"What's with all the Aurors at breakfast this morning?" Connor wondered as they made their way along the corridor to History.

"There was a notice up this morning, some new security measures from the Ministry," Hermione replied distractedly. "Is Harry alright?" she added in a quiet voice.

"Not really," Connor lowered his voice to the same level as Hermione's. "I thought he'd be happy, now he's finished all those detentions, but he's been miserable ever since."

Hermione bit her lip as her eyes briefly followed the back of Harry's head.

"How did the remedial potions lesson go for him last night?"

"I don't know. He won't discuss it with me, says he doesn't want to talk about it."

They entered the door to the classroom and took their places on the empty seats beside Harry and Ron.

"She's driving me mad," Harry whispered.

"She's worried about you."

"I'm fine. It's fine. She just needs to relax a bit."

"Yeah," Ron said unconvincingly, looking at Harry's wan face, "you do seem a bit knackered though, mate."

"Please just... leave it."

Harry shifted slightly to focus upon Professor Binns, effectively blocking any further conversation between them.

At the end of the lesson Harry was half way through the door before Hermione cornered him.

"Hermoine-" he started wearily.

"It's ok I'm not going to say anything," She interrupted quickly, "but I've got something for you."

Delving in her bag and rooting through books and parchments she withdrew a thick, greying text with 'Obsolete spells: A study of the dying arts of antiquity' embossed upon the front cover in faded golden letters.

"I figured that if you're going to deal with everything yourself you could at least use some resources to help you, so I started researching things." She held the book out to him.

Harry took it reluctantly.

"Page one hundred and seventy three," she told him.

Harry slowly opened the book and flicked through it to the relevant page. He squinted to make out the faint worn text.

Vulnus Ictus

Last recorded use 1728

A dark curse which was seldom used due to the power drain it imposed upon the caster.

Anecdotal accounts suggest that recipients may sometimes survive for up to five months before the curse reaches it's deadly conclusion.

Effects of Vulnus Ictus:

Vulnus Ictus is characterised by a shimmering silver flash which marks the recipient upon contact. Initial bleeding and severe pain at the contact point lasts for some minutes before receding and leaving an indented, circular curse scar.

The curse has three stages of development. Initially, the recipient's quality of life is relatively good. There may be some intermittent disturbances to the wizard or witches magical power, and for brief periods his or her magical health may actually seem to have improved.

In the second stage the recipient enters a clear decline, his or her magical ability wanes dramatically and the curse scar burns as it begins to spread. The patient begins to waste; psychosis and hallucinations begin as he or she struggles to sleep, eat and speak.

In the final stage the recipient is completely blind and mute as the curse scar spreads rapidly and begins to become gangrenous. Depending upon the caster's intention, skill and magical strength death at this stage will follow within days or weeks.*

*One unknown wizard is said to have recovered from second stage Vulnus Ictus after the caster, Kieran Franklin-Jones, willingly performed a counter curse, however other accounts suggest that he might actually have been subjected to the Vulnus Aperion curse (see page 129), which is rarely fatal.

Harry snapped the book shut without a comment.

"Um, well, we'd better get going..."Rob said sounding uncomfortable.

"Yeah, let's do that," Harry said, shoving the book in his bag.

"What's in the book?" Connor asked.

"Nothing important," Harry said looking directly at Hermione and turned sharply to stride away on his own.

He made it down the corridor and out of the door before he heard the steps hurrying after him. "Harry, wait!" A voice called out breathlessly.

Mid-way up the owlery steps, Harry stopped and spun round to face Ron.

"Have you read it?" he demanded.

Ron nodded, looking sick.

"I mean, what the hell! Why would she give me that to read?"

"I... She... She's trying to help."

"Well, I wish she wouldn't. Seriously," Harry lowered his voice, "when she thought my dreams were good she said they wouldn't come true. It's only now that she knows they're bad that she's convinced they're my fate!"

"She's not. She just thinks reading up on stuff can't do any harm. She's trying to help."

"Trust me. Reading stuff like that is not gonna help."

"She's worried."

Harry sighed. "Yeah."

"I'm worried too," Ron admitted. "You're quiet. Tired. You're not talking to us about what's happening. You don't come to quidditch practise now even though you can..."

"My ban only finished two days ago!"

"We just... I don't know what you're doing, what you're thinking."

Harry shrugged. "I'm training. You know that."

"Yeah, but you don't tell us about it anymore. And Connor says you seem really down in the evenings when you go back to your dorm. I just want to know if you're ok."

Harry sighed again and sat down on the stone staircase.

"I'm fine," he said at last. "The training's getting tougher and I'm not doing very well so far. But I'm determined to do it," he added quickly, "if I can ever manage wandless magic, that is."

Ron plonked himself down a few steps below Harry. "Well you never thought you'd be able to occlude but you're brilliant at that now. Maybe you just need more practise."

"Yeah maybe," Harry echoed. "There is one thing I want to show you though-" he took a quick glance up the stairway behind him, "I've kept working on the Animagus transformation and look."

Ron watched as Harry sat very still, and after a few minutes he could just make out where Harry seemed, almost imperceptibly, to shimmer very slightly.

"Did you see?" Harry asked at last.

"You're shimmering!"

"Yeah. Well, a bit anyway. It'll probably still take ages to do it properly-"

"What does Connor think?"

Harry sighed. "I don't know. The stuff he tells me about transforming is more complicated than what Sirius said, you know so I'm going more by that really. I mean I guess everyone has their own way of doing it and I never seem to end up doing things the conventional way... it just comes together somehow."

For a moment Ron felt a brief surge of envy which he quickly pushed aside. He bloody deserves it considering how hard he's working anyway. "This is so cool, Harry. You're gonna be an Occlumens, a Legilimens and an Animagus! Wandless magic eventually too, and all in your fifth year."

Later that evening Harry tried to share Ron's optimism as he hesitated outside the Room of Requirements; Severus' office didn't quite cut it with the type of training they were covering now.

All of a sudden the door was flung open.

"Are you going to come in or not?" Severus demanded. "Or do you intend to lurk outside in the corridor all evening?"

Harry walked past him, ignoring the griping.

"You're supposed to be being circumspect; after all there aren't any plausible reasons as to why I'd be holding a remedial potions lesson in here."

Harry shrugged. "No one was out there, they're all too busy staring at the Aurors in the Great Hall," he muttered and laid his bag onto one of two chairs at a table by the door. "Why is Dumbledore increasing the security around the castle anyway? Does he think we'll about to be attacked?"

"I have no idea what he is up to, although he has assured me that it is only a temporary measure," Severus replied sourly.

"That doesn't make any sense, it's either dangerous or it's not. Why would he get a load of Aurors down here and then get rid of them?"

"I stopped trying to fathom out the workings of the headmaster's mind years ago. No doubt he will enlighten us all when he is good and ready. Although the sooner the Aurors are all gone, the better, in my opinion."

A new alarming thought struck Harry. "Moody isn't here is he?"

"I don't believe that even Albus felt that would be a good idea, although having said that there are plenty of other Aurors that I may well choose to hex in his stead."

"Do you really hate them all that much?" Harry blurted out. "I mean I kind of get Moody after this summer, but the rest of them?"

"They hate me and would relish nothing more than to cart me off to Azkaban if it wasn't for Albus' influence. And yes, I do despise some of them. In my experience the type of wizards who want to be Aurors are usually arrogant fools, more concerned about getting results than seeing the complexities in a situation; and not above using dark magic themselves if it means they get confessions."

Harry swallowed uncomfortably. He'd wanted to be an Auror since the first year, after all it was what his Dad had done; protecting people. But using dark magic to get confessions... well that basically meant torture didn't it? No wonder Severus distrusted Moody so much then, after being interrogated by him.

"Come on then," Severus said, waiting impatiently.

Quickly, Harry slipped his cloak off and chucked it on top of his bag.

He looked around the rest of the huge room which was bleak and empty, the bare floor made of stone slabs. Falling on that's going to be hurt, Harry thought and the next instant the floor adjusted itself so that it was made up of varnished wooden panels.

"Are you quite finished, perhaps you'd like a carpet or cushioning charms?" Severus suggested dryly.

Harry gave a small rueful smile and slowly followed him into the middle of the room trying to ignore the growing queasiness in his stomach and the fact that his legs felt like they'd turned to lead.

"So tonight, we'll try the Fiendfyre curse, Ossis Effergo and Praefoco Prefoco," Severus told him unemotionally.

Harry felt his mouth going dry. "Yeah."

"Pass me your wand." Severus held his hand out to take it and for a breath moment Harry felt an urge to refuse before he handed it to the Professor.

Hands clenched by his sides, he backed off a few paces, his breathing already becoming short and erratic.

"Harry-" Severus looked him directly in the eye and for once seemed to hesitate. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I've agreed. We need to force me to start using my wandless magic," Harry said slightly breathlessly. "and we both know harmless jinxes and hexes aren't going to do that."

"But after yesterday-"

"Just do it!" Harry said gritting his teeth. His eyes were now glued on Severus' wand.

"Very well; prepare yourself." Severus said tonelessly, giving only a slight pause before incanting, "Ossis Effergo," as Harry immediately shouted, "Protego!"

As Severus gave an almost lazy flick of his wand a dark blue jet of light shot through the air and hit Harry left wrist. His attempts at a wandless Protego having proved completely fruitless once again, Harry was left gasping from the bone breaking curse.

Rocking on his feet trying to deal with the pain, Harry held his good hand up to stop Severus from approaching him.

"It's fine," he said unsteadily, closing his eyes tightly for a moment as he fought to control himself. "Carry on."

"Your wrist is fractured," Severus said dispassionately.

Harry nodded rapidly. "It'll be worth it."

The next curse Severus cast was the notoriously unstable Fiendfyre and Harry actually forgot the pain in his wrist as he backed away from the eight foot wide, ferocious, fire serpent. I hope Severus can control this, he thought wildly as he stumbled away from the blazing inferno. I hope it won't burn me too badly...

He was running now, rapidly trying to get to the back of the seemingly endless room, all thoughts of a wandless Protego utterly forgotten.

I need something to hide behind, he thought at last in an exhausted panic, before noticing a huge metal cabinet a few feet away. At least the rooms on my side, he decided.

However the Serpent wasn't stopped by the metal cabinet and Harry watched in horror as it slithered onto the cabinet and towered over him.

Instinctively he turned sharply, determined to protect his broken wrist from further injury if nothing else. When the Serpent reached him he found that there was no way to hold in his screams as the burning flames blistered his right side...

Then all at once it vanished and Severus was beside him looking thunderous.

"What in Merlin's name was that debacle?" he stormed. "Lie down," he forced Harry roughly to the floor and ran his wand over the sleeve of Harry's shirt which shed away.

Harry couldn't choke back the tears as he hardly dared to look at the angry red blisters on his arm.

Delving into his pocket Severus produced a pot and taking Harry's right hand he immediately began to rub ointment into his hand and arm.

"You weren't even trying to cast a shield were you? WERE YOU?"

Harry immediately began to feel a little better as his right hand and arm began to be heal, and he could see there was plenty of ointment left in the pot. "My leg," he whispered.

"That can wait," Severus glared at him. "Did it really not occur to you that it would be better to cast Protego than shelter yourself with your wand-arm?"

"My wand-arm?" Harry was nonplussed. "That's why you're mad? I thought you said you'd make sure you didn't give me any permanent injuries?"

"These are not schoolboy spells, Harry," Severus sneered, "even you must know that dark magic can be unpredictable. Although I am confident that I will not maim you, I would rather not cast any spells which affect your wand-arm, even temporarily, particularly given your utter incompetence at wandless magic."

Stung, Harry scrambled to his feet. He tried to ignore the immense pain in his left arm and the blisters he could still feel on his hip and thigh.

"Let's try again," he declared.

Severus made a move to pass him the ointment but Harry stopped him. "No, like you said, it can wait. I can take it. Do it."

Severus looked at him appraisingly, seeming to have recovered his temper somewhat. "Do you know Praefoco Prefoco?" he asked coolly.

Harry shook his head.

"It's also known as the asphyxiation curse. You will find it advisable to actually cast Protego this time as there will be nowhere to run."

Harry felt a wave of nausea pass through him and just nodded slightly; he was fighting to stay on his feet even now, before the curse was even cast.

Mentally he tried to prepare himself. Protego, Protego, Protego. Somewhere dimly his mind registered that if he couldn't cast wandlessly now, with this level of pain to motivate him, he never would.

Severus raised his wand, "Praefoco Prefoco," he incanted, as Harry screamed, "PROTEGO!"

The Spell hit him like a brick wall, knocking his breath out of him. His chest immediately hurt; it felt as if a heavy weight was on top of his lungs squashing them down. Irrationally he fought desperately to breathe, although the whole point of Praefoco Prefoco was that you couldn't. Even though the spell probably hadn't been cast for more than a few seconds, time seemed to be standing still. He fell to his knees, sending a sharp jolt of pain through the burns on his right thigh. He clutched at his chest...

And suddenly the curse was lifted.

Dizzy and white a sheet, Harry stood up again, swaying.

It hadn't worked. It had to work. It just had to.

"Ok," he said in a wavering voice through lips tinged with blue, "try again."

As Severus took a quick step towards him the room seemed to spin.

"Are there any limits to your self-destruction, Harry?"

Harry couldn't really take in what Severus was saying, he only knew that he couldn't take it. Not insults, not now.

"You're -" Severus continued but then cut himself off, barely having time to fire off a cushioning charm as Harry fainted.

Harry was unconscious for almost three hours. Severus could tell the moment that he began to stir, his hands inched towards the burns on his hip and thigh but stopped trembling, just short of touching them, as if sensing how much contact would hurt.

Emerald eyes, bright with pain, fluttered open and focused upon the tall slightly blurry figure beside the bed. As Harry was given his glasses his vision became clearer; he was in his room in Severus' quarters. He looked briefly at his body, he was in some sort of hospital gown which had been cut open to expose his blistered hip and thigh, which looked even worse than he'd imagined despite the fact that they were now covered in ointment. His broken wrist also seemed to have been fixed, although it still ached somewhat. The pain in his wrist was nothing to his burns though, his thigh and hip were agony.

"Why," Harry spoke with effort as if he was struggling with each word, "why does it hurt more now than before?"

"The burn ointment is laced with a heavy painkiller and your last batch is wearing off. I shall apply some more in due course."

A couple heavy breaths followed this statement before Harry gave a short beseeching reply. "Now; please."

Severus shook his head. "The ointment contains opiates, I've given you as much as I can until one o'oclock. You will be more comfortable after the next dose because it will build on the residue already in your body."

Harry bit his lip and leaned his head back against the pillow. He was silent for some minutes before asking.

"Why haven't the other burns healed as well as those on my arm?"

For an instant Severus seemed almost shame faced. "The ointment has a greater efficacy if it is applied immediately. Even those few minutes delay until we'd finished training have made a noticeable difference. We should've stopped immediately."

"You didn't think I was burned this badly?"

"No I knew," Severus replied shortly. Harry didn't know what to make of that. Well actually he supposed he did; it was necessary. It has to be done to force out my wandless magic and if it hurts, well that's just too bad. He gnawed his lip again.

"When I'm better, I'll try again-"

"No," Severus interrupted, "that's an end to it."

"But you can't just give up on me," Harry protested his face stricken. "I just need more practise; I'll be able to do it if I keep going."

"No, you won't," Severus said simply.

"Please," Harry was close to tears once more. "You've got to help me!"

Wordlessly Severus summoned a calming potion. "You little fool," he said gently as he handed Harry the vial. "I'm not saying I won't train you, simply that we will concentrate on more expedient methods."

Gulping the potion straight back, Harry's breathing became less frantic as he could feel his body relaxing despite his pain and distress.

"But I need to be able to do this," he said with less urgency behind his words.

"And perhaps one day you will, but not in the immediate future, Harry," Severus replied. "You mustn't allow your Gryffindor foolhardiness to blind you to the proper course of action."

He stood up, drawing Harry's wand from one of the pockets of his robe.

"Whenever you are ready we will begin working on wanded shields."

He held the wand out to Harry who took it, trying hard to ignore a sense of utter failure as he did so.

After Harry's next dose of ointment he soon fell asleep, Severus could see that the pain had eased considerably as the muscles in his face relaxed and his breathing became rhythmic.

Severus turned to the corporal phoenix which had been waiting patiently beside him for some minutes. "Fine, I'm coming," he told it irritably.

Satisfied the phoenix departed in a graceful flight. Severus sighed and then cast a monitoring charm on Harry before leaving his room and flooing to Dumbledore's office. Stepping out of the fire he sat down heavily in the chair opposite the headmaster without offering any pleasantries.

Dumbledore looked at him over the tops of his glasses. "So how did the training fare tonight, Severus?" he inquired mildly.

Severus gave him an incredulous look. "Did you really believe that after sixteen years as a spy I wouldn't notice your viewing charm?"

"Ah, well, yes I do admit that I found it advisable to maintain a certain level of interest in young Harry this evening," Dumbledore conceded.

"So you know exactly how the training fared," Severus pointed out in a dark tone.

"But my dear boy, you were quite right in what you did," Dumbledore reassured him. "We had to test him."

"No," Severus snapped. "It was not right. What I did was necessary but by no stretch of the imagination can it be deemed right."

There followed a long moment of silence before Dumbledore continued.

"We needed to know if he could be taxed into using wandless magic-"

"And now we know."

Dumbledore inclined his head. "Well disappointing as this is, it's not insurmountable. You were of course quite right in your decision to now focus upon using more conventional training. I am sure Harry will be eager to learn some of your skills with various shields."

"Not insurmountable!" Severus repeated in disbelief. "Have you lost all grip on reality? By Merlin, this was crucial Albus! He didn't fail an essay, this matters. He needs to be able to use wandless magic."

"A power the Dark Lord knows not," Dumbledore reminded him lightly. "Wandless magic of itself hardly fits that description."

"But it certainly bodes ill," Severus said sharply, "that he isn't powerful enough to use it."

"He's still a child-"

"He's fifteen!" Severus replied.

"-and as you know for some wizards wandless magic develops much later."

"Not for his father," Severus noted bleakly. "Nor the Dark Lord, nor Lucius, Bellatrix or any one of a dozen truly powerful witches and wizards whom I have encountered. I assume you could cast wandlessly as a teen?"

"And you could add yourself to that list," Dumbledore added wryly. "But this is all academic. We will have faith in Harry and given time I am sure his power will be shown, perhaps when we least expect it. In any case the prophecy is only one form of truth; I truly hope that we might be able to thwart it."

Severus went very still. "You mean the Horcrux, of course?"

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled. "We have made great progress in our quest, Severus. I believe I may have located the final accursed item."

"What is it?" Severus breathed.

"It seems that the answer has been our within reach all these years," Dumbledore began.

"Not Harry," Severus interrupted. "We know that the Dark Lord was trying to create a Horcrux when he failed to kill Harry, and that's why he is a Parseltongue, and had a connection to his mind; but he didn't succeed past the preliminary stages. Surely you're not doubting this after all this time?"

"No of course not," Dumbledore confirmed. "We have confirmed that beyond the shadow of a doubt. But I do think a Horcrux was cast that night after all."

Severus face drained completely of colour. "You mean..."

"The Horcrux wasn't stopped that night, it was blocked by Lily's sacrifice."

"But we would have known... the Aurors would have discovered this before she was buried."

"I'm not the only one who knows Cloaking spells, Severus, Voldemort clearly intended for his Horcrux to go unnoticed."

"You know this for sure?"

Dumbledore nodded. "As soon as I suspected it I sent for extra security. Today Filius and I finally succeeded in casting a charm which was able to confirm my suspicions, there's definitely a Horcrux there, so tomorrow I will go to Godric's Hollow. Assuming I can't destroy the Horcrux then and there I will bring it back to Hogwarts where I can secure it while I find a way to bring about it's end."

For once Severus seemed speechless. "It has to be done," he managed at last. "Lily- her body..." he hesitated. "I would rather not go with you, I would rather not see-"

"My dear boy," Dumbledore interrupted him kindly. "I wouldn't ask that of you."

Severus stood up, he made his way to the fireplace before pausing and turning slowly.

"Be careful, you remember what the others were like. There's always a trap."

"It is probable that Voldmort didn't even realise that Lily's body had become a Horcrux," Dumbledore mused. "But I will of course use utmost caution."

Severus gave an abrupt nod before throwing a pinch of floo powder in the fire and returning to his rooms.

The next morning Harry, Connor, Ron and Hermione spent their free period down by the lake; Harry in particular was keen to have a change of scenery from the Room of Requirements. Having cast some basic privacy wards Ron and Hermione were alternating between practising DADA spells and Legilimency. Harry sat quietly watching them and occasionally practising his Animagus transformation. He was pretty sure the tingling feeling was growing stronger now although his leg and hip were hurting enough to distract him from making any real progress. Not that he would say as much to his friends or Severus. He was determined to train and after the fiasco the day before, nothing would stop him.

Connor seemed particularly excited about the shimmering business though. Apparently it was exactly how he had been before he'd become a crow for the first time.

"I reckon you're going to have an avian form as well," he told Harry. "What with your talent for flying and everything and people do say that you're likely to take a form of a creature you have some affinity with!"

"Maybe," Harry said doubtfully. A bird would be good, great even. He'd love to be able to fly for real. It was just that now he was getting closer to actually making the transformation he realised he'd been kind of hoping he'd be a stag, like his father, after all Hermoine had said that Animagus forms often ran in families... Of course, it wasn't as if one could choose their Animagus form, and a bird would probably be more useful, more inconspicuous than a stag...

Abruptly Harry took control of his rambling thoughts. What am I doing? There's no point worrying about my form when I can't even transform!

They worked steadily for the next hour, until eventually Ron and Hermione threw themselves onto the ground next to Harry. They'd been legilimising each other, really pushing each other hard for the last half hour although neither of them were able to shield very consistently yet. Not that it seemed to bother them. Whatever the last lot of memories had been about had made them both collapse into fits of giggles and even now Hermione was blushing while Ron looked very pleased with himself as they chatted quietly. Harry was sure he would have been more amused if his burns didn't hurt quite so much, but he was relieved that learning legimency wasn't always painful. Only when Severus taught it, it seemed.

Ron's next comment broke through his train of thoughts.

"What do you think the little ferret is up to at the moment?" he wondered idly.

"Malfoy? Why what'd he do?" Harry asked.

"You know coming into Charms half way through like that," Hermione said giving Harry a long look. "You were there."

Harry shrugged. He'd felt pretty out of it all morning, from either the ointment or the pain.

"Yeah. He looked really weird as well," Connor added. "Kind of shifty."

"He's got to be up to something," Harry said shifting about trying to ease the pressure from his hip. "Maybe we should legilimise him and find out what it is?"

"Harry!" Hermione protested immediately. "I'm sure that must be breaking all sorts of rules."

"Well why do you think we're learning legimency?" Ron asked her.

"Not to get expelled!"

"We can't anyway," Connor told them. "I tried to legilimise Malfoy a couple weeks back. You can't do it; he occludes."

For a moment Harry forgot about the pain from his burns. Malfoy could occlude? Well, he supposed it wasn't that big a shock. It was just that he had thought they were getting ahead; learning occlumency, defence and the Animagus transformation suddenly seemed hopeless when you had trainee Death Eaters doing exactly the same.

A second thought hit Harry. Exactly the same... Surely Severus wouldn't have taught Malfoy occlumency? It would have to have been Lucius. After all, it wouldn't make sense to show a want-to-be Death Eater how to protect his secrets, even if he was your Godson.

Harry went to his training session with Severus that evening determined to settle the matter one way or the other. He didn't really believe that Severus would have trained Malfoy to occlude, but he wanted the Professor to confirm as much to him.

He let himself into the rooms.

"Harry." Severus stood up from his desk, laying down his parchments and approached him. "How are your burns?"

"All right."

"You're not in pain?"

"Not really."

Severus frowned. "I could give you stronger doses of ointment, but it would make you drowsy."

"Honestly, it's ok," Harry told him, he'd already agreed to meet Connor later, and he didn't want to end up falling asleep.

Severus summoned the ointment. "Take it with you anyway," he said. "In case the pain becomes less bearable."

Harry nodded and pocketed the jar, perhaps he would take it before he went to sleep and use the weaker ointment during the day. "Thanks."

"Do you feel up to training tonight?"

He nodded again. "What are we going to do?"

"Some basic shielding work," Severus told him, "just until your burns are completely healed, then we'll go back to the advanced spells."

For the next forty-five minutes, Harry wordlessly shielded himself from the Jelly-legs jinx and Tarantallegra. At least his Protego seemed a bit stronger now. It was if being blasted without a means of shielding meant that he was more forceful now he actually had his wand.

When they stopped for a break Harry used the opportunity to ask about Malfoy.

"Did you know that Malfoy can occlude?"

"You've been legilimising Slytherins?" Severus lip curled in disapproval. "I thought you agreed to stop starting fights?"

"Look, it wasn't me who legilimised him," Harry said, not wanting to get Connor into trouble but determined to make Severus answer the question. "So did you know?"

"Of course, I knew."

Something about the way Severus replied made Harry's heart sink.

"You trained him to occlude." He posed it as a statement rather than a question, although he still hoped that Severus would deny it vehemently.

"If Draco is to make his own path in life, he needs to be able to have some independence from Lucius. The only way that he is able to do that is if he can keep certain matters private-"

"He's not going to use occlumency to lie to Lucius!" Harry interrupted. "He'll probably use it against our side. You're making it harder for yourself, if you ever have to fight him in the future."

Severus' dark eyes glittered. "I hardly think it possible that anything could induce me to raise my wand against Draco."

"But if he's against the Order..." Harry faltered. "You'd have to be prepared to fight him...If he becomes a death eater, I mean."

Severus shrugged. "We all have limits we won't be pushed beyond; he's my Godson, naturally I will protect him as far as I can. Shall we duel again?"

Harry shook his head. "Tomorrow," he said numbly. He'd had enough for tonight. What else has Severus been teaching him? Defensive spells? Offensive spells? He's training a future Death-Eater! And he doesn't even see a problem in that.

The situation with Draco was still on Harry's mind as he walked outside with Connor. Though as they got closer to the lake he couldn't help but look around for Padfoot. Winter was drawing in now, he wouldn't even need to sneak out to be here in the dark as the light had already almost completely faded at only half past seven.

"Can I try to legilimise you?" Connor asked after he'd cast the privacy charms.

"Sure," Harry replied listlessly.

A minute later he felt the slight pressure which he brushed away effortlessly.

"Was it any stronger?" Connor asked.

"Hmm. Well maybe a little?" Harry replied trying to be polite.

"But it's not difficult for you to block me?"

"Not really," Harry admitted apologetically. "Do you want to try again?"

Connor sighed. "No I think I'll just go and fly for a bit, stretch my wings out. Do you mind?"

"It's fine," Harry waved him off. "I could do with a rest."

Harry sat back and yawned, wrapping his cloak tightly around him to keep out the chill from the wind. Some time later he weakened and put a tiny amount of the new ointment on his burns. Severus was right, it was much stronger than the other one, although he didn't feel drowsy yet. Perhaps he'd have another go at the Animagus transformation, now that his head was clear and it was nice and quiet out here, without any distractions.

For a few minutes Harry messed about with some of the Occlumency techniques that Connor had suggested might help him prepare for the transformation. It was almost pitch black now, with just the occasional glimse of moonlight making it through the clouds overhead and Connor was still flying endlessly, looping back and forth. Rubbing his hands together for warmth Harry decided to persevere with his practice, one last time before calling it a night. Eventually he felt the shimmering force throughout his body and he concentrated on abandoning himself in the sensation. It is a tiny bit like occluding in a way, he decided.

Allowing himself to float in the shimmery half-world of his animagus form, this time Harry felt something tug at him, it was as if the skin across his body was being yanked away from him, but it was uncomfortable rather than painful. The feeling grew until it was overwhelming and he had to force himself to stay calm. Just as he thought he couldn't bear it anymore he collapsed on all fours. An unreal kaleidoscope of smells and sounds assaulted his senses as dark hair began to sprout on the back of his hands and he felt his bones draw in on themselves.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen and Harry was terrified that he's got stuck somehow: half way between human and animal. Connor would have to find him and drag him to Severus, and then what if he couldn't change him back? Then everything seemed to happen at once as he let out a howl as his tailbone lengthened, the world called back out to him and all of a sudden he was bounding as he never had before, throwing himself into mud and bushes. He simply had to find that smell, it was driving him mad... Something moved above him and his ears prickled. Connor! He sat back on hind legs trying to gather his thoughts. He was an animagus! He'd done it.

He scampered down to the edge of the lake and peered in at his new reflection.

The shock from what he saw caused him to transform back into his human form with an abrupt jolt. An instant later Connor landed beside him also transformed back to his human form.

"Harry you did it! Well done, this is fantastic-" Connor's voice trailed off as he saw how devastated the other boy looked.

"Here," he said snatching up Harry's clothes from the ground, "we'll have to work on you keeping your clothes. Are you ok?"

Harry was shaking now, and although he was stark naked, Connor didn't think it was from the cold.

"Harry?" Connor held the clothes out to him again.

Harry looked up at him in agitation. "It wasn't Sirius it was me," he gabbled. "I'm Padfoot... Oh God."

"Well that's ok, isn't it? You had other dreams about Sirius didn't you? If this premonition came true, they will as well."

"What if they all come true?" Harry whispered seeming to talk to himself as much as to Connor.

"Why, what happened in your other dreams, Harry?" Connor asked in alarm.

Harry stood up and took the clothes from him. He began to dress hurriedly.

"Harry?" Connor laid a hand on his shoulder. "Talk to me. What happened in your other dreams? Were they bad? What happened?"

Harry looked up at him, quite wild eyed. "Yeah, they were bad," he said a low voice. "Really fucking bad."