Dumbledore grumbled and tried to move away from Poppy's wand before answering. “I was returning to my office after dinner. Using the main staircase and it seems to have malfunctioned.”

Snape looked down at the Headmaster cautiously. “Are you sure you're feeling all right? Hogwarts can't malfunction. It's a creation of magic and you're headmaster. If it wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.”

Poppy gave her wand another wave. Her frown was changing into a more neutral expression, especially now that Dumbledore had stopped moving. “Fine. You should probably take some more blood replenisher and stop eating so many sweets.” She tucked her wand away. “But other than that, you're fine.”

Dumbledore smiled and inclined his head. “Thank you Poppy. Now I've got to get back to work. Things to do.” He looked nervously at Severus.

“Take this with you.” Poppy handed him a squat jar filled with green paste. “You'll probably have some bruises in the morning. This should clear them up quickly.” She told him. “Use as much as you need.”

Snape watched as the headmaster thanked Poppy again and hurried out of the Hospital wing. He wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but something felt wrong about the Headmaster. There was something off and he couldn't place his finger on it yet. And not knowing bothers me. Especially with Lucius in the castle and Bellatrix planning to become pregnant. It seems as if everything is happening at once.

“Can I leave now?” Harry asked politely, looking hopefully at the mediwitch. “Dad can help me get well at home. And then I wouldn't take up extra space.”

Poppy frowned at Snape and ruffled Harry's hair. “I wasn't finished yet. And you don't waste my bed space. Anyone who needs a bed is welcome in the hospital wing.” She took out her wand again and swept it up and down Harry's body. “You need a few more doses of a bone and muscle regenerator potion. Blood replenisher wouldn't hurt either.”

Severus nodded. “I'll take him home now. I've got plenty of potions.” He put his hand on Harry's shoulder and stepped toward the door. “He needs time to do his homework and I'm certain that I've some books he could use. Come Harry.”

Poppy turned her attention back to her files. There wasn't much point in arguing once Severus had made up his mind. She needed help to beat him. Minerva, Dumbledore, Bellatrix. They all could convince him to take a bed and rest. One day she resolved to ask them how it was done and get the secret for herself.

“Lesson tonight.” Bellatrix murmured. She smiled and slipped off toward her office in one of the towers. “I'll pick you up.”

Harry waited for Severus to activate the entrance to their quarters and he followed his father in. “Dad, why isn't there a wizard studies class? We've got muggle studies. Wouldn't it be helpful for muggleborns and really stupid wizards?” He took a seat on the couch and accepted the cup of tea his father handed to him.

Snape held up a hand before Harry could take a sip of his drink. Harry gave him an odd look and groaned when he saw the potion phials his father was holding. By the colour he could tell that one of them was a blood replenishing potion, and he'd rather avoid the taste.

“Yuck, yucky, yuck. Ugh!” Harry swallowed the three potions as quickly as possible. But the acidic taste still filled his mouth and made him want to scorn his insides clean with soap and cloth. “Thanks a lot. You could have just told Madame Pomfrey that I took the potions.”

Severus ignored Harry's complaints about the potions, he was quite use to students complaining about taste. “When Hogwarts was founded few muggleborns could afford tuition and the ones that could usually had pureblood sponsors. There wasn't a need then and no one's created the course. I should talk to the headmaster.”

Harry got to his feet and headed over to the bookshelves on one of the walls. He still needed a book for his potions project and his luck was probably the best with his father right behind him in his father's private library. “Where can I find a book for my project?” He asked, turning to look over his shoulder.

With a flick of his wand, Snape sent a book flying toward his son. “I found a book on your topic that you may use. It's not too disturbing and it has plenty of good information. Of course it would be banned from the restricted section here so it's probably best if you don't let any one else see it.”

Harry snatched the book eagerly and read at the cover. Developing Blood Potions and Maximising their Effectiveness.  Harry flipped opened the book randomly and began to read. It was not anything like what he'd been expecting.

And so as recent testing shows, the sanguine potion's effects can be tripled by stewing the leeches before adding them. However the torturer will need to remember this and give prisoners much smaller doses. The potion can easily prove fatal, especially when used in conjunction with most advanced curses.

The rest of the book seemed to be written the same way. As if the reader was a torturer and learning how to cause more pain and hurt more people. It did have a section on liquid cruciatus, but Harry didn't want to read all the details. And his father's notes in the margins. . . They were probably from his spying days, because Harry couldn't imagine him brewing torture potions.

Snape kept glancing at his son over the papers he was marking. He didn't want Harry reading the book, but at the same time, he wanted Harry to be able to protect himself against those who would seek to harm him. Quirrel might be in Azkaban, but the spirit of the Dark Lord had fled his body just before the boat had reached Azkaban. At least they're keeping Quirrel. The idiot let the Dark Lord feed on his soul!

Maybe assigning Harry such a dangerous potion hadn't been a good idea. But Snape knew that Harry was above most of the other first years. After all, he'd grown up with a Potion Master and he'd been chopping up rats for punishments since he could safely hold the knife.

Bellatrix pushed the door open to her quarters. Her husband and son were in the sitting room, both working on school related assignments and essays. She grinned when Severus stuck his quill into his empty jar of red ink. They were barely into the school year and he was already on his third jar. She almost felt sorry for the students that had to deal with his acidic tongue.

“Time to go.” She told Harry. “Dress warmly. It's starting to get cold.” Bellatrix glanced down at her own large robes. They were more like black drapes, but right now they served their purpose.

Harry's eyes were shining and he ran to his room and came back with a thick cloak. “Bye Da.” He chirped happily as Bellatrix opened the door and shooed him out in front of herself. They walked through the walls, using a different passage to get outside and into the clearing in the forest than Snape had brought Harry to last time.

Bellatrix shed her large robes. Underneath them she had on duelling robes and inside the large robes were stunned mice. She brought out the first one and set it on the ground, pointing her wand at it. “We're going to study curses. And how they might be used against you.”

Harry looked on with rapt attention. The only spells that his parents didn't demonstrate on themselves or each other were illegal ones and ones that caused so much pain and difficulties that it was simply a very bad idea to use them practically. “What are we learning? Do I know them yet?”

“Imperio.” Bellatrix hissed at the mouse. It woke up and began to move around. Dancing on its hind legs and jumping as she directed it. “This is an Unforgivable curse. Using it on a human gives you life in Azkaban. Now Harry,” she made the mouse jump onto him. “What do you think this curse does?”

“Controls you?” Harry asked. He remembered hearing his parents complaining about Death Eaters claiming they had been under the Imperious Curse and they'd talked about it in primary school. There had been a unit on laws and government. It had been exciting, a guard from Azkaban had even been brought in to talk to them. One of the human guards, not a dementor.

Bellatrix smiled. “Right.” She revered the curse. “You're going to learn to do this. The Ministry passed an act during the war with the Dark Lord that allowed aurors to use Unforgivable curses. With so many people knowing them, you need to learn to protect yourself if case it should be cast upon you. The only way to defeat something is to know it, understand its workings and secrets.”

Harry swallowed nervously and pointed his wand at the mouse. “Imperio.” Nothing happened, but then he wasn't sure what he wanted to happen. “Imperio.” The mouse tried to run off into the night and was hastily caught by Bellatrix's sleeping spell.

“Come on Harry. This is the easiest curse. All you have to do is want to. Want it more than anything.” Bellatrix told him. Her eyes were shining, it was almost as if she was reverting back to the sadistic animal she'd been during her Death Eater days. With Severus's help she'd regained most of her sanity, but her other self was still there, lurking beneath her iron control.

“Right.” Harry pointed his wand at the mouse and decided to try something simple, like making it wake up. “Imperio.” He felt something rush down his arm. But it surprised him and he jerked his arm before the feeling could reach his hand and his wand. “I felt something!”

Bellatrix gave him a tight smile. “That's an improvement. Now try and do something. Remember, you must want it! Want it more than anything!”

Harry tried to fix a situation in his mind. Like on Yule, when he wanted his parents to wake up so he could open his presents. He let the memory fill him. “Imperio.” This time a beam of light shot out his wand and hit the mouse. The mouse opened its eyes and jumped to its feet. Harry took a deep breath and tried something else.

The mouse rolled over. And over, and over. Harry smiled happily and put his wand down, reversing the spell. “It worked!”

Bellatrix smiled. “It did. Very good.” She stunned the mouse again and pointed her wand at it. “This curse isn't illegal because it's not very well known. It was created when I was in school, the incantation is more difficult than most. Luctus Interdim” She said. But there was more to the curse than she told Harry. The Mare curse was Bellatrix's. She'd made it to get back at her enemies, and sister. And it worked, too well sometimes.

Harry watched the mouse suffer. It seemed to be dreaming, but they weren't good dreams judging from the way it was shivering and shaking in its sleep. “Mum, stop!” Harry grabbed Bellatrix's arm and pulled it away from the mouse. “Stop it!”

Bellatrix ended the spell and scooped the mouse back into her pocket. “What Harry? You need to learn these.” She looked angrily at him. “Do you want to die? A Death Eater isn't going to stop casting curses on you just because you don't like them.”

Harry shook his head. His lips were pressed so closely together that they had gone white. “I'm leaving. This is wrong.” He pulled his cloak around himself more tightly and started hurrying down one of the paths out of the clearing. It was the one they'd used to get to the clearing and he wanted to get back to the castle. And away from his mother.

The castle seemed to have sensed Harry's feelings and the door opened for him automatically. He slumped against the cold wall of the dungeons as soon as the door had closed. It made him feel safer, more secure.

Slowly his heart began to stop racing and the anger that had been pounding throughout his body slowed and Harry grew calmer and the blood stopped rushing in his ears. He closed his eyes, leaning his head on the wall behind him. That's when he heard the voices.

“Our actions need to continue. See if we strike here and here then it will be open here.” Harry could hear noises, almost as if someone were tapping a board that they were working on. There were more murmurs and the scratching of many quills. Harry got to his feet and pulled out his wand. This situation was making him feel even more nervous than watching his mum cast the curses had.

He crept around the dungeons, trying to find the room where the voices were coming from. Harry could swear that he recognised the loudest voice, the one who seemed to be in charge. But he couldn't place it. And who would be plotting in the dungeons of Hogwarts? Quirrel was in Azkaban and the Dark Lord had disappeared far away.

“Harry. Mr. Black!”

Harry jumped and turned to see Dumbledore looking at him. “Professor? Is there something I can do for you?” I don't think Dumbledore would be one of the plotters. He might not be the nicest person, but mum and dad don't think he's evil. They just don't trust him.

Dumbledore looked at him oddly, as if he'd been expecting a different reaction. Then he gave a little laugh. “Of course. I'm sorry to bother you Harry.” He nodded regally. “Good night.”

Harry got out of the dungeons as quickly as he could. He tried to avoid Dumbledore most of the time and the man seemed content with that. He only spoke with Harry when it was unavoidable and he was acting rather odd. Not to mention that it was past curfew and he needed to get to Ravenclaw. I hope Kevin's back. Its been boring without him. He hurried up and slipped through the door, into the common room.

“Ah, Mr. Black. I've been looking for you.” Headmaster Dumbledore said, looking down at him through his half-moon glasses.