-II-

The doctor looked seriously at Light Arrow. "If someone else has a self-mutilation problem, I should speak with him or her. It cannot be solved with just the rubber bands."

"I know this, Doc. I'm leading the camp for a long time. The person isn't so far in self-harming and we already started regular talking session. I don't think he would react too well if I would involve you in his problems right now, but I will contact you soon." Light Arrow felt awkward saying this; he gestured over to Draco for the doctor to understand that it wasn't the time to discuss matters. He had worked together with the doctor for many years now. "We can speak about it when you come to see Severus and Draco in two days. I will have spoken with the other patient until then and will have him informed about your involvement."

"I trust your judgment, Light Arrow, but you know where I am if you need help earlier," Doc Martens said seriously while he gave Light Arrow the rubber bands.

"I know, and I'm very thankful for your support, Doc," Light Arrow said uncomfortably.

"I see you in two days then. Please don't give him any painkillers. You can add a cooling charm on his bandage, but that's all he should get for the pain. It should be bearable and the pain will stop him from overdoing it. It will make him sit down and prop his leg up more often, which will help him heal. If the pain is too much for him to bear, firecall me!"

-II-

"But I'm bored!"

"Draco, I repeat myself only one last time: I won't let you go out with that foot of yours. The bandage would get dirty, and you should rest and not overdo it. So sit down, put your leg up and read your book!" White Cloud instructed while she prepared lunch.

"But Doc Martens said I'm allowed out. I want to look through the book with Red Horse," Draco whined. He paled a bit when White Cloud put down her knife with a frustrated huff and turned to him.

"Doc Martens said you are allowed out of bed and not outside. He also said that you should rest your foot up as often as possible and that's what you will do right now." She went over to him and ushered him to the couch. Quickly she helped him adjust on it and laid his book on his lap. "Red Horse will come in as soon as he is finished in the stable. Look through it and memorize the pages you want to show him."

Draco groaned frustrated, but obeyed. His foot hurt and resting it up helped, but it was so boring.

/

"Hello, Harry," Professor Karley said when Harry entered the room which Light Arrow normally used for the therapy sessions.

"Hi," Harry said nervously. He resisted the urge to finger with the rubber bands around his wrist that Light Arrow had given him yesterday.

"Sit, down, there is nothing to be nervous about." The vampire gestured Harry to sit down opposite of him. "I'm Professor Karley."

Harry didn't know if he was meant to say something or not, and so he just looked indifferently at the professor. His bottom lip suffered because of his nervousness, and the fact that the vampire looked so intensively at him, didn't help either.

"So you want to take a few classes?"

"Yes, but Light Arrow said I'm only allowed to choose two classes."

"Why do you want to attend classes so early? Normally the kids here do not start school before they have staid at least three month here. Shouldn't you concentrate on your therapy?"

Harry's breath became quicker, fearing he had already lost.

"Harry, this is not about winning or loosing. It's about finding out if you really are ready to attend classes or if you should wait a bit longer."

"But I want to! I can do both the school and...the... the therapy." Harry still had problems accepting that he was in therapy here.

The vampire eyed him closely and said nothing.

"Really, I can do both. I want to learn. It's boring without learning; I don't want to concentrate the whole time on..." He stopped fearing this answer would cause the vampire to decline his request of being taught.

"Harry, I can hear your thoughts, you already know this, right?"

Harry sighed. "Yes."

"Then you know that there is no reason to stop a sentence. Go on!"

After another sigh, Harry said, "I don't want to concentrate on my problems all the time. I hoped taking classes would make me feel like a normal teenager at least during these classes. Maybe I can forget about all the... about what happened. I mean I have to think about it almost all the time here, so a few hours of peace wouldn't interfere with my... my therapy, would they?"

"I don't know," Karley said, still watching Harry intently. "I fear it won't work like you hope."

Harry led himself fall backwards against the couch in frustration. He had hoped so much he would be allowed to take classes and now it was all over. A few hours of peace were too much to ask for? It brought tears of frustration to Harry's eyes, and he again felt so overpowered. He never was allowed to decide for himself.

"Me thinking it won't work like you hoped, doesn't mean that I refuse to teach you, Harry. It just means that I don't think you will gain the peace you want from it. In reality it will be very tiring and maybe too much for you at the moment, but we can cross that bridge when it happens."

"So I'm allowed to take classes?" Harry straightened up, having new hope.

The vampire chuckled. "Not so fast, Harry. Do you know what classes we teach at this school?"

"A few. The other kids told me about them. I would like to take "charms and spellwork" and "wandless magic". Please."

"Hmm, those are both very difficult classes, Harry. Why these two?"

"I really want to learn wandless magic." Harry tried very hard to suppress those thoughts about wandless magic he had when talking to Maya about it. It now wasn't for the same reason it had been the day he talked to Maya, but he still wanted to learn this subject to become more powerful. Especially here in the camp where he had almost no power over anything, he wished to have more of it and control. But this thoughts would not help him to convince the professor to teach him.

"To really want to do it isn't a reason. Tell me why you want to learn wandless magic."

Harry sighed. "You won't like my reasons."

"Why don't you leave that decision to me?"

"Okay," Harry said, sighing, before telling Karley about his reasons. With each word he sunk deeper into the couch, and in the end he was very depressed knowing that now he could forget about ever learning wandless magic.

"You know that I, as your mentor, could control when you are allowed to use wandless magic, right?" When Harry nodded he went on. "It's like a bond between master and apprentice, and will last for life. Only I would be able to cut this bond, and you wouldn't be able to use wandless magic any longer. It is like you are using my magic. Only if I die, you will have full control about your wandless magic and will be able to mentor a student on your own. There are still a lot of dark thoughts in your mind, and nobody knows what will happen. If I were human, it would be irresponsible to teach you, but I'm a vampire and the chance of me dying is very low. It still is a risk. You are seeking power. Maybe you don't plan to use it the way you thought about to when Maya told you about it, but things can change again. If I agree, I will restrict your abilities. You would only be allowed to use wandless magic in classes and in Light Arrow's presence while doing your homework. Do you still want to learn under these conditions?"

Harry nodded eagerly.

"Then I will agree to teach you wandless magic, if you pass the test."

"What do I have to do?" Harry bounced excitedly on the couch.

Karley chuckled again. "You are too eager, Harry. We aren't finished talking about your choice of classes. If I teach you wandless magic, I can't teach you "charms and spellwork". It would be too tiring for you. First priority at the moment is your therapy, Harry. So what about one of the muggle classes, "magical literature" or "magical creatures"? They won't need much magic and aren't so straining."

"Hmm, "magical creatures" then. We had that at Hogwarts as well."

"Well, our "magical creatures" class is a bit different than the one you had at Hogwarts. We teach about dark-" Karley made a gesture as if he was drawing quotation marks in the air. " - and light creatures. We have a different way of seeing things here. Not so stereotype."

"That's cool," Harry said, excited.

Karley grinned. "Then lets do the test, Harry, to see if you are able to learn wandless magic." He waved Harry over to him. "You need to trust me, Harry. This bond is something very personal. It won't give me any power over you, but I will get the power to control your wandless magic as it is our shared magic. Mine is more prominent; like a stabilizer for your magic. I need you to come closer and press your hand against mine."

Harry started to get nervous again. Not because of the closeness but out of fear that it might not work.

"Relax, Harry," Karley said and pulled Harry closer between his knees. He then lifted his hand and let Harry place his palm against it.

Harry nervously looked at his hand. Nothing happened, and he felt bad. All his hope was destroyed.

"You are an emotional roller coaster, Harry. You need to relax. Try to not think about it. Breath deeply in and out and try to clear your mind." Karley spoke monotonously, and Harry tried to do what he was being told. After what seemed like hours, Harry relaxed and suddenly a strange feeling overcame him. As if something was in his body that didn't belong there. He tried instinctively to draw back, but it was as if he was glued to the vampires hand. "Relax," Karley said, but Harry could hear that it cost him strength.

Harry felt Karley's free hand on his back, so he couldn't step back wards. Slowly Harry felt nausea and tiredness overcome him. When he heard Kalrey's voice, he had difficulties understanding him.

"Are you, Harry James Potter, willing to become my student in the fine art of wandless magic?"

"Yes," Harry said tiredly.

"Are you, Harry James Potter, willing to combine your magic with mine. Will you let me, Isaac Damian Karley, control our combined magic?"

"Yes," Harry croaked, and when the strange presence in his body vanished, he collapsed against the vampire.

Karley chuckled. "My, Harry, you are tempting me. I haven't fed for the last two weeks."

With a jolt Harry was up and looked shocked into the smirking face of the vampire.

"What? Didn't I tell you that you have signed yourself over as my feeding slave when you became my student?" Karley asked raising his eyebrow.

"I didn't," Harry said, shocked.

Karley laughed and stood up. "Of course not." He ruffled Harry's hair. "Will you show me around? I haven't been here for almost half a year. Rose was doing all the teaching here."

Harry let out the breath he was holding because of the shock. It would take some time to understand Karley and his humor. "Sure."

/

Draco shut the book loudly. "I won't get dirty, White Cloud. I will hold my leg up very high and just go over to the stable."

"No, you won't," the old woman said.

"But he is not coming."

"If I hear you say 'but' one more time, I swear I will let you cut the onions, and I will need a lot of them today."

"Your threats are always so original, White Cloud," Isaac said when he came into the kitchen with Harry.

"You know that some people believe that vampire react badly to garlic, maybe onions work as well, Isaac." White Cloud waved an onion threateningly in his direction.

Isaac laughed his deep, rough laughter. "Yes, some people think so, but you and I know that they are wrong, White Cloud." He sneaked closer to her and sniffed at the onion.

"Argh, you never mature, Isaac. How old are you now?"

"359. So how does someone that age behave?" Isaac tilted his head and looked at White Cloud funnily.

"Not like a teenager, Isaac, that's for sure," White Cloud said and shook her head in resignation.

"Oh, come on, White Cloud, you know you love me."

"Maybe I would if you would show up more often and not promise to come over soon and then don't show up for half a year." White Cloud took the kitchen towel from her shoulder and waved it at the vampire, who jump aside so it couldn't hit him.

"I promise I'll be better." Isaac put on a puppy dog look.

"That look doesn't work with silver eyes, Isaac," White Cloud said, but Isaac saw her mouth twitching, and he could hear her thoughts.

He really needed to come over more often or the old lady would make his life very hard. These people here emotionally adopt children and adults very quickly and it seemed he had been one of them for many years. He tended to be the "bon vivant". Even after so many years he still wasn't sick of living and enjoyed it a lot. "Oh but they work wonders on the ladies. Wouldn't you say?" He winked at her.

Gasping, pretending to be shocked about his allusion, she needed a few seconds to regain her composure. "Pray that I don't tell Light Arrow about your cheekiness. To fob an old lady."

"Old lady? Compared to me you are a spring chicken."

"Out! Now! Before I forget myself and pull the wooden spoon out."

"As long as you don't sharpen it and ram it in my heart, I'm not scared," he said, but nevertheless jumped out of her reach, laughing.

"We will see, Isaac," White cloud said threateningly.

"Harry, here will show me the horses," Isaac said and petted Harry's shoulder.

"Oh, can I-"

"No, Draco, you can't," White Cloud cut the blond boy on the couch off. Sometimes it is a real benefit to have an open kitchen. "You will stay on the couch, but you-" She looked at Harry and Isaac. "-could go in the stable and ask Red Horse to come in here. Whatever is holding him back can't be as important as my sanity. This boy over there is killing me."

Harry stepped over to Draco. "Is your foot hurting a lot?"

"No, but it is so boring! Red Horse promised he would look through the book with me." Draco pointed at his book on the table. "Please tell him to come soon," Draco whined.

"I will. If necessary I will drag him here for you." Harry grinned.

"Do so, but do it quickly."

"Hey, Professor," Draco said shyly, when Karley came closer.

"Hi, Draco, what happened?"

Draco blushed. "I dislocated my foot. Stupid story."

"Then we should hurry to send Red Horse in here before one of you two will get crazy." Karley looked from Draco to White Cloud, who was chopping onions in the kitchen now.

"Yes, please."