harry potter and the heir of the four founderstext size: (+) : (-)

author: mione51. Something's not right

pg-13 - english - general - reviews: 871 - publish date: 04-02-03 - updated: 08-14-03 story id: 1292032

harry potter and the heir of the four founders disclaimer: i own nothing i just thank the great jk rowling for allowing us to indulge in our favourite characters.chapter 1 - something’s not rightnothing harry potter did was right. his uncle vernon and aunt petunia had told him that for as long as he could remember. so after the events of the tri-wizard tournament, harry was starting to believe it himself no matter what his friends and professors tried to convince him otherwise. it didn’t help that almost half of the rest of the school thought he might have murdered cedric to win the cup. minister fudge did not help by refusing to believe in the return of voldemort and that there would be a full investigation into cedric’s death including how it was that harry managed to survive..

the aforementioned wizard was currently sitting on his bed in his small bedroom in privet drive. his trunk lay open at the end of his bed with his belongings strewn about the floor. the trip home on the hogwarts express had been difficult but inviting as surprisingly, if asked he would never have believed it himself, he wanted to go back to the dursley’s if only to get away from all the whispers and the pointing from his classmates and the other years. however nothing prepared him for the onslaught from his uncle upon his return from hogwarts. vernon had dragged him and his truck out of the car and upstairs. he threw them in his small bedroom throwing his trunk hard enough to break it open, slammed the door shut and locked it without a word.

that had been four days ago. now harry sat dazed . he hadn’t eaten since the leaving feast at hogwarts and even then it wasn’t

all that much. he was weak from lack of food and his stomach was very painful. he had relieved himself into a bucket that had been one of dudley’s unwanted christmas presents.

what had really shocked harry was the fact that his aunt and uncle had not spoken to him in four days. they hadn’t come to his room at all. he had heard them mumble outside the door but he could only catch a general idea from the few words that he could make out. the gist seemed to be about how they now had a killer under their roof and what were they going to do about him. it seemed that not only had minister fudge told the whole school he was guilty he had written to the dursley’s as well. harry had a horrible feeling it wasn’t going to be long until he found out.about an hour later as it started to get dark, harry heard a key rattling in the lock. he looked up as the door opened and his aunt and uncle walked in. petunia had a bowl of soup and some bread on a plate and vernon carried a chain and padlock. he attached the chain around the leg of the radiator with the padlock and came over to harry. vernon snapped a handcuff around his left wrist and the other end through the end of the chain. petunia left the tray on the desk and they both walked out. they key rattled in the lock again and then nothing. not one word the whole time. harry looked at the food and then turned away. he lay down and faced the wall and cried himself to sleep * * * * * * * * * * ‘wormtail, bring the next one in.’

‘yes master’ squeaked peter pettigrew leading a boy of about 11 to stand in front of voldemort

‘no he is to short’ voldemort whispered something and there was a flash of green light as the boy crumpled to the ground. the body was dragged away before another took his place.

‘no, i told you black hair, green eyes. you do remember what he looks like don’t you wormtail. maybe i should refresh your memory. crucio’ voldemort screamed.

harry sat up with a start. his scar was burning and he pressed hard with his fingers to try to stop the pain. as it subsided he lay back against the pillow, breathing hard. harry pulled his fingers away from his forehead, they felt sticky and he sniffed at them. blood. his scar was bleeding.

harry leapt out of bed, dragging his chain across the floor to the mirror.

‘potter’ bellowed vernon. harry stood still not daring to move. after a few tense minutes he sank to the floor, he couldn’t go back to bed, the chain made to much noise. harry lay down on the floor and waited for the morning to arrive.the next time harry awoke it took him a few minutes to realise where he was. he heard someone coming up the stairs and a key rattling in the lock. the door opened and dudley stuck his head in.

‘here’ said dudley throwing him a packet of crisps and a can of lemonade.

‘thanks’ said harry now completely shocked. dudley went to close the door but opened it again and looked at harry sceptically

‘you didn’t really kill that boy, did you?’ harry shook his head. ‘i didn’t think so. gotta go , mum will be back from the shops soon. see ya.’ dudley closed the door and locked it again.

harry just sat there staring at the items in his hand. dudley had just given him food. dudley, his cousin, who put food above all else even television had just snuck in and given him food. harry thought that this was getting out of hand and he wanted to know what was going on. he felt that he had gotten off the hogwarts express into the twilight zone.harry waited until he heard his aunt come home and then he started banging on the door. he kept it up for what felt like hours but still she did not come. finally harry gave up and went over to the bed and sat down. he heard vernon arrive home shortly after and come in the house.

‘good evening petunia dear. hello dudders.’ he bellowed as he

walked up the stairs. harry sat listening carefully, holding his breath as petunia came clattering up the stairs. he heard them have a hushed conversation. harry couldn’t hear what was said but he knew it was about him.

suddenly the key rattle in the lock and the door was flung open. vernon towered in the doorway, apoplectic with rage. the veins stood out on his neck and his face was purple. ‘just who in the hell do you think you are boy’ vernon yelled ‘we shelter you under our roof, we feed you’ harry looked at the soup and stale bread from last night ‘clothe you’ he looked at dudley’s hand me downs that were at least two sizes too big and back up at vernon. in hindsight this was not really the right thing to do. smack. vernon had belted him across the side of the head with his fist. harry stared at him with disbelief. his uncle vernon had yelled at him, shook him, chased him, hit him with things and slapped him before but he had never, ever, punched him. harry hoped that it had also shocked him and that he would leave but no such luck. vernon grabbed hold of harry and proceeded to beat, kick and punch every ’abnormality’ he thought harry had in him. after about 45minues he stopped.

’maybe now you will be more grateful’ sneered vernon before guiding petunia out of the room and locking the door behind him.

harry carefully tried to uncurl from the ball he had used to try and protect himself.

’oh my god’ he croaked. harry half dragged, half crawled over to the bed and lay down, wincing as he took stock of his injuries. he could only just see out of his right eye and not at all out of his left. his left cheek was swelling at an alarming rate which probably meant that his cheekbone had been shattered when it connected to vernon’s foot. he thought his collarbone may be broken and he knew his wrist was. his left ankle and knee felt very bad and harry had an awful suspicion they might be broken also. the fact that he found it almost impossible to breath meant that not all of his ribs were still intact. he lay on his back and waited, not knowing when and if vernon was going to come back.

many hours had past and harry had not moved. his aunt had looked in to the room twice. probably to check that harry wasn’t gong to get them into trouble by dying on them or anything.

* * * * * * * * *

the next few days went by in a haze. he could not move as the pain would just shoot throughout his body every time he tried. harry had not seen or heard from vernon although petunia had brought him bread and water. not that harry could move to get it no matter how hungry he was. after this happened the third time she thought he wasn’t eating out of spite and stopped bringing him anymore. harry couldn’t even get up to relieve himself.

he had found that once he lay down everything seized up and he couldn’t have moved if he wanted to. harry spent most of his time barely conscious. when he fell asleep the nightmares would return, but any movement during them would shock harry awake gasping for breath as he waited for the pain to subside.

one evening the key rattled in the lock and the door swung open. vernon walked into the room holding his nose.

‘you’re a filthy, disgusting excuse for a human being, look at the state of you. can’t even be bothered to get up and go to the bathroom. well don’t think we are going to get you clean sheets and clothes. you can just lie there like that.’ he bellowed and slammed the door shut.

‘thank god’ breathed harry thankful that he hadn’t touched him. * * * * * * * * * *the dreams that night were particularly vivid. harry was standing in the forest. the mist around him seemed to blend itself into shapes around him as he walked. then the dream faded away before harry could figure out what the shapes were. then he was in some sort of huge dungeon and voldemort was sitting on his throne with his huge snake curled around it . he didn’t seem to be able to see harry as he sat absentmindedly stroking the snakes head.

‘we must find a match soon my dear nagini. we must take control of harry potter before that stupid muggle loving fool tells him the truth.’ movement to the left of him snapped voldemort out of his reverie. a small balding man rushed in and fell at voldemort’s feet. ‘master , we have found him’ wormtail snivelled. a boy of about 12 stumbled into the room and looked up at the dark lord. voldemort gasped. he was small and skinny with brown hair and green eyes.

harry screamed as he woke. the sun was streaming in the window and thankfully the dursleys didn’t seem to be home. he sat there for a while trying to slow his breathing and remembering the dream. what was voldemort talking about and why did he try to find a boy that looked just like him albeit with lighter hair.

just the a key jangled in the lock and the door opened softly.

’oh m-my g-god’ stuttered dudley as he took in the scene before him. harry was chained to the wall, lying on the bed covered in his own blood among other things, his face almost unrecognisable. as dudley stepped closer he burst into tears.

’dudley’ harry croaked ’help me’

dudley wiped his eyes and looked around the room. he dashed to harry’s trunk and started to search through it, searching frantically for a name of phone number of one of harry’s friends.

’quill’ harry whispered making eyes at a feather on the ground and then at hedwig who was perched on the window sill. it took dudley a few times looking at harry, then at the quill and then at hedwig before he realized what harry meant. he tore out of the room and returned a few moments later with a piece of paper and a pen.

‘dumbledore, you write’ whispered harry before passing out.

‘dear mr dumbledore’ wrote dudley. ‘my father has almost killed harry. i don’t think he can last much longer. pease hurry’ he

wrote in big letters before signing ‘dudley dursley’ and folding the note in half.

dudley stood up holding the note and eyeing hedwig thoughtfully. hedwig solved the boy’s dilemma by grabbing the note out of his hands with her beak and taking off out the window. dudley took one more look at harry saying ‘hold on . it shouldn’t be much longer’ and closed the door locking it after him. he then went downstairs to wait.

chapter 2 - the rescue

dumbledore looked up and frowned as a familiar snowy white owl flew in the window and landed on his desk. he took the note out of her beak and she flew over to sit next to fawkes on his perch. dumbledore opened the note, scanning it quickly, the twinkle dying in his eyes. he got up swiftly and went to the fireplace. grabbing a bit of floo powder he tossed it into the fire waiting for it to turn green. ’minerva, poppy, severus. my office please as quick as you can.’ there were three pops as they walked out of the fireplace. ’albus, whatever is the matter’ dumbledore didn’t say anything he just handed them the letter. ’oh no’ breathed poppy. minerva just looked at dumbledore her face grim and

snape looked about ready to kill somebody. ’when are we going’ he breathed slowly as if to calm himself. ’in an hour when it is dark, we will apparate to the cross roads and walk the rest of the way.’

they all waited together for the darkness to come. dumbledore sat behind his desk looking very grave. minerva and poppy sat in a corner talking and wringing their hand as snape paced around the room constantly scowling.

suddenly dumbledore stood up. ’it’s time’ he stated and threw some floo powder into the fire. ’diagon alley’ albus whispered before stepping into the fire. the others did the same and climbed out of the fire in the leaky caldron. the group of four then walked outside and disappeared.

they all appeared moments later on magnolia crescent and they turned and walked up to privet drive. dumbledore pulled his put-outer from a pocket in his robes and collected all the light from the street lamps. ‘come on everyone and remember, not a word about the letter.’ said dumbledore as the strode towards number 4. snape pounded on the door ‘open up dursley’ he yelled. ‘dudley opened the door immediately. ‘thank goodness, i hoped you had got the letter.’ he breathed before running to get his father. vernon came storming out from the kitchen. ‘get the hell out of my house. your kind are not welcome here’ spat vernon.

‘we’re not going anywhere until we get what we came for’ said snape menacingly, towering over him. vernon cringed then glanced up the stairs and back at snape. this was all snape needed and he bounded up the stairs and began to throw open all the doors. ’damn muggles’ he sneered as he came to the locked door. ’alohamora’ the door swung open and snape stood transfixed, staring at what he hoped wasn’t but that he knew in his heart was harry. ’professor’ croaked harry. still snape couldn’t move. ’professss’ harry couldn’t finish the word as he tried to lift his head and hissed in pain. snape suddenly snapped into motion rushing to the bed screaming for poppy. he heard her footsteps come up the stairs and across the landing to stop at the doorway, horrified at the sight before her.

‘get in here’ severus sneered. poppy rushed to the bed and held

her wand over her harry as a blue mist seeped out of the end. it formed a cocoon over harry’s body and started to turn red and then go black. ‘we must get him back to hogwarts immediately or we will lose him. you will have to pick him up but be very careful, he has at least 12 broken bones.’ severus bent down and carefully slid his arms under harry’s shoulders and legs. ‘i’m sorry harry’ he whispered. harry screamed so loudly that severus almost dropped him and then mercifully he passed out from the pain. severus tried to follow poppy out of the room. as he got to the door, harry was almost jerked out of his arms. he turned around and saw the chain that was attached to harry’s wrist and his blood began to boil. ‘alohamora’ and the handcuff undid and fell to the floor. at the foot of the stairs he found vernon and petunia standing in the kitchen doorway. ‘now see here’ vernon bellowed. ’he’s my nephew and you’re not taking him anywhere. he has things to do to earn his keep and he hasn’t finished them yet.’ ’how is he supposed to finish them beaten to a pulp and chained to the bed.’ severus scowled at him menacingly.

’don’t think that you can just take him whenever you want and expect us to look after when you bring him back.’ ’ don’t worry you have never looked after harry properly before, and there is no way we are going to be bringing him back. just be glad we are not the muggle authorities or you would be in gaol now’ severus yelled at him before sweeping out of the doorway with harry in his arms. ’after you, ladies’ said dumbledore and he to walked out into the darkness.

‘when do you think he will wake up albus’ ‘ah minerva, of that i have no idea. but i hope that it will be soon. there is only 10 days left until his 15th birthday and he must be told everything before then so that he will be prepared.’ silence once again filled the hospital wing as the four adult watched over the sleeping boy. each lost in their own thoughts, however most of the thoughts were that same. who could do this to a defenceless boy, how long had going on, why didn’t they notice something before and most of all when is he going to wake up. ‘he hid this from us very well, didn’t he’ whispered minerva. ‘exceptionally’ answered

dumbledore. ‘no, he didn’t’ snape burst out ‘if we had looked closely we would have seen that he always came back from his holiday paler and skinnier that when he left. i mean look at him, we have some first years that are bigger than him. he lookes about 12. how in the hell can they do that to someone of their own flesh and blood’ snape finished softly that the other almost didn’t hear him.

harry groaned and tried to open his eyes. they all moved over to the bed and dumbeldore placed harrys glasses on his nose . harry blinked a few times as the room came into focus. he looked at each of the professors in turn and then to madam pomfrey. he returned his gaze back to snape and whispered. ‘thank you’ before falling back to sleep again.

the next time harry awoke it was very quiet. he reached over to the bedside table and felt for his glasses. finding them tried to move his other arm so the he slip them on and yelped in pain. the glasses were gently pried from his fingers and slipped onto his nose. harry looked up into the face of his most hated professor.

‘why’ whispered harry. ‘i promised your mother harry’ snape said softly with tears in his eyes. ‘ i tried to ignore the promise for so long out of hatred for your father, but a promise is a promise, yes even to a slytherin.’ harry started to cry and snape cast a pain softening spell on him and gathered him in his arms rocking him gently as he cried. harry cried himself to sleep about 30 minutes later. severus was going to settle him back on the bed but harry whimpered as the warmth moved so severus got comfortable and continued to hold him as he slept. he leaned back against the wall and dozed off.

that was how albus found them three hours later. he gently shook severus awake. ‘i think now is the time to tell him’ severus nodded. he brushed back harry’s hair ‘harry’ he whispered ‘harry wake up’

‘mmm’ harry mumbled and tried to roll over in his sleep. ‘agh’ yelped harry as he rolled onto his broken collarbone. he woke up instantly and hissed in pain.’poppy’ called dumbledore. ‘a pain relieving potion please’ madam pomfrey bustled over and handed

snape the vial. ‘open up’ harry obediently opened his mouth. as snape poured the potion down harry’s throat he thought ‘he has been through so much , more than anyone should. how much more can he take before the pressure becomes too much’

‘harry’ said dumbledore ‘ this is going to be very confusing so i want you to listen very carefully. you know how you are very loyal to your friends and how you would do anything to protect them.’harry nodded.’that is the hufflepuff in you. you also realize how some of your dreams and nighmares come true.’ again harry nodded. ’that is the ravenclaw in you. you remember in your second year when i said that you could speak parseltongue because voldemort could speak parseltongue .’ harry’s eyes widened like saucers. ‘that is actually the slytherin in you. and the sword you killed the basilisk with. i told you only a true gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat. you see harry you are decended from all four founders of the school.’ harry was openly gaping at dumbledore at this point. ‘about a thousand years ago a prophecy was written, by rowena ravenclaw actually, she was one of the first true seers. it said that in the last one hundred years of the next millenium as darkness would rise up and take over the wizarding world all would look very bleak. but there would be a child born. a child related by blood to all four founders of hogwarts. this child would banish the darkness one year after his birth. the darkness however would return and each time the heir of the founders would banish him again. until the third time when he would be used to bring the darkness back. upon his fifteeth birthday the heir would come into his own and be give powers that he must learn to control so that the darkness may be banished once and for all. he will have help from a mentor and a guardian who will help him in his task. if something happens to the heir or he is unable to learn to control these powers the darkness will rise up and the wizarding world as we know it will be no longer.’ dumbledore stopped talking and sat watching harry, reading his emotions. shock, disbelief, fear and determination. they were all there. ‘that is why we had to place you with the dursley’s. they were the only one who could protect you with the blood ties until you were fifteen. if anything had happened to you darkness would have conquered the light.’ dumbledore finished. ‘but how’ questioned harry ‘how can i be related to all of the founders. my mum was a muggle.’ ‘ no harry,

your mother was not a muggle. she actually came from a very old line of squibs. so old in fact that they thought the magic had died out completely and did not bother to past the history down through the generations. a grandson of rowena ravenclaw married a great granddaughter of helga hufflepuff back in the twelve hundreds. their first child, a son was born a squib and grew up in seclusion marrying late in life to a daughter of a knight. your mother is a direct decsendant of this child. as for your father harry, he was a descendant of both’ ‘let me guess’ interrupted harry.’gryffindor and slytherin. is that why the sorting hat couldn’t decide which of the two houses to put me in.’ ‘dumbledore nodded. harry stopped talking then. snape and dumbledore watched him carefully. you could almost see the wheels turning in his head as the different emotions flickered across his face. they glanced at each other across the top of harry’s head. ’that is not all harry’ dumbledore spoke softly. ’voldemort knows of this prophecy as well. that is why he killed your parents and tried to kill you as a baby. he knew if you no longer existed nothing could stop him.’ ’i know’ whispered harry as he remembered the dreams of the last three weeks.

dumbledore fixed him with a piercing gaze until harry began to tell him about the dreams. he told him about the boys and about the one that wormtail found that looked like him. as well as about what voldemort was telling his snake. ’they must be going to try kidnapping you and substituting this other boy under the imperious curse so that we don’t realise you’ve gone until it is to late.’ said dumbledore stroking his long beard carefully. ’but why do that’ asked harry ’why not just, um , kill me and be done with it.’

‘because the prophecy also says that if you are alive but agree to work for the darkness, the darkness will have complete control over everything including immortality.’ said snape scowling. harry paled and started trembling, ’why can’t i just be a normal person’ he whispered as looked between the two professors, a stricken expression on his face. ‘what happens if i can learn it all in time? what if i let everybody down?’ ‘don’t worry harry. we will help you. now get some rest we will talk more in the morning. drink this dreamless sleep potion. it will help.’ harry gulped down the potion, gagging at the taste and very quickly dropped into a deep

sleep.

snape gently lay harry down on the pillows trying hard not to hurt him. he knew that he would not waken due to the potion but he still didn’t want harry to wake up in anymore pain then was necessary. he had already been through enough in snape’s opinion. the two older wizards stood quietly at the end of the bed watching the young boy on who’s tiny shoulders the whole future of the wizarding world rested.

disclaimer: still don’t own anything

thank you to the wonderful reviews i have received already from wquad, ms issues, jersey girl 03, blue tigerlily and saturnine. they made me want to write the next chapter as soon as possible

also can anybody tell me how i go about getting a beta reader. thanks

chapter 3 - the mentor and the guardian

harry slept throughout the next day and that night too. when he finally awoke he heard a most wondrous sound. he remembered hearing it somewhere before but he couldn’t place it. he could feel a soft feather brushing against his cheek and he cracked an eye open to find fawkes perched on the head of the bed. of course, the phoenix song, harry had heard it in slytherin’s chamber in his second year at hogwarts.

fawkes was crying golden tears and as harry wiped them away with his finger, fawkes caught his hand with his wing and pushed it towards harry’s mouth ’you want me to drink the tears’ harry asked the phoenix. fawkes just looked at harry with wide eyes. ‘okay, here goes’ and with that harry put his finger in his mouth. suddenly the pain harry was experiencing lessened and he could feel his ribs starting to heal them selves. fawkes was crying again and harry wiped more tears away and licked them off his fingers. one more time and his broken bones seemed to have healed. he still had the bruises and his muscles still hurt but at least his cuts were closed and he could breath much easier now that his ribs were no longer broken. ‘thanks fawkes’ harry smiled stroking the birds chest.

‘good morning harry, i trust that you had a goodnights sleep’ harry nodded at the old professor. ’now that you have had enough time for everything to sink in, do you have any questions about what we spoke about yesterday?’

‘i was wonder’ bang harry didn’t get to finish his question when the door was flung violently open and snape strode in followed by professor mcgonagall and a big shaggy black dog. ’sirius’ squealed harry as the dog transformed himself back into his human form and gathered his godson up in a hug. ’was all that noise really necessary severus, it’s not like you need to announce yourself’ said poppy while rolling her eyes. snape just scowled at the matron. dumbledore and mcgonagall took a peek at each, other the latter trying to hide her smile behind her hand while the former kept a very straight face except for his eyes which

were twinkling merrily. ‘sorry harry, what were you trying to ask me?’

harry disentangled himself from sirius and took a deep breath. ‘i was wondering who my mentor and guardian are?’ harry asked in a small voice.

‘your mentor and your guardian were chosen by your mother and father when you were born. they have remained a secret until now.’

dumbledore withdrew a small round stone. ‘this stone houses images of both your parents’ the headmaster placed the stone at the end of the bed ‘now harry, you have to point your wand at the stone’

‘but professor i don’t have a wand’ harry interrupted.

‘severus walked over to the bed and gave his to harry.

‘thank you professor’ harry whispered.

‘now’ dumbledore continued ‘try and picture your parents one at a time. your father first. then speak very clearly when saying these words’ disendium, novatis , anthenus frataurus.’ are you ready harry’ harry nodded and pointed his wand at the stone saying the words.

suddenly a burst of white light shot out of the top of the stone. it continued to burn for a few seconds and then went out leaving an image of james potter. the two women in the room gasped, harry choked back tears as he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder.

‘my son’ james started to speak ‘ if you are seeing this stone it means that something has happened to your mother or myself , hopefully not to both of us. i’m sorry that we could not tell you this sooner but we wanted you to be able to have a normal childhood.’ harry snorted at this. ‘when i found out about the prophecy i was devastated but also proud. proud that my son was going to help all wizard kind by ridding the world of voldemort, but devastated that he was going to be in danger until he had succeeded in this task. the ghosts of the four founders came to your mother and myself in a vision. we were shocked. we knew i was descended from gryffindor and slytherin

but we had no idea that your mother was the last magical heir of ravenclaw and hufflepuff. they told us we would have to choose both a mentor and a guardian for you. i was to choose the mentor and your mother to choose the guardian. i chose someone that i have always trusted above any other. he has guided me throughout my life and know he will teach you all that you need to know. you know him as professor dumbledore. when i first met him i was 3 and i knew him as great uncle albus. that’s right harry. professor dumbledore is also related to godric gryffindor though not a directly as you. son, i know this is a shock. i can only hope that you can, with albus’ help, learn what is needed to help you defeat voldemort. i know you can do it. i only wish i was there to help you to. hopefully i won’t be seeing you soon son. i love you .’

with that the image of james potter faded away and the room felt empty. ‘harry, are you okay?’ asked sirius softly. ‘yes’ choked harry as he bit back a sob and blinked rapidly to clear the tears from his eyes.

‘harry, are you ready to find out who your guardian is ?’ dumbledore sat looking at harry. he was smiling but his eyes were sad. harry nodded. ‘the repeat after me, disendium, novatis, anthenus, mataurus’

again harry repeated the words after dumbledore and again a burst of white light shot out of the stone, remaining for a few moments before fading away and this time leaving an image of lily potter.

‘hello my darling. by now you have spoken to your father. hopefully in person or otherwise also by this stone. the choice for your guardian was a difficult one . i had to choose someone that was strong enough not only to look after himself but you as well. i had to find someone that knew enough about magic that they could protect and help you and i had to choose someone who would not spoil you or allow you to become complacent as the task you have in front of you is something that has never been done before, something that will be very difficult. i spent a long time choosing this person and i know that they will do their best for you because they promised me.’ at this harry glanced up at snape who was standing there, gaping at the image of lily. then

the image turned to the potions master as if she could tell where he was standing. ‘yes sev, please look after my baby boy, i know that sirius is his godfather, that was james’s wish, but i need someone i can trust, someone who will act his age in these dark times and not go off half mad at anything that goes wrong. i need you to watch over him and guide him through the times ahead. promise me.’

‘i promise’ snape whispered. ‘my baby’ lily said softly, looking at harry once more. ‘be brave and be strong, believe in the light and don’t let the darkness get you down. i know this is a very big thing for you to accept and if we could take it from you we would, but we can’t and you are just going to have to learn to cope with it. your father and i will be watching you whether from up here or down there so don’t be afraid. remember we love you and always will.’

the image faded and again no one said anything. harry sat there and stared at the stone. sirius stood up and glared at snape before running out of the room and slamming the door. ‘go away’ whispered harry. ‘harry come now’ dumbledore said encouragingly . ‘go away everybody’ harry said again. ‘just go away and leave me alone. go away. go away.’ harry screamed until everyone one left shutting the door behind them ‘why me, this is all my fault . my mum and dad would be here now if it wasn’t for me. voldemort wanted me not them why did he have to kill them. why do i have to be special all the time i just want to be a normal wizard, have a normal family and a normal childhood.‘ harry sobbed. he cried for what seemed like hours until there were no tears left and then fell back into a troubled sleep.

i will try to have the next chapter up in the next two days.

please review.

disclaimer: nothing is mine other that the storyline. thank you again jk rowlingthank you to mikee, mdemanatee, ms issues and jersey girl 03 once again for their reveiws.

athenakitty - yes harry will fight voldie eventually and snape and harry will talk. he will have lots of new powers including multi animagi, wandless magic and elemental magic to name just a few. harry will live at hogwarts and i am not sure what to do with the dursley's yet.

ms issues - i have changed it so that you don't have to log on anymore - sorry! i am not use to all this.desperate call for anyone who would be able to beta read for me. i promise to update regularly.please, please, please.

chapter 4 - two children'how could she' fumed sirius as he paced in front of dumbledore's desk. "she knows james hated that slimy git. he would roll over in his grave now if he knew.'

'you must see it from her side sirius. lily only knew you as the practical joker, the immature one. she has known severus from the first train ride to hogwarts. he has always been there for her and she always trusted him. it was lily that brought severus back from the edge, back from voldemort's clutches and convinced him to spy for the light side and it was severus who lily trusted with her most painful secrets. now i know you are upset by this however this is lily's choice and you will have to learn live with it. you are harry's legal godfather but severus is his guardian and that will never change. you and severus are going to have to work together as harry is going to need all the help he can get just to live through this. you must now work on clearing your name as harry is going to need your support and you can not support him properly on the run from the ministry' dumbledore finished.

sirius slumped down into a chair and sighed. 'i just can't believe that she didn't trust me.'

'it wasn't that she didn't trust you. it was that for this particular need she trusted severus more and you have to admit that her statement about going off half mad is fairly close to the truth. the guardian is supposed to stay nearby at all time in case he is needed. you couldn't have done that in your present state and now that severus's cover is blown he won't be leaving hogwarts for sometime."

'i suppose you're right.' sirius spoke softly

'of course i am' said dumbledore ' now there is a very scared little boy down in the hospital wing who could use a visit from his godfather.

sirius sighed again and got up out of the chair. 'this does not mean that i like him' he said glaring at dumbledore before disappearing down the stairs.

* * * * * * * *

sirius slowly pushed open the door to the hospital wing and peered in. he saw harry sitting up in his bed and staring out the window. he walked softly to the bed and placed a hand on harry's shoulder. harry gasped and shrank away until he saw who it was and then sighed and pulled his knees up to his chest wrapping his arms around them.

'hey kiddo, how are you doing' harry just nodded at him but didn’t speak.

'i'm really glad that you are okay' again harry nodded.

'please talk to me' pleaded sirius.

harry just started to rock back and forwards. this is not good sirius thought. what do i do now. after what he has been through i don't know what will happen if i touch him.

suddenly the door swung open again and snape strode in. 'what

are you doing here black.' he sneered.

'like you would really care.' snapped sirius.

'i do care, what have you done to harry. he looks almost catatonic'

'i didn't do anything. maybe finding out that his most hated teacher for four years is actually his guardian has sent him over the edge.'

'knowing that his godfather is still on the run and endangering himself by being here would more likely do it.'

'oh you would love that wouldn't you snape. me out of the way so that you can have harry all to yourself.'

'i'll have you know that i only have harry's best interests at heart.'

crash

every piece of glass except the windows, which were protected by a unbreakable charm, shattered, all of the beds rose three feet in the air before crashing back to the ground and wind whipped around the room even though the windows were all closed. the most amazing sight however was harry. he was still sitting up, knees clasped, rocking back and forward. however he was now floating about two feet above the bed surrounded by a bright red aura and his eyes were sparking. the air around him just seemed to crackle with magic.

suddenly it all stopped. severus and sirius looked around at the damaged room. 'bloody hell' sirius exclaimed while severus just looked at harry worriedly. harry seemed to snap out of his trance and looking about the room just shook his head saying slowly' oh dear'

dumbledore rushed into the room and over to harry's bed. 'are you alright harry' the boy nodded'can you remember what happened. again harry nodded.

'they were arguing again, over me like i was some sort of prize and it made me very angry. i just wanted them to stop arguing but by then i was too angry and i couldn't stop it. i i don't even know what it is or where it came from.'

'harry, what you have just seen and experienced are the beginnings of your new abilities asserting themselves. the glass breaking and the levitation is wandless magic and the wind is the start of your elemental magic. it is very important that you try to stay calm and not get emotional until you learn how to deal with these new powers. i don't know yet what you are capable of and i don't think it would be a good idea to find out by accident. and you two' he said rounding on the two older men 'i think it is time you stopped behaving like children and grew up. what is past is past and you can not change it. harry needs all of the support that you can give. both of you.' dumbledore said sternly.

snape and sirius glared at each other and then their expressions started to soften. sirius's eyes started to twinkle and the corners of severus' mouth started twitching. sirius, collapsed in a pile on the floor, laughing hysterically. this was too much for the others who joined in. as the laughter started to die down severus hauled sirius to his feet. he held out his hand to the other man arching his eyebrow as if challenging him not to accept. sirius grabbed the hand in his and shook hard.

suddenly the was a warm glow through out the room as if many fires had just been lit. all three of the adults turn to look at harry who was glowing. 'is that a bit too emotional' he smirked as the others looked at each other, then back at harry before bursting into laughter once more.thank you again. please read and review

thank you to jupluna who has offered to be a beta reader for this story.

and thank you to those who are already following this story it will be a long one so please hang in there.

chapter 5 - my own room

harry lay back in the bed. madame pomfrey had just left to get him some lunch, she had said that if he ate all of it he could then leave the hospital wing. dumbledore and the others had left earlier telling him that they had a surprise for him after lunch. harry couldn’t wait. when madame pomfrey came back from the kitchens with a tray piled high with food harry’s face fell. he would never be able to eat all that.

i want it all eaten up mind’ she said severely before disappearing into her office.

harry started on the food and managed to eat almost half of it. a few moments later the matron popped her head out and asked ‘almost finished yet harry?’ harry just nodded at her and went back to eating. unfortunately lack of food at the dursley’s meant that his appetite had still not returned to normal. harry sat looking at the food when an idea planted itself in his head and a mischievous spark sprung up in his eyes. checking to see if the coast was clear he concentrated on the plate and his eyes opened wide at the plate started to lift off the table. he concentrated harder and the plate started to move towards the bin next to the entrance. the plate was almost there when it ran smack bang into sirius’ face as he came through the door.

though he was followed closely by dumbledore and snape it wasn’t close enough as sirius wore nearly all of the rest of harry’s lunch. snape burst out laughing as sirius scowled at him and dumbledore muttered a quick cleaning spell.

harry blushed bright red as the three older wizards turned to look at him. ‘i- i- i’m sorry’ he stuttered. ‘i just couldn’t finish it and i knew madame pomfrey would hear me if i got out of bed so i thought i would try and see if i could get the plate to the bin. i didn’t know that anyone was coming in or i would have tried a different bin.’ harry finished meekly.

‘we were actually coming to get you because we knew that if left

up to madame pomfrey, she would never let you out as you would never be able to eat as much food as she thinks you should.’ sirius answered ’course, don’t know why we bothered really’ he growled although his eyes were twinkling.

‘come on, climb on and we will escape from the wicked witch’

‘ i heard that mr black and while i will agree to the witch part i think that wicked might be going a bit far. just because i insist on running this as a proper hospital wing and taking good care of my patients does not make me a wicked per…..’

they could not hear the rest as they had slowly backed out of the hospital wing and taken off running down the hall even dumbledore before she could stop them.

‘sirius, sirius slow down. all this jiggling is making me very ill, not to mention that all my bruises have come back’ harry squealed from his perch in the older wizards back.

sirius put harry down and they continued walking towards the third floor. ’hey’ said harry as he walked into a large corridor and spotted a large wooden door at the end of it. ‘that is fluffy’s old room. why are we here. i thought this was out of bounds.

‘it was only out of bounds for your first year harry’ professor dumbledore explained. ‘we just didn’t bother to tell any of the students that it wasn’t any longer. we have decided that as you have to stay at the castle from now on it would be safest if you have your own quarters as having children coming in and out at all hours as you do in gryffindor tower would make it easy for voldemort to sneak in there. this will be your training room. you will be taking advanced classes with different professors depending on their strengths. advanced potions as well as combat and weaponry you will take with professor snape. you will study advanced transfiguration as well as exploring and animagus abilities with professor mcgonagall. advanced charms will be with professor flitwick and advanced dada will be with professor lupin when he returns at the beginning of the school year.’

‘professor lupin is coming back.’ harry was so excited he was almost hopping on the spot. dumbledore smiled ‘yes harry, remus

is coming back”

‘excuse me professor, but what about my other , err, abilities , who will be helping me with those? ‘ harry asked timidly as though afraid of the answer.

‘as there is only one person capable of teaching you elemental and wandless magic you will have to learn those with that person’ answered dumbledore with his eyes twinkling.

‘oh, who’s that?’ dumbledore looked at sirius, the corners of his mouth curling. ‘why harry, that would be me’ he chuckled.

‘you’ harry just stood there gaping at the old professor.

‘you should see your face harry.’ sirius said as he gave way to laughter again.

harry quickly closed his mouth. ‘sorry sir, i just didn’t realize that you could do wandless or elemental magic.’

‘i can’t harry, well not really, i can do a small amount of magic without the use of a wand but it tires me greatly as it does to all wizards and i can not do elemental magic although i am familiar with the principals of it.’

‘why does using magic without a wand tire wizards out. ‘

‘it takes too much concentration and focus. speaking of which we are losing our focus for being here. now harry’ dumbledore walked towards the wooden door. ‘these will be your quarters, you are welcome to stay here for as long as you want. i mean any holidays for as many years as you want. you never have to go back to the dursley’s ever again.’

harry looked around the room, his eyes wide with amazement. the room had been separated into two smaller rooms and a large living room and study. the first door led to the bedroom which was done in the gold and red gryffindor complete with his four poster bed, off that there was a bathroom accented in the silver and green of slytherin. the main room had a couch and two huge squashy armchairs set around a roaring fire, the colours in this room were the yellow and black of hufflepuff and in the alcove area off the lounge was a study in the ravenclaw colours.

‘we will leave you to get settled in harry, come and find us in the great hall when you are ready.’ dumbledore and snape walked out as sirius looked down at harry and smiled.

‘my own room’ breathed harry

‘yeah, it’s about time you had something of your own.’ responded sirius giving harry a hug and closing the door softly behind him.

harry walked over to the couch and sat down.

‘my own room’ he said again.

hows that two chapters in one day. don’t get used to it. but i will do my best. please read and review. thanks

disclaimer: getting tired of writing that only the storyline is mine.

thank you again to my wonderful reviewers.

wqad - nothing came through the alert other than your name so please try again. i would love to know what you thought of the next chapters.

bluetigerlily - i can post every day or two with shorter chapters or once a week with longer chapters which would you prefer.

flame-the-phoenix - thanks very much

jessica black - you’ll find some details in this chapter as well as in chapter 8 when i post it.

a big thank you to jupluna for beta reading this chapter.

chapter 6 - birthday surprises

harry sat there for a while just trying to adjust to these new changes in his life. he couldn’t believe all that had happened over the last few days.

he snapped out of his trance as he heard tapping at his window. ‘hedwig’ he exclaimed as he opened the window to allow the owl into the room. harry untied the note from the owl’s leg and gave her an owl treat from his pocket. she ate it before playfully nipping at his ear and flying back out of the window.

harry opened the note and gasped. it was from dudley.

dear harry,

i am not sure how i will get this to you but i will work something out, anyway how are you? i hope that you are better. i just wanted to write and say that i am so sorry for what my father did to you. i know that i haven’t always been very nice to you (harry snorted at this) but i don’t want you to think that i thought you deserved that. no one deserves what my father did to you. i am not my father and i hope that one day you will be able to forgive me.

your cousin,

dudley dursley

ps these owls must be psychic. one has just landed on my window and is waiting there for me to finish this letter. anyway i hope this reaches you.

harry almost dropped the piece of paper in shock. dudley writing to him. of course. that was how dumbledore knew he was in trouble. harry had a vague recollection of dudley writing the letter for him.

‘well’ harry said to himself ‘stranger things have happened. although not many that strange.’

okay, he thought, i wonder whether they remembered to grab any of my things when they left the dursleys. he walked over to the wardrobe and peered inside. it was huge, it must have been magically enhanced. it was almost the size of another room in there. harry walked in and saw that all the hangers and the shelves were full of clothes.

he picked up the nearest item which turned out to be a set of black jeans. harry tried them on noticing that although they fit very well lengthwise they were too loose around the waist. i wonder harry thought, the mischievous twinkle coming into his eye once more. harry looked down at the jeans and then concentrating very hard, waved his hand over the waist band watching wide eyed as the waist shrunk to a perfect fit.

‘brilliant’ he said to himself before finding a red t-shirt to go with the jeans.

better head down to the great hall, harry thought chuckling, don’t want to keep the professors waiting.

harry walked down the great hall and took a deep breath before opening the doors.

‘surprise’ harry looked around, his eyes as wide as saucers. the hall had been decorated with balloons and streamers that changed colour and sang happy birthday and up in the enchanted ceiling a large quill had been charmed to write happy birthday harry in big letters which exploded into showers of fireworks.

the four house tables had been removed and the head table had been moved down onto the floor. it was covered almost from end to end in food. cakes, pastries, pies almost anything harry could imagine. it looked almost like it was sagging and in the middle was a huge cake decorated like a live miniature quidditch pitch complete with players zooming around. it was then that harry noticed that along with all the professors, hermione and almost the whole weasley family was there as well.

‘harry’ hermione screamed as she threw herself at harry ‘thank god you are okay, we were so worried. professor dumbledore said that those dursleys had almost killed you.’

‘ah hermione’ chided ron as george and fred helped him pry the bushy brown haired girl off harry

‘don’t you know better than to hog the guest of honour. how are you mate?’ he asked harry giving him a quick hug.

‘never better mate, never better’ harry grinned at him.

‘come on harry, don’t keep us all waiting, blow out the candles’ squealed hermione clapping.

ron just rolled his eyes at harry ‘she has been like this for three days. every since she found out you were alright and that we were all coming here for your birthday.’

‘she has been with you for three days’ harry smirked.

‘ahh yes well she has been staying in ginny’s room. i haven’t seen her much actually’ answered ron going as red as his hair.

‘oh look our little ronniekins is ever so embarrassed’ said fred teasingly.

‘he’s been like that for three days.’ added george winking at harry ’can’t begin to guess why?’

‘oh hush up you two’ ginny piped up ‘the candles will melt wax all over the cake soon. these are special muggle candles dad got. he’s fascinated with the fact that they actually melt.’

harry stood in front of the cake ‘make a wish harry’ sirius smiled at him.

‘don’t need to.’ answered harry closing his eyes all the same before blowing out the candles.

after everyone had eaten they got down to the presents. from hermione, harry received a book, of course, called ‘owl revision papers - from arithmancy to potions - a students guide’

‘aw hermione, can’t you stop thinking of school. it’s the holidays.’ protested ron

‘it’s never to early to start to revise. we have learnt so much over the four years i will never get it all memorized. i must start working on study timetables for each of us . the exams are only

10 months away you ’ hermione trailed off, blushing as she noticed that everyone had started laughing.

‘here harry open mine next.’ ron thrust a parcel into harry’s hands. it looked suspiciously like a book.

‘did you go shopping with hermione?’ asked harry. ‘just open it’ said ron blushing again. harry thought that there was an awful lot of blushing going on.

‘how to become a professional quidditch player in 100 easy steps’ ‘wow, thanks mate’ harry breathed, grinning.

‘here’s ours harry, but you might want to open it later’ said george handing over a large box

‘you know in private’ whispered fred.

‘where others won’t see’ george again

‘or hear’

‘or smell’ they both finished sniggering.

harry didn’t know whether to be pleased or scared but he thanked the twins anyway. he opened more presents including a jumper and some delicious homemade fudge from the weasleys and a necklace with a golden griffin with rubies set in for the eyes from ginny.

‘wow, ginny this is beautiful. where did you find it?’ he asked the red haired girl.

‘i made it harry’ ginny replied.

‘thank you’ harry walked over and gave ginny a kiss on her cheek. more blushing!!!

dumbledore looked over at molly and arthur and winked.

‘now harry, all of the things in your rooms are from all the staff at hogwarts, we wanted to give you something from all of us for your birthday, something that you could always use and something that could not be taken away from you.’

‘thank you everyone, i have never really had anything of my own

and to know that i would never have to leave hogwarts, the only place i have ever called home, is almost, i-i-i can’t believe it’ harry couldn’t hold the tears in any longer. but he went round to each and every teacher shaking their hand or kissing them on the cheek depending on who it was, all with tears pouring down his face. by the time he had finished there wasn’t a dry eye in the hall.

dumbledore pulled harry aside. ‘harry you may tell your friends what has happened and about the prophecy, you may also let them into your rooms, but make sure they understand about the dangers of telling anyone.’

harry nodded at the old professor. ‘you may go now we will see you in the morning. you need to be tested to see what level you are at. we will meet you in the training room at 9am. happy birthday harry’

‘thank you professor.‘ harry smiled at dumbledore and made his way over to ron, hermione and ginny who were talking to sirius and snape.

‘hi guys where are fred and george?’ harry asked the others.

‘they disappeared about 20 minutes ago, probably went to plant some pranks on the other houses. there are no passwords on the common rooms during the holidays.’ answered sirius.

snape suddenly paled and shot out of the great hall in the direction of the dungeons.

‘you made that up. didn’t you’ said harry sternly looking at sirius.

‘yes but it got rid of him, didn’t it’ he replied chuckling.

harry glared at his godfather but couldn’t keep it up and started snickering with the others.

‘sirius, what happen to the rest of my stuff. ‘

‘well’ sirius started sounding evasive ‘snape and i went to get it but the dursleys had burnt it all. so we bought everything new. we did manage to find the things you had hidden under the loose floorboard in your room.’ harry breathed a sign of relief upon hearing this as he had put his most prized possessions , his

parents photo album and his invisibility cloak , there. ‘it really was a wonderful day that’ said sirius with a wistful smile on his face.

‘why what happened ?‘ asked ron

‘oh err, nothing’ sirius answered quickly.

‘i will get you to tell me later’ said harry looking at his godfather amusedly.

the four friends walked out of the great hall and towards the third floor.

‘where are we going harry? ron asked

‘you’ll see’ harry replied cryptically

they walked up the three flights of stairs, made all the more difficult because they kept moving, and flung open the door to his new quarters.

‘these are fluffy’s rooms harry, what are we doing here? hermione asked peering into the room.

‘it’s okay you can come in, fluffy doesn’t live here anymore. the professors have given me these rooms for as long as i want them’

‘really, that’s bloody brilliant mate.’ breathed ron ‘why?’

‘you had better come in and sit down. this could take awhile.’

the four settled themselves around the fire and harry began to repeat the story he had been told only 2 days before. was it only two days ago , thought harry, it seems so much longer. oh well here goes.

‘you see my father is a direct descendant of both gryffindor and slytherin and my mum is related to both hufflepuff and ravenclaw…….

disclaimer - nothing but the storyline is mine.

thank you again to my faithful readers and a huge hug and a kiss to my beta reader jupluna.

jerseygirl03, wquad, moonlight, dustin coons

mikee - thank you, you will find out about what happened to the dursley’s as well as harry’s wand in the next chapter. no dudley will not visit hogwarts as he is a muggle, but they will stay in touch by owl.

dragon master - was already going to!

chapter 7 - more surprises

they all sat there for several minutes, stunned at what harry had told them.

‘my god harry, you’re talking about the ravenclaw prophecy, aren’t you. i found a book about ancient prophecies in the library back in third year and the similarities were so close, at first i thought it must be you but then i remembered that your mum was a muggle, or at least everyone thought she was, so i knew it couldn’t be true.’ hermione finished.

‘well unfortunately it is’

‘harry mate, what do mean unfortunately? most powerful wizard, wandless and elemental magic and all that. you will be even more famous than ever’ ron said with a hint of jealousy.

‘i think that’s what harry meant’ replied ginny giving harry and apologetic smile.

harry flashed the small redhead a grateful look.

‘anyway’ hermione pushed herself up off the couch. ‘we really better get going it‘s after 9 o‘clock. come on ron, your dad will be looking for us’

the others rose to leave and harry walked them out to the corridor. he gave each of them a hug and quietly kissed ginny on the cheek again before giving her hand a squeeze.

‘thanks’ he whispered.

she just smiled at him and walked swiftly after her best friend and her brother.

* * * * * * * * * *

the next morning harry woke early, eager to find out what extra magic he was capable of. he had a shower and then walked into his wardrobe to choose what to wear. harry wasn’t used to having so much choice. in the end he chose some muggle trousers and a shirt and pulled a set of plain black robes over the top. as he walked out of the wardrobe something small hurtled towards him, hugging him tightly round the middle.

‘dobby……need……air’ harry managed to gasp out.

‘oh dobby is sorry harry potter, dobby just wanted to give harry potter his birthday present. dobby couldn’t do it yesterday, not with all the professors and harry potter’s greatest friends there.’

dobby handed harry a small package wrapped up in silver paper. harry tore the paper off and looked at what the small elf had made.

‘um thanks, dobby.’ harry said while trying to work out just what it was that dobby had given him.

dobby was hopping from leg to leg with excitement ‘ harry potter really likes dobby’s gift. harry potter likes the leg warmers that dobby made. they are the same as dobby’s. see’ dobby held up his apron to show off his red and gold leg warmers.

‘oh yes dobby, they are brilliant.’

dobby vanished with a pop as harry looked at the window outside to see that it was yet another lovely summers day in scotland. he looked back to the parcel in his hand and shrugged. oh well, he thought, they might come in handy in winter. he tossed the legwarmers on the bed and went down to the great hall for breakfast.

* * * * * * * * * *

harry walked into the great hall noticing that although all the tables had been put back where they belonged and the head table was back up on the platform, only the head table had places set and food on it.

none of the professors were there except snape who beckoned him over.

‘good morning harry’ the potions master greeted him.

‘good morning sir’ replied harry sitting down next his guardian.

‘i really am sorry for how i have treated you for the last four years. i wish that i could take it back. after all you have been through and i just made it worse. your mother would roll over in her grave if she knew what i had done.’

‘it’s alright professor, i understand why you did what you did. even if you hadn’t been jealous of my father. you had to put a good act in front of the slytherins or they may have told voldemort and that could have been dangerous for you. what with you spying for dumbledore and everything.’

snape looked shock at what harry said but he recovered well. ‘now that we understand each other how about you just call me severus. not in class of course, but when we are together, we are going to be together a lot, you know that don’t you, me being your guardian and all’

harry nodded.

a few moments later professor dumbledore walked in. ‘good morning to you both’

‘good morning albus’

‘good morning professor’

‘harry, when we are alone or with severus please call me albus’

‘yes sir, i mean, albus’

they all ate quickly chatting about nothing in particular. all were a bit nervous about the tests to come.

finally when they had all finished dumbledore rose and led the way to the training room.

as the two professors and harry entered he noticed that all the professors were there waiting with different objects in front of them.

harry stopped in the doorway and swallowed. i’m not sure if i can do this. he thought.

‘come on, you’ll be fine’ whispered severus encouragingly, grabbing his arm and propelling him into the room.

‘now harry , you will spend one hour with each professor and they will test your abilities to which level you need to start your training in that subject.

‘now obviously we can’t test you on potions so we will start with weapons handling. severus if you will.’ snape walked over to stand next to dumbledore. ‘now harry, which weapon would you like to start with’ the old professor gestured to a table upon which were placed 3 or 4 different types of weapon.

‘harry walked over to the table and looked at the different items. there was a bright silver dagger, a large bow and arrow, a wooden staff and the silver sword that belonged to godric gryffindor.

harry picked up the sword, noticing, immediately, that the hilt changed to perfectly fit his hand. he walked into the middle of the room waiting for snape to pick up his sword and join him.

‘now harry, i am going to cast a safety charm on the room then you don’t have to be worried about hurting any of us.’ harry smiled gratefully at his mentor.

‘ alowus safetius.’ dumbledore muttered and a red glow filled the room. a moment later it had gone.

‘if you are successful with a blow or a spell your opponent will glow red for a moment so that we know and keep track of who is winning. when you are ready gentlemen. begin’

harry was not sure of what to do when suddenly snape lunged at him. his seeker skills really came into their own here as he

dodged out of the way.

as he brought his sword up to meet his guardian’s, a vision flashed through his mind. well it was more like a thousand visions. it only took a moment but suddenly all of the information he need to best snape was in his head and harry just moved as though on autopilot. he blocked, lunged and parried. the match ended ten minutes later after harry had made his guardian glow more than a hundred times having only been hit twice himself.

they moved onto the other weapons and harry again mastered all within a small amount of time. when he had finished the last of the weapons, harry turned and looked at the stunned faces of the professors.

‘what?’ he asked looking nervous

‘harry, have you used any of these things apart from the sword before.’ harry shook his head.

‘how did you know what to do then.’

‘i’m not sure. each time professor snape went to attack me my mind would get a vision, well lots of visions really, it was almost like i had been doing it my entire life but that i had forgotten and the visions reminded me. like i was speed reading through a book about each subject.’ harry finished shrugging.

dumbledore and the other professors looked at each other and back at harry.

‘all right then harry, lets try some charms, filius if you don’t mind.

little professor flitwick skipped into the middle of the room to meet harry.

‘but professor,’ said harry addressing dumbledore. ‘i don’t have a wand’

‘use the staff’ snape tossed it to him.

‘okay, lets start with some simple ones. wingardium leviosa, lets see what is the biggest thing you can lift.’

harry pointed the staff at a chair.

‘wingardium leviosa’ he didn’t even get time to say the spell before watching the chair lift off the ground.

harry pulled the staff away from the chair, which fell to the floor with a bang, and looked at his mentor in shock.

‘w- w-what just happened’ he asked shakily.

just then the door burst open and sirius and remus lupin walked in. ‘sorry we’re late everybody but i just couldn’t get moony out of bed this morning. he just would not….’ sirius trailed off as he noticed the stunned expressions on everybody’s face. knowing that either him or remus turning up would not elicit that amount of shock , he guessed , correctly, that it had something to do with harry.

‘what happened?’ he asked dumbledore.

‘watch’ he replied, his eyes twinkling.

‘this time harry, try it without the staff, just use your hand and try the table.’

harry closed his eyes and raised his arm concentrating on the table.

‘my god’ squeaked sirius

harry opened his eyes to see the table about twelve feet of the ground.

‘now slowly down harry.’ harry carefully put the table back down on the ground.

harry looked over sirius who was gaping at him. ‘better close that padfoot or you might catch flies.’ remus sniggered

sirius promptly shut his mouth and socked remus on the shoulder. ‘hey what was that for?’

‘for teasing me.’

harry rolled his eyes grinning at them ‘you two are such children’

‘hey, we take offence at that, don’t we moony.’

‘no, he’s right’ chuckled remus as most of the staff sniggered quietly.

‘okay ladies and gentlemen, let’s get back to work. minerva, your turn with mister potter.

‘now harry’ the witch started ’ there are ten boxes even spaced in front of you. i am going to tell you something and i want you to try and transfigure the box. you can start off using your staff if you need it.’

‘no i should be okay’ harry replied concentrating on the first box.

sirius just looked at dumbledore with raised eyebrows

‘pen’

harry raised his hand and the box suddenly shrunk and changed shape into a pen.

dumbledore glanced at sirius again noticing that he was gaping once more. ’flies, padfoot, flies’ whispered remus so as not to distract harry.

‘pinbox’ harry again raised his hand. this went on for several minutes.

‘water goblet. broom. table. rosebush. cat.’

‘cat?’ harry questioned

‘yes mister potter, you did animals into objects in your second year, this is just the reverse.’

harry raised his arm and in the place of the box stood a very large cat, a lion in fact. it roared and began to head towards the professors who were standing off to the side.

quick as a flash snape grabbed his wand. ’finite incantatem’ and the lion disappeared.

‘sorry everybody’ harry said sheepishly.

dumbledore came over to harry ’harry are you getting tired, is

that why you lost concentration.’

‘no, it’s more like there is something inside me waiting to get out. the more of this that we do the stronger it gets. it is actually getting easier and easier.’

‘i think it is time we tried out your defensive shields, remus, when you are ready.’

dumbledore walked back over to sirius as remus joined harry.

‘hello professor lupin.’

‘hi harry, just call me remus ’okay’ harry nodded ’i want you to stand up the end of the room there and cast a shielding spell around yourself. the incantation is ’ shieldus’ alright, i promise i won’t send anything that would hurt you’

remus walked back about ten paced as harry moved to the far end of the room. ’shieldus’ he muttered noticing that he now had a golden glow surrounding him. he wondered if the others could see it.

remus started by throwing very light curses at him ’expelliarmus. rictesempra. diffindo. all bounced off the shield. he then tried a jelly legs jinx as well as a freezing charm, and even a cheering charm just to see it he could get through the shield.

‘stay there harry. remus come here lets try something different.’ dumbledore beckoned the man over.

‘this isn’t working, harry’s shields are already very strong. sirius, severus will you please join remus, try sending your spells together so that they have more power.’

the three wizards stood facing harry who was starting to look extremely nervous. they performed the spells in the same order and still did little to harry’s shield except to make it glow even more.

‘minerva, filius if you would join in as well.’ requested dumbledore.

soon five of the professors were throwing curses at harry left and right.

harry started to enjoy himself standing there taking all that the professors could throw at him. he noticed that remus, sirius and snape were trying to work out which of the more powerful curses they could throw at harry without hurting him. they obviously settled on one because they lined up and counted to three. suddenly a large red ball of light was racing towards him. harry automatically put up both hands to try to protect himself when the ball suddenly changed direction and flew into one of the walls, narrowly missing snape’s head and leaving a large scorch mark.

‘oh my, i’m so sorry. i didn’t mean to.

dumbledore silenced him with a wave. he was looking at him intently as though trying to work something out.

‘that is enough for today. we will continue with this again in the morning. the professors gathered their things and started to leave. severus, remus and sirius grabbed harry as he went to leave.

‘we have left your birthday present in your room.’ remus whispered.

‘yeah, sorry that it’s late but we didn’t want to give it to you yesterday in front of everyone.’ sirius chipped in.

‘i hope that you like it. i’m sure you will find a use for it.’ severus smiled.

the three of them walked off congratulating each other. harry rolled his eyes at them and went into his room. there hovering about a foot off his bed was his firebolt.

chapter 8 - animals and the air around us

well, at first he thought it was his firebolt, but on closer inspection it turned out to be the new updated model. harry knew that it’s top speed had been increased by twelve miles and hour and the braking distance reduced by 3 feet. which, thought harry, could certainly come in handy when doing a wronski feint. the handle had been embossed with firebolt ii and underneath that was his name done in gold script.

harry looked to the broom in awe. he didn’t want to even touch it. a few moments later harry heard whispered voices coming from the doorway and creeping over to the door he flung it open. remus, sirius and severus fell into the room in a heap as harry burst out laughing.

‘ha ha, very funny’ sirius stood dusting himself off before helping the others.

they all moved into the lounge room and settled themselves on the couch or in the armchairs.

‘so harry,’ severus asked quietly ‘how are you really?’

‘i’m okay i guess’ he replied. ‘a bit shocked, a bit overawed, a bit excited and maybe just a little bit scared.’

‘that’s completely understandable, harry. you wouldn’t be normal if you weren’t all those things. i know that your mum and dad would be very proud of you right now.’ sirius wrapped his arms around his godson and gave him a hug.

‘sirius, what happened to my wand?’

‘i’m sorry harry, but the dursleys burned your wand with the rest of your things. we didn’t get there in time to save anything other than this feather. it was on top of the ashes and refused to burn.’

sirius handed the feather to harry. it was quite a large feather. beautiful reds and golds. with a start harry realized that it was the feather from his wand. the tail feather from fawkes, dumbledore’s pet phoenix.

harry lay the feather flat on his palm and pressed the other palm on top. suddenly harry was surrounded by a golden aura. it began at his hands and continued till it encompassed his entire

body. the glow increased until it was so bright that the three older wizards had to shield their eyes. then harry screamed and fell off the couch and onto the floor, the glow dissipating.

severus was the first to harry’s side and picked him up and ran out of the room, all the way to the hospital ring with sirius and remus close on his heels.

‘poppy, poppy, quickly’

‘severus, what is it? what happened? not potter again.’ the last one wasn’t a question.

the door to the hospital wing opened once more as dumbledore entered.

‘severus whatever happened?

‘we had given harry his present and were all sitting around in his rooms chatting. he had asked what happened to his wand and sirius gave him the feather saying that it was all that was left. he placed the feather between his two palms and then he started to glow. after a few moments the glow got so bright we couldn’t see and then harry screamed and fainted. i picked him up and came straight down here.’ severus finished looking over at his charge.

remus was pacing and sirius was sitting at harry’s bedside stroking his forehead and whispering to him.

dumbledore walked over to the bed and sat down. he picked up harry’s hands, which were still clasped together and separated them.

sirius gasped. the feather was missing and on each of harry’s palms was a tattoo of a gold and white phoenix.

dumbledore glanced at severus who nodded and swiftly left the room returning a few minutes later with a old and dusty book. he past the book to the elderly professor as remus and sirius looked on anxiously.

dumbledore flicked through the book stopping every so often to scan a page.

‘ah ha ! . it seems that mister potter will no longer require a

wand. ever. the magical core from his wand, in this case the phoenix feather, has been transferred directly to his hands. don’t worry he will wake up in about 12 hours. the power surge has just drained him.’ dumbledore finished closing the book. he ordered some food from the kitchens, as there was no question of anyone leaving until he woke, and the four men conjured up chairs and settled down for the night to watch over the young wizard.

* * * * * * * * * *

it was dark, very dark the ground felt moist and the air smelt stale. harry found that he was crouching in a corner. in front of him was the same throne that he saw in his dreams back in the holidays. surrounding the throne in a semi-circle was about 25 people in black robes and masks. ‘death eaters’ whispered harry. voldemort was pacing in front of the throne. he was screaming about the missed opportunity.

‘my spies have told me that potter has come of age and is already starting to use his powers. we will never be able to get to him now. even if that old muggle loving fool weren’t there, potter now has magical abilities that will not allow him to turn to the dark. you’ he said pointing to harry’s look-alike ‘are no longer needed. avada kedavra’

‘noooo’ screamed harry but no one heard him.

voldemort continued pacing. ‘we must now move to plan b. potter must die. we will attack the school before halloween. now wormtail i will spare you today only because i need you to spy for me and at the moment you are the only one who can get into hogwarts undetected, however avery, crabbe, goyle, you will pay for you stupidity you three are so incompetent that you can not even find a boy in a certain time.’

voldemort pointed his wand at the three men in turn ‘crucio. crucio. crucio.’

harry’s scar burned as he bolted upright, breathing heavily.

‘harry. harry are you alright.’ sirius was at his side in an instant, the others not far behind.

harry nodded and swallowed. ‘i-i had another dream’

dumbledore cut in ‘remus, sirius can you please go to the kitchens and get us some breakfast.’

sirius started to protest but remus just dragged him from the room. they could hear him arguing all the way down the hall.

‘now harry, can you start from the beginning and tell us exactly what happened.’

harry took a deep breath and told severus and dumbledore everything he could remember. by the time he had finished they could hear remus and sirius returning with the food.

‘harry ,what happ…’ sirius started before dumbledore silenced him with a look that clearly said, i will tell you later.

‘come on harry, eat your breakfast you have a big day ahead of you.’

the five wizards sat quietly eating their fill. no one wanting to break the silence, not that they could have thought how to even if they did.

when they had finished the plates disappeared and they all rose to leave. ‘harry if you want to go and freshen up we will meet you in the training room in an hour.’

* * * * * * * * * *

harry met up with professors dumbledore, lupin, snape and mcgonagall as well as sirius an hour later. he had showered and changed and he felt much better. he was actually looking forward to seeing what he was capable of.

‘now harry, we are going to try your animagus form today. i want

you to drink this potion. it will allow us to see which form your animagus will take.’

harry took the potion from his mentor and downed it in one gulp, wincing at the taste.

‘surely you could have made these taste better by now, you being such a great potions master and all.’ harry smirked at severus.

‘just you wait you cheeky little…..’ severus trailed off as a shadow appeared next to harry .

‘ah now we will see the form your animagus will be’

the shadow started to change as they all watched. it changed into an owl.

an owl, could have been worse, it could have been a ferret. harry thought sniggering to himself.

the professors were all started talking when harry butted in ’um excuse me professor is it supposed to do that?’ he asked pointing at the shadow which had changed into a lion. it changed once more, this time a butterfly and then again to a stag. everyone was openly gaping by this time. when the stag showed itself harry could feel tears pricking at the backs of his eyes and he knew he wasn’t the only one.

on and on the shadow continued to change until harry thought that there cannot be anymore animals left and then it moved onto the magical ones. a phoenix, a unicorn, a manticore, an ashwinder, a demiguise, a thestral, a hippogriff, a centaur, a kneazle, a runespoor, at least four different types of dragon and lastly a magnificent golden griffin.

harry turned his gaze on the professors who looked completely shell shocked. even dumbledore. sirius was standing there opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

‘flies, padfoot, flies’ whispered remus

‘severus, i have to ask this, i don’t want to , but i have to.’

severus waved his hand. ‘albus, i understand, yes the potion was correctly brewed.’

they all turned to look at harry. professor mcgonagall was almost jumping up and down on the spot with excitement and severus, remus and sirius just looked at harry in awe.

‘now mister potter, we might just start with one of your easier forms’ the word easier was laced with some slight sarcasm. ‘how about the lion. just picture a lion in your mind and try to concentrate.’ professor mcgonagall said firmly. all trace of the previous excitement gone now that they were getting down to business. ‘you will start to feel a tingle in you hands as they are usually the first to change , don’t fight it just keep concentrating on the lion until the tingling stops.’ she conjured up a mirror. ‘don’t look in the mirror until i tell you or you will loose concentration. are you ready.’ harry nodded.

harry closed his eyes and pictured a magnificent lion. the pins and needles started in his hands. at first it was so painful that he almost lost the picture of the lion in his mind. then it started to get easier almost as if he got used to it. there was a slight pop and harry opened his eyes to find everyone staring at him again. he supposed that he was going to have to get used to that.

‘stop staring at me ’ he said or tried to, but it came out as a roar. harry padded over to the mirror and gasped. looking back at his was a beautiful lion with a big bushy mane and a long elegant tail.

‘now harry, listen carefully. you must now picture yourself again. concentrate hard on that picture until the tingling stops.’ professor mcgonagall added.

harry pictured himself in his mind and waited. this time there was no tingling just a small pop and he was back to himself again.

sirius rushed over and hugged him. ‘i’m so proud of you and your dad would be too. it took us three years to learn to do that, didn’t it moony’

‘speak for yourself, padfoot.’

‘now all we need to do is come up with a nick name for you.’ sirius grinned at harry

‘if you call me anything except harry i will hex you into next year and you know i have the power to do it now so don’t test me.’ harry growled.

the others all laughed at the stricken look on sirius’ face.

‘come on everyone, i think it is time for a spot of lunch.’ dumbledore chuckled.

they all filed out of the room towards the great hall laughing and talking about the events of the morning. dumbledore followed the group silently still mulling over harry’s dream. he was not sure when or how voldemort was going to attack the school but he wanted to be ready. he promised himself that he would come up with a plan later, with the help of his pensieve but for the moment he decided to enjoy the rest of the day.

* * * * * * * * * * *

after a delicious lunch that consisted of all harry’s favorite foods, dobby must have had a hand in this thought harry, the five professors and harry walked out of the castle through the entrance hall and down onto the quidditch pitch.

‘now it is time to try your elemental magic but before you do severus, yourself and i must complete the bonding. if we do not do this you will not have anyone grounding you and if your magic got out of control, well i would hate to think of what would happen.’

harry and severus walked over to a clear area and stood next to the old professor.

‘now hold out your hands, i am going to make a small cut on each palm, then we will join hands in a circle and i want you to say the following words. circle of light and power, joins us so that we may save the future, meld us to try to mend what has past, bond us to overcome the darkness, always. can you remember

that?’ dumbledore asked the two younger wizards.

they both nodded and held out there palms, dumbledore made a magical inscision on each palm and then on his own. the three joined hands and started to repeat the spell.

‘circle of light and power, join us so that we may save the future.’ the wind around the tree started to pick up and spin.

‘meld us to try to mend what has past’ black clouds gathered overhead.

‘bond us to overcome the darkness. always’ lightning cracked down from the sky directly into the centre of the circle making the three wizards glow with power. by this time minerva and remus were having to physically restrain sirius again. in the end minerva gave up and stunned him as remus joined by conjuring ropes to tie him up.

the glow dissipated after several minutes as did the clouds and the lightning.

‘wow’ thought harry.

‘i know’ thought severus

‘what’ they both screamed and looked at dumbledore.

‘it’s okay’ dumbledore told them in there mind. ‘it as all part of the bond we can now talk to each other without speaking and it will allow us to know if any of the others is in trouble.’

‘hey, what’s going on over there, why are you all just looking at each other’ sirius yelled from his position on the ground. the stunner had worn off, however the ropes that bound him hadn’t.

severus, harry and the elderly headmaster looked over at sirius and all burst out laughing.

remus and minerva were standing, arms behind their backs, looking skyward as if sirius’ predicament had nothing to do with either of them. this only made the other three laugh even more.

harry lifted his hand ’fin- fin- finite incantatem’ he finally managed to gasp out between bursts of laughter.

sirius got up, dusting himself off ‘oh ha ha very funny, i was just worried about harry’

‘i think i like black all tied up if only the werewolf had included a gag in that set up.’ severus sent to harry who just rolled his eyes at him.

‘alright enough fun we have to get this done before dark. now harry, we will be going back up to the castle but we will be watching you from that window’ dumbledore pointed to a large window overlooking the quidditch pitch. ‘i will send to you what i want you to try. if you feel it getting away from you just tell us and severus and i should be able to ground it. remember you just have to call in your mind and we will hear you.’

‘albus, why do we have to go into the castle. shouldn’t we stay down here with harry in case he needs us.’

‘no sirius, it might get dangerous down here, until harry learns to control the elements.’

they all trooped up to the castle. harry waited until he saw them in the window before sending to dumbledore ‘now what?’

‘harry’ dumbledore sent through the mind link. ‘i want you to listen carefully and do what i say. you will have to try a few different things as there has only been a few elemental wizards over the last two thousand years and no books have been written on the subject. i will keep talking you through it as best as i can. but remember it is very important, if at anytime the power gets away from you or out of control you must tell us. we won‘t think any less of you, we already think your amazing.’ harry smiled at this.

‘now first you have to try to conjure the four elements, air, water, earth and fire. i want you to concentrate one at a time on each element. each one should appear as a column. ready’

harry nodded as the five professors looked on. he slowly raised his arm concentrating hard on calling the earth element. the air around him was practically crackling with magic. he continued calling with all his power, suddenly the ground shook as a column of earth rose. it contined until it was about twelve feet tall and it

kept spinning rapidly positioning it self to harry‘s east.

‘very good harry, now try the water’ dumbledore sent from his position at the window.

again harry concentrated on the lake. this time it did not take quite so long to call the element to him. a twelve foot column of rapidly spinning water positioned itself to his south.

next he called the fire element. the hardest of the four to call as it has to be conjured first. this was also twelve feet tall. the great column of fire positioned itself to harry’s west.

now harry’s mind moved onto the air element. this element while the easiest to call as it was all around him is also the most unstable. harry controlled the colomn well and was moving it into it’s position in the north when his concentration lapsed. it was only for a moment but it was long enough for the volatile element to explode. everything in a ten metre radius around the element was thrown far and wide. the earth, water and fire elements also exploded.

the last thing the others heard was harry screaming.

disclaimer - not mine - thank you once again jkr

thank you again to jupluna for beta reading this chapter.

to all my reviewers from the last chapter, (it is amazing how well a threat works isn’t it)

eivatoalegre

tigereyes

crystal potter

myasia

shdurrani

werewolf child

anja

jerseygirl03

sew2100

big daddy753

meteora gal

yoshi-fan 2003

tereth dragonstar

dustin coons - thank you

slytherinatheart - thanks - if you could write me a better summary i would really appreciate it.

jewelclaw lady of wind

jeaniebeanie33

sarou - can’t have you dying on us now can we. enjoy

lee lee potter - sorry about the cliffy but it just seemed the right place to end it ha ha and your right i can’t leave harry screaming forever he would lose his voice and get a very sore throat.

to the person who reviewed under the name a (very original by the way)

if you do not like my story that is fine you do not have to read it. but these are my ideas and i personally think they are okay. you wrote that harry would not go mental just because he is the heir and he saw his parents. and to quote you “he’s f***ing 15.

if you look at things we have a 15 year old boy who has been lied

to for his entire life, he has spent the first 10 of it locked in a cupboard, he has been so beaten, abused and starved that he almost died and now after all that he finds out that he has to save the entire wizarding world pretty much by himself. i think that anyone especially a boy who has been through what he has would want everyone to get out and leave him alone so that he had time to let everything sink in. as you can see from the review below other people thought that the chapter worked very well. i think next time you plan on flaming somebody you should at least have the decency to include a name. thank you

“mikee - liked the stone and the messages within, really liked harry’s reaction. it was most believable” sent regarding chapter 3 on 6th april 03

ps. you do not have to type in capitals and swear at me to get your point across.

moonlight - you will find out what broke harry’s concentration in this chapter.

mavern - yes there will be draco clashes. school for harry will change quite a bit and as for wormtail you will just have to see.

a big thanks to katydidn’t who pointed out an error to me in chapter 7. have fixed it now thank you so much.

also to the person who didn’t leave their name that mentioned an error in chapter 3 thank you i have fixed that too.

hope you enjoy the next chapter. please review

chapter 9 - wormtail

sirius was the first to make it out of the castle and onto the grounds with severus and remus not far behind.

they all stopped in horror as they surveyed the destruction

wreaked by the exploding elements. trees were bent and split. some had been burnt to a pile of ashes as the fire element had passed through. there were mounds of earth and water and mud everywhere. the only things that was unchanged was the air. it was still a calm quiet sunny day.

‘harry. harry. can you hear me? where are you?’ sirius screamed while frantically searching the grounds.

severus stood calmly ‘harry’ he sent ‘harry, are you alright? can you hear me’

‘yes, but please tell sirius to shut up, my head is splitting and he is only a few feet from me’ harry sent back.

‘black, shut up harry is about three feet from you with a blinding headache and your making it worse.’

‘how the hell do you know where his is ?’

‘i just asked him’

‘oh very funny . you didn’t even say a word’

‘don’t need to’

‘sometime i think you really are the most annoying…’

‘oh just shut up both of you for god’s sake’ harry butted in as he shakily got to his feet.

‘harry, are you okay? ‘

‘yes sirius, i am not made of glass. please stop acting like a mother hen.’

‘i’m just worried that something will happen to you.’

harry had had enough at this point. ‘oh yes that right, the whole future of the wizarding world rest on my shoulders. can’t let anything happen to the great harry potter.’ spat harry as he turned around and ran towards hagrid‘s cottage.

‘that’s not what i meant’ sirius yelled after him.

‘it’s alright padfoot, harry didn’t mean it. he’s just trying to figure

out what the hell is going on.’ remus added kindly taking sirius’ arm and leading him inside ‘let him settle down for a while and talk to him later’

severus watched the exchange with concern. if harry wasn’t strong enough to cope with all this mentally, how was he going to survive the pressure he was about to be put under. severus walked slowly over to hagrid’s and stood outside the door.

‘harry’ he sent softly

‘what?’ came the reply

‘can i come in’

‘the doors open’

‘that’s not what i meant’ severus thought, forgetting that harry would have ‘heard’ that.

severus’ heart, (and yes he does have one) almost broke as he realized that harry was crying. he walked into the room and over to the couch, seeing the small bundle curled up on it he sat down next to him.

‘harry’

suddenly harry launched himself at severus and hugged him tightly. he just sat there holding him, rocking back and forth until his sobs subsided and his chest was quietly rising up and down. realising that harry had fallen asleep, he carefully picked him up and carried him back towards the castle through the gathering darkness. once in the entrance hall he headed towards harry’s rooms while ‘calling’ to albus to tell him what had happened and asking the headmaster to meet him there.

severus opened the door to harry’s room and after laying him down on the bed took off his shoes and his robes and pulled the covers over the sleeping boy. he walked out into the lounge room and settled himself on the couch to wait.

albus appeared in the doorway moments later. he walked over to the couch and settled himself beside his best friend.

‘so’ he asked ‘what really happened?’

‘i really don’t know’ the younger man added sadly ‘i think that his power is growing at an alarming rate and with black smothering him all the time it is scaring him. he isn’t being allowed to grow with it.’

‘very good observation severus, i think it might be time for remus and sirius to go on a little mission again. just to give harry time to grow together with his new powers.’ severus nodded.

they sat there for a while both staring into the fire, each with his own thoughts. suddenly the were startled by a small shriek and after glancing at each other, they ran into harry’s room. he was thrashing about on the bed.

‘help me, it’s another nightmare’ albus said

the two men tried to wake harry and when that wouldn’t work they just held him down so that he wouldn’t hurt himself. suddenly severus grabbed his left forearm and hissed in pain.

‘severus, severus. no’ screamed harry bolting upright. he pushed the headmaster’s hands away from him and rushed over to his guardian, he pried severus’ right hand off his arm and covered the dark mark with both of his hands.

severus looked at harry, stunned as the pain seemed to disappear from his arm. he could tell from the grimace on harry’s face that he had transferred the pain to himself. severus tried to pull his arm away from harry. he looked over at dumbledore.

‘help harry’ he pleaded. they both tried to pry harry’s hands from the dark mark but they could not move them. the blood was starting to drain from harry’s face and he looked as if he was going to black out when dumbledore raised his wand.

‘irania exemay’ he shouted and harry was flung back on to the bed.

‘albus. look’ severus croaked showing the headmaster his left arm. it was white and unmarked as if the dark mark had never been there.

‘oh my god, harry’ severus rushed over to the bed as albus ran to get the matron.

‘harry what did you do that for?’ severus whispered as he settled the boy more comfortably on the bed.

come on albus. he thought to himself. moments thereafter dumbledore and madame pomfrey rushed in with remus and sirius close on their heels.

the four wizards moved out into the lounge room while madame pomfrey completed her examination. dumbledore was the only calm one. the rest spending the next half hour wearing separate tracks in the floor. about thirty minutes later she emerged.

‘well poppy, is he going to be alright?’ a concerned dumbledore asked as the others were to afraid.

‘i think so professors, he doesn’t seem to have any physical injuries.’

just then the door to the bedroom opened softly and harry wandered out.

‘hey, you should be back in bed. you shouldn’t be wandering around in your condition.’ sirius snapped.

‘cluck, cluck, cluck’ whispered severus looking at harry who cracked him a small grin before hiding his mouth behind his hand as he giggled.

‘sirius, i think harry is now old enough to decide when he needs to be in bed and when he doesn’t, don’t you agree harry’ harry could have kissed dumbledore just about then.

severus moved over on the couch and harry sat down next to him, leaning his head against his shoulder and curling his feet under him. sirius threw severus a filthy look.

‘harry’ dumbledore asked quietly. ‘can you tell us what happened. maybe from what happened down on the grounds.’

harry nodded and taking a deep breath began to speak.

‘calling the earth element was difficult. it took a lot of concentration but one it was in position i didn’t have to hold it anymore and could concentrate on the next one. the water element was easier, i’m not sure why and it moved into position

by itself. the fire one was the most difficult because it had to be conjured out of nothing first, although this element was the easiest to control. i don’t know why i left the air element till last. subconsciously i knew it would take the most concentration. i called it and it wanted to come, it wanted to come almost immediately. i almost lost it there and thought i would have to call you but then i got it back under control.’ harry paused here.

‘go on , harry’ severus whispered encouragingly. harry gave him a small smile.

‘as i was positioning it i saw something out of the corner of my eye and i lost control. i didn’t have time to call you before it exploded. i was thrown around by the elements exploding and blacked out. i woke up a while later when i heard sirius screaming and severus was calling me.’ the young wizard finished softly.

‘harry why did you get angry at padfoot?’ remus asked kindly.

harry began to look uncomfortable. ’it’s alright harry you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’ sirius smiled.

‘no it’s okay. i’m not exactly sure of why. i think that all of a sudden having someone around mothering me’ severus snorted at this and harry silenced him with a look. ’i mean i’m not used to it and it is almost like you feel that because you haven’t been there to look after me for the last thirteen years’ harry didn’t mean to make sirius feel guilty at this point but there was no avoiding it ’you feel that you have to go overboard and smother me. i know that you missed me while you were in azkaban and that you worry about losing me again. but you don’t have to worry, i am not made of glass you know . in fact i am probably one of the toughest people you know.’ harry finished with a nod.

‘on the outside’ muttered severus. harry glared at him again.

‘i’m sorry padfoot, i didn’t mean to hurt your feelings .’

‘that’s okay kiddo, i guess i will have to loosen the apron strings a little eh’ sirius chuckled.

dumbledore interjected at this point ‘gentlemen on to more pressing matters. sirius, remus i want you to go and fetch

arabella and mudungus. we need to start formulating a plan for when voldemort attacks the school. i have already spoken to arthur and he has over a dozen aurors that are loyal to him that we will employ to guard the school but we need to strengthen the wards and we will need the others to help do that.’

sirius looked reluctant at leaving harry but knew he would be safe with albus, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, severus that he rose with remus and each gave harry a hug. ‘look after yourself, harry’

‘you too.’

they shook hands with dumbledore and walked towards the door.

‘we should be back within a week’ remus told them and headed out after sirius. he stooped and stuck his head back in the doorway. ‘hey harry, do you remember what was it that made you loose your concentration out on the grounds’

harry nodded ‘it was wormtail but please don’t tell sirius yet. i have worked out a way to catch him and i want it to be a surprise.’ he pleaded.

remus nodded and removed his head from the doorway as he heard padfoot calling him.

‘so harry’ dumbledore’s eyes twinkled ‘are you going to share this plan with us’

harry’s face broke into a smile. ‘i was thinking about this all through lunch after the animagus training this morning. finding wormtail has always been very high on my list of priorities.’ he explained ‘and after seeing how the animagus potion worked this morning. i wondered if there was a way of doing the reverse.’ recognition began to dawn in the two professor’s eyes. ‘you remember’ he continued ‘yesterday when we were in the training room i said that i had all those visions which told me how to fight.’ dumbledore nodded. ‘at the same time i must have absorbed information about tons of other things as well because things like the animagus transformation as well as calling the elements just came to me. as for wormtail, i know there is a spell, don’t ask me how i know, i just do. anyway if i incorporate

this spell into the wards of the school. when wormtail crawls in next time he won’t see it but floating above him will be a life size ghost of peter pettigrew. shouldn’t be too hard to spot like that hey.’ harry finished with a huge grin on his face.

the older wizards were openly gaping at him. harry started to giggle and was shortly joined by severus until all three were openly laughing.

after several minutes they started to settle down and dumbledore ordered some dinner to be eaten in the lounge. he excused himself for a while to answer some owls and left the guardian and his charge alone closing the door softly behind him.

severus put his arm around harry and pulled him onto his lap so that they were eye to eye.

‘why did you do it?’ he asked. ’how did you do it?’

harry looked at him ’i don’t know’ he said simply ’i was there in the chamber again with voldemort and he was ranting and raving about spies and other nonsense and then he said that you would pay for your disloyalty. he pointed his wand at the dark mark on lucius malfoy’s arm and said something. i couldn’t hear it but i knew it was bad because i could feel your pain. i woke up and knew instantly what i had to do. i knew that if i covered the mark with my hands, the power of the light should be enough to cut off the curse and hopefully the pain. did it work?’ harry asked as if almost afraid of the answer.

severus rolled up the left sleeve of his robe to show him the now unmarked skin.

harry gasped and then grinned at him. ‘guess it did then huh’

severus smiled back at him and gave him a hug while harry buried his head in the crook of severus’ neck and sighed.

so this is what having a child is all about, thought severus, i could get used to this.

the food arrive not long after and the boy and the man reluctantly separated and began to eat their dinner. both were happy that they were getting along so well. severus was glad

that harry had forgiven him and was prepared to trust him and harry was just happy to have some there for him all the time. what harry didn’t realize was that the reason severus had become so protective of him was because his childhood had been no picnic either and he could identify with what harry had been through, well some of it anyway. thinking back he noticed that while harry had friends he was still the outcast in the group almost like he was outside that was looking in. joining in but still outside. whether this was how harry liked it or because anyone with half a brain could see that he was destined to be a great leader which therefore put him on a different level to the others was anybody’s guess. the fact that he had promised lily played no small part in his devotion either.

once they had finished eating the plates disappeared and the two wizards decided to play chess.

‘i’m not really very good at it’ harry said matter of factly ‘ron always beats me’

‘ron always beats everybody. i wouldn’t be too worried about that.’ severus snickered as he conjured up a chess board.

they settled down in facing armchairs and it was on for young and old. the chess pieces that severus had conjured seemed to be hoping that harry would win, even severus’ ones. whenever they thought he wasn’t looking they would try to move a space or two to make it easier for harry. harry laughed when he saw this and after he had won two games in a row severus caught on to what was happening and made them switch pieces but it didn’t make any difference. all the pieces were going for the underdog.

‘i’ve always hated this chess set’ severus scowled. ’i have tried to conjure other ones but it doesn’t work. i always end up with these.

harry just laughed. at about ten harry started to dozed off. severus watched as he struggled to keep playing, a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. ‘in spite of the expectations and his abilities’ he thought to himself ‘he still really is just a boy. ‘and a boy who needs his rest’ he finished softly as harry lost the battle and his head fell onto his chest. severus picked him up carefully and carried him through to the bedroom, laying him

down gently onto the bed. he covered him up with the blankets whispering ’good night harry, sweet dreams’ he watched as harry shifted slightly and smiled in his sleep. before he closed the door he set up a spell that would tell him if harry had another nightmare and walking out into the lounge he settled himself down on the couch and dozed off.

there you go another chapter and no cliffy this time.

please please please read and review. i can only make this better if you tell me what you like and don’t like. constructive criticism please and no swearing. in a story it is okay but not at somebody just because you don’t like what they have written.

disclaimer - nothing is mine except the storyline and erte, asha and elphie.

thank you jupluna for beta reading again. (ps i just had to add a bit more)

to my faithful readers thank you - you make it worth continuing.

sew2100 - i think severus is misunderstood and sirius annoys the crap out of me in that swashbuckling way.

jordan - your wish is my command

athena kitty - see chapter 10 re wormtail, the attack will hold some surprises, harry will borrow the set to play ron at some stage (wait till you see what they bet) , as for the dursley’s we find out what happened to them in chapter 11.

jerseygirl03 - thanks, i’m really trying

jewelclaw lady of wind - i’m doing my best to get the chapters to you quickly

nabiki - i might

universal star - thanks

sev1970 - you are obviously a fan of sev as am i. enjoy

leelee potter - thanks your reviews keep me writing

istalksiriusonweekends - interesting pen name. thanks for the review

luke - thanks for letting me know who i am talking to. if you read the chapter carefully, harry does ask everyone to leave but dumbledore and the others stay and try to encourage harry to talk about it so he keeps it up until they all leave.

lilyshortmutt - thank you

mikee - hi again. the explanation you requested is in this chapter. enjoy

reanne080 - thank you

dustin coons - thank you i’m glad you are enjoying reading it as much as i enjoy writing it.

sarou - thanks

optional - thanks, i’m glad everyone thought that spell would work as well as i did.

jeanie beanie - terribly sorry, i can’t do slash.

words in * * are either phoenix song, parseltongue or unicorn speak

chapter 10 - old macdonald had a farm

severus felt the warmth of the sun tickling his face as he woke. it was an experience he had not had in a very long time. not much light reaches the dungeons. as he opened his eyes he squinted at the sun pouring in the window of harry’s lounge area.

‘tempus’ severus whispered . a smoky clock face appeared in front of him, the hands pointing to ten o’clock. time to wake up harry he thought. he pushed himself up off the couch, groaning.

‘this is not the best way to get a goodnights sleep.’ he scowled as he went over to the door to harry’s room. listening quietly for a moment, he realized that harry was talking to someone.

‘i don’t remember anyone going past me’ he muttered. ’i was asleep, but i don’t sleep that heavily.

‘harry’ severus knocked softly before opening the door and peering in. the sight before him made him gasp. harry was sitting on his bed. there was nothing unusual in that. what was unusual was that surrounding him was an assortment of animals and if you didn’t find that unusual, harry was talking to them and they seemed to be talking back.

‘ah harry, excuse me, is everything alright?’ severus asked.

‘oh yes’ harry’s eyes were positively glowing ‘come in’

severus walked over to the bed and sat down. once he had got closer he saw that there was actually only three animals on the bed. it just looked like more.

‘who are your friends harry?’

‘severus,’ harry grinned up at him ‘this is erte’ he pointed to a beautiful gold and white phoenix. ‘she is here to guide me and help me to understand the differences between what is dark and what is light. erte can tell me if a person is trustworthy or not and whether they mean to do me any harm’

‘very handy bird to have around’ severus arched an eyebrow.

‘this is asha’ he continued pointing to a small golden snake with ruby red eyes. ‘she is a very rare breed of ashwinder. don’t worry she won’t burn down the castle.’ harry added seeing severus’ worried glance at the snake. ‘she is only a distant cousin of the true ashwinder and once her kind have been taken from their place of birth they can no longer cause any damage.’ severus exhaled a breath.

‘and her purpose?’ he asked.

‘asha will be helping me to understand the dark side. snakes aren’t actually dark creatures, they really have been given a bad rap in that department.’ severus arched another eyebrow but harry just ignored him and continued.

‘they are exposed to a lot of different types of darkness both magical and muggle. asha will be making sure i have all the information i need on the darkness so that i can make informed decisions on what needs to be done.’

‘you seem to be taking everything very well this morning,’ severus thought.

‘oh yes professor, erte explained everything.’ severus just looked at him in confusion until he remembered the mental bond.

‘and this one?’ severus pointed to the other creature curled up on harry’s bed. ‘i gather she is there to give you the balance for the light’ harry nodded eagerly.

‘her name is elphie, she is a miniature baby unicorn.’

elphie was a beautiful golden colour with a white mane and tail. when she stood up she was only about 18 inches tall and her horn was only about 4 inches long.

‘harry, where did they come from?’ severus asked quietly.

‘i don’t know, i woke up and they were here. apparently according to erte, they were sent by the four founders. each has been charmed for different things. they can all turn invisible whenever they need to and they can talk to me as well.’

‘now harry, we aren’t charmed to talk to you . you are just able to talk to all animals.’ erte finished with a wise voice. of course

severus couldn’t understand this. all he heard was the beautiful notes of the phoenix song.

‘what did she say?’

‘she said that i could talk to any animal not just them.’ harry shrugged before continuing. ’none of them will every change or get bigger, they don’t need me to feed them and they won’t ever die. at least not before i do. we can also communicate without me actually speaking and they can apparate to wherever i am as soon as i call them.’

severus settled himself further onto the bed and began to stroke little elphie.

‘harry, i want to thank you properly for what you did for me yesterday. you cannot possibly know how much you have helped me. no, no, don’t get all funny about it.’ he said laying his hand on harry’s arm as harry tried to interrupt telling him that it was nothing. ’you cannot understand just how much it means to me to not have the mark of that piece of filth on my arm.’ severus said vehemently. ’i can now be accepted to places that have been off limits to me before, i can go out and no longer be looked upon with suspicion and voldemort can no longer hurt me through that mark.’

‘not to mention that you can now wear a short sleeve t-shirt’ harry chipped in.

‘you know this new found confidence of yours is going to get you in trouble if your not careful’ severus finished ‘cheeky little brat’ he thought.

harry giggled at him.

‘oh god, there must be a way of hiding what i am thinking’ he muttered.

harry leaned over and placed his hand on his guardian’s forehead.

‘privates mindus’ he whispered. severus felt a warm glow enter his mind and encompass it.

‘now think something’ harry said smiling at him.

‘think what?’ severus thought

‘go on think something’ harry urged.

‘i already did’ he sent to harry.

‘cool it worked’ harry cheered. severus ruffled his hair affectionately.

‘come on you, get dressed. i’ll meet you down in the great hall for lunch.’

‘lunch?’ harry stopped bouncing on the bed.

‘yes lunch, it is almost twelve o’clock’

harry leapt out of bed and into the bathroom

‘incorrigible brat’ severus chuckled making his way out of the room and down towards the great hall.

* * * * * * * * * * *

the next few days passed very quickly for harry. what with all his extra training. by the end of the week he could call all of the elements and keep control of them. his animagus transformations were going very well. he could now change into any animal he wished and they were going to start on the magical creatures tomorrow. professor mcgonagall was treating him now as an equal, as were all of the teachers. all of the teachers had returned as school was due to start in two days and some of them were starting to look at him with something approaching awe.

‘i hope they don’t end up anywhere near colin creevey for any length of time’ harry grimaced.

erte, asha and elphie followed harry everywhere. it was like having a little farmyard nursery walking around the school. everyone always laughed when they saw harry walking along, erte perched on his shoulder, asha curled around his wrist and elphie trotting along by his side like a faithful dog. the

conversations they would all have at mealtimes, what with the phoenix song, the hissing and the whinnying and harry sitting there speechless but talking to them nevertheless always had everyone else picking their respective jaws up off the ground.

* * * * * * * * * * *

that morning at breakfast as harry together with albus, filius, minerva and severus sat eating. an owl flew in and dropped a letter on harry’s plate. it was address to him in green ink.

mr harry potter

his own room

hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry

harry stared at the letter as the four professors exchanged glances. harry could feel the grin spreading over his face. somehow having it in writing made it even more real. he turned the letter over and after cracking the seal on the back pulled out the letter.

dear mr potter,

we are please to inform you that you have been accepted for your 5th year at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. please find enclosed the list of this years required books and equipment as well as a list of elective classes for your o.w.l.s and n.e.w.t.s. term begins on 1 september.

yours sincerely,

minerva mcgonagall

deputy headmistress

harry put the first piece of parchment on the table. the second one had a list of everything he needed for the new school year.

‘have to go to diagon alley’ he thought placing the piece of parchment on top of the first one. the third piece had a list of their elective subjects.

advanced defence against the dark arts

advanced transfiguration and animagus

advanced charms

advanced potions and herbology

advanced ancient runes

advanced arithmancy

healing and other magical medicines

astronomy, astrology and divination

magical creatures

duelling

‘don’t worry harry, we will help you with that list after. look at the next page.’ albus grinned at him.

harry put the list down and read the last page.

dear mr potter

we would like to offer you the position of duelling master as well as assistant for advanced defence, transfiguration and animagus.

please let us know your decision as soon as possible.

albus dumbledore

headmaster.

harry dropped the letter in shock and looked up at albus gaping.

‘are you serious?’ harry sent to the old wizard.

‘yes harry’ he sent back ‘i can think of no one better to help teach the students in these dark times.’

‘you will be given extra credit for your o.w.l.s and n.e.w.t.s for these subjects. by the way you will be taking your exams for both wizarding levels by the end of this school year.’ this time albus spoke out loud so that the others could hear.

harry stared at the other professors who were all nodding their heads and smiling at him. obviously they had talked about this before.

‘i’ll need a couple of days to think about it. is that okay?’ harry asked.

albus nodded. he reached over harry and picked up the subject list.

‘what subjects do you want to take harry?’ severus asked.

harry turned to erte *what do you think*

*i think the only subject worth taking is healing and magical medicines.*

*how come* harry asked the phoenix

*because you know more than your teachers in the other subjects* she replied.

harry burst out laughing and fell off his chair. the professors looked at him wondering what the phoenix could have said to send him into such fits of laughter.

they waited a few moments for harry to settle down and regain his seat before albus asked him what was so funny.

‘erte says that i should only take healing because, um, err’ harry stopped at this point lowering his eyes and blushing madly.

“well i don’t really think i should repeat what she said.’ harry said going over it in his mind.

suddenly severus and albus burst out laughing.

‘hey, you two cheated. you weren’t meant to know that.’

albus waved at him still chuckling.

‘it’s alright harry, erte is probably right’ dumbledore finished giving the phoenix a pat.

‘come now everyone the others will be here soon. we have some wards to re-enforce’

* * * * * * * * * * * *

they all stood up from the table and trooped out of the castle. if anyone could have seen them from a distance they would have split themselves laughing. there was an old man with very long snowy white hair and beard followed by a very very short man who kept lifting slightly off the ground every so often. a lady with a rather severe looking face and a man who could not look more like an overgrown bat if he tried and lastly, a boy with a gold and white phoenix on his shoulders, a gold snake curled around his wrist and a golden baby unicorn trotting at his heels.

the walked to the edge of the forbidden forest and were met by four more people who came out of the shadows.

sirius ran up to harry to give him a hug, which was very tricky with a large bird on his shoulder.

‘hisssssss’

‘what in heaven’s name was that?’ sirius asked leaping backwards as though harry had bitten him.

harry held out his arm to show his godfather his new friends.

‘this is erte, asha and elphie’ harry said introducing sirius to each one in turn.

‘wow’ was all sirius could manage as he gaped at harry.

“flies, padfoot, flies’ remus smirked.

sirius abruptly closed his mouth turning around to look at albus.

‘harry this is arabella and mudungus’ albus told him gesturing to a witch and wizard standing next to remus.

‘hello, lovely to meet you both’ harry shook both their hands. there was something familiar about arabella but harry couldn’t quite place it.

‘alright, harry your spell will be last as it has to cover over the top of all the rest.’ harry nodded and walking over towards the lake, found a warm sunny spot to watch the proceedings.

around lunchtime a picnic was brought down by the house elves and everyone sat down by the lake to rest. harry had been watching the eight wizards all morning and realized that the reason it takes so long is the amount of energy required. if the energy came from another source there would make it much quicker.

‘albus’ harry sent

‘yes harry’ came the reply.

‘i have an idea that may work and will be a lot quicker. do you mind if i try it‘.

‘no harry, go ahead but be careful’ the mentor sent to his student. ’call me if you need me’ severus looked over at the headmaster. albus glanced at him and shook his head.

‘okay, but one of you will have to hold onto padfoot’ harry chuckled to albus and severus as he got up. leaving asha curled up next to elphie and asking erte to watch them both, harry walked a good distance away from the others, hearing sirius ask albus where he was going.

harry looked up into the sky and lifting his arms he closed his eyes and called the air element. when it arrived harry told it what he wanted. the element lifted off the ground and rose about a hundred feet in the air. it started to spin faster as it pulled the clouds towards it. harry chanted over and over.

‘veritas, protectus, facilita, safetius’

over and over harry chanted as the clouds collected above him. darker and darker the clouds grew. the magic crackled around him. all of a sudden a bolt of lightning shot down to harry’s outstretched hand and carefully he threw it at the shield of wards that surrounded the school. he could hear sirius screaming for him. again the lightning came down and again harry sent it to the shield. time after time harry sent the bolts of lightning to the shield to boost the energy while he chanted the spells. after about two hours harry changed the spell.

‘veritas, protectus, facilita, safetius, animagi reversa’ he yelled to the heavens.

half an hour later harry lowered his arms and waited as the clouds went away before walking back towards the others.

all were stunned at the raw power that was still pouring off the young wizard. never before had any of them seen such an enormous display of magic for such an extended period of time. not even dumbledore.

‘harry’ the headmaster breathed before pulling him into a hug. ‘your parents would be so proud of you now’ albus whispered before releasing him. there were tears in his eyes. harry looked around at the others. if they didn’t stare at him in awe before they certainly did now. every single mouth was open as the all gaped at him. well all except sirius’ anyway. he was again, bound and gagged on the ground. realizing that none, of the others were in any state to release him.

‘finite incantatem’ harry laughed as the ropes and the gag fell away.

sirius stood dusting himself off before coming over to give harry a hug. pulling away from the embrace he looked his godson up and down.

‘guess you really aren’t a fragile as you look huh’ he said.

harry pulled him back into the hug again closing his eyes. he could not believe that all these people cared about him. he felt so happy. as he pulled away he opened his eyes and spotted something over by the castle doors. shoving sirius to the ground he threw out his hand.

‘stupefy’ he roared, watching the curse hit it’s target with a satisfied smirk.

the others all looked at him. they couldn’t see what it was that harry had aimed for.

taking sirius’ arm he dragged him back over towards the entrance doors .

‘happy fifteen years worth of birthday and christmas presents sirius’ harry said triumphantly reaching down behind a bush and holding a very stunned rat.

a rat with a silver paw.

disclaimer - after all this time it’s still not mine.

mikee - thanks again yes i’d love one too. i’ve got ponies but they aren’t that small. the secrets of the ghost revealed in this chapter. no it is not safe for harry to be in gryffindor tower and yes they are mine too so you get more this chapter.

luke - glad to see that you are still enjoying it and unfortunately some boys are just more childish than others. don’t worry as he gets more used to his new powers he matures a lot more.

jewelclaw lady of wind - thank you i’m doing my best.

lilyshortmutt - i can tell by your pen name that you are into cute weird names hehe thanks

slytherinatheart - i like the flies thing too. i don’t know why it keeps coming up. it just pops in there all by itself.

universalstar87 - going as fast as i can

athena kitty - yes dudley will be very different from his father.

angelis - thanks for your kind words

maikafuiniel - thanks for that it’s good to know that i can appeal to non hp fans as well. harry will only be in classes until christmas and i have some very big plans for draco who while i think is a utter brat is seriously misunderstood.

thank you to the following -

jerseygirl03

reanne080

mavern

cool skater - are you really a skater?

sew2100

daine of queenscove

thanks to jupluna for beta reading again.

chapter 11 - i’m not a death eater are you?

‘harry, is that, is that who i think it is?’ sirius whispered.

‘yep’ harry smirked. ‘one slimy cheating ex-friend as per your request.’

‘well done harry, why don’t we go up to my office. we will need to contact the ministry.’

harry quickly conjured a cage to put wormtail in and after casting several unbreakable charms on it they all headed towards the headmaster’s office.

‘snickers’ dumbledore gave the password and the gargoyle sprung to life. once they were all seated in his office dumbledore threw some floo powder into the fire.

‘cornelius’

‘yes dumbledore’ the minister of magic’s head appeared in the fireplace.

‘albus’ harry sent through the mind link. ‘you must do this in front of a large group of witnesses or fudge will just cover it up again’

dumbledore glanced over at severus who nodded his head in agreement.

‘cornelius’ the headmaster brought his attention back to the minister. ‘i am having a press conference tomorrow. i think that you might like to be there.

‘why? ’ the minister asked a confused expression on his face. ‘what do you want to talk to the press about?’

‘i cannot say at the moment, however i recommend that you also

bring half a dozen aurors with you, tomorrow 11am. i’ll see you then’ dumbledore turned to the others a fudge’s head disappeared from the fireplace.

‘harry, i can see by the silver paw that this is peter but how did you tell from such a distance? the spell obviously didn’t work, there is no ghost.’ dumbledore gestured to the still stunned rat in the cage. harry shrugged.

‘there was one but it disappeared when i stunned him. it must only work when the person is awake. sirius, are you okay?’ harry looked at his godfather with concern. sirius was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands.

‘fine, i’m f-fine’ sirius waved his hand at them not raising his head. they all noticed his shoulders start to shake and looked away.

‘come on padfoot’ remus slowly tried to help sirius to his feet.

‘let’s get you back to your room to lie down.’ the two men were headed towards the door when sirius broke away and rushed back to harry gathering him in a hug.

‘thank you harry, thank you so much’ he sobbed.

‘sirius ….can’t……breathe’ harry choked out. severus and remus helped pry sirius off the young wizard before remus headed out the door with his friend.

albus, severus, minerva, filius and harry spent the rest of the day planning the press conference, stopping only once for some dinner which the house elves brought up to the office.

‘harry, you will also need to go to diagon alley tomorrow afternoon to collect your books and things as the rest of the school will be arriving the day after . severus and minerva will go with you as i imagine it will take a few weeks to sort out the situation regarding sirius.’ dumbledore finished. ‘does anyone have any questions?

they all shook their heads.

‘okay then let’s all get some sleep and meet back here after breakfast, shall we say 10am. harry, if you will make sure that

mr pettigrew is taken care of, professor snape will escort you back to your rooms.

harry picked up wormtail’s cage, placing it in dumbledore’s cupboard on the shelf underneath the pensieve and closed the door. he then proceed to place every locking spell and security ward on both the cage and the cupboard that he had ever learnt and even some that he didn’t realise he knew.

‘there’ he said turning to dumbledore ‘i hope you aren’t going to need anything out of that cupboard tonight albus’ harry chuckled before asking erte, asha and elphie to watch over the cupboard and it’s contents.

* * * * * * * * * * *

harry woke early the next morning and spent ages in the bathroom. the tub was almost as big as the one in the prefects bathroom. it was done in silver tiles with a forest green rim around the top and the taps were silver with different shape emerald jewels set into the top. harry guessed that they were the same as the taps in the prefects bathroom with different types of bubbles coming out of each one. harry tried them all and settled down to a nice long soak.

‘oh haarrrrry’ came a high pitched voice. harry choked and went under coming up coughing and spluttering.

‘myrtle, how did you get in here.’

‘oh, i just slid through one of the taps. it’s really quite easy. why? don’t you like me coming to visit you? i thought you would be happy, what with being in this big bathroom all by yourself.’ myrtle pouted.

‘as i told you last year, you really shouldn’t spy on people in the bathroom. it isn’t very polite.’

‘well fine, if you’re going to be like that i’ll just gooooooo’ myrtle wailed as she disappeared up one of the taps.

‘thank goodness’ harry breathed. he held out his hand and watched with satisfaction as one of the towels flew towards him. just at the last minute he closed his fist and the towel dropped next to him.

‘this is going to be so much fun’ he thought with a grin. now eager for breakfast, and maybe a prank or two, he got out of the tub and after dressing quickly, raced downstairs to the great hall.

all the teachers had arrived back for the start of the new school year the evening before so breakfast was quite a big affair. after saying good morning to everyone harry settled himself between albus and severus and just across from sirius.

‘how are you this morning, sirius’ harry asked his godfather softly.

‘never better’ he replied, his mouth full of toast ’never better’ harry grinned at him and grabbed a slice of toast for himself. under the pretext of spreading marmalade all over it, harry used his finger to raise the basket of muffins at the far end about an inch off the table slowly one by one he managed to raise all the plates of food off the table. the jugs of milk and pumpkin juice took longer but he managed to do it. no one noticed yet as they had all served themselves and were just eating and talking. harry then whispered a spell and one by one the plates and baskets and jugs formed a line and danced off the end of the table and around the great hall, weaving in and out of the benches and up and down the house tables. all the other teachers were staring at the food and drinks. sirius had a piece of toast stopped halfway to his mouth, when it shot out of his hand and tore across the hall screaming ‘wait for me’ before joining the end of the line. sirius looked down at his now empty hand and back up at the dancing food his mouth hanging open.

‘flies padfoot, flies’ remus nudged his friend. harry couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing. and was soon rolling about the floor, roaring, with tears streaming down his face. of course when he stopped concentrating all of the plates and jugs just stopped where they were on the hufflepuff table and refused to move any further. by this stage remus, severus and albus had all started to snigger, trying desperately to keep a straight face. severus tried

too hard and started snorting which set the others two off and made harry laugh even harder. the other teachers were all looking at the five of them, as sirius had worked it out by now and joined in the laughter, as if they had all gone mad. remus who was the first to recover whispered what had happened to minerva who looked at him wide-eyed before starting to giggle, she then passed it on to the next teacher an so on around the table. one by one as the teachers were let in on the joke the giggling increased and soon the whole table was laughing.

‘okay harry’ dumbledore chuckled as the laughter started to die down. ‘can you please return everything to where it was’. harry still with tears running down his face, pointed to the hufflepuff table and then at the head table and watched as everything flew back and settled down once again in front of everybody.

‘what’ he said uncomfortably as all the new teachers gaped at him.

‘they don’t know about your new abilities’ albus sent to him. harry looked over at him

‘well can you please tell them so that they stop staring at me’ harry sent back squirming.

all of a sudden the doors to the great hall flew open and elphie cantered up to harry and placed her front hooves on his lap.

*harry you must come quickly, the rat is trying to grow.* harry shot out of the chair and through the doors sending to severus and albus what elphie had told him.

‘snickers’ he yelled at the gargoyle from halfway down the corridor and belting up the stairs he burst into the headmasters office in time to hear a scream coming from the cupboard. quickly casting the counter spells he removed the wards and opened the cupboard just as albus and severus ran into the room. there squashed, with his legs and arms at angles that any human was not meant to have them, was peter pettigrew. harry quickly made the cage a little bit bigger so that wormtail could have his legs and arms at normal angles but was still quite squashed.

‘hello peter’ harry smirked at him ‘sorry about the accommodations but it is what you deserve, not to mention the fact that i am sure they are a lot better than where you are going’ wormtail gulped but didn’t say anything.

‘harry, we should probably full body bind him until we get to the press conference’ severus sent to him. harry glanced over at albus who nodded at him.

‘petrificus totalis’ harry pointed at wormtail who tipped over sideways unable to talk or move a muscle other than his eyes.

‘i’ve been wanting to do that for ages’ harry smirked at him again.

just then the others arrived.

‘harry, you and severus stay here with peter. minerva, filius and myself will join sirius and remus in the great hall and prepare for the press . when the reporters arrive i will call you to bring our guest of honour down. oh by the way i have lent sirius your invisibility cloak until the time is right’ harry nodded at the headmaster as he and the others walked out of the office and down the stairs.

harry settled himself on the couch across from his guardian.

‘severus’

‘hmmm’

‘i’ve been wondering, well, um, what happened to the dursley’s?’ harry asked timidly.

a huge grin spread over the potion master’s face .

‘ah’ he said ‘what a magical day that was. a momentous day in the treatment of underage wizards. a day that will be remembered’

‘oh just shut up and tell me’ harry glared.

‘well, we didn’t do anything to dudley as he had sent us the letter in the first place. however those poor excuse for muggles that were your aunt and uncle, we just sort of, left a charm on them.’

severus smirked.

‘what sort of charm’ harry was almost to scared to ask. not that he thought severus would do something too awful, but sirius had gone with him as well.

‘not a really bad one, it will wear off eventually’ ‘in about 10 years ‘ severus muttered under his breath but harry heard it anyway.

‘tell me’ harry pleaded once more. ‘tell me or i’ll hex you so bad your future grandchildren will feel it’ he growled. severus raised an eyebrow.

‘who said i’m going to have any children let alone grandchildren. all right. all right i’ll tell you.’ severus held up his hands in surrender.

‘it was a transversal charm. any time, every time your aunt or uncle thought something bad about you, they would turn into a toad for approximately five mins depending on the severity of the thought. this of course would only happen in the home and never in front of anyone except dudley. when black and i went back to check on them about three days later, according to dudley they had spent more time as toads than as humans. apparently they even changed in their sleep if they dreamt about you .’ harry’s look of horror was starting to soften slightly.

‘it will wear off won’t it, i mean they did look after me and feed me for the last fourteen years’

‘harry they didn’t look after you. they turned you into their own personal house elf that they could use and abuse at their whim.’ severus looked kindly down at harry and whispered.

‘just be thankful i was there otherwise that maniacal godfather of yours would have left them as toads and then got dobby to serve them up with a nice garlic butter at the welcoming feast.’ severus chuckled. harry smiled at him

‘thank you’ harry whispered.

‘it’s okay harry, honestly everything will be okay.’ he moved over to the other couch and pulled harry into a hug.

‘everything will be okay’ he whispered once more.

‘harry, severus’ they heard albus in their heads.

‘yes’ they both answered reluctantly pulling apart.

‘it is about time for you to make your entrance. i suggest you get rid of the cage and just bring peter down under the body bind. oh and harry, if your friends are coming i suggest now is a good time to try out their invisibility as i don’t think we should let the ministry or the rest of the wizarding world know all of our little secrets just yet .’

‘we’re on the way’ severus sent back as harry got rid of the cage. one hand on wormtail’s shoulder and the bound wizard just floated at harry’s side. the three wizards moved out of the room and down the stairs towards the great hall. just outside harry stooped.

‘what is it’ severus asked.

‘you need to point your wand at him.’ severus just looked at him strangely. ‘it needs to look like you are the one binding him and i am just pushing him along.’ nodding severus took out his wand and pointed it at pettigrew.

‘albus, we’re here’ harry sent.

‘just a moment longer’ came the reply. ‘now’

harry raised his arm just slightly and the doors to the great hall blew open with a bang.

‘whoops, that was a bit hard’ harry looked at severus to see the corners of his mouth twitching.

‘yes a bit, but at least we have everybody’s attention’ albus sent back. they strode up the centre aisle towards the stage and could hear the whispers from all sides.

‘that’s peter pettigrew.’

‘that’s pettigrew, i thought he was dead’

‘pettigrew, well i never’

‘peter, i thought sirius black killed him’

‘i thought he died fourteen years ago, where has he been’

harry and severus and a floating pettigrew made their way up onto the stage . they sat wormtail down in a chair conjuring ropes to tie him before removing the body bind, harry moved around in front of the small balding man so the reporters and the minister could not see his face and growled,

‘you try anything and you will regret it, you saw what i could do yesterday and don’t think i will be stupid and spare you like i did a year ago. this time i will not hesitate to hurt you’ harry practically spat the last words at the quivering man before moving over to sit beside remus and minerva who put her hand on his arm to calm him as the hall had just started to crackle.

‘calm down harry’ albus sent. ‘we don’t want to roast everybody to a crisp.’ harry took several deep breaths and closed his eyes.

‘now as promised we have delivered peter pettigrew, alive and unharmed’ albus told the assembled press.

‘see here dumbledore, is this some kind of joke’ fudge stood up bristling at the headmaster. severus stood up to defend albus.

‘minister if you would just sit down and listen’ severus reasoned.

‘shut up you, what the hell would you know, albus may have vouched for you but in my book you’re still a death eater’ fudge ranted.

severus stormed over to the minister and held out his left arm. fudge recoiled as though he thought the potions master was going to hit him.

‘go on’ he spat ‘have a look and then repeat what you just said.’

the minister reluctantly lifted the sleeve of severus’ robe and gasped.

‘but how, how did, it was there, you showed me just three months ago’ the minister spluttered.

‘i guess when you are loyal enough things happen’ severus

emphasized the loyal before adding sarcastically, ’care to show us your arm then minister?’

the entire place erupted as fudge pulled out his wand and pointed it at severus.

‘what, too scared to show us’ severus repeated his request.

harry watched what was happening with interest. he noted that fudge being left handed meant that with his wand trained on snape his forearm was visible to nearly all in the hall. very carefully harry lifted his arm and murmured a spell. suddenly fudge’s left sleeve shot right up to his elbow.

ha ha little cliffy there you haven’t had one for a while.

can anyone guess what happens to fudge.

please review the keep me going and let me know that i am loved.

disclaimer - thank you for lending me your characters jkr

jordan - very good - no way you can cover that up.

jewelclaw lady of wind - at least i didn’t make you wait more than a year and a half like some people.

maikafuiniel - well done - i have never heard anyone call him dorky yet but i agree with you.

death - (another interesting unregistered pen name) i don’t know how old you are but i resent the young author title. i have had 24 reviews for this chapter and 12 of the people thought this was a cliffhanger with another 8 requesting i hurry and update because they are in suspense. no one except for you believed the chapter to be unfinished. have you written anything or do you just write flaming reviews to people. try again.

rebma - you will find out in the next chapter

athena kitty - your wish is my command - i will do my best with the dancing toast.

leelee potter - more flies - more flies

angelis - yuck i hate tomatoes - particularly in my hair

katydidn’t - i do my best

phsycomek - i hate him to.

sev1970 - i hate him too but even i wouldn’t do that

coolskater - i not crazy i just use to skate and i wondered if you did too.

jupluna - thanks again.

daine of queens cove - that’s me

morph012 - i will be. there was a little hint in an earlier chapter but i have to wait until they all come back to school. bit hard to have a relationship with only one person there.

thank you also to the following reviewers

shdurrani

jerseygirl03

stayblue

mavern

rae

reanne080

selina

arcee

david m potter

sew2100

chapter 12 - anything you can’t do

fudge quickly dropped his wand and pulled his sleeve down but it was two late, nearly everyone in the hall had seen the dark mark burned into the flesh.

‘well, well fudge, what were you saying’ severus drawled. harry leapt up from his seat and practically flew at fudge.

‘how could you? you are supposed to be someone we can trust. no wonder you pretended not to believe me at the end of the tri-wizard tournament. people have died because of you. ‘ the temperature in the hall began to increase significantly and a slight wind began to swirl. ‘people depended on you and you betrayed them. you coward’ harry screamed at fudge keeping his eyes locked on the minister.

‘severus, we need to ground harry. we need to ground him now before this gets out of hand’ the mentor and the guardian moved over towards harry and each placed a hand on his shoulder.

‘harry’ albus sent ‘you have to calm down. i know this is upsetting but you must calm down’ the headmaster glanced at severus and shook his head as the temperature continued to rise.

severus knelt down in front of harry and placing both hands on his shoulders gave him a light shake.

‘harry, harry look at me.’ severus gasped as harry turned his eyes on him. they were alive, sparkling with the magic contained within the young wizard.

‘harry you must calm down, you don’t want to hurt any of these nice people do you’ harry shook his head keeping his eyes on severus.

‘good then, you must calm down. look at me. harry look at me and concentrate. take deep breaths and think about something calming. pretend you are on your broom, your flying slowly over the lake, your toes dragging the tops of the water. it’s nice and cool, you want to tumble off into the water and take a swim.’ severus watched as the fire in harry’s eyes started to die and the temperature began to return to normal. when all was back to normal he guided harry back to his seat next to remus and minerva.

‘well done harry’ he whispered ‘i’m very proud of you, we all are. look after him please minerva. remus’ here severus lowered his voice even further ‘you have to take black back up to your rooms until we sort this out. if we let the aurors take him today he may get the kiss immediately as the dementors don‘t have any one telling them what they can and can‘t do.’

‘severus, don’t tell me actually care about sirius.’

‘no, i don’t’ severus snarled ’i’m doing this for harry’ remus smiled knowingly and nodded before going over to the side of the stage. leaning against the wall he muttered to himself for an few minutes and then shaking his head as though it was all too much for him he walked out of the hall leaving the door open.

harry noticed that a few of the aurors were carefully bringing their wands around towards dumbledore and severus. here quietly shifted minerva’s chair forward a few inches and raised his hand behind her back.

‘aprehendus’ he whispered . suddenly a large golden cage surrounded fudge and his six aurors. a second whisper and each

of their left sleeves rose above the elbow. four had the dark mark. harry moved the two unmarked aurors out of the cage with a wave of his arm.

‘harry, how long will that cage hold them’ albus sent.

‘indefinitely’ harry replied.

‘ladies and gentlemen, if i can please have your attention. i am sorry but we will not be able to continue with the press conference at this time. if you could all please make your way towards the entrance hall the carriages are waiting to take you back to hogsmeade. i promise that you will all be informed of the outcome of today’s revelations.’ the reporters started to move towards the entrance hall, grumbling loudly. they obviously did not believe that dumbledore would keep to his word and they wanted to stay and see for themselves what was going to happen to the minister. dumbledore turned to minerva

‘minerva, please go to my office, floo arthur weasley and explain what has happened, leave out any reference to harry, tell him to get in touch with the department of magical law enforcement and explain the situation with the aurors. make sure he knows to talk to someone he trusts. and minerva please tell him to hurry.’ dumbledore finished with a stern expression on his face as the transfigurations professor hurried from the hall.

‘severus please take harry back to his rooms’

‘no! i want to stay’ spat harry. ’i want to see their faces’

‘alright harry’ dumbledore sighed ’you can stay as long as you keep in control’ severus came and sat next to harry and carefully laid a hand on his arm making the younger wizard look up at him.

‘they will get what they deserve harry. i promise’ harry nodded and looked down at his hands again carefully tracing the pattern of the phoenix on his left palm with his right index finger.

‘severus’ harry whispered so softly the potions master almost didn’t hear him.

‘yes’

‘will it ever end? i mean, even if i defeat voldemort, will it really ever end?’ severus gathered harry up in a hug.

‘we have to believe that it will harry,’ he whispered ‘we must keep believing that it will or there will be no reason to keep going and voldemort will have won before we even started to fight. i know this is very hard to comprehend, you are only 15 and yet you have experienced more than others who are much older, sometimes we forget that you are still just a child. we all expect you to be an adult and save the world and at the same time don‘t treat you like one. your shoulders, my little one, are only so big. i am just so sorry that you have never been able to have a proper childhood, then at least you would understand part of what is it you are fighting for. it’s not only your friends and family you are trying to save it’s the future, our way of life.’ severus pulled apart and looked harry in the eye. ‘you know you can come to me if it all starts to be a bit much, don’t you?’ harry nodded before squeezing his guardian’s hand.

‘i know’ harry and severus walked over to where albus was standing while keeping an eye on the minister and the aurors.

‘oh isn’t that sweet the death eater has taken a shine to the boy-who-lived’ sneered fudge. harry whipped his head around to stare at the minister. suddenly fudge started to sweat, he loosened his tie and shook of his outer robes.

‘who are you calling a death eater’ harry growled.

‘so hot’ he panted

‘harry what are you doing?’ dumbledore asked.

‘nothing’ harry replied innocently as fudge sat on the ground, fanning his face with his hand, the sweat pouring off him. dumbledore looked at the minister in alarm.

‘don’t worry albus, i’m in control. i won’t let it go to far, i just want him to be uncomfortable.’ harry sent.

moments later minerva returned.

‘albus, arthur weasley is on his way with the dozen aurors he promised us. they will escort the minister and his friends to

azkaban and return here.’ ‘friends’ was said in a decidedly sarcastic tone.

‘thank you minerva’ the headmaster nodded before turning to see arthur weasley striding into the hall followed by nine men and three ladies dressed in blue auror’s robes.

‘oh arthur’ dumbledore shook mr weasley’s hand. ‘that was quick’

‘yes, my colleagues have been on call for a few weeks now. it doesn’t take them long to deploy when required. there is also three unspeakables arriving to help escort these three and cornelius to azkaban. i’ll send eight aurors with them and leave the other four here to help guard the castle. what with the students arriving tomorrow and everything we can’t be too careful. any word on when voldemort plans to attack the school?’ arthur asked glancing at severus. dumbledore shook his head.

‘severus can not spy for us anymore as he no longer carries the dark mark’ arthur looked at severus with wide eyes.

‘how’

‘it’s a long story arthur. i will fill you in later’ dumbledore gestured to the four prisoners ‘let’s get them on their way shall we.’ arthur said shaking the headmaster’s hand

‘i’ll take them via the ministry so that we can administer the veritaserum and take down their confessions before the dementors get to them. albus you do know that you are temporary minister in this situation, don’t you?’ dumbledore nodded gravely before sending.

‘harry i think that is enough. you have had your fun now take down the shield and bind them so that they can be on their way.’ reluctantly harry nodded and pointed to the four men in the cage. all of them fell stiff to the floor in a full body bind and then with a wave of his arm the cage disappeared. arthur stood gaping at harry before turning to dumbledore with a look of shock on his face. albus held up his hands.

‘i will explain it all later’ he promised the other man as he began to herd the aurors and their prisoners towards the entrance hall where they were met by the unspeakables who seemed to melt

directly out of the shadows.

‘you should be right to go now arthur, just head back up to my office with minerva and floo directly to the ministry.’ arthur nodded once more and followed the others.

slowly dumbledore, severus and harry headed towards his office.

‘severus, if you and minerva could please take harry to diagon alley for his school supplies. have you got your list harry? harry nodded ‘good, i have to go the ministry and help arthur sort everything out. i won’t be back until late so i will see you all at breakfast.’

severus grabbed some floo powder from the jar and throwing it into the fire yelled

‘diagon alley’ before stepping into the fireplace. harry went next followed by minerva.

* * * * * * * * * * *

harry shot out of the fireplace at the leaky cauldron and would have fallen flat on his face if severus hadn’t caught him.

‘i still hate that but at least it is better than by portkey.’ harry grimaced. severus leaned down and whispered.

‘if you behave yourself this afternoon i will start to teach you how to apparate tomorrow morning but you can’t tell minerva’

‘really?’ harry’s eyes were shining.

‘can’t tell me what’ minerva asked stepping out of the fireplace. she looked at the two wizards shrewdly ‘what are you two up to?

‘nothing’ they both answered at the same time.

‘okay then, let’s go. i think the apocathary first and then flourish and blotts. you don’t really need to go to madame malkin’s as you haven’t grown much but we will drop in there so she can let your hem down a bit.’

‘don’t worry’ harry smirked bending down and waving his hand over the bottom of his robes. when he stood up his robes were the required few inches longer. minerva stared at him open mouthed before snapping her mouth shut and rolling her eyes. muttering something about smart arse brats she grabbed him by the arm and propelled him out the back door of the pub with severus following them chuckling.

‘can i try the wall’ harry asked. minerva nodded at him. looking around to make sure no one was coming out of the pub harry concentrated on touching each brick with his mind. at first nothing happened but he resisted the urge to use his hands and kept them firmly by his sides. starting from the first brick again he just tossed the thought at it before moving to the next one, not trying so hard. all of a sudden the wall began to move and then they were all looking down diagon alley. harry felt a hand on his shoulder.

‘well done’ severus whispered as minerva looked at him with pride.

‘come on, gringott’s first’

the rest of the afternoon slipped by with amazing speed. they picked up all of harry’s school supplies, had an ice cream at florean fortescue’s and spent ages looking in quality quidditch supplies with minerva tut tutting impatiently. it was almost like the dramas of the last two months had never happened.

‘severus we really must get back before dark’ they headed toward the leaky cauldron.

‘do you think we could have dinner here’ harry asked giving minerva a sad puppy dog look.

‘harry james potter. that will not work on me. i have worked with children for over thirty years.’

‘however, it will work on me’ severus smirked at his colleague. ‘we will eat in one of the private rooms with it’s own fireplace then we can go quickly at any sign of trouble.’ he held up his hands to halt the other’s protest. ‘albus won’t be back yet so we might as well eat here. they walked into the pub and severus

steered them towards a room in the back. after ordering their food and a butterbeer each the just sat back and chatted about the new classes and the duelling lessons and other such topics. towards the end of the meal harry started to doze off. by the time minerva and severus had finished he had curled up in his chair and fallen asleep.

‘poor kid’s exhausted’ severus whispered

‘i has been a very big few weeks’ minerva responded.

‘are we ready to go’ the witch nodded ‘i’ll just go and pay for the dinners’ severus got up and left the room, returning moments later tucking his change bag back into his robes. he carefully lifted harry and minerva threw some floo powder in to the fire saying

‘hogwarts, headmaster’s office’

the all stepped out of the fireplace and into dumbledore’s office.

‘i can’t believe that didn’t wake him he must really be tired’ minerva whispered.

‘i’ll go and put him to bed and see you in the morning.’ they both bid each other goodnight and headed down the stairs.

severus walked down to the third floor and into the training room. he went through to harry’s room and removed the boy’s robes and his shoes and placed him under the covers.

‘sweet dreams harry he whispered ‘nox’ and all the lights went dark as he wandered back to his dungeons.

* * * * * * * * * * *

next morning severus woke early, he needed to look up a spell that would allow him and harry to apparate within harry’s rooms only so that he could learn. it would be far to dangerous to go off hogwarts grounds. several hours later he found one that might work. it required the two of them to drink a potion and say an incantation and it would last for five hours ‘no time now to do the potion’ he thought looking at the clock. ‘i will mix it up straight

after breakfast’ and with the plan in place he hurried to the great hall.

* * * * * * * * * * *

settling himself in the chair beside albus he looked across at the empty chair next to sirius.

‘where harry?’ he asked the man.

‘don’t know’ he answered through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

‘harry’ severus sent. no answer.

‘harry’ he sent again starting to get worried.

‘what’ came the half asleep answer in his mind.

‘oh sorry were you asleep?’ severus chuckled and then laughed outright when he heard harry growl back at him. ‘hurry up and get dressed or you will miss breakfast. i have to brew something for our little lesson this morning so i will see you in the training room in an hour, okay’ glancing over at the headmaster he noticed a small smile on his face, ‘damn’ he thought ‘the man knows everything’

‘fine, fine, i am getting up’ severus heard.

‘good’

severus quickly ate some toast and eggs and after downing some pumpkin juice stood up from the table.

‘leaving so soon severus’ albus’ eyes were twinkling.

‘yes i have lesson plans to prepare’ he lied smoothly.

‘well you had better go then.’ the old headmaster said. ’ sometimes those plans can take hours’ the twinkle got brighter ‘damn’ severus muttered under his breath as he walked out of the great hall and towards his office.

once inside he walked towards his storeroom to gather the necessary ingredients. asphodel, lacewings, monkshood,

shrivelfig, bat hair and some ground eagle claw. he carefully arranged everything around the cauldron and began to prepare and weigh each item to the required amount. twenty minutes later he had added everything and now just had to let it simmer for ten and then cool for ten and it would be finished. severus copied the incantation down onto a piece of parchment as well as any instructions. he didn’t want to take the book with him as knowing how there always ended up being some sort of emergency when around harry, he didn’t want to take the chance that he would forget the book and it might fall into the wrong hands.

pouring the completed potion into two vials he pocketed them together with the parchment and made his way to the training room.

* * * * * * * * * *

when severus entered the training room he found harry fighting with a ghostly figure. well it looked ghostly but it was certainly able to hold a sword correctly. severus looked over and saw erte, asha and elphie in the corner making an enormous amount of noise ‘hang on’ he thought ’they almost look like they are cheering harry on’ severus watched wide eyed as harry continued the fight now noticing that he had two swords . the blades were moving so fast it was as thought you couldn’t see them. harry finally landed a blow to the ghosts stomach and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. severus started clapping.

‘well done harry, good to see that you are practicing in your free time. where did your um opponent come from anyway’

‘erte told me how to conjure him’ harry replied stoking the birds chest after she landed on his shoulder.

‘is that what you have planned for the kids first duelling lesson, it might be a bit advanced’ severus smirked at him.

‘don’t remind me about that. how am i going to teach people? no one is going to listen to me.’

‘i think you might be pleasantly surprised. now how about we

focus on the task at hand.’ severus took out the vials and the parchment handing one of the to harry he told him to hold the liquid in his mouth while repeating the incantation three times in your head and then swallow.’

‘be warned, this stuff will taste terrible. yes i know’ he scowled holding his hand up ‘i am a great potions master and i should be able to make it taste better.’ harry smirked at him before emptying the vial into his mouth. the smirk soon disappeared when the potion hit his tastebuds. he repeated the incantation in his head and swallowed.

‘oh yuck, that is even worse than skele-grow.’ snape just smirked at him and said

‘told you so’ in response harry just stuck his tongue out at the older wizard.

‘oh now that is mature, i don’t know if your really old enough to try this’ severus smiled wickedly as harry glared at him.

‘alright, alright don’t get your knickers in a twist, i only joking. now to apparate successfully you must have a good picture in your mind of where you want to go. you think about it and then picture your self being there.’ harry nodded. ‘now picture your bedroom and we’ll see if you can apparate there’ harry tried very hard to picture himself in his bedroom and moments later he was. ‘cool’ he thought as there was a pop and he was joined by severus.

‘very good harry, now try back into the training room’ again he thought of the training room. pop and he was there. ‘ i wonder’ harry thought with a mischievous spark in his eyes.

‘can i apparate anywhere in the castle’

‘no’

‘why not’

‘the castle has anti apparition wards all over it. that was why we had to drink the potion. if you try anywhere else than here in your rooms you might splinch yourself. no harry’ severus repeated looking at the glint in the younger wizards eye. ‘you

can’t do it’

‘wanna bet’ harry replied cheekily before disappearing with a pop’

‘get back here you incorrigible little brat’ severus growled at harry thought the mind link.

‘keep your shirt on. i’ll be back in a minute’ minutes later harry appeared with a pop to find severus pacing the room. he stopped at once when he saw his charge had returned and launched into a tirade that lasted for several minutes. harry however only heard half of it as he apparated himself into his lounge and waited for his guardian to calm down.

‘where are you now’ he heard.

‘i’m in the lounge’ he sent back before locking the door ‘but i am only letting you in if you don’t yell at me’

‘i won’t yell’ severus growled through clenched teeth as he walked towards the door. harry unlocked it and smiled as severus walked in the door. spread out on the table was morning tea with pumpkin juice and scones.

severus rolled his eyes and

‘for merlin’s sake potter, is there anything you can’t do.’

hope you liked it. this was my hardest chapter yet. please read and review letting me know what you like and what you don’t.

thanks

next chapter - everyone comes back and the first duelling lesson with draco.

disclaimer - if only it was but it isn’t

congrats to all who guessed fudge was a death eater (not that it was hard) but anyway

athena kitty - i love draco - he is one of my favorite charaters however i love him more so i imagine that the bouncing ferret will make an appearance somewhere in this fic.

stayblue

jerseygirl03

prophetess of hearst - i’m going as fast as i can

mikee - hello again glad you liked it. severus can act like he is a child sometimes can’t he.

corgi - no we won’t see fudge’s trial. i can’t stand the man and even just writing about him makes my skin crawl.

sew2100 - yes i think harry is acting just like he should.

momma-dar - thank you

zephyr - i hate cheesiness too and thank you for your comments regarding harry.

angelis - severus certainly seems to think so too

slytherinatheart - i tried to fit the first lessons in this chapter but it kept growing and growing so it will be in the next one

jupluna - i’m getting to him as quick as i can thanks

meteora gal - i’m running

vixis - glad you are enjoying it.

arcee - i love it to, i new he had a heart there somewhere under all those robes.

dustin-coons - hi your wish is my command. i read your story and reviewed by the way not bad, not bad at all

moonstar - i’m sorry couldn’t fit that in this chapter. they just

keep getting longer and longer.

mikel - thanks

maikafuiniel - i think if i was harry and in the same room as fudge after what he did (telling the dursley’s) i wouldn’t have settled for just making him a little hot under the collar i would have ripped him limb from limb.

daine of queens cove - next chapter i’m afraid.

chapter 13 - i’ll be there

harry just smirked at severus and poured himself some pumpkin juice. severus sat down and grabbed a scone, munching it thoughtfully.

‘you know you must be more careful. what would of happened if you had splinched yourself?’

‘i don’t know’ harry admitted ‘i just knew i could do it. besides it wasn’t the same’

‘what do you mean it wasn’t the same?’

‘apparating in here was different to apparating down to the kitchens’

‘how?’

“it felt different. more like jumping than apparating. i can show you if you like’

‘you can show me?’

‘yes’ harry stood up and held out his hand. ’it won’t hurt, i promise’ severus stood up and took the offered hand and with a pop they were in the kitchens surrounded by house elves all bowing and scraping.

‘i see what you mean. it feels funny. you can almost feel the wards pressing on you as you jump through. harry are those

holes in the wards always there’ severus started to look worried.

‘no, i make them as i go through and the seal up afterwards. no one else can do it unless i am touching them. i guess having the blood of the four founders in you gives you more perks than we thought. just think no more climbing up to the north tower for divination any more’ harry smirked.

“harry, you don’t take divination anymore’ severus reminded him.

‘oh yeah’

‘albus’ severus sent to the headmaster ‘are you free at the moment, i think there is something you should see’

‘yes severus, come on up’ came the reply.

‘ready harry’ he nodded and took his guardians hand and they disappeared with a pop. when they reappeared moment later in dumbledore’s office they found themselves at the wand point of both sirius and remus. minerva fainted and the headmaster clutched his chest and sat back heavily in his chair.

‘for merlin’s sake severus, are you trying to give me a heart attack’ dumbledore wheezed as remus revived minerva and helped her into a chair.

‘well you did say to come on up’

‘i meant through the door’ growled the headmaster.

‘sorry i wanted to show you what harry could do’

‘you mean harry did that? how did he get through the wards? i didn’t think you could apparate on the grounds’ remus looked to dumbledore for confirmation. dumbledore nodded and remus glanced over at sirius.

‘flies padfoot, flies’ he chuckled as sirius promptly snapped his mouth shut. ‘i really would have thought you would be used to finding out new stuff about your godson by now.’

‘yes i am interested to know how you did that too.’ dumbledore stated turning back to severus and folded his arms across his chest. harry and severus looked at each other guiltily.

‘ah, well, now um, that is my fault albus’

‘now why doesn’t that surprise me’ muttered sirius earning a glare from both severus and harry.

‘as i was saying before i was rudely interrupted’ this earned him a return glare from sirius. ‘i promised harry yesterday that i would, um, ah, teachhimtoapparate’ he finished quickly almost in a whisper.

‘what was that severus? i didn’t quite catch that’ the headmaster asked his eyes twinkling.

‘teach him to apparate’ he yelled enouncing each word. ‘and you know exactly what i was doing. you knew this morning at breakfast’

‘true, true’ dumbledore chuckled ‘but that still doesn’t explain how he managed to do it outside his rooms’

‘you would have to ask him, albus he can explain it better than i can’ dumbledore turned to harry.

‘it is not really apparating sir, it is more like jumping from one place to another. it feels different too’

‘what do you mean harry, and please call me albus’

‘sorry i guess i fall back to the old faithful ,sir, when i am in trouble’

‘you are not in trouble harry. go on’ harry swallowed before continuing,

‘i think having the blood of all four founders in my veins allows me to jump around the castle wherever i want.’ here sirius butted in

‘what about voldemort?, he now has the blood of the founders too’

‘no’ dumbledore shook his head ‘he wouldn’t have enough blood and mixed with his it would be far to tainted. it may be enough for him to be able to touch harry without hurting himself but he is not the heir and he doesn’t have the connection to the castle

that would allow it to move the wards for him. what do you mean by it feels different?’

‘i’ll show you’ harry replied holding his hand out. “it’s okay you just have to hold on’ the three professors and sirius stood up and held on to harry’s hand or arm.

‘where do you want to go’ he asked

‘how about the great hall, lunch should just be starting’ severus suggested. dumbledore nodded and with a pop they all disappeared reappearing moments later in the great hall. unfortunately they were standing on top of the table which wasn’t really wide enough and in consequence everyone but dumbledore and harry, who promptly went into fits of laughter, fell off the table and onto the floor. as severus, minerva, remus and sirius picked themselves up off the floor harry pulled himself together.

‘guess i need to work on my aim, huh’ he giggled as the others glared at him. suddenly they noticed all the other professors were seated at the other end of the table. they were all staring at them as if they had never seen any of them before.

‘ah albus’ harry sent. ’ you never did get around to explaining everything to them yesterday, did you?’

‘no i didn’t’ and with that everyone took their seats as albus began to explain to the flabbergasted professors all about harry and the prophecy. the reasons he no longer needed a wand, why he could apparate or jump around the grounds and also that he would be teaching a new duelling class to 4th to 7th years as well as assisting some of the other teachers. these last two comments earned some undeserved looks from several teachers.

‘come now albus, how is a mere child going to teach duelling?’

‘i assure you’ severus interrupted ’ harry is eminently qualified. would you like a small demonstration’ this earned severus a glare from the aforementioned boy.

‘yes lets see how good he is’ professor sinistra countered. ’i used to be duelling champion in my day. i will take him on’ severus just shook his head and grinned.

‘harry actually has his own opponent that is up the same level as him. it would be best if he fought him’

‘that’s right, make it easy on him’

‘tell you what professor’ harry interrupted his guardian and addressed the other man. ’watch me first and if you still want to duel with me afterwards, you may.’

‘fair enough’ the professor sat back in his chair as harry rose from the table and with a sweep of his arm moved the house tables to the edges of the hall. he held out his hand and called the two swords. the others just stared as the swords appeared out of nowhere. conjuring his opponent he took his fighting stance. within minutes it became apparent to everyone except severus, who already knew this having seen him earlier, that harry was unbelievable skilled with the two swords. they were moving so quickly they were almost a blur. the duel lasted for about 15 minutes before harry dispatched his opponent in a puff of smoke. again everyone just stared as harry banished the swords to his room. severus started to clap and soon all of the professors were clapping and patting harry on the back. professor sinistra shook his hand.

‘thank you for sparing me’ he whispered ‘quite apart from being awfully embarrassing i imagine that that would have been very painful.’. harry giggled at him.

‘just a bit’ he sniggered before turning to dumbledore.

‘my, my harry, you have been practising’ harry nodded. ’if you would care to put the tables back where they belong we will continue with our lunch.’

harry sat down after repairing the hall and tucked into the food before him. he was very hungry after all that exercise.

‘i’ve always said lunch with entertainment is just the best’ sirius said through a mouthful of food.

‘harry, i think your friends are here’ albus sent. harry looked over at the door in surprise expecting to see ron and hermione but there was no one there.

‘not those ones’ he heard ‘the other one’s, at your feet’

harry looked down and saw elphie standing there with asha curled around her neck and erte perched on her back.

*that display was quite impressive* said erte *you really have inherited godric’s talents with the sword*

‘really’ sent harry

*yes, but you need yo watch your foot placement* little elphie continued.

‘now you are just being picky’

*you are doing very well, young harry, but it isss bessst if you lisssten to erte. ssshe knows* asha put her two cents in. at this harry just shook his head and laughed before going back to his food.

‘harry, what are you going to do with the little ones when classes start tomorrow?’ dumbledore asked. ’you can’t have a small farm following you everywhere.’

‘i thought i would leave them in my rooms’

*no harry, once the rest of the school is back, one of us must be with you at all times* erte warned

‘what did she say, harry?’ remus asked.

‘she said that from tonight onwards one of them would have to be with me at all times’ harry shrugged ’don’t worry i will sort something out so it doesn’t interfere with classes.’

dumbledore just nodded as they finished their lunches.

‘oh by the way, sirius you need to come with me after lunch’ harry looked up with a worried expression.

’it’s alright harry, they have questioned peter as well as fudge and the other aurors all of the have confirmed sirius’ story. they have also confirmed that lucius malfoy is also a death eater and so now we have proof.’ dumbledore chuckled to himself ‘this is just the formalities of his official pardon as well as handing over the reins to the new minister’ harry looked over at sirius

‘your free’ harry whispered.

‘yep’ sirius smirked at severus ‘as a bird. or i will be at 3pm this afternoon thanks to you and albus’ harry was lost for words, he looked down at his plate and realised that everything he had ever wanted had come true in the last two months. he had a place to call home, people who loved and cared about him and now his godfather was free. if only for the small problem of voldemort, he thought wryly, my life would be just about perfect.

‘i’ll be back by the feast don’t worry’ sirius said misreading the expression on his face. harry nodded and placed his knife and fork together on the plate before rising from the table.

‘i think i’ll go and do a bit more practice and then get ready for the feast’

‘don’t forget to set your password into your rooms harry, you need one for the training room and another for your private rooms. and make sure you tell them to severus and i in case of an emergency’ harry smiled and bid everyone goodbye before making his way to his rooms with erte, asha and elphie.

once he reached his rooms he pressed the stone to the left of the door and whispered the password and the stone receded into the wall. it came back out and he whispered it once more and the password was set. he continued through to his room and repeated the procedure this time with a different password. that done he changed into some loose fitting cotton pants and a t-shirt and spent the rest of the afternoon in the training room honing both his physical and wandless magic skills. he found it very hard to concentrate with the thoughts of seeing ron and hermione soon, not too mention another red haired gryffindor. although the more he thought about it his lack of concentration could be due to erte, asha and elphie singing, hissing and whinnying at him.

‘will you lot shut up, it is so hard to concentrate with you talking to me all the time’

*that is the point* erte said sternly.

*how are you going to be able to defend yourssself if you require

complete sssilence every time you fight* asha added.

*besides* elphie chipped in *i don’t think voldemort will ask his minions to be quiet just so you can concentrate.*

harry nodded seeing their side of the argument and continued practicing. soon he was able to block out most of the noise as he fought.

about five o’clock severus came in and suggested he shower and change as the students would be arriving in an hour. harry nodded and headed towards the bathroom. after a nice long soak in the tub he put on his uniform and headed on down to the great hall.

‘bout time, you barely made it before everyone else’ he heard from severus as he sat down. he looked up and the man sending.

‘i was in the tub washing my hair’ the last bit carried a trace of sarcasm. he heard the potions master growl at him but luckily he was saved any recourse by the arrival of the other students.

‘harry’ he was given about two seconds notice before being jumped on from behind by hermione who was currently strangling him.

‘hermione, will you get off him, he is turning blue’ ron chided. harry took several deep breaths as the arms around him were released.

harry stood up from the table and gave hermione a proper hug and shook ron’s hand before taking his seat once more. the others found seats across from him and asked if he had heard anything about snuffles yet.

‘you don’t have to call him snuffles anymore, as of three o’clock this afternoon sirius is a free man.’ harry told them. he turned as ginny came up and sat down next to him. harry blushed as he glanced over at hermione and noticed the wicked glint in her eye.

‘so harry’ ginny asked softly ’how was the rest of your summer?’

‘it was okay, i missed you guys though. i mean it wasn’t boring but i missed being able to share the jokes with all of you.’

‘what jokes’ ron asked eagerly. harry began to tell them about the dancing food and sirius’ screaming piece of toast. soon all three were snorting and giggling madly as they imagined the look and his godfather’s face as his toast shot off across the hall after the rest of the food.

‘oh harry, we are going to have so much fun this year’ ron’s ears were bright red as he tried to keep his laughter under control. just then the doors opened once more at the first years walked in led by professor mcgonagall. harry looked at them and wished that maybe he could go back to being a naïve little first year. almost as if she could read his thoughts ginny smiled at him and slipped her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. harry smiled at her and continued to hold her hand. hermione grinned at him knowingly. harry blushed and whispered

‘hermione, did you enjoy the last part of your holidays at ron’s house’ the grin dropped immediately and hermione blushed the same colour as ron’s hair as she turned and pretended to be engrossed in the sorting. ron glanced over and noticed harry and ginny’s entwined fingers and gave him a sly thumbs up and a big grin. harry grinned back and turned to watch the sorting.

ackerley, janet

‘ravenclaw’ yelled the sorting hat.

braddock, david

‘slytherin’

collins, michael

‘gryffindor’ harry cheered with the rest of his housemates.

harrington, pollyanna

‘gryffindor’ harry again cheered and clapped. there were twenty five first years and by the end of the sorting ravenclaw received four, hufflepuff three, slytherin five and gryffindor got thirteen.

‘i thought the had was supposed to spread the students evenly between the houses’ harry asked hermione knowing that she would have read the answer somewhere.

‘no’ she said in a voice very much like professor mcgonagall ‘the hat decides which house the person belongs to going by the qualities that are prized by each house. i guess there was just a lot of brave, fearless people this year. important i should imagine, what with you-know-who coming back and everything’ harry nodded and turned as the side door opened and remus and sirius slipped in and took seats at the head table.

‘sirius black’ someone screamed from the ravenclaw table. everyone soon noticed sirius and the screaming increased.

‘silence’ yelled dumbledore and every quieted down. ‘yes this is sirius black and he is an innocent man. he has been cleared of all charges against him and will be you new care of magical creatures teacher until hagrid returns.’ only harry, hermione, ron and ginny clapped at this news, everyone else seem to be in a state of shock. ‘those students above second year will remember professor lupin, he has returned to teach defence against the dark arts.’ this announcement was met with clapping from the gryffindors and from the first and second years from the other houses, scepticism from the ravenclaws and hufflepuffs and disgust from the slytherins. ‘in other items i must remind you that the forbidden forest is still forbidden to all students. without my express permission the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to all who do not wish to be expelled from this school. the will also be a duelling class on tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays for years four to seven. this class is not compulsory but with the dark times rising once again, it is recommended. now let the feast begin’

all the plates filled with food and soon the hall was filled with the playful chatter of happy children.

‘so harry, your going to the duelling lessons aren’t you?’ ron asked through a mouthful of food.

‘oh yes, i’ll be there’ he answered slyly. they continued their meals chatting about quidditch and new subjects and classes in general.

‘so harry, what new subjects did you choose?’ hermione pushed her bushy hair out of her eyes.

‘well, i will be taking healing and medical magic as well as advanced defence, transfigurations, potions and charms. how about you guys?

‘i am taking the same as you except’ here ron stopped to swallow what was in his mouth ‘no healing and i’m am still taking care of magical creatures and divination’ ron suddenly groaned and buried his head in his hands ‘how could you do this to me mate, i thought we were friends. now i have to face that old ding bat on my own.’

‘we are friend’s i just don’t need to take it anymore. i can already see.’ at this ron considerably brightened

‘cool, you be able to do my homework for me’ hermione scowled at them.

‘calm down hermione, i didn’t say i would’ harry winked at ron while she wasn’t looking. ‘what are you taking anyway?’

‘defence, transfiguration, charms, arithmancy, healing, potions and magical, creatures’ she finished ticking them off on her fingers.

‘well at least we’ll still have some classes together’ all to soon the dinner was finished and the plates cleared.

‘prefects if you would please take your houses back to their dormitories, i will see you all at breakfast in the morning.

‘come on ron we have to go’ hermione said tugging his sleeve. it was then harry noticed that they were both wearing prefect badges.

‘hey congratulations guys, i know you will make great prefects’ hermione smiled at him before vanishing into the crowd of students taking ron with her. harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see severus smiling at him.

‘i’ll walk you too your rooms’ harry nodded as the walked out of the hall and up the stairs towards the third floor. ‘are you wondering why you were not made a prefect?’ severus asked.

‘no’ harry said honestly ’i can’t be a prefect when i am going to graduate by christmas’

‘you are a smart boy harry. i’m sorry that you can‘t, we all thought you would be prefect and then head boy until we found out about the prophecy’ by this time they had reached his rooms.

‘it’s alright, i think i will have quite enough to do without having to attend prefect meeting as well’ he chuckled.

severus ruffled his hair and headed back down towards the dungeons as harry whispered the password and went into his rooms. he undressed and put on his pyjamas before crawling into bed. just as he was about to fall asleep he heard.

‘good night harry’

‘good night severus’ he sent back before dropping off to sleep.

there you are. sorry i couldn’t fit the duelling in but there is other stuff to come first and then the chapter would be about 20 pages and you wouldn’t get it for at least another 3 days.

this chapters trivia question is - can anyone guess what the two password are to harry’s rooms. 10 points for your house for getting it right. (let me know which house you are in)

as always please read and review otherwise i will fade away and there will be no more story.

disclaimer - if they want the $32.15 cents that’s mine they can have it.

well done to the people who guess correctly the two passwords required to get into harry’s rooms. originally i thought of james and lily but realising that even voldemort would be able to guess this i decided to go with something less known. on reflection i probably could have come up with better ones but any way congrats to daine of queenscove and mikee who guessed snuffles and padfoot. 10 points each to slytherin and gryffindor. i know

the names are the same person but that was the idea. even if someone got through the first password the likelihood of them thinking that the second one meant the same thing or person was very slim.

thank you to the following and sorry to all those who guessed incorrectly

tammygirl

heyhun

sew2100

heero_yuyz - thanks for the smiles

slytherinatheart

animal crackers in my soup

dustincoons

lupus - i love being on peoples favourite lists

noone

moonshine

sunshine108 - i love that word - wicked

momma-dar

sockenfresser42 - i love sev being a good guy

stayblue

gryffindor student

jeaniebeanie33

selina

jerseygirl03

jordan - yes fred and george will find out in the next few chapters and it will be hysterical

athenakitty - all will be revealed below

buddy star - yes they did get close quickly. i think it was a combination of severus saving his life and the guardian band that has brought them together that fast. not to mention the lack of dark mark makes severus a much happier and nicer person. the fact that he really has a wicked sense of humour under all that scowling helps too.

vit - no one thought dudley would care.

chapter 14 - you were saying.

when harry woke the next morning the sun was just peeping over the horizon.

‘tempus’ the clock hands showed that it was barely six am. knowing that he wasn’t going to get any sleep anytime soon he climbed out of bed and pulling some cotton pants out of the drawers in his wardrobe he went into the training room. deciding that while the swords were a lot of fun, he must start to practice with the other weapons so he picked up the wooden staff and conjured his opponent. erte, asha and elphie moved in to watch him as the clicking of staff upon staff signalled the use of a new weapon.

again harry was doing extremely well against the founders opponent but as yet he was no where near as skilled as he was with the swords. he kept at it and soon he had the staff moving with the same speed and grace as the swords. around half past seven he took a break to towel the seat off his chest and swallow some water.

*why don’t you finish with the swords. it seems to put you in a good mood for the day* suggested erte. harry nodded, picking up the swords and once again conjuring his opponent. about fifteen minutes into the fight he heard a knock at his door. the three animals vanished from sight but harry new they were there.

‘who is it’ he yelled not taking his eyes off his target.

‘it’s us’ yelled an unmistakeable ron weasley. harry muttered a spell out the side of his mouth to open the door and once again concentrated on the fight. thrust, parry, leap, turn, roll, turn, duck. on and on this went as harry took no notice of his surroundings . eventually he managed to strike his opponent down and it vanished with a pop. he heard clapping as he returned the swords to their places and turned towards the door forgetting that he had let his friends in only twenty minutes before. ron and hermione were standing there staring at him open mouthed as ginny grinned at him, clapping her hands together. hermione seemed to pull herself together first.

‘merlin harry, look at you’ she whispered in a reverent tone.

‘what?’

‘mate’ ron seemed to snap out of his daze ‘you, my son, are a bloody hunk. where in the hell did you get those shoulders?’

‘what are you talking about?’ harry looked alarmed.

‘harry’ ginny asked softly ’have you looked in the mirror lately?’

‘no. why?’

‘come on i’ll show you’ she grabbed his hand and dragged him though to his bedroom and planted him in front of the mirror with ron and hermione close behind . harry looked into the full length mirror beside his bed . standing here next to his friends he could see the changes. if you saw him every day you wouldn’t notice that much but having seen harry a month ago and then again last night, with his shirt on, and during all the excitement of the welcoming feast, they hadn’t noticed anything different then either.

before the holidays harry was about the same height as hermione which was about 6 inches smaller than ron. he now was over an inch taller than his best friend and he positively towered over hermione and ginny. ron was also right about his shoulders. they had been muscularly before but a bit on the scrawny side, now they were broad and toned from all the weapons practice.

‘i, um, see what you mean’ harry blushed again and quickly walked into the bathroom and closed the door. the other three moved back into the lounge and sat down waiting for harry to get ready. no one spoke. no one moved and no one looked at the other. they were all however thinking the same thing and that was wow.

a short time later harry emerged from the bathroom dressed in his school robes and still blushing. he walked past them and through the door, heading down to the great hall for breakfast. the others followed silently behind, ron raised his eyebrows at hermione but she just shrugged and shook her head and they continued to follow. when they reached they hall harry could here the chatter from behind the doors, he stopped and took a deep breath. he wasn’t sure he was ready for this and he started to turn around when he felt a small hand slip onto his and give a squeeze. glancing over he saw ginny smile at him. he smiled back and exhaled before pushing open the doors and walking in.

silence. dead silence as the four walked into the hall. everyone stared and ron, hermione and ginny new that they weren’t staring at them. hermione tutted and grabbed harry’s arm, steering him towards the gryffindor table and some empty seats. once they were seated the chatter started to pick up once more even though a number of people craned to get a look at ‘the new harry’.

‘bloody hell harry, what happened to you?’ seamus, ever the tactful friend ’your bloody gorgeous. don’t know how any of the rest of us gonna have a chance with the girls with you looking like that’ he finished glumly. harry just blushed and said

‘you can have all the other’s seamus. i only want one’ harry glanced at ginny, blushing even brighter and ginny’s face almost matched the colour of her hair. hermione glared at seamus and told him to shut up. professor mcgonagall came around then and began to hand out their new timetables.

‘oh for merlin’s sake. for once can they not have us in double potions with the slytherins the first day back’ whined ron.

‘well at least we have defense after that with professor lupin’ hermione helped herself to a piece of buttered toast.

‘yes but it is with slytherins again. in fact except for divination we have slytherins all day’

‘oh ron grow up’ hermione put on her mcgonagall voice ’and don’t talk with your mouth full’ harry just snickered behind his hand which gave a small hiss. ginny jumped about three feet high .

‘what was that’ she asked with an alarmed expression.

‘don’t worry it is just asha’ harry rolled his sleeve up under the table and showed ginny the small golden snake with the bright red eyes.

*just asha, i like that. here i am helping you and all i get is, just. it should be the great or wonderful asha* she hissed.

harry couldn’t stop sniggering. *shh, everybody is starting to look* he hissed back

‘harry, what are you doing’ hermione was trying to peer over the table and see what harry and ginny were doing.

‘don’t worry i will tell you in potions’

‘speaking of potions’ hermione shrieked ‘we are going to be late. come on ron, stop stuffing yourself, we have to go’ harry gave ginny a quick peck on the cheek. the trio stood and grabbing their bags, tore out of the hall and down towards the dungeons. they flew in the door just as professor snape walked in from his office. he arched an eyebrow at harry sending

‘you’re lucky i don’t have to be nasty to you anymore in front of my own house’ harry just flashed him a grin and sat down next to the others.

‘today we will be learning to brew dreamless sleep potion for use in the infirmary. the list of ingredients and instructions are in your books. let’s see if you can do this without blowing anything up longbottom’ snape sneered.

‘you look much better when you smile you know’ harry sent to him.

‘potter down here at the front where i can keep an eye on you’

severus smirked. harry grabbed his bag and cauldron and dragged them down to the front desk.

‘get to work all of you’ there was a flurry of movement towards the storeroom as everyone grabbed ingredients and set up their cauldrons. snape grabbed the back of harry’s robes as he walked past.

‘what?’

‘your not doing this potion’

‘why not?’

‘harry you have 14 weeks until christmas to complete the 10 required o.w.l and 12 required n.e.w.t potions. they are all listed on this scroll. you may start with any one and each lesson come up to this desk and keep going until you have completed the list. once you have finished one give it to me and i will mark it and cross it off the scroll. i’m sorry but i can’t help you with them’

‘that’s okay professor, i don’t need any’ harry replied smugly before disappearing into the storeroom. severus just shook his head muttering something about cheeky brats before returning to his desk and carefully watching the class. about ten minutes into the class his thoughts were interrupted by a nasal voice

‘sir, potter’s not doing the right potion. it’s all wrong and he doesn’t even have the right ingredients’

‘that’s because he is not doing the same potion as you mr malfoy now shut up and get back to work’

‘but sir, why can’t i do the same potion as potter. it looks much easier’ draco whined. severus glanced over at harry’s desk and noticed that he had chosen the wolfsbane potion. the hardest potion to brew and one that many students had to do at least ten times over to get even close to right.

‘fine you can do the same but if you cannot complete it you get a zero’ draco smiled smugly and moved over to harry’s desk and set up his cauldron.

‘okay potter’ he drawled ’what potion are you doing’

‘wolfsbane’ harry replied not looking up. there was a gasp from the rest of the class and the colour drained from malfoy’s face.

‘i - i . sir i think i would rather make the dreamless sleep potion’

‘i’m sorry mr malfoy, but you insisted. i will however give you the instructions as well as the list of ingredients to help you’ there was another gasp as the class realised that harry was making the potion without using any books. harry ignored everyone as he went about measuring and chopping his ingredients. malfoy looked over the list of ingredients and went to the storeroom. he returned clutching several bottles and vials and placed them on the desk. he glanced over at potter and noticed that he was halfway through the potion already and had yet to glance at a book. ’when did he learn all this’ he thought.

harry kept a careful eye on the wolfsbane and continued to stir. he glanced up to see severus looking at him with a slightly concerned expression.

‘severus are you okay? ’ he sent

‘i just wonder how much longer we can keep you a secret’ the potions master replied. harry just shrugged at him and returned his gaze to the cauldron. harry looked over at malfoy who was still preparing his ingredients.

‘what potter?’

‘nothing’ harry shrugged again.

*that boy is not really evil, you know* asha hissed *he just is very insecure and he covers it with attitude*

*i know* harry hissed back. malfoy heard the hissing and glanced at him before returning to his potion.

‘time is almost up please bottle your finished potions, label them and place them on my desk’ the class moved to pack away their ingredients as snape walked over to harry.

‘the potion must simmer now unstirred for twenty four hours so turn down the heat and leave it. i will keep an eye on it for you and come back tomorrow after breakfast and finish’ harry nodded and packed away the rest of his things before setting some wards

around the cauldron so that no one could touch it.

‘malfoy you can come back tonight for detention and finish your potion then’

‘no i will not. you wait till i tell my father about this’ malfoy stamped his foot. severus leaned down and stared into malfoy’s eyes. he pushed the sleeves of his robes up to his elbows and made a show of his now bare left forearm. malfoy’s eyes almost popped out of his head as he noticed the dark mark was missing.

‘when are you going to tell him draco’ severus almost spat at the boy ‘next visiting day at azkaban’

draco gulped, grabbing his things and bolting from the room.

‘you enjoyed that far too much’ harry sent. severus just smirked at him and walked into his office sniggering. harry shook his head and followed ron and hermione out of the dungeons and towards the dada classroom.

‘what did snape say to make malfoy tear out of the room like that?’ hermione asked

‘he just asked him when he was going to tell his father’ harry chuckled

‘why did that make him so upset?’

‘lucius is in azkaban. they arrested him yesterday’ ron’s jaw dropped as he stopped dead in the hallway.

‘you’re kidding’

‘no, i’m surprised that you don’t know yet but i guess you were on the train yesterday and it seems that the daily prophet has only been able to talk about non ministry related things. they must have a gag order on them.’

‘what in the hell are you talking about?’ hermione shrieked.

‘you must have heard about the press conference that dumbledore called the day before yesterday’ ron and hermione nodded. ‘oh well fudge called severus’ ron arched an eyebrow at this but harry just continued ’a death eater and severus rolled up

his sleeve and showed that he didn’t have the dark mark anymore’

‘wait a minute’ hermione interrupted ’how can he not have it anymore’ harry shook his head

‘it would take to long to explain besides we are going to be late it we don’t hurry’ they headed towards defence as harry kept the story going

‘severus asked fudge if he had the dark mark and somehow fudge’s sleeve shot up and the dark mark was on his arm. anyway turns out that four of the aurors were voldemort’s as well and they were all arrested and taken to azkaban and they implicated malfoy and he was arrested yesterday. didn’t you dad tell you any of this’ harry asked turning to ron.

‘nope, i haven’t seen him for two days. he said he was too busy at work to come home. now i know why’ he added. the trio walked into the defence classroom, greeting professor lupin and taking seats at the front. all the gryffindors looked very happy that their old professor was back, however the same could not be said for the slytherins.

‘good morning fifth years, it is good to see you again. going over you work from last years and in light of recent events we are going to spend the first two months of this year on defensive and offensive curses, charms and hexes. if i hear of any students practicing these charms on anyone else other than in this class they will be taken straight to the headmaster.‘ remus looked around to make sure everyone understood that he meant what he said. ‘good. today we will be attempting the patronus charm. can anyone tell me the incantation for this charm’ harry slowly raised his hand as no one else did.

‘yes harry’ remus smiled at him

‘expecto patronum sir’

‘very good. now this is quite a difficult charm i don’t expect any of you to be able to do this charm today. it can take months of practicing to get this right. now to start with you must think of a very happy memory and the concentrate hard while saying the

incantation out loud. eventually you will have a cloud that will take shape. can anyone tell me what this charm is used for?’ hermione’s hand shot up as did a few others.

‘yes miss granger’

‘it is used to repel dementors professor.’

‘good. any other use?’ harry raised his hand again and remus nodded at him.

‘it will also repel lethifolds’

‘very good. now i will call your name and i want you to come out to the front of the class and have a go’ one by one the students all stood up and went to the front and tried to produce a patronus. a few managed an indistinct silver cloud, but most couldn’t even do that.

‘now harry, your turn’ harry stood and walked to the front of the class.

‘harry mate, where is your wand?’ ron whispered

‘don’t need one’

‘come off it potter’ said a drawling voice ‘stop being an idiot. everyone needs a wand’ harry smirked and raised his hand. suddenly a huge silver stag erupted out of his palm and shot straight at malfoy who yelped and ducked under the table.

‘you were saying’ harry smirked again before returning to his seat. looking around he noticed all of the class were staring at him open mouthed, even ron and hermione. ’oops, way to keep it quiet’ he thought as remus looked at him with pride. blushing furiously he tried to sink lower into the seat.

‘well that is enough for today, we will continue with this on monday.’ as the students packed their bags they kept casting glances at harry and it was driving him nuts.

‘what the hell are you all looking at’ he yelled. everyone but ron and hermione ran from the room as harry collapsed down into his chair burying his face in his hands.

‘harry are you all right?’ hermione looked to him with concern.

‘don’t worry harry they will get used to it. wait till they see you tomorrow in duelling’ the professor smirked at him. a look of comprehension came over hermione

‘now i get it, that explains your cryptic answer when ron asked you if you were going to the duelling club. your not just going to it, your teaching it’ she finished triumphant. ron just looked completely lost by this point as remus placed his hand on harry’s shoulder.

‘you hadn’t told anyone yet, had you?’ harry shook his head and spent the next twenty minutes explaining about the visions, how he got rid of the dark mark and then calling his other two friends, he introduced ron and hermione to erte, asha and elphie.

‘they are here to help and protect me’ he explained

‘protect you from who? i thought snape had that job’ if possible ron looked even more confused than before.

‘from myself’ harry whispered.

‘what do you mean from yourself’

‘it sounds bigheaded, but if i wanted to i could almost crack the world in half’ hermione looked almost scared at this revelation. ‘it would take a fair amount of concentration but i could probably do it. i also might do it accidentally, you know if’

‘if someone made you angry enough’ hermione finished for him. remus chuckled lightening the mood

‘i always said you were the smartest witch hogwarts had ever seen miss granger’ now it was hermione’s turn to blush although she looked as pleased as punch.

‘yes that one of the reasons they are here’ he pointed towards the animals. ’severus and albus help to ground me when i am learning new things, but they can’t be with me every minute. so these help. i have one of them with me always. you can’t always see them though’ he finished.

‘go on you lot, you’ll miss lunch if you aren’t careful’ professor

lupin herded them out of the room towards and closed the door behind them. as they walked down the stairs ron whispered to hermione

‘can you explain all that to me again tonight?’ she nodded at him and kept walking.

they had settled themselves at the gryffindor table started to eat when harry noticed the whispering. he tried ignoring it but even ginny’s smile couldn’t help. grabbing a few sandwiches he stood up and strode out of the hall. he could hear the whispers turn into full blown conversations after he left. racing across the entrance hall, he ran outside and down to the quidditch pitch. he climbed up into the stands and sat down placing the sandwiches on the seat beside him. erte flew down and perched on his knee.

*young harry, you must not let the other children get to you. they are just afraid. ignorance breeds fear. once they understand about you they will no longer be afraid*

*are you saying that i should tell them*

*not you, i think your mentor should tell them* harry nodded and stroked the phoenix pleased at the calming effect this had.

‘albus’ harry sent

‘yes harry’

‘erte says you should tell the other students about the prophecy and about me so they are not afraid’

‘i think erte may be right. i’ll tell the upper years tomorrow before the duelling lessons. the prefects can then tell the lower years.’

‘i want to be alone right now, i need to think. can you tell ron and hermione that i am okay?’

‘yes harry, don’t worry about your comc class, i think you have quite enough experience with magical creatures. i’ll tell your friends to meet you in your rooms for dinner. there might also be an extra weasley for that meal’ the headmaster chuckled and received a growl in return.

harry sat deep in thought. until today it hadn’t really sunk in that he would be graduating in less than four months. after christmas he would not be sitting at the gryffindor table, no more classes with his friends, not as a student anyway and he would no longer be able to play quidditch on the house team. harry stood and held out his hand. his new firebolt appeared, hovering, next to him and then harry realized he didn‘t need it. he climbed up onto the railing and jumped off transforming into a phoenix partway down. he spread his wings and soared over the pitch. up and up he flew, around the pitch, out over the forbidden forest. he soared down to land on the roof of hagrid’s hut and looked back up at the castle.

‘i will always protect this place and all in it’ he vowed.

i know i promised the duelling but i just can’t fit it in. the descriptions just keep coming and i don’t want to leave anything out.

now the house points stand as follows

gryffindor - 10

slytherin - 10

ravenclaw - 0

hufflepuff - 0

is there anyone out there in hufflepuff? i have yet to see, hear or read of anyone who is.

points for the next chapter is 10 points if you can guess who, other than malfoy, harry duels with and 20 if you can guess what type of animal sirius uses for the comc lesson.

now please read and review.

oh and if anyone can come up with a better summary for this story i would be so grateful i might even award extra house points.

thank you

disclaimer - i keep telling you. it’s not mine.

thanks to all who reviewed. i have never had so many and so quickly. so i have tried to return the favour and get this chapter out as soon as possible.

thanks to the following

jordan - not quite right

jerseygirl03 - 20 points for the phoenix

corgi

mikee - do you read my mind or what - 30 points for both right

hrei-siesn

raven-eyes - 30 points also well done

je - another thirty pointer. i will have to make the questions harder.

angel*of*mine

sockenfresser42

katydidn’t - sorry no points

deadredsocks - sorry

selina - 20 points for the dog

arcee - 30 points. another mind reader

usaka - 10 points for severus

lady phoenix gryffindor

maxx77

er - 20 points for the summary.

slytherinatheart - 20 points for the phoenix

brion - also 20 for the phoenix

moonstar - 30 points for both right

sayian seeker88 - you get 20 for the phoenix but you need to let me know which house

sew2100 - 20 for the phoenix

dragon master - 30 points. must be a gryffindor thing arcee are you sure you aren’t a gryffindor

angelis

hedowl5 - 20 points for the phoenix and 20 for the summary

clare

dustin coons - 10 points for severus

daine of queenscove - 10 points for the founder’s ghost

meteora gal - check out the end of the last two chapters for an explanation.

dawn

rhiain

jupluna - sorry no points

jeanie beanie - i’ll try

yes the duelling bit is finally here - please enjoy

chapter 15 - a duel and a very wet malfoy

harry saw a figure coming out of the castle and heading down to the pitch. he took off and soared back out over the forest before coming around towards the pitch. noticing that the figure was scanning the stands obviously looking for him, harry flew down and transformed shortly before touchdown.

‘hello sirius’

‘harry, that was you flying?’ harry nodded ‘remus filled me in on what happened in class and at lunch. do you want to talk about it?’

‘i think so’ harry replied. sirius put an arm around his shoulders and guided him towards the stands. they sat down, just thinking for a moment before

‘what is it harry? you know i am here for you, don’t you’ harry nodded ‘i want you to understand that you can talk to me about anything. i won’t embarrass you or think less of you and i won’t tell anyone.’ harry took a deep breath while trying to make sense of the jumble of thoughts in his head. he figure if he just started with any one it wouldn’t matter as they were all interrelated. once he started they just came tumbling out.

‘i’m scared about finishing school so early. i don’t want to leave my friends. they are the only ones i have. i don’t want to wait around for voldemort to come find me, putting everyone i care about in danger in the meantime. i hate the way they all look at me now. all my life uncle vernon told me that i was useless, a freak’ sirius scowled at this ‘when i found out i was a wizard do you know what the best part was’ sirius shook his head ‘it meant i wasn’t a freak anymore. there were lots of other kids like me and even the voldemort thing didn’t make me that much different than anyone else. sure they all looked at my scar’ he unconsciously touched his forehead ‘but they weren’t afraid of me. now they all look at me like i am going to sprout horns or something. i just want everything to go back to how it was’

‘harry you know it can’t go back. your good but you aren’t that good’ sirius joked trying to make the young wizard laugh. it didn’t work.

‘i know, i guess i’m just being stupid’

‘no harry, not stupid, just a teenager. you will get through all this. the change in yourself is enough without the extra workload of both exams at once. you will see that your friends will still be your friends once you graduate and you will still be here at hogwarts just not as a student. feel any better.‘ harry smiled at his godfather ‘now on to more important things. you up for a prank’ sirius’ eyes were shining. harry grinned at him

‘okay, shoot’ the next ten minutes were spent setting up the joke on their comc class which was due to start in five minutes.

‘okay harry, you walk up to your rooms now so they all see you go and then jump down to hagrid’s and i will meet you there. harry nodded and stood up. he gave sirius a hug and ran down the stairs and across the pitch towards the castle just as the fifth years trickled out.

* * * * * * * * * * *

‘sirius, oops i mean professor black, was that harry running into the castle?’ hermione asked him as they settled down onto the grass in front of him.

‘yep, he is just going to do some practice for a while and then you can join him for dinner’ which, he thought strictly speaking, was not really a lie.

‘class settle down please. i know you all know of me but most of you don’t know me so to start i am going to let you ask me any questions you have’ a few hands were raised and sirius picked one.

‘yes miss patil’

‘are you a death eater’

‘no i never was a death eater. that was a rumour spread by fudge. i never betrayed any one and i never killed anyone. next. mr zabini’

‘how did you escape from azkaban’

‘i’m afraid i can’t tell you that. i have made a promise to the ministry not to disclose that and i am a man of my word. yes mr longbottom’

‘how many’ neville was interrupted by a drawling voice

‘are you really potter’s godfather’ sirius looked over at malfoy.

‘ten points from slytherin mr malfoy for speaking out of turn’ he said coldly.

‘you didn’t answer my question’

‘i don’t have to answer your question. it is a private matter concerning only mr potter and myself’

‘you said we could ask you any question’ malfoy sneered

‘i said any question about me. not about mr potter. if you want to know the answer to your question you will have to ask him. now lets get started. everybody stay seated and i will go and get today’s lesson.’ sirius walked over and entered hagrid’s hut.

‘ready’ he whispered. harry nodded and promptly changed into a old english sheepdog with a pop. he followed his godfather out and sat next to him in front of the students.

‘now student’s. this is a very special animal’

‘it just a stupid dog’ malfoy drawled

‘thank you mr malfoy another ten points. as i was saying this animal is very special. it can change into almost any animal you want. just pick one and say it out loud.’ all of the class looked a bit unsure about this so sirius went first.

‘panther’ he said and with a pop the dog turned into a panther. hermione put up her hand and as sirius nodded she said

‘owl’ another pop. then ron had a go.

‘monkey’ more popping. the students started to get the hang of this fairly quickly and took turns at calling out a new animal.

‘you can use magical creatures too’ he said ‘phoenix’ everyone gasped as the monkey changed into a beautiful golden phoenix.

‘unicorn’

‘dragon’

‘centaur’

‘hippogriff’ when ron shouted this out he glanced over at malfoy and watched as all of the colour drained out of his face. sniggering he pointed it out to hermione.

‘runespoor’

‘kneazle’ sirius could see that harry was starting to get tired by this point so he held up his hands for the students to stop.

‘i’m yet to see it change into anything good’ drawled malfoy. sirius glanced at the animal who gave and imperceptible nod and padded over to stand just in front of the slytherin before transforming one more time.

‘aghh’ screamed malfoy as an enormous golden griffin appeared in front of him. even sirius looked in awe of this one. malfoy screamed one more time before leaping up and sprinting towards the castle. the griffin spread it’s wings and took off. as it reached malfoy it closed it’s talons, grasping the top of his robes and preceded to lift him off the ground. the griffin circled the castle once before dropping malfoy in the lake. this task done it flew back to the class transforming one more time into the sheepdog just before touching down. it wagged it’s tail and barked when it saw half the class laughing.

‘thank you students. your homework will be one page about any two of the animals you have seen today’

the students all got up and headed towards the castle with the exception of crabbe, goyle and pansy parkinson who ran to the lake to meet malfoy who was just crawling out. ron and hermione walked over to sirius.

‘where did you get that dog sirius?’ ron asked enthusiastically

‘oh a friend lent him to me. he’s one of a kind’ sirius could almost see the wheels turning in hermione’s head.

‘you guys better go back up to the castle now, i know you have plans to have dinner with harry. say hello for me’ and with that sirius and the dog went into hagrid’s hut. hermione and ron rushed back up to the common room to drop off their books and

change before meeting ginny and heading down to harry’s rooms. meanwhile back at hagrid’s sirius and harry were rolling around the floor laughing at what had just happened and the expression on malfoy’s face when the griffin appeared.

‘oh harry, that was brilliant. i can’t wait to we can do that again.’ harry was still giggling as sirius told him that he should probably jump back to his rooms as the others would be there soon. nodding harry walked over to the couch where he had left asha, curling the snake around his wrist he gave his godfather a hug and disappeared with a pop.

* * * * * * * * * * *

as harry changed into jeans and a jumper he heard a knock on the outer door. walking over he muttered a spell which made the door transparent from his side so he could see who was there. as he opened the door hermione launched herself at him hugging him.

‘oh harry, are you okay? we were so worried.’

‘hermione, i’m fine’ harry replied prying her arms from around his waist. ron clapped him on the shoulder as he gave ginny a peck on her cheek. taking her hand he led them through to the lounge where the house elves had laid out dinner for the four. they helped themselves and settle down. ron and hermione in the two armchairs and harry and ginny cuddled on the couch.

‘harry. sirius just told me what happened in comc and while i applaud your want to help your fellow students i don’t think that dropping mr malfoy in the lake was really necessary.’ dumbledore sent through the link.

‘but albus, he was being a git. and he was very rude to sirius’ harry whined

‘just be thankful that mr malfoy doesn’t know it was you or you would be having to apologise’

‘okay sorry. i won’t do it again’ harry replied meekly back to the

headmaster.

‘harry, are you okay’ ginny asked softly ’you were a bit out of it for a minute there’ harry nodded and decided it was time to tell his friends everything. he started at the beginning telling them about the duelling, the accident with the elements, reinforcing the wards, about peter’s capture and how he removed the dark mark from snape’s arm. he called the, little ones and as the girls were cooing over how sweet they were he told them about the how he would be completing his o.w.l.s and n.e.w.t.s by christmas. this statement stopped everyone as they turned to stare at him asha, erte and elphie forgotten.

‘what do you mean you will graduate at christmas’ ron yelled at him ‘you can graduate, your only fifteen. you have only been to school for four years. what in the hell are you talking about’

‘that’s why you were making that potion today. isn’t it’ hermione stated

‘what potion?’ ginny asked

‘wolfsbane’ ginny gasped.

‘but most seventh years can’t make that potion’

‘i know’

‘and harry did it without instructions or anything’ hermione told the younger weasley. ‘you should have seen malfoy’s face’

‘why?’ the redhead looked confused

‘oh please can i tell her’ ron begged hermione who nodded and ron launched into an explanation of their potions class which also amused harry as he had not seen most of it as he had been concentrating on the wolfsbane. by the time he had finished they were all giggling and snorting their dinner forgotten.

‘that’s not all that happened to malfoy today harry, you should have seen him in sirius’ class’

‘really, what happened?’ harry tried to put an innocent expression

on his face.

‘harry. james. potter. you are the worst liar i have ever seen’ hermione laughed at him as comprehension dawned in her eyes. ‘you know exactly what ron is talking about’

‘how can he know what i am talking about?’

‘he was there, weren’t you?’ hermione’s eyes were shining as she turned her gaze back to harry.

‘no he wasn’t hermione, we saw him go into the castle’

‘that’s right, how did you get back down their without us seeing?’ harry just smiled and disappeared with a pop, appearing almost instantly at the seat at his desk.

‘but how, you, you, can’t do apparate here. it says so in hogwarts. a history’ hermione was looking awfully confused. another pop and harry was back beside ginny who looked just as confused as hermione. ron was actually doing an unbelievable impersonation of a goldfish. this really was going well, thought harry wryly.

‘i don’t apparate hermione, i jump’ he stated as if that cleared up any questions. looking the them he decided that stronger measures were required.

‘here, hold on’ he held out his arm and the each wrapped their hand around it and with another pop the were gone, appearing moments later in the gryffindor common room which luckily was empty.

‘cool’ whispered ron. just then they heard the portrait opening and harry returned them to his rooms.

‘you see hermione, i don’t apparate. i jump’

‘yes, but how’ harry sat them down again and explained about the founders and the wards and how they moved for him.

‘harry, mate, this really is unbelievable, do you reckon you can give me a lift to divination on tuesdays and fridays. then i wouldn’t have to walk up that stupid ladder.’ ron grumbled. ‘hey mione, what did you mean when you said harry was there in

comc’

‘harry’ hermione looked at him pointedly. ’i think you should explain this one too’ harry just looked at her and then at ron before transforming into a panther, then an owl, then a unicorn before finally a much smaller version of the griffin. the look on ron’s face was priceless and harry was still chuckling as he resumed his natural form.

‘that was you’ harry nodded as hermione told ginny what had happened in class. again another round of laughter ensued before they had a game of ’guess the animal or creature’ which naturally hermione won.

all too soon it was nine o’clock and time for the others to return to gryffindor tower. harry gave hermione and ron a hug and walked them to the door. he wrapped his arms around ginny’s waist and gave her a soft kiss before hugging her tightly whispering ’thank you’ in her ear. he watched them wistfully as they headed up the staircase and when they were out of sight, he closed the door and went to bed.

* * * * * * * * * * *

harry jumped into the potions classroom the next morning to check on his wolfsbane.

‘for merlin’s sake potter, you could have warned me you were coming’ scowled severus as he picked himself back up off the ground and dusting his robes with his hands.

‘sorry. didn’t think you would be in here’ harry replied meekly.

‘i was waiting to make sure you remembered to finish your potion. i didn’t want the ingredients to go to waste the full moon is in two days.’ harry pulled himself up on the desk across from his guardian.

‘how do you know i made it correctly’ he asked impishly

‘i was watching you the whole time. besides i have tasted a bit of it so i know it is right’ severus finished as he righted his chair which had toppled over when harry appeared. ‘so what time is

duelling’

‘one o’clock’ harry replied stirring his potion and taking it off the heat.

‘do you know what you are going to do yet?’ harry shrugged

‘not really. any suggestions?’

‘how about you do a weapons duel with one of the teachers and then choose one of the students for a wand duel’

‘that’s what i sort of figured too’ harry replied squirming. severus’ eyes narrowed

‘what’

‘i. i.. was well’

‘spit it out harry’

‘i was wondering if you would do the weapons duel with me’ harry rushed the sentence out very quickly continuing on before severus had a chance to answer. ‘i would feel better knowing that you were there with me. it is going to be hard enough to do this in front of everyone without having to be up there with someone i don’t know very well’ by this time harry’s voice was almost a whisper. severus stood up and came around the front of the desk. placing a hand on each shoulder he looked the younger man and he truly was a young man now, in the eye.

‘of course i will harry, that is what i am here for. why i am your guardian. you never have to be worried about asking me anything.’ severus leant forward and gave the boy a quick hug ‘now do you know which student your going to choose?’ harry smirked at this.

‘i thought i would ask for a volunteer’

‘harry. you know he is going to insist on being the volunteer, don’t you’

‘yes, but then it’s not my fault when he makes an ass out of himself’ he giggled.

‘potter you are bad, very bad. as if dropping him in the lake

wasn’t enough.’

‘you heard about that’

‘of course, i hear about everything.’ severus smirked ’actually sirius came and told me straight away. he seemed so proud. can’t think why’ harry swotted him on the shoulder with his ladle. ‘come on. pour the potion into a jar and pack your cauldron away. it’s time for lunch’ together they cleaned and packed harry’s things away and walked up to the great hall separating as they went through the doors.

‘hey, harry over here’ ron was waving at him. harry gave ginny a kiss as he plonked himself down next to her and filled his plate. between skipping breakfast this morning and not finishing dinner last night he was ravenous.

‘harry, slow down, you’ll make yourself sick’ admonished hermione. seamus leaned over ginny and whispered to harry

‘where are you sleeping these day’s harry?’ making eyes at ginny while he smirked at harry.

‘private rooms’ harry answered simply ignoring the implication

‘why?’

‘dumbledore says it’s safer what with voldemort alive again’ seamus winced at the dark lords name. ‘also means i don’t keep you guys up at night anymore’

‘we never minded harry. it’s been a bit quiet without you’

‘sorry, dumbledore’s orders’ he mumbled going back to his food.

‘your still on the team though’ seamus looked almost desperate at this point. harry nodded not telling him that it would only be until christmas. ron suddenly realised that if harry graduated at christmas he couldn’t be on the house team any more

‘oh merlin harry, what are we going to do about next year’

‘not now ron’ hermione shushed him. harry shot her a grateful look and lunch continued in peace. as the time wore on harry got more and more nervous. just as he was about to make a bolt for

the door, dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. harry felt a tap on his shoulder and turning he saw severus beckoning him to follow. he got up from the table and followed his guardian from the hall as he heard the headmaster begin to tell the story of the prophecy.

‘harry it is time to go and change and get your things i will meet you in the chamber off the great hall. you know the one from last year.’ harry nodded and jumped up to his rooms. walking into his wardrobe he discarded his robes and jeans and pulled on some light cotton pants and shirt. moving back into the training room he picked up the swords and sent ‘i’m coming’ before jumping down to the chamber off the great hall. where he came face to face with severus.

‘better’ he smirked

‘definitely’ severus growled. ’come on, albus is almost finished. the walked out of the room and up onto the stage where harry set the two swords down on the table and looked up at the school as albus rounded up his speech

‘so you see that is why harry no longer looks like the one you are more used to and why he no longer needs a wand. you must understand that the future of the wizarding world is dependant on the young man before you. i trust you will give him the respect he deserves.’

‘thanks albus’ harry sent ’that will really make them treat me like a normal person’

‘i’m sorry harry but they must know who and what you are. for their own safety as well as yours’

‘now on to this afternoons activities’ dumbledore continued out loud ’this duelling club is really only for fourth to seventh years however i will allow the younger students to stay today just so that they know exactly what mr potter is capable of. normally this lesson is also optional but today’s is compulsory i’m afraid. now if all of you would stand and move to the sides of the room we will rearrange the furniture’

the students all got up from their tables and with a swish of the

headmasters wand the tables disappeared and in their place was a square stage. it was about half the length of one of the house tables and took up most of the width of the hall.

as the students crowded around the stage dumbledore walked over to harry

‘now harry, you must make sure you keep your anger under control no matter what anyone says or does you must stay in control or there could be a serious accident. understand’ harry nodded and walked over to severus

‘are you ready’ the potions master nodded and took the arm harry offered and they disappeared from next to the head table and appeared on the stage in the middle of the hall. there were quite a few gasps as they appeared and harry stood in the middle, all trace of his previous nervousness now gone.

‘hello, thank you for listening to professor dumbledore. if all that was a shock to you, you can only imagine what it was like for me. suddenly i was a different person. well actually i am still the same person’ he chuckled ’i can just do a few more things than before. i hope that you know i would never willingly harm any of you. i have taken a vow to protect this place a all who are in it‘ he glanced at malfoy ’no matter where their loyalties lie. in these classes you will be learning to defend yourselves both with and without your wand.’ a mumble ran through the school ‘yes one day you may find yourself without your wand and you need to be able to do something and not just stand there waiting for death to come. there are all sorts of everyday things that can be used as weapons. today i will give you a demonstration of a duel with swords and one with magic. professor snape has kindly agreed to help with the former and i would like to ask for a volunteer student or teacher with the latter’ harry looked over at the teachers, but all having seen him either warding the school or at the breakfast duel none were willing to volunteer. harry heard some sniggering from one side of the room and turned to see malfoy holding court.

‘do you have a problem with this lesson, mr malfoy’ snape sneered.

‘no sir’ drawled the slytherin

‘then what is so interesting over there that seem to have your undivided attention instead of having your focus on mr potter as required’

‘nothing really sir, just don’t see why we have to listen to him. he’s not a professor after all’

‘so you think you are better than him?’

‘of course’ he sneered

‘do you think that you can beat him?’

‘severus’ harry sent ‘you are baiting him. i didn’t think you had it in you’ snape just glanced at harry and smirked.

‘of course i can’ malfoy swaggered over to the stage

‘all right mr malfoy you will have your chance in just a moment’ there were a titters in the crowd as the smarter ones realised that snape had tricked malfoy into being the volunteer. malfoy didn’t seem to notice and just returned to his housemates.

‘now i will set a safety ward up as, unlike professor lockhart, i could do serious damage to your potions master’ all of the older students laughed at this while the younger ones just whispered to each other asking who lockhart was.

‘alowus safetius’ the whole hall glowed red for a moment. harry picked up the swords and handed one carefully to severus. as he handed the sword over he could see the excitement mixed with nervousness.

‘calm down’ he sent ‘just keep your mind open and i will send you some instruction’ severus looked gratefully at harry.

‘thanks’ he whispered

‘that’s okay. can’t have this duel ending after the first two minutes now can we’ harry smirked as his opponent growled. they separated and took a fighting stance on opposite sides of the stage as albus signalled them to start. even with harry telling severus what to do the duel only lasted for five minutes and at the end of it he was bending over breathing heavily. harry walked over to him and placing a hand on his back, whispered something

and almost immediately severus felt much better. he stood up and looked down at harry.

‘you will have to do this with your own opponent harry, no one is going to be able to keep up with you’ harry nodded and after removing the safety wards, spoke to the students

‘i have decided to use another opponent as i don’t want professor snape having a heart attack on me’ he joked as he saw severus giving him a glare. out of the corner of his eye he could see ron, hermione and ginny all chuckling. snape stalked down off the stage and back to the head table as harry conjured the founder’s ghost. picking up both swords this time he looked at his opponent before beginning. the sudden movement of both swords shocked the students. it was the same as in his training room.

‘is it possible for him to have got better since yesterday?’ whispered ron

‘i think he actually likes the audience’ ginny replied

‘no, he doesn’t’ whispered hermione ‘he just has a lot to prove’ duck, roll, thrust, jump, parry, thrust, leap, duck, turn, thrust. harry was so caught up in the fight that he didn’t notice malfoy point his wand at him and whisper something until it was to late.

harry fell to the ground, his limbs on fire. he screamed in agony as the fire continued to burn. his opponent disappearing with a pop. severus quickly cast a counter curse as he rushed up on to the stage. helping harry up he looked into the young mans eye’s and gasped as he saw the fire in them.

‘albus’ he sent ‘we are going to have a problem here. he’s angry. very angry’ harry turned around and glared at malfoy, his clothes still smoking.

‘oh no’ whispered hermione as she saw the look in harry’s eyes. the hall was silent at they watched the scene unfold. harry pointed at malfoy and the slytherin started to move towards the stage. you could see he didn’t want to but there was nothing he could do about it. as he got closer he could see the predatory look in harry’s eyes and he started to mumble ‘no…no’ over and

over. harry leaned down and grabbed the front of malfoy’s robes and hauled him on the stage.

‘didn’t you learn anything last year when moody turned you into the incredible bouncing ferret. that’s why you are in this school malfoy, to learn’ the wind started to pick up and swirl around the hall. ‘you obviously haven’t learnt that it is wrong to attack your opponent when his back is turned’ the room began to heat up and the students began to shift nervously ‘it is cowardly’ he roared. suddenly a wondrous sound filled the hall and all the students gasped as a beautiful gold and white phoenix flew in and perched on harry’s shoulder.

*harry* erte sung softly in his ear *don’t hurt this boy. you will need him later.*

*why* harry growled *how can he help me. he is nothing but a lying cheating coward*

*calm down or you are going to hurt everybody. they are all looking to you. don’t give them reason to fear you* harry glanced around and noticed the fear in the students eyes.

‘thank god’ thought severus as he saw the recognition dawn on harry’s face.

harry threw malfoy down onto the stage and with a last glare in the slytherin’s direction disappeared with a pop.

nasty ending i know but the chapter was already 14 pages. now onto more important things. house points stand thus

gryffindor - 190

slytherin - 140

ravenclaw - 70

hufflepuff - 0

come on all you hufflepuffs where are you. questions for the next chapters house points are - who is the new minister of magic -

10 points

where does harry go when he disappears from the great hall - 10 points

who will come with voldemort when he attacks the school - 10 points

best of luck

please read and review.

disclaimer - i only own the plot everything else belongs to jkr

thank you again for the reviews, the house points competition is getting fierce. we even have some hufflepuffs which is great. if you are unsure what house you should be in go to www.harrypotter.com and get sorted. make sure you let me know when you review which house you are in or i will have to give detention for lack of information and for those who were wondering i was sorted into gryffindor.

sayianseeker88 - 10 points for lucius malfoy

jordan - thanks

sew2100 - 5 points for ginny - right person, wrong area

stayblue - sorry to obvious

je - 5 points for death eaters - be more specific i asked for who not what

jerseygirl03 - 10 points for lucius

corgi - thanks

maikafuiniel - sorry no points - there is no way percy would turn evil. he is to much of an idiot.

lady galahad - 10 points for lucius

usaka - 10 points each for the lake and lucius

myrhfire - thanks

dustin coons - 10 points for lucius

slytherinatheart - 10 points for the lake and 5 for death eaters

selina - 10 points each for the lake and lucius

er - 10 points for sirius and 5 for dementors

mikee - 10 for sirius and 10 for malfoy snr

scott - 5 points for dementors

bookwrm580 - thanks

arcee - 10 points for lucius

elssha - 10 points for lucius

darkfireunicorn - 10 points each for the lake and for lucius

katie - 5 points for the death eaters - need your house though

sapphire - thanks

lady valura - 10 points for the azkaban prisoners - i need to know your house

tereth dragonstar - 10 points for the lake (ps lucius is a convicted death eater. there is no way he could be mom. diggory was an angle i hadn’t thought of though. 5 points for creativity)

r.k.kensington - 10 points for lucius

moonstar - 10 points for lucius but i need your house

angelis - thanks

sara s - 5 points for the dementors but i need your house

hrei-siesn - everyone is vulnerable otherwise it would be a very short story. he would just wave his hand and voldie would go up in flames and that would be it. you will find out about draco in later chapters.

riddlerr - 5 points for the dementor- i need to know your house. ps harry does have weaknesses. you need to read the chapters better

dragon master - very good almost full marks. 10 each for sirius and the lake. sorry only 5 for the death eaters and dementors. i asked who not what.

meteoragal - please read the author’s notes and you will understand the points.

maxx77 - 10 points for lucius

leelee potter - 10 points for lucius malfoy

athenakitty - your wish is my command.

rhiain - thanks

lord master omega - 5 points for death eaters but i need you house

tigrislupa - 10 points for the lake and 5 for the dementors but you need to go to the website and get sorted. thanks for the ideas i will try to add one or two in somewhere. severus and sirius are just a bit jealous of each other don’t worry they will get better with each other in the future. i’ll try to put more remus in. harry didn’t say he felt like ginny was his sister he said he liked being part of a family. i took that to mean he liked having a parent figure that cared about him and siblings around. as he didn’t grow up with them i don’t think in four summer holidays he would be that close to ginny as a sister. the likelihood of me getting to next summer holidays any time soon, due to the fact that i am currently writing chapter 16 and we are only up to the fourth day of school, is fairly slim.

potterfreak123 - that was what i asked. you were supposed to tell me

lilyshortmutt - thanks

clare - sorry no points

jessica r - 10 points for malfoy snr

chapter 16 - it will be

it was dark and there was the smell of blood in the air. about twenty black robed people surrounded a body that was sprawled in front of a throne. they were kneeling.

‘my loyal death eaters.’ hissed the man on the throne ’the time has come. today we shall release our comrades from azkaban. that muggle loving fool may have replaced the dementors but that does not mean we cannot overcome the aurors guarding the prison. be ready to leave in one hour. oh and take that piece of filth with you’ two of the robed people hauled the body out of the chamber behind the rest of the robed figures.

‘my dear nagini, once the lestranges and lucius are back at my side we will take on that old fool. hogwarts will fall and it will fall to me.’ voldemort hissed and then narrowed his eyes. ’i’m coming potter. don’t think your new abilities will save you or anyone else in that school.’

* * * * * * * * * *

harry was angry, very angry. damn malfoy. what the hell was wrong with the guy? as he paced back and forth he started to cool down. when he thought about it, it was mostly himself was angry with. here he was, trying to get the other kids to think that he wasn’t some kind of freak that was out of control and he loses it big time in front of the whole school and all because of a little curse shot by his nemesis when his back was turned. if he hadn’t been so intent on the fight he would have seen malfoy raise his wand and would have just deflected the curse. he plonked himself down on the grass and watched the giant squid swim lazy circles.

‘my god, what have i done?’ he moaned burying his face in his hands.

‘harry’ he looked up to see ginny looking at him. ‘are you okay?’

harry just shook his head before returning it to it’s previous position. he could feel ginny sit down next to him and wait. he leaned over and gathered her in his arms kissing her softly before breathing in the scent of her hair.

‘what am i supposed to do ginny. i need someone to tell me what to do’

‘just be yourself harry. that’s all anyone can really ask’ she whispered softly.

‘but what if it’s not enough’ he sighed

‘it will be’

* * * * * * * * * * *

harry avoided everyone for the rest of the day and the next staying closeted in his room and as he had not told anyone the passwords yet no one could get in. hermione, ron and ginny had spent most of sunday knocking on his door trying to get him to open up but to no avail. they were not even sure he was in there.

‘we had better tell someone. he hasn’t eaten since lunch yesterday. i’m really worried’ hermione stated.

‘let’s get snape. sirius is off with remus waiting for the full moon tomorrow’ ginny nodded at her brother’s suggestion and they headed towards the dungeons. there was no answer in snape’s office so they knocked at the classroom door when they heard laughter.

‘come in’ the three walked in and headed towards the potion master’s desk.

‘excuse me sir, we were wondering if you had heard from harry’ hermione continued ‘we have been knocking on his door all day with know answer. i’m worried that something has happened to him’ the other two were nodding their agreement when they heard snickering from the other side of the room.

‘harry, what are you doing here? why are you scrubbing the floor?’

‘he is scrubbing the floor, miss granger’ snape interrupted ‘because he is an egotistical brat who thinks he doesn’t have to listen to his esteemed potions master’ severus answered her, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

‘your on detention?’

‘very good mr weasley’ severus sneered

‘now now’ harry sent playfully ‘behave yourself. your not in class’

‘but it’s sunday’ ron whined

‘nevertheless if you make a mistake, you have to clean up after it’ snape finished as though that ended the matter. “anyway harry you can go to dinner now i will finish it for you’ the other three gaped at the professor ‘just remember you will have to redo the veritaserum on tuesday in class’ harry nodded and put the brush down on the table before giving snape a quick hug. now they were gaping at harry

‘thanks, sev’ severus just arched an eyebrow ‘i really needed that’ the potions master just smiled and shooed them from the room.

* * * * * * * * * * *

‘harry, what were you doing making veritaserum?’ this from ginny.

‘harry, what did you do wrong with the potion?’ this from hermione.

‘harry, what were you doing hugging snape?’ this from ron

‘guys, can we just stop with all the questions for a while. this is going to be hard enough as it is’ he whined. they nodded and followed him silently to the great hall. he once again stopped to take a deep breath before entering and then walked with his head held high to the gryffindor table and sat down. harry noticed a few people staring at him and a few whispers but not

as many as he thought. he looked over to the headmaster sending

‘albus, what did you say to everyone after i left yesterday’

‘don’t worry harry. i just explained that you were still learning about your new abilities and that you would never willingly harm anyone. i also told them that it was cowardly to curse someone from behind and that if mr malfoy did not want to duel with you he should not have volunteered in the first place. i also asked that they not upset or anger you at the present time as it could be hazardous to their health’ the headmaster chuckled. harry just groaned and buried his head in his arms.

‘harry, what is it’ ginny asked softly, giving his arm a squeeze. harry just shook his head and ignoring the stares and whispers, helped himself to some food. dinner past uneventfully, well more uneventfully than any other meal so far this year, and all to soon it was time to go to bed. harry bid the others goodnight and walked into the chamber off the great hall before jumping up to his rooms.

* * * * * * * * * * *

harry screamed as he woke, his scar burning. erte fluttered down from her perch as a melodious song filled the air.

*harry. harry what is it?*

*voldemort* he spat through gritted teeth *he’s at azkaban. he’s letting them all out*

*harry you must tell albus and quickly* harry nodded, climbing out of bed. he threw a robe over his pyjamas and jumped to the headmaster’s office. knocking on the door to dumbledore’s private chambers

‘albus, albus wake up’ a few seconds past and just as harry was about to knock again the door opened revealing the headmaster in purple and blue pyjamas with stars on them. harry snapped out of the shock of seeing his mentor in purple pyjamas when

albus asked him what was wrong.

‘oh. um voldemort, he’s at azkaban. he’s letting everyone out’

‘oh dear’ albus moved swiftly to the fireplace and throwing some floo powder in called ‘department of magical law enforcement’ the fire flashed green before the head of the head auror appeared in the fire.

‘yes headmaster. what is it?’

‘ah, david, you must go to azkaban. i have information that voldemort is there freeing his supporters. you must hurry’ the auror nodded and disappeared without a word. dumbledore sank back into his chair and sighed looking over at harry. the twinkle all but gone from his eyes.

‘it’s starting albus, isn’t it’ harry whispered

‘i’m afraid so harry’ the old wizard sighed again ‘i’m afraid so’

* * * * * * * * * * *

breakfast the next morning was a subdued affair. the daily prophet had reported about the breakout of azkaban and the students were afraid. well all except the slytherins anyway. the seemed almost jovial, only the look on dumbledore’s face kept them from openly laughing. harry walked into the hall and immediately went up to the head table.

‘excuse me sir, can i please see you and professor snape in the chamber’ the headmaster nodded and both rose and followed harry into the small room.

‘okay’ harry said turning to face them ‘how bad is it’ albus and severus looked at each other before the potions master spoke.

‘wormtail had already received the kiss so he was still there we the auror’s arrived. most of the prisoners were also there. it seems voldemort only wanted certain people. nott, avery, mcnair and the lestrange’s were gone and we lost 12 aurors.’

‘and?’ harry asked knowing they were keeping something from

him. another glance between the two before

‘we also lost lucius malfoy’ harry sucked in a breath and sat down. voldemort now had his most powerful people by his side.

‘how could this have happened. i thought if we took the dementors away he wouldn’t be able to get to malfoy and the others’ harry shrieked.

‘harry, calm down’ severus could see the anger beginning to build in the young wizard. harry nodded and took more deep breaths before standing up and moving towards the door.

‘harry, if the students see your face like that they will think the worst’ harry tried to rearrange the grimace into a more agreeable expression. in the end he just dropped it and left his face expressionless.

‘better?’ he asked and walked out into the hall. all eyes were on him as he headed towards the gryffindor table. his eyes searched the slytherins before landing on malfoy. he glared as malfoy smirked at him. he kept the glare up even as he reached the table. malfoy started to get uncomfortable and looked away as he loosened his collar. only then did harry sit down and begin to eat. he glanced over at severus who shook his head and throwing a look at malfoy which clearly said ,don’t provoke him, he sent

‘harry just eat your breakfast and ignore the junior death eater okay’ harry giggled and returned to his food.

‘what’s so funny?’ ron asked

‘nothing, just something snape said’

‘is it true?’ hermione whispered ’i mean, about azkaban’ harry nodded before telling his friends what he knew.

‘my god. they’re all free. avery, mcnair, nott, the lestranges and malfoy?’ again harry nodded as he chewed the last of his eggs.

‘harry’ he heard ’you are excused from charms today. i have told professor flitwick. we must work on developing your abilities as soon as possible just in case voldemort chooses to strike before halloween. meet me down on the quidditch pitch after transfiguration’ harry glanced at the headmaster to let him know

he understood and signalled to his friends it was time to leave. they all rose and gathered their things and headed off to their classes. ginny had dada first so harry walked her to her class giving her a quick kiss before running after the others. he arrived at mcgonagall’s classroom with a few minutes to spare and sat down between his two friends.

‘harry’ ron joked ‘instead of running here and arriving panting, why don’t you just jump?’

‘i’m trying to keep that ability a secret in case i need it later’

‘but you did it in front of everyone on saturday’

‘i know, but i’m hoping that they will think snape did it the first time and that erte did it the second. everyone knows that phoenix’s can turn invisible. i hoping they think that because erte was on my shoulder i went invisible too’ hermione nodded at his logic.

‘it might work’ she stated. just then professor mcgonagall swept into the room carrying a tray of what looked like vials.

‘good morning students, welcome to your first class of animagus studies. we will now find out what animal you will become. now not all of you will have the talent to become animagi and i don’t want you practising this outside of this class. it can be very dangerous. you could be stuck halfway though the transformation’ she walked up and down the aisles handing out a vial to each person. when she got to harry she leaned down and whispered

‘harry what do you want to do about this. do you want everyone to know that you are a multi animagi’ she hesitated in giving him the vial. harry thought for a moment.

‘maybe if you just give me the vial. i’ll pretend to drink it and just use the air element to conjure one of my forms. i don’t want everyone to know otherwise i might loose an element of surprise that i may need facing voldemort’ the professor nodded before handing him the vial and moving to the front of the class.

‘now when i ask you i want you to come up to the front of the class and drink the potion. a shadow will appear next to you and

if you have the ability to become and animagus it will take the form of an animal. now if it remains an indistinct cloud do not worry. it just means that you do not have the power relationship required to become an animagus yet. however you can always try again after the o.w.l.s’ the students whispered excitedly amongst themselves.

‘now miss granger. i think you can go first’ hermione got up from her seat and walked to the front of the class. she downed the potion in one gulp grimacing at the taste. harry hid a smirk behind his hand as he well remembered his remark to his guardian on tasting the potion. suddenly a shadow appeared next to hermione. it just hung there for a few moments before turning into and owl. harry couldn’t help it as he burst out laughing. hermione was glaring at him.

‘something funny mr potter?’ professor mcgonagall raised an eyebrow at him.

‘sorry, professor, sorry hermione’ harry gasped out ‘it’s just i had been thinking about what animals people would be in relation to their personality and with hermione being so smart and all i immediately thought of an owl and well’ harry gestured at the shadow which was disappearing. hermione’s glare changed to a look of embarrassment as she quickly went back to her seat, playfully swiping him on the shoulder as she went past.

‘thank you mr potter for your insight’ she chuckled ‘next mr longbottom’ the went through most of the class before she called on ron who looked at harry nervously before downing his potion and walking up to the front. the shadow appeared next to him and transformed into a lion. ron went bright red and quickly returned to his seat. by now all but two of the class had tried and only ron and hermione, neville who was a toad, blaise who was a donkey and pansy who was a cat had managed to produce shadow animals.

‘mr malfoy’ malfoy got up and swaggered to the front downing his potion. he smirked as the shadow appeared next to him and then transformed into an animal. this time harry was not the only one to burst out laughing. all of the gryffindors were laughing outright and most of the slytherins were snorting and giggling

behind their hands as malfoy stood there next to his shadow.

a ferret.

harry and ron were laughing so hard they had fallen off their chairs and were rolling about the ground. hermione was desperately trying not to join them.

‘thank you class, that is enough’ professor mcgonagall gasped out between giggles. malfoy glared at her and stormed back to his seat, throwing himself in it as harry and ron tried to control themselves and return to theirs.

‘mr potter, i believe your last’ harry nodded and still snorting walked to the front. he pretended to down the potion and slipped the vial into his pocket as he turned around. concentrating hard, he called the air element softly and told it what he wanted. he borrowed some smoke from a small fire he conjured behind the professor’s desk, which he immediately put out, and blended it into the air element to create the shadow, after a few moments he pushed the shape into that of a panther. he was going to do a phoenix but he thought he should probably try and be something a bit less outstanding. he left it there a few more moments before thanking and dismissing it. the effort to keep control of the element inside the castle had exhausted him and he almost staggered as he walked back to his seat. hermione gave him a concerned look but he just shook his head and mouthed ‘i’m fine’ before sinking into his chair with a small groan. professor mcgonagall also looked worriedly at him before continuing

‘homework, the seven students who managed a complete shadow, two scrolls of parchment on the steps required to become an animagus. for those who didn’t two scrolls on activities to increase you animagi power. thank you’ the class packed up their belongings and harry said a quick goodbye and walked over to the professor’s desk. he handed the vial to minerva saying

‘better keep this for next time, severus would not be happy if we wasted it’ he chuckled. minerva smiled at him

‘i was worried about you. i thought you were going to loose it there at the end’

‘so did i’ he whispered to her gravely before heading towards the door.

* * * * * * * * * * *

‘hello harry’ he heard as he walked onto the pitch. glancing over he saw dumbledore motioning from the lower stand. the headmaster got up and walked down the stairs and over to his young charge just as severus joined them.

‘harry’ the headmaster continued ‘i want to work on your fighting skill’s. not with the weapons with the elements’ he waved his wand and about a hundred ghostly figure appeared in different parts of the pitch. ‘i want you to try and use the elements to destroy the targets. you will have to concentrate very hard,’ harry glanced up at the school ‘don’t worry’ the headmaster soothed ‘i have warded all the doors so that no one can go in and out’ harry nodded and walked over to the north end of the pitch facing the figures. he saw dumbledore and snape walk over to the lake and turn to watch from what the thought was a safe distance.

harry looked at the figures at took a deep breath summoning the elements. they took up positions around him as he called the storm clouds and the lightning. it crackled overhead as he pulled balls of fire and ice from the elements and threw them at the ghosts. the ghosts began to move slowly towards him as he used more of the elements. he shot fire towards the ground in front of them to hold them off. an then used the air and earth elements to carve up great trenches in the ground. calling the lightning he pointed to where he wanted the bolts to strike, grinning happily as he saw them hit their targets.

‘careful harry’ he heard ‘don’t get to complacent’ harry nodded and drew his attention back. he had dispatched about half of the force when they began to move a bit quicker. he noticed that they had moved up behind him and he now had to watch all sides. he continued to send the balls of fire and ice and target the lightning. severus nudged dumbledore and pointed up to the castle.

‘we have spectators’ albus glanced up and saw almost every window on that side of the castle was jammed with students.

‘well, we didn’t really have a choice. he has to practice sometime and at least they are safe in the castle’ severus just raised and eyebrow and turned back towards harry. he started to call a stronger air element and sent it twisting over the remainder of the figures. it carved up great swathes of earth and sent many of the ghosts flying. he was concentrating so hard on maintaining the air element that he didn’t notice one of the figures creep up behind him and place it’s ghostly hand on his shoulder. a split second after he realised that he must work on a shield for attacks from behind, he watched in horror as the air element spun out of control. he just had time to throw a shield up over the older wizards before it hit him and he knew no more.

sorry about the end but you haven’t had a cliffhanger for a while and i want to keep you on your toes.

thank you to all who reviewed. the house points stand as follows

gryffindor - 295

slytherin - 275

ravenclaw - 95

hufflepuff - 40

only one question for the next chapter - what happens to draco in the next chapter that changes the way he acts? 10 points for a correct answer

thanks so much for your reviews.

disclaimer - not mine - how many times do i have to tell you

thanks again to everyone who reviewed

athenakitty - only practice ones and sorry no more ferrets.

yoshi-fan2003 - 10 points

humming fox - half right 5 points

bookworm580 - sorry

hedowl15 - no sorry

barney - thank you so much. i have read a lot of ff and i think some of them are brilliant so for someone to say the same about me makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

katie - 5 points for half right - his father does think of him as a tool

rhiain - 5 points for half right

zaira-draco - 10 points well done

lord omega master - thanks for letting me know

castus albus cor - 10 points very good

ranger - thanks

lilyshortmutt - sorry

clare - sorry

a person - 5 points for half right

selina - if i wasn’t and unbiased author i might take offence to gryffindorks

dustin coons - yep surely does

usaka - nope sorry

wendy lloyd - your review made my day - being compared to jkr. i was flabbergasted. i have shown this to a few friends who aren’t even hp fans and they are now hooked and have told me i should start writing for real. what do you think?

sayian seeker 88 - no

jerseygirl03 - nope sorry

angelis - very good 10 points

scott slytheren - no sorry

moonstar - 5 points for half right

slytherinatheart - 5 points for half right

maxx77 - no sorry

arcee - 10 points very good

jupluna - 10 points too - are you two copying - i will have to give you anti - cheating quills!

tereth dragonstar - 5 points for halt right

shdurrani - thanks

crazycruciateddeatheater - no sorry

charmer1219 - thank you

jessica r - glad your still enjoying it. i’m not sure how old you are but people don’t always state that they are going out. it just happens that they come together. it was about 2 months before my husband and i stated publicly that we were going out.

hrei-siesn - nope sorry

zaeria - 5 points for half right

ambergrant - very good 10 points

stayblue - thanks

sew2100 - thanks

jordan - not quite

chapter 17 - a forgotten prophecy

ron and hermione were two of the first to reach the front doors of the castle. they had been in charms when they noticed the

lightning outside and were drawn to the windows to watch. the rest of the class soon followed as did all the classes on that side of the castle. the watched in awe as harry used the elements against the ghostly figures and then in horror, when the air element spun out of control. amongst the screaming from the other students they ran down the two flights of stairs to the entrance hall. full pelt they tried to push straight through the doors to the outside only to be thrown back into the arms of their classmates. ron was banging and kicking on the door while hermione was attempting every unlocking spell she knew.

‘it’s no use’ professor mcgonagall said softly walking grasping ron by the shoulders and pulling him away from the doors ‘professor dumbledore has warded the doors to keep everyone safe inside while harry practiced’

‘everyone safe in here’ ron yelled ‘what about harry out there?’

‘oh my god, what if they are dead?’ hermione whispered. ron walked over and putting his arms around her guided her to seat before she collapsed from shock. mcgonagall turned to the other students

‘i want you all to find a window overlooking the lake or the pitch and try looking for the headmaster and professor snape’ the students all bolted for the stairs as she turned back to the two gryffindors ‘he will be okay, this happened in the holidays, you know’ hermione nodded at the professor.

‘yes, he told us’ she whispered ‘but he hadn’t mixed the elements then had he’ she stated, bursting into tears and burying her head in ron’s shoulder.

‘i think you should go up to the infirmary’ minerva said firmly. ron shook his head.

‘we are not going anywhere until harry comes through that door, one way or the other’ he grimaced. minerva gave them a sad look before heading up to see poppy.

* * * * * * * * * * *

‘albus, albus are you okay’ severus rushed over to the headmaster’s side. even with the shield they had been thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion.

‘yes, severus. just a few bruises. where is harry?’

‘harry, harry’ severus called and when he got no answer he tried again in his mind. albus pointed his wand at the shield and muttering a counter spell, watched it fizzle and disappear. severus helped dumbledore to his feet and they surveyed the damaged pitch.

‘i don’t think quidditch tryouts will be on this saturday’ albus chuckled

‘damn it albus, how can you joke at a time like this’ severus scowled and started searching among the debris.

‘harry, harry’ severus yelled but there was no answer. they both continued to search as erte and fawkes flew down to help them.

* * * * * * * * * * *

seeing the two phoenix’s fly down from the window gave fred and george an idea. rushing up to the common room they grabbed everybody’s brooms and hurtled down to the hospital wing.

‘professor mcgonagall, we want to go out and help look for harry’

‘i’m sorry boys but professor dumbledore warded the doors and no one can get them open’

‘that’s why we brought these’ fred said grinning as he and george produced the five brooms. mcgonagall smiled and nodded at them

‘alright, you can go and good luck’ the twins cheered and handed a broom each to seamus, dean and justin. they mounted them and kicked off, hovering just off the ground as neville opened the windows for them. one after the other they flew out the window and down towards the pitch.

‘cavalry’s coming’ snape gestured at the five as they touched

down a short way from them. running up to dumbledore they offered to help.

‘albus, we need more people, why don’t three of them ferry more people down from the hospital wing’

‘no severus’ we don’t want the children walking all over the grounds. harry could be buried under one of these mounds’ the potions master nodded and directed the boys back onto their brooms.

‘fly in a line from one side of the grounds to the other. see if you can spot him. if you do, don’t touch him. call us’ the five boys nodded and took off heading towards the forest. by now more people had joined the search and the entire gryffindor, ravenclaw and hufflepuff quidditch teams were searching in formation.

‘professor, professor, over here’ came the scream an hour into the search. severus shot over to where the group of riders were pointing, dreading the condition harry would be in. ‘as long as he isn’t dead’ he thought to himself. he raced over the last mound of dirt to see the body of harry potter half buried in the mud. throwing himself to his knees he started to try and remove the dirt that was burying the boy with his hands. as he leaned over to check harry’s pulse. the young wizard whispered

‘we have to stop meeting like this severus’ before a dribble of blood ran down his chin and he stopped breathing. almost in tears severus quickly grabbed the boy in his arms and bolted for the castle.

‘albus’ he yelled ’the doors’ albus waved his wand and the doors burst open as severus ran through and straight up to the infirmary.

‘harry’ screamed hermione as they saw the boy in severus’ arms and they both took of after their potions master.

* * * * * * * * * * *

the next few weeks passed so slowly. madame pomfrey had managed to resuscitate harry but he was still in a coma. no one

knew when he would wake up. ron, hermione and ginny flatly refused to leave his bedside and sirius and severus only left for classes and came straight back afterwards.

by the third week professor dumbledore agreed with poppy that everyone should start to go back to classes. poppy promised that she would come and find everybody when, and if, she added silently to herself, harry woke up.

of course harry’s three little friends refused to leave and when poppy tried to make them the either scratched or hissed or, in elphie’s case, butted her with her horn. dumbledore told poppy that there was no way she would be able to make them leave as they were here at the request of the founders to look after harry. she just muttered something about being able to look after her patients quite well without a small zoo watching over her every move, before storming to her office and slamming the door.

about a week later severus was watching over harry late one night when the boy started to moan and move about. the movement started to get stronger and severus was afraid that harry would roll right out of bed and hurt himself so he leaned over the bed and placed his hands around harry’s wrists, holding him to the bed. the nightmare continued for another half hour or so before harry started to settle down. just as severus relinquished his hold on the young wizard, harry screamed ‘draco’ and disappeared.

* * * * * * * * * * *

voldemort stood with his wand trained on a quivering mass of robes.

‘lucius’ he hissed ‘i think you need to tell your son how this works. we need him to be able to breach the hogwarts defences. we cannot get in there without someone with the dark mark to let us in. i would have used severus but unfortunately that avenue is no longer open, thanks to potter.’ he flicked the wand one more time ‘crucio’ draco screamed as the curse hit him. voldemort held the curse on him for a few minutes before removing it. through the pain draco looked up at lucius.

‘father’ he croaked and then had to look away from the expression of pure disgust in his father’s eyes.

‘we will leave you for a moment lucius so that you may explain to your son how important he is’ with that voldemort swept from the room. lucius leaned down an hauled draco to his feet.

‘how dare you disobey me, how dare you defile the malfoy name by refusing our master. you disgust me boy. you are no longer my son. crucio’ malfoy kept the curse going much longer than voldemort had. he heard a small pop and without turning around said

‘master, i think the boy is ready to join you now. he just didn’t understand how important he was’ malfoy finally lifted the curse and turned to face his master.

‘potter’ he spat ‘how in the hell did you get in here?’ harry moved around the edge of the room so that he was behind draco and gently lifted the slytherin back up off the ground.

‘lucius, leave him alone. get someone else to do your dirty work’ just then voldemort returned and his face broke into a sneer on seeing harry

‘harry potter, we meet again. what brings you to my humble home?’

‘just came to collect something’ harry smirked before he and draco disappeared with a pop.

‘potter’ screamed voldemort.

* * * * * * * * * * *

severus almost had a heart attack when harry disappeared. he yelled for poppy explaining what had happened and then sprinted for the door. halfway to the headmaster’s office he remembered he could have just called him over the mind link and asked him to come down to the hospital wing. turning off his present course he headed for minerva’s rooms while sending to albus asking him to come down to the infirmary. he knocked loudly on the doors and waited for them to open.

‘severus, for merlin’s sake it’s past midnight’

‘minerva. can you please go and get remus, sirius, miss granger and the two youngest weasleys and meet me in the hospital wing.’ severus turned before she could say anything and headed back. rounding the last corner he heard shouting coming from the infirmary. he accelerated into a sprint and flew into the room and stopped as the scene came into view.

harry was seated on the edge of a bed trying to convince a hysterical, bruised and bloody draco malfoy that he was safe and that everything was going to be okay. draco didn’t seem to be listening, just clinging on to harry as if his life depended on it. severus sat down on the other side of the bed and prying draco’s arms from around harry’s neck, pushed him down on the bed casting a body bind on him.

‘draco. draco, listen to me’ he said sternly ‘you are at hogwarts now. you are safe. you need to tell me what happened’ draco glanced over at harry before returning his gaze to severus

‘voldemort’ he croaked ‘coming. halloween. needs a death eater to get in. crabbe. goyle’ he managed no more before succumbing to the pain and passing out. severus and harry rose from the bed as poppy came over to check draco. severus looked over at harry noticing he was about to collapse and just managed to grab him before he hit the floor.

‘thanks’ harry gasped as severus laid him gently on the bed next to draco.

‘it’s alright harry, you have been in a coma for over 4 weeks, i’m surprised that you can walk at all.’

‘that long’ severus nodded ‘we don’t know what happened with the elements. we only know that at the end…..’ severus stopped there as the door to the hospital wing flew open and albus and the others came in. seeing harry awake, they rushed over to his bed

‘harry are you okay?’ sirius asked as hermione and ginny burst into tears and threw their arms around harry.

‘sirius, guys, i’m fine’

‘what’s malfoy doing here?’ ron whispered ‘what happened to

him’ severus started to speak then and told them how he had been watching harry and how the nightmare started and then how harry just disappeared. the others just looked at harry and he squirmed under their gaze. albus looked at him and sent

‘do you want to talk in front of everybody or do you want me to ask them to go’ harry shook his head and taking a deep breath began to tell what happened starting with the disaster four weeks ago

‘i thought i was doing all right with the figures. the fire and ice was really easy. i wasn’t even having as much trouble with the air element. i decided to mix the earth and the air together to see if it would be able to get rid of more of them. i noticed that they had crept up behind me but i was too busy concentrating on the elements to worry about it’ he looked at albus and severus guiltily. albus laid a hand on his shoulder

‘it’s okay harry but we must work on some rear shielding spells. that’s twice now you have been hit from behind’ harry nodded and continued

‘when that ghost put his hand on my shoulder i knew i couldn’t keep control of it. i didn’t have time to call you and you were too far away for me to throw a shield over both of us. so i just threw one over you two and hoped for the best’ he looked down at his hands before looking up into his guardian’s eyes ‘i’m sorry’ he whispered.

‘that’s okay harry’ severus whispered back. albus held up his hands

‘how does mr malfoy fit into all this’ severus looked at harry again and nodded for him to continue

‘i must have been coming out of the coma because i had a dream. voldemort was there with draco and lucius. they were saying how they needed a death eater inside hogwarts so that they could get in on halloween. draco said no and they were torturing him. they put the cruciatus on him over and over. i know how much it hurts’ he whispered with a pained expression ’and i wanted them to stop. so when i saw voldemort leave the room i just wished i was there. i don’t really know how i got there

but one minute i was asleep here and the next i was in voldemort’s chambers. i picked draco up’ he didn’t notice the look between the other three gryffindors at the use of malfoy’s given name ’told lucius to leave him alone and when voldemort came back in i said my goodbyes and wished i was back here.’ everyone was silent as harry finished his tale. albus motioned severus over to the far side of the wing as harry’s friend bombarded him with questions.

‘severus’ albus whispered gravely ‘did mr malfoy say anything else’ severus shook his head

‘only that he needed a death eater and then the names crabbe and goyle. i don’t know if that means that because he couldn’t get draco he will try one of the others’

‘how did mr malfoy get out of the school anyway?’ albus questioned.

‘i don’t know. i don’t remember him at dinner so he may not have returned from hogsmeade at all. it would have been easy for lucius to apparate to the three broomsticks and take him from there.’

‘we must keep an eye on the rest of the slytherins. we cannot let voldemort get to them. it could have a disastrous effect on the school’ the headmaster warned.

‘i will ask harry tomorrow if he knows of a spell like the one he worked for wormtail that would tell us if any of the students have been marked.’

‘good idea severus, we cannot let him get onto the grounds until harry is ready’ the two men finished their conversation and wandered back over to the others. dumbledore made noises about the lateness of the hour and with promises to return first thing in the morning they headed back out the door towards their respective rooms.

‘goodnight harry’ severus sent as he wandered back to the dungeons.

‘goodnight sev’ he heard back.

* * * * * * * * * * *

as promised they all returned the next morning to catch harry up on all that he had missed over the last month. madam pomfrey said that he may be able to return to his room after lunch once she had checked him over again and cleared him to leave. leaving him in peace they ran off to classes telling him they would see him at lunch and harry leaned back and closed his eyes, enjoying the peace and quiet

‘potter’ he heard from the next bed. harry opened his eyes and glanced over at malfoy

‘yes draco’ the slytherin was trying very hard to sit up. once he had managed it he leaned over to harry, wincing as pain shot through him and held out his hand.

‘thank you’ he whispered as harry placed his hand in it and shook. grimacing as he watched the blond boy shift painfully in the bed, he pushed the covers back and crouched on the edge of malfoy’s bed.

‘lie still’ he whispered ‘ and close your eyes. i want to try something’ draco looked at him with eyes filled with fear ‘don’t be silly, i’m not going to rescue you, only to kill you myself now am i’ malfoy relaxed and shook his head. ’stupid git’ harry muttered to himself. taking a deep breath he held both his hands out over draco’s chest and closed his eyes. he started to chant softly to himself and then gasped as a stream of warmth shot out of his hands and into draco making his whole body glow. he watched as the glow faded and then draco opened his eyes.

‘wow’ the two of them said in unison as harry got up off the bed and returned to his own.

‘told you i wasn’t going to kill you’ he smirked ’does it feel any better?’ harry looked concerned. draco sat up and then rose from the bed walking across the wing and back. grinning he nodded and sat down.

‘i seem to be thanking you a lot today potter’

‘draco, we don’t have time for petty rivalries. i need you. i can’t tell you why yet. i will tell you when i tell the others but you have to trust me. i know it is hard and it goes against everything you have been taught but if you don’t we will all be dead in a year.’ draco looked at the sincerity in harry’s eyes and gulped before nodding

‘i trust you. …. harry’

* * * * * * * * * * *

severus popped in just before lunch to see how the boys were and found them playing chess.

‘who’s winning?’ he asked perching on the edge of the bed.

‘i am’ harry beamed. severus raised an eyebrow.

‘only because your cheating’ draco whined ‘well your pieces are anyway’ severus raised another eyebrow at harry

‘i see you managed to conjure my chess set’

‘i can’t get anything else anymore’ he shrugged ‘guess they like me’ severus turned to draco

‘you will never win against harry with this set. you’ll have to bring your own.’ draco smirked at harry.

‘just wait potty until i bring my own set. then will see who’s the best’

‘i’m the best ferret and don’t you forget it’ ron smirked waltzing in the door with hermione and ginny close behind both giggling.

‘weasel’ draco scowled ’do you have to spoil everything’

‘draco, remember what i said this morning’ warned harry

‘you mean they are involved too’ he asked pointing to the three gryffindors

‘yes. it will take the five of us’

‘merlin, i have to be nice to two weasels and a mud blood’ draco dramatically fell back on his bed his arm across his eyes.

‘why you’ ron went bright red and tried to lunge at malfoy but was held back by hermione and ginny ’let me go. let me at him’

‘enough’ yelled harry as a warm breeze flew around the room.

‘settle down harry’ severus sent laying a hand on harry’s arm. harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. madam pomfrey would not be happy if he broke all of the glass again.

‘i will explain it to all of you as soon as madam pomfrey lets us out of here and we can go somewhere private.’ harry finished by crossing his arm and glaring at them as if daring anyone to say anything. the four looked at each other and then found seats and waited for the matron to come and release the two boys. severus looked over at harry sending

‘harry what is wrong? what happened while you were in the coma?’

‘i had a visit from the founders. the told me that there was another prophecy that rowena made and that it actually was part of the original one but because it was written forty years after the first that no one realised. i don’t want to go into it now because then i will only have to repeat it twice. can you bring four vials of animagus potion with you?’ severus looked at him strangely before nodding to show that he understood and then went to find poppy.

* * * * * * * * * * *

one hour later the five students as well as severus, remus, sirius and minerva were sitting in dumbledore’s office. harry had just finished explaining about his visit with the four founders and what they said about the prophecy.

‘did they tell you what the prophecy actually said harry?’ hermione asked. harry closed his eyes and shuddered before he felt a comforting arm from ginny wrap around his waist. he

opened them and stared at the headmaster.

‘it said. when darkness comes all won’t be lost as long as rivalries are tossed. the dragon and lion are north and south for them the future lies in their mouth. the owl and unicorn are east and west to have a future they must pass the test. if these four young ones do not come together. the phoenix will still win but at the cost of his feathers. if the phoenix is to remain alive then these four must join to help him survive.’

‘what in the hell does that mean’ ron whined.

‘harry’ severus interrupted ‘did they tell you what it meant’ harry nodded and held out his hand

‘can i have the vials’ severus handed them over and harry gave one each to hermione, ron, ginny and draco. they moved over to the far side of the room and with a nod downed the potion at the same time. indistinct clouds began to form next to each of them before taking the shape of an animal. ron started snickering when malfoy’s turned into a ferret but his jaw fell to the floor when it changed to a dragon and then faded away. ron’s lion and hermione’s owl they already knew about but ginny was very surprised to see a unicorn appear next to her.

‘another multi animagi’ minerva breathed looking a draco

‘why didn’t that show up in class?’ draco looked confused

‘because’ said harry ’it hadn’t been awakened yet. two animagus forms draco. very rare. also very powerful that is why you are the north or grounding point of the star. when using the elements that’s where the air goes, the most unstable. that’s why there has to be someone powerful in that position.’ ron turned red and spat

‘a lion is powerful too’ he was getting very jealous of how quickly harry and malfoy came to trust one another.

‘yes weasel, but you only have one. i have two’ he smirked. ron yelled

‘i hate you, you’re a bastard’ and launched himself at the slytherin. a few moments later harry dragged a kicking and

screaming ron off a bloodied malfoy and yelled

‘silence!’

‘now look you two, the prophecy says you must learn to get along. in the mouth it says. in other words being civil to each other. i can kill voldemort on my own but i will die. now personally i don’t care if i die. at least no one will get hurt anymore because of me’ ginny started to say something but harry just held up his hand. ‘but the decision is yours. do you care if i die because it is now up to you. i can’t make you like one another and i don’t want to. you have to want it on your own’ and with that harry vanished with a pop.

i not all that happy with the end but i changed it four times and still wasn’t happy so went with the original. house championship is hotting up the points stand thus

gryffindor - 375

slytherin - 305

ravenclaw - 100

hufflepuff - 60

thank you again so much for your reviews. it make writing at 2:30 in the morning when i should be in bed worthwhile.

coming in the next chapter - more training and the attack

question for the next chapter - who dies in the attack. (i’ll give you a clue. it won’t be one of the chosen four) 10 points

disclaimer - only the plot and erte, asha and elphie are mine

thanks to all who reviewed. sorry i couldn’t fit the attack in this chapter. it already runs to 15 pages but i promise it will be in the next one.

ambergrant - no, no slash

wiccachic2000 - they aren’t allowed to do magic away from hogwarts

mikee - no. i wouldn’t

lady valura - www.harrypotter.com

chapter 18 - given names and some polyjuice.

severus excused himself from the headmaster’s office, leaving the others to come to terms with the latest revelations and headed towards harry’s rooms.

‘harry, are you in there?’ he sent. the door opened in front of him so he assumed that the young man was inside. walking in and closing the door behind him he looked around the empty training room before heading into harry’s private rooms. he found the younger wizard sprawled on the floor surrounded by open books, half written scrolls and his three friends. they were having a lively conversation and harry was acting as if the last four weeks had never happened.

‘are you alright harry’ severus queried. harry sighed

‘i wish people would stop asking me that. i’m fine. the new prophecy is upsetting but as erte said, my job is to kill voldemort. if the others manage to get it together enough to help me survive then great but that is not my responsibility. i have to do my job first and foremost.’ severus looked at the young man in front of him in disbelief. i can’t believe he can call this a job, he thought, i have to talk to the others. bidding harry goodbye he headed back up to the headmasters office and giving the password to the gargoyle, walked up the staircase and knocked

at the door.

‘come in severus’ albus called. he pushed open the door and walked in.

‘headmaster, may i please have a word with these four?’ severus indicated the students. albus nodded

‘i have to head down to the great hall for dinner, come minerva, sirius, remus’

‘headmaster, if i may, could sirius and remus stay as well’ minerva and albus moved toward the doorway

‘i’ll have the house elves send up your dinners’ he said as he closed the door behind him. rounding on the four students he glared

‘sit down all of you and listen as i will say this only once. harry is currently in his rooms researching different spell and curses to kill voldemort. he says that it is his job. his job.’ he yelled ‘he is still going to fulfil his prophecy with or without you lot. he doesn’t care if he dies or not. but i do and i can tell you now. if you four don’t learn to get along soon there will be trouble. lots of it. if harry dies because of you, the next two to three years of your life will be hell and to top it all off i will make sure that none of you graduate’ he glared at each one in turn as if daring them to say something. when no one did he continued ‘now this is going to be the way it is. in potions, comc and dada you will sit together.’ he glanced at the other two professors at this point who nodded at him. ‘draco, i assume you aren’t going to be stupid and ask to do one of harry’s potions again’ he smirked. draco looked down at his hands and back up again.

‘professor, why is harry doing those potions?’

‘because he will be graduating at christmas’ draco gasped

‘what are you talking about. harry’s only been at school for four years. how in the hell can he graduate.’ hermione giggled and he turned on her

‘what’s so funny’ he spat. still giggling she said

‘that’s almost exactly what ron said word for word’ draco’s mouth

made a large o shape as he looked at her.

‘professor’ ginny stood and faced the potions master. ‘i think that i speak for everyone when i say that if there is a way to save harry we will do everything we can to do it’ the others were nodding in agreement ‘harry means a lot to all of us even draco’ she gestured to the slytherin

‘i owe him a life debt’ draco whispered. nodding at him she continued

‘if you and the other professors will just tell us what we have to do, we will do anything to help harry’ ginny pleaded with tears rolling down her cheeks.

‘now, now’ remus said rising up off the couch ‘i don’t think that professor snape meant exactly what he said’ severus growled at him

‘close’ he muttered to remus.

now i agree with severus that you should spend as much time together as possible. after school and weekends we will do extra training. i don’t know if the four of you know this but voldemort plans to attack the school on halloween which is only three weeks away’ ron and draco looked at each other in concern and then simultaneously stood and extended a hand in the others direction.

‘three weeks ferret, do you think you can get in shape by then?

‘if you can weasel, i can’ draco grinned taking ron’s hand and shaking it. hermione and ginny clapped and cheered as severus looked at the two boys with pride and remus and sirius slapped each other on the back.

‘i see that you have worked out your differences’ albus chuckled as he walked in the door. ‘now onto more important things. draco, it is unsafe for you to go back to slytherin dungeons now. i’m sure that mr crabbe and mr goyle have heard from their fathers regarding your little adventure the other night. from now on you will be in gryffindor and you will stay in gryffindor tower. i believe that there is a spare bed in your dormitory’ he said turning to ron who nodded in draco’s direction. ‘good now sirius

and remus will escort you four down to draco’s rooms to help collect his things and then i think the four of you should pay mr potter a visit. severus if you would stay a moment there is something we have to discuss’ severus remained seated as the other all stood and headed off down the stairs. albus closed and cast a silencing charm on it. severus looked at him strangely before sighing

‘i’m sorry albus. i didn’t mean to threaten the students. i was just so shocked about what harry said’

‘what did he say?’ albus looked perplexed as he had no idea what severus was talking about.

‘he said that he didn’t care if he died as long as voldemort did too. he said it was his job’

‘ah, it is worse than i thought’

‘what do you mean it is worse, worse than what?’ severus leapt up from his seat and began pacing.

‘sit down severus. you will need to be sitting when you here this’ severus sat ‘i imagine that the extra prophecy was not the only thing the founders told harry during their little visit. i imagine that the founders told him exactly what would happen if voldemort won the war and harry was still alive. remember the original prophecy said that if the harry went to the darkness all would be lost. now i know that harry would never willing work for voldemort but’ severus’ face paled slightly

‘imperius’ he whispered

‘yes’ completed dumbledore ’other parts of the prophecy that were handed down through godric’s family said that the only way to stop this happening if harry is captured, is to kill him and that the only one who can do that is you’ by now severus’ face had drained completely of blood and had taken on a nasty shade of green.

‘oh my god’

‘severus’ albus placed a hand on his arm ’i’m sorry son, there is nothing i can do. no one on the side of the light can actually kill

harry, they could only injure him. you as his guardian are the only one who can, as it is you who guards over his life’

‘oh my god’ severus repeated before looking at the headmaster with glazed eyes. ’and he knows this?’ albus nodded, no trace of the ever present twinkle in his eyes.

‘oh my god’ severus breathed once again before running from the room.

* * * * * * * * * *

walking into the slytherin common room with the two professors was one of the scariest things draco had every been through. there was dead silence as the entire house, who had all just returned from dinner, looked at him with either scorn or outright hatred. head held high he continued through to his room flanked by the two teachers. once inside he collapsed on the bed shaking as remus cast a locking charm on the door. sirius laid a hand on his shoulder

‘it will be okay draco, you don’t need these people. you will make much better friends in gryffindor’ draco nodded gratefully at him and began to pack his trunk. as he packed each robe remus waved his wand and transfigured each of the slytherin patches into gryffindor ones. he did the same with the ties and the jumpers. draco picked up his quidditch robes and threw them in the corner

‘guess i won’t be needing those anymore’ he laughed

‘don’t worry, you will get new ones in gryffindor’ he looked at sirius strangely. ‘they will need another seeker once harry graduates and you have the most experience of anybody’ draco grinned as he put the last of his belongings in his trunk and closed the lid. remus shrunk the trunk and put it in his pocket. picking up his broom and his school bag and keeping a firm hold of his wand inside his robes, he waited as sirius took the locking charm off the door. taking a deep breath he again held his head high and weaved his way across the still silent common room

towards the door. only ten metres, he thought. now only five. almost free, almost. just before he reached the door crabbe, goyle and pansy walked in front of him.

‘just you wait malfoy, you traitor’ pansy hissed at him ‘you can’t be protected all of the time. you refuse the dark lord and you pay for it’ glancing back at the two professors she raised her voice and putting on a sickly sweet smile said

‘it was nice knowing you draco. i’m sure we will see you round’ the three of them glared menacingly at draco one last time before moving away from the door. sirius placed a hand on draco’s shoulder propelling him through the doorway and into the corridor where the others were waiting. hearing the door close behind them draco gasped and slid to the floor shaking again. ginny rushed over and knelt by the boy

‘draco, are you alright’ draco looked up at her nodding. he took another couple of deep breaths before rising and gathering his broomstick, ron had picked his bag up off the floor, and following the others towards gryffindor tower.

‘draco’ hermione whispered as they reached the portrait of the fat lady. the password is ‘gryffindor’

‘very original’ malfoy snorted

‘we thought so. no one would think that we would use such an obvious password.’ she huffed

‘i’m glad potter has his own rooms, a first year hufflepuff could come up with that password by accident’ he smirked. hermione frowned.

‘maybe your right we had better change it’ she said climbing through the portrait hole. ‘harry’ she yelled rushing over to the couch and throwing himself down next to harry

‘are you o’ she stopped when she saw the look on harry’s face

‘we need to talk, all five of us’ he nodded acknowledging remus and his godfather.

‘here’ remus said as he pulled draco’s trunk from his pocket and returning it to it’s normal size. ‘we’ll leave you now and see you

all in the morning’ they bid everybody goodnight and headed back out through the portrait hole.

‘come on’ harry walked towards the stairs and the two girls quickly followed as draco and ron grabbed the trunk and dragged it up to the fifth year dorms together. once they were all inside and harry had managed to convince seamus, dean and neville to give them some privacy for a few moments, he waved his hand at the door to lock it, and turned to face the four chosen ones.

‘i just want to apologise to you all for what happened in albus’ office’ they all glanced at each other when he used the headmaster’s given name ‘i don’t know what got into me. i guess i am just not as ready for this as i had hoped’

‘harry’ ginny said softly ‘you are not alone in this. none of us are ready, it will take time and i’m sure it will hurt’ she joked as ron paled ’but we will do it together because we have been chosen too’ harry shook his head

‘no i don’t think that is a good idea. i think it is best that you guys are somewhere safe and you just leave voldemort to me’

‘don’t even think about it harry james potter’ hermione bristled ’you are not facing voldemort alone again. we are all going to be there. it takes all of us to do this anyway’ she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. draco chuckled and she turned glare on him.

‘what’

‘it doesn’t take all of us to do this’ draco said simply

‘what are you talking about’ hermione retorted ‘he said it would take all of us’

‘no’ harry interrupted her ‘i said i would need you lot to survive. i can kill voldemort on my own’ he finished matter of factly.

‘harry’ ginny laid a hand on her arm ‘can i talk to you in private for a moment please’ harry nodded and took her to the far corner of the room casting a silencing charm around them.

‘what is it’

‘harry i know you want to do this on your own and you are worried about us getting hurt but think of it from our point of view. we would much rather try to help you as much as possible and die trying then live the rest of our lives knowing that we didn’t help you when we could and now we have to live without you’ harry nodded at her and gathered her in his arms. separating he looked her in the eye before giving her a quick kiss on the mouth.

‘like a brother for you isn’t it’ he said shyly. she grinned at him

‘more like an extra special friend’

‘i agree. i like having you around to help me through things and to talk to though’ he grinned and hugged her once more.

‘i’ll always be here for you harry. you were my first crush. i just don’t know if i could bear to lose you’ she whispered solemnly.

‘you won’t’ he promised ‘so’ he said with a mischievous smile ‘is there anyone else you fancy’

‘no’ ginny went bright red before glancing surreptitiously at draco ‘no’ harry snorted and removed the charm walking back over to the others who had only been able to see the facial expressions and not the dialogue and had no idea what was going on.

‘alright, ginny has convinced me of the will of you all and i agree that we can do this together on one condition’ they all nodded at him ‘don’t you want to hear the condition first’

‘no’ ron said ‘we would do it no matter what the condition’ harry raised an eyebrow at him ’alright tell us’ ron rolled his eyes

‘okay, if am going to train you, you must listen to me at all times. i will train you with both wands and weapons and you can’t quit. the only way this will work is if we know each others every thought, breath and move. we need to be as one unit.’ he glanced at the stunned faces in front of him ’enough for tonight. meet me in the training room after breakfast, you’ll have to bring draco with you he doesn’t know the way. i will clear it with albus for you to miss a few classes over the next few weeks. wear light and cool clothes, no robes yet and don’t eat much’ harry smirked at ron who gulped. he waved a hand at the door and it popped

open. giving hermione and ginny a hug and bidding everyone goodnight, he jumped to his own rooms.

* * * * * * * * * * *

when harry jumped back to his rooms he took a long hot bath. tossing ideas around with erte, asha and elphie, he told him what he wanted to do with the chosen ones and asked for some suggestions on how to go about it. some of the ideas were good but it was little elphie that came up with the cracker.

*a mind link like the one you have with your mentor and your guardian. then you will know when each other needs you and you can communicate during battle without the enemy knowing what you are saying*

‘elphie’ harry breathed ‘that’s brilliant. erte’ he looked at the phoenix ‘can it be done’

*yes* she trilled *i will ask the founders to tell you how* harry grinned and climbed out of the bath. towelling himself dry he changed into fresh pyjamas and crawled into bed.

‘i’m really quite tired’ he thought before sending ’goodnight sev’

‘goodnight harry’

* * * * * * * * * * *

the next morning at about seven harry had just finished his breakfast when he heard a knock on the outer door. banishing the empty plates back to the kitchen he pointed at the door to see through it to who was on the other side. seeing the chosen ones he waved and the door opened allowing them to enter. draco not having seen harry’s rooms or the training room before walked in staring, mouth agape.

‘careful ferret, something will fly in there and nest’ hermione teased. draco promptly shut his mouth and glared at her as the other two tried to stifle their giggles behind their hands.

‘good morning, you lot are early. i don’t think i’ve ever seen ron up this early before’ harry said strolling in to the training room i hope you haven’t eaten much’ he smirked at them. grinning as both draco and ron gulped exchanging concerned looks, he moved into the centre of the room and continued

‘i have spoken to albus and he agrees that at present training is most important and that we need only attend the most relevant classes.’ hermione looked a bit put out at that statement. ‘don’t worry mione, you will get extra credit for all this training’

‘which classes are we going too?’ ron asked

‘potions, dada and animagi’ he replied ‘ginny for the next few weeks you will be attending classes with us. don’t worry, we will help you’ ginny nodded at him. ‘and draco you must make sure that when you are not in gryffindor tower or in here that you are with at least one of us at all times and preferably two’

‘there goes my love life’ he drawled

‘maybe you can find someone who would be willing to share’ hermione teased him again as ron snorted and ginny blushed brighter than her hair. luckily no one but harry noticed

‘yes, yes let’s get started we have potions in two hours. i had another visit from the founders last night and among other things they have given me a spell that will allow us to communicate without speaking. it means that we can know if any of us are in trouble and can co-ordinate during the battle’ harry finished.

‘also comes in damn handy during exams’ ron smirked at draco.

‘ronald weasley’ hermione shrieked.

‘quiet everyone’ harry said softly and firmly. ‘we don’t have time for this. i want you to stand in your positions. draco to the north, you are the base or grounding position of the star. you will help keep the elemental magic under control, ron you are to the south, this is the defence and strategy position. you are there to

watch our back’ ron nodded solemnly ‘hermione you are to the east, the intellect position. your job is to figure out which spell, curses etc are required for each situation’

‘and me, i’m west right’ ginny asked.

‘yes ginny, you are west. your task is the same for the star as erte is to me’

‘who’s erte’ draco looked confused

‘later’ harry shook his head turning back to ginny ‘your task is to keep the star balanced against all influences’ ginny nodded and moved into position. now each of you must lift one hand and place it on my shoulder or chest or back depending on where you are in the star.’ both the girls placed a hand on harry shoulder, ron placed his on harry’s back and draco on his chest. ‘what every you do, don’t let go’ and with those last instructions harry closed his eyes and began to mutter under his breath. nothing happened at first and then harry began to glow. a golden hue surrounded him, extending down the others arms and then surrounding them too. the glow became brighter and brighter until the chosen ones had to close their eyes as well. a huge flash of light and it was gone. they all opened their eyes again and looked at each other.

‘well’ harry sent

‘wow’ ron and draco sent back

‘oh my god’ shrieked hermione

‘owl, not so loud’ the others sent.

‘what’ the chosen ones all yelled at harry.

‘it’s okay calm down’ he sent out softly ‘when we mind speak we can only call each other by our given names. lion, dragon, owl and unicorn or during battle by our weapon names, sword, staff, arrow and dagger’

‘what do we call you’ hermione asked.

‘guess’ harry teased.

‘heir’ said hermione

‘oh gods no’ harry grimaced

‘panther’ ron shouted. harry shook his head grinning.

‘multi animagi’ snorted ginny.

‘close but no cigar’ harry shook his head grinning as he saw comprehension dawn in draco’s eyes

‘griffin. that was you?’ he spat. harry nodded smirking

‘yep, got it in one’

‘you dropped me in the lake’ it was a statement.

‘yeah, well, you were being a right prat at the time’

‘i suppose’ draco arched an eyebrow at him ‘but don’t do it again’

‘not even if your on fire’ harry teased. draco scowled at him.

‘not even if i’m on fire’ the other three started snorting.

‘okay enough fun’ harry moved towards the table on the far side of the room. he picked up the wooden staff and tossed it to draco. ron got the sword. hermione, the bow and arrow and ginny, the dagger.

‘hey harry, what’s your weapon name?’ ron looked at him curiously

‘i am a weapon all of my own’ he said simply ‘you just call me that’

‘what, weapon’

‘yes. just weapon. now i have set up exercises in each corner of the room to help you become more familiar with your weapon. i want you to go to your area and practise the exercises. i will call you when time is up’ each of the four moved to their corner. north, south, east and west and began. harry cast a silencing charm around each of them as he remembered how difficult it was to start learning with outside distractions. he had set each exercise up so that as they improved, the opponent they were

fighting improved also. realising there wasn’t much he could do for the moment, he decided to do a little practicing himself. as he hadn’t done much with the daggers he conjured up two more, as he had given ginny the silver one, and the founder’s opponent and took the fighter’s stance in the centre of the room.

after the first ten minutes harry was sweating heavily. it was much harder to fight up close and personal with the daggers that further away with the sword or the staff. they allowed much more room for manoeuvring and also more room for error. an error this close to the target could have a much more serious outcome. gradually he began to improve and shortly thereafter dispatched the founder’s opponent with a puff of smoke. turning he found that the others had all finished and were watching him closely, well, all except draco, who was gaping open mouthed at erte, asha and elphie who were standing just inside the door and cheering loudly for harry.

‘hey guys’ harry walked over and bent down to say hello ’how was that’

*not bad* trilled erte *not as good as the swords or the staff but not bad*

‘how did the others do’

*sword is good. he is strong and brave. staff is a bit hesitant as is dagger. arrow however, is very good. her aim as straight and true.* asha hissed as him

*i think you may have to explain about us to staff. he looks a bit unsure* elphie added as harry turned and beckoned draco over and told him about the little ones.

‘so that’s what all that hissing was about in potions that first day’ harry nodded

‘i have to take one of them with me at all times. i usually just take asha as she is the easiest to hide but we might take elphie today as we only have potions and dada.’ rising off the ground he told everyone it was time to go and change and that he would meet them back here in fifteen minutes.

‘oh and ron’ he added cheekily ‘you and draco better make it

quick cause if you smell anything like him you will both need a shower.’ he scurried off chuckling into his rooms to shower and change.

fifteen minutes later they met up at the top of the staircase and they all trooped off down to the dungeons.

‘dragon, i want you as far from any of the slytherins as possible okay’ draco nodded ‘lion behind him and owl in front. i will take the side closest to the slytherins, unicorn the other side’ harry sent as they rearranged themselves before going into the class room. harry muttered a small shielding spell as they walked in.

‘dragon stay with lion on the back table.’ harry sent ‘owl you go with unicorn on the one in front. help her as much as you can’ hermione smiled at him. harry left the shield around the two tables and walked up to the desk at the front of the class.

‘severus’ he whispered softly to the professor ’i have put a shield up around the others to protect draco so don’t try walking up to him without telling me so i can take it down’ the potions master nodded as he rose from his seat.

‘good morning. today we will be brewing a potion containing powdered unicorn horn. yes miss parkinson’ severus sighed

‘what’s the junior weasley doing in here’ whined pansy

‘it seems she has taken over from draco’ harry thought glancing at malfoy who seemed to have had the same thought and grinned back at him.

‘that’s virginia to you parkinson, and not that it is any of your business but miss weasley has been put forward a year as she has finished all the work required in her year and needed more of a challenge.’ that seemed to satisfy pansy who was never the most intelligent person.

‘very clever’ harry smirked at him while sending.

‘i couldn’t have this getting back to voldemort now could i. he might find out about the other prophecy’ severus sent back turning to the class.

‘now as i was saying the potion you will be brewing contains

powdered unicorn horn. can anyone tell me what is special about this ingredient. yes miss granger’ hermione put her hand in her lap

‘powdered unicorn horn is very special as if it touched by human hands it will disappear. also it must always be the last ingredient added or otherwise the potion will explode’

‘very good. ten points to gryffindor’ severus smirked at her before waving his wand at the board. ‘there is your list of ingredients and instructions you may begin now’ as the students rushed to the store room harry sent to the others

‘dragon, lion wait until the storeroom is empty before getting your things and make sure the girls watch the door for you’ he glanced over to see the boys nodding at him and turned his attention back to severus as the potions master leant on the desk beside him.

‘harry’ he whispered ‘can you mind speak to the chosen ones now’ harry nodded

‘yes the founders gave me a spell’

‘does it work like the one between us and albus’

‘seems to be exactly the same except that we can’t use our proper names’

‘what do you mean? what do you call each other?’ severus arched an eyebrow

‘we are called by our given names, you know from the prophecy. dragon, lion, owl and unicorn. except in battle when we are known by our weapon names. staff, sword, arrow and dagger.’

‘what are you called? heir’

‘that’s what mione said’ harry rolled his eyes ‘no i am griffin or weapon’ severus arched another eyebrow

‘very apt’ he smirked ‘now you will need to do that veritaserum again as you never redid it from a month ago and you will have to come more often as you still have sixteen potions to complete in less than ten weeks.’ harry nodded and walked towards the

storeroom to gather the ingredients. he smiled at the others on his way past before grabbing his things and returning to the front of the classroom. he shut off the talk from the others so that he could concentrate and began chopping, weighing and measuring the ingredients required for the potion. adding each ingredient and stirring until it became clear, harry took it off the heat to allow it to cool. he was looking over to see how the others were going when he felt a nudge on his leg, glancing down he saw elphie flick in and out before becoming invisible again. casting a silencing spell around them he whispered

‘what’

‘harry, you must come. there is danger out side. i can feel it’ taking off the spell he sent to severus and albus

‘elphie says there is a problem outside. can you keep all the students inside while i take care of it’ suddenly professor dumbledore’s voice boomed

‘all students are to remain in their classes until told otherwise. thank you’ harry nodded at severus and walked towards the door. as he went past the others they rose to go with him but he shook his head.

‘we can’t let anyone else know about the other prophecy just yet’ he sent and reluctantly they sat down and watched as he left the room. once the door was closed behind him elphie reappeared next to him as erte flew down the hall and dropped asha into his hands before perching on his shoulder. together they headed towards the entrance hall and outside on to the grounds.

‘now where’ harry asked elphie.

*over by the gates to the castle* elphie replied trotting off. harry ran after her as erte flew ahead to check out the danger. upon rounding the final bend he sprinted to the gates when he saw a body lying just inside them.

‘severus, albus. you had better get down here and bring draco and the others’ he sent

‘what is it harry?’ he heard back

‘you’ll see when you get here’ he cut off the mind link

* * * * * * * * * *

severus rose from behind his desk

‘mr and miss weasley, miss granger, mr malfoy you will come with me. the rest of you will stay here. do not even move from those seats or the next step you take will be onto the train home’ he growled as he strode through the door after the students. casting a locking charm on it he headed up to the entrance hall and out onto the grounds.

‘harry’ he sent and realising harry had shut off the mind link yelled his name out loud.

‘down by the gates’ he heard in his mind.

‘this way’ he led the four students and albus, who had just joined them, across the grounds to the gates.

just on the inside of the gates was a body laid out as in a burial. they couldn’t tell who it was as harry was standing in front it. looking up he walked over to draco.

‘draco’ his eyes downcast ‘i’m sorry. there was nothing i could do. he was already dead’ draco looked at the body and saw that it was his father. surprised that he felt nothing he walked closer to have a look but it made no difference. his father had disowned him and he had never really loved or cared about him anyway.

harry held out his arm

‘everyone hold on’ he instructed while grabbing lucius malfoy’s wrist. a small pop and they all disappeared. reappearing moments later in the headmaster’s office.

‘hey harry’ draco grinned ‘that was cool, can we do it again’

‘i don’t think this is the time or place draco’ hermione said in what the others had dubbed her mcgonagall voice.

‘i’m sorry if i don’t feel anything for a bastard who never loved me and who tried to kill me less than a week ago’ draco growled

‘alright, everybody settle down and take a seat’ dumbledore sat

down behind his desk as harry waved a hand at malfoy’s body and levitated it onto the table in the alcove.

‘now what do we do about this?’ the elderly professor asked harry. he could feel all eyes on him and he thought for a long while before answering.

‘i’m not sure what this means. sending back the body of one of his most faithful death eaters with no message or threat or anything. something’s not right’ harry got up and walked over to the body and examined it.

‘it looks like avada kedavra. hang on’ harry noticed an extra jewel encrusted into the pins on malfoy’s robes. it was a different colour and size than the others and didn’t match. taking a deep breath he waved his hand over it and jumped back when a green mist shot out and rearranged it self into the dark mark

‘very good potter’ hissed the voice of voldemort ‘i had hoped that you would be the one to work it out. no, i can not see you, i can only feel you. i know that you are there together with the traitor of mine and that muggle loving fool’

‘at least he can’t feel the others’ harry sent to severus.

‘no, they are not tied as tightly to you as albus and i are’ severus sent back

‘anyway, i hope young draco is there’ continued voldemort ‘i imagine he would be happy to know that his father is dead. unfortunately i can’t oblige’ he cackled as the body began to change

‘polyjuice’ whispered hermione

‘did you really think i would go to all the trouble of breaking my most loyal followers out of azkaban only to kill them and hand them over to you. i think not’

just then hermione screamed and ginny fainted.

thanks again everyone. 10 points for those who can guess why hermione screamed and ginny fainted. i will add the points for the last chapter together with these to the next one. please read and review i really like knowing what you think of my story.

disclaimer - plot is mine as is erte, asha and elphie. nothing else is.

thanks again to all reviewers. to all those who responded that the body in the last chapter would be voldemort. i’m sorry but i believe the likelihood of old moldy voldy actually placing himself in a room that he cannot apparate from with at least dumbledore, snape and harry is very slim. i know he went to hogwarts in harry’s first year but he was only a spirit then and it would have been difficult to destroy.

legolasrulez - thank you. i also review only when i feel the story is good enough

crazy person - read the following chapter

meteoragal - thanks for the breathtaking. it’s nice to know that my story can have that effect on people.

keronshara - sorry. i try to put as much detail in as i can but i am not good with the fighting or training scenes.

katydidn’t - see chapter below.

voydag - thanks and don’t worry dudley will come.

laterose - thanks i really like draco as a character. there is so much you can do with him. as for the mione bit i don’t use it often but it really is just the same as ron being called ron even though his name is ronald. it is the nature of english. if you can shorten it you will. sorry.

dustin coons - i think at fifteen harry and ginny are a bit young besides read below.

corgi - yes we did

athenakitty - don’t want to give away too much so all i will say is yes he will live.

myrhfire - i know

castusalbuscor - wasn’t sure what you meant as harry doesn’t really have any family. well not blood family anyway.

congratulations to the following people who receive 10 points for guessing correctly

daine of queenscove

tereth dragonstar

chapter 19 - the dark mark

‘yes can’t oblige at all’ voldemort cackled again ‘however i thought a small gift to you might still be in order. you had better keep your friends and loved ones close potter or you may be getting a few more gifts before the year is out’ an evil laughter filled the air as the dark mark disappeared.

hermione buried her head in ron’s chest and draco caught ginny before she tumbled off the couch. all the colour drained from ron’s face as he whispered,

‘charlie’ albus quickly crossed to the fire and throwing in some floo powder said,

‘poppy. please come to my office immediately’ a few minutes later the matron knocked on the door and entered,

‘albus, what is it?’ at that moment she saw the body of charlie weasley ‘oh my god’

‘it is too late for him poppy, will you please escort ginny, hermione, ron and draco down to the infirmary while i contact arthur and molly. i think a few calming potions and some chocolate should be in order’ the medi witch nodded and bustled the four students out of the door and down the stairs. ron and hermione were clinging to each other. draco decided to wait until ginny was in the hospital wing and away from the sight of her

second oldest brother before waking her so he just picked her up and carried her down the stairs. once more albus threw some floo powder into the fire, this time calling arthur weasley

‘albus, you look terrible. what is the matter?’ mr weasley asked

‘arthur’ dumbledore shook his head wearily ’please can you go get molly and come straight here. i’m afraid there is a problem’ mr weasley looked confused for a moment and then nodded before his head disappeared. dumbledore pointed his wand at charlie’s body and levitated it into the antechamber off his study, closing the door behind him. severus looked over at harry who was sitting quietly on a chair, his tears making slow tracks down his face.

‘harry?’ severus spoke softly kneeling in front of him and lifting his chin so that he looked straight into his eyes. when he looked into them he knew exactly what the young man was thinking. ’this is not your fault’ he whispered. harry nodded but he didn’t really believe it. if only he had been more careful. he had known since he was eleven that he was a target. he should have kept his distance and then no one else would have got hurt. he spent a few more minutes berating himself as severus walked into the other room to talk to albus.

the flames in the fire place turned green as molly and arthur weasley climbed out of the fire. when she saw harry she rushed forward and threw her arms around him, only noticing the wet streaks down his face at the last moment.

‘harry dear, what’s wrong?’ harry couldn’t say anything he just pointed to the other door and broke down. molly looked at arthur for an explanation but he just shrugged and walked towards the door. he opened it and gasped, immediately blocking molly’s view and trying to stop her from coming into the room.

‘arthur weasley, stop this nonsense’ she shrieked ‘what the goodness name is wrong with y….ahhh no charlie’ she screamed pushing past arthur and going over to hug the body of her second eldest child. ‘oh charlie, what have they done to you. my darling son.’ she burst into tears as arthur came over and wrapped his arms around his wife, guiding her from the room and settling her on one of the couches in dumbledore’s office.

harry rose slowly and walked across the room. standing in front of molly and arthur he whispered

‘i’m so sorry mr weasley, mrs weasley. if i had known that…’ he couldn’t finish. he choked back a sob before running from the room. albus nodded at severus who ran after him as molly continued to sob into arthur’s chest.

‘where is ron and ginny?’ arthur asked

‘they are in the hospital wing’ dumbledore shook his head

‘did they… did they see this?’ arthur stuttered

‘unfortunately they were here when we found him’

‘what happened?’ interrupted molly sniffing. albus launched into an explanation of the mornings events as severus headed towards the third floor. as he reached the door to harry’s rooms he heard albus’ voice magically magnified telling the students to make their way to the great hall for lunch.

‘oh no’ groaned severus as he remembered that he had left a locking charm on the classroom door. sprinting down to the dungeons he stopped at the end of the corridor and took the spell off the door allowing the students to get out. not wanting to answer any questions yet he hid in the shadows as the students filed past and then went back up to harry’s rooms. giving the password that harry had told him, he waited as the door swung open. he looked into the room to find harry going full force with two swords against three of the founder’s opponents. stepping a bit further into the room, he closed the door behind him and edged along the wall to sink down in a chair in the corner. watching harry, he couldn’t help but be in awe of the young man.

‘no wonder he is called weapon’ he whispered ’although it is good that he has found an outlet for his anger’ harry continued to fight and although the odds were getting better all the time, as first one and then two of the opponents disappeared in a puff of smoke, severus could see the amount of work that harry was having to do. eventually the last opponent disappeared and harry collapsed on the floor sobbing. severus rushed across the room and threw himself down next to harry, gathering the sobbing boy

in his arms.

‘shh, shh harry. it’s okay. it’s not your fault’ he crooned stroking his back and pushing his hair back from his face. he continued to comfort the young wizard until he felt the sobbing subside and waited until harry raised his head.

‘i know it is not my fault really’ harry said eyelashes still glistening with tears ‘but i still can’t help but feel guilty. when i found out that i was at the top of voldemort’s special little list i should have realised that i was putting anyone i was friends with in danger. if it wasn’t for me then charlie wouldn’t be dead right now. you can’t not tell me that voldemort choose him because he was a weasley. if he could have got to ron, that probably would be him lying in dumbledore’s office right now’ harry broke down once more and severus was at a loss as to what to say. there was no use telling harry he was wrong. harry was anything but stupid and unfortunately he was right. not that it was his fault, but about ron. if voldemort could get to anyone who was close to harry he would, especially if he thought it would upset him. in voldemort’s mind, the closer the better. severus sighed and gently helped harry to his feet.

‘come on let’s get you down to poppy’

‘no. please’ harry begged ‘please don’t make me go down there. i can’t… i can’t face them just yet’ harry choked back another sob and gave severus a pleading look.

‘okay. you can stay here. i think a dreamless sleep potion might be in order’ harry shook his head.

‘no’ he said resolutely ‘i want the dreams today. i deserve them’ severus started to object but harry just shrugged out of his arms and walked towards his bedroom closing and locking the door behind him.

‘oh dear’ severus sighed as he turned and walked out of the room towards the hospital wing.

* * * * * * * * * * *

‘only three weeks to go, my dear nagini and then hogwarts will be mine. dumbledore will be dead and potter will, once and for all, answer to me. i’m sorry, but you will have to wait for potter’s body until i can work out if there is a way of transferring his powers to me. i felt that when i used imperius on him last year, to get him to bow before me at the beginning of our duel, he was strong even after cruciatus. i almost couldn’t make him. i don’t think i would be able to keep him under for more than a few seconds without first weakening him with numerous cruciatus curses. probably from at least three death eaters at a time. therefore i need to be able to either tap into his power or transfer it’ voldemort continued to pace the room muttering under his breath. suddenly his stopped and looked around the room.

‘potter, are you here again, i can feel you’ harry cast a shielding spell on himself and walked out from behind the pillar where he was hiding.

‘hello tom’ he said softly ’thank you for your little gift’ sarcasm dripped from the last two words and voldemort’s snake like eyes narrowed.

‘how did you get in here potter’ harry shrugged,

‘i don’t know. i just wish to be somewhere and i am. i don’t pretend to understand it’ he replied. voldemort appeared as if in thought for a moment before pointing his wand at harry.

‘crucio’ harry felt the curse slam into his shield and braced himself. his shield had only been tested against mild curses. curses sent by three wizards at once, but mild all the same. it had never been tested against an unforgivable.

‘what are you doing harry?’ taunted voldemort ‘your shield won’t stand up for long’ voldemort began to mutter under his breath as harry’s shield began to break down. suddenly it was gone and the curse hit harry full force, throwing him to the ground as he writhed in agony. it was almost as if the shield had collected all of the curse that voldemort sent, saved it up and when it fell, all of

it was released towards harry. harry knew he didn’t have that long before the cruciatus and the other curses voldemort was muttering at the same time weakened him so much that, as voldemort had correctly guessed, he would be able to use imperius on him. struggling to overcome the pain he concentrated on hogwarts and wished himself back there.

‘potter, get back here’ he heard voldemort scream as he disappeared.

bolting upright in bed, he screamed as the pain returned.

‘must. hospital wing. poppy’ he croaked as he struggled to get off the bed and out through the door. staggering across the training room, then out the door and down the three flights of stairs, harry could feel the blood running down his face and body. ‘voldemort must have used a cutting curse’ he thought subconsciously. any further thoughts were pushed out of his mind as he staggered past the closed doors of the great hall, hearing the rumble of students at dinner. seeing the door to the hospital wing in front of him, he waved his hand and it burst open with a bang. he managed to make it six feet into the room before the pain took him and he crumpled to the floor.

* * * * * * * * * * *

severus looked up when he heard the bang and his mouth dropped as he saw the torn and bloody figure in the doorway.

‘harry’ he whispered and rose to go to the young man. unfortunately he didn’t manage to get there before harry collapsed to the floor. thankfully ron, ginny and hermione we still asleep after being given dreamless sleep potions. this was something that they definitely did not need to see. charlie’s body, which although in itself a shock, at least was clean and without the look of intense pain on it’s face that was currently on harry’s. severus bent down and picked harry up and carried him over to the nearest bed.

‘professor’ draco whispered as molly hurried to get poppy from

her office ‘is harry okay? who did this?’

‘i don’t know draco’ severus sighed ‘i have my suspicions but i don’t know’ severus sat on one side of the bed and held one of harry’s hands. albus stood at the end and looked down on the two of them after sending draco to fetch sirius and remus. they had moved harry into one of the private rooms at the far end of the wing just in case ron, hermione or ginny woke up. albus and severus didn’t think that they were ready to see harry in this state after the scare this morning. poppy had cleaned harry up as best as she could and severus had given him pain killing and healing potions. now all they could do is wait until he woke up.

* * * * * * * * * * *

hours later, severus heard the other students begin to wake. it was early morning, the sky was still dark outside as he leaned over and nudged the man on the other side of the bed,

‘black’ he hissed ’wake up’ he heard a yelp and a gasp from out in the other room. ’we might have a problem in a minute’ sirius sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. suddenly the door was flung open as ron and hermione ran in.

‘oh harry’ hermione perched on the edge of the bed. turning to severus she asked,

‘professor snape, do you know what happened?’

‘i have a theory’ severus looked at sirius who nodded. just then they were joined by draco, ginny, arthur, molly, remus and albus. they room was starting to get a bit crowded. ’come in all of you. you might as well hear it too. this is just a theory mind you. we will have to wait for harry to confirm it’

‘spit it out severus’ remus sighed.

‘well as some of you know harry has the ability to jump around the grounds due to him being the heir of the founders. what you

don’t know is that he can also transport himself anywhere. not apparating. he can get through wards that are there for security as well as some that are anti apparition wards. two days ago harry had a vision of voldemort’ the weasley’s all flinched at the name ’torturing draco and he was able to transport himself there and save draco’s life by bringing him back to hogwarts.’

‘professor’ hermione breathed ’you don’t think that harry went back there. back to see voldemort.’

‘i do. i don’t think he meant to get hurt on purpose. he just felt so guilty about charlie that he wanted to confront voldemort’

‘why would he feel guilty?’ molly asked concerned.

‘he feels guilty about everything. he thinks he is putting you all in danger by being his friend. we have to handle this carefully as i imagine he will start to distance himself from all us thinking that will save us’

‘how in the hell could he think that’ ron shouted. ’shh’ was heard from all sides. severus looked at ron with a grim expression,

‘he thinks that if voldemort could have got to you or miss granger he would have. charlie was just the easiest to get to of all the people harry is close to. he knows how voldemort thinks. he believes that if he doesn’t have any friends or loved ones then voldemort will have no one to come after. no one to use as bait.’ draco gasped,

‘remember what the dark mark said ’keep your friends and loved ones close potter or you will be getting a few more gifts before the year is out’ severus nodded,

‘harry thinks that instead of taking the chance of not being able to keep you all close enough and letting him get to another one of you, if he can drive you away then voldemort will have to find another way of getting to him which in turn would mean that you are no longer in danger’ severus finished.

‘finished psycho-analysing me sev?’ a hoarse whisper came from the bed.

‘harry, you scared us’ ginny chided as she sat down on the edge

of the bed. ‘what did you go after him for?’ harry sighed,

‘i didn’t go after him i was just trying to find out what he had planned next, but he can tell when i’m there. he says he can feel me’

‘harry’ albus interrupted softly ‘can you tell us what happened’ harry looked around before sending,

‘can i just tell you and sev’ albus nodded and cleared his throat

‘i ask if you all can bear with us for a moment and wait out in the main wing, this is something harry wishes to discuss with his mentor and guardian only’ the others nodded and filed out into the main wing whispering between themselves while taking seats on various chairs and beds around the room. albus closed the door as severus turned his concerned gaze back to harry.

‘so, what happened’

‘after you left’ severus arched and eyebrow ‘alright, after i went and locked myself in my room. happy?’ severus nodded ‘i studied for a while and then i was just lying down staring at the ceiling when the vision came over me again. voldemort was pacing up and down in the same room that i got draco from. he was saying that he would have to weaken me first with cruciatus and other spells before he could put imperius on me or otherwise i would be too strong. i guess he was trying out that theory today’ harry said dryly ‘my shield won’t hold up for very long against the unforgivables’ albus and severus looked at each other ’he is trying to find a way to transfer my powers to him’ harry sat up and looked into severus’ eyes ’you can’t let him. you know that don’t you. you can’t let him. even if he can’t transfer my powers he could use me. use me against everybody. you can’t let him. promise me sev that you won’t let him’ harry was getting hysterical by this point. his voice was getting louder and louder and the air around him began to swirl. severus knelt down next to the bed and grasped harry shoulders.

‘i promise harry. i don’t know how yet but i promise i won’t let him get to you’ the fire went out of harry’s eyes as the air settled down. severus lay harry back down on the bed and rose to follow albus from the room. they closed the door and he glanced back

in the window next to it. harry had rolled over onto his side and curled up into a little ball. severus could see his shoulders shaking and he just shook his head sadly ‘so young to have to bear this sort of responsibility’ he thought. by the time he had made his way over to the others albus had explained what had happened. they were all silent. each to his or her own thoughts. molly was the first one to speak,

‘ron, i think it’s best if you and ginny come home with me now’

‘no’ ron and ginny said together.

‘pardon. one of your brothers has just died. i want you both home and safe with me’

‘no mum’ ginny said standing up ‘we have to stay here with harry. we will come to the funeral but it is very important that we stay with harry now. it’s a matter of life or death. his life, and we promised’ she finished softly and walked down the wing, into harry’s room followed by ron, hermione and draco. mrs weasley sat there gaping as albus put a hand on her shoulder,

‘i think you both should come up to my office. there is something you should know about your two youngest children’ nodding mr and mrs weasley rose and followed albus out the door. severus turned to remus and sirius,

‘you two should get some sleep. it’s a hogsmeade trip today and it’s your turn to escort the students’ nodding they bid severus goodnight as they headed off to their rooms for a few hours sleep before having to get up again. knocking softly on harry’s door he opened it to find the five students obviously having quite a lively conversation but without actually saying anything.

‘do you know how disconcerting that is’ he said sitting down on the only available chair as the girls both giggled.

‘think what fun we can have in class with this’ ginny laughed.

‘now, now miss weasley. i hope you are not thinking of disrupting class or cheating’ severus said sternly as he struggled to stop the corners of his mouth from twitching.

‘professor’ draco had his hand over his heart as though mortally

wounded ‘i‘m devastated that you would think such things of us’ that did it severus couldn’t hold it any longer as he burst out laughing. of course harry laughed with him but none of the others had so much as seen severus smile let alone laugh and the shock was just too great. the girls just stared as ron and draco were doing the goldfish impression again. this of course made it worse. every time harry and severus looked at each other they burst out laughing again. eventually they managed to get themselves under some sort of control.

‘well, that was interesting’ ron said scratching his head. the utterly confused expression on his face sent harry and severus were off again, tears streaming down their faces. by this time draco, ginny and hermione were giggling too.

‘thank you. i really needed that’ harry choked out between giggles. taking deep breaths to calm himself he wiped his tears from his face with the back of his sleeve.

‘what?’ he asked severus who was looking at him carefully.

‘i have to ask you something but i’m not sure you are up to it’

‘i’m fine’ harry insisted ‘what is it?’

‘remember the spell you did to catch wormtail’ harry nodded ‘do you think you can do a similar one that will allow us to see if any of the students have been marked’ harry thought for a moment before nodding ‘it’s a hogsmeade day today and you know what happened last time’ severus finished gesturing to draco. harry got up out of the bed.

‘come on’ he said heading towards the door.

‘we are we going? it’s five o’clock in the morning’ severus asked.

‘would you rather i do this in broad daylight where everyone can see?’ harry countered. no one said anything ‘i didn’t think so, now come on’ harry transfigured his pyjamas as he walked out of the hospital wing. down to the entrance hall and out onto the grounds.

‘i think it’s best if we do this on the far side of the castle away from the dormitories’ harry said as they followed him around

behind the greenhouses.

‘now you lot wait here with severus and don’t come anywhere near me until i have finished. no matter what you see’ he looked each one in the eye before turning and walking away to a safe distance.

‘what’s he doing’ he heard ron ask draco who just shrugged. nodding to severus he raised his arms and looked up at the early morning sky. the sun was just starting to peep over the horizon. calling softly to the air element he asked for the clouds to come. the chosen ones watched in disbelief as dark clouds began to form above harry. in the distance they could see the thunder and lightning coming. harry kept calling and, as the storm was just above him, he began to chant. they couldn’t make out what he was saying over the noise of the thunder but they started to worry about the lightning that was crackling on the ground around their friend.

‘don’t worry’ severus shouted over the thunder ‘he knows what he is doing’ harry raised his palms up and called to the lightning. hermione screamed as it flashed down into his hand and he threw it at the wards surrounding the school. for over an hour they stood and stared at harry, mesmerized by the raw display of power. other students had started to come out of the castle and join them. awoken by the noise of the storm and then drawn by the sight of the lightning seemingly touching down on one spot. it was not until they rounded the greenhouses that they saw that it was harry. eventually he opened his eyes and lowered his arms, banishing the storm while thanking the air element for it’s help. before he turned he heard,

‘harry, just to warn you before you turn around. over half the school is out here’

‘what, how? i thought they couldn’t see me from the castle?’ he sent back as the air around him continued to crackle.

‘they couldn’t until they actually looked. and when they found you they told their friends’

‘damn’ harry swore and the crackling got louder. taking several deep breaths he turned around and walked back towards his

friends, sending,

‘owl, lion, dragon come on guys. you need to make it look like this is nothing unusual’

‘griffin, i’m sorry but that is the most unusual, most amazing, most frightening thing i have every seen in my life’ hermione sent back.

‘yeah well you were never in the chamber of secrets were you’ harry mumbled to himself

‘well can you at least all shut you mouths?’ harry whined and all four mouths closed promptly ‘thank you’ by this time he had joined his friends. he kept his face expressionless as he stood in front of the rest of the students. not a word was spoken. no one could think of what to say to a young man not yet sixteen who had just displayed an amount of power that had not been seen since merlin himself. the fact that he was actually still crackling probably didn’t help to loosen their jaws any.

‘breakfast.’ harry stated as he made his way through the gaping students with severus and the chosen ones close behind. ‘i’m awfully hungry’.

breakfast that morning consisted of bacon and eggs and any number of rumours. the early morning display had gone around the school like wildfire. by midway through breakfast there was not a student or teacher in the school who had not had it explained to them in great detail by at least three people who had seen it first hand. harry sat at the far end of the gryffindor table surrounded by the chosen ones. to everybody else it looked like they were silently eating but in fact they were discussing this mornings events. after they had all finished, which took less time then it used to as they now didn’t have to worry about talking with their mouth full, they all rose and left the great hall together. the level of conversation rose to fever pitch as they passed through the massive doors. once out in the entrance hall harry turned to the four,

‘does anyone want to go to hogsmeade’ harry looked at them.

‘no’ draco said ‘i think we should train’ the other three nodded in

agreement and harry held out his arm. they all took hold and harry jumped them up to the training room. discarding their robes they moved to their corners to begin their exercises. harry moved around the room help each with things that they found difficult. by lunchtime they had completed all of the exercises harry had set up for them. over chicken and salad that harry had jumped down to the kitchen for, he told them what he had planned for the afternoon. at this revelation they were silent as harry packed up the remains of lunch and sent it down to the kitchens. he jumped them all down to the quidditch pitch and conjured up twenty of the founders opponents, placing them at various points around the pitch.

‘okay’ he said turning back to the four ‘now we see if we can keep the star active during battle’ he nodded as they moved into position around him. ‘no wands this time. i will use the elements while you four use your weapons.’ at hermione’s expression his voice softened ‘don’t worry i won’t let anything happen to you’ she nodded and took a deep breath bringing her weapon up into a ready position in front of her. the others all did the same as harry called the elements and positioned them.

‘albus’ he sent ‘can you keep all of the students that aren’t at hogsmeade inside for one hour? we need to use the quidditch pitch’

‘of course harry’ came the reply ‘can you try and leave it the way you found it this time though? it took us two weeks to fix it last time and you have a game next week’

‘i’ll try’ he snorted ‘but no promises’ he received a growl in return.

‘everyone ready. okay’ he waved his hand and the figures began to move. they surrounded the star and began to send fire balls towards it.

‘pretend they are curses and dodge them or use your weapon to deflect them’ harry sent. hermione dodged a fire ball and shot an arrow back at the sender making it disappear in a puff of smoke.

‘good one arrow’ harry sent. this seem to galvanize the others into action as they also attacked the opponents with gusto.

‘staff. don’t stray to far from the star’ harry warned as he wiped out the back row of opponents with a large chunk of earth. ‘let them come to you’ draco moved back into his position as ron dispatched two more with a very quick swipe with his sword.

‘thanks sword, i wondered how long until saw them’ ron grinned at him and then turned his attention back to the figures in front of him.

‘dagger, if you don’t want to wait until they get two close, you can throw one of your daggers and then call it back. but make sure you throw only one. you wouldn’t want to be caught without one now would you’ he chuckled. by this time there were about twelve opponents left and harry halved this number by picking up six in a water tunnel and dropping them in the middle off the lake where they disappeared. ron took out one more as did draco. ginny got two at once, one with each dagger and hermione managed to get two with one arrow, straight through one and into the other.

‘well that went better then i thought it would’ harry laughed, thanking and banishing the elements. the chosen ones were in very high spirits whooping and hollering and slapping each other on the back. harry grinned and sent to albus,

‘we’ve finished you can let the students out now’

‘i know we have been watching you from the hospital wing’

‘really, what did you think?’ harry asked curiously.

‘you have done a good job with the chosen ones harry. they are really there just to protect you but you have been able to turn them into a weapon as well. i’m very proud of you’ harry felt tears prick at the back of his eyes.

‘thank you. we are going to jump back now and you can open the doors’ harry held out his arm,

‘ready’ they grabbed hold and he jumped them back up to his rooms.

‘i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. that is so cool’ draco breathed. harry just grinned and shook his head.

‘now we have about two hours before dinner and i want to work on your animagus transformations.’ ron and draco groaned. hermione was so excited that she looked as if she might spontaneously combust at any moment and ginny just muttered ‘slave driver’ under her breath and flopped down on the ground.

harry ignored them all and said,

‘i want you all to concentrate on your animal, close your eyes. ginny get up off the floor, you can’t do this sitting down’ he scowled at her. she grumbled for a moment but stood up next to the others ‘now picture you animal in your mind and then picture a part of your body, try an easy part like a hand or a foot, as the equivalent part on the animal. it will tingle at first and then burn a bit but don’t loose the picture in your head. i will tell you when to open your eyes. they spread out a bit and all closed their eyes. harry watched them all carefully. he had worked out in his head who would be the first to start to change. his bets lay on hermione, then ron and then draco and ginny. hermione first mainly because she would have read all about it first and therefore understood the principals of the change. ron next because a lion isn’t a magical creature and therefore didn’t require as much power as a dragon or a unicorn. he was a bit unsure of the other two as although draco was definitely the more powerful, ginny would probably have read up on it to and understanding the change enables it to be completed quicker. sure enough after about fifteen minutes the back of hermione’s hand sprouted feathers. harry grinned,

‘owl, open your eyes but don’t say anything’ hermione opened her eyes and put her hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp. glancing over at the others he noticed that ginny’s feet were now hooves and ron’s hand was decidedly furry. draco was struggling though. harry told ron and ginny to open their eyes and stay quiet as he walked across the room.

‘dragon’ he called softly ‘open your eyes and look at me’ draco opened his eyes and looked straight into harry’s emerald ones as harry lifted his hands and placed one on either side of draco’s head.

‘don’t fight it he’ he sent ‘you have to give yourself over to the

dragon. you can’t do this by half. you have to lose a bit of control to get there’ draco nodded slightly to show he understood and looked deep into harry’s eyes while picturing the dragon in his mind. harry channelled power through his hands to help draco. the others gasped as, with a pop, draco totally transformed and a small silver dragon stood in his place.

‘oops’ harry thought ‘ a bit too much power’ he muttered a charm under his breath and sent more power through his hands and the dragon popped back into draco.

‘god that hurt’ draco croaked.

‘sorry, that was my fault’ harry said sheepishly ‘bit too much power. it gets easier each time’ he promised. turning back to the others he said ‘just close your eyes again and picture your limb back the way it should be’ he watched carefully as the others changed back and then he cast a quick healing and energy spell on draco.

‘okay we should all go and shower and change before dinner. i’ll meet you in the common room in half an hour’ the chosen ones all headed towards the door, hermione chattering excitedly to ron as draco leaned on ginny for support.

‘i can’t believe how much that hurt. it was like having all your organs and bones rearranged and then put back the way they were’ he said to her.

‘it’s only cause you weren’t ready for it. that’s why it takes so long to become an animagus’ she replied.

‘harry did it in a day’ draco scoffed.

‘yeah but harry isn’t what you would call normal’ harry snickered at them and began stripping off his clothes while heading to the bathroom.

* * * * * * * * * * *

after a soak in the tub harry jumped down to an alcove off the

common room and sat down on the couch to wait for the others. he was soon joined by ginny and hermione who was still yabbering on about the animagus transformations. eventually he sent,

‘dragon, lion if your not down here in five minutes your both going to dinner sprouting all sorts of attractive things from your face that i can’t even name and madame pomfrey won’t be able to remove’ by the time he had finished they heard a door slam and the two boys came running down the stairs with stricken expressions on their faces. hermione and ginny were laughing hysterically as harry tried to keep a stern expression on his face. the corners of mouth were twitching as he gestured to the portrait hole and followed the two, still giggling, girls. hermione and ginny had got hold of themselves by the time they reached the great hall and they filed in and took their chosen seats at the end of the table. as the rest of the school came in and took their seats harry glanced at the head table.

‘hey severus, what did you get up to today’ he sent

‘not nearly as much as you by the sound of it’ the potions master smirked. harry grinned at him and returned his attention to the food that had just appeared on the table. suddenly one of the massive doors opened and crabbe and goyle rushed in and ran straight to the slytherin table. harry gasped.

‘harry what is it?’ ginny laid a hand on his arm. he held up his hand as he sent,

‘albus, severus. you have to get crabbe and goyle out of here now. i don’t care if you floo them home, to the ministry or to the moon just get them off the grounds immediately’

‘harry what is it?’ albus asked

‘they have the dark mark’

‘how can you tell. there is no shadow’ severus snapped. harry had trouble hiding the exasperation in his voice even through the mind link,

‘i cast the spell so that only i could see the dark mark. i didn’t think it would be conducive to have nearly the entire school

throwing up most of their dinner as they had they had the crap scared out of them by two of their fellow students, albeit not intentionally’

‘good point’ albus sent back nodding as he rose from his chair. the headmaster and his potions master walked down the row between the slytherin and ravenclaw tables, coming to a stop behind crabbe and goyle. tapping them both on the shoulder they indicated that they should make their way out of the hall and were closely followed by the two professors who closed the door behind them with a bang. hermione rounded on harry

‘griffin, what the hell was that?’ harry shrugged

‘don’t know’ he sent back

‘don’t lie to me. you gasp when they come in and then you go into a semi daze while you talk to dumbledore, don’t roll your eyes you know you do, and then dumbledore and professor snape take them both from the hall. what is going on’

‘okay’ harry sent to all of them ‘that spell that i cast this morning on the wards allowed me to see a dark mark floating above anyone who had one.’ ginny gasped as draco buried his head in his hands.

‘idiots’ he mumbled ‘i knew this was going to happen’

‘are you telling us that crabbe and goyle had the dark mark. is that why dumbledore and snape took them out’ harry nodded.

‘yes lion, if there is someone in hogwarts wearing the mark, they can be used to break through the wards’

‘is that why dragon was hurt’ hermione asked

‘yes. voldemort obviously just found out or he would have used severus years ago and now that he doesn’t have it anymore he has to find someone or give it to someone else.’ there was no more talk as the five students tried to digest the facts of the last half hour. eventually albus and severus returned and harry sent,

‘what happened’ harry could hear the headmaster sigh through the link

‘we have expelled them both, snapped their wands and sent them to the ministry to be collected by their parents’ harry nodded and past the information along to the others who just continued to eat in silence. as soon as dinner was finished harry bid everybody goodnight and returned to his rooms for what he hoped would be a restful nights sleep. after the last few days he definitely needed it.

sorry it has taken me so long to post but i am really not happy with this chapter but i have rewritten it four times and i just can’t seem to get it any better than it is. sorry

points haven’t changed much this chapter but will by the end of the next chapter with the attack on hogwarts which i hopefully should have posted by sunday at the latest.

thanks again and please review and let me know what you think of this chapter. i think it is my worst baring only the first two.

http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1292032&chapter=19