At the Beginning With You [Harmione]

9. First Class and More Werewolf Memories

Life is a road
And I want to keep going
Love is a river
I wanna keep flowing
Life is a road
Now and forever
Wonderful journey

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

- 'At the Beginning' by Richard Marx and Donna Lewis from the movie Anastasia

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Harry rushed down the corridor, his black robes billowing behind him. He glanced at his watch, and picked up the pace of his walking. The bell signaling the beginning of class rang, causing Harry to swear under his breath. He was not off to a good start that morning, first class of the day and he was already running late. He reached his classroom, and stopped a minute to catch his breath before entering the classroom. With his hand grasping the door handle, he took another deep breath and opened the door, and stepped inside. His seventh years were all congregated around each other's desks talking with each other. When their teacher entered the classroom, however, they stopped talking immediately. Harry moved to the front of the classroom, not looking back at the students that he could feel staring at him.

"Alright everyone, take your seats, let's get started," Harry said when he got to the front of the classroom. "Welcome to seventh year Defense Against the Dark Arts. As you know, I'm Professor Potter, and I look forward to working with you all this year." Harry began handing out the syllabus, continuing to talk as he did so. "I hope we'll have a good year this year, and I know that you and I are only a year apart, but I want you to remember that I am your teacher, and I am not going to put up with any nonsense this year. Any distractions will result in detentions and/or points being docked from your house. Even though I'm not a traditional teacher, that doesn't mean that you don't show me the same respect you would any other teacher," Harry looked from face to face, making sure his point was getting across, his gaze lingering a little on Malfoy and Ginny. Ginny was giving him a smug look, almost as though she thought she was above such rules since she used to date the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Oh we'd better tread carefully class, this one's a tough one," Draco said sarcastically. Harry ignored his comment and addressed the class.

"Are there any questions?" About eight hands rose. "Any questions about this class?" Seven of the eight hands went down. "Yes, Miss Davis?"

"Professor, sir, since You-Know-Who is gone, why do we have to take Defense Against the Dark Arts still?"

"Well, first of all, in this class, there'll be none of this You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rubbish. And in answer to your question, since this is an advanced Defense class, you're all here because the professions you're looking into are still requiring this class for their applicants. And even though Voldemort is dead and gone, doesn't mean that another won't try and take his place," Harry glanced over at Malfoy, whose smug look was replaced by an angry one. "So you'll want to be prepared." The rest of the class went by smoothly, and Harry was feeling confident about how the class was going to be for the year by time the bell rang to signal the change of classes. Harry began getting things ready for his next class when he saw someone standing in front of him out of the corner of his eye. He looked up to see Malfoy standing there, the same angry look he had worn all throughout class.

"What the hell are you trying to say here, Potter?"

"What do you mean Malfoy?"

"I mean you're implying that if another Dark Lord were to rise, that it'd be me."

"Where would you get an idea like that? I never said anything of the sort."

"Imply, Potter, imply!" Malfoy said, raising his voice.