Defence Against the dark Arts

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Chapter One

The twelve students for Advanced 7^th Year NEWT Defence against the Dark Arts filed their way into the small classroom designated for their use on the third floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There was much talking, laughing and joking among the students of all four of the school houses as they perched on desks and chattered as they waited for their Professor to arrive. They had reason to be cheerful as this was their last day of lessons, they were reminiscing about their last seven years at school, friends, enemies, Quidditch rivalries, favourite teachers, least favourite teachers, gossip. The talk soon turned to the inevitable: leaving school, though the subject of NEWTS was not raised by mutual understanding that they were all worried enough about the upcoming exams without discussing them further.

“I'm going to miss this place…” Anna sighed wistfully, looking out of the window with a sad smile, seeing Hagrid terrifying a group of First Years in Care of Magical Creatures.

“Me too…” Josh replied, though his face was an exaggeration, as he teased his best friend, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her up and spinning her around in a circle. Anna squealed with laughter much to their friends' amusement.

“Put me down Joshua!” She giggled.

“You need to lighten up Anna. It's not like you're never going to see anyone again, and we've still got the exams to go…” He said with a grin. She gave in and smiled, but thought privately that it wouldn't be the same once they were out in the real world, away from the safe cocoon of Hogwarts.

Her thoughts were disrupted again though as Lu Chang charmed Anna's hair bright pink. Anna laughed at her Hufflepuff friend and returned the favour with a charm turning Lu's usually black hair to a vibrant blue. Soon the five girls in the class sported hair all colours of the rainbow and all were sitting and chatting.

Tom watched them with a smile, knowing his Head Boy credentials would be met with giggles and amusing hexes if used in this particular room of the castle. Josh took a seat next to his friend.

“You know, Anna's not the only one who's going to miss being here…” Tom said sadly. Josh noticed that his friends eyes lingered on the enigmatic figure of Lu, not sitting cross legged on a desk, laughing, her head thrown back with laughter. There was no doubt that Lu was beautiful, as was proven by her name written all over the notepads of many second and third year boys throughout the school, but Josh knew it wasn't just Lu's looks that had Tom enthralled.

“Just tell her Tom. You know you love her, and how many times have I told you that if you tell her you'll soon find out she feels the same. Even if she doesn't it's not like you'll lose her friendship…she's just not like that. I mean look how she is with Jack and they dated once, they're just friends…” Tom nodded and turned to Josh with a grin.

“You know, you've been saying these things to me for nearly six months, and I'm finally going to put you out of your misery…” Josh grinned excitedly waiting to hear Tom's plan, but they were interrupted as the door to the classroom and Professor Granger walked into the room. She stopped, looked around at them all and laughed. She walked to the front of the room, placed her bag on the desk and drew her wand as they all made their way to their seats.

“Well, looks like I'm the odd one out today…” She said, but with a flick of her wand her hair no longer fell in brown ringlets around her face, but was now golden blonde and perfectly straight. The girls clapped with delight and the boys wolf whistled teasingly as their favourite teacher sat on the edge of her desk to begin their last class at Hogwarts.

Chapter Two

“Afternoon everyone. I'm glad to see no one is in a working mood, as I for one have had quite enough of school for one year.” Hermione addressed her class with a wink, and was met with wide grins. She usually made them work hard, but always tried to make things as interesting and fun as possible.

“So what are we going to do today Professor?” Christopher the Ravenclaw prefect asked curiously.

“Ah, Christopher, always so eager to learn…” She teased him lightly.

“Well today we'll be extending our usual final five minutes of fun and games.” Hermione said referring to her practice of quizzing her most advanced class in the form of a Muggle game show, complete with an illuminated score board, which she now conjured out of the air as she spoke.

“But today, things will be a little different. Anna's been in the lead by twenty points for three weeks, and it looks like she might just sweep the mystery prize to be presented at graduation, but I'm giving you all one last chance to gain a few points…though I'll be awarding the questions a little differently today. In fact, I've noticed there's definitely been one thing lacking in our little game show this last year…I need a glamorous assistant, sadly, my guest today refused to wear the sequinned dress I had all picked out…” She sighed dramatically as he students laughed.

“So, I agreed to hand over the reigns today to a guest host, and act as the glamorous assistant.” She said smiling.

“So, who's our quiz master going to be today?” Josh asked.

“Well, why don't you take a look for yourself…time to get rid of the invisibility cloak…” She shouted to the back of the room. Her students all turned in amazement that someone had an invisibility cloak, knowing how rare they were, but their jaws dropped as they recognised the man now holding the cloak.

“Oh my god!” Tim exclaimed.

“Harry Potter!” Lu whispered in amazement.

Hermione laughed out loud to see her students' reactions to Harry's visit. She knew that for once they'd be shocked into almost silence. It wasn't often that Harry came out and about in the Wizarding world without convincing disguises. Harry looked up and smiled his trademark dazzling grin at her, and walking to the front of the class, jumped so he was sitting on the desk next to her.

“They always this quiet `Mione?” He asked loudly, and was elbowed in the ribs.

“Sorry…Professor Granger?” He said with a grin as the students giggled to hear Professor Granger referred to as `Mione, and to see the famous Harry Potter getting told off by her.

Hermione laughed at her class and the twinkle in Harry's eye.

“No, they're definitely not usually this quiet, give them a minute and you'll be hiding behind my desk Potter.” She teased.

Harry stood and looked at her assessingly.

“Is that a challenge Granger?” He said as she stood and they looked at each other eye to eye, mischievous glints in their eyes.

“Of course! You know you can't resist a challenge.”

“Is that right, Professor?” He said.

Harry turned to the class then, who were sitting delighted to overhear the banter between two of the most famous individuals in the Wizarding world. The girls suddenly wanting to be Professor Granger more than ever before, both for her pluck and humour, and her current proximity to Harry Potter, who would have been the object of their affection had he not been famous, simply for his amazing good looks, and runaway hair.

The boys who had idolised Harry Potter since birth, for his famous fights against Voldemort, and his victory in the final battle seven years before were delighted to find that their hero was down to earth and funny as well as the most powerful wizard since Albus Dumbledore.

Tom finally spoke up.

“So Mr. Potter is our new quizmaster then?” He asked with a grin.

Harry looked horrified.

“Oh god, call me Harry, no one's called me Mr. Potter since Snape, and I don't need to go back to those memories!” He chuckled, and the class laughed appreciatively having been through their own ordeals with Snape for the first three years of Hogwarts before he had taken a job in the Ministry of Magic.

“And yes, it seems I've been convinced to come in and act as your host, sadly Professor Granger also refused to wear the sequinned assistant dress, but I'm sure I'll cope…” He said as Hermione playfully whacked him in the arm.

Anna watched Professor Granger and Harry smile at each other and a sense of relief flooded through her. They had the same kind of relationship she and Josh had, and from reading books on recent Defence against the Dark Arts she knew they'd been friends since the first year of school, and they were obviously still close and got along well, maybe she didn't need to worry about her and Josh's friendship.

Chapter Three

The next hour was spent happily answering the questions Harry asked them. The students were now over the initial shock of meeting Harry Potter and were enjoying the challenge of remembering the details of his career fighting Voldemort, and correctly performing several advanced defensive spells.

Anna was surprised when after the first hour of class Professor Granger announced that they had now completed their course in Advanced Defence against the Dark Arts, but the students were excited to learn that they would now be able to ask Harry questions about whatever they wanted for the rest of the class.

“How did you manage to fight Voldemort when you were only eleven?” Tom asked curiously, wanting to hear the details from Harry himself, rather than a vague account in a textbook.

“Well, it helped that I had no idea what I was doing, nor what Voldemort was truly capable of at that point…but I need help explaining this particular event…” Harry said cryptically. The students watched as Harry and Professor Granger had a silent conversation and a moment later Professor Granger nodded and grabbing a handful of Floo powder stuck her head into the fire.

Lu stifled a giggle as from her position at the front of the class she overheard Professor Granger's words.

“Hey, are you up, you lazy git? And don't come to the fireplace unless you're fully dressed, I've got a class full of students who don't want to be scarred for life.”

Lu heard a deep male voice reply though she couldn't see anyone as he view of the fireplace was obstructed by Professor Granger's chair.

“Yeah I'm up. You ok?”

“Fancy joining me and Harry in a bit of reminiscing?”

“I'm on my way.” Said the voice with a trace of a laugh.

If it was possible, the students looked even more shocked as the figure emerged from the fireplace to stand before them. Alan especially looked as if he'd died and gone to heaven as his Quidditch hero stood in front of him.

Hermione smirked.

“I'm going to guess you all recognise Ron?” She said chuckling.

“Unless you've been living under a rock you can't escape the notoriety of the English national Quidditch team.” She said with a grin.

Ron lifted a hand and waved at the students gaping at him, taking a seat on the other side of Hermione on the desk.

“So what are we talking about?” Ron asked looking around the room.

Tom repeated his question about their first year adventure and Ron looked at Harry and Hermione and grinned.

“Now that was an eventful first year of school…” He said with a chuckle.

Harry took over the explanation briefly explaining that they had learnt that the Philosophers Stone was hidden in the school.

“So, you were standing face to face with a three headed dog?” Josh asked incredulously.

Harry nodded.

“We had no idea what was going on, we were lost and hiding from Mrs. Norris and that was when we met Fluffy.”

“Fluffy?”

“Ah, well he was one of Hagrid's pets…” Ron explained and the class nodded their heads in understanding, everyone knew about Hagrid's bizarre penchant for dangerous pets.

“Of course, Ron and I were busy trying to get away from all its teeth, only Hermione noticed the trapdoor it was standing over. That was how we figured out the stone was hidden there, and Fluffy was guarding it.”

“So how did you get past Fluffy?” Anna asked. Harry laughed.

“Well, it was close at one point…”

Harry, Hermione and Ron spent the next hour answering questions, finishing each others sentences as they explained their adventures, sticking mainly to the humorous aspects of the events, and not dwelling too much on the darkness and fear of the times. They didn't speak too much of death until Lu raised her hand to ask a question she had always wondered about.

“Harry, did you know that yours and Voldemort's wands were brothers before the Tri-Wizard Tournament?” Harry looked at Lu.

“Your surname's Chang?” She nodded.

“I thought so. You look a lot like Cho…then I guess you met Cedric while they were dating?” Lu nodded sadly.

“I'm sorry for your loss. Cedric was a great guy, and a fantastic Quidditch player…In answer to your question, I did know that our wands were brothers before that day.”

Hermione and Ron turned to him in surprise.

“What?” They exclaimed in unison.

“Well, I didn't want to freak people out by telling them.” He said turning to his best friends. They nodded their understanding however and Harry turned back to the class.

“Mr. Ollivander told me the day I bought my wand, though at that point I had never even heard Voldemort's name…I only knew that my wand's brother had given me my scar. Dumbledore later explained the connection…he had been notified by Ollivander immediately.”

Hermione smiled to think that she was actually learning things today along with her students. She looked to her left and right at her best friends, remembering all their Hogwarts days as they sat in a classroom of their old school. She could just see the three of them sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, Ron and Harry playing wizard chess as she worked or read `Hogwarts: A History'. She turned her mind back to the discussion and chuckled under her breath to find that they had digressed and were rather predictably considering the boys preoccupation, discussing Quidditch. Harry caught her eye and winked, she winked back, knowing how Ron loved the attention he got as Keeper for the Chudley Cannons, and the English National Team.

“Do you know Victor Krum?” John asked excitedly as he was a big Krum fan.

Harry laughed at the question they had asked Ron, and John looked at him with a confused expression until Anna turned to him with an exasperated expression.

“Remember the Tri-Wizard Tournament?”

John blushed.

“Oh yeah, but do you still know him?”

“Well we met him when we were fourteen as he was one of Harry's opponents in the Tri-Wizard, but ah, we weren't exactly the best of friends then.” Ron said with a smirk and Harry laughed again. The students looked at them in confusion, and Hermione groaned.

“Did we have to bring this up?” She said looking at her friends. They grinned cheekily at her.

“Well, they're graduating now, maybe it's time they knew the real Professor Granger.” Harry said with a smirk.

Hermione stuck her tongue out at her friends, and turned to the class again who were watching this exchange with interest.

“Fine…the boys here had some issues with me dating Victor, and didn't get along too well with him at the time.” Hermione blushed as she said it, and twelve sets of eyebrows went up as they took in the fact that their quiet Defence against the Dark Arts teacher was not only best friends with two of the most famous wizards in the world, but had dated the most famous Quidditch player in the world.

Hermione looked at their expressions and laughed.

“Hey Ron, they all look like you did when I went to stay with Victor in Bulgaria after Graduation.” She teased her friend.

“We do all know Victor Krum,” Ron confirmed with a grin. “And we all get along much better now that Hermione doesn't date him anymore, in fact he's coming over for dinner next week isn't he?” He turned to ask Harry. Harry nodded to confirm the date, as Ron tended to have trouble remembering what day it was let alone plans for the week ahead.

Harry took in Hermione's blush, and he grinned. It was good to see her interact with her students. He hadn't visited Hogwarts openly in the last seven years, though he did meet with Dumbledore quite frequently in the privacy of the Headmasters office to talk. Harry still found it hard to walk around in public without being mobbed, so he tended to transfigure his features, changing his hair colour, hiding his scar and at times he even wore coloured contact lenses to disguise his distinctive green eyes. It was quite a relief to be around young wizards who recognised him but weren't mobbing him. The school bell sounded, signalling the end of the lesson, bringing Harry back to the present. He looked up and smiled to see that Hermione's students hadn't moved from their seats. He looked questioningly at Hermione whose hair had now returned to its usual brown curly state. He smiled to see her back to normal. She smiled back and leaned over to whisper in his ear. He nodded and stood to go and talk with Josh. Hermione then whispered in Ron's ear and he stood and went to speak individually with Tom. She watched Tom's face as Ron began speaking to him, and then handed him a piece of parchment, his eyes widened and he nodded frantically. Hermione grinned, she had told Ron to bring Tom in for a trial for the Canons after watching him play Quidditch over the last few years, knowing that Tom was probably too shy to actively approach teams.

Hermione stood and walked over to where Anna, Lu and Karen were chatting away at one of the front desks.

“Hey girls.”

“Professor Granger.” They all greeted her. She smiled in response.

“I think we can dispense with formality now, I'm no longer officially your teacher, just call me Hermione. Thanks to those two you know too much about me to think of me as a Professor now anyway!” She giggled, and they laughed with her.

“Did you enjoy the last class then?” She asked them.

They all nodded excitedly.

“Anna, you not worried anymore?” Hermione asked her favourite student. Anna looked at her in surprise, then realised that Hermione must have guessed what she was worried about. She smiled.

“Thanks. I know it'll be ok now.” She replied, her eyes glancing towards where Josh sat talking animatedly with Harry. Hermione followed Anna's gaze and then looked at Anna's face intently. Lu and Karen had joined Tom talking to Ron now and Anna and Hermione were alone.

“Anna, maybe you aren't just worried about your friendship drifting apart…” Hermione said softly. Anna looked up at Hermione surprised.

“Anna, you look at Josh like I look at Harry…not how I look at Ron…Ron and I are so close that he's the brother I never had. But, I know I can trust you, as very few people know that, well, that Harry and aren't just best friends, we've been dating for three years Anna.” Hermione saw Anna's shocked face and decided to continue.

“It took me a long time to see what was there Anna, and I was almost too late. I was dating Victor for a long time after we left school, denying what I felt for Harry as I didn't want to wreck out friendship, but it was always there…I may be completely wrong, but you remind me so much of myself at seventeen, and Josh is so much like Harry. I've seen how close you two are, and you look at him when he's not watching, but Anna, he looks at you too…he stares at the back of your head for long periods of time…I know it's weird realising your feelings have changed towards a friend. I feel strange pointing it out to you, but I'm only saying this as Harry and I wasted so much time by not acknowledging what was between us, and not wanting to leave Ron out, but we all still live together and we get along better than ever.” Hermione said as Anna listened silently, keeping an eye on Josh as she did so.

Anna turned back to Hermione, unshed tears in her eyes.

“What if he doesn't feel the same way?” She asked softly.

“Then you'll still have your best friend.” Hermione replied.

“Thanks Hermione.” Anna said, suddenly feeling comfortable calling Professor Granger by her first name. Impulsively Hermione hugged her. They smiled at each other.

“You know you're still at the number one spot in the game show?” Hermione asked her casually? Anna looked at the scoreboard and nodded.

“I know I said I wouldn't tell you till Graduation, but I'm offering you a job. I'm researching the development of several new defensive spells, and will then be writing a study on the experiments, and Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to hire a research assistant, and I'd like you to fill that position. But before you make your decision you need to know that Harry would also like to hire you…dependent on your NEWT results you will be offered a position in the Ministry of Magic as an Auror due to your skill in Defence Against the Dark Arts.” Hermione told her shocked student. Anna looked back at her with wide eyes.

“So Harry's an Auror?”

Hermione nodded.

“That's what he was talking to Josh about a few minutes ago.” Anna nodded her understanding.

“You don't need to make a decision yet, you have until Graduation, but I thought you'd like some time to think things over.”

“Thank you Hermione. There's so much to take in at once…can I come and talk to you about it all?” She asked hesitantly.

“Anytime Anna. Just send me an OWL and I'll come and meet you at my office.” The two women smiled at each other and Anna went to join her friends, taking a seat next to Josh and ruffling his hair teasingly.

Epilogue

Professor Dumbledore stood and approached the podium, looking over all those gathered in the Great Hall, the families sitting happily, the first few rows of chairs filled with the graduating students dressed today not in their usual school robes but in simple new robes of their house colours.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, for our celebration of the achievements of these young men and women seated before us. They have demonstrated a dedication to their studies, but what they have learnt within these walls goes beyond a standard education. They have grown and matured, made friendships, some to understand one another, I would hope that every student standing before me today has learnt tolerance, to work with other houses, to place themselves in the shoes of another, and to trust their instincts…I have the honour of presenting several awards to present today to some of our brightest and most accomplished students. I am also privileged to announce several apprenticeships, which have been awarded by the Ministry of Magic. In recent years it has become very easy to forget that dangers still remain in our world and that there are wizards and witches who continue to practice Dark Arts. While we celebrate the fact that we may no longer live in fear as we experienced until the fall of Voldemort, we must still be alert to the dangers around us. It is therefore my pleasure to announce our guest speaker today who will award the first two apprenticeships, I believe he needs no introduction, though many of you may not have seen him for quite some time…Harry Potter.”

Harry came forward to the podium to rapturous applause. He looked behind him to where Hermione stood with the other teachers also applauding, she gave him an encouraging smile and he turned back to the audience, bolstered by Hermione's smile.

“I'm here today as a representative of the Auror Division of the Ministry of Magic. I have worked as an auror officially for the last seven years, but unofficially I guess I've been auror for fourteen years.” Harry said with a wry grin, and the guests and students chuckled appreciatively. Hermione sighed with relief. She knew how nervous Harry was about speaking today, but now that he'd cracked a joke she knew he'd relax and speak easily. She was surprised he'd agreed to speak in the first place, but having visited her class a few weeks before had boosted his confidence about appearing in public in the Wizarding world, and she knew he could trust the people gathered in the Great Hall today.

“Two of the graduating students here today have accepted positions in the Auror training division. This is a job which can be dangerous, though thankfully less so than in past years. The individuals working as Aurors throughout Britain do so to protect the integrity of magic practiced, and to protect both the magical community and the Muggle community. It's a great honour to present two students here with their Auror training cloaks, and I look forward to training them over the next year. Would you please welcome Alexis Trent and Tom Bones to the stage to collect their cloaks.” Harry smiled and shook Alexis and Tom's hands, passing them their cloaks with a smile, remembering his own `ceremony' with a wry grin as he thought of Mad-Eye Moody throwing the cloak at him as they raced out of 12 Grimmauld Place to fight yet another attack of Death Eaters in a Muggle Village a few short weeks before the final battle.

Harry took the seat Dumbledore conjured next to Hermione and turned to smile at his girlfriend as Dumbledore returned to the platform. Harry knew he'd been hiding for too long with disguises, working in the depths of the ministry, working with his face obscured by a black cloak, keeping his relationship with Hermione secret. He reached across and took her hand impulsively, she whipped her head around to look at him in surprise, but taking in his soft smile she smiled back and squeezed his hand. This display of affection did not go unnoticed and several curious glances were directed their way while Dumbledore presented prizes for the best grades in the NEWTS and other general achievement awards. Harry and Hermione appeared oblivious to the glances and simply enjoyed seeing the students graduate. After speaking with Anna, Hermione realised that Anna would be uncomfortable accepting her research fellowship in front of all the school, and they had agreed not to have a formal presentation, but Hermione was privately thrilled that Anna had agreed to work with her, as they got along well and shared a similar work ethic.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he watched the graduating class have their photographs taken, and a wide smile spread across his face to see Harry's arm around Hermione's shoulder as they spoke to Anna's parents. It was about time the boy acknowledged his relationship. As the last photograph was taken, with a flick of his wand Dumbledore had transformed the Great Hall and music began to play as the Graduation Ball began.

Anna and Josh stood talking and laughing with Lu when Josh spied Harry and Hermione dancing together sometime later.

“What's going on between those two? I thought they were just friends.”

Anna looked at him quickly before returning her gaze to her new mentor.

“They've been dating for three years. They just didn't want everyone to know before.” Anna said softly. Lu headed to the dance floor and began dancing with Tom. Anna and Josh watched silently as the pair danced.

“Maybe she'll finally see he's in love with her.” Josh muttered. Anna whirled around.

“He loves her? Oh my god that's great! She's been crazy about him since the Fifth year!” Her face split into a huge grin.

“I guess some people just don't see what's right in front of them. At leas that's what Hermione told me. She tried to convince herself that she didn't love Harry, but they sorted it out in the end…” Anna sighed and sank into a chair by the table they stood in front of. She just didn't know if she could do it. Josh took a seat next to her, misinterpreting her sigh.

“It's not like you're even leaving Hogwarts Anna! It's not too big a change. And I'll come and see you whenever Harry lets us out.” He said with a grin. She smiled weakly back at him.

Harry saw them out of the corner of his eye, and spun Hermione around so she would see them also.

“Should we give them a little shove?” He asked.

She smiled up at him.

“Just what I was thinking. You invite Anna to dance? I'll take Josh?” She asked with a cheeky grin.

“As long as you behave yourself `Mione.” He said pulling her close. She hugged him and stood up on her toes to kiss him.

“Promise.” She said with a grin, pulling away.

The End