by the depths of his education since, with no more effort than a regular student at Hogwarts, he had learned and assimilated quite a lot of magic.

As he plopped beside Ginny for lunch, he noticed that Gryffindor had lost quite a few House Points that morning. He knew a few were his fault – and so very worth it! – but wondered about the rest. Noticing Ginny's gloomy look and half-hearted attempts at eating, he realized that she probably had something to do with the whole thing.

"You okay, Gin?" he asked concernedly.

"Just... Snape. On a Monday morning, you know?"

He nodded and smiled. "Don't worry about it, we've all been there."

"You've managed to lose 80 points in one double period?" she muttered despondently "We actually have negative points right now.".

"We lost 150 points in one night, Gin, in our very first year. People get over it; don't worry. Was it very bad?"

"He... Made some insulting comments about... Well, about you, Harry, and like a good friend I jumped to the rescue. It was only later that I realized that was his plan all along." She turned to him, and he saw she was angrier at herself then worried about the points. "I need to learn to keep my big mouth shut sometimes... Mom always says I need to learn to control my temper."

"I don't know about Snape, Gin, but I happen to like your temper," he whispered, close to her ear. That got a smile out of her, and she started eating with more conviction. "You know, Gin, I got some news this morning from Ragnok and from Hellington about what's going on at Gringotts. Ragnok is worried about some sort of plot to destroy the financial stability of the wizarding world..." She turned to look at him as he started pilling food on his plate. "Can you imagine it, Gin, trying to fight a war with no money? It would be complete chaos... No money to pay the Aurors, no commerce, nothing. Just fear and chaos."

"It's a good plan then, you think, to start by either turning the goblins and starting a new rebellion or, if that fails, simply destroying the whole institution?"

"I think it's a very good plan, and very likely to succeed, since the ministry couldn't care less what happens to the Goblin society, and can't seem to realize that they are actually one of the pillars of the wizarding world. Merlin, but we are horribly outdated, Mione is right, this sort of absurd prejudice would be frowned upon by most muggles, you know? My dear family excluded, obviously."

"Of course, but I have serious doubts as to the humanity of the Dursleys, Harry. You sure they really are your family?" she asked.

"I do wonder sometimes, but then alien life forms are a bit difficult to come by, and it would be a surprise to discover I've been living with three of them for the last 15 years..."

She giggled lightly at his joke, but frowned as her mind got back on track. "So, economical warfare... Do you have an idea how we can fight this? Do you know if the Goblins have security measures in place? What would happen if there was an attack?"

"Well, assuming Ragnok can control the Council and keep the Goblins as our allies, they do actually have quite a well organised army. Apparently Goblin society is a highly hierarchical thing, and military prowess necessary to go up the ranks – which is very good for us, because that means that every Goblin is a potential soldier, and that they can all follow orders." He glanced around to make sure no one was spying on their conversation and went on. "So, Ragnok expects to be able to withstand just about any attack, but he can't assure me that Gringotts will be working if the thing is massive or takes too long. He said that the easiest and safest way to save the bank is to shut it down and go underground," Harry explained.

"That makes sense, the worst Goblin massacres always happen when wizards try to follow them to the tunnels. They are ruthless – I don't think anyone has ever defeated them on their home ground..."

"Yeah, I know. But even if it saves the Goblins, and might lower Voldie's numbers somewhat, I don't think it would help us much. Closing down Gringotts would cause the same amount of chaos as its destruction. Maybe more if people like Fudge and company start screaming Goblin rebellion and saying their money was stolen."

"Yep. Sticky situation. What does Ragnok want?"

"My support if things go that far. He wants my word that I will take the Goblins' side and try to calm the wizarding world if he is forced to close down. He thinks that people have enough faith in me to follow my lead. He's afraid of repercussions, you know. Doesn't want wizards to turn on him at the end of the war. I think he has a little too much faith in me for comfort, but we need him, and well..." He sighed, and just fumbled with the food on his plate for a while.

Ginny smiled slightly, and rested her hand on his thigh. Leaning close, as if to whisper a secret, she said, "I trust you, Harry," then, in a normal tone, "plus, you never know, by the end of all this, you just might be minister of magic." At his horrified glare, she laughed outright and went back to her food.

"I don't know, Harry," she said, a while later, "if all you told me about Ragnok is true, and he is on the level, just trust him to hold out as long as possible, and we'll deal with the fall-out when the time comes. It's easy enough to communicate in the wizarding world, and a few well placed articles can turn people around. What did Hellington have to say about it?"

"Not much, Gin, just that it's a case of making the best out of a bad situation. And I kind of agree... Especially since I hope one day this whole war will be over, and I'd rather Gringotts was still there to help us pick up the pieces."

Ginny nodded, secretly relieved beyond measure that Harry was actually imagining a life beyond the war, and steered the conversation onto more pleasurable topics.

Harry waited for the other students to start the walk towards the castle after their first Care of Magical Creatures class of the year, as he wanted a word with Hagrid, if only to say hello to his old friend, and ask after his summer. Hermione and Ron were waiting as well, since they had DADA afterwards, and they wanted to arrive together.

"Hey Hagrid! Good lesson!" said Harry, as the large half-giant started collecting animal cases to take to the back of his cabin. And it had been a good lecture, well prepared, with animals that were actually in their program. It seemed that the more time passed, the better teacher Hagrid became, especially with advanced classes that weren't as afraid of the beasts as some ickle firsties.

The older man smiled his thanks, and asked carefully, "And how was your first day back, Harry? You getting back on track here at the castle?"

He smiled, and said, "Yeah, it was just fine. Thank Merlin I haven't crossed paths with Snape yet, that is one class I'm not looking forward to."

The whole group chuckled, and Hermione said. "It was nice to see you Hagrid, but we have class, so we should probably get going. I want to make a good impression on Professor Tedakis."

"Stop by for tea when you can!" Hagrid said, as he sent them off.

They crossed the front lawns of the castle at a light jog, and made their way quickly to the Defence classroom. As Harry stepped inside and saw Elektra again, he was once more swept by that strange awareness, that intimate knowledge and understanding.

She stood at the front of the class as the students made their way inside her classroom, letting her strange gaze rest on each one for just a moment, sizing each of them, testing potential. Harry took his usual place on this class (in years that didn't have Umbridge as a teacher), front row, to the right of the teacher's desk, and tried to quench the growing bubble of anticipation in his chest. He knew instinctively that this would be a memorable moment.

As the bell rang and one last student quickly sat down at the back, Professor Tedakis slowly made her way to the centre of the class, seeming to gather her thoughts, then went back to the front and leaned against her desk, smiling.

"Hello class," she had a clear, feminine voice that carried to the back of the classroom with no visible effort on her part. She had a commanding presence, that kept all students in check, without, however, feeling threatening. "As you probably know – or so I hope – this is NEWT level Defence Against the Dark Arts, and if you're here we can reasonably assume you're somewhat talented in the subject. And believe me, this is a very big compliment on my part, considering the teacher you had last year."

There were a few muffled laughs around the room, and behind him, Harry heard Neville mutter, "Well, we had more than one teacher last year." Harry laughed at that, and relaxed on his seat, realizing that the woman before him had a real sense of humour, and would probably run a light class.

She did, however, somehow hear Neville's quiet statement and, turning to him with a smile and a somewhat confused expression, asked him, "What do you mean, Mister – "

"Longbottom, Ma'am".

"Ah, Neville, right?" He nodded at her, surprised. "What do you mean, you had another teacher last year? I was not aware that Hogwarts had several DADA professors. However, it would certainly explain the absurd disparities in OWLs and NEWTs grades last year. It's a little mystery I had been looking forward to solving." She seemed honestly curious.

Neville blushed, and looked at Harry, apologising for the slip and quietly asking for permission to talk. The other boy sighed and simply nodded for him to continue. It wasn't as if the DA was a secret any longer, most of the school had heard rumours, and most teachers new of the club's existence after last year's debacle. He was actually surprised the new Professor hadn't been informed.

"Well, Professor, we... I mean, uh... Some of us were part of a group, and we practised defence together, and well... Harry taught us. That's why we had such good grades, especially on our practical tests. Most of us here were members; otherwise, we would never have made it through OWLs."

The professor's eyes turned towards Harry and once again he felt the rush of familiarity, and now, respect. Then, he saw a mischievous glint in her eyes, and he knew he was about to be tested.

"So, Mister Potter, you took it upon yourself to teach your peers what you knew? What made you so uniquely qualified?"

Silence descended on the class – everyone was wondering what Harry's reaction would be. He smiled graciously and answered calmly. "It was a group effort, Ma'am. I was asked to share my, let's call it practical experience, with the Dark Arts, and help everyone get some spellwork done. Umbridge was a horrible example to follow. She was a danger to the safety of anyone who followed her advice in a crisis. Considering the situation of the world, I felt I had an obligation to do my best to protect my friends. I wasn't alone in the effort, and, I have been told, our work had positive results."

He gazed evenly into her eyes that, as they always did when looking at him, had stopped shifting. He couldn't read her expression any longer, and so wondered if he had passed her test. Wondered what she thought of their group, and if she would ask them to disband. That was something he could not do. Not for Dumbledore, and not for her.

She was silent for a moment, and then said, to the class at large, but still looking at Harry, "There was enormous disparity in the grades this year, in the standard test that weren't administered by the former Professor. Many at the Ministry of Magical Education feared that the tests were somehow compromised, but the spells that prevent cheating were intact and practical exams aren't easily foiled." She turned towards the desk and shuffled some papers around, until she seemed to find what she was looking for. Turning towards Neville, she said, "Mister Longbottom, I see you had EE on both your practical and your written exam. Yet during the year, you never managed more then an acceptable, and actually consistently only scored Ds. Was your grade in the exam the results of this study group you were a part of?"

The class could feel the seriousness of the question, and Neville, once again glancing at Harry, who motioned for him to go ahead and answer, nodded. "Yes Ma'am. Umbridge didn't let us touch our wands in class. Harry did the exact opposite: we focused basically on the applications of magic. We worked really hard, and we learned a lot of advanced magic. Some of us even managed a Patronus – I'm sure I could have done it too, if we'd had more time."

The professor glanced at the list again, the said, "Miss Abbot, you have the same gap between your class work and your OWL grades. Were you a part of this group?"

The girl nodded, then said, "Yes, I wouldn't even have passed my Defence OWL if it weren't for Harry. Most of the things the examiner asked, I only learned in the DA."

"DA?" Elektra asked curiously.

"That's what we call ourselves," Harry jumped in. "It now stands for Defence Association."

Harry saw that the teacher was curious about his choice of words, and that many of his classmates looked at him curiously, but he chose not to elaborate. He would explain the change to the members of the DA in their next meeting, and he wasn't in the mood to delve into his relationship with Dumbledore in the middle of class.

The professor asked a few more students, after checking their grades, if they had been DA members. The class wasn't very large. Most were. She seemed to gaze into space for a moment, and then murmured, but Harry still heard her clearly, as close to the front as he was seated, "This should go on, it's a good thing." Then, shaking herself, she turned to Harry and asked, "Could you give me a quick rundown of what you did in this club, Mister Potter?"

Harry gathered his thoughts, then said, "We didn't do a lot of fancy stuff, but mostly things with real practical application: useful disarming spells, such as Expeliarmus, the stunning curse, a few Locker curses, a whole pane of the binding class of spells. I wanted to run through as many shields as I could, but because of the younger students, we focused on Protego some also managed Contego. It works well against a whole range of curses and hexes and doesn't require much power, even the first years got it after a while. Uh, we did a lot of duelling practice, so that people could actually do the spells in a combat situation..." Turning to Hermione, he asked, "Uh, what am I forgetting, Mione?"

"Well, Harry, you're forgetting quite a lot. We also did summoning and banishing charms in a combat situation, exploding hexes, blasting curses, a few others from the bolidus class of spells - " as if suddenly realising she was talking about exploding things in front of a professor, she added hastily, "We were careful, no one ever got hurt. We did a lot of Hex-Deflexion, as well. Ma'am, I have a detailed list in my notes, if you want, I could make a copy for you... It would be easier than trying to remember what we did last year."

The professor nodded, and said, "Yes, I would appreciate that. And you said, Mister Potter, that you even had first years in this group, and that they managed to keep up with the older students?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I always paired people up according to their level of skill, but we all worked hard to make sure that the younger students could profit from what we were doing. The goal wasn't to learn the most difficult magic possible, but to be able to defend against attack. In those circumstances, it's better to be sure of what you're casting, then to try something miraculous and have it explode in your face. I only moved on when I was sure everyone could consistently cast a spell, hex, curse or shield, and we practiced constantly with everything we had, to be sure we could really use the magic we learned."

"That's a very good way of looking at it. Yet Mister Longbottom said you taught those young people how to cast Patronuses... That is hardly easy magic, Mister Potter."

Harry frowned at her, but answered anyway, "It's the only defence against dementors, professor. Under the circumstances, I thought it worth the time and effort to teach them. It's not impossible for a student to cast, it only demands a lot of concentration and willpower."

"But were you successful in teaching those students such advanced magic? Many Auror apprentices can't do it." Harry knew, somehow, that she was provoking him, but he couldn't help answering more harshly then he might have under different circumstances. He still hadn't forgotten the debacle at the train station.

"My respect for the Auror's abilities is very limited, Professor. This only confirms that my opinion of them is warranted."

Silence seemed to descend on the class, and the professor raised one eyebrow in surprise. "That is a harsh assessment."

"Not harsh, professor, only honest. I was at the station yesterday, and I saw how they reacted. The wizarding world is not ready for this war. If I could teach fourth year students how to cast a patronus, and the aurors can't get their apprentices to do it, then we have a serious problem, since dementors are one of Voldemort's preferred weapons, and can incapacitate large groups of people by their mere presence. The Death Eater don't need to be powerful, or master duellists, in fact they don't need to be much of anything, if they can make all their victims cower in fear before they even get there."

The professor gaze was locked on him as she answered, "True. But the accepted opinion is that a Patronus charm can't be cast before magical maturity – that is around twenty years of age - unless the wizard is uncommonly powerful. Particularly in front of a dementor, who can disrupt magical conduits."

Harry snorted, and said, "That's ridiculous. I cast the spell when I was thirteen, and drove away about a hundred dementors. And if you think I'm somehow too special to count as an example," he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, "then let me prove it to you. We don't have a Dementor around, not even a boggart to pose as one, but I'm sure the result would be the same." He turned around in his chair and looking around, saw both Seamus and Ernie sitting further back in the class. "Hey, Seamus, why don't you show the professor your fox? And you Ernie... yours was a boar, if I'm not mistaken."

The boys looked at each other and then, seeing no objection from the professor, waved their wands crying "Expecto Patronum." Just as Harry had expected, the spells solidified into a fox and a boar which circled the class a couple of times, then came to rest in front of their masters before misting and disappearing when their concentration relaxed.

Harry wondered what was going on in the professor's mind. She seemed pleased, in the beginning, with what they had done. He had been persuaded she was provoking him intentionally, to see how he would react. But now her face was a mask, and her eyes were again focused on nothing.

"Mister Potter, if you could stay behind after class, I would like to speak with you for a few minutes." Hermione shot him a concerned glance. Harry sighed, so maybe he was wrong, and he was already in trouble with the new Professor. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he could read this woman, that he had been right in his assessment of her. And he couldn't forget what she had told Dumbledore on that fateful Order meeting, how she had been the only one who came even close to speaking out against the Headmaster and the way he was behaving towards Harry.

"What I have learned today has only confirmed what I had learned from your grades and the notes left by the previous professors. The constant change has left clear gaps in your background and basic knowledge in this subject, and we need to remedy to that, the sooner the better. Before we advance any further, I want to bring all of you up to speed and put everyone on the same level of skill, so that we might all progress together. That will involve a good amount of theoretical work on defence spells," at the groans this statement elicited, she chuckled slightly and continued. "Yes, theory is important. You will see, we are getting at a level of magical study where understanding of the theory behind the spell is needed, if you want to grasp complex magical constructs. I will try to be concise and not loose myself on needlessly complicated spell charts and diagrams, but I know this will help anyone who is struggling, or will soon be struggling, and will compliment the knowledge of those of you who are more gifted for... applied defence."

She flicked her hand at the board and a piece of chalk began filling the black surface.

"As you can see, I have outline the seven basic categories of defensive magic, as well as shields and wards. We will go over them one at a time, and try to finish one category per week..."

Fifteen minutes later, as Harry finished outlining what they were supposed to do by the end of the trimester, he began to wonder how he would ever fit all of this inside 24h days – and what he would choose, eating of sleeping.

"Once all of this is acquired," Elektra continued, "and I promise you, this will be as familiar to you in three months time as the back of your hand, we'll move on to constructed spellwork, double and silent casting, and maybe, if you have the talent, wandless casting." The class's eyes lit up at those last announcements, and the professor smiled. "Don't worry, kids, doing theoretical work does not mean you won't be using your wands and magic. I'm a firm believer that one can only understand magic by using it."

She paused, and let the students catch up on their note taking.

"This is how our more traditional work should progress. We're on Defence against the Dark Arts here, and I'm sure by the end of the year all of you will be able to cast a shield, feel the difference between a curse and a hex, distinguish between categories of Dark Spells. And all of that could save your lives, don't get me wrong. But, on the side, I would like to propose something more delicate, more original, that will follow somehow what we were doing today. You have to understand what is out there, what magical society is fighting against. What is a Dark Spell? What makes it evil? Why is a cutting hex different from an unforgivable, if the results can be the same?" She paused, pacing at the front of the class. "What I want to share with you is something like a crash course on profiling, if you will, and the motivations behind dark magic," she said, smiling slightly.

Harry grinned slightly, and thought that, all things considered, this still might turn out to be an interesting year. He glanced at a few of the scowling Slytherins, and wondered with relish what it would be like to debate the moral value of Dark Magic with them. Yes, he was sure they would have quite the eventful class.