Dragon Heartstring

Dragon Heartstring

Harry Potter was sitting at an old willow desk, at the front of an elaborately decorated circular stone classroom. He had his cheek resting on his hand, elbows on the desk balancing him in an upright position. It was all he could do to stay awake.

In the seat next to him, Ron Weasley could be seen fighting a loosing battle to keep his eyes open. All around the class, students of the fifth year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff houses were doing similar things. Harry could see out of the corner of his eye that Dean Thomas had already given in to boredom and was slumped quite inelegantly across the table, fast asleep. Even Hermione (seated in the desk closest to Ron) had given up trying to read her Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, and was staring blankly into the empty space at the front of the class.

The raised platform positioned to face the students housed many interesting artefacts: a large oak desk; a beautifully crafted golden telescope; cages of various sizes and shape (all of which were empty) and various other objects, all of which had lost their appeal after having half an hour to do nothing but stare at them. The most important object that should be on this platform was missing. The teacher.

It was the first lesson after lunch on the first day of school back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Gryffindors in the class had already faced an exhausting morning of Care of Magical creatures with Hagrid and the Ravenclaws, in which they had spent a good two hours chasing after a creature that could only be described as the product of a breeding experiment gone wrong. It had had the head of a dragon, body of a lion, wings of a phoenix and tail of a rattlesnake. Apparently it was 'a magnificent beast, absolutely harmless' according to Hagrid. This roughly translated to it was ugly, twice the size of Hagrid himself (who was half giant) and could burn, bite, scratch and poison you without breaking a sweat. Luckily no one had been injured (mostly due to 75% of the class hiding in Hagrid's hut. By the end of the lesson, those who had remained outside were exhausted from chasing the creature, before they finally hit it with several 'petrificus totalus' spells all at once.

There had been no new face at the head table yesterday at the Sorting ceremony, nor this morning at breakfast or lunch. This was the first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year (if you can call sitting around in a classroom so bored that you wish there was some work to do a lesson!), and as of yet, the new professor had failed to show himself...or herself Harry thought. However, DatDA was scheduled on their timetable and no announcement had been made to suggest that the lessons would be cancelled until further notice. This information had spurred Fred and George Weasley to start a rumour that Professor Snape, head of Slytherin house and Harry's least favourite teacher, had finally got the job he desired.

Harry had actually been getting rather anxious over this prospect, but with every minute that ticked by and no teacher appeared, the option seemed less and less likely. Snape would never be so kind as to postpone the 'pleasure' of teaching a class, especially one half made up of Gryffindors. After all, tormenting Harry Potter was one of the professors most enjoyed pastimes. Once the appearance of a new teacher was again the expected option, curiosity had buzzed through the class. Harry's favourite concept by far was that Professor Lupin would be returning to teach the class, though he highly doubted that this was correct. Last he had heard Lupin was in Romania with Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, on the trail of Lord Voldemort.

The excitement had been short lived however, and now that they were 45 minutes into the 'lesson' everyone was once again bored stiff. Harry turned to ask Ron for the hundredth time what the time was. Ron could now be seen half asleep with his head resting on the desk. All of a sudden, the door at the back of the classroom flew open, dramatically slamming hard against the stonewall. The sharp loud sound was enough to pull Dean from his sleep and the rest of the class sat up straight immediately, wide-awake.

The figure that had burst through the door didn't even break stride as they made their way between desks of students to the front of the class. He had a sudden deja vu of his first lesson in the dungeons with Snape. The entrance was so surprisingly fast that Harry didn't get a chance to see the professor's face, but he got a good look at the long billowing cloak that followed majestically behind them. For one horrid moment Harry thought that it was Professor Snape after all.

The figure turned to face the class, black cloak swirling around behind them, and resting perfectly in place. To Harry's shock (and the rest of the class), the figure was a woman. She was fairly tall, her straight posture increasing her height even further. Her hair was pulled back in a simple braid exposing her face. She wore rectangular framed dull gold glasses, behind which resided amber eyes, which held a glint that Harry wasn't sure he liked.

"You can put your wands away, you won't be needing them."

Her voice was serious and impatient, and she had a strong British accent, similar to the one used on the BBC news on Muggle television.

"There will be no magic of any kind performed in this class until I am completely satisfied that you are up to the challenge," she continued as the class stared at her dumbfounded.

When no one moved, she barked out a simple order.

"Now!"

Suddenly everyone sprung into action, everyone that is, except Ron.

Harry looked at his friend in utter confusion. Ron, unlike the rest of the class who were seemingly terrified of the new professor, was fighting to keep a grin from washing over his face. He was staring in utter bewilderment at the woman who was only metres in front of him. He wasn't even angry, he seemed.... amused.

The professor didn't seem to notice Ron's disobedience, and continued to speak to the class.

"You will want to turn to page 35 in your textbook and start taking notes on voodoo ritual. I can honestly say that I have never in my life have I had to teach a class so far behind as you are."

This comment was too much for Ron who suddenly burst out laughing.

The professor's eyes flashed dangerously at the red head.

"If something's amusing you Mr Weasley then I suggest you get it under control, otherwise you'll be finding yourself out of my class before you can say..."

The professor trailed of as if unable to get the rest of the sentence out. She looked to the side in what Harry could only describe as defeat. When she looked back to Ron, who now had a widespread grin across his face her entire persona had changed.

Her shoulders were more relaxed and a smile was playing on the edges of her mouth. The hardness in her eyes has vanished, as was replaced with a warm glow.

"Sorry Kari" Ron said, very unapologetically.

"It's Professor Ashling in this room" she replied pointedly. Her voice had changed. It was no longer harsh and proper, but relaxed. Her accent had slipped into something that much more resembled Ron's.

Harry wasn't alone in staring in shock at the pair. Professor Ashling noticed the rest of the students and smiled at them in amusement. Ron looked rather pleased with himself.

The professor turned back to the platform and removed her cloak, throwing it casually over the chair that sat behind her desk. She was wearing a plum red velvet skirt that stopped at her ankles where her black leather boots could be seen. Her top was black, short sleeved and simple, and showed off her slim figure well.

Harry sat mesmerised as she quickly undid the tight braid and let strands of hair frame her face. Her hair turned out to be a mixture of red, orange, blonde and brown strands. The mixture suited her perfectly. He couldn't get over how, well, normal she looked. The other thing Harry noticed was how young she was. There was no way this woman was over 25, and he doubted that she was even that. The main thing that was plaguing his mind though was how did Ron know her?

Professor Ashling sat on her desk, feet just off the ground. Harry couldn't believe that just a few minutes ago he had mistaken her for Snape! She washed a gaze over the stunned students.

"I've wanted to make an entrance like that ever since my first potions lesson," she said with a grin.

The whole class relaxed, and a few of the Gryffindors chuckled at the same memory of Snape's overly dramatic introduction to them as first years.

"I'm Professor Kari Ashling, your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," she continued. "I'm sorry for my lateness to your lesson, but my preparation took a little longer than I had expected. If you'd like to retrieve your wands and follow me, then the lesson can begin."

With this she leapt off the desk and proceeded back through the desks and out the door, a class of excited students at her heels.

She led them along the corridor and into the entrance hall, where she abruptly stopped and turned on her heel. The class stopped in front of her.

"Before we go out, I think it would be wise to adapt our clothing a little. It's a simple charm, just raise your wand above your head," she demonstrated as she explained, "and twist it around whilst you think of the most suitable outdoor clothing you own. Say the incantation 'Liberem Casuem'."

As she spoke the words, a mist escaped her wand and enclosed her. When it cleared she was standing there wearing plain brown trousers, a cream coloured fitted shirt, over which she wore a long brown leather coat.

"And Voila!" she finished, spreading her hands out in form of presentation.

Harry could also see that she now had fingerless brown leather gloves on her hands, and her boots were flat and practical. 'What could they possibly be doing this lesson?' He thought.

"Go ahead" Professor Ashling encouraged.

The class spread out and performed the charm. For the most part it worked. Harry found his school robes transformed into a pair of his own jeans and an old black sweater. Ron, along with the other boys in the class looked vaguely similar. The girls all had trousers on as well and those with long hair (such as Hermione) found that it had been tied back out of the way, in the same way the Professor Ashling's had.

The only exception to no one's surprise was Neville, who on his first attempt had ended up wearing his pyjamas. However, after quick instruction from Hermione, he looked just like everyone else on his second attempt.

"It's a spell that allows you to switch your clothing with anything in your wardrobe," Professor Ashling explained. "Very handy when you can't decide what to wear for an occasion. But be careful that you do concentrate hard on clothes you already own, or you could end up being prosecuted by the Ministry of Magic under the Magical Theft act of 1872," she added. "Now then, if everyone's ready? Follow me."

She led them outside and down past the Quidditch pitch. Whilst they were walking, Harry finally had a chance to talk to Ron. Both he and Hermione took up position on either side of Ron, but it was Ron who got to speak first.

"Wonder what we're doing? Any ideas?" he asked.

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances of disbelievement.

"Ron!" Hermione said.

"What?" he asked surprised by the sound of her voice.

"The professor Ron!" Harry added.

"What about her?" said Ron rather confused?

"You called her Kari," said Hermione.

"Yeah..." said Ron slowly, "that's her name".

"And you knew that how?" said Hermione rather patronizingly.

"She told me." Said Ron, as it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hermione groaned and threw her hands up in defeat.

By this time they had reached the Quidditch pitch. Harry was about to ask Ron if he'd met their new Professor before, when a collective gasp sounded from the students around him. Harry looked up to see what had caused the outburst, and when he did, he let out an involuntary gasp of his own.

Just on the other side of the Quidditch pitch Harry could see a jet of flame rise from the mouth of a huge, green dragon. The roar it made was deafening, though not all that threatening. Unlike the dragons Harry had been faced with for the first task of the Tri-Wizard tournament, this one seemed rather relaxed, comfortable with its surroundings. It wasn't as large as the dragon he had faced either, and Harry suspected that this one was not yet fully grown. He looked closer and to his amazement, right at the foot of the dragon stood Hagrid.

Professor Ashling continued to walk towards the dragon, showing no hesitation at all. When the class didn't follow her, she beckoned them forward insisting they were safe from any harm. Cautiously the fifth years followed.

They stopped outside a fence, only twenty feet or so from the dragon. Harry was pretty certain that they were not out of range from the dragon's flame throwing power. Professor Ashling leaped easily over the fence, telling the class to stay where they were for a moment. She sprinted towards Hagrid, placing an arm on his shoulder to get his attention. Harry couldn't hear what was being said, but he could see Hagrid pull the new professor into a bone-crushing hug of joy, spinning her around on the spot. When he put her down Harry saw her point in their direction, and Hagrid nodding enthusiastically. Hagrid adored dragons; it was a well-known fact.

The half-giant ran towards the group of students (due to his size he reached them within seconds!). When he was close enough Harry could see the enormous grin on his face and tears of joy tangled in his beard.

"Alrigh'," he said when he got to the fence, "Kari, oops, I mean Professor Ashling, wants you all ter spread yerselves around the fence so that you all can see what's goin' on. Come on, move yerselves!" Hagrid said enthusiastically.

When the class began to move around single file along the fence, Hagrid beckoned Harry, Ron and Hermione forward, obviously overjoyed.

"It's Norbert!!" Hagrid burst out to the trio, "He's come home, well, for a while at least." Norbert was the dragon Hagrid had begun to raise in their first year at Hogwarts. Harry, Ron and Hermione had arranged for Ron's older brother Charlie to take him to Romania to live in a colony.

"Hang on," Ron said suddenly, "If Norbert's here, does that mean that..."

"Your fantastic older brother is here too?" said a voice from behind the trio.

"Charlie!" Ron exclaimed, obviously delighted.

"Alright Ron" said Charlie grinning from ear to ear. "Alight Harry. Hermione, you look even more beautiful than ever." Hermione blushed.

"Don't let Kari hear you say that!" said Ron jokingly.

"She already did," said Professor Ashling from behind Hagrid, a false look of offence on her face.

Charlie leapt over the fence to join her, slipping an arm around her waist and saying,

"Ah, you know you're the only girl for me sweetheart," planting a kiss on her cheek. The pair stood their smiling into each other's eyes for a moment before looking back to the confused faces of Harry and Hermione.

"Hang on..." Harry said, and then trailed off, not quite sure how to put his question into words.

"Guys," Ron said explained, answering the unasked question, "this is Kari, Charlie's girlfriend."

"Did he mess up your joke?" Charlie asked Kari, head nodding towards Ron.

"Of course he did. Started laughing less than five minutes in, which means you owe me a Sickle."

"Darn it," Charlie said reaching into his trouser pocket, pulling out a silver coin, "I was sure he'd make it through at least ten minutes. You're going to have to learn some self control Ron." He tossed the coin spinning into the air, and Kari caught it, and slid it into her pocket.

"Right," she said in a very business like tone, "We've got a class to teach."

"Bring it on," said Charlie, as they walked into the paddock, one fire-breathing dragon awaiting.