Harry felt conflicted about leaving Gemini. On the one hand, he'd had a lot of good times there over the summer, swimming and going to bonfires, making friends with Axle and Draco and visiting the other schools, meditating and learning Root with Gan... and on the other hand most of the summer had been particularly bad for him, though not as bad as it would have been if he had just stayed at Privet Drive. He'd been hurt a lot, felt excluded and left out, and had to keep his head down, but that was almost normal for him on a day to day, month to month basis. In the end he knew he would not forget his experience at Gemini and the good things that had happened there, but wished he could have gone to the school under better circumstances so he could have really enjoyed himself. Harry wanted to leave so he could put it all behind him and move on to better things, but at the same time, he didn't want to go.

"Do you need help packing Harry?" Hermione asked as she appeared at his open door. "I'm all done with mine."

"I think I've got it," he said. Really the only thing he had to do was put his books, bedding, and new rug into his trunk, and with the help of magic it had gone quickly. He wished he had his Firebolt, but knew that wasn't meant to be.

"Are you going home when we leave?" she asked him as he dragged his large trunk out onto the front porch and down the steps.

"I guess. Professor Snape said he was going to try to get Dumbledore to let me go with him instead, but I know Dumbledore will say no. I wish I could to Ron's or go back with Axle." If it weren't for Lucius Malfoy Harry would have even been glad to go back with Draco instead of going to Privet Drive.

"I'm sorry Harry," she said. "I wish you could come back with me. I know my parents would let you stay in the guest room. At least it's only for two weeks. Then you'll be back with us."

"Yeah," Harry said, feeling glum, only two weeks. But it had only taken Dudley and Uncle Vernon three days to do him in at the start of the summer. Hermione levitated one of his trunks down the hill for him and he levitated the other, and then they both went back up the hill to help Draco and Ernie and one of the boy's from Kahr. Everyone was supposed to eat breakfast as awards were handed out, and then say their goodbyes and portkey away. Snape was going to take them back to Diagonalley.

"Think Ron will meet us there?" Harry wondered. He would have to take the Knight Bus back to Privet Drive, but he planned on stalling as long as he could. Maybe Dumbledore wouldn't even check to see that he went back and he could just go back with Ron.

"Erm, I don't know," she hedged. What was wrong with her? She seemed to be acting oddly.

"Aren't you excited to see him?" Harry asked.

"Oh, yes, I suppose I am."

She didn't seem like she was though. Had she gone and struck up a relationship with someone else there at camp over the summer? Harry didn't remember seeing her hanging out with boys from any of the other schools aside from Axle, but then again there were a lot of times when she was off on her own and Harry didn't see her.

"You er," he paused, "you didn't go and start fancying some other guy did you?"

"What?"

"I mean, you don't seem too excited to see Ron."

She looked away and Harry turned to her and said, "You did didn't you?"

"Don't be mad at me."

Harry laughed. "I'm not mad at you. It's your love life. I don't want to be there when you tell Ron you don't fancy him anymore though. He'll be crushed."

"Well maybe he's started to like someone else over the summer."

"You hope," Harry teased her, but she didn't look like she appreciated the teasing so he stopped.

He looked around the compound, wondering who it was and how she would maintain a long distance relationship with him. She had liked Viktor Krum at one time and he wondered if it was another boy from Durmstrang.

"Is it a boy from Durmstrang again? That will drive him bonkers."

"It's not," she insisted.

"Well it can't be from Kahr, they're all really young. Boden?"

"Neither."

"Beauxbatons?"

"No."

"Fine, don't tell me then," Harry said, "because I know it's not Draco and you've said before that Ernie annoys you."

She flushed and Harry said, "It's not Draco, right?"

"It isn't!"

"Keep your secrets," he teased her. "I'm sure you'll tell Ginny all about it when we get back to school."

"If she's speaking to me after I talk to Ron."

"She will."

They ate breakfast and at the end everyone faced the front and Snape called up the five winners of the first part of the tournament to receive certificates for participating. Then he called Kushi up to the front to recieve the dueling certificate. One by one they called every student up to recieve a certificate of completion for Gemini, and wished them all good luck with their academic endeavors. Snape came to where all of the students from Hogwarts were sitting and told them they had twenty minutes to say goodbye and make sure they had all of their belongings.

Outside the dining hall, Harry shook Axle's hand and got his information so he could write to him. Axle told him that Basia was going to go home and ask her parents to transfer her to Boden for their last couple of years of school so she could get experience at another school, and he seemed excited about it.

"That's cool," Harry told him.

"What about you?" Axle asked.

"Me? You want me to transfer too?"

Axle laughed. "I mean what are you going to do when you leave here?"

"Back to Hogwarts for the next two years, and after that I haven't thought about it yet."

"Maybe you can come visit sometime in the summer or on the holidays, yeah?"

"I'd like that," Harry said. He really liked Boden. It was small and felt comfortable to him, though he thought he'd miss Hogwarts too much to transfer there permanently.

Harry sat down on his trunk as Axle went to say goodbye to Basia (who was crying), and watched as Hermione gave a tearful goodbye to several of her new friends. Draco came and sat down on his own trunk next to Harry's.

"So what happens when we get back to Hogwarts?" Harry asked him after a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"Are we back to, 'Potter Stinks', or am I just another Hogwarts student you're friends with?"

Draco frowned, acting as though he hadn't decided yet. But then he said, "If we can come here and be Hogwarts students instead of Gryffindors and Slytherins, then I don't see why we can't go back the same."

"Funny," Harry said, "we were supposed to come here for international relations, not to make friends with people who go to our own school."

"Yeah, well..." Draco paused, thinking about what to say. "I always thought you were stuck up, like you thought you were better than everybody else because of your fame. I didn't realize you were just a regular guy." Harry thought what he really wanted to say was, 'I didn't know you had next to nothing.'

"Same," Harry said. Draco shot him a frown but Harry laughed. Before now he never would have thought Draco would have given him anything, let alone his friendship or risked his life for him. As much as Draco had called Harry a Slytherin over the summer, Harry could have called Draco a Gryffindor for the traits he'd shown.

"It is time to leave," Snape said, and Hermione and the others came over, Hermione wiping her eyes and trying to give Harry a smile. He smiled at her as he picked up his big trunk (Snape had a hold on the small black one) and grabbed onto a corner of the book. Harry was interested to see what he would say to get the book to take them back to Diagonalley where they had started. It was obvious now that each school and place had a special password to get the portkey to take them there. "At the end of an adventure, we go home again," he said, and the portkey sucked them away, leaving them again in the center of Diagonalley. They startled several shoppers and Harry fell backwards over somebody.

"Oy!"

Harry scrambled up and found that he had landed right on top of Ron, who was looking irritated as he stood and tried to dust himself off. When he finally looked up to see who had landed on him and saw that it was Harry, he grinned.

"Nice of you to drop in!" he said, and Harry laughed.

"Wait here," Snape leaned in to say in Harry's ear, "I want to speak to you."

Snape moved away with Draco and the others, leaving Hermione, Ron, and Harry there. Ron gave Hermione a hug, which she returned halfheartedly with a smile that didn't seem genuine.

"Boy am I glad to see you. It's been a downright boring summer. What does Snape want with you anyway Harry? You get in trouble or something?"

"Something like that," Harry said.

"I bet it was horrible spending the summer with him."

"How was your summer?" Hermione asked.

"Fred and George hired me on in their shop and I earned seventeen Galleons. Mum and dad helped me sell some things at a boot sale and we made another three, and Mum said she'd give me five more. With all that I have twenty five and Fred and George said if I would sell some of their jokes when we got back to school they'd give me another five. Dad talked to Dumbledore, and he said the school would pay the rest for me to go to Gemini next summer since I worked so hard to earn the money. 'A real desire to learn,' Dumbledore told mum."

"That's great," Hermione said, and smiled at him.

"Ginny wants to go too. She babysat for witches all summer and earned ten Galleons and she reckons she'll work for Fred and George next summer so she can try to get up enough to go in her seventh year. So tell me about it. Hermione, do you have to leave right away?"

"My parent are waiting for me. I should go. But I'll see you in a couple of weeks at Hogwarts."

"Ok," Ron said, sounding sad. He hugged her and she waved at the both of them and then took her trunk towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"Want to get an ice cream at Fortescues?" Ron asked Harry when Hermione had disappeared into the crowd.

"I don't have any money," Harry said, holding his hands up. "I spent it all on tuition."

"I'll buy," Ron told him, sounding proud that he could afford to take his friend out for ice cream. They crossed the lane to Fortescues and sat down at one of the outside tables so Snape could see them when he came back.

"So how was it?"

"Snape told everybody that I didn't deserve to be there and that I didn't work hard like all the others and they believed him. Only two teachers believed me, Adeline... she taught Healing Potions, and Gan, he taught Healing Potions and Meditation and Root Defense. And the only students on my side were Hermione, Draco, and Axle, a friend I made from Boden. The students from Kahr weren't so bad but they weren't really friends either. They seemed to want to have nothing to do with any conflict."

"Did you say Draco was on your side?"

"I didn't have any school supplies, and he actually gave me some of his. Hermione and Axle and me went to check out a cave at the beach and some boys from other schools followed us. Right as they were trying to pick a fight Draco and Ernie showed up and backed us up. Draco actually bit one of the other guys and I ended up getting knocked into the sea. Draco went in after me. After that we all just sort of stuck together against the rest of the school."

"Are you sure it was Draco Malfoy? Not a nice twin or something?" Ron laughed as they ate their ice cream, and Harry nodded.

"It was him. I had to sell him my Firebolt right before we left so I could pay for the rest of my tuition."

"No, say it isn't so. Not your Firebolt?" but at the sad look on Harry's face Ron looked saddened too.

"That sucks. I'd buy it back for you if I had the money."

"I know. He took it off me for twenty one Galleons."

"You are broke aren't you."

"I don't have a knut to my name."

"Well can you come home with me for the rest of the summer instead of going back to those Muggles?"

"I don't think so. I have to wait for Snape. He said he was going to speak to Dumbledore for me to see if I could not go back."

"Why would he do that?"

"He sort of realized he was wrong about me part way through and started acting very un-Snapeish. He wasn't exactly nice but he wasn't downright nasty anymore either... except when he threw me into the sea because I wasn't doing what he wanted."

"It sounds like you had a strange summer. You could just sneak away now before he comes back."

"I did have a strange summer, and I'd better not. He'll figure out where I've gone. At least it ended on a good note. We got to visit and see Durmstrang, Boden, and Beauxbatons and we showed everyone around Hogwarts yesterday."

Harry told Ron about the other schools and was just done telling him about the strange traditions at Durmstrang between girls and boys when Snape came back.

"I did not get a chance to speak to you last night. I have spoken to the Headmaster and he as agreed to let you come with me for the next two weeks." Harry looked at Ron and Ron gave him a wide eyed look, as if saying, 'run, run now and run fast.'

"Professor," Ron said, and Snape looked down at him as if just realizing he was there. "Can Harry come home with me for a little while? I'm sure my mum will be ok with it. Just for a few hours? He was still telling me about the school and the classes he took."

"That is acceptable." He turned his attention back to Harry and said, "Floo directly there and nowhere else. I will retrieve you at seven o'clock. I will take your things."

Harry raised his eyebrows, surprised. He wasn't going back to the Dursleys, and Snape was actually letting him go home with Ron for the rest of the day? Ron seemed surprised too as Snape took Harry's two trunks and Harry said quietly, "Thank you." Snape nodded and disappeared with a pop.

"Odd, very odd," Ron said.

"He seemed to have a girlfriend this summer," Harry said. "Maybe that has something to do with it." Ron got a disgusted look on his face and Harry laughed as they headed for the twins shop to use the floo.

Mrs. Weasley was surprised and delighted to see Harry, and gave Harry cake and strawberries while she asked him questions about the school and his summer, and he told her the less horrible details of it. She asked if Harry would let her give him a haircut, and after she showed Harry his reflection in a mirror, he agreed. His hair was about three inches longer than he usually wore it and was almost long enough to be considdered feminine. How long had it been like that?

"Yeah, get it cut mate," Ron laughed, "you're starting to look like Snape." Ginny giggled and covered her mouth with her hand and Harry sat down in one of the kitchen chairs with a sigh.

"How short dear?"

"As short as it takes to not look like Professor Snape I guess."

"Uh oh Harry," Ginny said. "You didn't just see mum's face light up. She likes to cut hair short."

Harry tried to get out of the chair but Mrs. Weasley pushed him gently back down by the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about a thing dear. I do have fashion sense you know." She began clipping and Harry worried despite her reassurances when he saw Ron and Ginny sniggering. After ten minutes Harry was finally released from the chair and given a mirror. Man was his hair short! She left it a little long on top but on the sides it was shorter than Harry had ever worn it.

"You could do with a shave as well dear," Mrs. Weasley said, and as Harry examined his chin he realized he'd grown some stubble and that it had probably been there for weeks. He wasn't sure if he liked it that way or not. He felt manly to finally have some stubble and thought he looked rather like Remus with it there.

"I don't know," Harry said.

"Keep it," Ron said, "looks good."

He turned to Ginny. "What do you think?"

"It looks better on you than it does Ron."

Harry laughed and decided to leave it for now. He looked at all of his cut hair on the ground and shook his head. He wasn't sure if he could get used to his hair this short. Harry thanked Mrs. Weasley anyway and followed Ron and Ginny up to Ron's room, where he told them the details of his summer that he hadn't told Mrs. Weasley, including his dive into the icy crevasse and finding out later that his new friend's father was the same man he had saved.

Ginny went downstairs to see if dinner was ready and Ron turned to Harry and asked quietly, "How was Hermione's summer?"

"Better than mine. She made a lot of new friends. You know how girls are... she cried when she was saying goodbye to everyone."

"And she's friends with Draco now too?"

"I don't know. I only asked Draco if we were still friends once we went back to Hogwarts."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"That place... Gemini," Harry thought out loud. "It changes people."

"You don't seem any different."

No, Harry thought, but he felt different. He felt more open to different possibilities.

"Hermione... did she meet someone there? She seemed... strained." Harry could see the worry on his friends face even if he couldn't hear it in his voice, though he could.

"Do you want to know the truth?"

"Am I going to like it?"

"I don't think so."

"Tell me anyway."

"I asked her today if she'd gone sweet on someone else, and she didn't admit it, but she didn't deny it. She wouldn't tell me who it was. I asked her what school he was from, and she wouldn't tell me. I even asked her if it was Draco, and he was the only one for sure she said it wasn't."

"Well I suppose I should be grateful for that. I don't think I could handle losing her to Draco Malfoy."

"I don't know if you've lost her," Harry said. "Just give her some time. And don't say I told you anything. I think she was going to try to find a way to tell you. Maybe she's still making up her mind, you know? Besides, think about it. If she did start to fancy someone else, it has to be someone from another school, right? That can't work, being so far away. Things didn't last between her and Krum when he left after the tournament."

"Ugh." Ron put his hand up over his face.

"I'm sorry Ron."

"It's not your fault. I was sort of worried this would happen because I wasn't there."

"Not sort of worried," Ginny corrected as she came back into the room with three fizzy drinks. "He was tied in knots all summer. I never saw him work so hard to get money to go to the school. Fred told him he'd better stop working so hard or he was going to strain something."

"Thanks," Ron said to his sister sarcastically.

"I'm sure things will work out in the end," Harry tried to reassure him.

"Don't give up Ron," Ginny said. "I'd like to be involved with someone who was willing to fight for my affections."

"How do I fight for her if I don't know why she stopped liking me?"

"She might still like you, you don't know until you talk to her about it. Someone else may have just gotten her eye," Ginny told him.

Ron fell back onto his bed with a moan, and Harry felt bad for him. "Don't give up," Harry said. Ron was persistent, and Harry hoped he'd win her back.

Harry ate dinner with the Weasleys (Ron was miserable throughout and refused to tell Mrs. Weasley why), and it was soon seven o'clock. As soon as the hand struck the hour, there was a knock on the back door and Mrs. Weasley opened it and gave Snape a warm greeting.

"Severus, how good to see you. Would you like something to eat?"

"No, thank you."

Harry appeared from the living room and Mrs. Weasley gave him a hug as Snape looked him up and down, eyes lingering on his extra short haircut.

"Bye mate," Ron grumbled before disappearing up the stairs, presumably to his room. Ginny gave him a more enthusiastic goodbye with a hug, and then Harry went out the back door with Snape.

Snape gripped his arm and they disappared, reappearing on a dirt lane as the sun started to set.

"Where are we?" Harry asked. He could smell the sea.

"The Isle of Coll."

"We're- going back to the school?"

"We are going to my house. I live a few miles from the school."

"Oh," Harry said. That was interesting. He wondered if there was a beach near Snape's house and if he'd be allowed to go to it. They walked up the lane for less than three minutes when Snape directed him up a short dirt drive to a small white house with a brown roof.

"There are wards that will let very few people in. You have been added to the list for the time being."

"Oh," Harry said. "Thanks." It was nice of Snape to offer to let him stay with him for the two remaining weeks of summer, but he wasn't sure what those two weeks would be like. All Harry really wanted to do was relax.

"Is the Headmaster going to check that we've kept up with training?" Harry asked when they got inside.

"I doubt it. Was there something in particular you wanted to learn?"

"How to apparate."

"You are not seventeen. It is not allowed until then."

"I'd like to be able to do it in case I have to use it when I go up against Voldemort."

"You plan on apparating behind him?"

"I was thinking more about getting away from him. Every death eater has an advantage over me because they can just appear and disappear where they want."

"I will consider it. I assume you've been fed?"

Harry nodded. Snape looked at his hair again but didn't say anything.

"Mrs. Weasley cut it."

"I can see that." Snape looked like he approved and Harry felt relieved but didn't know why.

"Why was Mr. Weasley distraght?"

"Erm..." it was kind of a personal issue and one of those things Harry didn't think Snape would ever care about. "Hermione met someone at school she likes more than Ron."

"I see. And Mr. Weasley was not angry with you?"

"With me? Why would he be mad at me? All I did was break the news to him. I couldn't even give him a name because Hermione wouldn't tell me who it was."

Snape raised a brow as if there was something Harry was missing, but he still didn't understand so he let it drop.

"Your room is upstairs on the right. The bathroom is the first door on the left. You may go out if you take your wand and inform me of where you are going first."

"You're not going to keep me locked up inside because of Voldemort?"

"Should I?"

"No?" Snape was always so strict at school and everyone else always kept such a tight reign on him away from school, whether it was his aunt and uncle's rules at home or Mrs. Weasley's mother henning at the Burrow or Grimmuald place. He had expected it to be the same here.

"Provided you promise not to put yourself into danger, I do not intend on holding you hostage for the next two weeks. I have seen you duel enough times to know that you are capable of holding your own, even against adults. Keep in mind however that Death Eaters do not play by the rules and live by the motto, 'always cheat, always win'."

Harry didn't have to be reminded. It was why he wanted to learn how to apparate. No one would expect it of him.

"For the remaining two weeks I will consider the same rules that were in play at Gemini to be aplicable here."

"Ok."

Without another word, Snape turned and left the entryway, presumably to go into the living room, but Harry wasn't familiar with the first level of the house yet. He went up the stairs to go to the guest room and was pleased to see that even though it was small, it was clean and tidy. His large trunk was at the foot of the bed by the door and his black trunk with school supplies and his Gemini books was between the wardrobe and desk. There was a window that looked out to the back of the house, but Harry couldn't see the ocean, only a rocky hill covered in tall grass.

He turned to go back to his trunk so he could put his new sheets and blanket on the bed, but stopped instead and stared at the corner behind the door. His Firebolt was leaning against the wall, and it looked like it had the last time he'd seen it, a month and a half ago as Draco had walked off with it at Gemini. He blinked hard several times and even closed his eyes tight and opened them again just to be sure they were working correctly. His Firebolt was still there.

He walked over to it and picked it up, inspecting it. Not a single tail twig was out of place. "How did you get here?" It was like he was speaking to an old friend, and he really felt like he was. Sirius had given this broom to him, and it was like he was speaking to a part of Sirius. It was strange to think of a broom as sentient, but it was to him. He thought of his broom like Neville thought of plants and like Snape must have thought of his potions. Snape. It was the only reasonable explanation Harry could think of. Somehow Snape had gotten his broom back for him from Draco, but the problem was, it wasn't a reasonable thing to think at all. The only way he could have gotten it back was by paying Draco for it, and Snape wouldn't do such a thing. Remus would have done it, Ron would have done it, maybe even Dumbledore would have, but Snape? But Snape had bought him things that summer, and he had taken care of him in the infirmary, and he had even carried him up the beach path when he had been unable to keep going by himself.

Harry sat on his trunk with the broom across his lap and stared at it, unmoving. This broom had been from Sirius. But now it was from Snape too, and Harry wasn't sure how to feel about it. Sirius was his Godfather. He loved Sirius, and Sirius had loved him. Snape was just Snape. The black eyed, black robed man from the dungeons that Harry had been afraid of from day one... was still a little afraid of. Harry sat there on his trunk for a long time, and was still sitting there staring at the broom half an hour later when Severus passed by the open bedroom door on his way to his own room.

* * *

Harry wasn't sure how far he was allowed to wander, but Snape hadn't set any boundaries and didn't seem to be worried about it, so Harry set out on his own the next morning. He walked down the road and occasionally passed by another house or some cows behind a low stone wall. Almost two miles down the road a little girl waved at him from a front yard and Harry waved back but didn't say anything. He thought he would have liked to have had a bike so he could see more of the island faster, but then thought better of it, thinking he wasn't in any real hurry to get anywhere. It was the late afternoon before Harry made it to one end of the island. There was a long stretch of beach on the edge of a cove, and in the near distance he could see another island across a little stretch of the sea. If he had a boat it would probably only take a few minutes to get there. Harry turned around and headed back to the house, hungry. He hadn't eaten breakfast that morning and had missed lunch and his stomach was grumbling heavily.

When he finally got back and made it inside, Snape came out of the living room and gave Harry a close looking over, as if assessing if Harry was all right.

"I went to the beach," Harry said, but Snape didn't seem mad.

"I assumed as much. Your dinner is in the fridge. A simple heating charm should suffice." He went back to the living room and Harry looked inside a moment later to see that he was sitting with a stack of parchments, a quill and a large bottle of ink.

Harry went to the kitchen and found a plate wrapped in the fridge and pulled it out. There were two cooked chicken legs and a serving of vegetables. He unwrapped it and sent a heating charm at it and then opened the fridge again and found a fizzy drink, which he took out and opened. He stood at the counter in the kitchen and ate his dinner, glad to finally have something in his stomach that day, and then washed his dishes and found the cupboard where they went and put them away.

"Harry."

Harry turned towards the sound of his name. Snape was calling him. Why hadn't he called him 'Potter?'

In the living room, Harry waited for Snape to finish whatever he was doing, and after a few moments Snape set his quill down, and looked up at him.

"If you do not plan on coming back all day, you may make yourself food to take with you. A cooling charm will keep it good in your book bag."

"Oh, ok."

"I have considered your request. I will teach you to apparate. We will have to do it at Gemini as that is the only place on the island shielded from Muggle intrusion."

"Will we have time?"

"Apparation is very simple, yet some people fail to grasp the concept and never learn, hence the need for the Floo Network and brooms. You will either understand it right away and master it quickly, or you won't." He reached over to the end table beside the couch and picked up a book, holding it out to Harry.

Harry took it and Snape said. "Instructions on how to apparate are in chapter two. Pay careful attention to the many warnings about splinching. If you splinch yourself, I do not have the ability to rectify the mistake and we will have to contact the Ministry, at which point you will be penalized for doing illegal underage magic, and I will be fined for trying to teach you."

"How big is the fine?"

"Almost one hundred Galleons."

"Oh."

"If you have read the chapter by tomorrow, I will take you to the school to teach you. I suggest you read it several times."

"Thank you... sir." Harry added the sir on the end, feeling odd doing it, because he didn't usually call Snape sir, but felt like he should because the man was being so oddly kind to him.

He retreated to his room upstairs and set to reading the book. He pulled out one of his notebooks and took notes and then re-read the chapter two more times. The next morning after eating breakfast, Harry went back over his notes twice.

They left after that and Snape lead Harry down the lane in the opposite direction he'd taken the day before. Harry guessed they had walked a mile and was just feeling awkward about the silence between them when they turned up another lane. It was only a minute before Harry started to recognize where they were. This was the drive leading to the school. The same drive he'd tried to escape down a couple of weeks ago when Snape had come to find him and stopped him in the darkness.

"You do live close," Harry commented.

"Yes."

"So, for the rest of the year the school just sits empty?"

"It does."

They walked to the center grassy area of the school outside of the dining hall and Harry thought the place seemed eerie being so empty and quiet. It was only two days ago that this place had been filled with students and he'd been saying goodbye to Axle and Gan and watching Hermione cry.

"Explain to me the premise of apparation," Snape said, and Harry stopped looking around at the buildings that all now had their shutters closed to protect the windows from the weather.

"Moving yourself from one point in space to another point in space at the same time."

"And why can you not apparate great distances... such as across oceans?"

"Because you would be moving yourself in space and time, since there are different times around the world, and time travel isn't possible without a timeturner or mixture of potions and magic."

"How does one move himself from one place to another with appration?"

"By folding space and creating a hole to instantly move between two points."

"And how does one fold space?"

This was the part Harry had an issue with, because the book didn't really say how to do it, only that one had to do it. "You reach out with your consciousness and grab hold of the point you want to go to, and pull it back to yourself. Like pinching space."

"How do you create a hole in that pinched space?" Snape asked. So far he seemed pleased with Harry's answers.

"You push yourself through it until you come out the other side."

"Do you have any questions?"

Harry wanted to ask about splinching just to be sure he was clear about it, but the book had been plenty clear. If you didn't make it all the way through the hole you created, the pinched space would pinch bits of your body off, leaving them separated from each other.

"How- exactly, do I reach out to pull space to myself?" Harry asked instead.

"This is the part that you will either grasp, or you won't. I will apparate with you and I want you to pay attention to how exactly your body feels. You have apparated before, but because you have been unaware of the principles of apparation you have likely been unaware that as the adult's mind grabs the space you are going to, that yours does as well."

"So, when you apparate me to someplace else, I've really been apprating myself?"

"Yes. It is not possible to apparate with a Muggle for this reason. A Muggle is unable to reach out with their mind to apparate, so I could not grab a Muggle and apparate with them."

"Ok."

Snape took Harry's arm and said, "Keep your eyes open. Pay attention to everything."

Harry nodded, and with a pop, they were gone, appearing twenty feet away a second later. Harry took a deep breath. Apparation was always unsettling for him.

"What did you feel?"

"I'm- not sure. It was like, a sensation of speed. Like going on a broom very fast."

"Is there anything else?"

"There's a feeling like when we portkey... a tugging in my stomach."

"A portkey pulls space together and creates a hole for you. The feeling behind your navel is you being forced through the hole."

"But how do I do that on my own?"

"The best way for you to learn is to apparate with me and pay attention to what you feel, and how your mind and body reacts as we apparate." He reached out and held Harry's arm again and when Harry nodded that he was ready, they apparated again, only this time as soon as they re-appeared Snape took them away again, and then again. Harry lost count of how many times they apparated and when they finally stopped he felt unsteady on his feet. He stood there with closed eyes for long moments.

"Do you understand yet?" Snape asked.

Harry thought that previously he would have been frustrated with the vague instruction, but the numerous and sudden apparations made it almost seem like one long apparation, and Harry had really been able to feel his mind reaching out for another place in space and pulling it to himself.

"I- can I try?"

"If you are ready, you may do so. You must get all the way through the hole in space."

"How do I make sure I do that?"

"It is pure concentration. Do not stop the apparation until you feel your feet firmly on the ground in the place you intend to go."

"I think I can do it."

"You may try. Do not apparate outside of the school compound."

Snape let go of his arm, and Harry resisted the urge to close his eyes. He stared across the area they were in towards the medical building and tried to feel the sensation that he had felt while apparating with Snape. He tried to feel himself grabbing on to that point in time and pulling it towards him. Before he could think about it any more, he felt the hook behind his navel and felt himself zooming forward towards that place. He felt himself hit a barrier and put his head down, forcing himself through the pinched space. All of it happened in a blink of an eye, and he reappeared outside the door to the medical building. Snape jogged over to him.

"Am I all here?" Harry asked, dazed and giddy at the same time, feeling his ears and then shoulders and arms.

"You appear to be so."

"I did it?"

"It seems so."

"How far can I apparate? I mean... could I make it to Hogsmead from here, or to London?"

"Longer distance apparations take more concentration, but they are possible so long as you do not travel too far East or West, becuase then you would be taking yourself to a different time. It is advisable to do several shorter distance apparations instead."

"What if I've never been to a place before?"

"You must know what it looks like for your mind to be able to reach out for it. If I were to give you a map and show you a point on it, and show you a photo of a street, you should be able to apparate there."

"Can I try again?"

"Stay inside the compound."

Harry, eyes wide open, reached out with his mind for his cabin and appeared there a moment later. Feeling exhilarated, he apparated back to where Snape was.

"You intend on using this new ability to your advantage against Voldemort." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"I would advise you then to not show others that you have the ability."

"So... I can't go to Ron's with it then?"

"If you wish to go back you may use the Floo."

Harry couldn't help but flashing the man a grin, and Snape raised his brows at it. He allowed Harry to apparate ten more times for practice, and then they walked back to the house. As they ate lunch, Snape said, "There is information about apparation that is not in the book. It is not common knowledge and is generally considered to be dark magic, though it is crucial for you to know."

"What is it?"

"When you fold space and punch a hole through it, the hole remains open for several minutes. This means that it is possible for others to follow you."

Harry could tell he was wearing an expression of horror becuase that's how he felt. Voldemort could follow him? He'd always just assumed that apparation was a great way to escape quickly.

"If you were to apparate, a wizard with the knowledge of how to find that hole could easily follow you. If you do not wish to be followed, you should apparate to many different places before you reach your destination."

"How long does the hole remain open?"

"Three minutes. There is a way to prevent yourself from being followed, but it is risky and I would not advise you try it.  What seems to be a split second to others who watch you appear and disappear, is really much longer while you are apparating."

"Yes, it felt like a longer time."

"If you were to divide that time into thirds, and could wait until the last third of that time to go through the hole, the hole would close immediately after you went through it. In the apparations you just completed, you were in a hurry and went through the hole right away. Even though you are going from one point in space and time to another point in space at the same time, during the apparation you are also bending time."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Most don't, and so it is not often written or spoken about. The danger to waiting until the last third of time during the apparation, is that you could miss the window of time to get through the hole in space, and simply not reappear. Also, when you wait, you run the risk of apparating somewhere where you didn't intend to, which is especially not advisable when precise apparation is needed, such as when traveling to a narrow path or near a cliff."

"Because a foot off could mean death," Harry said.

"As I said, it is considered dark magic. Any magic that involves risk to your own life or the life of someone else is considered dark."

"How is it dangerous for a person trying to find an already formed apparation hole?"

"When you go through right away you leave two thirds of the time for the hole to remain open, which is approximately three minutes. When one is able to find an open hole in space they have no idea how much time remains before it closes. It poses a risk to them then to attempt to go through the hole before it seals itself."

"So I don't really have an advantage over Voldemort then do I? He can just follow me?"

"If several people apparate in an area, there is no way for him to know which open hole to go through to follow you. Also, if he does not realize you can apparate, he will have no reason to look for an open apparation hole."

"Do they teach this kind of thing at Durmstrang? Draco said they embrace the dark arts there."

"I do not know if they teach this particular thing, but they do teach certain types of magics that are considered dark. I believe they have a ban on all magic requiring a human sacrifice or the consumption of blood, as those are considered the darkest of all."

"But not too dark for Voldemort," Harry said. Voldemort had used bones from a grave at the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament and stolen some of Harry's blood. He had no doubt the evil man would sacrifice a person if he needed to.

"He frequently sacrifices followers he deems worthless or unworthy, as well as the lives of each person he murders."

"For what spell?"

"He has no need of one. For every person he kills he feels more powerful. Every ounce of his blood is full of darkness and evil. His mind has been so distorted by dark magic that he can no longer tell right from wrong. If there is something he wants, he takes it, and feels no remorse. It is one reason his name is so feared. He is so full of evil that people fear even his name is evil and that saying it will bring a curse upon them."

"Is it?"

"Is his name evil?  It is just a word Potter. Not even his real name. His name is no more evil than yours is good."

As Harry lay in bed that night, contemplating the meaning of good and evil and thinking of all the horrible things Voldemort had done, he felt sorry for him, and felt certain at the same time that Voldemort had to be stopped. As he drifted off to sleep, he also felt fear and anxiety, knowing that it was up to him to stop him, and he was just a boy. He wasn't especially skilled at any one thing, and he wondered if he had gained that advantage Dumbledore had meant him to have by going to Gemini, or if it had slipped through his fingers.