The Hidden One

amortentia

"Why are you so late?" Harry asked Rose as the girl sat next to him at the Gryffindor table, her usually crazy hair even crazier than normal. Breakfast was already almost done.

"I accidentally slept in," Rose said as she accepted a chocolate chip muffin from him. In reality, she had been thinking about Draco and Blaise and the fact that they were now Death Eaters for most of the night, meaning that she only got a few hours of sleep. Lavender and Parvati had also cried over Rose for a straight hour. Rose appreciated how much they cared, but she didn't feel like being cried on.

"Well, Mcgonagall came by and gave us your schedule," Hermione said as she passed Rose a piece of paper. "She said to go to her if there are any problems."

"Thanks, Mione," Rose murmured. "At least I don't have a class after breakfast."

"Yeah, but we have DADA with Snape," Ron said with a grimace. The bell rang and everyone stood up to go to class.

"How did you end up getting a Potions class?" Rose asked Harry, knowing that he hadn't gotten the right OWL score.

"Mcgonagall let Ron and I continue. Apparently Slughorn accepts our grades," Harry answered. Rose nodded as they entered the common room, Hermione having left to go to Ancient Runes.

"I'm gonna take a nap," Rose murmured as she laid down on the couch, her head in Harry's lap. Tillie cuddled up next to her as Crookshanks started playing with a Fanged Frisbee that Ron had somehow acquired. Rose tuned out Katie Bell talking to Harry about quidditch as she fell asleep for an hour.

"We have so much homework for runes," Hermione complained as she joined them in the hall outside the DADA class. "A fifteen inch essay and two translations due by Wednesday!"

"Shame," Ron yawned. Rose let out a light snort as she rested her head on Harry's shoulder.

"You wait," Hermione said. "I bet Snape gives us a ton of homework too."

The door to the classroom opened and Snape glared down at all the children through his greasy black hair.

"Inside," Snape snapped. Everyone hurried into the room, which looked very different than it had in the past. The windows were mostly covered, so the only source of light came from a few candles. There were gruesome pictures on the wall of people being tortured by spells, and even of a girl being eaten by a werewolf. Rose cringed as she sat next to Harry, trying to avoid looking at the walls.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," Snape said as he closed the door. Hermione hastily dropped her book into her bag. "I wish to speak to you and I require your fullest attention."

Snape took a pause as he looked at the class, his gaze lingering on Harry and Rose.

"You have had five teachers in this subject so far," Snape said. "Because of this, I am surprised that many of you were able to get an OWL in this subject. I will be even more surprised if you are able to keep up with the NEWT level work. The Dark Arts are many, varied, and ever changing. Fighting them is like fighting a many headed monster. You cut one head off, another grows."

Harry and Rose exchanged a look as Snape described the Dark Arts. He seemed to have almost a loving caress to his voice.

"Your defenses," Snape continued. "Must be as flexible and inventive as the art you seek to undo. These pictures show what happens if you fail to have good defenses. The Cruciatus curse...the Dementors Kiss...an Inferius attack-"

"Has an Inferius been seen, then?" Parvati interrupted. "He's using them for sure?"

"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past, so it is in your best interest to learn about them and assume he is using them again," Snape said. "Now, you are, I believe, completely ignorant in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of a nonverbal spell?"