Hey guys, this time I was a lot faster with updating, wasn't I?

Just like chapter 35 this chapter is not beta-ed. I hope there are not so many mistakes in it!

Enjoy!

Chapter 36

„…Finally, Harry. I've waited for that…"

Harry had to restrain himself from cursing. He was still very aware of the pain coursing through his body and the effects the dragon-blood he had just swallowed had on his magic - and most importantly on his occlumency-shields.

He was standing in something he could only describe as a void. He knew that his consciousness must have retreated into a corner of his mind to block out some of the pain his body was under. A thing Nicolas had explained him, most users of occlumency were able to do – willingly, not just like other people, who did it accidentally.

The person that was with him however, gave him the feeling as if he had just been thrown into a small room together with a fully grown basilisk and nothing to defend himself with.

Tall, thin and black-hooded, his terrible face white and gaunt, his scarlet eyes staring… Lord Voldemort was standing there, looking at him as if he had just received a wonderful gift.

Harry shuddered slightly, if that was even possible in his current form. He looked down at himself and noticed that he had materialized himself as a mirror image of his body inside his mind. Then his eyes turned back to his arch-nemesis.

He looked different from the graveyard. In lack of a better word for it, he looked more… yes, strangely enough, more human, but at the same time, more evil than before.

Harry forced himself to calm down. He tried to force his magic to rise up his shields again, without much success, and then reminded himself to start counting in the back of his mind… well in the back of where he was.

He looked at Voldemort. "Tom, get out of my mind!"

Voldemort's pale lips formed into a sneer and he shook his head. "Oh, but my dear Harry... why should I do that?"

Harry snarled at him and tried to attack him with all the mental force he could bring up. The image of Voldemort flickered slightly. Feeling, as if an electrical shock coursed through his mind, Harry's shields snapped back into place and then suddenly, Voldemort disappeared.

He closed his eyes…

…HPHPHP…

In the real world his eyes snapped open at their own accord and thought he would pass out again, when he felt the wave of dark magic trying to attack his mind. That was what had happened for the last forty minutes.

Like one who tried to remember something he had once read, he thought he could vaguely remember seeing Voldemort… talking to him… but at the same time it felt as if it wasn't really him… He immediately tested his shields again and noticed that only a small crack was in them.

"One and the same…"

He jumped slightly at the voice. His head was reeling; that voice… it wasn't his own… it was a mere whisper, a disembodied voice that just felt wrong! But his shields were still up. Was the small crack he had detected really enough for Voldemort to get into his mind? Had the creature even been there? Or was he simply over-exhausted and imagined things now?

In sudden realization his mind stopped short at something he had heard when he had been in Dumbledore's office months ago. He didn't know why his thoughts suddenly halted at the specific phrase – or rather question - he had heard the man say, but they simply did.

"…but in essence divided…?"

All those thoughts had maybe taken one second and when he was able to focus he noticed three persons standing not that far away from him. He realized he was glaring now. His eyes travelled over Nicolas and then over Snape, before stopping at the last person.

"One and the same, but in essence divided," Harry said with a raspy voice and turned the full force of his glare on Dumbledore. "Mind explaining what exactly that means, Headmaster?"

He didn't get an answer, but the three other occupants of the room quickly pointed their wands at him.

He blinked slightly and then scowled at them, ignoring that his limps now burned stronger than when he had been woken up by Snape's owl not too long ago. "It's a nice feeling to wake up with three wands pointed at your head. Would you kindly lower them?"

Dumbledore took a step forward. "Malum Expellere!" he said clearly and a shiver went down Harry's spine when he felt a strong wave of magic wash over his own greatly weakened one. "Lux Ostendere!"

Harry felt a warm rush of wind fly over his face and suddenly the headmaster was in front of him. He reflexively jerked backwards, his personal space greatly disturbed and found himself staring in Dumbledore's eyes. "What?"

Obviously, Dumbledore had found what he was looking for and then nodded his head to Nicolas and Snape, who both lowered their wands and relaxed their stances.

"What the hell was that about?" he snapped and all three blinked at his rudeness.

Dumbledore took a step back once more. "Harry my boy. It's nice to see you and I'm sorry you had to be greeted by our wands when you woke up, but to put it simply: your eyes were red."

Harry was stumped and his brain didn't seem to be able to make something out of what Dumbledore had just said. Since when was the man so direct? He didn't ponder on it because the same words which he had greeted the three men with after waking up, kept repeating in his head.

Struggling to sit up, Harry glared at Dumbledore once more and titled his head. "Well? It's not that it isn't nice to see you Headmaster and please forgive me my blatant disrespect, but I bloody well asked you a question!"

Drained of energy and magic, Harry had no desire to surpress his foul mood at the moment. And he had found something out that desperately required an answer. He was sure it was no coincidence, that what Dumbledore had said and what he had heard in his mind, fit so well together.

"Harry… I don't plan on holding back anything, but I would have to confirm my suspicions. I don't want to make you worry with false information."

The Headmaster looked suddenly old and worn, so Harry let him continue. "Give me four days, that is enough time for me be sure, I think." Dumbledore looked at him with the twinkle fully gone from his eyes. "Would it be acceptable for you, to postpone this discussion and simply focus on your training?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at him. "Why in four days? Why not now or tomorrow?"

Dumbledore sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Because I will need the time for my research and we can mask it as one of your lessons with Professor Snape. I will send Fawkes to you and he will bring you to Grimmauld Place. No one will notice, that you're gone."

He snorted. "My friends will certainly notice I'm gone."

Dumbledore nodded and the ghost of a smile formed on his lips. "Alas, yes, I forgot that wonderful map you have."

Harry looked the man in the eye and then gave a sigh, feeling defeated and too tired to start arguing. "Very well then…" He stood up with slightly wobbly legs and used the armrest of the sofa to steady himself. "One thing… you should remove the prophecy from the Ministry. It was only brief, but I think I saw the Department of Mysteries once more. Have a nice day then, Headmaster, you too, Nick."

He turned to Snape. "I'll wait for a message with the time of our next meeting, yes?"

The Potions-Master who had been surprisingly silent, simply nodded and Harry turned around and left Snape's quarters. When he closed the door behind him, he balled his hands into fists, ignoring the stab of pain in his palms and clenched his teeth. Dumbledore's words finally registering in his mind.

"…your eyes were red…"

His fist hit the next wall. Not even feeling the pain his now red knuckles caused, he looked at his hand and flexed it. "That bloody, old, twinkling lemon-drop-sucker doesn't want to worry me… pff!" He felt another jab at his occlumency shields and closed his eyes. "If I'm worried, then it's now, because I've got no clue what's going on!"

He slowly made his way up to the sevent floor corridor, sighing softly to himself. He officially deemed himself out of his mind at the moment, because normally he didn't give up as easily as he just did when he wanted to get information...

…HPHPHP…

Hermione didn't know whether to feel annoyed or worried, so she decided that a mix of both was a good compromise. She adjusted the stack of books she hadn't bothered to shrink and paced in front of the Room of Requirement.

"Hermione, come on, you have to relax, I'm sure Harry's fine," said Draco casually, but even she detected a hint of worry in his voice and wasn't convinced in the slightest.

"He hasn't turned up at breakfast, he is nowhere to be found on the map and he also missed lunch and dinner! You can't say that he simply decided to stay in bed for the day!" scowled Hermione and stomped her food on the ground.

"But maybe he just did!" replied Draco, "we all know that he had another lesson with Sev yesterday, so maybe he was simply exhausted."

With a glare at her blond companion she snorted and ignored Ron and Neville who just rounded the corner and came to join them. "Honestly Draco! You trained with him for a year! You must know by now that Harry doesn't simply take a day off!"

"She's got a point there, ferret," interjected Ron before Draco could even open his mouth to retort. "Have you ever seen Harry take a rest when he has his mind set on something important?"

"Who asked you?" the blond grumbled and pointed at the door that had appeared, with Neville already halfway disappearing through it, not wanting to get involved into the argument.

"And who knows," continued Ron as they entered their training-room as well, "maybe he's just making plans for the next H.A. meeting and got carried away?"

Hermione glared at the redhead and opened her mouth to retort, but stopped, when she saw Neville standing in front of the sofa a little awkwardly and slightly surprised. He raised a finger to his mouth and gestured them to be quiet. He was looking down on something. Hermione's books fled her hands and cluttered to the floor when she realized what it was he was staring at.

Harry was lying on said piece of furniture. He used one arm as a pillow and another one to cover his eyes from the light.

"Sleeping…" she murmured and her eyes narrowed, "he disappeared like a flash from the party yesterday without a single word and now he's sleeping?"

She ignored Draco who wanted to hold her back, stalked over the small heap of books on the floor right in front of her and continued her way until she was standing directly in front of Harry.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she barked at him and was satisfied when he jumped like he had been bitten by an acrumantula.

She found herself with a wand pointing straight at her face and hastily took a step backwards while Draco raised a protective shield around her.

"Careful now, Hermione. He's still not really awake," warned Draco, his voice just above a whisper. "Merlin, I don't want to know what happened, that made him so jumpy. He wasn't like this since those Voldemort-wannabes attacked us in Australia…"

Hermione noticed that Harry hadn't moved anything else than the arm he had used as a pillow, the one which now pointed his wand at her and softly cleared her throat, a little put out by the whole situation. "Harry?"

Her anger however receded immediately when she got a closer look at him. He didn't respond to her, didn't even look at her, but simply rubbed his temples and slowly sat up. He had dark circles under his eyes and his skin looked flushed, as if he had been running a marathon and not sleeping.

She sank on the sofa next to him and simply waited. She looked at Draco, who nodded and went over to the potions-section of the room, gesturing Ron and Neville to follow him. Hermione saw out of the corner of her eyes, how Draco put the time-turner around their necks and then the three disappeared.

Her eyes wandered back to Harry, who had apparently stashed his wand away and was now looking at her with an apologetic smile which didn't reach his eyes.

"Sorry, Mione…," he said quietly and she had to restrain herself from gasping, when she heard how raspy his voice sounded. "I didn't mean to startle you…"

She snuggled up on his side and looked up at his face, into his eyes. "Harry…"

Hermione bit her lip. She didn't know how to continue without pressuring her boyfriend to tell her what had happened to him, or what it was that bothered him so much to make him look like this.

Her heart started beating faster when he didn't reply to her unasked question and she grasped the sleeve of his pullover a little tighter and buried her head into his chest. She hated it. Hated, that she wasn't able to help Harry at the moment! 'What use are my book-smarts when it comes to something like that?'

…HPHPHP…

Harry looked down at Hermione when he felt her heartbeat speed up and sighed when she buried her head in his chest. He could nearly hear what she was thinking.

"Don't." he said simply and caressed her cheek, lightly coaxing her to look up at him again. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry for acting like this, but I'm in a really bad mood today."

She blinked up at him. "In a bad mood?" she asked. She gave a dry laugh and her voice trembled slightly. "Harry, to put it simple, you look like death warmed-over!"

He chuckled. That was definitely something Ron would normally say. With a yawn he maneuvered himself in a more comfortable position once more ignoring the stabbing pain in his limps and felt warmth creeping through his body when Hermione buried her face in the crock of his neck and he felt goose bumps appear on his skin when she started to place soft kisses all along his jaw.

"Will you tell me?" she ask and encircled his torso with her arms.

He smiled down at her, glad, that his bad mood hadn't caused her to be depressed as he first had thought. She still looked worried, but to a degree, Harry could understand that expression. He noticed that a lot of the pain had receded now and sighed in relief.

"Of course, but only if you stay like that…"

She simply nodded and he started telling her about the events that had transpired since he had left the Party in honor of Umbridge's imprisonment the last evening.

…HPHPHP…

"One and the same, but in essence divided?" asked Hermione hesitantly.

He nodded and drove a hand through his hair.

She took his hands and traced the slightly swollen knuckles – caused by his punch against the wall – surprisingly not commenting on them. "And he told you that he would tell you on Wendsday?"

Harry nodded again and Hermione frowned at him. "What could possibly take him four days to confirm something?"

"I don't know…" he answered quietly and bit his lip like Hermione usually did. "But… there's something else… something that bothers me the most of all, to be honest. When I woke up, Nick, Snape and Dumbledore all three had their wands pointed at me and the Headmaster also casted two spells on me. I don't know what they were, but I'm worried about the reason why he did it."

"Did… he tell you?" asked Hermione hesitantly.

He nodded, with even more hesitance than she had asked the question with and sighed. "He said… that my eyes were red."

He didn't get a gasp in return, like he had anticipated, but rather had the feeling Hermione would cut off his air-supply with the bone-crushing hug he found himself in. He stared blankly at her and was surprised to see that she had her eyes clenched shut and her lips were moving silently, as if she was muttering something to herself.

"Hermione?"

Her head jerked up. "Harry… are you sure that's what he said? Your shields are intact, aren't they?"

He shrugged helplessly. "Well, there's a small crack in them, but that's all."

He could see her mind starting to race a mile in a minute and shook his head with slight amusement when her eyes darted over to the library-section of the room.

"Well..." said Hermione quietly. "at least that's good. Although I'm worried about their idea, to let you drink the dragon-blood. It's obvious, that it affects you much more then when you simply put it on your skin."

"I know, Mione," replied Harry and soothingly caressed her cheek. "But what else should I do? At least those were all the bad news."

"There's really nothing else?" she asked with an undertone that gave him the feeling she would explode if that was the case.

He shook his head and saw Draco, Ron and Neville come out of the small forest of their training-room and his keen eyes noticed with approval, that Draco pocketed the time-turner shortly before they arrived and plopped down on the other sofas and armchairs. Draco's hair was a little tousled and he tried to smoothen it down while Ron's face was set in a grimace while he nursed his obviously hurting left shoulder.

"Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?" Harry smiled at her and this time his smile was genuine. "We originally planned to study for our OWLs today, didn't we? And we still have to plan the H.A lesson for tomorrow!"

It was Neville who shook his head. He looked a little worse for wear, with his hair standing up in all directions and his robes slightly singed at the edges. Adding to that, he had a long gash on his knee. "I believe it's something we'll find out in time then?"

Harry looked at him and then placed a kiss on Hermione's forehead, frowning slightly when she simply stayed like she was - staring over to the bookshelves with a calculating look in her eyes. "I will tell you, but for now, it's only something I wish to share with Mione. I will tell you when I know what's up for sure."

His three other friends just shrugged and Hermione seemed to snap out of whatever stupor she had been in and beamed at him. Then her looked turned business-like before she summoned a mountain of books that had the four boys groaning in protest.

…HPHPHP…

As Harry had said, they had made plans for the H.A... or rather, Harry had planned a new drill for his group: He made Susan, Luna, Ginny, Blaise and Theo try to hit him with curses without being detected. He had chosen the small forest in the Room of Requirement for that.

His ears were trained on the soft cracks their footsteps made when they stepped on a twig or the rustling of their robes. Sometimes he even caught one of the five breathing a little heavier before attacking. They had come far. Sure, they didn't train like Harry and Draco did, but he could see a lot of improvement.

„You've got to be quieter!" shouted Harry and threw another stunner in the direction of the trees so that they would move around more. „I can hear you from a mile away!"

Loud rustling reached his ears and he gave an annoyed sigh, when an explosion shook the room.

His eyes travelled over to Draco, who was standing thirty meters away from him with his arms crossed in front of Fred and George, who were grinning sheepishly. He chuckled slightly when he heard Lavender screeching about a ruined game of chess and turned back to the task at hand.

He blocked a badly aimed Expelliarmus and narrowed his eyes. "You can't be serious Ginny! Are you trying to tickle the strange cotton-ball you call your pet here? Show a little bit more passion!"

She rewarded him with another curse. "Sectumsempra!"

He barely avoided it this time and smirked to himself. It was the first time Ginny had used a dark curse in battle to surprise him.

"Damn it Harry!" groaned Blaise when he stumbled out of a bush near him. "Can't you give us a break? We're at it for four hours straight now!"

"Nope, you all have to work on your stamina." He rolled his shoulders when he felt a slight burning sensation start to go down his arms, but simply continued: "You had a half-an-hour break an hour ago, that's enough."

A slight crack behind him alerted him of another attacker and he took a step to the left and Theo landed on the floor next to him, after Harry had kicked him in the back of his knees. The Slytherin curses and crossed his feet on the floor, panting slightly.

"That's insane!" he cursed than and Harry smirked. "We're running around like the devil's after us and you simply take small steps to avoid our attacks!"

Harry held his hand out and helped him up. "It all comes with tr-"

He was interrupted by another loud explosion and his eyes widened, when the floor under them started to crumble slightly and a wave of dust rolled into their direction.

Luna, Ginny and Susan jumped out of the forest and joined Harry, Theo and Blaise when they cast a protective-shield over themselves. The cloud harmlessly passed them, but another cloud of smoke filled the potions-section of the room.

Draco stepped out of the cloud and cursed loudly. "I HATE WEASLEYS! TRAINING'S OVER FOR TODAY!"

"But it worked, didn't it?" asked Fred slightly perturbed.

George started to trail Draco, who angrily stalked into a corner to wash the soot from his face. "Yeah, the whole purpose of that potion was to explode, after all!"

"Not, bad. All of you are getting better," Harry dismissed his group with a small nod, when they looked at him questioningly and they left the Room of Requirement, despite their apparent exhaustion, each with a grin on their faces.

Draco rounded on George, while all the H.A. members swiftly made their exit behind him. "YES! BUT ONLY IF IT'S THROWN! Not while stirring it you blast-ended-skrewt!"

Ron stalked over to him, a grin on his face. "Watch out, the diva's bitching again!"

Harry frowned slightly. "I'd start to get grumpy if the Twins tried to blow me up as well."

"Probably..."

He eyed his friend and noticed that he was not looking at him, but to the entrance, where Luna was dreamily standing next to Hermione, who nodded and gave her a small smile before waving her wand. A stack of books came whizzing from the library section and Harry and Ron had to duck to avoid getting hit. The books landed in Hermione's outstretched arms and she gave them to Luna, who smiled brilliantly and disappeared through the door.

"What was that about?" Ron asked perplexed and Harry shrugged his shoulders, regretting the action when the small tingling in his body intensified with that.

"No clue and frankly I don't care. It's not my business."

Ron rolled his eyes. "I was jus' asking, no need to get all Draco on me. I mean... what could Luna possibly want with books?"

Harry went over to the sofas and smirked. "Dunno... read them?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny," grumbled Ron, who had followed him and flopped down next to him. "Y'know what? I simply ask Hermione."

He snorted at his red-headed friend when the brown-haired witch came over to them. "Good luck..."

"What did Luna want with those books?" Ron immediately asked even before Hermione could sit down.

She stared at him and blinked, slightly disturbed by the question it seemed. Her eyes went over to the library and then she sighed slightly annoyed. "I don't see why you'd need to know that. Mind your own business, Ronald."

He frowned. "But why didn't she go to the library?"

Harry droned them out when a small argument started between them and looked over at Draco, who had washed the soot off of him and was now cleaning the small potions lap they used for training the H.A.

Debating wether he should help him or not, he started to stand up, but then sunk back on the sofa when he felt his legs starting to burn. He closed his eyes and tried to relax into the soft cushions.

"I was just helping her with some stuff, okay?" he heard Hermione huff exasperated when he started to pay attention again. "And now stop questioning me!"

Harry opened his eyes with a small hiss as the sofa moved down when Draco sat down next to him, glad about his training, which taught him iron self-control. Now his whole body was aching and not just his legs and the constant tingling in his limps when they didn't hurt nearly drove him mad.

'Damn that dragon-blood!'

...HPHPHP...

"Seriously, with all the things that happened in the last few weeks, I can't believe I forgot that our OWLs are only seven weeks away now! I didn't even draw up a study schedule or organized my notes! I need at least four more weeks to be fully prepared!"

Harry rolled his eyes with a small smile when they strolled along the corridors on Monday to get into their Defense class. This time however, everybody was looking forward to go there, because of the return of Professor Lupin.

Harry was not really surprised that after Umbridge, no one longer seemed to care that he was the same teacher the students and their parents had demanded to be fired after Snape had let it slip, that Remus was a werewolf. The whole school – save a number of Slytherins – had welcomed Remus with booming applause when McGonagall had announced that he would replace the toad.

"… and I have to ask Professor Babbling about that one rune… I was sure it meant something different and the other one was there to bring the spell into function. What if I-"

Harry laughed outright now and placed an arm around his girlfriend's waist. "Mione, stop that! What in Morgana's name have you been eating today? Why are you so nervous about the OWLs? You'll pass them with flying colors!"

She smacked his hand, and he hid the wince that tried to escape his mouth. He still hadn't really recovered from his little torture two days earlier, but he surely wouldn't tell Hermione that. She seemed to think he wouldn't notice the worried looks she sneaked at him since Saturday whenever she thought he wasn't paying attention.

Hermione gave him a look that clearly said that she had just deemed him mad. "Harry, seriously, you are a sweet, caring and all around a nearly perfect boyfriend, but you can be really dumb when it comes to your education!"

"Hey!" he raised his hands up in protest when they entered the classroom. "What did I do?"

They flopped down in the first row and Harry gave a small grin at the large black dog that was sitting under the teacher's desk, before turning back to his girlfriend when she started talking again.

"Our OWLs will have a great impact on our future career. If we don't get enough OWLs we won't be allowed to continue the courses we need to become what we want after school."

Harry snorted. "I think I'll retire after school…" he yelped when she suddenly kicked his shin and smiled sheepishly at her. "Geez, Mione that was a joke!"

"Honestly, you can be so annoying, I don't know why I put up with you!" she huffed exasperated.

He grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on it, which made her blush a beautiful shade of pink. "Y'know you don't want it any other way."

"STUPEFY!"

The whole class jumped high in the air and whirled around in their seats when a red light whizzed past them, right into the blackboard. Lavender gave a high-pitched squeak, but Harry could still see that the hands of several students' disappeared into their robes to grab their wands. He smirked. Everyone who did that was an H.A. member.

"Blimey!" whispered Ron, who had taken a seat behind Harry with Neville at his side. Both had their wands drawn and where currently lowering the shields they had cast. "Gimme a heart-attack, alright…"

Harry also lowered his shield and out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione doing the same. He then looked back to the door, where Remus stood, his eyes gliding over each student, gauging their reactions.

Then he smiled and cleared his throat. The students who had stared at the blackboard and therefore hadn't noticed him, turned around.

"Good morning class," he smiled and started walking through the rows. The students' eyes followed him and nobody seemed to dare say something.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Remus boomed then, when he passed Lavender, who gave another squeak.

His smile widened but he didn't say anything until he was standing in front of the slightly singed blackboard. "I'm sure you're all familiar with that phrase, aren't you?"

"Wasn't that, what Professor Moody always said last year?" asked Dean Thomas, his face scrunched up in thought.

"You mean, what the Death Eater always said…" mumbled Draco, who was sitting near Harry, just across the aisle.

"Correct," nodded Remus and Harry saw him looking at Draco which gave Harry the feeling, that he had just acknowledged both answers. Then he pointed a finger at the board behind him. "Did anybody catch the name of the spell I used?"

Several hands shot up and the black dog under the desk made a funny noise, when Harry grimaced in his direction and then smiled, not bothering to raise his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Zabini, isn't it?"

Blaise nodded shortly, before answering: "It was a simple stunning-spell."

Lupin raised his eyebrows and once more eyed the whole class. "And can anybody tell me, what exactly a stunning-spell does to the person that's hit with it? Mr. Crabbe, any idea?"

When Harry's and Draco's eyes met, they both had to suppress the urge to start laughing out loud. Not even McGonagall bothered to try and get an answer to a question from that boy – not to mention from his equally stupid companion Goyle. Harry's need to laugh, turned into a sympathetic wince when he thought about the time Draco had to spend with the two gorillas because of his father. He turned his eyes back to Remus.

"Then Miss Greengrass, what do you say?"

"The stunning-spell can have different effects, depending on the person being hit and the strength behind it," replied Daphne from her seat next to Draco, her voice slightly bored. "Normally when hit, you pass out. Sometimes it can only send you flying, or make you freeze in place for a few seconds. "

"Very good, five points to Phoenix. And now, I'd like you to answer me a question. Only some of you don't have to answer." His eyes narrowed and his soft amber eyes became cold and steely. "Why didn't you block it?"

Silence met his question and when Harry looked at the H.A. members that where in his class, he saw them looking down at their desks with slightly guilty expressions. It was Tracey Davis, a girl from Slytherin, who made the first noise.

She snorted. "What a dumb question! How were we supposed to know it was coming? We don't have eyes at the back of our heads."

Harry saw Remus's relaxed posture tense slightly when the werewolf stepped forwards. "Five points from Slytherin. Say, what if it had been a Killing-Curse, Miss Davis?"

"Ridiculous!" she snapped and Harry, who really hadn't had a lot to do with her since he had started school, immediately disliked her arrogant behavior now that he saw it for himself. The girl crossed her arms. "Who would attack us with an Unforgivable here in school?"

A wolfish grin appeared on Remus's face and he tapped his wand lazily against his leg and titled his head. "Well… it was not even four days ago, that a student was hit with the Cruciatus-Curse in front of the whole school. That answers your question, yes?"

All eyes hushed over to Harry and he gave a lazy wave. Remus returned to his place in front of the class and shook his head. "The phrase 'constant vigilance' is not only something paranoid people should take to heart, but you should as well."

"Only five of you have raised shields to protect themselves even before the curse hit the blackboard." He gave Harry and his friends a small smile. "Take five points each for that. Now however, I saw several of you grab their wands. That was a nice start, but too late to do any good. All of you would be either dead or wounded in a real duel."

Several murmurs of indignation where heard. Suddenly Sirius in his animagus-form let out a loud bark and once again nearly the whole class jumped and stared at the large animal. He bared his teeth with a low growl and Harry thought he heard Parvati mumble something about a Grim.

Remus just looked at the dog and shook his head in slight amusement, before turning his attention back to the class. "In your fifth year, your OWL year to be exact, you are normally supposed to get into the detail when it comes to magic. But because of your last… teacher... I can quite frankly say that if nobody of you studied independently, you will not pass your OWLs!"

"What?" cried several voices at once and Harry grinned when he saw all the present H.A. members give his friends and him a thankful glance. He turned to the left when he felt Hermione nudge his elbow.

"Remus is a lot stricter than in third year, but I can't imagine him being able to teach a year's worth of DADA knowledge in only seven weeks." She eyed him suspiciously. "Do you know how he's planning to do that?"

He simply shook his head and cautiously flexed his fingers that had started to tingle slightly.

Remus started pacing and gestured them to take out parchment and quills. "As boring as it sounds, we have to start with the basics. I can't let you do any practical work with your current lack of knowledge. Can anybody tell me which possibilities we have to release our magic?"

The werewolf smiled when not only Harry's and his friends' hands shot up, but also Hannah's, Padma's and Blaise's.

"Yes, Miss Abbott?"

"Well, we are able to release our magic in form of, spells, charms, jinxes, hexes and curses."

"Absolutely right. And who can tell me, what exactly the difference between each of them is?"

This time it was only Hermione, whose hand was up in the air.

Remus seemed to suppress a grin and nodded. "Yes, Miss Granger, please enlighten us. And I would suggest you write down what she says."

She took a deep breath: "Well, a spell is the generic term, used for all incantations, so it's not exactly a form of releasing magic. Charms typically would affect the behavior of an object but do not change its nature. Thus making a pineapple tap-dance across the desk is a Charm, because the object remains a pineapple; but turning a teapot into a turtle, as is done in Transfiguration, however is - for the lack of another word - a simple spell."

Hermione made a small pause and shortly looked around the room and at the others, who were hastily scribbling down what she said. Harry had to smile at her enthusiasm when she continued:

"Jinxes carry a connotation of dark magic, though of a very minor sort and are often called 'Grey Magic'. Jinxes, like Rictusempra – the tickling-jinx - irritate and amuse, rather than harm. Hexes are also associated with Dark Magic, again of a minor nature, but slightly darker than Jinxes. An example would be Petrificus Totalus. It affects the whole body and therefore could be used to harm someone. Lastly there are curses. Curses are spells that are quite firmly Dark Magic, and are purely harmful in effect."

When Harry looked up from his piece of parchment, he saw Lupin smiling from ear to ear. "I couldn't have said it better myself! Twenty points to Ravenclaw."

He waited a little while the class was still taking notes on what Hermione had said and then clapped his hands. "We have to be quick, so let's start writing down all the different types of spells you know. Please put them into the mentioned categories. If you haven't finished when the lesson's over, please continue it as your homework. I want at least hundred-fifty different spells, jinxes, curses etcetera!"

He was met with disbelieving stares and raised his eyebrows. "I would start now, if I were you."

That was Chapter 36, please Review and tell me what you think!

Dark Phoenix of Slytherin