Harrigan had been warned to expect a prank from the Marauders the morning of September 2nd and it had come as predicted. Unfortunately for the foursome of pranksters, Harrigan was a true expert in Defense and had noticed something off about his morning cup of tea. He had subtly flicked his wand under the table, transferring the contents of his cup to the four pranksters and just for fun, Regulus as well.

The students at large had burst into laughter when the five teenagers were 'gifted' with bright pink and purple striped hair that sparkled with gold and silver glitter. Once the four had realized their prank had been turned back on them, they had burst out laughing as well, aside from Pettigrew, who had complained vociferously about not having brewed the antidote. Sirius had apparently told him to shut up after a few moments because he had subsided into a very ungracious sulk.

Regulus had taken it much more gracefully than Harrigan had thought he would, staring at it in the shine of his goblet before shaking his head a little and chuckling at a no-doubt dry comment his friend Severus Snape had made. Over the past few days, Harrigan had noted that the dark-haired teen had a smart mouth and an even sharper mind, which he used most efficiently against the Marauder's good-natured taunts and the less genteel ones of the more uppity pureblood students.

Today was his first class with the Gryffindor and Slytherin 7th years and he was looking forward to it. According to Minerva McGonagall, these two groups could be incredibly difficult to teach together, but he felt that he was up to the challenge. With a few of the things he had planned for today, they wouldn't know what hit them. He was almost mentally rubbing his hands together in glee and amusement when he had outlined this plan to Orion the older man had stared and him and then burst out laughing.

The first bell for the class rang and he watched as the Slytherins arrived, almost all in one group. They were together in small groups of no more than four but no less than two, and it saddened Harrigan a bit when he remembered Orion explaining that the students traveled in such a manner because they were prone to being attacked if they ventured out alone.

The very last of the Gryffindors, meanwhile, arrived at the classroom just before the last bell rang. With a bit of amusement Harrigan stated, "While we let the Gryffindors catch their breath," a few Slytherins sniggered, "you all might as well stay standing. There will be assigned seating and groups in this class for the entirety of the year."

No laughter after that, they all stared at him in shock. He continued on, "I am well aware that I haven't done that with my previous classes of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but the notoriety of the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin has spread far beyond this school and it stops now, in this classroom. I do not tolerate bigotry or prejudice of any kind, so let's start off with a few rules, shall we?"

Seeing that he had their attention, he flipped over the chalkboard to a blank slate and smacked it once with his wand, the sharp rapping noise-making several students jump in surprise. The words Code & Conduct appeared on the board in neat, slightly slanted calligraphy before the chalk dropped a row and wrote the Roman numeral one, waiting for his words.

"Number one: Within this classroom the school houses do not exist. Lockers will be provided for students to place their school robes. Each student will wear a color of robe according to their skill ranking within Defense, to be tested by the Professor. Colors are from lowest to highest: Black, Red, Blue, Green, Purple, Ivory, Bronze, Silver, and Gold."

"Number two: The word 'Mudblood' or another equivalent is worthy of immediate expulsion from the day's class. A make-up session will be offered, either written or demonstrative, on the student's own free time. Calling a student a 'Death Eater' or something similar will receive the same response and punishment."

"Number three: Everything you will learn in this class is sanctioned by the Board of Governors, who have a full class schedule for the year. Thus, threats of taking a day's contents to the Headmaster are a waste of time and will result in a loss of points. Increased threats to do so, or to go to one's Head of House, will be treated equally. Notice: there is no ceiling limit for loss of points."

"Number four: Your groups are permanent, requests to change will be ignored, even if you have convinced someone from another team to switch with you. You are being placed with your fellow students for a reason, you have something to learn from them and they from you."

"Grading is as follows: Tests are worth 20% of your final grade, Participation is worth 20%, Individual papers are worth 20%, Group work and results are worth 40%. So should you wish to pass this class with an Exceeds, let alone an Outstanding, it requires working together."

The mutters that had started with the first rule had risen exponentially and by the last, there were many students that were visibly outraged. Harrigan placed a weak Sonorous on himself and said, "Enough. There is only one last thing, refrain from speaking about the rules until then."

Once the mutters had silenced, he stated the last bit, which was written in slightly larger letters on the bottom of the chalkboard.

"Once the school houses are stripped away, once blood is stripped away, you are all equal students in this school. Treat your group as a team, respect each individual. There may come a day when you will rely on them to defend your back and keep you alive, or you may be able to save them. Magic is magic, it cares not for human restrictions."

Most of the student's faces were coldly closed off and a few looked outright angry. Harrigan was not surprised. Nothing of this type had ever been attempted at Hogwarts before, he had encountered extreme resistance from the Headmaster when he had revealed his curriculum for the year. Professors Flitwick, Sprout, Sinatra, and Vector had supported his idea, however, saying that something of this type was long overdue.

Harrigan had taken it to the Board of Governors and after what had been actually a surprisingly short debate, they had agreed that he could use this pattern exclusively on his Gryffindor/Slytherin classes. The other two houses got along fine, but the divide between these two was getting more and more alarming with each graduating class.

"So, before we begin, place your house robes and bags in the lockers along the west wall, keeping only your wands. Your house ties as well, please, as well as any Prefect and Head badges. I am your authority in this class and if you are to be equal you need to remove rank as well."

Harrigan had changed the classroom considerably. Taking advantage of Hogwarts' adjustment wards, he had asked a few house elves to remove all the shelving in the room aside from the back wall beside his office, replace the large desk with a smaller one, bring in a few small round tables that could seat five students and place a row of double high lockers on the west wall. This left a considerable amount of space, plenty enough for two medium dueling rings placed side by side width-wise. Of course, the only indicator that they were there was a shimmering white line of pure magic that created the edge of the rings.

The students moved over and reluctantly removed their robes, ties, and badges, placing them in the lockers along with their book bags. As the students closed the doors, finely scripted handwriting appeared on the face of the locker listing which student's belongings were in each. Once they were again assembled in front of him, Harrigan spoke.

"Good, now we can begin. As I call your name, you will come join me here in the dueling ring. We will then have a short duel of your full arsenal aside from illegal spells and I will place you in your respective rankings based on your skills. I will warn you ahead of time, none of you will probably place above Ivory to start with."

"Then why even include the other three?" a Slytherin sneered.

"Your name?" Harrigan asked mildly.

"Zachary Selwyn," he spat in irritation.

"Well then, Mr. Selwyn, the reason for that is the fact that one is actually able to progress in skill during this course. There is no reason why you can't attain a higher level by the end of the year if you participate in classes and make the effort. As a side note, I would suggest you lose your current tone when speaking to me. I am your Professor and I assure you, I will show that I am worth your respect. Your blood and family name mean nothing in here, am I clear?"

"Yes, Professor," he muttered.

"Good, let us begin."

And so the testing began, Harrigan dispatching the first few students with ease, even when he restricted himself to basic spells, nothing above 5th-year level. The first challenge of the day, however, came with his next student.

"Black, Bellatrix."

She moved forward slowly, cautiously approaching him. She had seen how swiftly he had dispatched the first few students, even a couple of Slytherins who had been very confident of their survival. Instead of attacking, she put herself into a guard position, earning herself a tick to the positive in Harrigan's mind.

He flicked a weak Accio in the direction of her wand, noting her speed and economy of motion in the deflection. He followed that with a simple chain (Expulso, Expelliarmus) which she also deflected and evaded. He snapped his wand in a swift flicking motion and repeated the Expelliarmus, disarming her. The students clapped politely and then stared in surprise as he stated firmly, "Ivory."

She smiled a little as her robes gained a soft off-white border. She was the first to gain an Ivory rank, the previous highest had been Alice Cooper, a Gryffindor who had received Purple-edged robes. There were a few mutters as the testing continued when Sirius Black sauntered forwards and received Ivory robes as well.

And on it went. The Marauders were split in power levels, much to Harrigan's surprise. For some reason, he had expected them to be much the same, but while Sirius and James were both Ivory, Remus was a respectable Purple and Peter Pettigrew a spectacularly lousy Red. There were only three students in Red robes at the end of the session, Peter Pettigrew following Enzo Crabbe and Reijo Goyle.

A slight surprise had come with Lily Evans, she was a bright witch but Harrigan had noticed her closed-mindedness, something that came often with Muggleborn students. She had been embarrassed and obviously angry when she received Green robes. She had obviously thought that she would beat out the Marauders, people she did not regard highly at all.

In the end, of eighteen students, the ranks were as followed:

Ivory: Bellatrix Black, Sirius Black, James Potter, Rabastan Lestrange, and Severus Snape.

Purple: Alice Maddox, Remus Lupin, Frank Longbottom, and Rudolphus Lestrange.

Green: Lily Evans, Zachary Selwyn, Walden McNair, and Evan Rosier.

Blue: Cadmus Avery and Augustus Rookwood.

Red: Enzo Crabbe, Reijo Goyle, and Peter Pettigrew.

"I am impressed," Harrigan stated when testing was over. "Half of you are Purple or Ivory, certainly more than I expected. Now it is time to split you into your groups. There will be three groups of six and please remember Rule number four, there is no switching groups."

"Group one will be composed of Cadmus Avery, Bellatrix Black, Lily Evans, Rudolphus Lestrange, James Potter, and Severus Snape."

"Group two will be composed of Sirius Black, Enzo Crabbe, Frank Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Evan Rosier, and Zachary Selwyn."

"Group three will be composed of Alice Maddox, Reijo Goyle, Rabastan Lestrange, Walden McNair, Peter Pettigrew, and Augustus Rookwood."

"For your next session, please write a short paper, no word limit, on why I possibly picked your groups as I did. And I do not want to see 'you mixed Gryffindor and Slytherin' as an answer. Remember the first rule: In this class, there are no houses. Dismissed."

After he said this, the bell rang signaling the end of class. Students made their way over to the lockers, picked out their things, and hung up their basic dueling robes with the colored edges. He could hear mutters as they left, but for the most part, they seemed more interested than angry.

Hopefully, they would remain that way. Harrigan was not optimistic at this point.