Chapter 1 – Off to School
Harry eventually broke free of Mrs Weasley's tight bear hug and said his final good-byes as he boarded the Hogwarts Express with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. As much as he loved Mrs. Weasley, he was glad that he was able to get on the train without her asking for the thousandth time if he was alright.
"Harry are you alright?" Ginny asked "you look pale."
Harry mentally face-palmed himself. Of course he wasn't going to escape that easily.
"Oh I'm alright" Harry said, again for the thousandth time.
"Ok" Ginny said, sounding quite a bit sceptical "Well I'm going to go find my friends. If you want to talk to me Harry, you're free to do so."
Of course; Harry was so used to spending time with Ginny at the Burrow that he had forgotten that they didn't usually hang out at Hogwarts. He was disappointed; her presence had been one of the few things to keep him distracted from Sirius.
"Ok Ginny, see you at Hogwarts" Ron said as his sister went off in search of her friends. Ron then began to lead his two friends to a compartment where they found Neville and Luna.
"Hi guys" Neville said "nice to see you're all back"
"Of course" Ron said "why wouldn't we come back?"
"Well…" Neville shot a quick look at Harry before answering "after what happened in June, I thought that maybe –"
"Voldemort killed my godfather" Harry said, trying to convey as little emotion as possible "I'm not going to hide from him anymore. I'm going to kill him! I'll kill all of those Death Eaters!"
Despite his attempts to hide his anger, his friends still seemed shocked, and no-one could think of anything to say. Fortunately the silence was disrupted by the train whistle, and the next few minutes were spent waving to family and friends on the platform as the Hogwart's express departed. Once they were away from the platform, conversation turned to safer, happy topics, and Harry thought that he may actually enjoy the journey to Hogwarts.
Then Luna – off-with-the-fairies-Luna, ruined it all by asking The Question.
"Hey Harry, are you alright? You look like you've lost some weight over the holidays."
"I'm fine" Harry lied, again for the thousandth time "um, but there's something I have to do. I'll be back soon."
Harry escaped from the compartment before anyone could ask questions and started walking left. He had no destination in mind, so left seemed just as good a direction to go in as right. Once he got to the end of the carriage he heard a door slam behind him and two sets of footsteps catch up to him. He walked faster.
"Harry!" Hermione called as she and Ron caught up to him in the next carriage "Where are you going?"
"I have something I need to do."
"Well tell us" Ron said "we'll help you, ok mate?"
Harry stopped and turned to confront his friends. He didn't want to admit that he was just wondering aimlessly, and he certainly didn't want to get into a fight with them about minding their own business either. Harry quickly thought of something that had been troubling him all holidays; something that he felt like he had to do, but that he didn't really want to. Now that he was put on the spot though, he decided that he should probably get it out of the way.
"Hermione, do you have any idea where I might be able to find Nott?"
"He could be anywhere on the train" Hermione said "why do you want to find him?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Ron asked "you want to get him back for what his father did in the Department of Mysteries? Right Harry?"
"Well not –"
"I know, he'll have Zabini onside" Ron butted in before Harry could finish "Don't worry; I'll take him on while you get Nott!"
"Ron, no! Theo and Blaise haven't done anything" Hermione said "there's no reason to go after them. Harry I can't believe you'd do that! I mean they were in the DA!"
"They also told Crabbe and Goyle about it" Ron said.
"I'm not going to attack Nott! Or Zabini" Harry said "I just really want to talk to him. Apologise for locking his father up."
"Apologise!" Ron said "are you insane? Why should you apologise?"
"Well his father is just an old man" Harry said "and Nott's always been nice. I mean his your friend, isn't he Hermione?"
"Well yes" Hermione said "Though he doesn't really say much to me. I do know that Theo spends all his holidays at Blaise's place; I really don't think he gets along with his father. Maybe it's not a good idea to bring him up."
"Have you ever been to Blaise's place?" Ron asked her, making 'Blaise's place' sound like something dirty.
"No, why?"
"Well you just seem to be so chummy with them."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, first off, Zabini's a wanker" Ron said.
Harry had to stop a sigh of contempt escaping his lips. While Harry had never been too friendly with Zabini before the visit to the hospital, he and indeed most of the DA had found Zabini's peculiar sense of humour and over-excited demeanour entertaining, but Ron had never warmed to him.
"His not a wanker!" Hermione protested.
"He is" Ron said "and you fancy him!"
"I do not!"
"Look I don't care!" Harry snapped "I just want to find him… I mean Nott."
"Oh just find the noisiest compartment in the train and he'll be there with Blaise." Hermione explained, before turning her attention back to Ron. "And for your information Ron, Blaise has a girlfriend! The two of us are just friends!"
"Hermione most of the compartments are noisy" Harry complained "look I'm going to go search the train; you two can go have your argument elsewhere!"
Before Harry could go anywhere though, he heard laughter from a nearby compartment, and then a familiar voice.
"It's not funny guys! She's my Mother! This is terrible! It's worse than having Voldemort as a teacher!"
"That would be Blaise" Hermione said "Theo should be with him."
"Why does he always have to say that name!" Ron complained.
Harry ignored both of them and walked up to the compartment. He could hear Xanthe Rivers inside saying something about Zabini, and decided to knock on the ajar-door before barging in on their conversation. Hermione and Ron joined him at the door just as Zabini said "Come in if you're ugly". Harry ignored the taunt and entered, to find Zabini, Rivers, and Nott in the compartment, with Nott and Rivers apparently sharing some sort of joke at Zabini's expense.
"Hi guys" Rivers said, smiling in a way that made her silver lip-ring appear more prominent "you want something? Oh, are you coming around to tell us that the DA is starting up again?"
"I don't think I'll start it up again" Harry said to the currently purple-haired girl "not unless we get another bad Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"Oh don't talk to me about Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers" Zabini brooded.
"Hay Zabini we heard you complaining about your mother" Ron said "what's wrong? She getting married again?"
"Yah, she's marrying your father" Zabini snapped "now I'm going to have to find a way to live with you without going crazy!"
"Wanker!"
"Ron leave him alone" Harry said.
"Oi! Whose side are you on anyway Harry?" Ron asked
"Harry's on the side of truth and justice" Zabini said "he fights evil and saves kittens from Voldemort on a daily basis!"
It seemed like everyone in the room was telling Zabini to shut up all at once, but Harry found that he actually didn't mind the mental image of him chasing Voldemort away from innocent kittens; it was a refreshing change from all the disturbing mental images of the past month. He burst out laughing, and then one by one Hermione, Nott, and Rivers joined him. Ron didn't find it funny though.
"Speaking of kittens Hermione" Zabini said, suddenly not looking as carefree as usual.
"What about them?"
Instead of answering, Zabini poked the white ball of fluff sitting on the seat next to him, which slowly got up, revealing itself to be a very pregnant cat.
"Wow, Leia is pregnant?" Hermione asked,
"Yah" Zabini said "congratulate Crookshanks for me."
"Crookshanks? Wait, no Crookshanks can't be the father."
"I'm pretty sure he is"
"How can you be so sure?"
"Well his always in the Slytherin common room mingling with the female cats there" Rivers said "oh, and last year Millicent Bulstrode's cat gave birth to a little of kittens with very squashed faces."
"She was very angry, and went around yelling at anyone who had a male Persian cat" Zabini explained "fortunately Crookshanks was smart enough to hide from her."
"You didn't tell her it was my cat?"
"Hell no" all three Slytherins said in unison.
"But you'll tell her if I don't take the kittens?"
"Blaise wouldn't do that" Theo said quickly, going bright red as he addressed Hermione.
"Just promise me you'll help look after them." Zabini said.
"Sure" Hermione said.
"Don't let him blackmail you Hermione!" Ron said.
"It's not blackmail!"
"His threatening to turn you in to Bulstrode!"
"No he isn't!"
"I'm not threatening anyone" Zabini protested "I wouldn't wish the wrath of Millicent Bulstrode on anyone!"
"Plus Theo would never let him" Rivers added.
"Defiantly not" Nott said as he fiddled around with the Star Trek badge on his shirt.
"Thanks Theo" Hermione said, causing him to go even redder.
"Nott" Harry said, remembering why he had come here in the first place "I umm, you see the reason I came here in the first place was well, to apologise to you."
"Why?"
"Well, I need to apologise about what happened to your father."
"Something happened to your father?" Rivers asked her friend.
"Yah" Nott said "he was one of the Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries in June."
"Death Eater?" Rivers asked "but you said he was too frail to even get around the house by himself."
"I thought he was" Nott corrected "But it seems he was just lying to me."
"Drunk old bastard" Zabini muttered.
"Meow" Zabini's cat agreed.
"So you weren't that close?" Harry asked.
"I haven't spoken to him since I was thirteen" Nott said as he took off his Star Trek badge and began to handle it nervously "actually, I still wouldn't know anything about his arrest right now if Blaise hadn't found the story in the Daily Prophet. I'm fine."
"What about your mother and sisters? Are they alright?"
Nott held his badge tightly for a few seconds before answering. "My mother died giving birth to me" he explained "so I'm not sure what she'd make of all this. And the only sister I've had that's ever really cared about me is dead too."
"Oh sorry."
"You don't have to apologise Potter. Not for anything."
It was almost a minute before anyone could bring themselves to speak again. Nott's comments had really ruined the good mood, and even Zabini couldn't come up with anything to make them laugh.
It was Hermione who broke the silence, suggesting that they return to Luna and Neville. They said good-bye to the Slytherins and returned to the compartment in silence. When they got back they found Neville and Luna in good spirits, speculating about who – or what – the new Defence teacher could be. After Luna suggested that the new teacher could possibly be a succumbs who would attempt to seduce the entire male student body, the conversation became as silly as a conversation could get without Blaise Zabini's input.
Meanwhile
The Death Eater sat in Professor Dumbledore's, his face was hidden, but the headmaster could still sense his discomfort.
"So Deepvoice" the headmaster said "you are ready to do this at any time?"
"Everything is arranged" Deepvoice said "I can do it tonight if you wish."
"No. We need to destroy all of the others first."
"I can kill the snake if you need me to."
"I'd rather have one of my other agents do that. You need to make sure no-one ever suspects you."
"Right. Well I'm ready on your command."
"It doesn't bother you? Betraying your Master, your beliefs, your family?"
"Just remember our deal Old Man!"
"Oh I will" Dumbledore said, as he gazed at the photograph the Death Eater had placed on his desk. "You better go now. The Hogwarts Express has just arrived, and I'll need to be in the Great Hall before everyone else gets there."
Deepvoice didn't say anything. He just put his photograph away and grabbed the seemingly ordinary ash tray on the Headmaster's desk. The next second, he was gone.
Later
Harry was in a pretty good mood as he entered the Great Hall surrounded by his friends. Why did Draco Malfoy have to show up and ruin everything?
"Mighty Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts" he said, causing the group of Slytherin girls around him to giggle "what bullcrap stories have you got for us this year?"
"Shut up Malfoy"
"You should apologise to Draco for what you said about his father!" Pansy Parkinson said "It's been very stressful for him having these accusations –"
"He should be the one apologising!" Harry screamed. He didn't want to hear anything they had to say; he just wanted to pull out his wand and hurt Malfoy as much as he could.
"Stop that right NOW!" a stern female voice called out. Harry suddenly realised that he had his wand against Malfoy's throat, and both Malfoy's friends and his were pointing their wands around in a show of strength.
"Put your wands away right now everyone!" the woman said "it would be a shame to send anyone home on their first day back!"
"Oh, wow" Ron muttered. Harry turned to look at the woman, and almost gasped himself. The woman who had broken up their fight was HOT. There was just no other way to put it. She looked to be in her early thirties, with dark skin and even darker hair. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of brown with a slight slant to them and were framed by high cheekbones. Her robes were rather tight, perfectly showing off her tall, model-like body.
"We're sorry miss" Ron said, putting away his wand and going bright red. Harry couldn't blame him; he felt his own body temperature rise and pulled his wand away from Malfoy, keeping his eyes on the vision of beauty in front of him.
"Hi, are you a new student here?" Neville asked "I mean, well, not a new student student obviously, but teacher student or… oh I don't know. My name's Neville Longbottom by the way… hahaha, I'd have probably just been starting out here when you graduated."
"Neville she's almost fifty!" Hermione said in shock.
"No way" Pansy said "she can't be that old, that's ridiculous Granger!"
"That's right Hermione" the woman said "I sure don't feel fifty. Don't you know it's rude to reveal a lady's real age?"
"Sorry Mrs. Zabini."
"How do you two know each other?" Ron asked "wait a sec, Zabini?"
"She's Blaise's mother" Hermione explained.
"Blaise's mother?" Ron went redder than Harry had ever seen him go before "MA-MA-MOTHER!"
"Yes, Blaise's mother" Mrs. Zabini said "and its Professor Zabini now Hermione. I'll be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"You'll be teaching Dark Against the Defence, I mean, Defence Against the Arts, I mean, you'll be our new teacher?" Harry asked.
"That's right" Professor Zabini said "If any of you are taking Defence Against the Dark Arts I'll probably be seeing you a lot. But there is to be no fighting in my classes! Or at least, no fighting without my permission. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes miss" Malfoy said, looking more flustered than Harry had ever seen him before "No more fights. We're done here."
"Good!" Professor Zabini smiled, showing her perfect teeth and juicy lips, "Then I trust I can leave you all alone without you getting into any fights on the way to your tables."
"Oh we'll be fine Miss" Daphne Greengrass said.
"Ok, I'll leave you to it" She said as she turned away "Nice seeing you again Hermione."
"Same here professor."
"I'll see you in class professor!" Ron called out "I'm sure you'll be the best teacher we've ever had!"
"Better even the Lupin?" Hermione asked once Professor Zabini had left "You're just saying that because she's hot."
"She is pretty hot" Ron agreed.
"She's Blaise's MOTHER, Ron. Blaise, who is your age and in your classes!"
"I can't believe that when Zabini was young he got to suck on those – "
"RON DON'T BE VULGAR!"
"Wow, I guess we know how Zabini got to be so good looking" Parkinson said.
"Do you think they really do have Veela blood in them?" Tracy Davis asked.
"It doesn't matter" Malfoy snapped "Zabini's so proud to have a muggle father. I can't imagine what sort of self-respecting witch would have children with a muggle and raise them to be like Zabini."
"I heard that she's been married seven times before" Davis said "and they all died suspiciously."
"No, only six dead husbands" Bulstrode corrected "the seventh is a filthy muggle."
"Oi, don't talk about Professor Zabini that way!" Ron said.
"Let's go" Neville said "Professor Zabini wouldn't be too happy if we got into another fight."
"I don't care what that blood-traitor wants" Malfoy said. However he and the girls all made their way to the Slytherin table without a further word, and Harry saw them join up with Crabbe and Goyle. Maybe he was just imagining it, but Harry was certain that Malfoty didn't look too happy with his usually bodyguards.
"Wow, Malfoy doesn't seem too pleased with Crabbe and Goyle" Hermione said as they sat down at Gryffindor table.
"Maybe his pissed off at them because they were in the DA" Harry said "oh look, professor Zabini is going over to the Slytherin table."
"She's talking to Zabini and Nott and Rivers." Neville said "she's talking to them!"
"Well of course she's talking to them" Hermione said "Blaise is her son. Anyway, I don't think it's just that; Malfoy seemed to have forgiven them at the end of last year. I guess he accepted the fact that Blaise had blackmailed them. But why is he angry with them now?"
"I don't think his that angry Hermione" Ron said "I mean his still talking to them and… OH MY GOD! SHE JUST PUT HER HAND ON NOTT'S SHOULDER!"
"Look at the way she's looking at him!" Neville added.
"Oh god I wish I was Nott right now" Seamus joined in.
"Wow, who is that sexy gal hitting on Nott?" Dean asked.
"She isn't hitting on him they're just talking!"
"Wow she's beautiful" Lavender said "I wonder who she is?"
"Maybe she's Madam Pomfrey's new assistant" Pavarti added "she's been saying she needs one for years."
"I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the hospital wing" Colin Creevly said.
"She can examine me anytime she wants" said Colin's friend.
"She's not a matron she's –"
"OH MY GOD! She just hugged Zabini!"
"Now she's leaving… she HUGGED HIM!"
"That lucky –"
"DAMMIT SHE'S HIS MOTHER!" Hermione shouted "She's allowed to hug him."
"Ma-mother?"
"What were you looking at anyway Dean?" Ginny asked her boyfriend.
"Oh, the um… second most beautiful witch in the Great Hall of course" Dean replied "but don't worry; Zabini's mum has nothing on you. Nothing!"
Ginny giggled and then leaned close to Dean and kissed him. With tongue.
"Oi get a room you too!" Ron complained.
Harry tuned the conversation out and looked at Ginny. Sure, she may not be the stunning beauty that Professor Zabini was, but she was pretty. Of course she was also with Dean, and was Ron's sister, and almost a sister to Harry himself really.
Before Ron could really start lecturing his sister though, Professor McGonagall arrived with the first years, and then the Sorting began.
"Wait Hermione" Ron said as the first students got sorted "when did you meet Professor Zabini? I thought you'd never been to Blaise's house before."
"I met her at the station."
"She seems fond of you"
"Well I'm friends with her son"
"Maybe it's because you're really good friends?"
"Oh stop it Ron, your being ridiculous."
Harry tuned out their argument and tried to concentrate on the Sorting. Personally he didn't care if Hermione had a thing for Blaise; Blaise's family weren't Death Eaters, and perhaps his sense of humour would loosen Hermione up before she really got on their backs over their homework.
Harry was still lost in this fantasy of a carefree Hermione when the Sorting finished, and would have completely missed Dumbledore's speech if Ron hadn't nudged him near the end.
"Look Harry, his about to introduce Professor Zabini!"
"It is my great pleasure to introduce someone who I've been trying to get here to teach for a few years now" Dumbledore said "please put your hands together, for our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Zabini!"
Harry could never remember a new teacher getting quite a welcome. On all four tables boys were cheering and wolf-whistling. Some girls looked a bit annoyed, but most at least clapped for the new teacher.
The cheers did not go down quickly, but eventually Dumbledore did manage to bring quite to the Great Hall again. As he held his hands up though, Harry noticed that his left hand was all shrivelled up.
"I hope Dumbledore's alright" Harry said "Look at his hand, it looks painful."
"I'm sure he'll be alright" Ron said "I mean his Dumbledore right? When has a sore hand ever stopped him before? What type of lessons do you think Professor Zabini will have?"
"Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons of course" Hermione said "seriously Ronald, what other kind?"
An argument may have broken out there, except that Dumbledore finished talking at that moment and food appeared on the table, providing a good distraction for Ron.
Later
Theo and Blaise were unpacking in their dormitory, rushing to decorate their bedspace before Malfoy and his goons arrived. It had become a tradition for the two of them to place as many objects relating to muggle culture around the dormitory as possible and watching Malfoy go crazy over it all year. However they had to have their stuff in place and warded before Malfoy arrived, otherwise he would just destroy stuff. After having an epic poster of the Enterprise-D burnt back in fourth year, Theo didn't want to be ill prepared.
Despite being a Pureblood, for Theo there was never a shortage of muggle related items to put near his bed; everyone always gave him Star Trek related stuff, and when away from the Zabini's TV he was more than happy to surround himself with merchandise.
He placed his newest item – a figurine of Captain Kathryn Janeway – the main star of Star Trek Voyager, and a courageous brunette to boot – on his bedside table and then cast enough spells on her to keep any Trek hating wizard away. Camille had given him that figure just before boarding the Hogwarts Express so that he could 'annoy the hell out of that Pureblood pansy Malfoy'.
The next items Theo put up weren't Star Trek related at all, but where more precious to him anyway; four photos that meant the world to him. The first was a picture of his mother; actually it was the only picture of her he had that didn't remind him that she had been an evil Death Eater. Theo had often heard people say that he looked just like her, and when he really looked at the picture he agreed, kind of. She hadn't been hit with a growth accelerator spell when she was younger, and therefore didn't look as skinny and weedy as him. Also on her that small pointy rabbit-like nose looked cute, not stupid.
The next picture was one of the few photographs taken of him and Alice. He was a grubby six-year-old covered in head-lice, and she was on her way to Hogwarts for the first time, with hand-me-down robes and a rusty trunk full of old schoolbooks. She had the same strew-coloured hair as him and their mother, but she wasn't as lanky and looked a lot livelier.
The third was a photo of him and Mirabel Flitwick. She was Professor a tall, elegant, but cheerful woman who had been Theo's foster parent many years ago. She was currently living in a retirement village out in the countryside and in no condition to look after a teenager, but Theo would still spend some days during his holidays to visit her and help her.
The fourth photo was the most recent; it had been taken on Christmas Day three years ago; on Theo's thirteenth birthday. It was the first Christmas he had spent at the Zabini's home, and after more presents then he had ever seen before and a cake with the Federation of Planets logo on it, when Theo was happier than he could ever remember being, someone took a photo of him, Blaise, and Camille. No matter how much the trio moved in the photo, Photo-Theo always had a huge cheesy smile on his face.
"What's the fith photo?" Blaise asked, shuffling off his bed once he was certain his Megadeth poster was in place "is that the one you tried to hide from me?"
"Oh I just wanted to keep it a surprise until we got here" Theo said, placing the large framed photograph behind Captain Janeway and the other photos.
"Oh, it's that one I took of the DA" Blaise said "Oh you blew up the one where the timer played up, I barely made it into the shot."
"I like this one better, you're not trying to look cool. It's more natural."
"Fine. Hey look at Crabbe and Goyle, not even looking at the camera."
"They always pretended that they didn't want to be there… though they got to be pretty good. Do you see the Weasley twins pulling silly faces?"
"Ahhh… Fred and George Weasley… it's just not going to be the same without them this year. Oh man, Ron Weasley looks pretty hardcore there."
"Well he took the whole thing pretty seriously."
"Nah it's not that. He just never liked anything I suggested. Not even the fun things like photos. Strange kid. Oh, speaking of strange…"
"Yah?"
"You and Hermione look pretty chummy in this picture."
"Wha? What are you talking about? We're just standing together!"
"Yah, standing together, and laughing together and… oh Weasley just shot you a filthy look."
"But Weasley usually only shoots that filthy look at you."
"Well Theo, it looks like there's some sort of thing going on there. After all pictures never lie."
"Yes they do, they lie all the time. I went to my sister Estelle's house once and she had a talking photograph, and it lied about the layout of the house and I got completely lost."
"Well this one…, oh crap I think I hear them. Quick, get everything ready!"
Blaise got back to his bed area and finished placing protective charms on his model cars. "What poster are you putting up this year?" he asked.
"Oh I think I'll go with a bit of everything this year" Theo said, pulling a collection of small posters, comic-book covers, and still muggle photos of Star Trek and Star Wars characters out of his trunk.
"They'll be here in a sec" Blaise said as he joined his friend "just put them up and I'll ward them for you."
They finished just as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle entered the room. The three Purebloods surveyed Blaise and Theo's areas with distaste, and Malfoy walked right up to Theo's bed.
"That thing there with the messed up forehead is a Klingon." Malfoy said, pointing to a picture of Worf "A creature invented by muggles…, I shouldn't know that! You've messed with me too long Nott. You and your stupid Star Trek muggle fantasies!"
"Oh Malfoy, you're such a P'tach" Blaise said.
"You're almost as insane as Nott."
"At least Theo has personality" Blaise said "you wouldn't know what to do with yourself if you didn't have someone to pick on, would you Malfoy."
"Well at least my mother isn't a slut!"
"What did you just say about my Mother!"
"I always knew that Dumbledore was a bit whacky in the head, but seriously? Hiring a muggle-loving whore who's obviously messed up her own son? What is he thinking?"
Suddenly Blaise ran towards Malfoy with his wand out, shouting a variety of hexes. Fortunately for Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle managed to block them all and then they grabbed Blaise and slammed him against the wall, each holding a wand to him.
"You know boys I'm quite surprised to see you two here" Blaise said to his attackers "I was sure you'd have to repeat fifth year."
"We both got Os in Defence Against the Dark Arts" Crabbe said "we aren't as stupid as you thought we were."
"Oh, Os in Defence. I guess the two of you should go thank Harry Potter than."
"Shut up Zabini!" Goyle said. He was still angry, but he and Crabbe lowered their wands slightly, and once they did Theo quickly moved in; casting spells that flung them to the far side of the room, and then drawing a magical line down the centre of the dormitory, dividing the room in to two parts, with Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and their beds on one side, and Theo and Blaise on the other. Even the doorway was divided, and Theo had to wonder whether Goyle would be able to squeeze through his half.
"Ok, you have that side of the dormitory, and we have this one" Theo explained "I really should have done this years ago."
Malfoy walked up to the line, and reached out his hand to touch the airspace above the line. There was a loud electrical noise and Malfoy's hand instantly retreated.
"What type of shield spell is this Nott?"
"It's a force field. I've been experimenting with it for quite some time. I think you'll find it more efficient than any normal shield spell Malfoy."
"You…you… argh! I can't believe that I actually know what a force field is! I am so sick of muggle-lovers bringing all that junk here."
"Hey Malfoy" Blaise said from the safety of his side of the room "how did you go in your OWLs? Did you get an O in Defence Against the Dark Arts too?"
"It's a stupid subject!" Malfoy said "that silly defence stuff is nowhere near as powerful as the real Dark Arts! Now I'm going to bed before your muggle-craziness spreads!"