Author's note. Okay, I don't think everyone quite understood my idea about muggleborns parents being able to see their kids' magic. I wasn't suggesting that the underage law be repealed, rather a zone be created where kids can demonstrate their ability under supervision of an adult witch or wizard.

Also, I'm considering getting rid of guest reviews, I do like how you CAN delete them if someone is just being a troll but it's also annoying if someone is asking a question and you can't directly answer them. That's why I didn't have guest reviews originally and I may go back to that. Any authors out there with thoughts on this?

Big thanks to sarrangril for beta reading this chapter.

Suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy and please review.

"If I could have your attention please," Dumbledore announced, lightly tapping his spoon against his glass. The breakfast chatter died away as everyone turned their attention to the Staff table where most had already spotted a new figure.

"I would like to introduce Professor Ashdown," the headmaster announced, gesturing enthusiastically towards an elderly man wearing a bright red cap and a dark robe with a fur lined collar. "He will be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for the rest of the year, he is a senior member of Magical Law Enforcement but has agreed put aside his work temporarily. Please give him a warm welcome."

There was polite applause, no one had heard of this Ministry Worker before so and since Professor Perronneau had been so popular, it was hard to drum up much excitement. Said Ministry worker did not seem put out by the lukewarm response, he merely wrapped his hands around a steaming mug and lightly blew on the surface of his drink.

"Please continue," Dumbledore added with a wave of his hand, as some students had still been looking at him expectantly.

"I wish Professor Perronneau didn't have to leave," Neville said, looking disappointed.

"Yeah, I liked him," Dean agreed. "And all this guy is gonna do is make us do boring reading."

"He might not be bad," Hermione interjected reasonably.

"Come off it, look at him," Seamus scoffed, gesturing to where Professor Ashdown was still blowing on his cup. "He's as doddering as my old grandda. He probably won't be able to lift his wand, far less use it."

This caused an outbreak of snickers all around them and several more jokes soon followed. Hermione huffed but reframed from trying to correct them, instead settling down to resume eating her porridge.

"Least it wasn't Umbridge," Harry muttered to his friends. "I was really worried for a while that she'd worm her way in here."

"Too right," Ron said. "Why didn't she?"

"I imagine because half a year isn't very attractive," Hermione stated, neatly lifting a spoonful of porridge to her mouth while reading the paper. "I doubt she'd see it as worth her time, she'd want to be in control from the very start. Besides, Fudge isn't at odds with Dumbledore so trying to bring him down won't gain Umbridge anything."

Hermione was probably right but Harry still felt relieved at the sight of the old man blowing away on his mug. At such short notice, Fudge might have decided to send his trusted undersecretary and that was not something Harry wanted at all. As it was, Harry hoped Dumbledore found someone competent to teach next year…oh yeah, that was Lockhart wasn't it.

"What do you think would happen if Lockhart wasn't the one teaching?" he questioned his friends, spreading some butter on toast.

"Blimey, almost forgot about him," Ron exclaimed, pausing in the act of reaching for some bacon. "Mum moons over him so much and his bloody expensive books. Can we do something so mum and dad don't have to waste all of their money on them?"

"I'd be up for that," Harry stated. "Wonder where he is now?"

"Probably writing another book," Ron scoffed. "He's been releasing them for a few years I think."

"Hello Hedwig," Harry greeted warmly, stroking her beautiful white feathers. "Had a good flight girl?"

She nipped his ear affectionately before helping herself to some bacon. He smiled, she did enjoy her bacon. Just then, he heard a screech and looked up to see a dark brown owl heading straight for him, a letter tied to its leg. It soon landed in front of his plate and ruffled it's feathers. Hedwig eyed it and the owl snapped it's beck at her, causing her to swell up and raise her wings in a display of dominance.

"Hey, it's okay," Harry quickly intervened, stroking Hedwig's head and offering her a fat chunk of sausage. She snatched it and greedily gulped it down, still glaring at the other owl.

"What's with them?" Ron asked and Harry shrugged.

"Personality clash?" he suggested before offering a piece of sausage to the new owl who swallowed it down in a flash and began eying the plate filled with cooked meat.

"Don't worry, you'll get some more," Harry assured him, taking several sausages and slices of bacons onto his plate and cutting them up. Both owls watched him hungrily, eager for more sustenance. Taking a closer look at the letter, he suddenly grinned and said.

"It's from Sirius."

"Really, what's it say?" Hermione asked, putting aside her paper.

"Let's see….," Harry said, giving both owls some titbits before untying the letter from the delivery owl's leg. Tossing a few more pieces to them, he unrolled the parchment and started to read it.

Dear Harry

I thought I would send you a note about how you're doing. Is your new Defence Against the Dark Art's teacher there yet? Don't worry if they are boring, you'll soon be learning lots of good spells soon enough. I'm sure Remus would be happy to recommend some good books on the subject that are enjoyable to read.

Good luck on your next match, I know you'll do great in it. I wish I could be there but if they let the parents come, imagine the fights that would break out. I'll just have to settle for knowing how play went and the final score.

No matter how short or long, write me back and let me know how you are. Work hard but remember to enjoy yourself.

Sirius

"He's probably right about parents," Ron said, picking up Hermione's discarded paper and beginning to peruse it. "Can you imagine some of them at the Gryffindor/Slytherin match?"

"I'd rather not," Hermione said wryly. "You should write Sirius a letter soon Harry."

"I will," he said, carefully folding up the letter and reaching to feed Hedwig some more titbits.

…

"They're plotting something."

"What are you talking about Severus?" Minerva McGonagall questioned, looking up from her paper and glancing in the direction he was glaring at. "Is it the Weasley twins?"

"No, it is Potter and his cohorts," he responded, eyes narrowed as he observed the three first year who seemed to be engaged in animated conversation. "Look at them."

"Very well Severus," she said briskly, casting her eye over the Gryffindor table for a moment before stating. "I see nothing amiss. They're talking and eating just like the rest of their year mates."

"They are not like the others," he stated, an edge of exasperation to his tone.

"In what way?" she wanted to know. "They work hard, they rarely get into trouble, in fact, I would rate them among the brightest of this year's students."

"Hmm," he said in response, and she now made a small sound of exasperation.

"Surely you cannot have reason to complain?" she demanded and he smiled slightly.

"Of course not," he said smoothly before making a tiny gesture towards the Gryffindor table. "How many First years read the Daily Prophet?"

"Oh Severus, surely you know by now how much Miss Granger loves reading? It's hardly a shock to see her reading the paper, absorbing more knowledge about our world," she said proudly.

"I wasn't talking about her," he said dryly and she looked to see Potter taking a look at the paper and it didn't look like he was reading the sport section.

"Well?" she asked. "There's nothing wrong with him reading the paper, it's a perfectly normal thing to do. Really Severus, I know you never think the students are up to anything good but you're grasping at straws here."

"And you won't admit your precious Seeker star could be anything other than perfect," he replied snidely.

"Is this what's this is all about? You don't like the fact I'll soon have the Quidditch cup in my office?" she said smugly. "And I think I will probably keep it there for the next seven years."

"You thought the same with that Weasley boy and the cup was still mine," he shot back, smirking slightly as she pursed her lips.

"This year will be different," she muttered, reaching for a cup of strong tea.

"I'm sure," he smirked before saying lightly. "So you would say those three are among the brightest of their year?"

"Yes I would and it has nothing to do with their House," she said quickly. "Can you truly deny their abilities?"

"No, I cannot," he said and while she looked ever so slightly surprised, she mostly was satisfied.

"That is what concerns me," he continued and when she opened her mouth to speak, he raised a hand and said. "Hear me out Minerva."

She paused before nodding. "Very well Severus, what is it that concerns you?"

"Their work is good….almost too good," he said slowly. "At first I thought two of them might be copying off the third, but there are distinct styles between the essays. It is the level they are writing that has caught my attention, it is as though they are high students delivering a first year's paper."

Looking her squarely in the eye, he said.

"Have you not noticed a similar occurrence?"

The older woman frowned but instead of being annoyed with him, she was deeply thoughtful.

"I have not thought they are copying each other," she started. "You are right, the essays on the scrolls are too individual, Miss Granger provides a wealth of detail while Mr Potter and Mr Weasleys are a bit more….to the point. I would say Miss Granger is more enthusiastic in her writing but they all seem knowledgeable on the subject."

"Exactly," he stated. "They come across as very knowledgeable on Potions. And from what I have heard Pomona and Filius say, they are equally versed in our other classes."

Considering this for a moment or two, she said. "Perhaps they require some more advanced coursework if they are not being challenged enough."

He smiled thinly. "I could not agree more Minerva."

….

"What do you think M.B stands for?" Neville asked the room at large as everyone got ready for the lesson. It was rather strange that they didn't know what this teacher's first name was, Dumbledore always introduced teachers by their first and last names, such as the substitute Defence teacher.

"Minty Badger," Hermione supplied, arranging her ink pot and quills on her desk.

"What was that name?" Ron demanded, turning his neck so fast, it looked painful. Several others had incredulous expressions on their faces, surely they'd misheard her.

"Minty Badger," Hermione repeated calmly, glancing up to see if Professor Binns had appeared yet.

"How the bloody hell do you know that?" he exclaimed as the whole class stared at her, equally eager to know the answer.

"Did you read his luggage?" Harry asked with a grin.

"No," she chuckled, brushing away some of her fringe. "It's more of an educated guess based on an article I read this morning. It was talking about the Department of Magical law enforcement and mentioned a Minty Badger Ashdown. The brief description matches him so unless there's another Ashdown in that department who has those initials….."

"How do you remember all of that?" Lavender said, partly impressed, partly exasperated. "Especially from that boring paper."

"It just goes on and on," agreed Parvati.

"I find it interesting," Hermione half shrugged with a sigh.

"You find everything interesting," Lavender scoffed, flicking back her lovingly brushed hair.

"I don't….," Hermione began but at that moment, their teacher entered carrying a stack of papers.

"Good morning class," he greeted in a slightly reedy voice.

There was a slight murmur back at him but he did not seem concerned. He headed straight to his desk, depositing his papers on top as he seated himself. The class watched him closely, wondering what kind of teacher he'd be. Shuffling a few papers, he peered at them through slightly watery eyes.

"I am Professor Ashdown class," he began. "I will be your Professor for the rest of this year's term and after reviewing what you have learned this year, I believe that it would be best to focus on basic defence coursework. This will ensure that you pass the exams without issue."

There were murmurs at this, it definitely didn't sound as fun as Professor Perronneau classes at been. Hermione held up her hand.

"Yes, Miss….?" he questioned, turning his attention to her and peering over. Harry was starting to wonder if the old Professor needed glasses.

"Granger Sir," she replied instantly. "I was just wondering, will there be a practical element to the basics?"

Everyone sat up at that while Harry and Ron remembered how Umbridge had responded to that question three years previously.

"Of course Miss Granger, it is important that you learn the practical and theoretical elements to defence against the dark arts. I have been informed that defence learning has been rather roughshod in recent years so I want to do some groundwork that I hope your next teacher shall build on," he explained in his slow, reedy voice.

Looking down at the parchment in front of him as though checking notes, he then said.

"For today, you shall be reading these chapters that I have selected from your defence book."

Bringing out a darkly coloured wand, he waved it and writing instantly appeared on the blackboard in a slowing script. Harry saw that the chapters were not in order, he wanted them to read chapter's one, four, eight, nine and eleven. He knew what they contained and had a vague idea of where Ashdown was going with this.

"It does not matter if you do not complete all of these chapters today," their teacher continued. "What I want you to do is after reading a chapter, summarise the main points you have learned and then continue to the next chapter. Your homework will be to complete this exercise with any chapters you have not managed to complete today. Please begin."

"How's going to react when Hermione hands in a summary of all of those chapters?" Ron whispered to Harry with a grin.

Harry just grinned back before opening his book and dipping his quill into an ink pot.

…

"How do you feel about the name Spear?" Hermione asked later that evening as they did their homework. Or rather, Harry was idly reading a potions book while Ron lounged in an arm chair, his scroll practically forgotten on the arm rest.

"Spear?" Harry repeated.

"It stands for the Society for the Protection of Elves and their Rights," she stated with a look that was both proud and daring him to disparage it.

"As long as it's not Spew or Sick or whatever, you'll be fine," Ron commented on, idly shooting at some flying paper airplanes.

"It's a good name, I'd go with it," Harry said hastily. "I bet Dobby will be a member if we can free him."

"It would be good to have some elf members," she said with a smile. "It's a group founded for them after all."

"Just remember, they like working," Ron piped up again, tongue sticking out slightly as he aimed for a plane circling up above him.

"Yeah, even Dobby did," Harry confirmed, thinking about Kreacher. House Elves loved to work but if left all on their own for years, it seemed they could lose the joy of keeping a home.

"I know, I haven't forgotten that," she assured them. "I'm not going to stop them working, I just want to protect their rights. Their employers shouldn't be allowed to hurt them or abandon them on the streets and House elves shouldn't be expected to beat themselves if they've made a mistake. Or supposedly insulted their employers."

"Can't argue with that," Harry mused, pausing at a certain section of his book and writing a note on a scrap of parchment.

"Thank you," she said. "I've been working on the manifesto, I think I've almost got it right."

"You should show it to the House elves downstairs," Ron suggested, successfully hitting the plane and watching it spiral towards the ground before crashing into another chair before crumbling to the floor. "See what they think about it."

"Feeling peckish?" Harry questioned, looking up from his book.

"Now that you mention it….," grinned Ron as Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I might go down there after dinner," she started to say but stopped when her name was called.

"Hermione!"

They all looked around to see Percy marching over, clutching a sheet of paper in his hand.

"What's wrong Percy?" Ron asked, lifting his head up.

"I found this on the notice board," Percy stated, brandishing the paper where they could see Hermione's neat script.

"I posted that," Hermione stated quickly. "I wanted to get people's opinion on the subject."

"What's happening here?" a new voice interrupted and they saw that Fred and George had been attracted by commotion caused by their elder brother. It was George who had spoken, looking amused by Percy's slightly flustered look.

"I just wanted to see what other people, especially Muggleborns thought about it," Hermione said to Percy who frowned.

"It's against the law to do magic outside of school," he began but was interrupted by Fred.

"Magic outside of school? That sounds awesome," he said with a big grin. "So what's the plan Granger, we just whip out our wands and declare we shall no longer be bound by tyrannical rules."

"No, that is definitely not what I had in mind," was the exasperated reply. "My proposal was to have a place in Diagon Alley where pupils can demonstrate their magic to their family."

"But we can't do magic outside….," Percy started to say but Hermione actually spoke over him.

"I know but magic is happening all the time there," she ground out. "My parents saw people performing magic there, it's a magic zone and one of the few places muggles get to see magic. All I'm saying if why can't I show my parents what I can do? It's not as though they can come to Hogwarts."

"Why would they do that?" Fred asked, looking bemused.

"In muggle schools, parents visit to find out how they're children are doing," she explained.

"Weird," George stated, receiving a nod from his twin.

"Hermione," Percy began. "I understand you want to show your parents your abilities but this law has been set in place for a good reason."

"And I understand it," she argued back. "But I think….."

"This is gonna last a while," muttered Ron to Harry. "Better get comfortable."

…

Dear Sirius

We won the match against Hufflepuff! It was a brilliant game and the weather was perfect for flying, it was just a shame it wasn't a longer, I think it only lasted fifteen minutes. Oliver is really excited for the Ravenclaw match, he says there's nothing that can stop us winning the House Cup. Fingers crossed that's true, Slytherin had already had the Cup for six years in a row, we need to break that streak.

Professor Ashdown's fine, we're studying a lot for our exams but we are practising different defence spells which we're all enjoying. Nothing very exciting has been happening, I think we had all of our excitement last year.

How are things with your house? I'd be happy to help over the summer with it. I'm really looking forward to seeing you again, maybe we could go flying together. Even if we win this season, Oliver will be desperate to win the next so I'll need to practise.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Harry

….

Dear Harry

Well done on winning the match, I never doubted the outcome. I know what you mean about fast matches and wouldn't you know it, they tend to be on perfect days. I swear all the longer matches your dad was in always had the worst weather. But chances are, you'll have decent weather for your last match and that cup will be yours. I'm sure Professor McGonagall is very keen to get it back.

If you need excitement, I have plenty of ideas for that. As long as none of it involves Voldemort, it's all good. You could always explore some of those secret passages I told you about, just have the cloak and Map with you.

Things with my house are basically as I expected, which isn't good. You would not believe what has spawned there in the time since my parents died. The place wasn't exactly homely before I left and now? Well, you'll see it soon enough. It's not all bad though, I've connected with my cousin Tonks, who you met when that rat was caught. She sometimes comes round to help with the house which as I've said, is a complete dump. And Kreacher, the House elf, isn't much good, he just scuttles about hiding 'heirlooms' that I'd rather throw out.

Thanks for the offer, don't worry, when you see the place, I don't be upset when you change your mind. But what we could do is work on your room, that would be something to look forward to.

We will definitely go flying, I'll show you the places James and I used to go. Your dad was like Oliver in that sense, he practised all summer, always saying he couldn't afford to let Slytherin win. Drove us nuts at times but it paid off.

I'll be meeting you at King's Cross, been a long time since I last saw your aunt and uncle. That was certainly an experience…..

Take care

Sirius

…..

Author's note. Hah, you all thought Umbridge was going to show up. As Hermione said, half a year really wouldn't be attractive to someone like her. But…..watch this space. ;)

Hairy Tail: I can't remember if I replied to you before but just in case anyone else is confused, in the third book Ron mentions how his dad once went to Azkaban to inspect it. That's what he meant about 'everyone being really thin and stuff'. Even if Arthur never saw Sirius at the prison, I doubt any of the prisoner were in great condition.