Harry removed his shoes just before stepping into the mat covered room that Severus had converted into a practice ring for kin-sa-dor. He left his socks on, however, but they never practiced with shoes, because it was too easy for someone to get permanently injured while sparring with shoes on. Sometimes the socks made it slippery on the mats, but Severus told them it was just something they would have to learn to compensate for, part of kin-sa-dor was learning to deal with less than ideal conditions in environment, such as slippery footing and loud noise and such. Once he had made them practice while simulating a noise of sirens or pots banging, saying that they had to learn to tune out such distractions when they sparred and just concentrate on their techniques and opponent.

For the first two weeks, Severus had forbade them to practice against each other, instead they sparred with him alone or together or with an animated practice dummy called Voldy. Harry had named it that, saying it was easier to spar with a named opponent. Voldy was designed to respond like a skilled wizard opponent, and could simulate spells and martial arts, and it had been spelled to be nearly indestructible. Most curses bounced off it and it would take a very strong curse to ever destroy Voldy utterly. It had several levels it could operate on, but the one Severus had set it at most of the time was Novice, for the boys were not skilled enough to handle Voldy at anything greater just yet. He could fight Voldy at the Master setting, and had demonstrated that to the boys in the beginning of their sessions together. They had been suitably impressed. Severus had learned the art of crafting practice dummies from his fae teacher, a woman called Sarai, who had also taught him kin-sa-dor.

Harry didn't mind sparring against Voldy, but he preferred a live opponent, such as Severus. Draco had told him he did as well, he'd been Severus's student for four years and sometimes felt like he'd outgrown the practice dummy, though Snape insisted he wasn't even close to moving Voldy up to Intermediate level yet for his godson.

Kin-sa-dor was more than just learning physical combat moves, though that was a great deal of it. Kin-sa-dor was as much a mental discipline as a physical one, it involved being able to out-think and anticipate your enemy, and use stealth and cleverness to defeat him. "You must learn to practice the art of being a shadow, only then will you master the tenets of kin-sa-dor," Severus had told Harry in their very first session together, before Draco had come to Prince Manor. "A practitioner of the art knows how to see round the edges of things and notice what others overlook. Then he waits his chance to strike and uses what knowledge he has gained to overcome his opponent. You don't have to be super strong or tall or quick in order to practice kin-sa-dor effectively. You have to cultivate a certain amount of patience and accuracy above all. Know your enemy, know how he thinks, how he moves, how he reacts, and then you will have the keys to defeating him."

Meditation was a key element in kin-sa-dor, it helped clear the mind and focus, and it was something Severus always insisted they do before actually sparring. Following meditation they did some basic stretches, limbering up their muscles before they set to work.

Harry was dressed in his most comfortable pair of pants and a lightweight T-shirt, for you needed to move quickly when you practiced kin-sa-dor. He was the first to arrive at the room for their session that afternoon, and while he waited for Severus and Draco, who were brewing a potion together, and had not quite finished, he concentrated on his meditative breathing and focusing his mind into an alert state.

Severus explained that the fae had intended kin-sa-dor to be a subtle discipline, much like the fae themselves, who could hide in plain sight from humans, even wizards, using the tightest glamours and veils. The fae were masters at the art of vanishing and hiding, it was how they had preserved themselves in a world where humans were rapidly taking over the planet by population and habitation. Kin-sa-dor reflected that, one reason that it was strictly forbidden to teach it to any save those who bore fae blood in their veins. It was a safeguard against humans learning their vulnerabilities and then using them against them. The fae had been persecuted mercilessly back in time of Merlin, and as a precaution, vowed that no human would ever learn their secrets, which included kin-sa-dor, unless that human were blood-related to a High Court fae.

Harry enjoyed the kin-sa-dor sessions immensely, it allowed him an outlet for his pent up energy since he wasn't permitted to fly his Firebolt. For some odd reason, he hadn't yet used the pass he'd won in Dragons Wild to get his broom back for an afternoon, and the martial arts classes taught him valuable lessons in self-control over mind and body as well as self-defense.

Harry had been a victim too many times of Dudley and his gang of bullies to stand for it any longer, and kin-sa-dor would enable him to defend himself without seriously harming his opponent if he chose. He knew he would need to be alert and ready for anything next year.

So he began doing the warm-up stretches Severus had shown him as well as a portion of the meditation techniques Severus insisted he learn, while waiting for the two other wizards to arrive.

He had just managed to find his center when the door opened and in came Draco and Severus. "Well, you're here early, Harry," remarked Draco, removing his shoes and beginning the usual warm-up exercises on the mats. He had done them so many times before that he hardly needed to think about them anymore, he could almost do them automatically. He too was dressed in casual attire, soft cotton pants and a loose fitting short-sleeved shirt.

"Meditating, son?" Severus cocked an eyebrow at his offspring, then when Harry nodded, moved to the center of the room and began his own set of stretches, which were a bit more strenuous and complicated than the boys' set. Severus was dressed all in black, wearing garb that looked similar to a karate gi, but was made of very soft cotton.

While Draco and Harry still sometimes looked awkward when stretching or meditating, Severus was so skilled after some fifteen years of practice that he made it look as easy as pie. He glided through the routine, limbering up his muscles with the ease of years upon years of practice, his natural stealth, grace, and quickness making him the ideal candidate both to study and train with.

Harry continued to meditate, aware of his surroundings, while Draco and Severus completed their warm-ups and then sat cross-legged on the mats to meditate as well. After fifteen minutes both were centered and focused, and then Severus stood up and tapped both boys lightly on the shoulder, that was the signal that the session was about to begin.

Upon standing, both students sketched a bow to their instructor, for respect for a master instructor was an important tenet of kin-sa-dor. Severus had told them that long ago, a master could have killed a student for not showing proper respect. Though of course, the boys need never fear that happening, both were careful to show their father the respect that was his due as an instructor and a parent.

Severus bowed back, and said, "Are you ready to learn more of the art of becoming a shadow?"

"Yes, Amarsi Snape," they chorused, using the fae word for master or teacher.

"Good. Let us begin with the level one exercises." He drew a hand back then brought it forward in a subtle movement, like a swimmer stroking overhand. The movement, which looked no more dangerous than a wave, was actually designed to stab an opponent in the chest. It was followed by a second motion of the opposite arm, intended to block an enemy's strike, done with the palm out and arm stiff.

All of the level one exercises were hand and arm motions, dealing with blocking and the occasional strike, but mostly concerned with defense, for if you didn't learn how to defend first, your enemy would kill you quickly. When Harry had first begun learning the forms, he had asked Severus why all they did was practice blocking, and the older man had replied, "Because if you don't learn how to block and all you know is to attack, your enemy could kill you before you struck the first blow. So, we practice blocking first, Mr. Snape."

The two boys mirrored their teacher's movements, practicing the combination at least fifteen times before switching to a new one. The mirror technique allowed them to learn by example, before using the moves in a spar. When they had gone through the level two exercises, which was as far as Harry had progressed in the month and a half he'd been training, Severus told him to go and spar with Voldy for a bit.

He brought the practice dummy "alive" with a gesture and the word, "Ennervate!", it was already set at the beginner level, so it would not tax Harry too badly, and then returned to mirroring the more advanced moves with Draco, who could go all the way up to level six. There were nine levels of kin-sa-dor, nine being a master, and one that even Severus had not quite achieved yet, though he was very close.

Harry concentrated on attacking the dummy, it was faceless, and he often imagined the face it wore of Uncle Vernon or the real Voldemort. He stepped forward, bringing his left arm up in what seemed like a standard block, but at the last second twisted his wrist and stabbed all four stiffened fingers into the dummy's shoulder.

It was a direct hit to the nerve bundles in the arm, and Voldy's left arm now hung limply, paralyzed by Harry's Shadow Strike. The dummy nodded in approval before spinning away and then lunging at Harry with a kick to his midsection.

Harry blocked it, just barely, Voldy followed up with a sweeping kick to the Gryffindor's knees.

He saw it coming, and tried to jump backwards, but his timing was off and the edge of the dummy's padded foot caught him right alongside the left knee.

He stumbled, and Voldy pressed his advantage mercilessly, springing at him with hiss, and casting a Leglock Jinx at him. The spells were simulated, not real, but they still gave the impression of affecting you if they hit you for a minute or so.

Thus Harry felt the sudden tingle in his leg as the jinx struck and then numbness, whereupon he lost his balance and fell to the mat with a thump. "Damn it!" he swore softly as the dummy came and cuffed him smartly about the head, signaling a ‘kill'.

Harry got to his feet, frowning and they began to spar again.

Severus, who had been watching out of the corner of his eye, called, "Focus, Harry. You should have anticipate that jinx."

"Yes, sir. I'll do better," his son promised, now circling the dummy, waiting for it to make the first move.

Though Voldy was designed to never truly injure its sparring partner, it could and did leave bruises if you gave it the opportunity, and those bruises remained until they went away naturally, for Snape refused to heal them they way he usually would. "They serve as a reminder to be more careful in the future," he'd told Harry once, when his son complained of being stiff and sore the next morning. He did, however, recommend Harry take a long soak with some special mineral salts and once, after a particularly grueling session, when his son had sparred against him, he'd given the boy a low level bruise balm, so Harry could sit and sleep comfortably.

Meanwhile, Severus and Draco sparred, since Draco was good enough to hold his own in a spar against his teacher for at least twenty minutes. They focused mainly on kin-sa-dor, though occasionally, Severus would throw in a Stinging Hex or a Tickling Curse or a Stunning Hex.

Draco was quicker to block the curses than he was Severus's lightning quick jabs and kicks, however. That was due mostly because Lucius had made Draco practice dueling with him since he was ten and if Draco failed to block properly, he would make the boy suffer not only the effects of the spell upon him, but also his cane. Thus, the young wizard learned very quickly how to block curses, pain being a top motivator.

Here, at least, he didn't have to worry about that, for though Severus was a strict and demanding teacher, he wasn't unfair or overly harsh, and he was careful to pull his blows when he sparred with both his sons. Even pulled, though, if they landed, they still hurt.

Draco winced as Severus's palm smacked into his thigh, he'd been concentrating so hard on avoiding the professor's snap kick that he'd forgotten to watch out for Snape's other hand, which had slipped past his guard and smacked him stingingly.

"Draco, what have I told you about distractions?" Severus reprimanded, gliding around the boy in a swift circling motion, his hands up.

"That I need to watch out for them and know them for what they are," his student answered, keeping his own hands up, ready to block.

"And how do you know them for what they are, Mr. Malfoy?"

"I look into your eyes and watch the muscles on your chest, those telegraph intentions."

"Exactly. But, you forgot, and then you paid the price for your carelessness," said his teacher crisply, then he lunged at him, aiming for Draco's eyes with fingers outstretched.

Draco blocked the hand with an arm, but then peered from underneath it to notice one of Severus's feet striking towards him as well, aiming for his knee. He twisted to the side in a swift dodge, then launched an attack of his own, grabbing the other's outstretched shoulder and tugging hard, using the older man's momentum to toss him over his shoulder.

But Severus rolled deftly to his feet, and was back on the offensive in moments. "Good try, Draco," he said approvingly.

They all sparred for another ten minutes, before Severus called a halt, and had his students walk about with their hands on their heads and drink small sips of water. He let them rest for seven minutes before they returned to the center of the mats and he showed them the Flickering Wind maneuver, a combination that required them to use both hands and a sweeping foot kick in an attack that resembled a whirlwind. "This form is good as an attack, but it's hard to defend from, so you only want to use it if you're certain your enemy doesn't know the counter, for it leaves you vulnerable to a counterattack."

He made them practice the new form twenty-five times before he ordered them to use it on him, one at a time. "You first, Harry. Come at me."

Harry obeyed, trying to move as gracefully as Severus, but he was smaller and not as coordinated, and Severus blocked his Flickering Wind with a Shifting Sand counter. "Keep your head pointed at me, and your arms at shoulder level when you start to strike," he instructed, positioning Harry's arms and head correctly. "Again, Mr. Snape."

Harry repeated the maneuver, again it was blocked, this time his footwork was off. Once more Severus corrected him and said, "Again."

It took fifteen tries before Harry finally used the maneuver correctly against his father, and then Severus made him do it over until he was satisfied the technique was learned correctly. "Good. Practice that against Voldy until I tell you to stop." He beckoned to Draco. "Your turn, Draco."

Draco faced off against Severus once more, only Harry couldn't see how well he was doing, since he had to pay attention to his own set of forms. This time the dummy remained passive, allowing Harry to attack it a set number of times before it retaliated.

After another twenty minute session, both boys were panting and dripping with sweat. In contrast, Severus was barely breathing hard. He allowed them another seven minute break with sips of water, then Severus paired them with each other for ten minutes, watching and critiquing them as they fought.

"Draco, get your shoulder up higher, this isn't dance class!"

"Harry, turn your body halfway, no more, and put some power behind that punch! My grandmother smacked harder than that!"

"What do you call that, Mr. Malfoy? The chicken dance? I thought that was supposed to be a Snapdragon form."

Draco flushed and launched a quick Blurring Strike at Harry, who used the Mist Feint against it and ducked away. Then he used a Ghost Tap, freezing Draco's left arm for a moment, and enabling Harry to slam the Slytherin in the chest with a well-timed roundhouse.

Draco was nearly knocked sprawling and he glared at Harry before regaining his balance.

"Excellent timing, Mr. Snape," Severus praised.

"You got lucky," Draco said to Harry, shaking out his wrist.

"Did not. You just weren't paying attention," Harry argued, waiting for Draco to make the first move.

But the other boy was patient, and circled and sidestepped, all the while keeping an eye on his less experienced foe, waiting for the moment when Harry relaxed a fraction of a second too much.

Harry was determined to maintain his guard, but chance stepped in and caused his right foot to slip a little, throwing off his stance.

Draco was on him instantly, hands working in an up and down pattern, that knocked Harry's right arm down too far to block, enabling the Slytherin to get in a good tap on Harry's chin. "Still think that's luck, Harry?"

Harry staggered back, wincing a little. Draco had pulled the blow, so he wasn't knocked out, but the tap still made his jaw ache.

"Well done, Draco," their master praised. He checked his watch. "Five more minutes, then we'll call it an afternoon."

The boys nodded, for they were beginning to feel the strain of practicing for at least two hours, even with the small breaks Snape had given them. They sparred furiously for the last five minutes, though when Severus called a halt, their spar was declared a draw by him.

"Dad, can we watch you spar against Voldy?" asked Harry eagerly. He'd seen the Potions Master work out before against the dummy and it had been awesome.

"Yeah, Uncle Sev," Draco entreated, giving his godfather huge begging puppydog eyes. "I love it when you kick the crap out of that thing."

Severus rolled his eyes. It half-amused him when his two sons viewed his own sparring sessions against Voldy as a form of entertainment, like the things called video games the Muggle children played. Although Harry had assured him his practice sessions were just as good as any Mortal Kombat game, if not better.

"Very well. Finish cooling down then have a seat on the bench along the wall." Severus ordered. He waved his wand, upping the dummy's sparring level to a level eight session.

Draco and Harry swiftly obeyed, seating themselves on the small wooden bench built into the wall, they used it to put their water glasses on when they were through with them, or to rest tired aching muscles. Then they settled back to watch the master spar with animated Voldy.

Severus circled the dummy, moving lightly as a cat over the mats, his stocking feet making no sound. His arms were held at chest length, innocuously, but that casual pose was deceptive. He could move with the speed of the symbol of Slytherin House, and he was never so deadly as now. He stalked the dummy for a few minutes more, waiting patiently for Voldy to initiate the first strike, all of his senses hyperaware of his surroundings.

Voldy brought up his wand hand, muttering a Burning Hex. An illusionary jet of fire shot forth from the dummy's wand, but the professor was prepared and dived neatly out of the way. The fake fire scorched the mat where he'd been standing a minute before.

An instant later, Severus summoned a tornado force wind that threw the dummy across the room, where it thudded into the wall. That would have killed an ordinary opponent, and the dummy acknowledged the kill by standing up and bowing to the ground.

Then it sprang back to the attack, and this time Severus went on the defense, using combinations that looked like water flowing, but blocked all the moves Voldy used on him, setting the dummy back on it heels.

"Nice one, Dad!" Harry commented, feeling a little as if he were at a Quidditch match.

Severus paid no heed to his offspring's cheering, he was too focused on Voldy, who was trying to use a Wind Dancer attack form against him. It was one of the more advanced level forms, and Severus spent two minutes countering it, his feet and hands moving in a synchronized dance of death that was breathtaking to watch.

"Merlin!" whispered Draco in awe mixed with envy as his godfather proceeded to pound the dummy into a pancake. "I don't think I'll ever be that good."

"Me either."

"Huh. You're quicker than I am, Snape," Draco disagreed. "You've inherited his speed and probably his reflexes too."

Harry shrugged, he wasn't sure about that. Sometimes he learned the forms quickly, other times they took him days or even weeks to master. But Severus said that was normal, that everyone learned some forms easier than others.

But one of the most amazing things about watching Severus spar with Voldy was how they made it look so easy, as easy as drawing a breath. Severus didn't even appear winded, and he'd been sparring for nearly an hour now. A light sheen of sweat coated his brow, but otherwise you would never know he'd been working out.

For one instant, it appeared that Severus vanished into thin air, though he had not Apparated. No, this was Shadow Shifting, an very advanced move in kin-sa-dor, combining mental discipline with precise control over your body, enabling the user of it to seem as if they had disappeared.

Severus reappeared a second later on the opposite side of the dummy and counterattacked, punching a hole in the stuffed body. It repaired itself as the boys watched, and Severus drew back a bit, waiting his chance to strike again like a black flame.

Voldy sidled away, using the Crab Walk, presenting a vulnerable side to the Potions Master. But Severus wasn't stupid, and he avoided the trap neatly, refusing to be baited, he came around the dummy's left side and kicked it hard in the ribs, knocking it down.

It tried to attack him, using magic, but Severus countered the Slippery Hex with a disinterested-seeming wave of a hand, and the Slippery Hex was deflected, bouncing harmlessly off the wall. Before Voldy could clamber to its feet, Severus intoned a Blasting Curse and Voldy exploded.

"Yeah! Awesome!" the two boys crowed, and Draco punched a fist in the air.

It would take the dummy a few minutes to reform after that curse, so Severus used that time to meditate and focus.

Voldy blurred and a green glow surrounded it as the magic put it back together, then it counterattacked, soaring towards the Potions Master in a Swan Surge maneuver.

But Severus had been waiting for that, and countered it with a Snapping Fox, then moved in and struck the dummy in the face with a flattened upward sweep of his right palm.

Voldy's head snapped back and the dummy fell to the ground. Severus stepped back, breathing a bit heavier now. "End match," he called and the dummy immediately picked itself up and went back to the corner of the room, resting until it was time for another class.

"That was wickedly cool, Uncle Sev," said Draco, admiration glistening in his gray eyes. "I could never be as good as you."

"You may, Dragon, if you practice enough. Both you and Harry could if you really wanted to. But, like anything else, it takes time and discipline. Still, you both did well today." He walked back over by the door, where they had stacked their shoes and put his on. "Come, boys. We all need showers and then lunch."

The two obeyed, knowing a nice hot shower would feel delicious on their sore and weary muscles.

* * * * * *

A session of kin-sa-dor always left Draco pleasantly weary, and wishing he could take a nap. But he knew his guardian would insist he eat lunch at least before he fell asleep, and so he joined Harry and Severus in the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. Today they had cheese sandwiches with tomato and mayonnaise with a side of sour cream and onion crisps.

Afterwards, they retired to the den, sipping slowly on ice cold glasses of pineapple-mango lemonade, all of that made from freshly squeezed fruit grown in the orchard. Food had never tasted so good to either young wizard as it did at the manor, where over half of it was fresh, grown in the extremely fertile fae soil.

Normally, this was the time Harry would take out some Quidditch journal or the one from that half-blood fae called Severus and read it, and Draco would take a nap, or Severus would tell them some legend or story about one of the Prince ancestors, who had dealings with the High Court fae since the time Gwydion had fallen in love with his fae princess Alishara. The legends and some of the history was all recorded in volumes in the library, but some of it wasn't in any book, and Severus had learned of it from his kin-sa-dor master, another half-blood cousin name Sarai Kinsalari, related to them through the fae blood of Alishara.

"Sarai used to spend a week or two with me here during the summer, where she would train with me in kin-sa-dor and in the evenings she would tell me stories of her travels in the Unseen Realm and stories she had heard from her grandfather of our fae kindred. The fae have long memories and they rarely forget a well-told tale." he smiled reminiscently. "Sarai was a master storyteller."

"Do you think she might come here one day, Dad?" asked Harry. "I'd like to meet her."

"It's possible, though I haven't seen her in over a year and a half, not since I resumed my spying role for Dumbledore." Severus explained. "Sarai shows up out of the blue, she rarely lets me know when she's coming, she enjoys surprising me, I think." He caught Harry giving him a speculative look. "What, Harry? You have the strangest expression on your face."

Harry blinked. "I do? Uh, I was wondering, is all, what you did when you, uh, spied on the Death Eaters? Did you have to cast curses and stuff?"

Severus was quiet for several minutes, for much of the things he had witnessed as a spy were not fit for impressionable wizards to know. He had seen too many atrocities committed by the Death Eaters to ever sleep comfortably at night again, which was why he always kept a few vials of Dreamless Sleep on hand, to use when the nightmares became too bad.

He had been giving Harry measured doses of Dreamless Sleep as well ever since the last nightmare he had, but he knew he wouldn't be able to give his son it for too much longer, since there were herbs, namely poppy, distilled in that potion which were addictive if taken for too long of a period. He would have to start skipping days soon enough, weaning his son off of it gradually.

Harry shifted impatiently, the restless imp, Severus thought fondly, and at last he made answer to his son's query. "Sometimes I had to, when Lucius called for the participation of all members and was watching me too closely to dissemble. But most times, I could fake casting a curse that truly harmed a Muggle or a Muggleborn, who were their preferred targets. I learned how to be adept at illusions and glamours, to hide my true nature and avoid innocent blood on my hands. But I still hated it. I learned to speak half-truths rather than lying outright, because a lie could be picked up right away, but a half-truth couldn't be traced as easily."

"It's a good thing that glamour and illusion spells are easy for you, then." Harry surmised, knowing that the fae blood in all of them made them extremely good at illusion casting.

"Yes, it was very fortunate," Severus agreed. "Most wizards don't know how to cast a tight glamour, they're always leaving a portion of themselves uncovered. But the Prince affinity for glamour lets me cast a shield as tight as that of our fae cousins. Enough so I could fool Lucius, Macnair, Avery, and all the rest that I was doing the same kind of evil torture on a victim as they were." Severus's lip curled in remembered disgust and hatred. "Of course I was setting glamours on my "victim" and then when the coast was clear, I sent them back home, and made up an excuse to leave the evening "revels" and go home."

He closed his eyes for a few minutes before continuing. "It was a dangerous game I played, one wrong word and I would have ended down in the cellar of Macnair's home, being subjected to my friends' so-called hospitality. But by keeping alert and listening, I learned a great deal of their plans, and reported them all back to Dumbledore."

"How did you remember everything they said?" queried Draco.

"I trained my mind to retain information a certain way, after hearing it once. It proved extremely useful when I was trying to overhear two conversations at the same time." Severus cleared his throat then said, "I also put forth several of my own suggestions, some were my own ideas and others were thought up by Dumbledore, so we could control where they went and bring Aurors to the spot to arrest them. We captured quite a few that way."

"Did you fight them too, Dad?"

"No, that I had to leave to the Aurors, otherwise my role as Death Eater would have been compromised."

"Did they know who you were?"

"No, for my identity had to remain a secret. Only Dumbledore and Minerva, and the Weasleys ever knew the truth. Everyone else just thought I was a bad-tempered hermit that only lived to brew potions and terrorize students. But that was how I preferred it. The less people who know a secret, the less chance you are of being discovered."

Harry bit his lip, then asked uncertainly, "Uh, this might seem like a stupid question, but why are the Death Eaters still active if Voldemort is dead?"

Severus scowled. "Because , Harry, the Death Eaters are not all of a piece. They are, for lack of a better term, terrorists, and those kind are never willing to follow one murderer for a time. They need the chaos and the corruption. And if there is none, they'll create some. The way they've been doing this summer." His lips tightened in a grim line. "They might worship Voldemort, but they sure as hell aren't going to wait for him to come back before having some fun with Muggleborns and the like."

Draco nodded. "I remember once or twice, my dad coming home from meetings and telling my mother the next morning how they had killed a Muggle or her and her two sisters, or a whole group of them like it was nothing. Like they were killing ants instead of actual people. It was ruddy awful."

"And your mother, did she approve of it?"

"Yes. Mother was a supporter of Voldemort as well. The only thing she and Father disagreed on was making me into a Death Eater. She wanted to wait until I graduated Hogwarts, but he wanted it done now." Draco related. "So . . .he only got me a partial initiation, the full one would have to wait until I was seventeen." The other boy shuddered slightly. "But that one was bad enough. I don't even want to know what the real ceremony is like."

"No, you don't," Severus said feelingly, recalling the searing agony of the brand Lucius had used upon his arm, marking him forever as a follower of Voldemort, even though he was the dark wizard's mortal enemy. And then they had drunk a toast to their new member, of wine mixed with the blood of some luckless child they had sacrificed that day. Severus swallowed recalling the sickeningly salty taste of the wine, he had poured most of it out, using illusion so they would see, but he'd had to swallow some of it. Afterwards, when he had returned to headquarters and made his report, he had spent an hour vomiting everything in his stomach and had been unable to eat anything for two days, he'd been so nauseated. He had felt tainted to his soul, afflicted by the evil he had seen and the brand upon his arm, which throbbed despite all the magical salve he had placed upon it.

Dumbledore had been sympathetic, but had still sent him out again to another meeting in a fortnight, knowing that Severus was now perfectly placed to be his eyes and ears in the enemy camp. Now he was a trusted follower, for only those who were trusted were permitted to wear the brand.

Some six months after that he had overheard the prophecy concerning the Chosen One and had reported it to the Dark Lord, but had deliberately left some of it out, so that Voldemort was left with only a partial prophecy. Only Dumbledore and Severus and Trelawney knew the whole thing and Albus had recorded it in the Hall of Prophecies in the Department of Mysteries.

Little did I know, the stupid witch would be seeing the future of my own son. Or what they insist is the future, Severus amended, for he refused to put Harry in harm's way anymore. He had seen too many innocents die to ever be willing to risk his own son's life, or any child's.

"You met old Voldy, didn't you?" Draco asked then.

"Yes, many times. I was Lucius's initiate and he was close with Riddle, so we saw a lot of each other."

"And he never knew you were a spy," Harry smirked. "Guess he wasn't as all powerful as your father thought, huh, Draco?"

"Oh, he could read minds, after a fashion," Severus disagreed. "But I was protected against him by another talent given to me by the fae ancestry. I could Occlude my mind, using a discipline known as Occlumency, and he could not penetrate it, no matter how much he tried. He could only scan those thought uppermost in my mind and no more. It saved my life."

"Can we do it too?" Harry wanted to know.

"I would say you probably have a knack for it, given you too are of the Prince blood. But right now you have enough to study with kin-sa-dor to begin having lessons in Occlumency just yet. Perhaps in a few months, when you have mastered more meditation skills, I shall teach you, if you both wish it."

"That'd be great." Harry said.

"Yeah," agreed Draco.

"Enough about this topic," Severus declared abruptly. "There is much darkness in my former life, and this topic is not one that I wish to dwell on at the moment. Soon enough you will be back at school and facing the reactions of your peers because of your new relationship with me, and there will be time enough then to speak of how a former spy operated in the camp of the enemy. For now, enjoy the weeks you have left here at the manor, for I fear they are the only truly peaceful ones you will know once you return to the real world. Summer's end is fast approaching, boys. Better make the most of it."

"I will, Uncle Sev," vowed Draco, yawning. "And right now I'm gonna take a long nap." And with that, he shut his eyes and curled up on the couch, asleep between one blink and the next.

Severus leaned over and placed a light afghan over the slumbering teen, while Harry shook his head in amazement at his foster brother.

"How does he do that, Dad?"

"Do what? Fall asleep anywhere in the blink of an eye?"

"Yeah."

"That's his special talent," Severus chuckled. "If you're tired, you might want to copy him."

"Nah. I'm not really sleepy," Harry said. "Think I'll read some more about Sev Half Blood." He picked up the journal, and opened it to the page he'd marked with a scrap of green silk ribbon and began to read.

But twenty minutes later his eyes shut involuntarily and he fell asleep with the book over his face.

When Severus glanced over at his son a moment later, he saw Harry asleep on the small sofa, and he rose and removed the journal and his son's glasses before tucking a blanket about him as well.

Right then, a nap seemed like an ideal thing, the Potions Master mused, and he too settled down in the recliner for a snooze.