The Opposite

Chapter 2: Catriona Onsu

The very next day, the group walked into the large room that Professor Onsu had made her own. It had a dueling stage in the middle of it and desks in front of the stage. All the students sat, looking around. The class had been in session for nearly ten minutes, and Onsu had yet to make an appearance.

"Where the hell is she?" Neve asked, looking around. Sure enough, Onsu was still nowhere in sight.

"I haven't the foggiest," Harry said, shrugging. He wondered how this teacher was going to be. Umbridge certainly made no progress with them in the previous year. Then the clanging of a door shutting was heard. The class turned in their seats to see Professor Onsu walking up. She had white robes on today and they clashed against her black hair. It was still covering one eye. She had her lips pursed tightly. Gliding past the students, they all caught of a whiff of what smelled like peppermint. She stepped up on the dueling stage and looked out at the students. The class had been silent thus far. They all watched her with wide eyes.

"Welcome. I am Catriona Glenys Onsu. Since you are so old, I expect you to behave accordingly. Now, in addition to learning to defend yourselves against the Dark Arts, I will teach you how to duel. This is an effort to prepare you in case the time comes for you to do so. Now, I consider myself to be an overall enjoyable person, but I will not tolerate any silly incantations or hexes thrown about the room. As well as those little joke thingies from that shop at Diagon Alley. I expect nothing but the best from all of you. Who wants to be the first to give an example of dueling?" she asked. Her voice was relatively deep for a woman so small.

"I would," a raspy voice said. The class turned to see Aurora with her hand up. Onsu nodded and Aurora stood up.

"What's your name, young lady?"

"Aurora Assante."

"Well, Miss Assante, choose another," Onsu said, waving her hand. Aurora looked around the room and chose Millicent Bulstrode. The large girl stood and smiled. They both walked up to the stage and looked at one another.

"Well, have at it when I clap," Onsu said. The girls nodded. Onsu's clap came unexpectedly.

"Tarantallegra!" Millicent yelled. Aurora dodged to the side and Millicent frowned.

"Expelliarmus!" Aurora yelled. The spell hit an unexpectant Millicent and she went flying backwards. The class made an awed sound. Onsu clapped again.

"A great demonstration, girls. Please take your seats. You all know of the Unforgivable Curses, right?" Onsu asked as Aurora and Millicent went back to their seats. It appeared that Millicent had marked Aurora as her enemy by the way she was staring. Aurora was smiling smugly as she sat down next to her sister. Neve clapped her on the back.

"Excellent, but I think you've made a new enemy," she said. Aurora looked over at Millicent, who was fuming in her direction. Aurora caught her eye and Millicent looked shocked and looked away. Aurora smiled again, then turned her attention back to Onsu. Hermione had raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss..."

"Granger, Hermione Granger. The Unforgivable Curses are the Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra," she said.

"That is correct, Miss Granger. Twenty points to Gryffindor. Now, there is a way to block two of these curses. The Imperius Curse is the easiest, yet it is still difficult to do so. One must have an impeccably strong will and mind to do so. Normally, when you are a subject to this curse, a voice in your head is telling you to do whatever it is that the person giving the curse wants you to do. The problem is that you do have a choice. It is a relatively painful thing and very tiring, but it is worth it. The Cruciatus Curse is a little bit more complicated. Normally, I would just say dive to the side or something. Most people do just that in order to avoid being hit with it. But, if you are strong enough, you can reverse the path of this curse. To do so, you must be Soliopath. Does anyone know what a Soliopath is?" Onsu asked. This time, Draco's hand went up.

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. A Soliopath is someone who can practice Soliopathy. Soliopathy is the ability to do magic without a wand," Draco said. Onsu nodded.

"Correct. Twenty points to Slytherin. A partial Soliopath can't do it. But, if you are a full Soliopath and trained, you can do it with any spell, except the Imperius Curse and Avada Kedavra. This curse is probably the only curse that no one has succesfully blocked. It's not like you can just throw it at someone and see if they block it. I guess that's one of the reasons that it is impossible for you to block. But, there is a way to do so. Everything has an opposite. No one has found it yet. Well, does anyone else want to duel?" Onsu said. Ron and Neville's hands went up. "You two. Let's go," Onsu said.

At lunch, Ginny was playing Harry in chess. Hermione sat down next to them and opened a very large book.

"What's that?" Ron asked. Hermione looked up and saw he was stuffing his face with two sandwiches and rolled her eyes.

"This book is on the Dark Arts. I want to see if I can find a way to block the Killing Curse."

"But how would anyone know how to block it if no one's ever survived it while trying?" Harry asked. Hermione shrugged.

"I don't know. It says here that the curse can only work if the person throwing it really wants that person's life to end. Meaning that if you were to throw it at Ron, it would merely disintegrate into nothing," Hermione said. Ron and Harry looked at each other.

"I would hope that would happen. Not that I'd ever throw it at you, mate," Harry said jovially.

"I would bloody well hope not," Ron said. Ginny giggled.

"Why do you think we can trust Malfoy, Harry?" Ginny asked. Everyone looked at Harry as she asked this question. Harry looked up from the chessboard.

"Well, I just felt something in him. When I saw his eyes, I knew he was telling the truth. I can't really explain it," Harry said. Ginny squinted at him. Her knight was currently involved in a very violent tussle with Harry's pawn. It seemed that the pawn was winning, although it was Ginny's move.

"Apparently, so did Aurora. Aw, come on! It's just a bloody pawn! " Ginny yelled. Harry stiffened at the sound of Aurora's name. Ginny noticed this. Little did Harry know, but Ginny felt the same way about him. Her face darkened a little as he did this. She looked back down at the chessboard. Finally, the pawn was thrown off the board and the knight dusted himself off and mounted his horse again. Hermione rolled her eyes as Neve walked up with Neville.

"You're never going to believe this," she said.

"What?" Harry asked absent-mindedly.

"I think that Malfoy boy is a bit taken with my sister."

"Malfoy? Fancying your sister? This I gotta see to believe," Ron said. Neve smiled and pointed over her shoulder. The rest of them looked over by the wall. Sure enough, Draco was apparently sweet-talking Aurora because her tanned skin was flushed so that she looked almost as red a Ginny's hair. Then it dawned on Hermione.

"Neve, you're hair is black," she stated. Neve turned back around to face her.

"Well, yeah. I'm a Metamorphmagus. Runs in the family. I got tired of it being honey, so I changed it to black. Aurora is jealous of me about it." She smiled, running a hand through her hair.

Around Halloween, a very strange thing happened in Potions. Snape was being even harder on Harry and apparently hadn't forgiven him for what he'd seen in the Pensieve. In Potions, Aurora was Harry's partner. She still fancied Draco and they were always whispering to each other and making eyes. Aurora added too much spider blood in the cauldron. It exploded just as Snape was passing by and red liquid was all over him. Harry had to immediately look down to keep from laughing. Aurora, on the other hand, looked absolutely mortified. Snape had grown a particular distaste for her also, since she was blowing things up on a regular basis.

"Bugger," she said quietly.

"Idiot girl! Stop being so bloody careless!" he yelled. Aurora sank back in her seat a little. She seemed to be on the verge of crying.

"I am very sorry, Professor Snape," she practically whispered. Harry frowned. Aurora wasn't one to express her feelings very often.

"Sorry isn't good enough. Twenty points from Gryffindor," he said. Harry made a noise, then stood up.

"For what? Making a mistake in class? That's not fair! I don't see you taking points from Slytherin when those imbeciles Crabbe and Goyle foul up their potion!" Harry said, standing abruptly. Snape turned his head to look at him.

"Watch it, Potter. I am definitely not in the mood to deal with you," Snape said. Harry still stared at him. "Take your seat, Potter," Snape said. Harry continued to stand. He felt a burning sensation somewhere behind his eyes. The next thing that happened came as a shock to both Snape and Harry. Snape's robes caught on fire without warning.

"Professor, you're on fire!" Seamus yelled. Snape looked down and saw that his black robes were indeed on fire. Harry continued to stare at him, not bothering to help. The flames only grew worse, even with Seamus and Snape's attempts to put it out. Aurora closed her eyes and the flames immediately extinguished leaving a very confused Seamus and Snape. The bell rang as Harry blinked and Aurora immediately pulled him off. In the hall, Ron and Hermione caught up with them.

"What the bloody hell happened in there? Harry did you use magic on Snape?" Ron asked, a little winded. He had a gleam of hope in his eyes. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"He couldn't have possibly done it, Ron. Harry didn't have his wand out. Right?" Hermione looked at Harry expectantly. Harry looked at Aurora, who was finding a spot on her robes very interesting. She looked up into his eyes.

'Not yet,' a voice that sounded just like Aurora's said in Harry's mind. Harry blinked and looked back at Hermione.

"Hermione's right. My wand was in my robes," Harry said. Hermione smiled and put her nose in the air.

"See, Ronnie. I told you he didn't do it," she said, then stalked off with Aurora. Harry faced Ron, who was turning a bit red.

"Ronnie? Since when do you two have pet names for each other?" Harry asked. Ron looked at him with his mouth hanging open.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ronnie and Mione. That's what I'm talking about, you arse," Harry said laughing. Ron hit him on the side of his head.

"Shut up. Let's go. Onsu will eat us alive if we're late," Ron said and Harry followed him, leaving the subject alone, for now.

In class, Onsu finished giving the class notes. She turned around to face them.

"Let's see. I want Potter and Malfoy up here now," she said. Harry exchanged looks with Ron. Ron shrugged and Harry made his way to the dueling stage.

"This oughta be a sight for sore eyes," Ron said. Hermione looked at him.

"He said that he didn't want to be our enemy," she argued. Ron looked at her like she'd grown horns and a tail.

"Are you fucking daft Mione? That did NOT under ANY circumstances mean that he is our best friend, either," Ron said. Hermione rolled her eyes, but touched Ron's hand as he turned his attention back to the stage. He smiled a little. Aurora and Ginny watched the two boys stare intently at each other. Even though they were not enemies anymore, they still didn't like each other in any way. Onsu clapped.

All sorts of hexes and curses went flying across the room. Harry had to admit, Draco was pretty good. He was nowhere near what Harry could do, but good nonetheless.

"Expelliarmus!" Draco yelled. Harry flew backwards and dropped his wand. Draco, not really caring what Onsu said, sent another hex at Harry as he stood, looking obviously peeved.

Harry felt that burning behind his eyes again as the hex got closer. It was a rather powerful hex. It stopped in midair and hovered for a moment. It then reversed its path and headed straight for Draco, who just stood there, a bit shocked. The next thing that happened was a complete and total shock to everyone in the room. Aurora jumped in front of Draco and put her hand out. The hex seemed to hit a wall that rippled. It was a very strange thing. Onsu watched this with interest and the rest of the class looked shocked.

Harry blinked and the fire behind his eyes disappeared. He stood staring at Aurora, wondering how he'd done what he'd done and how she'd done what she'd done. The class was in silence until Onsu broke it, causing everyone to visibly jump.

"Potter, Assante, follow me," she said. Aurora and Harry looked at each other then followed swiftly, eager to get away from the stares of the class.