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Rise of the Dark Angel	By : isabel88 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 61368 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 12
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does, as such, I am NOT making any money off of this....

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Title: Rise of the Dark Angel

Author: Izzyb09

Beta Reader/Co-Author: Tonks-is-cool.

Chapter: 15: Duelling and Defence

Settings: AU after OOTP: It's canon up to the beginning of the battle at the DOM when they are in the veil room, after that, it's AU and mine.

Pairings: HP/DM; LV/SS; LM/RL; NL (CL)/LL; RL/BL

Warnings: This story will contain mentions of Violence, Child Abuse, Adult Language, Alcohol Use, Slash/Het Sexual situations and Death. Please discontinue reading if such scenes or themes are offensive to you.

A/N: here is the new chapter. Hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing…if I did, Ginny would have died in the CoS, Dumbledore would have choked on his lemon drops and Harry would have stood up for himself against Molly and Dumbledore.

Disclaimer 2: this story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Letter or commentary/introduction and flashback

{Parssseltongue}

~…~ indicates scene change

O.P.D.: Sunday 28^th August, ’11

Last time on RDA;

As if sensing his thoughts, Blaise turned his head and looked over at him; the Italian raised an eyebrow before looking over to Potter and LeStrange for a moment and then over Draco and Pansy.

Theo raised his own eyebrow before he nodded in approval and smirked back, pleased with not only himself, but the world. Now, he finally understood what Pansy meant when she said Potter was more like them than anyone thought and why Draco said he wasn’t as golden; Potter was a snake in lion’s clothing. The tide of the war had turned in favour of the Dark side.

When the door to the Defence classroom opened silently by itself, the students closest to it peeked inside, but hesitated. When no one was willing to enter first, Harry shook his head, scoffed and straightened up off the wall; raising his chin slightly, he strode forward, followed closely by Cory, who exuded a confidence that the others had never seen in Neville Longbottom.

Draco led the Slytherin group in next, scoffing and sneering at the dithering Gryffindors who reacted with anger at being bested and gathered the courage to follow them with everybody pushing and shoving to show they weren’t afraid or apprehensive at all.

The students filed into the classroom, looking around curiously to gauge any changes to the decoration or layout compared to the previous years. They noticed that like in years past, the huge, old dragon skeleton hung above as usual and the windows were open, letting in plenty of sunlight and fresh air. Unlike their last years however, the walls were adored by new pictures, showing people that appeared to be in pain and injured; one picture was showing a man stumbling around with two deep slashes across his chest and abdomen, blood and gore dripping down between his hands that were clutching at his stomach.

Another had a man writhing around on the floor, hands grasping for his legs, his knees bent grotesquely at an unnatural angle. In the third picture on the left side, a man stood trembling but ramrod straight in his frame as he stared ahead with an air of horrified, anguished detachment, a tear pooling in the corner of his wide open eyes, lips pressed together. His arms hung at his sides; in one hand, he loosely held a wand, the tip pointing downward. Across from him, you could just make out the shape of a body’s legs and feet, lying very still on the ground and on the other side, stood a shadowy cloaked and hooded figure, pointing its wand at the distressed man in the foreground, obviously controlling him with a spell.

Their gazes moved from the walls to take in the new arrangement of the desks; instead of the previous one where all the desks were in rows facing the front of the room with the teacher’s desk, they were now arranged into a U-shape with the chairs behind them on the outside. It caused a moment of confusion as normally, the Slytherin students would have taken one side of the classroom while the Gryffindors would take the other, separated by the middle aisle. It was their standard sitting order for the past five years.

Draco and Harry shared an amused glance before the blond nodded towards the middle of the U and raised an eyebrow which Harry answered with a smirk. The two boys strode forward, elegantly vaulted over the middle desks and sat down right in the centre, claiming the best spots side by side. Cory, Pansy and Blaise followed suit at once, almost as if they had all practiced the move. The remaining students glared, huffed and shuffled around each other before sitting down; it was an interesting display of the new inter house pecking order.

Dean and Seamus quickly claimed the seats besides Cory with the other Gryffindors filling up the row to the left. Crabbe, Goyle, Theo, Daphne, Lillian, Tracy and Millicent sat at the right side of Blaise and Pansy. After settling down and pulling out their textbooks, quills and parchment, they all scanned the pictures on the walls again, whispering with their neighbours and speculating about what the purpose or cause of the depicted gruesome scenes was.

~...~

At the top of the stairs, casually leaning against the door to his office, Lucius watched all the manoeuvring, the whispers and the glares between the students. The location of the teacher’s office was a convenient feature for the DADA classroom as it allowed the teacher to observe his students without their notice. Of course, being who he was, Lucius took full advantage; he had disillusioned himself before unlocking the classroom door with a flick of his wand. He had wanted to use the opportunity to go over the names and what he knew about the students’ abilities and loyalties in his mind before starting the lesson.

In the first morning block, no student had detected him until he decided to show himself. Now, he was curious if his ‘summer’ students or some of the Slytherins would be more observant; after all, they were sixth years, not second years like the preceding Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw class. As he stood there watching the sixth years, his mind went back to the class of second years he had earlier;

Flashback

The little Badgers and Ravens had been wary or terrified of Professor Malfoy at first, but had left the classroom smiling and chatting excitedly about the interesting lesson and the charming teacher.

After calling role, and asking if they had all gotten the recommended book, The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, he had started them with a five minute pop quiz, which produced the anticipated result. They had learned nothing useful in the past year from Madam Umbridge save some theory, but picked up a bit from other, older students. They knew that there was such a thing as a Shield or Disarming Charm, Blasting or Pain Curse, Curse of the Bogies, Stinging or the Confundus Charm, Jinxes like Impedimenta, Jelly-Legs, Knockback, or Tarantallegra, but not much more.

This led to a lively discussion, which erupted after one astonishingly bold Hufflepuff boy, Ashley Wright, had grumbled something about the old hag have gotten her just deserts. Instead of docking points and reprimanding the boy harshly for speaking ill about a murdered teacher, like the class had expected, Lucius allowed them to speak their minds and vent their frustration about such an incompetent and horrible teacher as Umbridge during their first year. They said that it had been a waste of time, and that they all had been confused, scared and disappointed by the oppressive atmosphere of their first year at Hogwarts in general and DADA class in particular.

Lucius got the impression from their comments and exclamations that those students from pure-blood or half-blood families that had older siblings or cousins attending Hogwarts at least realized that it was not always as chaotic as last year, although DADA had a bad reputation due to the constant change of teachers. The two Ravenclaw students from Dark pure-blood families were silent, he supposed that they comprehended on some level what was going on inside the school and outside in the power struggle between the Ministry, Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. The mudbloods, sorry, Muggleborns, (it was hard to break a lifelong habit) four in Hufflepuff and two from Ravenclaw, didn´t understand at all what had happened in the previous year. They told him of one other Ravenclaw Muggleborn student, Peter, who had not returned after the summer. They missed their friend dearly.

Lucius kept his neutral and considerate mask firmly in place; of course his first idea was that the family had been exterminated by the PCT (Pest Control Team). His eyes strayed to Rose Zeller for a moment, glad she was safe and didn´t overtly react to him, the Obliviate seemed to work flawlessly. However, the Ravenclaw Mudbl—Muggleborn girl called Eleanor Summerfield earnestly told him she had phoned her friend last week – did he know what a telephone was – yes, he did- and Peter´s parents had decided that they didn´t want to pay their hard earned money for such a complete hoax of a school as Hogwarts! They had enrolled him at a muggle secondary school in the town, the Galway Community College.

Lucius stared at her for a moment, but got over his surprise quickly and took note of the boy´s name and address, Peter O´Donnell, Galway, Ireland; he promised that he would speak with their Head of House, Professor Flitwick, enquiring if Flitwick had talked or written to Peter´s family and they would try their best to convince the Muggle family to allow the boy to come back.

When he was a member of the Board of Governors, Lucius had never really considered what might happen to mudblood children that left Hogwarts prematurely or did not attend the school at all for some reason. A few years ago, he was determined to rid Hogwarts of the filthy mudbloods, not caring if one of them got injured or killed. However, with his better understanding of the Muggle world from today, he was sure this was dangerous on several levels. To leave a twelve year old magical child untrained in the Muggle world after one year at Hogwarts could only end in a disaster and a serious breach of the Statute of Secrecy. To discover something like this in his very first class did not bode well for the state of affairs regarding mudbl-err, Muggleborns in general.

At the short staff meeting yesterday evening, not one word had been uttered about a Ravenclaw second-year missing. Minerva had only complained about her missing lions; the Creeveys. If he hadn´t allowed the class today to talk so freely, he wouldn´t have known of Peter at all. Lucius quickly copied the information he had on the boy onto another piece of parchment. What he didn´t tell his students, was that he would write post haste to Dolohov, inquiring if this mudblood family was already under observation or not. If the parents would consent and had kept their knowledge of the magical world secret, the boy could return at once. If not – they would have a fatal accident.

When Lucius looked up again at the class, he noticed Summerfield and some of the other Ravenclaws gratefully beaming at him and a frown on the faces of Damon Blishwick and Alfreda Selwyn, the Dark pure-blood children. He sighted internally; he would have to speak with them privately later, before they send letters home that accused him to be a blood traitor or worse, a defector from the Dark Lord for speaking friendly to the Muggleborns.

Smiling Lucius assured the class that this year at Hogwarts would be an improvement and asked what they would like to learn first in Defence. He listened amused to their eager suggestions, jinxes and hexes to prank others or to defend themselves with counter jinxes they wanted to learn, of course. Then he called a pair of students to the front and proceeded to teach them the basics of the simplest Shield and Disarming Charm, Protego and Expelliarmus. They caught on quickly, which earned him the adoration of the whole class, despite assigning all of them homework, namely the practice of the incantation and wand movement for these charms.

Mission accomplished! Roughly twenty children would tell their peers and write their parents that Professor Malfoy was a competent, charming, kind, and understanding teacher, with no prejudice against Muggleborns at all. The rumours that he was an evil Dark wizard and slimy Slytherin were obviously unfounded. Lucius smiled to himself; over the course of the year—when they trusted him more—he planned to hint that he was a Dark wizard, indeed, but not necessarily 'evil' as there was no good or evil. The real world wasn’t black or white, but shades of grey.

End flashback

Bringing himself out of his memory, Lucius watched as the sixth year students found a place to sit before he began his decent down the stairs. The sound of his dark grey suede leather boots and the rustling of the elegant, midnight blue teachers robe were muted by a stealth charm. His long blond hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, held by a dark blue ribbon. He smirked when he noticed that Harry, Draco and Cory had perked up one after the other and followed his progress out of the corner of their eyes; they did so without overtly staring and giving him away.

A moment later, he watched as Blaise picked up on the sly looks and gently nudged Pansy with his elbow. The girl looked around slowly, but searchingly, to the classroom door and then up to the office door where the students most likely expected him to stay before class began. Pansy blinked and lowered her eyes, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. The Young Nott—Theo—who was sitting besides Crabbe and Goyle junior, seemed to have noticed something happening too as he darted his eyes around the front of the classroom and up the stairs, slowly sitting up from his slouched posture; he subtly fingered his wand like Cory, Harry, Draco, Blaise and Pansy had already done. They all carried their wands hidden in a sheath sown inside their sleeve, or in a wand holster strapped to their forearms, wand always at the ready.

Lucius watched as the rest of the Slytherin students noticed the miniscule movements and covert looks of their neighbours and instantly snapped to attention, but in a subtle way as to not alert the—now rather loudly whispering and chatting—Gryffindors. When he reached the bottom of the stairway, he was pleased to note that the Gryffindors, save Harry and Cory, appeared to be completely oblivious to his presence.

‘Fools,’ he mentally sneered, ‘so easy to kill...if such were my intention. However, I am here to teach and teach them I will.’

He waited on the first step for half a minute until the deep gong of the School bell sounded through the castle, signalling the start of second period. The lions stilled for a moment and looked to the door of the classroom, before they continued their whispered conversations. Granger, easily recognizable by her wild, glossy brown hair, sat silently, warily at the end of the table, her eyes darting back and forth between the classroom door and the door at the top of the stairs to the teacher’s office. Weasley was talking across the girl beside him with the dark skinned boy about Quidditch. Harry, Cory and the Slytherins watched the bottom end of the stairs shrewdly or rather, they watched Draco for any instructions he might give.

Lucius softly cleared his throat. At the sound, the Slytherins, Harry and Cory fixed their attention on him. From the Gryffindors, he noted that Granger was the only one that instantly focused on him; she quickly pulled her wand out in a fluid motion, her eyes narrowed in mistrust, while her housemates continued with their inane chatter.

‘Interesting,’ Lucius mused, ‘it seems the mudblood girl did at least learn something in the Department of Mysteries.’

His gaze once again drifted over the Gryffindors and he found himself disgusted with their actions. They were in the Defence class and not one of them was alert for danger.

‘Let us see if this can shake them up.’

If the students could see the feral grin on their professor’s face, they would have ran screaming from the room, but as it was, they couldn’t and so were unprepared for what he was about to do. Raising his wand, Lucius pointed it towards the Gryffindor side and sent a wordless Stupefy at them.

Harry, whose reflexes would put the best Auror and Quidditch player to shame, was on his feet with his wand pointed towards the students before anyone even realize. “Protego!” The blue shield erupted in front of the terrified students.

At the same time that Harry moved, Draco stood—as did Cory, Blaise and Pansy—and pointed his wand to where he knew his father was. “Expelliarmus!”

The other Slytherins, who had jumped up after they saw the actions of the five, had their wands pointed in the same direction. The students looked at them like they were crazy and watched as Draco’s spell soared towards the seemingly empty space only to gasp in surprise when the spell was blocked and their professor suddenly appeared, his Disillusionment charm cancelled. The reactions of the lions was quite amusing as all of them—apart from Harry and Cory—jumped or flinched and stared wide eyed at him in shock. Weasley nearly toppled backwards off his chair, but he righted himself and swiftly fumbled for his wand, holding it in front of himself defensively with a dark scowl. Granger only gasped and pointed hers at him while the other two girls shrieked as if he was an Inferius or a Dementor.

“Fifty points to Slytherin and fifteen points to Gryffindor for their fast reactions and for paying attention,” Lucius’ silky drawl washed over the students. “Twenty-five points from Gryffindor for chatter and unpreparedness.” He walked forward until he reached the first tables; to his right sat Granger and Weasley and to his left stood Davis and Bulstrode.

Weasley grumbled under his breath. “Typical Slytherin unfairness.”

Unfortunately for him, Lucius heard his every word and he looked down at him with narrowed eyes. “Mr. Weasley, do you want to enlighten us with your personal and no doubt well researched opinion on the House point system?”

Granger elbowed him to shut up and Weasley shook his head, glaring and scowling furiously.

Lucius nodded before looking at the entire class. “Good morning class and welcome to Defence and Duelling. My name is Professor Malfoy.”

He noted that while the Slytherins, Harry and Cory all replied with a cheerful, “Good morning Professor Malfoy,” not one of them had lowered their wands.

“You may be seated,” he spoke to the students and smiled in approval when he noticed that even though they complied, they still kept their wands in sight on him.

“Oi!” Seamus cried out after the others had sat down. “Give a bloke a warning mate.”

Lucius’ eyes narrowed into slits as he looked at Seamus. When the Irish teen shifted in his seat, he took his gaze off of him and walked along the tables, making eye contacts with the students. The Gryffindors looked down at the table while Harry, Cory and the Slytherins calmly met his gaze.

“A warning, you say Mister...Finnegan, was it?” Lucius sneered. “Do you think perhaps that in a duel, your opponent will give you a warning as to when they will fire? I assure you, no such thing will happen.” He looked out at the students. “This is a Defence class and as such, you must come to this class prepared for anything. If my intention was to see to the deaths of you lot, with the exceptions of Mr. Potter, Mr. LeStrange, Ms. Granger and the Slytherins, you would all be dead. And five points from Gryffindor Mr. Finnegan, for your disrespect.”

The Gryffindors swallowed uneasily—Hermione blushing slightly at the compliment—while Harry and Cory exchanged smirks.

“I am aware that the last year was a lost year for your education in this subject,” Lucius continued on as he turned around and walked along the other side of the room his robes billowing slightly, reminiscent of Snape, “but I believe in your fourth year, you had a competent teacher, one that told you what is essential for your survival.”

“Constant Vigilance, sir!” chanted Harry, Cory and the Slytherins as the Gryffindors still seemed too shaken up.

Lucius smiled and nodded, chuckling, “Exactly, class.”

With the exception of the Five—Harry, Draco, Cory, Blaise and Pansy—the students stared at their professor in shock. The impeccable and unfeeling Lord Malfoy was chuckling, and in a classroom? They wondered what was so amusing.

Lucius made his way around the other side of the tables and stopped again a few feet in front of both Granger and Weasley. Both eyed him warily and they still had their wands on the tabletop in their hands. They didn’t trust him at all. Good.

“Miss Granger,” he addressed the Muggleborn in a friendly tone, taking care to smile charmingly and to keep his body language nonthreatening and relaxed.

Hermione swallowed; it was a sign of her nervousness. Being this close to their professor brought back some unpleasant memories of the fight that occurred in the Department of Mysteries and how that curse had hurt. Still, it was ingrained in her to have manners and her habit of obeying her teachers forced her to answer him.

“Yes sir?” she replied, feeling slightly breathless.

“Mr. Weasley seems to think I’m unfair or biased towards my own house,” Lucius continued in that same friendly tone. “Do you remember how many points were granted and deducted just moments ago and do you understand the reasoning behind them?”

Hermione blinked up at him a little uncertainly. She was afraid of the man as the last time she had seen him was in the battle situation at the Department of Mysteries fighting as a Death Eater. She mentally scolded herself for her thoughts. She had no reason to worry that the man would kill or hurt her, especially not in the classroom in front of the others. After all, the Headmaster or the Board of Governors appointed him. Or did the Ministry send him to Hogwarts like they did with Umbridge last year?

In all honesty, she was very surprised at the way he addressed her; it was like how a normal teacher should. He didn’t sneer at her, or ignore her as if she was beneath his pure-blood notice, nor did he try to intimidate her. He was perfectly polite so far and had only asked a simple question, albeit it was tinged in sarcasm and was directed at Seamus. And he did award Gryffindor some points. If it was Snape, he wouldn’t have done that; he would’ve torn into Ron and Seamus for disrespect and deducted way more points.

Shaking her head, Hermione looked up and blushed slightly as she realized she hadn’t answered his question. Taking a quick look around, she calculated the points. “Yes sir. You gave five points to the students that weren’t surprised when you fired the spell and revealed yourself and you took five points from the students that jumped or cried out when you suddenly appeared as they were distracted, unprepared and unobservant.” She paused. “I think that’s fair enough. And Seamus should’ve addressed you with sir.”

Lucius inclined his head towards her. “Thank you Miss Granger.” He suppressed a smirk when the Weasley boy glared angrily at her, who shot him an apologetic look.

“Now I noticed that out of all of you,” Lucius walked again down the row of tables and made eye contact with the students, “only a few were especially observant; while two students had already fired off a spell, the rest of you had spells on your lips, ready to defend yourself against a potential, yet unseen, threat. I must say, I consider myself lucky that you didn’t curse me into next week,” at that point, he smirked and made eye contact with Harry, inclining his head in a greeting, “but I wanted to test your ability to react accordingly to the situation.”

Harry shared a glance with Draco and smirked at Lucius, twirling his Holly wand in his hand.

Lucius smirked back and continued, “Some of you,” he threw a glare at Seamus, Dean, Ron, Lavender and Parvati, “have somehow managed to scrape the necessary O.W.L. for this class, an Exceed Expectations, but you will not survive for long out in the real world without some form of improvement.”

Typical Ron flushed red and was embarrassed and angry; the others looked ashamed at their tables or hands. They had all trained hard in D.A. under Harry last year, which was the reason why their Defence O.W.L scores had been so good despite the fact that they had had that dreadful, incompetent Umbridge woman teaching them. But still, they had felt too complacent and secure in the classroom that they hadn’t even considered that their new teacher would stand in front of them invisible or attack them out of the blue like Professor Malfoy had done.

“I do hope,” Lucius stated, while walking around the classroom again, “that at the end of this year, you will be able to defend yourself adequately. Other teachers will no doubt remind you all day to study hard for your N.E.W.Ts; I remember that from my own start of sixth year.”

Several students grinned or chuckled quietly.

Lucius stopped and fixed Harry and Cory with an intense look. “Whether you manage to achieve a good grade on your N.E.W.T is not so relevant, much more important is if you stay alive until the end of your seventh year to actually take your N.E.W.Ts.”

Shocked mumbling and uneasy glances from several students followed this statement, which Lucius of course completely ignored as he walked to the other side of the room, circling the students like a shark.

Harry responded only with a raised eyebrow and a smug look, instead of the anger he would’ve shown in the previous year. He internally congratulated Lucius on his acting skills; it was just the right amount of subtle banter that looked like taunting to anyone who didn’t know of their true relationship.

Draco looked over at his boyfriend and smiled briefly and reassuringly.

“Around this classroom, I have placed some paintings that show what happen if your defence is lacking.” Lucius gestured to the wall he walked along, and the students turned around and eyed the gruesome pictures again. “During this school year, we will speak at length about the curses or other dangers depicted and practice shields, jinxes, hexes, curses and counter curses.” He turned to the students. “Are there any urgent questions?”

Hermione straightened her spine and sat at the edge of her chair, ready to prove that she listened eagerly and would not let her guard down. Ron scowled and glared hatefully at the professor. Harry hid a smile behind his hand; they were so predictable.

Parvati raised her hand.

“Yes, Miss...?” Lucius nodded to her.

“Patil sir, Parvati Patil,” she answered before she gestured to one of the paintings. “On that picture over there, is than an Inferius, sir?”

“Indeed it is,” Lucius replied as he looked at the painting she pointed to.

“Professor Malfoy,” Parvati looked at him with slightly fearful eyes, “is it true what the Daily Prophet reported in the middle of summer? Did, or does, You-Know-Who use Inferi?”

“Well, the Dark Lord did so in the past, so you are well advised to expect that Inferi attacks could occur again,” Lucius answered evasively, while moving to the U-shaped free area between the tables again; he wanted to see the faces of all the students better.

Parvati, as did several others, looked scared. Ron had a haunted look on his face; he had actually seen a few Inferi close up during the night of the attack on the Burrow and the Diggory’s. It had been horrible. Harry blanched and shuddered; he didn’t like Inferi...at all.

Lucius noticed the looks and reactions, especially those on Harry and Weasley’s faces; he remembered that Ottery St. Catchpole had been attacked during the summer, which would explain why the Weasley boy reacted the way he did, but he was a little curious as to Harry’s reaction as he had no idea as to where Harry would have seen an Inferi up close. ‘Hmm, maybe our Lord took him along to his secret place where kept his Inferi army hidden? The poor boy.’

“Does anyone of you know what to do in case of an Inferi attack? How do you hold them off?” Lucius asked.

Ron and Hermione raised their hands and after a moment, Harry did as well.

“Mr. Weasley?” Lucius allowed Ron to go first.

“Fire!” Ron spat, his face twisted in a scowl as he recalled his frightening experience. “The bloody bastards don’t like fire. Incendio and Expulso hold them off, but they still try to attack you until they are burnt to crisps. Curses like Confringo and Expulso work, but you got to put enough power behind it. Impedimenta or Stupefy slows them down for a bit. They are creepy as hell.”

“That is correct Mr. Weasley,” Lucius nodded, “five points to Gryffindor. You would get ten points if you could bring yourself to censor your language and to additionally address me with ‘Sir’ or ‘Professor’,” he chided Ron, while raising an eyebrow at the disrespect of the redhead.

Ron only glared at him, visibly restraining himself from a rude answer. Hermione had one hand on his arm, trying to keep him calm.

Lucius said nothing and turned to Harry. “And what would you suggest Mr. Potter?”

“Well, I would use fire like Weasley said sir, and strong blasting curses like Confringo, Bombarda and Expulso because Stupefy, simple Cutting Hexes or Imperio do not stop an Inferius.” Harry answered, “Also, if you know the commands that could help as well sir. It should be possible to take over control, but that would depend on who is behind the attack, how strong their power of command and their hold on the individual Inferius is. Is that sufficient Professor Malfoy?”

What Harry said, caused several gasps and incredulous looks from his classmates.

“Indeed, that’s true Mr. Potter,” Lucius smiled approvingly at the raven-haired young man, now quite sure that the Dark Lord had instructed the teen how to handle Inferi during the past weeks.

Hermione’s hand shot up into the air once more and Lucius turned and nodded to her.

“Professor Malfoy,” she asked, “What does Harry mean? What commands?”

Lucius motioned for Harry to answer the question.

Harry looked first towards the Gryffindors and then to Lucius before replying. “Inferi or Dementors can be commanded in a special language, sir. Necromancers and some Ministry personnel like Unspeakables and the Auror commander for Azkaban study it.” Harry deliberately didn’t name the language or give an example of a command in the language—Lingua Mortuus—because that was something he couldn’t claim any knowledge of as a simple sixth year student, despite the fact that he had already read through their text book or other Defence books from not only the Hogwarts library, but others.

Lucius nodded. “Precisely Mr. Potter, that’s another ten points to Gryffindor.” He turned to the students. “If anyone wants to read up on Inferi, or any other Defence Against the Dark Arts related topics, you should first consult your main N.E.W.T text book Confronting the Faceless. I also recommend that you look in your old book The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, or two other books you will find in the Restricted section of the library, A Compendium of Common Curses and Their Counter-Actions and The Dark Arts Outsmarted in the Restricted Section. As Advanced class students, I expect you to be capable of finding the relevant books or chapters yourself. Should you need a pass for the Restricted section, please raise your hand.” He paused and smirked. “Knowledge is power after all.”

Some students, like Granger, shot him an incredulous but grateful look and made note of the book he recommended. After last year, this was a complete one-eighty for them; a DADA teacher that wanted the students to look for information on their own and to consult different sources. Everybody, save for the sulking Ron Weasley raised their hands. Harry, despite having already gotten permission from Madam Pince, raised his hand as well; he would keep it just in case another teacher happened to see in the Restricted Section.

Lucius flicked his wand and quietly summoned the students’ passes he had prepared in advance, sending them directly to the students. ‘Oh wows!’ travelled around the classroom, as many students looked at him gobsmacked.

“Now,” Lucius drew their attention once more, “at the beginning of class, which defence charm or which jinx, hex or curse were you prepared to cast at me? What would you choose if we repeated the scenario once more?”

As expected, Hermione’s hand was the first to rise in the air.

“If you have no idea,” Lucius continued, “imagine you walk alone down a corridor and suddenly, you notice somebody moving in the shadows of an alcove with a wand aimed at you. What do you cast? As you answer, please tell me your names. Most of you I already know, but there are still a few unfamiliar faces.” He moved to the Slytherins and nodded at the girl sitting at the end of the table.

“I’m Millicent Bullstrode sir,” she answered, “And I’d use Stupefy.”

“Tracey Davis,” the girl next in line spoke, “Expelliarmus, sir.”

“I’m Lillian Moon, and I’d use Expelliarmus, sir.”

“Daphne Greengrass sir and I’d use Expelliarmus.”

“Stupefy sir, and I’m Theodore Nott.”

“Impedimenta sir, and I’m Vincent Crabbe.”

“Gregory Goyle. Protego sir.”

“Blaise Zabini sir,” Blaise grinned, “And I would’ve used Expelliarmus.”

Draco smirked at his father. “Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. I would’ve used Protego Totalus after firing the Expelliarmus.”

“After casting the Protego on the others,” Harry said, “I would’ve used Protego Horribilis to block whatever else was going to be fired and as a counter, Stupefy.”

“Cory LeStrange,” Cory grinned, “And I would’ve used Impedimenta and Protego Totalus.”

“Protego sir, and I be Seamus Finnegan.”

“Expelliarmus sir, and I’m Dean Thomas.”

“Impedimenta and Parvati Patil sir.”

“Expelliarmus sir, and I’m Lavender Brown.”

“Stupefy. Ron Weasley.”

“I’m Hermione Granger sir, and I would’ve used Expelliarmus.”

Each time a student named a shield or hex, Lucius flicked his wand and made a mark in the air, until a great grid with flaming letters and numbers was hovering in the middle between the tables. He stepped back a few paces and said, “Very well, that is quite a collection. How many of you are actually able to perform these shields or hexes? And are any of you able to perform them silently, voiceless?”

A few hands went up, while the rest of the class mumbled and whispered. Lucius sighed internally; it was his fault after all, for asking an open question like that.

“We will get back to your personal skills later,” he said. “What is the advantage of performing a spell voiceless?”

Hermione’s hand shot up in the air, as did Draco, Harry, Pansy, Lillian, Theo and Blaise. Lucius looked over to Draco and Harry. He knew very well that Harry was able to perform quite a few shields, hexes and curses voiceless, some even wandlessly. The elder blond raised an eyebrow at Harry who shook his head in a miniscule movement. As he had already called on Hermione, Lucius decided to give someone else a chance.

“Mr. Nott?”

“If I cast silently, my opponent doesn’t hear the incantation. They would only be able to deduce what kind of spell it is from the wand movement and the colour of the spell. This gives me a second of advantage,” Theo explained.

“That is indeed correct Mr. Nott,” Lucius said, “five points to Slytherin. This year, you all shall practice casting voicelessly. It will be required in other subjects as well, such as Charms and Transfiguration.”

“Oh,” echoed around the classroom.

“Most of you have named Expelliarmus, Impedimenta, Protego and Stupefy. Only one of you mentioned Protego Horribilis and two of you would’ve cast Protego Totalus. When I entered this room, one of you moved to cast a shield while the other immediately responded with a defensive spell.” Lucius looked at his students. “Two of you had the foresight to cast a shield and another defence spell, which of course is a good idea if you want to stay alive. Please copy this grid and the names of these most common defensive spells and shields down. Read them up if you are unfamiliar with any of them and write an essay until next Monday. You are to discuss the pros and cons of these methods and against what kind of attack they can or cannot help you.”

The noise level rose as the students shifted their quills and parchments and wrote the instructions down.

“Professor Malfoy?” Lavender looked up from her parchment.

“Yes Miss Brown?”

“You said we should write about defending ourselves,” Lavender continued with her question. “In what kind of situations, sir?”

Lucius smirked and looked over at Harry. “Well, Mr. Potter? Could you give us examples for realistic scenarios, please?”

Many of the students looked astonished from their professor to Harry, each wondering what was going on and why their teacher was asking Harry as if he was the expert.

Lucius read the looks on their faces and had to stifle a groan of annoyance. How utterly foolish of them. Did they not realize that Harry was the best and most experienced student in the DADA class and the whole school? He had actually faced all kinds of monsters and dangers, real Death Eaters and the Dark Lord, for the past five years and had survived.

Harry turned towards Lavender, smirked and drawled. “Oh I don’t know; maybe you should imagine that you’re walking back alone to the castle from the pitch after a late Quidditch practice in the dark. Or you’re out on a Hogsmeade weekend our perhaps you’re strolling somewhere along somewhere in London or your home town. You’ve just finished shopping, or left a pub laughing with your friends.”

Some of the students shifted in their seats.

“Wherever you are,” Harry continued, “you notice someone Apparating or running behind you or hiding in the shadows or under the trees along the way. They attack you with no warning, and not with a tickling charm. Or imagine, you’re walking along the border of the Forbidden Forest around the Black Lake and one of Hagrid’s pets regards you as a scrumptious snack? In any case, a wrong reaction could be your last.” He turned to Lavender. “Is that realistic enough for you?”

“Uhm, yes, thanks Harry,” Lavender replied. She was pale, afraid and intimidated by Harry’s words and demeanour. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to always be looking over your shoulder like Harry had to do and then, she remembered the Daily Prophet article about Umbridge, who was reported to have been abducted right in the middle of busy Diagon Alley in front of the Magical Menagerie and Gringotts.

Lucius nodded his thanks to Harry and then he cast a quick Tempus to see how much time they had left until break. He raked his gaze over the students before asking with a mischievous smile. “I believe we still have a few minutes before the end of class, does anyone of you still have that book from last year, Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard?”

Loud groans, eyes rolling and mutterings of “Oh no, not that again”, “Rubbish, utter rubbish” and a few cuss words travelled around the classroom. And instead of berating the students for their bad language, Lucius only smirked.

Hermione dug a moment in her bag and then pulled the book out of it. Harry and Draco grinned and placed their own copy on the table; they had known in advance to bring it along. The other students watched them, slightly confused and apprehensive.

“Professor Malfoy, this book is completely useless,” Dean said exasperatedly, “why should we bring it along?”

Lucius smirked at the dark-skinned Gryffindor student. “Wait and see Mr. Thomas, you’ll be surprised.” He stepped back and looked at all the students. “Class, please clear your tables and pack away your books and parchment.” He looked at Harry and Draco and made a sweeping and inviting gesture. “Mr. Potter would you and Mr. Malfoy please come here to show your classmates how these books can be put to use?”

“Sure, we’d love to Professor Malfoy,” Harry and Draco replied.

The two grinned at each other in gleeful anticipation all the while quickly stuffing their things into their bags. Handing their book bags to Cory and Blaise, they rose as one and strode quickly around the tables to the front of the classroom. After placing their Slinkhard books on the floor, each boy walked six paces away, turned around, faced each other to briefly bow and then they moved into a classic duelling stance; knees slightly bent, feet apart, one leg a bit forward, the other back so they could dodge and react quickly, wands held up in their right hand in the formal greeting pose with the other hand at their sides.

Lucius moved out of the way to stand near the Slytherin students, before he addressed the rest of the class watching him and the two boys with looks of confusion, surprise and anticipation. “Class, get out of the way, stand next to the wall with the door. Thank you.”

With a wave of his wand, the benches and tables moved towards the other wall underneath the windows so that the space in the middle of the room was as large as possible.

“Good. Can you all see clearly?” Lucius asked. When the students nodded, he continued, “Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter will give you a demonstration of possible attacks and defences, including those books some of you called rubbish and useless. In our next lesson, you will pair up and practice yourselves. Now, pay attention!”

Excited whispers rippled back and forth among the students. All were more than eager to see the Prince of Slytherin fight with the famous Boy-Who-Lived, even if they were dating.

Lucius walked to a position at the side, between Harry and Draco and their audience. “On my mark, duel.” He proudly commanded his son and future son-in-law. “For the sake of the instruction of your classmates, please try to call out the incantations; even if you can do the hex or counter-hex or shield voicelessly. Start out with simple jinxes and work your way up. Take care not to set our classroom aflame or to kill any of your classmates with stray curses. Please show us some creative transfiguration.” He ended his instructions with a wink.

“Yes sir!” Harry and Draco cheerfully called out together; keeping their eyes locked on each other. One thought echoed through both minds; ‘This was going to be fun!’

Lucius turned back to the waiting students. “Mr. LeStrange and Mr. Zabini, would you be so kind to act as seconds as in a professional duel?”

Cory and Blaise smirked at each other while swiftly moving to stand next to Lucius.

“Scared Potter?” Draco smirked at his boyfriend, repeating the words from their second year.

“You wish,” Harry grinned, anticipation rushing through him.

“One, two, begin!” Lucius commanded.

Draco and Harry exploded in a swirl of movements and colourful flashes of light as they sent a barrage of jinxes, hexes and counter jinxes or hexes at each other all the while dodging out of the way or throwing up shields when necessary. They started out low, like in practice duels during the summer, with harmless jinxes like Jelly-Legs, Knockback, Densuago, Tarantallegra and simple Protego and worked their way up to barely legal curses and Protego Horribilis. They wouldn’t use any Dark Arts like the lethal Death Eater curses or Unforgivables as they had no intention of giving away their true level of expertise. Harry’s ears were still ringing from Voldemort’s warnings.

Their student audience watched with mouths open and jaws dropping towards the floor. The Gryffindors, who had all been members of the DA and in the case of Ron and Hermione who had participated in the fight in the Ministry, had seen Harry duel for practice or for real before, but even they were surprised at his skill level; it was obvious to them that Harry had improved, that he had had some practice. The Slytherins on the other hand, had not. Sure they had seen him in classroom situations, during the Tri-wizard tournament or altercations between he and Draco over the years, but none of them—apart from Pansy and Blaise who had been to two practice sessions at Potter Manor—had ever seen Harry truly duel or had they ever witnessed something like this fight.

After playing around for a while, Draco sent a powerful Stupefy at Harry. This time, Harry didn’t jump to the side to dodge; instead, he aimed his wand at one of the Slinkhard books between them and transfigured it lighting fast into a plate of metal, which he then flung deftly into the path of the incoming spell. A loud bong sounded through the classroom when the spell connected with the metal and was reflected back in Draco’s direction, but way up and to the side.

The red bolt of light crashed into the ceiling of the classroom, sending a shower of plaster over the students watching below. Several girls shrieked and ducked, covering their heads with their arms. Only a few students had the presence of mind to draw their wands and throw up Shields in time. Lucius made a mental note of who had reacted correctly.

While the audience was busy recovering, the two young men in the middle hadn’t stopped, but had continued their duel as if nothing had happened. Draco laughed and aimed an Expulso curse at the other book lying on the floor. It exploded in a ball of fire and hot air shooting towards Harry who ducked and threw up a Protego Totalus just in time. The burning pages crumbled to black scraps in the air and rained down as ash onto his shield.

Draco grinned gleefully and looked for a moment towards his father and Blaise for approval. That was his undoing. Harry took advantage of his distraction at once. Cancelling the shield and not caring that the hot ash fell onto him, he voicelessly cast the Body-Bind Curse at Draco—who felt his legs stiffen and his arms snap close together all of a sudden—and he crashed to the floor, caught in the last second by a cushioning charm that Harry just managed to cast before Draco’s head hit the floor.

Breathing heavily and wiping his sweaty forehead with his sleeve, Harry lowered his wand and looked to Lucius for instructions as he walked closer to Draco. With a wordless flick of his wand, he cancelled the Body-Bind and reached down to help his partner up. He smiled at his boyfriend and checked him over. His eyes travelled the blond’s body and he took in the sweaty face, tousled platinum hair and his breathlessness. Unbidden, an image of Draco looking exactly like that spread out beneath him rose in Harry’s mind and his emerald eyes darkened in lust.

Draco tried to get his breathing under control; his pride was a little hurt that he had let his guard down like that, but he enjoyed himself immensely. Duelling with Harry was something he loved to do. He shook his head, unknowingly tousling his hair a bit more. He looked at his boyfriend and nearly moaned out loud when his grey eyes met Harry’s lust darkened emerald eyes. A shiver ran through his body as Harry’s gaze moved down his body again, the gaze so hot he felt scorched.

The students and professor could feel the pure desire crackling between the two and Lucius decided to step in before they decided to tear each others’ clothes off.

Walking over to them, he clapped. “Thank you Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy. Twenty points each to Slytherin and Gryffindor for showing us a wide variety of attack and defence.” The two boys jerked a bit, remembering that they were not alone. Lucius nearly grinned at the slight blush on both boys’ faces.

“Sadly,” he continued, “We do not have enough time to see the seconds in action. However, there is always our next lesson on Wednesday, which fortunately is a double period.” The bell rang, so he gave his final instructions. “Remember to read up on the hexes, curses and shields used and/or mentioned today that you are not familiar with. I expect you to come back here well prepared. Class dismissed!”

Harry smiled and shook his head while he pulled Draco close for a kiss, a small celebration of their first Defence class success. They pulled back after a minute, and Draco kept a hold of his boyfriend’s hand, smirking at the students staring at them.

The students seemed to shake themselves off and grabbed their bags and headed to the door. Blaise, Pansy and Cory walked over to them; the two boys clapped them on their backs, joking good-naturedly about Draco’s misfortune, while Pansy encouraged Harry to “Kiss it all better” again, which he did with sparkling eyes and a joyful happiness.

Lucius shook his head before he headed over to the four and sent them off with a wink and a small laugh.

~...~

Truth be told, Hermione was having a little trouble believing what she was seeing. She slowly collected her books as her mind went over their Defence class. When she had heard that Lord Malfoy would be the new DADA professor, she had expected arrogance, coldness and aloofness from both Malfoys. But, today, this class had rocked her view of the world. Lord Malfoy, the bigoted pure-blood supremacist, the Death Eater—she still had no clue as to how he had managed to fool not only Dumbledore, but the Board of Governors and the Ministry also, into believing he wasn’t one—had treated her, a Gryffindor student and a Muggleborn, fairly and without hate or contempt. He hadn’t insulted or harassed her or Dean for their Muggleborn status.

He was friendly and full of respect towards Harry, obviously realizing that the Boy-Who-Lived would know in depth answers and perform way above the level of the class. And the best thing was, he had done what a competent Defence teacher should; they had actually learned something in this first lesson. Professor Malfoy had set the tone for the rest of the year; he had demanded hard work and dedication, but they would actually learn to duel and defend themselves. She had—in all truth—not expected or anticipated a fantastic experience like that all. And, he gave everyone—those who wanted one—a pass...just like that! No teacher had done that before.

She glanced at her pass and read her note:

Dear Mrs. Pince,

Please grant the following student access to the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts Library: Hermione Granger, sixth year student of the Advanced Defence against the Dark Arts class 1996/1997, to research for Defence purposes.

Sincerely,

Professor Lucius Malfoy

That was a wide field; she could take out books for nearly everything. Hermione shook her head and looked up. She looked from Malfoy to Harry to Mr. Malfoy and back, taken aback by the casualness between them—it was as if an all-out duel like what had just happened was nothing special at all—and how the Elder Malfoy seemed to be completely alright with the relationship between his son and Harry. She recalled how he had smiled proudly during the duel. Her gaze drifted to Harry and settled on him.

Harry had changed; he was more confident, more graceful and he was also more relaxed and happy. She saw that his emerald eyes were sparkling with a joyful happiness, something she had never seen on his face, unless he was flying on his broom or when it had something to do with Sirius—like the night at the end of third year when they had flown on Buckbeak after rescuing Sirius. Her gaze drifted to where his hand was intertwined with Malfoy’s. She knew that the blond was a contributing factor to the change in Harry, but how much, she didn’t know.

She watched in amazement as Lucius walked over to the four teens, smiling at his son and Harry before he dismissed them. Shaking her head, Hermione remained deep in thought as she left the classroom. She had a lot to think about.

~...~

“Man,” Pansy gushed as she and the others left their Defence class. “I thought the two of you were going to go at it right there in front of everyone.”

“Pansy,” Draco looked over at his childhood friend.

“Don’t ‘Pansy’ me,” Pansy grinned, “the sparks flying off of the two of you...”

“She’s right,” Blaise laughed. “It’s a good thing your father spoke, reminding you that you were still in class.”

“I’m sure the girls wouldn’t have mind that at all,” Seamus injected as he had heard Pansy’s comment to Harry and Draco. “I know I wouldn’t have.”

“Seamus,” Harry laughed as he playfully shoved the Irish teen. “Dean, control him.”

“Harry,” Dean grinned, “you should know by now that that’s impossible.”

“I can’t believe you two!” Ron exclaimed loudly as he stomped up to the group. “How can you talk to them? Potter has gone dark! He turned his back on us and attacked me in the common room.”

“Really Weasley,” Cory rolled his eyes. “Don’t act dumb, even if it is a good look for you.”

The teens snickered while Ron turned red in anger and embarrassment.

“Lighten up Ron,” Seamus said. “Besides, Harry didn’t attack you. You were the one that was stupid enough to point your wand at him.”

“He forgot Harry taught the DA last year,” Dean laughed as he leaned against Seamus. “I really don’t know what he thought he could’ve done. Harry is the Boy-Who-Lived after all.”

Harry grinned while Draco smirked at Ron and the rest laughed.

“Weasel,” Draco sneered, “I know it must be hard, but please, stop acting like the fool we all know you to be.”

“He can’t help it,” Harry snickered.

Ron raised his wand, in his anger forgetting just who he was surrounded by, but fortunately for him, before he could cast a spell, Hermione grabbed his arm.

“Ron, don’t!” she hissed at him and started pulling him away. “Let’s go Ron, now!”

But Ron was too hyped up and angry to listen. Forgetting his warning from last night, he pulled his arm from Hermione’s grip and pointed his wand at Harry. “Shut up you traitor! You sc—

Ron’s words were cut off by his body slamming into the wall and an arm pressing against his throat. He opened his eyes, silently wondering when he had closed them, and saw menacing grey eyes glaring at him. He made a gagging sound as he realized that he was being choked by Malfoy.

Draco growled low in his throat as he pressed his arm further into Ron’s windpipe, not caring about the fact that the red head’s face was turning colour or that he needed air. No one attacked Harry—verbally or otherwise—in front of him.

As this was the changeover between classes, the scene was witnessed by students who were on their way to either their common rooms, classes or somewhere else. They watched the scene in shock, horror and fear, with the exception of Blaise, Pansy, Cory and Harry who only shook their heads. They all knew how protective both boys were of each other and that it was suicide to go after one in the other’s presence.

“What is the meaning of this?” Lucius questioned as he walked up to the group. He had heard the commotion from his room and had immediately investigated. What he came across filled him with curiosity and he wondered what exactly the Weasley boy had done to anger his son.

“Well?” Lucius looked at the students. “Will no one explain what is going on?”

“Weasley insulted Harry sir,” Pansy spoke up, glaring at the Gryffindor in question. “And then he raised his wand at him.”

Lucius held back his sigh. ‘Haven’t the incompetent fools learned by now it is not wise to anger Draco? Especially when it came to something belonging to him; we Malfoys are very protective of what we perceive as our own and Harry belongs to my son as much as my son belongs to him.’

“I do not believe I need to assign detention to both of you, do I?” Lucius raised a delicate eyebrow.

“No sir,” Harry shook his head and stepped forward, resting his hand on his boyfriend’s arm. “Just a bit of misunderstanding.” He looked Ron directly in his eye. “I’m sure Weasley now understands that he cannot go around accusing someone without facing the consequences.” He tugged gently on the blond’s arm. “Let’s go Drake.”

Draco heard the statement and relaxed his arm. Before he could step back though, he leaned close to Ron’s ear to whisper something in it causing the red head to blanch and pale, and then he removed his arm and stepped back.

Harry’s hand drifted down Draco’s arm until he reached his hand where he laced their fingers together.

“I suggest you all depart,” Lucius looked around at the students with narrowed grey eyes. “NOW!”

At his tone, the students all scattered leaving Harry and company. Lucius watched them leave before turning to his son and his friends.

“First day back and already trouble follows you,” the statement was made in a scolding tone, but Harry, Draco and Cory read the amusement in the elder Malfoy’s eyes.

“It’s not like we asked for it,” Cory grinned.

Lucius said nothing, but raised an eyebrow before heading back to his classroom. The teens watched him go before Harry turned to look at Draco.

“You do know I can defend myself, right?” the dark-haired teen asked.

“Yes,” Draco raised a delicate eyebrow and nodded. “And your point would be what exactly? Just like I am yours and you have the right to defend and protect me against anyone who would dare attack me, then I have the same leeway to do so onto others. They need to know that Malfoys are possessive and to attack what we perceive as ours is to bring about our retribution.”

“Never said I minded,” Harry smiled and he turned to walk down the hallway, pulling Draco along. “I like the fact that you get so protective of me.”

“Good,” Draco nodded.

“You two are just too cute,” Pansy giggled, causing the boys to stop and stare at her in shock.

“Did you just giggle?” Blaise asked, staring at her as if she was someone else.

“No,” Pansy shook her head and bit her lip to stop more giggles from escaping her lips. “Giggling is for idiotic, simpering girls who willing act like fools in public eyesight.”

“Say what you want,” Cory shrugged with a smile as he started walking again, the others doing so. “You giggled.”

“I did not!” Pansy protested, but the smile on her face contradicted her words.

“Hmmm,” Draco looked at her but said nothing else.

Pansy shook her head and the five continued on.

A/N 2: the end of chapter fourteen. So, now that you’ve read, review so we can know what you thought.

Much Love,

Kila & Tonks
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Rise of the Dark Angel