~*~

"It will cause me emotionally pain?" Harry asked, worried.

"It will try to make you feel anger, sadness, despair, or similar thing in an intense amount. You have to think on something that makes you feel very happy or safe in this moment so that the soul cannot anchor itself to these emotions." Albus paused again for any questions. When no question came, he went on. "It will be very hard and painful, Harry. We cannot promise that we will be able to get it out. If we realize you are not able to fight it, we will stop."

Harry's mood sank to a degree which he had not believed possible. He felt dreadful and just wanted to crawl under a big stone and cry. He had had so much hope, and now it was destroyed again. "Please, I'm tired. I have to rest," Harry said, monotone, and stood up. Alastor was instantly at his side and steadied him when he felt dizzy.

"It's all right, Harry. We will go back and let Poppy give you something to sleep." With that, he led Harry out of the office without a backward glance at the old man.

"Again, I have to put too much on your shoulders, Harry," Albus said sadly into the empty room.

~*~

"Is he all right?" Severus asked worriedly when he passed Alastor and Harry in the hall in front of Harry's room.

"What Albus told him was a bit too much. He has to think about it all. Why don't you help him into bed and talk a bit? If he still needs something to sleep, call me or Poppy," Alastor said and handed Harry over to Severus.

Harry was glad that Severus would stay with him and that he would have the possibility to speak with him about what Albus had told him.

"What happened?" Severus asked when he had guided Harry to his bed.

"It's all for nothing. I won't make it. The moment I wince in pain, they will stop and Voldemort's soul will remain in me," Harry said, frustrated, staring at the ceiling.

"I told you that it would not be as easy as you think. So you are not worried about the pain but that Albus will stop too early?" Severus asked to get a clear view of things.

"Yes, Alastor will not leave me alone with him, and you know how protective he is. When I start whining, he will force Albus to stop, but Albus said there will be a lot of pain. How can I stay quiet?" Harry asked, this time looking at Severus.

Severus smirked. "You will do much more than just whine, Harry. It's like being under the Cruciatus Curse."

"Yeah, just keep grinning at me. That's all you can do. Why did you even tell me about it when you knew we could never extract the soul fragment?"

"First, I apologize for ‘grinning' at you, but you are so naive sometimes that I cannot stop myself. I think Albus has explained it all in detail, and so you should know that staying calm while undergoing this procedure would be unthinkable. And second, I want you to remember who it was that said, ‘Let's keep Alastor out of this.' Albus would only stop when he felt that you were going mad or passed out. With Alastor, it is another thing," Severus said seriously.

"I already apologized for telling him, Severus," Harry said sadly.

"And I already told you that I understand that you confessed to him in that situation, Harry," Severus said gently and laid his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't think about it anymore. We have to make the best out of the current situation and until now, Poppy and Alastor have cooperated better than I had thought."

Harry felt new hope grow into him and looked at Severus intensely. "Do you think we still could be successful?"

"Of course. That depends on how much you have retained from our Occlumency training."

"I practice all the time. Vol...He hasn't made it into my mind in months, but what does it have to do with this?" Harry asked confused.

"You have to train to use it while in your Animagus form, what else? You should learn to use your brain." Severus tapped Harry against his forehead. Harry just sneered. "When you are capable of using Occlumency while in your Animagus form, you will not have to worry about the emotional pain. You will be able to blend it out, but there are two things that will make it much harder for you to use Occlumency in that situation."

"The physical pain will distract me, right?" Harry asked.

"For once you used your brain. I have to mark it red in my calendar. The day Harry Potter learned to use his brain," Severus teased.

"Sometimes I wonder why I started to like you, Severus," Harry said, annoyed.

Severus grinned. "Me, too."

Harry could not suppress a grin at this comment. "And what is the second thing that will make it harder for me to use Occlumency during the extraction?"

"Your senses. You have already realized that a hellhound has much better senses than you. Even better than a wolf. They will distract you. Therefore, I would suggest that you try Occlumency in your Animagus form as often as possible before we try the extraction. Do you think you can do this?"

"Of course, I feel fine, and Poppy allowed me to train," Harry said enthusiastically.

"Good, then that's what you will concentrate on. Remember, we do not have much time. If everything goes well, I will try to convince Alastor and Albus to try the extraction tomorrow evening. It depends on how successful you are with your training."

"I will try whenever I'm able to, I promise." Harry said.

"Good. But rest now. Shall I call for Poppy to give you something to sleep?" Severus asked.

"No, I feel much better now that we talked about it. I will read my spell book and maybe Alastor will train with me today. Will you join us?"

"Yes, Poppy has deemed me healthy enough," Severus said theatrically.

"Great," Harry said happily. "I will ask Alastor when we can start." Harry tried to stand up, but was pressed back by Severus.

"You will rest now and read your book, and I will speak with Alastor," Severus ordered.

"Okay," Harry said and took the book from his night table.

________________

"Ready?" Severus asked when he peeked into Harry's room a few hours later.

"Yes," Harry said and jumped up. "Shall I take the book with me?"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Do you think we do not know the spells? And you should know them by now as well or this training will be useless."

"It was just a question," Harry said sullenly.

"And a stupid one. Come, Alastor is waiting for us in the training room," Severus said impatiently.

Harry had hardly entered the room when a white light came towards him and his wand was flying out of his hand.

"What did I teach you, boy?" Alastor asked angrily.

"Constant vigilance," Harry muttered, embarrassed, while picking up his wand. He had not even straightened up when the next curse was aimed at him. This time, Harry was faster. He cast a shield and the spell was absorbed. He had no time to celebrate his success because a spell was cast from behind him; Severus had joined the ‘game.' Swiftly, Harry turned around and ducked the curse and cast his own Disarming Charm in Severus' direction. Or at least what Harry thought was the direction Severus was. The room was almost completely dark, and he could only see shadows. Severus countered the spell without trouble, and Harry found himself ducking and running around the room. He was sweating. His lungs were burning, and he was glad that he had found a place to hide behind a statue.

"Lesson one learned," Alastor's voice came from his left and the room lit up. "Seek for yourself a place from which you have an advantage and that gives you shelter."

"You can come out, Harry," Severus said. "We will practice the spells from the book now."

Hesitantly, Harry left his shelter. He was not sure if it was a trap and they would attack him again.

"You can relax, Harry. It's no trap. See what you were barricading yourself behind," Alastor instructed.

Harry turned and saw a wooden puppet with several red marks on it. Targets, Harry thought.

"That is your training partner for the next forty minutes. We will not attack you during this training session. You can concentrate completely on the puppet and what we will show you," Severus assured Harry.

"Okay," Harry said, relieved.

"Now, we will start with Conjunctivitis Curse. What will it do?" Alastor asked.

"It will affect the eyes and the vision of my enemy," Harry answered.

"Correct. Any curse that will negatively influence the possibility of your enemy to fight you is a good spell to learn," Alastor explained.

"Do you remember the incantation and the wand movement?" Severus asked.

"Yes," Harry said and looked straight at the target. "How will I know that it was effective?"

"The target will glow green if you do it correctly. It will glow red if you do the wrong spell and yellow when the spell is right but the location not optimum. This spell will influence the vision, so where would be the best place to aim?" Alastor asked.

"The eyes," Harry said while already pointing his wand at the eyes of the puppet.

"Do your best," Severus said.

That was all Harry had waited for. He felt so much energy in him that wanted out. He wanted to show them what he was capable of. He could hear his blood flowing through his head while fixing his target. His magic bubbled in him and screamed to be let out. The puppet glowed green when Harry had cast the curse, and Harry felt overwhelming pride. He had showed them that he was capable of learning things, and he would show them more.

"Well, done, Harry. Now try it nonverbal," Severus instructed.

Harry had managed nonverbal spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but never with such a curse. His self-confidence decreased.

"Just try it, Harry. We do not expect you to mange everything immediately. This is a training session, not an exam," Alastor said encouragingly.

Harry breathed deeply and concentrated. He closed his eyes, felt in his body, and called for his magic. He could hear it buzz and felt it vibrate slightly. When he opened his eyes, he located his target and aimed his wand at it. His magic vibrated faster and a jet of red light erupted from Harry's wand and hit the target. To Harry's relief, the target glowed green again. He smiled at Severus and Alastor, and they both nodded approvingly.

"Well done, Harry," Alastor said. "From now on, you will try each spell nonverbally. That will give you an advantage against some enemies and makes you equal with others."

Harry nodded seriously. The rest of the training went well, too. Harry was very exhausted, but the praises from Severus and Alastor made him glow with pride. He felt like he was really capable of fighting Voldemort. At least he would have a chance against him. Harry was not overestimating himself, but he felt happy for being able to train.

"You did very well today, Harry. Tomorrow we will go on." Alastor laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and smiled proudly at him.

"Thank you," Harry said, smiling back.

"Yes, that was really not bad, Harry," Severus said and ruffled Harry's hair.

Harry could not remember ever feeling so wonderful. He felt new hope for a good ending to this ordeal rise in him.