it seemed harry was hoping for some support for his theory, as he lost no time in telling hermione what he had overheard draco saying on the hogwarts express.

"but he was obviously showing off for parkinson, wasn't he?" interjected ron quickly, before hermione could say anything.

"i already told you, ron," said elara exasperatedly, "draco would most likely cut off his hand before dating parkinson."

"well," she said uncertainly, "i don't know. . . . it would be like malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is . . . but that's a big lie to tell. . . ."

"exactly," said harry, but he could not press the point, because so many people were trying to listen in to the conversation, not to mention staring at him and elara and whispering behind their hands.

"it's rude to point," ron snapped at a particularly minuscule first-year boy as they joined the queue to climb out of the portrait hole. the boy, who had been muttering something about elara and harry behind his hand to his friend, promptly turned scarlet and toppled out of the hole in alarm. ron sniggered.

"i love being a sixth year. and we're going to be getting free time this year. whole periods when we can just sit up here and relax."

"we're going to need that time for studying, ron!" said hermione, as they set off down the corridor.

"yeah, but not today," said ron. "today's going to be a real doss, i reckon."

"hold it!" said hermione, throwing out an arm and halting a passing fourth year, who was attempting to push past her with a lime-green disk clutched tightly in his hand. "fanged frisbees are banned, hand it over," she told him sternly. the scowling boy handed over the snarling frisbee, ducked under her arm, and took off after his friends. ron waited for him to vanish, then tugged the frisbee from hermione's grip.

"excellent, i've always wanted one of these."

hermione's remonstration was drowned by a loud giggle; lavender brown had apparently found ron's remark highly amusing. she continued to laugh as she passed them, glancing back at ron over her shoulder. ron looked rather pleased with himself.

the ceiling of the great hall was serenely blue and streaked with frail, wispy clouds, just like the squares of sky visible through the high mullioned windows. while they tucked into porridge and eggs and bacon, elara, harry, and ron told hermione about their embarrassing conversation with hagrid the previous evening.

"but he can't really think we'd continue care of magical creatures!" she said, looking distressed. "i mean, when has any of us expressed . . . you know . . . any enthusiasm?"

"that's it, though, innit?" said ron, swallowing an entire fried egg whole. "we were the ones who made the most effort in classes because we like hagrid. but he thinks we liked the stupid subject. d'you reckon anyone's going to go on to n.e.w.t.?"

neither elara, nor harry, nor hermione answered; there was no need. they knew perfectly well that nobody in their year would want to continue care of magical creatures. they avoided hagrid's eye and returned his cheery wave only halfheartedly when he left the staff table ten minutes later.

after they had eaten, they remained in their places, awaiting professor mcgonagall's descent from the staff table. the distribution of class schedules was more complicated than usual this year, for professor mcgonagall needed first to confirm that everybody had achieved the necessary o.w.l. grades to continue with their chosen n.e.w.t.s.

hermione was immediately cleared to continue with charms, defense against the dark arts, transfiguration, herbology, arithmancy, ancient runes, and potions, and shot off to a first period ancient runes class without further ado. neville took a little longer to sort out; his round face was anxious as professor mcgonagall looked down his application and then consulted his o.w.l. results.

"herbology, fine," she said. "professor sprout will be delighted to see you back with an 'outstanding' o.w.l. and you qualify for defense against the dark arts with 'exceeds expectations.' but the problem is transfiguration. i'm sorry, longbottom, but an 'acceptable' really isn't good enough to continue to n.e.w.t. level. i just don't think you'd be able to cope with the coursework."

neville hung his head. professor mcgonagall peered at him through her square spectacles.

"why do you want to continue with transfiguration, anyway? i've never had the impression that you particularly enjoyed it."

neville looked miserable and muttered something about, "my grandmother wants."

"hmph," snorted professor mcgonagall. "it's high time your grandmother learned to be proud of the grandson she's got, rather than the one she thinks she ought to have — particularly after what happened at the ministry."

neville turned very pink and blinked confusedly; professor mcgonagall had never paid him a compliment before.

"i'm sorry, longbottom, but i cannot let you into my n.e.w.t. class. i see that you have an 'exceeds expectations' in charms, however — why not try for a n.e.w.t. in charms?"

"my grandmother thinks charms is a soft option," mumbled neville.

"take charms," said professor mcgonagall, "and i shall drop augusta a line reminding her that just because she failed her charms o.w.l., the subject is not necessarily worthless." smiling slightly at the look of delighted incredulity on neville's face, professor mcgonagall tapped a blank schedule with the tip of her wand and handed it, now carrying details of his new classes, to neville.

professor mcgonagall turned next to parvati patil, whose first question was whether firenze, the handsome centaur, was still teaching divination.

"he and professor trelawney are dividing classes between them this year," said professor mcgonagall, a hint of disapproval in her voice; it was common knowledge that she despised the subject of divination. "the sixth year is being taken by professor trelawney."

parvati set off for divination five minutes later looking slightly crestfallen.

"all right, tonks. . ." said professor mcgonagall, scanning her notes as she moved onto elara. "charms, defense against the dark arts, transfiguration, potions, herbology, astronomy. . . all fantastic marks. here is your schedule, and i must say. . . you are one of the brightest i've ever had alongside ms. granger."

she moved onto harry next.

"so, potter, potter . . ." said professor mcgonagall, "charms, defense against the dark arts, herbology, transfiguration . . . all fine. i must say, i was pleased with your transfiguration mark, potter, very pleased. now, why haven't you applied to continue with potions? i thought it was your ambition to become an auror?"

"it was, but you told me i had to get an 'outstanding' in my o.w.l., professor."

"and so you did when professor snape was teaching the subject. professor slughorn, however, is perfectly happy to accept n.e.w.t. students with 'exceeds expectations' at o.w.l. do you wish to proceed with potions?"

"yes," said harry, "but i didn't buy the books or any ingredients or anything —"

"i'm sure professor slughorn will be able to lend you some," said professor mcgonagall. "very well, potter, here is your schedule. oh, by the way — twenty hopefuls have already put down their names for the gryffindor quidditch team. i shall pass the list to you in due course and you can fix up trials at your leisure."

she began talking to ron, and harry turned to elara.

"you have to help me with quidditch," said harry, "there's never been more than twenty people signed up for trials."

elara downed the last of her coffee.

"sure, but it'll cost you."

"oh, c'mon lara."

"i'm kidding! of course i'll help you, even though i understand nothing about quidditch. what do you need?"

"i don't know what it's called, but you'd be a team manager or something?"

"sounds brilliant, can i yell at people?"

"merlin, lara," said harry exasperatedly.

ron was cleared to do the same subjects as elara and harry (minus astronomy), and the three of them left the table together.

"look," said ron delightedly, gazing at his schedule, "we've got a free period now . . . and a free period after break . . . and after lunch . . . excellent!"

they returned to the common room, which was empty apart from a half dozen seventh years, including katie bell, the only remaining member of the original gryffindor quidditch team since first year.

"i thought you'd get that, well done," she called over, pointing at the captain's badge on harry's chest. "tell me when you call trials!"

"don't be stupid," said harry, "you don't need to try out, i've watched you play for five years. . . ."

"you mustn't start off like that," she said warningly. "for all you know, there's someone much better than me out there. good teams have been ruined before now because captains just kept playing the old faces, or letting in their friends. . . ."

ron looked a little uncomfortable and began playing with the fanged frisbee hermione had taken from the fourth-year student. it zoomed around the common room, snarling and attempting to take bites of the tapestry. crookshanks's yellow eyes followed it and he hissed when it came too close.

an hour later they reluctantly left the sunlit common room for the defense against the dark arts classroom four floors below. hermione was already queuing outside, carrying an armful of heavy books and looking put-upon.

"we got so much homework for runes," she said anxiously, when elara, harry, and ron joined her. "a fifteen-inch essay, two translations, and i've got to read these by wednesday!"

"whame," yawned ron.

"you wait," she said resentfully. "I bet snape gives us loads."

the classroom door opened as she spoke, and snape stepped into the corridor, his sallow face framed as ever by two curtains of greasy black hair. silence fell over the queue immediately.

"inside," he said.

elara looked around as they entered. snape had imposed his personality upon the room already; it was gloomier than usual, as curtains had been drawn over the windows, and was lit by candlelight. new pictures adorned the walls, many of them showing people who appeared to be in pain, sporting grisly injuries or strangely contorted body parts. nobody spoke as they settled down, looking around at the shadowy, gruesome pictures.

"i have not asked you to take out your books," said snape, closing the door and moving to face the class from behind his desk; hermione hastily dropped her copy of confronting the faceless back into her bag and stowed it under her chair. "i wish to speak to you, and i want your fullest attention."

his black eyes roved over their upturned faces, lingering for a fraction of a second longer on harry.

"you have had five teachers in this subject so far, i believe. naturally, these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. given this confusion i am surprised so many of you scraped an o.w.l. in this subject. i shall be even more surprised if all of you manage to keep up with the n.e.w.t. work, which will be much more advanced."

snape set off around the edge of the room, speaking now in a lower voice; the class craned their necks to keep him in view.

"the dark arts," said snape, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. you are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."

elara stared at snape. it was surely one thing to respect the dark arts as a dangerous enemy, like she did, another to speak of them, as snape was doing, with a loving caress in his voice?

"your defenses," said snape, a little louder, "must therefore be as flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to undo. these pictures" — he indicated a few of them as he swept past — "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the cruciatus curse" — he waved a hand toward a witch who was clearly shrieking in agony — "feel the dementor's Kiss" — a wizard lying huddled and blank-eyed, slumped against a wall — "or provoke the aggression of the inferius" — a bloody mass upon the ground.

"has an inferius been seen, then?" said parvati patil in a high- pitched voice. "is it definite, is he using them?"

"the dark lord has used inferi in the past," said snape, "which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. now . . ."

he set off again around the other side of the classroom toward his desk, and again, they watched him as he walked, his dark robes billowing behind him.

". . . you are, i believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. what is the advantage of a nonverbal spell?"

hermione's hand shot into the air. snape took his time looking around at everybody else, making sure he had no choice, before saying curtly, "very well — miss granger?"

"your adversary has no warning about what kind of magic you're about to perform," said hermione, "which gives you a split-second advantage."

"an answer copied almost word for word from the standard book of spells, grade six," said snape dismissively (over in the corner, draco sniggered), "but correct in essentials. yes, those who progress to using magic without shouting incantations gain an element of surprise in their spell-casting. not all wizards can do this, of course; it is a question of concentration and mind power which some" — his gaze lingered maliciously upon harry once more — "lack."

harry refused to drop his gaze, but glowered at snape until snape looked away. elara wanted to keep his temper down somehow, but she had no atom in her body that wanted to hold harry's hand in front of snape.

"you will now divide," snape went on, "into pairs. one partner will attempt to jinx the other without speaking. the other will attempt to repel the jinx in equal silence. carry on."

although snape did not know it, harry already had taught at least half the class (everyone who had been a member of the d.a.) how to perform a shield charm the previous year. none of them had ever cast the charm without speaking, however. a reasonable amount of cheating ensued; many people were merely whispering the incantation instead of saying it aloud. typically, ten minutes into the lesson hermione managed to repel neville's muttered jelly-legs jinx without uttering a single word, a feat that would surely have earned her twenty points for gryffindor from any reasonable teacher, thought elara bitterly, but which anape ignored. he swept between harry and ron as they practiced, looking just as much like an overgrown bat as ever, lingering to them struggling with the task. elara had almost been able to repel aspen's jinx, but her shield faltered the moment the jink hit the surface.

elara and aspen switched, and now elara was trying to send silent curses aspen's way. she was able to repel them with as much success as elara.

"nice j — "

"protego!" yelled harry loudly.

snape was knocked off-balance and hit a desk. the rest class had looked around and now watched as snape righted himself, scowling.

"do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, potter?"

"yes," said harry stiffly.

"yes, sir."

"there's no need to call me 'sir,' professor."

elara wanted to kiss harry right there and then. it was brilliant, it was well-executed, and she was proud. several people gasped, including hermione. behind snape, however, elara, ron, dean, aspen, and seamus grinned appreciatively.

"detention, saturday night, my office," said snape. "i do not take cheek from anyone, potter . . . not even 'the chosen one.' and," he added, as an odd choking noise that came from elara emitted from her throat, "one more word out of the 'savior' and she can join the chosen one.

"that was brilliant, harry!" chortled ron, once they were safely on their way to break a short while later.

"i wanted to kiss you," said elara.

"you should've, that'd've made snape real mad."

"you really shouldn't have said it, harry," said hermione, frowning at elara and ron. "what made you?"

"he tried to jinx me, in case you didn't notice!" fumed harry. "i had enough of that during those occlumency lessons! why doesn't he use another guinea pig for a change? what's dumbledore playing at, anyway, letting him teach defense? did you hear him talking about the dark arts? he loves them! all that unfixed, indestructible stuff —"

"he doesn't just 'love' them," said elara amusedly, swinging her book bag, "i'm eighty-nine percent sure its a fetish."

ron snorted.

"well," said hermione, "i thought he sounded a bit like you, harry."

"like me?"

elara and ron exchanged looks.

"yes, when you were telling us what it's like to face voldemort. you said it wasn't just memorizing a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts — well, wasn't that what snape was saying? that it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?"

luckily, he did not argue. elara and ron did not have to go through with their muggle action movie esque escape plan that they were planning silently.

"harry! hey, harry!"

elara looked around for the voice; jack sloper, one of the beaters on last year's gryffindor quidditch team, was hurrying toward them holding a roll of parchment.

"oh, hello," said elara.