HpFanFicLoverXox: Oh, I see. I guess the fact that there's a username (as opposed to the word "Guest") kind of threw me off. About the troll, in the book it wandered into the girl's bathroom where Hermione was, and Harry and Ron watched it go. In this story, Hermione and Harry were already in there, but it wandered in all the same.

Guest: I respect your opinion. I knew not everyone would like the HermionexHarry thing. But they are my OTP. As for Ron, I'm not a big fan either, but I didn't want to turn this into a Ron-bashing fic or anything. Remember, though, that this story is still primarily about Sirius and Harry, not Hermione and Harry. I'm not going to let myself get sidetracked with the romance. So think of that before you say goodbye, at least!

Now for Chapter 42.

…

Not an hour after the game, Sirius, Harry, Ron and Hermione had rounded up a bunch of Gryffindors, all eager to take Sirius's Defense class. It was mostly third years and below, probably because the older kids felt that they already knew much of what he was going to teach.

"All right," said Sirius, pacing back and forth in front of the Gryffindors in front of him. "Let's get down to business. Lesson one—Resourcefulness. Can anyone define this for me?"

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes?" said Sirius.

"Resourcefulness means using any and all resources at hand to achieve your goal," Hermione said.

"Good job." Sirius beamed. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now…resourcefulness means anything can be a weapon. Resourcefulness means thinking on your feet. Resourcefulness means taking advantage of your opponent's weaknesses. Dueling with Death Eaters is not like dueling with your friends for practice. They're not going to play fair. They're not going to warn you before they perform a deadly curse on you or one of your friends. So be prepared to be ruthless as well if you have to be.

"I offer my greatest sympathies," Sirius continued, "to those of you who have lost family and friends to Voldemort—"

Several people cried out in horror; many shuddered; one tiny girl in front started to cry. Sirius looked stricken.

"Hey, don't cry," he said, pulling some Honeydukes chocolate out of the pocket of his robes and bending down to hand it to her. "Your name's Melody, isn't it?"

She nodded, her fingers fumbling to open the package.

"All right, Melody," said Sirius gently. "That's just what he wants, you know—for people to be scared at the sound of his name. Do you want him to have that kind of power over you? Do you want anyone to have that kind of power over you? You're the boss of you, nobody else. Remember that."

Melody just sniffed and nodded again.

"This is an optional class," Sirius said, standing up again, "but one of the things I want to teach you is that if you don't conquer your fears, they will conquer you. So the first thing we'll be doing this afternoon is learning to say the name without fear. Would you like to stay, Melody? It's your choice."

"I'll stay," she said bravely, finally managing to open the chocolate.

"Atta girl," Sirius told her, grinning. "Now, everyone, repeat after me—Vol…"

"Vol…"

"De…"

"De…"

"Mort!"

"Mort," the class chorused.

"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" said Sirius. "Just put them together. Vol-de-mort. Voldemort."

"Voldemort," said everyone. They practiced saying the name a bit more. It was easy for Harry, since he'd never really had trouble saying the name. But it was great watching everyone be less afraid, too.

"Voldemort's name is actually French, if you study the etymology," Sirius continued. "It means 'flight from death', roughly translated. So as you see, even at the height of his powers, Voldemort is the weak one, because he fears death. Meddling with life and death is not our place, as humans—thus, doing so is considered the Darkest of magic. Voldemort is just a coward, fleeing from something he can't control. If we let him control us, we've already lost. And as long as even just one person stands up to him, there's still hope for the future. That will start with us."

Everyone clapped. Next to Harry, Hermione was wiping her eyes.

"Now, with that out of the way…we're going to learn about resourcefulness, like I said," Sirius told them. "Even a simple spell, like a Hover Charm or a Summoning Charm, can help you win a duel. Everyday objects can come in handy. There's an extremely handy spell I can teach you as well. Can anyone tell me what Oppugno does?"

Nobody was surprised when Hermione raised her hand again.

"Oppugno," she said, "is an offensive magic spell that influences objects to attack."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Sirius told her. "If your opponent conjures up a weapon, say, a sword, if you know Oppugno, you could cause the sword to attack the very wizard who conjured it."

"Awesome," said Ron.

"All right now," Sirius said. "For homework—"

"We're going to have homework?" said one of the Weasley twins in disbelief.

"Oh, relax, I don't give you any homework in my actual class, do I?" Sirius said impatiently. "Your homework is to pick either an everyday object OR an everyday, non-offensive or defensive spell, and write one roll of parchment about how it can be used as a weapon against a Dark wizard. Class dismissed."

Everyone scattered except Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"I bet your first pick was Defense Against the Dark Arts, wasn't it?" Harry asked. "You're good at teaching it."

"I'd have liked to teach this class, yeah," Sirius replied. "It just doesn't sit right with me that you lot have such a sub-par Defense teacher."

"I thought nothing sat right with you these days," said Harry, grinning.

"Ah, get out of here," said Sirius. "I need to plan my next lesson."