~*~

"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.

~*~

Harry lay in his Animagus form on his bed. He tried to block out all the confusing and overwhelming smells and sounds around him, but it was very hard. Using Occlumency in his human body was no longer a problem for Harry; it was very easy. He cleared his mind every night before he went to sleep and when he felt the tiniest intrusion. As a hellhound, it was much harder.

He had the constant urge to jump from the bed and run for a while. He heard Severus' scratching quill even though the man was in his own room. Harry wondered why he could not hear Alastor and Poppy, but he guessed they had cast Silencing Charms on their quarters. Alastor can't forget his old Auror practices. Constant vigilance is a motto he lives out.

Finally, Harry gave up just before supper. The smell of Poppy's fried eggs was overwhelming, and Harry realized too late that he had drooled on his bedcovers.

After supper, Harry tried again and could manage to concentrate long enough to be able to put up his Occlumency shield for a few seconds, but then he smelled or heard something that distracted him again. If he was successful, he would smell and hear nothing. He would see one thing he was concentrating on. Everything else was very far in the background. Almost like a constant hissing.

He could not train endlessly because Severus and Alastor had given him homework for his next training session. So Harry changed back into his human form and took the spell book from his night table. He read until Poppy knocked on the door. "That's enough reading for today, Harry. It's late, so lights out," Poppy ordered.

"Good night, Poppy," Harry said tiredly.

"Good night, Harry," Poppy said, and Harry could hear a ‘Good night, lad' from behind her.

"Night, Alastor," Harry said and put his light out.

The moment Poppy left the room, Harry changed into his Animagus form. He could hear their footsteps and knew they were heading in Severus' direction. Only seconds later, he was sure about that.

"I'm thirty-five, and I know when I have to go to bed, Poppy," Severus protested.

"Stop arguing, lad, or you will sleep in our room again," Alastor intervened.

"Hmpf," was Severus reply, and Harry could hear Severus putting out the light.

The footsteps again passed his door and paused for a moment in front of it. Surely, they were checking if he had turned the light on again. The footsteps went in the direction of Alastor and Poppy's bedroom, and then there was only silence because the privacy charm was activated again. Only Severus' muttering of ‘Who do they think they are?" and ‘I am not a child!' could be heard now, but there was no other sound. Harry grinned while in his hellhound form. It seems Severus doesn't dare to turn his light on, Harry thought amused.

____________

The next day started with a grumpy Severus at the breakfast table again. "Are you a pig, Potter? Do you have to eat like one?" Severus looked disgusted at Harry's face full of marmalade.

"I'm hungry," Harry said with his mouth still full.

Severus looked as if he had eaten a lemon. "You definitely are a pig."

"And you are a coffee-addicted old bat," Harry countered.

"You...." Severus growled and grab for his roll.

"If you think about throwing that roll, you will regret it, boy," Alastor warned Severus. "And you-" Alastor turned to Harry "-will stop grinning or you will spend the rest of the day in your room."

Harry quickly looked at his plate.

"Why can't we have one peaceful breakfast?" Poppy asked and sighed. "Severus, you know that it is better for you to not speak before you have finished your second cup of coffee, and you, Harry, know better than to provoke Severus in the morning."

"Sorry," both ‘boys' said the same time. When they realized it, they glared at each other. A growl from Alastor made them both look at their plates again and the rest of the breakfast passed without another incident.

"We have a meeting with Albus for your twilight training at ten. Be ready at that time," Alastor said after all had finished their meal.

"I will spend the rest of the morning in my lab if someone is looking for me," Severus said and stood up.

"I'll go and read my spell book until ten," Harry said, putting his plate and cup in the sink and left for his room.

At ten, Alastor knocked on Harry's door, and Harry quickly changed back into his human form. "Everything all right, lad?" Alastor asked worriedly and let his magical eyes roam over Harry.

"Yes, I'm just a bit frustrated about not learning fast enough," Harry said. He could hardly tell Alastor that he was frustrated that he had not managed to use Occlumency in his Animagus form.

"You did very well in the last training session, and from what I heard from Albus, you are very good in the twilight training as well."

"Still not good enough," Harry said and hoped Alastor would let the topic drop.

Alastor grabbed Harry's shoulders and turned him. "Listen, Harry. You are better than we expected. You are doing very well. Don't pressure yourself too much or you will be back in your bed with an illness again."

"Okay," Harry said sullenly.

"You are spending too much time with Severus," Alastor said and ruffled Harry's hair.

The twilight training went well. Albus and Alastor where civil and almost friendly with each other. Harry still had problems coming out of the twilight by himself, but he was getting better. The twilight did not cost him much energy, and he could hold his magic level almost balanced while moving around in the twilight.

In the afternoon, Harry had his next training with Alastor and Severus. This time, they did not throw him off the guard while they attacked him. He quickly found shelter and tried to disarm them. He did not manage to, but at least he did not lose his own wand.

The spell training went as well as the other day, and Harry got again a lot of praise from Alastor and Severus. He was not as exhausted as last time, so they had added thirty minutes to their session.

"I would like to show Harry something, Alastor. We will come later," Severus said while they left the training room.

"Severus!" Alastor said, warning.

"I am not taking him to the Dark Lord," Severus said, provoking.

That was a step over the border, Harry realized. He could feel a chill come from Alastor again as he stepped closer to Severus. Harry could see Severus starting to sweat and fighting the urge to step away from Alastor.

"I warn you, Severus, you are skating on thin ice," Alastor said dangerously. "If you think I will hesitate to react to your cheekiness in front of Harry, you are wrong, my boy."

Severus gulped and looked very nervous.

"Ehm...it's just a...potion ingredient Severus wanted to show me, Alastor. Nothing serious," Harry stuttered nervously.

Alastor looked at Harry, and his magical eye was fixed on him so that Harry wondered for the thousandth time if Alastor could read minds with it.

"I warn you two. If you do anything stupid again behind my back, you will both not sit properly the next few days." He looked at Severus and Harry in exchange. I will let you two leave without me, but remember my words, boys," Alastor said and turned to leave. "And no meeting with the old fool without me. Is that clear?" he said as he turned around again.

Severus and Harry both nodded enthusiastically.

When Harry wanted to ask Severus, he interrupted him and said, "You don't really want to know. Just let it drop and hope we will never come into the situation he mentioned."

"That was scary," Harry said, still a bit shocked.

"And imagine how scary it will be if he does what he implied," Severus said and shuddered.

"Yes, let's go back soon, so that he won't think we did something bad. Ehm...are we doing something bad?" Harry asked.

"I just wanted to ask you about your progress, but thank you for coming up with an excuse so quickly. Shall I ask him about the extraction today or perhaps tomorrow?"

"Ehm...better tomorrow?"

"Was that a question or a statement? And stop beginning each sentence with ‘ehm.' It's annoying," Severus said teasingly.

"It was a statement. I wasn't very successful with the Occlumency training," Harry explained, embarrassed.

"Why not?"

"Ehm... sorry," Harry said when he realized that he had started his sentence with ‘ehm' again. "It's to hard to concentrate while all the smells and noises are distracting me."

"What are you concentrating on?" Severus asked.

"The Snitch, same as ever. It works very well all the time in my human form."

"But you are a hellhound now, Harry. Would a hellhound be interested in a Snitch?"

"Ehm...damn, Severus, now I notice when I say it," Harry said, annoyed.

"That is the reason I told you. Maybe you will learn proper English now," Severus teased Harry again.

"But what would a hellhound be interested in?" Harry asked.

"Am I the hellhound or you?" Severus said and rolled his eyes. "Let's go back. Alastor is probably checking to see how long we have been away."

"Okay," Harry said and followed Severus. He had to run to keep up with Severus' long strides. On his way back to his quarters, he thought about a good thing to concentrate on while in his Animagus form.