Through The Fire

Year Five: Part Three

"This has to be a really terrible joke," Draco said, staring at the staff table in dismay. Harry and Blaise followed his gaze, freezing at the sight of their new professor.

Lucius Malfoy was seated at the table, looking bored as he talked with Snape. He sipped from a teacup before glancing up to see his son. He offered a slight nod before turning back to Snape.

How could his father not tell him? When they'd spoken outside the headmaster's office, his father had only questioned if he knew anything about the Order. Draco was a little put out that his own father had wanted to use him for information but couldn't be bothered to mention that he was considering taking up the Defense position himself. Draco was clever enough to know that it was a calculated move. There was no way that Minister Fudge's first thought had been to hire Lucius Malfoy as a teacher. No, if was Lucius was teaching, it was because he sought after the job for a less than noble purpose.

"Oh Merlin," Draco groaned, automatically straightening his posture and moving toward the Slytherin table. "This is a disaster."

"Calm down," Harry soothed quietly. "It doesn't change our plans."

"My father is a Death Eater," Draco reminded him morosely.

"So, we just need to be extra careful to keep our activities secret," Blaise said reasonably, nudging the plate of sausages toward Draco. "Hopefully Gryffindors understand discretion."

"Even setting all that aside, my Father is a professor," Draco grumbled. "This is so embarrassing."

"Remus was our teacher one year," Harry said helpfully.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Remus didn't bring albino peacocks to the World Cup," he replied.

Blaise snorted. "That's true," he chuckled. "And Remus is pretty great. Why couldn't they just have him come back to teach?"

"Remus and Sirius are getting married during Christmas break," Harry explained. "Remus shouldn't have to worry about teaching right now. Let's just see how it goes," he added, nudging Draco gently.

At the end of breakfast, Lucius made his way toward Draco. He offered a short, dignified nod to the students. "Mr. Potter, a pleasure to see you," he drawled.

"And you," Harry replied politely. "I appreciate that you came to Hogwarts and helped get rid of Umbridge. Thank you sir."

"I was pleased to be of service," Mr. Malfoy nodded. "That woman had no business interacting with children. I only wish that we could have stopped her before she'd mutilated your hand."

"It could be worse," Harry sighed, rubbing at his scarred hand uncomfortably. "I'm just grateful that she's gone."

"Indeed," Malfoy agreed. "Well, I have a class to teach. Run along now."

"Yes sir," Harry said.

"Yes Father," Draco murmured.

As they walked to class, Draco frowned thoughtfully. "This complicates things a little," he muttered. "My father can't see me associating with the Weasleys or Hermione. He'd be furious."

"We'll manage," Blaise assured him. "Just stay calm and everything will be fine.

They got through their classes without incident. The fifth years didn't have Defense until Thursday, but they began hearing things about the class from students in different years. Professor Malfoy was said to be better than Umbridge, but that wasn't saying much. He was at least letting the students use magic, so there was that.