Slytherin Forever! Book Two: Shadow

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Chapter Six: Fearless.

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And the Earth is full of lurid madmen

Misogynists abound waiting to produce your fall

But the being you should most fear when you turn out the lights

Is in no way human at all

- No One Answers, Dark Angel.

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The school talked about nothing else than Sirius Black for the next couple of days so that in the end even Alisha and Dev, who loved gossip, complained about the farfetched theories made up by other students. Fact was that Sirius Black had indeed found a way to get into the castle and now everybody lived in fear of another attack like the one on the Gryffindor common room a couple of nights ago. At least, everybody who was not a Slytherin...

"The Dementors are not doing their job properly," Marita complained one afternoon in the Slytherin common room. "I hate being a walking target all the time!"

"You're sitting down," Natalya remarked dryly.

Zeynep groaned as Marita started to glare at the petite Slytherin and buried his head in his hands, slumping down in his chair. Marita and Natalya had been arguing and bickering over non-important things ever since the summer and everybody was growing tired of it. Dev had once dumped two glasses of water over the two girls, but then she had to run for her life so it did not have much effect.

"I think that Rita's got a point," Alisha said thoughtfully. "How come that the Dementors did not search the castle? Are they really on our side?"

"Dumbledore obviously didn't want the Dementors to search the castle," Zeynep replied. "They are on nobody's side, Lish, they will just do as we tell them to as long as they have enough food and You-Know-Who does not decide that he wants to return."

"What food?" Natalya asked while chewing on some strands of her black hair. "One would think that evil soulless monsters didn't need food..."

"They feed on happiness," Ginny said. When she got nonplussed looks she added: "Suck the life out of people and stuff. 'Tis called the Dementor's Kiss. Very jucky and gross."

"There's a spell to repel them with," Marita said after Alisha returned from the bathroom. "I heard of it a couple of times before. You have to think of a really happy memory so that you can conjure a Patronus."

"Why haven't they taught us that then?" Ginny asked in confusion. "I would not have to avoid the gates anymore if I knew the spell..."

"Well, apparently it is very difficult to learn," Marita said to her. "I overheard that Romanov guy talk to Lupin about it the other day and they said that even seventh years would not be able to produce a proper Patronus when facing Dementors."

"Loki said that?" Ginny asked. "That's weird seeing as he has taught Necromancy at the Academy For The Dark Arts in Russia..."

"He did what?" Zeynep asked and shot upright. "But Necromancy's one of the worst things that exist!"

"Nobody's perfect," Alisha replied with a grin. "But yes, I suppose that raising and talking to the dead is a pretty strange way of earning money..."

"Who told you that Loki taught Necromancy in Russia?" Draco asked. "The Academy is supposed to be known only to those who study Dark Arts..."

"He told me about it himself," Ginny said flatly. "I talked to him in the Charms corridor the other day when he came out of the Staff Room looking murderous."

"No need to ask what was wrong with him then," Draco said with a smirk. "It is, after all, common knowledge that Loki doesn't get on well with Snape."

"Maybe we should tell Loki about that Gryffindor - what's his name? - who changed that Boggart into Snape and then transformed his grandmother's clothes onto him."

Marita grinned and looked around to find somebody who agreed with her. Zeynep shot her a look that strongly suggested that he'd take points off his own house, were she to continue, while Alisha sighed and said:

"That Gryffindor's Neville Longbottom, but I don't think that it is such a good idea to tell Loki about it. He'd think that it was funny, no doubt about it, but Snape wouldn't appreciate it."

"Why not?"

"Snape's in a really bad mood, in case you haven't noticed," Ginny said to Marita. "Telling Loki about that incident with the Boggart would be the last straw for him. Snape's already angry with Loki because Gudrun started dating him after she'd broken up with Snape."

"I'm afraid that I don't get it anymore," Zeynep said with a frown. "Who is Gudrun?"

"The blonde woman who came to our school at the end of last year," Ginny replied. "She talked to me after I got out of the Chamber of Secrets and told me about this as well. She already said that Loki might come when needed if she couldn't make it here herself."

"I want to bet that she could come but that she didn't want to face Snape," Natalya grinned. "I'd do the same thing if I was her."

"What interests me most of all," Zeynep said, "is why Loki is needed right now..."

That question was too difficult for anyone to answer as the lessons continued in much the same way as they always had. The only difference was that this time, Loki, instead of Remus Lupin, taught Defense Against the Dark Arts...

"Okay, people! Sit down and be quiet!"

The Slytherins scrambled around the room to find their seats as Loki looked up from his notes. He looked at Marita and Dev, who were gossiping, and sighed. He glared at the two girls, to no avail as the others put their books onto the table.

"Miss Parkinson, Miss Rosvenir, pay attention please."

Dev stopped talking and glared at Loki before continuing her conversation with Marita. Loki glared back calmly and was vaguely aware of somebody giggling in the back of the class. After a minute he slammed his fist down onto the table and bellowed:

"Sit down, you two! If you continue like this you can tell me all of the gossip in detention, and that won't be pleasant at all!"

His lips curled into a sneer as the girls blanched visibly and took their seats. The giggling had stopped abruptly, too, and he sighed with relief. He really hadn't planned to give anyone a detention or take points down from their House, especially not if they were Slytherins, so he was glad that it had not come this far.

"Now, on to the Dark Arts," he said in a normal voice. "Put the books away and take your wands out. Dark Arts are all about experience. You won't learn anything from books."

Jayden McCoy raised his hand tentatively so Loki motioned for the boy to speak up.

"Sir, aren't books important too? Dark Arts can be really dangerous if you don't know what you are doing and I think that you should tell us about the things you are going to do with us so that we can prepare ourselves for it."

"Books aren't important in the Dark Arts," Loki replied. "Danger is the best teacher sometimes, Mr McCoy, remember that. Dark Wizards and Witches do not warn you before they hex you so I won't do that either."

"Are you really going to hex us?" Alisha asked while putting her hand up in the air. "But we don't know anything about counter-curses!"

"I am well aware of that, Miss Avery," Loki replied with a grin. "That's why I am going to teach you about them."

Excited whispers broke out among the students and he grinned with satisfaction. He rose to his feet, grabbed his own wand and motioned for the students to follow him. They did so, murmuring excitedly to one another, and followed him into an empty classroom at the end of the hallway.

"Miss Cruz, raise your wand and walk towards me slowly," Loki instructed. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

Natalya shared a look with Ginny, who realized moments later that her friend looked scared, before she drew her wand and walked towards her teacher. The rest of the class looked on breathlessly as Loki assumed a casual look and looked at the slender Slytherin. Ginny noticed, only briefly, that Natalya let her guard down but that moment was enough for Loki.

He hit Natalya with a low-force Rictusempra spell, which was still strong enough to blast her off her feet. Natalya sat up, dazed and confused, and Loki extended his hand towards her. She grabbed it gratefully as she got to her feet.

"Lesson number one: never let your guard down," Loki told the class. "The opponent always uses that moment to hex you, remember that. Mr Rivers, come up here and take Natalya's place."

Thomas looked even more frightened as he traded places with Natalya, who looked on with interest as Loki conjured a couple of globes. There were screams as the globes transformed into warriors, scarred and armed, who started to circle around Thomas.

Two warriors charged, with their swords held up high, and they would have hit Thomas if it hadn't been for Loki who interfered with a strong repelling spell.

"Lesson number two," he began as the warriors regrouped, "it is always real. No matter how many illusions a Dark Wizard conjures, the reality is what you wish to see. Use your eyes and don't be blinded by foolish words."

He dismissed the warriors with a flick of his hand and held the sparkling globes in his hands for a while before letting them disappear as well. He looked around the classroom briefly and said:

"These two lessons are the most important ones when being taught about Dark Arts. Never let your guard down. It is always real. Remember that and you will be able to face anyone. There is one other lesson, however, that remains to be taught. Miss Weasley, step forward please."

Ginny wondered for a moment whether Loki was joking or not (how could she possibly be of any help?) but stepped forward anyway, raising her wand. He nodded with approval and walked up towards her. She felt his eyes on her so she lifted her chin and looked back. He chuckled, a low and deep sound that seemed to come right out of his heart.

"Very good, Miss Weasley," he said. "You want to see the one you are facing, which is something that I appreciate, and you seem to be overcome with a certain determination to stand your ground against me. Now, let's see how you do in a real duel..."

Alisha gasped behind Ginny, but Ginny didn't look at her. Ominous mutters filled the room as Loki walked back to his place and raised his wand, too. Ginny didn't care.

She had faced Tom Marvolo Riddle at the end of her first school year and had escaped with only a couple of scratches and bruises. She had to deal with six older brothers at home and was left to fend for herself in Slytherin. She wasn't scared of Loki at all.

When he finally began she moved out of harm's way in time. He shot curses at her, never growing tired of it, but she dodged everything. He was growing impatient, she could tell by the way he moved, and growled a swearword under his breath as he continued.

"Averiate!" Ginny finally shouted and aimed at Loki. "Fern!"

Loki sank down to his knees and put his wand down onto the floor. He had been able to numb the spells before they had hit him but signaled his defeat anyway. Ginny frowned at him, confused for a moment, as he got up. He smiled at her and said:

"That is the spirit you need to have when battling forces of evil. Good job, Miss Weasley."

He motioned for her to move back to her friends, who looked just as startled as Ginny felt. Loki looked at his students, moved back to the table he had seated himself on in the beginning of the lesson, and began:

"What Miss Weasley has just shown you is the very core of the Dark Arts. She knew beforehand that I have taught at the Academy For Dark Arts in Russia, and yet she faced me with a great deal of courage. The spells I used were intended to harm her, and yet none of them hit her. Why?"

"Because she dodged them," Jayden said while raising his hand. "Ginny dodged all the spells you aimed at her."

"Do you think that her dodging my spells is of importance?" Loki asked with his lips curling into a sneer. "She wasn't hit by the spells because she didn't fear me. She could move out of the way in time because she was, at that moment, fearless. She knew how to eliminate all of her emotions. Pure in purpose and perfect in execution."

"Her spells didn't harm you," Marita pointed out. "I don't believe that she was fearless."

"I have faced worse things," Ginny replied with a shrug. "Loki doesn't match my mum when she's angry, believe me. And I didn't care about dueling because I know that pain is a way of learning something."

"That is all too true, I'm afraid," Loki sighed. "Ten points to Slytherin for Miss Weasley and five each to Mr Rivers and Miss Cruz. Class dismissed."

"The bell didn't ring yet!"

"Didn't you hear me?" Loki asked with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "I said: class dismissed!"

There was a flurry of movement around the place as people scrambled around to find their things. Loki gave Ginny a curt nod before he walked out of the door, leaving the Slytherins to stare at each other in awe.

"Dude," Trevor commented, "this was the best lesson ever!"

The weather steadily worsened before the first Quidditch Match of the season, which would be Slytherin against Gryffindor, and Ginny found herself wishing more than once that the rain would stop falling out of the clouds. It was no good playing in this weather so Flint canceled the match with the excuse that Draco's arm hadn't healed properly (something that wasn't true at all, but nobody cared about that), making the Gryffindors face Hufflepuff instead.

It was, Ginny reflected as she ran towards the stadium, the worst Quidditch weather ever. Rain poured out of the sky constantly, soaking the spectators thoroughly, and it would only be a matter of time before lightning and thunder would join the storm raging on the school grounds.

The Quidditch players themselves were nothing more than blurs in the air as they kicked off at Madame Hooch's whistle. Ginny couldn't hear Lee Jordan keeping everyone updated on the score, nor could she see anything of importance. Natalya and Zeynep, next to Ginny, were talking quietly with each other about other things while Draco turned and twisted in his seat in front of them, bored with the match.

Gryffindor called for a time-out after a while but Ginny didn't care about it anymore. She was frozen with cold and willing, more than ever, to get into the castle and crawl into bed. Other people were thinking along the same lines, Ginny noticed, and nobody was paying attention to the match anymore.

Suddenly Alisha, who had been seated next to Draco, shot upright in her seat and pointed at the pitch. She looked scared as she turned around to face Ginny and exclaimed:

"I don't know what they are playing at, but the Dementors have just gotten onto the pitch!"

Ginny rose to her feet to make out the figures on the pitch. They were Dementors all right, creatures without real faces, and she felt a lurch of fear in the pit of her stomach. Why were they here?

She didn't have time to ask anyone about that though because, at that moment, somebody fell out of the sky. Harry Potter, scarlet robes nothing more than a blur against the sky, fell down from his broomstick onto the pitch. People screamed as Dumbledore ran onto the pitch and warded the Dementors off with silver-like stuff. They retreated immediately.

"Do you think that he's okay?" Dev asked with a shaky undertone in her voice. "He might be a Gryffindor, but he's still a human being. Will he be all right?"

"I guess he will be," Ginny said to her friend as Dumbledore levitated Harry onto a stretcher. "It will take a while for him to heal completely, though, but he will survive."

Harry survived indeed, although he had to stay in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the weekend. Ginny went to see him, along with Dev and Alisha, and was sorry to hear that the Whomping Willow had smashed Harry's broomstick to bits.

Flint and Draco, however, were beside themselves with joy at Gryffindor's defeat. Ginny realized that if the Slytherins had played and the Dementors would have come onto the pitch, she would have been where Harry was now. She told Draco about it, but he merely shrugged without showing any interest.

Lupin returned to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts too, fully recovered from his illness, but the Slytherins weren't happy with it at all. Loki Romanov had endeared himself to them by his knowledge and way of teaching, although other students complained about his lack of respect for their words, and they found themselves wishing that Lupin would fall ill more often.

Nobody would have expected Lupin to be ill every month.

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