Harry Potter and the Fortress of Woe

@BZLF: Yeah, Professor Diana is one of my new creations. I decided to create her, due to one reader pointing out that Dumbledore was not teaching any more as headmaster, hence McGonagall was not going to be teaching either. So, a new Transfiguration Teacher was needed, so I created one. Rewriting FoW is way more work than I thought it would be, but nevertheless it feels good to fix my old mistakes.


Harry rose early on the first day of his last year in Hogwarts. After announcing the Christmas Ball, McGonagall had only reminded them of the list of banned items Argus Filch had worked so hard to keep up to date over the recent years, before sending them off to bed. Originally Harry had wanted to open the chest the headmistress had given him as soon as possible, but the common room was way too crowded to do so, regarding the probably sensitive information stored inside the shrunken wooden box. It was too late to sneak into the Room of Requirements without risking getting caught and he could not use his invisibility cloak, because at least Ron and Hermione would want to accompany him. Ginny would probably want to know too, but Harry was not at all comfortable of dragging her even deeper into the murderous clash between Voldemort and himself. No, the less she knew, the better. So, Harry had decided to call it a night and headed to bed early, after bidding goodbye to Ginny, Ron and Hermione.

Harry climbed into his four poster and realized with a pang of regret that he would be hard pressed to spend another night with Ginny in his arms now that he had returned to school, like he had done so often over the last few weeks. Of course Ron did not know anything about him and Ginny having sex and Harry had no intention of telling him. No, judging by the way Ron had averted his eyes and Harry had kissed Ginny good night, it was probably wise to prolong telling him how intimate the relationship between his little sister and best mate had become as long as possible; preferably until after they were married. Closing his eyes, Harry concentrated deeply on the steak he had just eaten in the Great Hall to create his Occlumency shields. It had taken him some time to learn how to get to sleep, while using this technique, but now it felt completely natural and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

- - - - -

Harry awoke early the next morning. The sun had just started to rise as he slipped quietly out of bed, careful not to rouse his still sleeping roommates. He dressed quickly, his head still slightly foggy from sleep and crept downwards into the common room. He thought briefly about opening the mysterious wooden chest McGonagall had given him right here in the stil deserted room, but decided against it, knowing that Ron and Hermione wanted to be there when he unlocked this particular secret. Knowing Dumbledore whatever he had put into the box to help Harry in his quest was so vague or cryptic that he could do with two extra minds to understand it. Instead, he read in his copy of the Auror’s Handbook, wanting to be ready for the Practical Fighting Technique he was bound to have soon. Preparation was usually the key to succeeding and Harry did not consider this an exception and Harry did not consider this an exception to the rule. Fifteen minutes of reading later, he slipped downstairs to an early breakfast, wondering what kind of surprises the first Tuesday of his final year at school would bring.

- - - - -

Harry’s first lesson of the day was Potions, followed by Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts. The first want well enough, despite Harry not having Snape’s old Potions book any longer. He had toyed with the thought of recurring it from the Room of Requirements, but he loathed his former teacher way too much to use anything even remotely tied to the renegade Potion Master. The seventh year’s Potion curriculum dealt mostly with elixirs changing a person’s appearance and or personality. After revising a few potions, which they had brewed during the last six years, Slughorn instructed them to brew him an elixir which turned the drinker’s hair blonde – the students with natural blonde hair were instructed to change an ingredient so their hair would become black instead. It was a highly complicated formula and both its duration, as well its potency were dependant on how correctly it was brewed. At the end of the lesson, Slughorn ordered them to drink their own work. Hermione’s hair, of course, turned perfectly blonde, while Harry’s still had a few black strands in it and Ron’s was exactly half red, half white blonde, each colour occupying on half of his head, which caused him to look completely ridiculous. Slughorn told them that he wanted to see how long their self brewed potion lasted and therefore had decided to give them the antidote at the end of the week. Full marks would be only achieved if your hair was still completely blonde then. Harry was not very fond of his new hair colour, for it reminded him way too much of Malfoy and therefore he could not wait for his normal ebony strands to return. Also he could not help wondering if the potion had affected all the hairs on his body.

Transfiguration with Professor Diana was totally different to what Harry was used to, due to gorgeous, young Professor being completely different to McGonagall. She was kind and liked to lighten her lesson’s atmosphere by an occasional joke or two, something her predecessor had never ever done during her life as a teacher. Harry learned that she had been one of McGongall’s best students ever and had worked in the Transfiguration Reversal ward of St. Mungo’s spell damage floor since she had left school. It had been her job to correct all kind of botched up transfigurations, which was not easy, because it was impossible to return a person to one hundred percent of his or her natural form, while the witch or wizard was halfway stuck between two different ones. Trying to usually resulted in the loss of one or two limbs or more sensitive body parts and therefore few were desperate enough to try it. So, an incorrect transfiguration was cured by finishing the intended change and then returning the patient to his or her normal shape and Diana had been doing this complicated job for the last fifteen years until McGonagall had hired her a week after Dumbledore’s funeral. She had accepted immediately.

As well as Potions, Transfiguration dealt with changing a person’s appearance this year. Human transfiguration was extremely difficult and could go horribly wrong when not performed with the necessary skill and the correct state of mind. However, it was much faster as using potions and therefore was commonly used when time was an issue. Harry learned that a transfiguration grew more and more difficult the bigger, the more complex and the more different the intended form was from the original person. That’s why it was easier to transfigure a human into a dog than to turn him into a shark, because a shark was a fish, while a dog was a mammal like the human. Of course, this kind of transfiguration was totally different to becoming an Animagus, because only a small part of your consciousness remained active in your new body and normally you needed another person’s help to return to your original state. To avoid any serious injuries while practising, Professor Diana placed a special ward in the classroom, which could terminate any transformation within seconds, no matter what, as long as the change had taken place within its area of effect. It was a tricky bit of magic and most people who tried to transform themselves or others considered it not necessary to take this precaution, because they thought they would succeed anyway.

The class’ first task was to turn a partner into a mouse and back. Not even Hermione succeeded, proofing how difficult this branch of magic was. Professor Diana told them not to be overly discourage over this failure, practice would make perfect in almost everything in life. Then she assigned them to write her an essay on the proper way of transfiguring another human and dismissed the class. All in all Harry considered his new professor a very nice person and a great change from sometimes much too stern McGonagall and almost everyone of Hogwarts’ male population shared this view, even though most of them were only blinded by their new teacher’s beauty. Maybe this was also the reason why many girls were hesitating to like her. Even Hermione had made it clear that she could not understand why all the males were so enchanted with Professor Diana and Harry strongly suspected that she was a bit put out by Ron’s strong reaction whenever he laid eyes on the blonde woman. Harry himself considered his new teacher a looker as well, but he was way too smart to get caught staring at another woman while dating Ginny.

Kingsley Shacklebolt, however, was nowhere as outspoken about himself as Professor Diana was and his presence at Hogwarts remained a mystery to Harry. He had been told that the Professor had transferred to Hogwarts, due to a nasty injury on his right leg, which rendered him temporarily unable to perform his normal Auror duties and Professor Shacklebolt told the class the same story. Even though the bald, black man made a big show of using a crane and scrunching up his face in pain, whenever he put weight on his supposedly injured right leg, Harry could not help wondering if the Auror’s injury was only a clever trick played by McGonagall to get an Order member transferred to Hogwarts without revealing the close connection the school still had to the renegades. Maybe Shacklebolt was only cleverly pretending to be injured or he had purposely sustained the wound assuring his transfer to the school. In each case Harry made a mental note to keep an eye on the ex-Auror, pretty sure that he had orders to carefully watch Harry and his friends himself. Probably the Order was still longing for the information Harry had withheld on Dumbledore’s orders and was now trying to gain them more subtly than before.

Professor Shacklebolt’s lesson itself was surprisingly conservative. He taught them mainly how to deal with Voldemort’s dark creature allies, starting with Dementors and ending with werewolves. Part of the curriculum they had already learned in the past years, but Shacklebolt spiced up the theory with his own experiences as an Auror and was a pool of helpful advice. However, he never mentioned learning how to properly duel with another witch or wizard and answered Seamus Finnigan’s question about the subject simply by claiming that he were not allowed to teach them anything about this. Most of his classmates had been severely disappointed about their teacher’s refusal to teach them how to duel, but Harry had already known that much due to McGonagall mentioning it in their little chat before the feast. Also the PFT was probably going to keep all of them well occupied despite the cancelling of Quidditch.

Speaking of Quidditch, the Christmas Ball McGonagall had organized as a substitute had definitely made an impact. Hogwarts’ female population was all giggles and gossip, their excitement about the still far away ball apparently limitless. Even Hermione had claimed to look forward to it and Harry had the distinct impression that his best female friend’s good mood was tied to another certain best friend who had obviously scooped up enough courage to ask her out. Ron’s and Hermione’s changed relationship was causing the Hogwarts’ rumour mill to run a mile a minute and Harry had heard more than one completely ridiculous theories about how they had finally gotten their act together and had opted never to listen to them again after hearing one which involved both of them in a huge tub with lots of strawberry ice cream.

Harry’s and Ginny’s relationship was running smoothly, even though they had a lot less privacy and time in Hogwarts than during the summer in the Burrow. He had caught himself fantasying about Ginny during several classes and he had decided that they really needed some time alone. Also Harry had asked her to accompany him to the Bloody Ball – as Ron liked to call it – on their first day back at school. He had been early to avoid another disaster similar to the Yule Ball during his fourth year and of course she had said yes. However the many secrets Harry was still keeping from his girlfriend were weighting heavily on his conscience and he had been close several times to spill the beans and to tell her everything about the Prophecy and the Horcruxes, but had managed to fight down the urge, unwilling to put her in even more danger.
Also he had finally decided when to open Dumbledore’s wood box. He was going to sneak into the Room of Requirements on the first Saturday back at school and would open it there together with Ron and Hermione. He knew that Ginny would be put out about not being allowed to join them, even though she had not uttered a single world about being displeased about the current arrangement when he had told the three of them. Harry knew that she wanted to help him winning the war, but in his opinion she was helping the most by staying out of danger and staying alive for him. If he ever lost her, he probably would not be able to continue fighting. She was the promise of a brighter future, his ticket to heaven and without her, he did not see any sense in surviving or even fighting at all.

- - - - -

The first Practical Fighting Techniques lesson was scheduled to take place on the first Wednesday evening of the school year. Every fifth, sixth and seventh year student had to attend this event and Ginny had been wondering all week where they were going to hold a lesson that big. She could not imagine using the Great Hall as a classroom and no other room in the castle would be nearly large enough. Harry mentioned the Room of Requirements as a possible place when she had talked with him about the upcoming lesson and he seemed to be right. After the regular last lesson of the day, which had been Transfiguration in Ginny’s case, Professor Diana led them indeed to the Room of Requirements, where a thong of students were already queuing up to get in. Ginny looked for a unnatural mass of blonde hair, which indicated the seventh years these days, and quickly spotted Ron’s horrible mix of red and blonde in the crowed. However, she could not see Harry’s blonde head with ebony strands in the mass of moving people and she briefly wondered where her boyfriend was and what he had done to miss the beginning of the lesson. Harry’s new hair colour had been the subject of more than a few jokes between him and her and Ginny knew that she by far preferred his usual ebony strands, but she could not help wondering if Slughorn’s potion indeed changed all hairs on his body and vowed to find out before it was returned to normal.

When it finally was Ginny’s turn to enter the magical room, she gasped in astonishment. The interior of the Room of Requirements had adapted to what looked like an enormous, Greek amphitheatre. Rows and rows of benches towered over a large circular platform in the middle of the complex and Ginny suspected that this was where the teacher would be standing. The platform was brightly lit, causing flickering twilight to coat the rest of the room. She realized that it had been a clever idea to choose this room, because it would adapt to whatever needs of the teacher, like it had during the DA meetings. This way they would be able to practice almost everything, due to the necessary equipment or space could be conjured with a single thought. Whoever this new teacher was, he or she certainly knew Hogwarts very well, because the Room of Requirements was still everything but common knowledge.

As stepped through the door completely, Ginny spotted Ron and Hermione sitting on one of the benches close to the entrances and once again it had been Ron’s shock of hair which had leaded her. She slipped into the seat next to them and placed her bag on the seat next to her to reserve it for Harry. Just as she wanted to ask her brother where his best mate had disappeared to, she spotted him in the crowed. He was standing next to McGonagall in a shady corner of the theatre, talking heatedly with her. Ginny wondered what on earth the two of them were talking about and why Harry was conversing with the headmistress only a few minutes before a new subject would be held for the first time. It did not really make sense, did it? However Ginny did not have much time to ponder this mystery, because all of the students had by now taken their seats and McGonagall ended her conversation with Harry and walked down the stairs to the circular space which was the theatre’s middle. Ginny had expected Harry to take a seat then, but he kept standing in the shadowy corner and she thought she could see a scowl on his face.

“Good evening.” said the headmistress, her voice magically amplified by the magical room. “Welcome to the very first lesson of Practical Fighting Techniques. Due to some legal issues it was very hard to find someone qualified to do the job and the teacher who is about to held this lesson wants me to make it absolutely clear that he would rather not teach this subject and is only doing it because I talked him into it. Despite his current bad mood, I am certain that he will be a great teacher, because he had shown the necessary qualities in the past and has more than enough experience in fighting the Dark Arts. I will leave the rest of the explaining to him and I do hope that it will be an enjoyable lesson.”

Ginny barely had the time to ponder why the new teacher would possibly want McGonagall to point out these facts, because in precisely that moment, Harry stepped out of the shadows and unto the centre.

- - - - -

Harry could not believe that he had been foolish enough to agree to this. The moment he had left the shadows and stepped unto the circular expanse in the middle of the amphitheatre he could feel the unbelieving stares of his fellow students. He knew that some of them were scowling, interpreting his presence as an attempt to become even more famous and as another change to play the hero. They could not have been more wrong. No, Harry did not enjoy this at all, in fact every instinct in his body screamed at him to get the hell out of the room and let McGonagall stewing in this mess. This was completely different to the DA. There, all the students had been there voluntarily and were not dragged to the lesson under the pretence of getting taught by a real teacher. He should have never agreed to this in the first place, but McGonagall had been playing dirty. While he prepared what he was going to say, Harry thought back to the certain part of his meeting with the headmistress, which had caused him to stand here in this very room.

- - - - -

It had started innocent enough. McGonagall had given Harry the chest they had discovered in a box in Dumbledore’s Gringrotts vault together with a letter explaining that it had to be given to him and that only he would be able to open it. He had been more than a bit curious about the mysterious wooden chest and had expected the meeting to be over then. As he was carefully examining it, the headmistress spoke up again.
“Potter, what do you know about educational law?”
“I am afraid nothing, Prof – headmistress.” replied Harry, his brows furrowed in confusion while he pondered why on earth McGonagall was keen on discussing legal issues with him now. There was a bloody war going on and she wanted to talk about the law? “Is there something I should know about?”

“Yes, I think so.” answered his old teacher briskly. “You might have asked yourself in the past why you were never told how to properly duel in this school, except for the ridiculous duel club Professor Lockhart tried to start in your second year.”
Harry raked his brain for a moment and realized that she had been right. Not even the impostor Mad-Eye had ever taught them how to fight. Almost everything Harry had learned on the subject he had either learned by watching others or had taught it himself, for example as preparation for the last task of the Triwizarding Tournament. Anger welled up in him as he realized how unprepared he and his fellow students were and there was more than a hint of accusation in his voice as he spoke up again. “I never realized it until now, but you are right! Why don’t we learn something which actually helps us to survive, especially now with the second war going on?”

“Politics, Potter, politics.” said McGonagall, untouched by his accusing tone. “Until the first war it was common to teach all the students at least the basics of duelling, rendering them able to defend themselves. After You-Know-Who’s fall, the Ministry considered it proven that the knowledge about fighting taught at Hogwarts had been utilized by most Death Eaters during the war and therefore removed duelling from the curriculum. Starting from this moment, teachers were only allowed to teach their students the Disarming Charm and it was strictly prohibited to show them anything more dangerous or effective.”
“Okay, but surely they have abandoned this rule by now.” replied Harry, sure that not even the Ministry could be that stupid to keep this law in place with a civil war brewing in the country. “I mean with the war going on they are going to need any helping hands so it would be prudent to teach all trustworthy students how to fight properly.”

“For someone who has seen so much, you can be surprisingly naïve, Potter.” returned the headmistress, her sharp eyes boring into Harry’s. “The Ministry is not going to grant the school any more competencies, because they don’t want to lose any more control over the country. They want to create the impression that everything is alright and that they are force to be reckoned with. They are not going to change the law, because this transfer of power would make them appear overwhelmed and they do not want to appear weak.”
“That’s stupid, but it does make sense.” said Harry, his anger replaced with the familiar feeling of frustration he usually felt when talking about the Ministry. “Well, if the situation is that hopeless, why are you telling me about this at all? I mean, what am I supposed to do?”
“Well Potter, there is indeed something you could do.” answered the headmistress, her lips actually forming a smile. “There is a little loophole in the law. It only prohibits teachers to teach the students how to fight, but it does not prohibit students to teach other students. Of course it is hard to find a sufficiently qualified pupil to actually teach, but I am sure that you are up to the job.”

“Hang on.” replied Harry, his brain slowly digesting would McGonagall had just said. “You want me to teach all the students how to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters?”
“Not the whole school, only from fifth year up.” answered the headmistress calmly. “I doubt that the war will be going on for so long that the smaller students will have to learn how to defend themselves too. I had thought this Wednesday evening as a good date for the first meeting, are you free that evening?”
Harry could not believe his ears. McGonagall had called him into her office to talk him into teaching some super DA variant and she had not even asked him if he wanted to before setting the first date on Wednesday, which was only two days away. Blast her, who on earth did she think she was? Was he some kind of tool everyone could use for his or her own pleasure? The Ministry wanted him to be their bloody mascot and McGonagall to be a pseudo teacher, who did what she should have been doing all along, but did not have the guts to do. How was next in line, Voldemort? No, he was definitely not going to accept this!

“Forget it.” replied Harry, his voice as calm as he could muster, despite the burning fury pumping through his veins. “I have got enough on my plate and I am not going to be your clown in front of a thong of students who have either been too stupid or too lazy to learn how to defend themselves. I am not anybody’s tool and you should forget about this rubbish as quickly as possible, Good Bye!”
Originally Harry wanted to storm out of the office and slam the door behind him but before he could do so, the headmistress stern voice called him again. Six years of being her pupil caused him to freeze immediately.
“Potter, I can understand that you are a busy man and I know that you hate being the centre of attention. But this is not about you or me; this is about all the other pupils out there who have never ever learned how to defend themselves. Do you think being a part of Dumbledore’s Army is enough to battle a Death Eater? I don’t. And do you think its fair to punish everyone who was not brave enough to join your little Defence group in your fifth year, just because they acted like they have learned to do all their life? If Hogwarts was attacked and even only one student died, would you still consider your decision not to teach correct? Could you watch yourself in a mirror in the morning without blaming yourself? I know that I am asking for a lot, but if you don’t want to do it for me or for your fellow students, then do it for Miss Granger, Mr. and Miss Weasley. You are trying to keep them out of the war, I assume, but what happens if the war finds them? Do you think their experience will be enough? Are you willing to risk their lives, just because you don’t want to teach?”

The image of Ron, Hermione and Ginny lying cold and lifeless on the floor of one of Hogwarts’ various corridors, with Snape standing above them, a vicious sneer plastered on his face, popped into Harry’s mind and for a moment he had to fight a wave of nausea which threatened to overwhelm him at the thought. He knew that the headmistress was fighting dirty and that he should still say no, but even the slightest possibility of losing Ginny was more than he could bear.
“I will do it.” he said, cursing himself at the same moment as the words left his mouth.

- - - - -

“Welcome to the first lesson of Practical Fighting Techniques.” heard Harry himself say, not able to believe how businesslike his voice sounded. He sounded like a bloody teacher! “Before I begin with what you are going to learn, I want to make it perfectly clear why I am here and what you are should consider before decided to further take this subject.” The Room of Requirements was so silent that you could have heard a needle falling to the ground and Harry knew that for now he had the class’ undivided attention. He had to make sure that they understood that he was not teaching because he liked to, but to do them a favour by showing them how to stay alive. He would rather use the time spent with the PFT to train himself, knowing that every minute he spent preparing could make a difference in the end.

“I am NOT here because I want to.” continued Harry, his voice firm. “In fact when the headmistress asked me to teach this lesson, I wanted to storm out of her office. I nearly did, but she convinced me in the last minute and that is why I am here. You should know that I have better things to do than to play your clown on a Wednesday evening and that is why I expect everyone who is going to take this lesson to give his or her very best, just sixty or so percent won’t to it here! I am offering you a chance to learn how to properly defend yourselves and you family and you can either take it or leave it. In fact the less of you decided to stay the better, because teaching will be way easier with a small group.”

“There is a war going on and every one of us has to pick sides or to leave the country. I don’t know about you, but I am definitely not going to let Voldemort get away with everything he has done, but I can’t defeat his whole army on my own. I am going to need help and the Ministry has been rather unenthusiastic to actually join combat with his goons. I am not begging you to learn how to fight, but it really could come in handy, when a band of Death Eaters are knocking on your door. If you choose to stay then keep in mind that this is not going to be similar to the DA. We are going to deal with more advanced stuff and I am not going to teach the basics again. If you don’t know how to cast a stunning Spell, then ask someone who can to teach you. There are a lot of former DA members who are surely going to help you out.”

“So, ladies and gentlemen, pick your sides. If you want to help the light winning the war, then stay, if you want to leave the fighting to someone else then leave and hide and if you want to join Voldemort – well, then you should better leave, because I will find out if you are only here to learn how to be a good Death Eater and I won’t be amused when I find out the truth. Any questions so far?”

At first nothing happened. Most students were still awe struck by Harry’s speech, some looked positively terrified at the thought of getting taught by him and others looked completely ecstatic. Especially Hermione was beaming like mad, apparently as eager as ever to learn something new. Some of the Slytherins were casting dark looks at Harry and he guessed that his little bluff of being able to find any traitors had indeed worked. Sometimes it had its benefits to be the bloody Boy-Who-Lived. Then the other students had digested his question and several hands shot up at once. Harry recognized Neville’s and allowed him to ask the first question.

“What exactly are you going to teach us, Harry?” asked the round-faced boy. “Will we really be able to handle Death Eaters all by ourselves?”
“Well, I am not going to teach you how to block an Avada Kedavra or teach you how to fly without any help, because it just is not possible, but I think I can be helpful anyway.” replied Harry. “There is not the way to fight a Death Eater and there is not some kind of universal strategy Voldemort and his goons use every time. Therefore it is nearly impossible to show you a way to dispatch every Death Eater you will encounter. There is not the secret in fighting, there are a lot of small secrets which combined may give you the upper edge in a fight.”
“And – um – what exactly does that mean?” said Neville, clearly not really understanding what Harry had said.
“It means that I will show you a lot of different things.” answered Harry, a smile tugging at his lips. “Some spells to deceive your opponent, some to fight him or her and some to escape when things are going to get nasty. Also we will spend a lot of time with general combat strategies, so you will know what to do when Death Eaters have captured one of your friends or when it is best to flee.”

“And how on earth do you know how to handle all that situations?” asked Zacharias Smith, not bothering to raise his hand or to be polite.
“That’s not important.” replied Harry, fighting down his irritation. “You can either believe that I am capable of teaching you or you don’t and it’s your decision what matters not my sources. I am not going to demonstrate anything to you just to make you decide to be my pupil, as I said before; I have better things to do. Let’s call it my first little test. You will have to choose and everyone who wants to learn will find me here after dinner on next Wednesday. Good evening.”

With theses words Harry left the Room of Requirements, the buzzing of the gossiping students still ringing in his ears.

- - - - -

There were two of them, young, drunk and Muggle. Easy prey. Hidden in the shadows in one of London’s poorer area’s side streets, David Ocean watched his soon to be victims. They were two teenage guys, no older than sixteen, who were staggering down the road, obviously after having drunken themselves silly somewhere despite their young age. One of the was stocky and short, with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, while the other was as thin as a toothpick and had short cropped brown hair. The slim one was carrying a bottle of beer in one of his hands and supported his friend with his other one. Of course his aid was useless, because he himself was unable to walk straight, but it was a nice gesture anyway. In each case they prevented Ocean from coming home completely empty-handed. As he had been told, he had been searching for Draco bloody Malfoy for the last few months, but so far had been unsuccessful. He had lost count of all the third class hotels he had searched, Muggle and magical ones alike, but always he had arrived too late to capture the insolent whelp and it was frustrating to say the least.

Ocean was very sure that someone was helping the Malfoy boy to elude capture and he guessed that it was Snape who did so. There were rumours circulating around about an Unbreakable Vow Snape had sworn to protect the Death Eater wannabe, but Snape had never struck Ocean as that stupid, so he had always considered the rumours mindless chatter. But now he had his doubts and the fact that Severus Snape was very interested in how the search for Draco was going, only fuelled his suspicions. Maybe he was being paranoid and Snape only took interest in the boy’s fate because the Dark Lord considered it important, but he made a mental note to talk with his master after he had returned back to base. But now, he had some fuel – he shuddered at the word – to provide.

As quickly as a snake striking, he slipped out of the shadowed alley and drew his wand at the same time. Before any of the youth’s alcohol fogged brains had any time to register what was happening, he had already fired a wordless stunning charm, sending one of them to the ground. The other one followed swiftly, not even having the time to scream in surprise before he joined his comrade on the cold ground. Ocean walked over to the two fallen boys, a flicker of light from a nearby streetlamp falling on his handsome, aristocratic face, as he bent over their sprawled out forms. Poor bastards. They reminded him of himself in a strange way, stumbling into trouble, because of their youthful recklessness and naïveté. Well, it was not healthy to dwell in the past, especially if you had to concentrate on staying alive in the present and your number of options was as limited as his. With a small sigh, he magically shackled the two drunks, before casting a useful charm he had learned ages ago. There was no need to let them feel the pain, after