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The seventh years trudged into their Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson on the first day of classes. Amycus Carrow was stood at the front of the room, hands behind his back and a scowl on his face. The Gryffindors and Slytherins sat down without a word. Rather than the typical Gryffindor/Slytherin divide, the students had decided to sit together. Carrow, however, was having none of it. "Houses will not sit with each other. There will be no fraternising with the enemy. Slytherins at the front, Gryffindors at the back. Move now!" He ordered. Quickly, the Houses split, but Draco sat as far back as he could so he could be near to the Gryffindors, who had let Hermione and Ron sit as far forwards as they could. "Good. You will address me as Professor Carrow only. Your lessons in this subject have usually taught you to defend yourselves against evil. They have also taught you to defend mudbloods, blood traitors, and muggles." At the offensive words, he lingered his gaze on Ron, Hermione and Dean. "This will stop. You are all the next generation, and in the big scheme of things, you are the future. This is your future." He rolled up his sleeve and showed them all his Dark Mark. It was met with disgust, even by the Slytherins. "You will all graduate to support and serve the Dark Lord, and you will need to know the correct spells with which to teach any deviants the proper lessons they need to be taught. For an entire year, you will be taught only the Dark Arts. Practice of said spells will be on first years."
"No!" Neville shouted.
"I beg your pardon Mr…?" Carrow asked, moving over to Neville.
"Longbottom. And I will not harm first years." He told him defiantly.
"You will do as you are told, Longbottom." Carrow informed him, towering above him with his wand in his face. "No excuses. Fifty points from Gryffindor."
"What for?" Seamus challenged.
"I do not need to explain myself young man." He turned on him.
"Then don't treat us like shit." Astoria answered back.
Carrow turned on the girl and slapped her. "I expect better of you Miss Greengrass."
"Why, because my parents are all buddy-buddy with your leader? Well I'm sorry, but I am not going to align myself with fucking murderers. Dumbledore's Army!" She raised her fist in front of him in defiance.
"Detention Miss Greengrass!" Carrow told her. When his back was turned, Astoria stuck her middle finger up at him. Carrow stood in front of Draco and looked down at him. "I expect you to control your Slytherins better Mr Malfoy. They are, after all, your minions. Are you not the Slytherin Prince?"
Draco looked him straight in the eye. "What my House say and do is not my problem. They are their own people, and I cannot tell them what to do." He replied calmly.
"Well I suggest you get them under control Mr Malfoy. Otherwise word will get back to the Dark Lord, and he will not be happy if he finds out his youngest recruit is disobeying him. Imagine the pain your parents will feel at his hand. And it will be your fault." He tried to intimidate him.
"You blackmailing me Carrow?" Draco asked, standing up to square him up. He narrowed his eyes in return. "Because it doesn't work. You mention the fact that the Dark Lord will abuse my parents? You forget the fact that, despite my father not being in His good books, he is still the Dark Lord's right hand man. So imagine His fury when he finds out that one of the people he has placed in His soon-to-be headquarters is disobeying His orders and is harming the students who will be his army after graduation. You tell Him about my so-called insolence and he may punish me. But if you do that, I'll tell Him about you, and he won't be as kind to you." Draco stared him in the eye, his temper or voice never once rising.
Carrow stared at him, his chest rising and falling heavily. Eventually he turned and headed back to the front of the class. "Sit back down Mr Malfoy. Back to the lesson. Today we will be learning the Unforgiveable curses. Your Professor in your fourth year showed you the consequences of the three curses three years ago, but you need reminding. I need a test subject…" He looked around the class and, deciding that none of her class were good enough, he conjured a snake. "Imperio." The snake, briefly, glowed red and started to move. First it slithered across the floor to the Slytherins, stopping specifically in front of Astoria and bearing its fangs to her. Then it slunk over to each Gryffindor in turn, sliding over them, before slithering back over to Carrow, who enlarged it. "Crucio." He whispered, danger flashing in his eyes and a creepy smile forming on his face. The snake began to writhe in pain, high-pitched whines coming from its very core. However, it soon stopped, but not by Carrow's hand.
"Hush now my snake. Override the pain. You'll be fine." All heads turned to find the unknown Slytherin girl stood at the back of the class, calming the snake down and ending the curse. She turned to the Professor. "Carrow. I suggest you show them briefly what each curse does, and leave the snakes alone." She said menacingly, her voice emanating power.
Carrow stared at her, furious. "You have no right to tell me what to do, young girl."
The girl strode to the front and went straight into the Death Eater's face. "Have you forgotten who I am? Have you forgotten the power I have over you? One word, Carrow, that's all it would take." The girl threatened, her voice quite.
Carrow straightened up and stared down at the girl. "I don't care who you are, or how much power you have. I don't care who your father is. This is my class, and I will do what I will."
The girl laughed and stepped back. "Fine." Never taking her eyes off the man in front of her, she addressed the snake once again. "Strangle him."
The whole class watched as the snake bowed its head and moved forward. Carrow, having not taken his eyes off of the girl, didn't see it coming. The first he knew was when the snake slithered up his leg, around his waist and up his chest, slowly tightening itself around him until his entire upper torso was wrapped up. The final bind, around the neck, bought the snake face to face with the frightened man. Hissing, the snake started to tense up and pull, tightening itself around him. The class watched as the man's eyes started to bulge and his lips started to turn purple as the air was squeezed out of him. The girl, feeling him punished, raised a hand and the snake stopped, unravelling itself and sliding over to the girl, wrapping itself around her shoulders. Carrow collapsed against the desk holding his throat. "What the fuck?" He rasped.
The girl, stroking the snake's head, spoke calmly. "I told you. Show the class the spells briefly, and do not abuse the snakes. They are innocent animals, and more to the point, the emblem of your own House."
Carrow never once argued back; instead he looked frightened of the girl. "Fine. Would you like to show the class the final curse then? Kill the snake." He challenged the girl.
The Slytherin, although furious with the man in front of her, never backed down. Stroking the snake's head she aimed her wand at the animal. "Avada Kedavra." She said, her voice void of all emotion and a very visible mask covering her face. The snake slumped from her shoulders onto the floor and she vanished it. She turned on the Professor again and her wand threateningly in front of the Death Eater's face. "Never, and I mean, never, let me catch you abusing snakes again. Nor let me catch you threatening any of the students. You know you role here. Do it to perfection." She ordered, before leaving the classroom once again, the rest of the class staring back at her in awe.
Carrow called the attention back to the front. "We are going to now practice the spells. Starting with Imperio, on each other. Pair up and work. Anybody who does not will be giving a detention and will practice it on first years instead."
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Later that night, an impromptu DA meeting was called. "I can't believe they're forcing is to learn this!" "Practicing on first years is just barbaric!" "I can't believe he slapped Astoria. Are you alright?" "And threatening Draco!" "Who was that girl?" "Did you see the way Carrow cowered in front of her?" "What are we going to do?" Was just a few comments once the group had convened in the ROR.
"Quiet!" Draco shouted, instantly quietening the group. "Calm down. I know you're all angry and disgusted, but shouting your mouth off is not going to help. First of all, Astoria, are you alright? How's the cheek?"
"It's fine, thank you. My sister healed it at dinner. There won't be any marks." She smiled at him.
"Good. That was brave of you, and you Neville, for standing up to him."
"It was you who impressed me Draco. He threatened your family, yet you didn't lose it. You stayed calm. How did you do that?" Neville asked, clearly impressed.
"Years of practice." Draco chuckled, before becoming serious again. "Now, as for what to do. I think it's obvious. Harry gave us all a mission, so we stick to it. We stand up to them, and help out who we can."
"Can we intimidate them? I'd love to sneak behind them and give them what for wearing the mask!" Ginny said excited, half of the group agreeing with her.
Ron laughed. "Unfortunately not Ginny, sorry. We cannot abuse our power. As much as I'd love to join you, we can't."
"Aaawww." She mock pouted, causing those around her to chuckle.
"We can, however, cause as much trouble as possible as ourselves. Ron, Ginny, your brothers are the infamous Weasley twins. I'm sure you've learnt some tricks." Draco smirked.
"Oh God, loads." Ginny agreed.
"Good. They'll come in handy. The best bet is to probably use the original Defence spells that we should be learning against the ones we're being forced to learn. That will teach them I think." Draco said. "A group of you ought to get together and come up with different ideas as to how to do that. Not now, later."
"I agree." Hermione pitched in. "It will be worth it. Breaking the rules are sometimes worth it. What?" She added at the looks of surprise she was given.
"I never once thought I'd hear you say the words 'breaking the rules are sometimes worth it'." Ron grinned, earning a slap on the arm from Hermione.
"Alright, alright. Enough of the soppy lover's tiffs." Draco interrupted, slightly sad. "Now that's agreed upon, I think its best we all go back to our common rooms before we get in trouble. Be careful." He added as they started to leave.
Draco was the last one to leave. Seeing Hermione and Ron, all loved up, upset him. How he wished Harry was with him.
A/N: Hey. I'm confused. I've only had two reviews for this story, both by the same person. (Thanks xsilverbadboyx) Do you people like it or not? I'm not one to beg, but a review would be nice. :)
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