ALWAYS (Hinny)

Chapter 11 : Defence Against the Dark Arts

I woke up when I heard Melissa and Lalia laughing. Hermione and Betty groaned. They had shown up late last night and apparently Betty had already been with Hermione the previous years. I threw a pillow at them. They laughed even more and I joined them. Their laugh was clearly contagious.

We went down to have breakfast half an hour later. Harry, Seamus,Ron, Neville and Dean were already there.

"Hey Harry!" I said cheerfully. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Ginny" They all replied.

Harry smiled at me. I sat next to him. Melissa and Lalia were facing me.

"Slept well?" he asked.

"Yeah. It was nice."

"She looves us!" Lalia joked. I laughed along with Harry and Melissa.

"I'm with Hermione too. I guess it was... you know.. so I would know someone." I said to Harry.

Just then Parvati came with a blonde girl.

"Hey guys!" She smiled.

"How was your night?" I asked.

"It was cool. I'm happy with my roommates."

"Same here."

"Are you with the guys?" I asked Harry.

"Yeah. It feels good that some things didn't change."
I was about to reply when Mcgonagall arrived and gave us our timetables.

When she gave Harry his, she added only for us to hear.
"You'll have quidditch tryouts to organize. I'm sure you can be helped here by mister Thomas, or Mr Weasley. Maybe even miss Weasley." She said, smiling at us.

As soon as she left, we all compared our timetables. I was with Harry nearly all the time. Actually, we had nearly all the same classes, and relief washed over me at that realization.

***

Our first hour was History of magic. I sat next to Hermione. It was extremely boring, the only one that seemed to be interested in the subject was the bushy brown haired girl next to me. I sighed. When the bell finally rang, I heard Harry sigh in relief at the table behind ours. I smiled to myself.

Then we had defence against the Dark arts. During which I sat with Harry and Hermione.

The professor seemed very impressed to have Harry in his classroom. He kept staring at him for nearly 30 seconds non stop when he called his name to check if he was there at the beginning of the lesson.

I could tell that had made Harry pretty uncomfortable.

"So. You are all here to learn how to defend yourselves against the dark arts. I know most of you fought during Hogwart's battle, and that some of you were indeed, the ones that brought down You Know Who. Or may I say, Voldemort. I know that most of you fought here last year while they were here at school. I am very proud to have the opportunity to be your teacher. I hope, that there might be some magic that you don't know already. This year, you'll learn the most difficult things. This is now NEWTS level. At the end of the year you will have to pass exams. Difficult exams. But if you work hard, try and try, and do it with determination, you will all pass. All of you. And this is my job to make sure you all pass those NEWTS. Any questions? "  Everybody stayed silent. "Fine."

The lesson started. "We will now check everyone's level with little revisions. I know this might be simple, but we always have to make sure everyone knows the basics to go on without losing anyone. I want you to pair up, and practise the charms that are written on the board. Who can give me some basic spells you can use in a fight?"

We all raised our hands. Weirdly enough, I had not forgotten any spell. I just didn't know how I learned them.

"Yes Miss?"

"Patil, Sir. There is the stupefying charm."

"Incantation?"

"Stupefy, sir."

"Good. Another one?" He asked as he wrote the first one on the board.

He stopped writing after the first three spells the class gave him.

"Stupefy
Petrificus totalus
Expelliarmus"

"These. Are the only one I want to hear and see here for now? Okay? Except for the shield charm of course." Everyone nodded. "Now pair up." We all got up and the tables came flying to the walls, so we could have enough space.

I paired up with Hermione. Harry was with Ron, Dean with Seamus and everyone paired up quickly.

"Now that's not really mixed.. Okay ladies, chose a man to pair up with. It will be far funnier. For me at least." He smiled to himself. I didn't know who to chose. Hermione went with Ron, Parvati with Dean. I turned to Harry. He smiled. I took that as a yes and walked to him. When everyone had paired up, Mr Perrin went on. "This will be our groups for the year. You will first try those spells on those pillows to make sure it works, and then you will shot them at your co-worker who will cast a shield, if they need it. If it's easy then try to do it with silent spells . Okay? So let's begin."

I looked at Harry.

"Ladies first?" He said.

"Okay."

He took a pillow and placed it before me.

I concentrated.

"Stupefy!"
The pillow came crashing in the wall behind it. Harry did the same. We did all the spells.

"I guess it's like Quidditch, you can't forget it." Harry stated.

"That means I still have a good level." I said happily.
"I even remember some others."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Like...this one." I took out my wand and began.

"Reducto!!" The pillow exploded. There were keen and feathers everywhere around us. I looked at Harry who had bursted out laughing and I began to laugh as well. Oh man. Didn't thought about that.

We started to take off all the rests of the pillow that we had on us. There were keen in Harry's hair.

"Harry!! You've got keen in your hair!" I said laughing.

""You too!" He replied. He approached his hand near my head and I felt him taking something in my hair. I shivered. As he was near me I put my hand in his hair and shook it. All the keen fell down.

"Potter! Weasley! Time to work!!"

"Yes sir!"

The rest of the lesson went by quick, casting spells, blocking others and laughing.