((No problem ^.^))

"This is preposterous, Lucius. You cannot teach in Hogwarts." Dumbledore stated, looking across his desk at the silver haired man. Lucius held a faint smile that told of his arrogance.

"I'm afraid it has already been cleared by the other Governors, Professor. There is nothing you can do to stop me." He sneered. "I will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

“It’s the first day of term, Ron! Hurry up!”

Hermione was standing in the doorway to the Gryffindor Boys’ Dormitory with her hands on her hips. Fully dressed and carrying her book bag, she was ready for her Sixth Year.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Ron exclaimed. “I just – can’t - do this tie…”

Hermione rolled her eyes. He had been going to school for six years already, and he’d been tying his school tie for six years already. Yet he still needed her to do it for him.

“Give it here, Ronald,” she sighed. Walking up to him, she tied his scarlet and gold tie for him quicker than he could say ‘Bugger off, I can do it!’ He grinned sheepishly.

“Thanks, ‘Mione,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He looked at her admirably, and they both heard sniggers from the other occupants of the room.

“Get a room!” Seamus called. Hermione stuck her tongue at him.

“Ready to go, Harry?” she asked her other best friend, who had been watching the scene with interest. He nodded, and she led the way down the stairs, her best friends and several of the other Gryffindor boys following.

“Now,” said Hermione, taking out a thin notebook from her bag as she walked. “I’ve got schedules all worked out for both of you this year. I don’t want you to fail. Oh, don’t look at me like that, Ron!” she said when he saw his disgusted look. “I was up all night doing this!”

“Hermione,” Harry said gently. “We know you want us to pass, but you have to face it. We just won’t be as smart as you, no matter how much studying we do.”

“That’s not true,” Hermione said crossly. “You can always do better.” She smiled though at his compliment. “I’ll give them to you now-”

“At least let me have breakfast first, woman!” Ron moaned. Hermione sent him a disapproving look.

“Fine,” she relented. “But you have to make sure that you follow the schedule this year. I don’t want you getting expelled.”

“We can’t be expelled,” Ron grinned. “Harry needs us, and the Wizarding world needs Harry.”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Harry warned. “I’ve already-” He stopped abruptly.

Harry had been entering the Great Hall, but something he had seen had made him freeze.

“Oi, Harry, what’re you playing at? I want to get some food today!”

“Malfoy,” Harry hissed angrily.

“Yeah, yeah, we see his ugly Ferret face everyday-”

“No, it’s Malfoy Sr.!”

((Awww snap~))

Lucius stalked down the Great Hall, head held high. His cane clicked on the stone floor rythmically, only stopping when he reached his new seat at the Professor's table. Ah, the look on the faces of these students inflated his ego that much more. Apparantly, it was doing the same for his son. Draco puffed out his chest whispering animatedly with his little group of mini-Death Eaters.

Dumbledore stood, grabbing the attention of the children. "Students, it was said that Professor Lupin was supposed to return to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. However, due to some unfortunate events, Mr. Lucius Malfoy shall be teaching this year!" 

“No!” Harry shouted angrily from the entrance of the Great Hall.

“Harry, be quiet,” Hermione said, placing a hand on his arm, but he wouldn’t back down.

“He’s a Death Eater! Professor Dumbledore, how could you-”

“Wanna say another word, Potter?” Draco Malfoy had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and now had his wand pointed in Harry’s face. His face was twisted into an ex
pression of malicious glee.
”Get back, Malfoy, or you’ll regret it,” Ron said menacingly, also raising his wand, but Malfoy ignored him. It was evident that he was enjoying Harry’s reaction.

“You better watch your back, Potter,” Malfoy said, sneering, and he sauntered back to the Slytherin table.

While all this was happening, Dumbledore had been watching them seemingly calmly, but when Harry caught his eye, he saw warning in the depths of the blue eyes. Furiously, he glared at Lucius Malfoy and stormed to a seat at the Gryffindor table.

“Calm down, Harry,” Hermione whispered, setting herself down next to him. She took a piece of toast and spread jam on it. “You’ll get yourself in trouble.”

“Dumbledore hired a Death Eater, Hermione!” Harry whispered back.

“I can see that,” Hermione said, “I’m not blind. But it’ll do you no good to shout and stomp.”

“Bet ol’ Voldy sent him here,” Ron spat. “To spy on Harry.”

“Well then you’d better make sure you don’t let anything slip this year, hadn’t you?” Hermione said reasonably. “Malfoy’s teaching at the school this year, and you’ll have to accept it, because there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You’re taking this surprisingly calmly,” Ron said, eyes narrowing. Hermione shrugged.

“I’m just as angry as you, but I, unlike you, know that it’s better not to show it to the world.” She spotted Professor McGonagall coming their way. “Oh, timetables!”

“Miss Granger,” Professor McGonagall nodded. “Your timetable.” She handed a sheet of parchment to Hermione, and it was all she could do not to groan when she saw what she had first period.

“Guys, we’ve got DADA first.” 

Lucius laughed softly to himself, watching the chaos unfold at the news. He did not care if some students knew he was a Death Eater. Hell, everyone knew he was a Death Eater. He stood along with the rest of the Professors, striding off the his classroom. Unfortunately, on this day he has a class right after Breakfast.

((Omg fail )) 

Hermione was silent as she entered the DADA classroom. There was no one there yet, but she wanted first pick of seats. And she didn’t want Malfoy to have any reason to take house points off her, although she knew he’d find reasons anyhow. Harry and Ron followed closely behind her, and she could feel the fury coming from them. She herself couldn’t stop the anger from blossoming in her chest.

How could Dumbledore let someone like Lucius Malfoy teach here? More likely then not, they’d soon be changing the subject to just ‘The Dark Arts’.

Hermione didn’t take her usual seat at the front of the classroom; she didn’t want to draw more attention to herself than she could help. Strangely, this was the exact opposite of what she usually did.

“Reckon he’ll be teaching us the Avada Kedavra anytime soon,” Ron muttered.

“I bet he’s just waiting to cart me off to Malfoy Manor,” Harry said. “Voldemort would be so happy.”

“Oh, stop it you two,” Hermione snapped. “It’s no good complaining over it. Like I said, you can’t change it.”

They heard voices, and frantically they turned. Relief showed on all their faces when they only saw Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom.

“What d’you think about that Malfoy character?” Seamus asked, taking a seat near them.

“Hate him,” Ron said instantly.

“Have you seen Draco?” Dean asked. “He’s bean strutting around like he owns the place. Damn well near it, too, now that his Father’s here.”

“Don’t remind me,” Harry muttered.

“I just hope he isn’t as bad as Snape,” Neville said, voice quivering slightly.

“Oh, Neville,” Hermione said, putting a hand on his arm. “You’ll be fine. I won’t let him be cruel to you.” Neville shot her a grateful smile.

Suddenly, they heard loud footsteps, and the rest of the class tumbled into the room. The Slytherins, whom they shared the class with, paraded in with feral grins on their faces. It was the closest Hermione had ever seen them to looking happy, and the thought made her laugh.

“What’re you laughing at?” Ron snapped.

“Nothing,” Hermione said lightly. “Just a silly thought.” Her smile instantly dropped however, when Lucius Malfoy swept into the room.

Lucius strode to the front of the classroom, turning on his heel, eyes scanning the class. They landed on Hermione, a sneer on his face. Filthy Mudblood. He shook his destructive thoughts off, smirking arrogantly at his students. Though he had taken this position for reasons that were still in the dark, he did plan on teaching the class. The right way.

"Can anyone here brief me on what you children have learned so far? Hmm?" He purred, eyes flitting over to his son. "How about you, Draco?" 

Hermione's hand automatically shot up. Draco sent her a smirk, eyeing her waving hand frantically, before answering.

"We haven't learned much of anything, Father," he said smoothly. "First year, we had a stuttering fool of a teacher, second year we had the God-awful Lockhart, third year we had that useless werewolf. Fourth year we had Moody - oh sorry, Crouch - who wasn't so bad-" he made a face here, no doubt remembering the 'ferret' incident, "-because at least we learnt about the Unforgivables, but fifth year we had Umbridge. We didn't learn much from her except how to tie a pink bow on a kitten." He sneered. 

"Oh, that's not true," Hermione said loudly. "We learnt heaps from Professor Lupin!"

"What are you doing?" Ron hissed. "Why are you putting your hand up in this class?"

"It's still a class, Ron, no matter who's teaching it," was the curt reply.

Hermione's hand continued to wave in the air. "Please sir!" 

((I think I'm able to do shorter posts now that we're getting into the story a bit. :D I'm going to go watch a movie, so I'll be back afterwards to post. <3)) 

Harry and Ron's eyes widened in surprise. Lucius Malfoy, champion of the Muggle-haters, letting Hermione Granger, Muggleborn extraordinaire, speak?

Hermione was shocked as well; so shocked that she ignored his reprimand. It took her a few seconds before she realised everyone was looking at her, and she blushed red. 

"Well sir, as Malfo- your son pointed out, we haven't had many substantial Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers." She took a deep breath. "We learnt the most from Professor Lupin, our Third Year teacher. He presented us with a comprehensive curriculum, helping us learn how to protect ourselves from many Dark creatures. We learnt about Boggarts, grindylows, Red Caps and hinkypunks. We also had one lesson that year taught by Professor Snape who-" she hesitated, "-who taught us about werewolves." 

Her hand hung limply at her side, but she continued to stare at Malfoy, daring him to speak. 

Lucius had created the effect he thought he would. No one would think that he would talk to a mudblood. Then again, neither had he. But, this was his class now, and he'd have to talk to her sometime. He nodded his head, thinking. 

"Very well. today we shall learn about Inferi, I suppose. Can anyone here tell me what an Inferius is?" 

Hermione’s hand shot up again.

“Sir – an Inferius is a dead body that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard,” she quoted from a textbook. “They have no free will, and must do whatever their – er - reanimator wants them to do. They are created using the magical branch of -” She stopped abruptly.

She had spoken out of turn. She knew Snape had always hated this, so it was likely Malfoy did too. Dear Merlin, please help me get out of this alive, she thought desperately. What if she got – oh, the horror – House points taken off? Ron and Harry would never forgive her for letting a Malfoy take House points.

Lucius had to stop himself from laughing out loud. This girl was too much. But, it was the first day, and though none of these students were first years, he was going to make a good impression.

"That is correct. Can someone tell me the difference between a Zombie and an Inferius?" 

((Shay. xD))

Hermione's eyes were wide. He was ignoring what she had just done. Was this really the Lucius Malfoy who had laughed at her parents in Diagon Alley her second year? It certainly didn't seem like it. Maybe he was...changing. She didn't have high hopes for it, but there was still the chance. She decided to stay low for a while.

Chancing a glance at Ron and Harry, as well as Malfoy Jr, she saw they were all even more surprised than last time. Draco's sneer had become very prominent.

The class was silent. It seemed the rest of the class was still too intimidated by Malfoy to talk. Even she didn't know what the answer was. She hadn't read this in any of her textbooks.

((Ok, so I just made Hermione a bit less knowledgeable to make up for me not knowing what the answer is xD))