Disclaimer: This isn't my world, I'm just borrowing it for a little while.

Harry Potter and the Elemental Mage

Chapter Two

*Small Secrets*

After 'Sirius' outburst, He and Harry had settled down around the fire, where Harry quietly began to work on shredding meat and cutting up vegetables for his stew. There was a lot for him to take in, the fact that he was the next strongest Mage, and maybe even an Elemental. How he wished he was just normal Harry. Dropping the meat and vegetables into the boiling cauldron, Harry decided to go wash up. He had at least twenty minutes before the stew was ready, so he went into his hut and grabbed an oiled fur which he had been using as a towel of sorts, and a clean pair of clothes, made out of reptile skin. It felt just like leather, and was surprisingly comfortable. The new clothes consisted of a pair of tight blackened leather pants, and a blackened leather vest. He no longer wore a shirt since the weather was always warm even at night. Taking his oiled fur he folded it and laid it on the side near the lake, before he stripped out of his used leather clothes and piled them on one side, while he put the fresh leather clothing beside the oiled fur. Completely naked, Harry waded into the room temperature water, and silently bathed himself. He washed his hair which he was surprised to see, was now just past his shoulders. It was getting long enough for him to tie back into a pony tail, and it seemed to be less wild this way. Satisfied, he climbed out of the water, and used the oiled fur to dry himself, before he laid out the fur on the clean green grass to dry in the morning sun that would appear in a few hours. Harry quickly pulled on his leather pants and vest (Yes, he's going commando) before he turned around to look down at the water's reflection.

The last few months had done wonders on his appearance. He no longer looked gaunt and haggard, nor skinny and malnourished. He was now six feet tall, give or take an inch. His black hair was now a few inches past his shoulders, and seemed to fall around his face in soft waves, instead of the birds nest it usually rested in. His eyes were even more peircing in his face, that was darkly tanned, along with the rest of his body. His chest was well defined, showing off a fair pair of pecs, and a six pack of abs. Lean strong legs were hugged by tight leather, and muscled arms peeked out of his loose fitting leather vest. He now had man hands, he noticed when he looked down at them. They were rough and calloused, worker's hands.

His scar was bright and really visible against his darker skin tone, but the bangs of his hair had grown out and practically obscured his vision. His eyes seemed larger without the hinderance of his glasses. All in all, he felt like he was a completely different person, someone who could take on the world.

Feeling refreshed, Harry moved back over to the fire, where his stew was bubbling nicely, he swung the pike hook aside, so the Cauldron was no longer over the fire, and let the stew cool before he dished it out into a roughly hewn wooden bowl. Harry couldn't help but smile when he remebered how he came to own all the things he had collected in this world. 'Sirius' liked to call them scavenger hunts. Because Harry was sent out in search of an item or two that could be turned into something of his benefit. Like the reptile skin. He made them into clothing, which was surprisingly cool even in the heat. Harry knew that first thing in the morning, he was going to have to quickly wash his other clothes in cooled lake water, since all the heat had risen from it during the night. Cold water was best on the skin to keep it from shrinking, and then he just laid it out on the side of where he laid his oiled fur, to dry. It had been interesting on how he had made the leather black.

(In reality, this probably won't work, but for the sake of the story, it sounds interesting). He had skinned the animals, and washed their skins, before stretching them out on the ground. Then using a blackened burnt peice of wood, he beat at the skins, causing the black soot to transfer on to the skin, then he left it to dry, and washed it one more time, causing some of the excess soot to fall off into the water. The skins retained the rest of to soot, which has sunk into the dried out skins. He oiled them, making them smooth and mealleable, before he began to stitch them together with horse hair he had plucked out of a Horse's mane and tail.

After a few hours of work, he was left with a nice pair if leather pants. He had then repeated the process for his vest, and then another pair of both pants and vest, keeping the black colour. Harry walked around barefoot, since he didn't really need shoes, not even for hunting, it's easier and quieter if you can feel the ground under your toes, on how it bends and firms. You can avoid tricky spots so you won't be heard when your tracking an animal.

Harry quickly ate his bowl of stew, before he placed it back on the ground beside the fire pit. He waited silently, contemplating what questions he needed to ask. Harry decided on the easier one. "Sirius?" He waited till 'Sirius' head turned to look at him, and brow raised in question. "Are the Unforgiveable spells factorized?"

'Sirius' gave him a smie, "yes they are. I'm glad you caught that. The Unforgiveables don't necessarily have to be used to hurt and kill other people. There is a more humane way that these spells can be used, but because certain people have continued to use them for the wrong purpose, it has made people believe that they are evil spells, and their only purpose is to torture and kill innocents."

"What could they be used for instead" Harry had to admit to himself, he was very curious about another purpose for the Killing curse, or even the Cruciatus curse.

"Well the Killing curse, or Avada Kedavra, can be used when hunting animals or on comatose patients, it is a painles death, instantaneous. It would be a humane way of ending someone's life, when either it would lead to them feeling pain before dieing in the case of hunting, or for the person to pass on swiftly and painless when comatose or brain dead. The Cruciatus curse could be used on severely mental patients in order to organize their minds. While the muggle's put the patients through electro shock, the cruciatus has the same kind of reaction, and leaves no lasting marks. It is best for insane, or drug addicted patients within the mental wards or hospitals. It's a good way of curing someone of a certain ailment. The imperious curse could be used within hostage situations, by getting control of the aggressor, you can diminish casualties, but calming the aggressor, or negotiating with them within their mind, and allowing their hostage to escape to safety."

Harry thought it over. The reasons for those spells sounded good enough, and even more understanding then the reason they were being used at the present time. Nodding, Harry picked up his bowl and moved to lake to wash it clean, before placing it ontop of his oiled fur where the bowl would also dry in the sun.

'Sirius' had moved to his side. "It's getting late, young mage. You should get some sleep, for dawn comes early, and you have a long day ahead of you." Harry nodded, yawned, and moved to his hut and stripped down. Crawling onto his bear fur bed, he closed his eyes, sleep taking him faster then ever, even with all his chaotic questions and thoughts he had tumbling around his head.

XXXXX

Like 'Sirius' had said, Dawn came early. Groggy Harry rolled out of bed and pulled his clothes back on his body, before he left the hut and began his normal morning routine. He stretched quickly, feeling his muscles loosen up, before he set out at a brisk jog. He jogged around the forest for 20 minutes before he picked up speed, by the time his run was almost over he had been going practically his top speed, he slowed down before he reached his clearing, ending in a soft jog, before he dropped back down and began his cooling down stretches. He moved off to the side of the clearing where there was a low hanging branch, making sure he had a good grip on it, he bent his knees, one foot wrapped around the other, he began to do some chin ups, after twenty minutes, he dropped down again and began to do sit ups, before flipping over and doing push ups. He did five sets of each, with fifty repetitions on each set. Feeling satisfied, he stood up and did a last set of stretches before he went over to the fire pit and started another fire, swinging the pike with the cauldron back over the fire, to reheat the food he had made only a few hours ago.

While he waited for his food to heat up, he made his way to the lake where he grabbed his old set of the leather clothing and began to methodically wash the leather in the cold water, scrubbing it clean before he laid it on top of the oiled fur, which would allow the leather to keep it's smooth texture instead of drying up in the sun. Then he moved over to cows and testing each cow, he found one that was ready to be milked. He pulled the cow over to a stump where he sat down, a bucket already in his hand. He placed the bucket under the cow, and began tugging on the cow's nipples, causing it's milk to squirt into the bucket. After a few relaxing minutes, Harry felt he had enough milk and let the cow go back into the pasture, before he moved off with the bucket. He moved it onto the pike to join the cauldron that had already heated nicely. Heating the milk will help pasturize it, so it wasn't filled with any toxins. Once both stew and milk was heated nicely, he removed the pike from over the fire, and began to serve himself. First he put some stew in his bowl, eating all of it very fast. Then he poured some of the heated milk into his bowl where he swallowed it all with out even moving the bowl from his lips once. Harry let out a light belch, smiling slightly. He startled when he heard a chuckle from right behind him. Whipping around he saw 'Sirius' standing there, holding some kind of wooden target.

"Sorry I startled you, I had gone in the forest to look for something we could use to practice your spells on, when I heard you crashing through the forest, I decided to just make something myself." He held up the makeshift target. "I'm glad to see you enjoyed your meal." Harry smiled at him sheepishly, before he turned to stare at the target warily.

"I thought you weren't going to train me until the Block was gone from around my magic?"

"Well, I realized that it was sort of premature to assume I shouldn't train you just because you have a block. I think maybe if you feel you have control on your magic, at least the magic not being held in check by the block, then you may be able to get rid of the block on your own, and not cause England to pull an Atlantis and disappear." 'Sirius' said matter of factly. Harry couldn't help but grin. He could be amusing when he wanted to be.

"So how are we going to do this?"

"Well first we have to find the range and power of your wandless spells. Then from there we can determine how far and how strongly shielded your target needs to be."

After that, they both got to work on testing Harry's magic. They decided on using the Stupefy curse, because it was easier to determine what the stunner's damage would be because it left a small scorch like mark on the target it hits een though it wasn't actually hot. 'Sirius' tried to explain how to increase his spell power, how to access his magical core. Harry tried to concentrate for almost two hours on making his spell power fluctuate between different strengths.

Finally, just as he was about to give up, Harry sent a last Stunner, which ended up shattering the target they had been using. Harry blinked. "Whoa..." 'Sirius' clapped.

"Well done, Harry. Well done!" He clapped a hand on his shoulder. Harry turned around and smiled at him. It had been rare for him to recieve praise in anything, he really appreciated 'Sirius' giving it to him. It felt better when he accomplished impossible tasks, that seemed to be the easiest for him. 'Sirius' insisted Harry practice somemore, after the target was melded back together, and protected with more spells. Harry had moved on to higher grade level spells, using the techniques 'Sirius' had shown him to fluctuate his power behind the spells.

'Sirius' signalled him to stop. "Have you learnt any healing spells?" Harry shook his head. "Thats disappointing," At Harry's stricken face, he quickly backpeddled, "No, I'm not disappointed at you, but at your school for not teaching you any healing spells, especially with as many scraps you get into on a daily basis." Harry's face relaxed as he understood what he had meant before agreeing with him.

"Even though i've been in the hospital wing a thousand times, I was always unconcious when Madame Pomfrey used any healing spells on me, or she would just give me a potion."

"Ah, well we'll need to work on that, and I daresay maybe even some potions" Harry's stricken face made 'Sirius' laugh uproariously.

XXXXX

Harry and 'Sirius' had worked hard on the healing aspect of magic for just over a month. 'Sirius' had drilled it into his head how important it was to know this, for if Harry ever ended up in battle again, it was better the be able to heal wounded comrades, or himself, so he could be able to fight that much quicker and faster. People will learn from their mistakes eventually, and Harry knew it would be nice to know healings spells in the heat of battle. A flash of the battle at the department of mysteries flashed through his head. He hadn't thought much about it lately. What with an image of Sirius in front of him, why would he? To him Sirius was still alive. At least in this world. He preferred to stay here for the rest of his life, if it meant he could be with Sirius, but a part of him knew that it wasn't really Sirius, just a copy of who the man once was.

It didn't take much encouraging to get Harry buckled down to work. He was more determined then anyone would think possible. No one else was going to die if he could help it. Soon Harry had been able to complete twelve different quick acting healing potions by using common plants around most forests, and he found ways to make them in less time then most would. He learned it was all about prioritizing steps. Which ones he felt wouldn't need to be in the actual creation of his potions, and once he realized which steps could be discluded and have the potion still wor the way it was suppose to, he could take off hours of wating and prepartion for that potion. Feeling immensly proud of himself, for accomplishing what is considered an almost impossible feat (atleast for him, and his 'obvious lack of potion's talent') he bottled up all his potions.

In the beginning of working on the potions a month ago, 'Sirius' and Harry had decided to revert their oasis into a more practical setting. Gone was the forest and single hut. They were now residing within the Hogwarts castle. It made making potions and studying much easier. Of course, Harry no longer had to go hunting for his food in the morning, which gave him an extra few hours in his morning, or so he thought at the time. Instead 'Sirius' insisted he get in some more training, and forced him to run the grounds and complete other exercises to increase stamina and endurance. Harry had to admit, he enjoyed running. He never thought he would. It was a surprising relief from the stress of his day, of all the pent up frustration he had endured, and an escape from the pain he knew would consume him from the loss of his real Godfather, and the almost loss of his friends.

"Harry!"

Harry stopped his circuit around the quidditch field and turned to the raised voice. Seeing 'Sirius' beckoning to him, Harry turned and jogged over the side of the slytherin stands that 'Sirius' was standing before. "Hey, whats up?"

"I think it's time we work on removing that block of yours. I know you feel you aren't ready, but I think with the amount of healing spells you've learned, which by the way require much concentration of magic, you can handle slowly dismantling the block around your core and rebuilding a new one." Harry's face was completely ashen under is dark tan.

"You've got to be kidding me! Don't you think we should wait a bit longer, I don't know, maybe train a bit more in protective shield charms in case we need one or something. I mean I don't even know how to create a block, and i'm not interested in destroying all of England on a small hunch that you think I'm ready!" Harry started pacing, nerves beyond control. 'Sirius' stood watching him for a few minutes.

"Fine" Then he was gone, moving back up the path to enter the front doors of Hogwarts. Harry stared after him, feeling chastised from his tone, but not really sure why. He thought he had a fair argument. He wasn't going to kill people he loved because some 'guide' or whatever wanted a block that was around his core gone. He wanted to be 100 percent sure that there was no way he would lose control of the magic in his core before he could erect a shield to keep it intact inside him. He didn't want England to be another Atlantis, not when he had a say in the outcome.

XXXX

It was a few more months before the subject of collapsing the shield was broached again. Harry had been working hard not only in the potions dungeon creating and improving different potions he knew was going to be needed for him to know, but also in the dueling room, where he practiced against makeshift dummies on spell control, shields and offensive magic. 'Sirius' already told him that he was a pro at defensive magic, and the scores he recieved in DADA proved that, he seemed to soak up those kinds of spells like a preverbial sponge. He needed to work a little more on his technique and to be more on the offensive, as well as creative.

Harry asked 'Sirius' what he meant about being creative with his spells.

"Remember when I told you that a lot of Dark spells were being factorized. Only used for one specific purpose even though they could be used in good ways as well as bad ways." At Harry's nod, he continued his explanation. "That goes the same for every spell you know. A simple stunner could be used in medicinal ways, to knock out a patient experiencing excrutiating pain, or to stop someone from escaping or attacking you in the midle of a fight." 'Sirius glanced at Hary to make sure he was following before he went back to pacing, "Accioing something could be useful in battle as much as it is in everyday life. If you accio someones heart out of there chest,they die. All spells can be reversed to do harm as much as good, I already explained how the unforgiveables work, and how they're uses could be used in less evil ways. Now, the only one that can be excepted from this rule, are the healing spells. Since their only use is for healing wounds and other unfortunate accidents, they can not be turned around for evil use. Well I guess if you close someone up without taking out anything metallic in their system that would surely kill them painfully in a few hours once the metallic peices peirce an organ or travel through the heart. But then, thats only if they were struck with something, and you get your hands on them to be able to heal the wound close, most don't bother and just use other spells to fight and kill with.

Now, the point of this was to explain the shields. There are three different kinds of shields. There is the regular Protego shield, which is a protective shield for curses being thrown at you, minus the Unforgiveables and other strongly dark spells. The next shield, and you won't learn this till 7th year is the Domesticus contego, or translated from latin, the Dome shield. It's a large shield, requires a lot of magic to cast. It's one of the more powerful shields, and obviously very rare to use. Not many people have the power to withstand this shield, it drains them within seconds. It's usually the shield used most when impossible spells are sent, like the Unforgiveables. Your mom used this shield just before she died to protect you, her magic lingered a few seconds longer after she fell, to protect you when Lord Voldemort tried to kill you. The great aspect of this shield is that it bounces the spells back at the castor, while protecting you, and whoever else you wish it to. It can also be transferred to someone else while you move around. So in your mother's case, She set the shield up, weakening her magic protecting you while she begged for your life. I believe that even though she had died, the reason while the shield had continued to exist was because of the love she felt for you, her sacrifice at the hands of Voldemort, was the catalyst of her unmeasurable love that she held for you, it was the one thing that Voldemort could never understand. By all rights, that shield should have collapsed when she died, but a part of her transferred into that shield, and she swore to make sure you lived." Harry fingered the scar on his forehead listening to the explanations behind what Dumbledore had been hinting at but never fully explained.

"How did i get this scar?"

"The only explanation i can say is that, though the shield blocked the main attack of the spell, a small speck of it seeped through because the shield was not altogether strong once your mother was dead, the love she put into that spell was slowly fading, along with her magic, so a small speck of it sneaked into the shield and marked you. Because the spell was then shot back out to hit Voldemort, there was a transfer of sorts, Voldemort lived because his magic was tied to your own. That is no longer the case, in the sense that if you had died, so would his spirit. Now he lives through the ritual he performed on the last task of the triwizard tournament. He had used your blood to help resurrect him, for yours is most powerful through not only your mother's spell in protecting you, but also through your father's lineage. They were a strong pureblood family, very strict in marrying proper and only to other pureblooded witches or wizards. Your father's father, hated the rule, but abided by it for his father would have disowned him. When it came to his sons decision, and James introduced your grandparents to Lily, your grandfather accepted it wholeheartedly. He didn't want his son being confined by the strict dictates of past purebloods, and only wanted him to be happy."

"How do you know all this, I thought you were just a piece of magic in my head." Harry asked uncertainly, not entirely sure he trusted his 'guide' anymore.

"I had to say that to decieve you at first, for if you know i had entered your mind, you would have repelled me. I couldn't allow you to do that, for you are not properly trained in handling the mass amount of magic in you. I wanted to make sure you were ready to take on your task. Please forgive me. All will be come clear in the future, just know, I am not here to harm you, Nor am I here on anyone else's orders but my own. I have no allegiance except to you, and my own."

Harry nodded at him, "Whats the third shield?" He decided to hear out the rest of the explanation's before he judged whether he could trust the shadow or not, for Harry knew that was who he still was, even though he had the image of his Godfather.

"The third shield is called Rumpus Contego, or Shattering shield. When it's hit with a spell, it turns into glass shards that can then be flung back towards your attacker. It doesn't require as much power since it's suppose to break on contact, but it's very effective in eliminating any potential threats. Also while they're dealing with the shards of glass shield, you can be throwing curses left and right, and taking down more of your enemy, or get rid of the target your after. Do you think you can try performing any of these shields?"

Harry nodded. Then he put his hand out and first conjured a protego shield with a twitch of his fingers and a loud exclamation of Protego. A shimmery shield coalesced around him, almost like water as it shimmered and waved from the slight breeze. Harry was slighlty shocked, it wasn't suppose to look like that. Harry looked over at 'Sirius' to see him smiling and nodding his head. "It's not suppose to look like that, is it?"

"Yes it is. Normal circumstances it's more firm and wall like. But because your magic has escalated, this to has changed to match. Remember, your an elemental, this just proved that you have the skills to work with the water element. It's a calm element most of the time, but can be quick to temper, but soothing to others when needed." They both turned to look at the shield placed in front of Harry, as it calmly shimmerd as if it was waves sliding across the air. Harry dropped his hand, and the spell slowly faded away. Taking a deep breath, Harry raised his hand and waved his hand in cirular motion, clearing intoning Domesticus Contego, and watched as a large dome erupted to cover him, it was licking at the area around him, as if it was controlled by fire. Blazing outwards, before he shrank back slightly to make sure it never strayed to far from it's charge, the Dome shield felt alive, more so then the last one.

Harry and 'Sirius' both stared at the dome shield in wonder. He had control over opposing elements. Not exactly rare, but not very common either. Usually if a mage had control of more then one element, it was usually complimentary ones. In the sense that opposites attract, not exactly true when it came to the elements. "You seriously are an enigma amoung enigmas, Harry" 'Siruis' intoned in a deadpanned voice. His eyes never leaving the firey shield. "You should try the last shield, before your magic is drained." Harry nodded, letting the dome shield drop. He didn't feel very drained, but then maybe he just didn't fully understand what it was suppose to feel like. Harry took another deep breath, concentrating, before raising his hand once again. Magic was coming so much easier to him now when he was able to do it wandlessly, then when he had to push it through another object. His magic seemed happier then it use to be. Like magic actually had feelings.

Harry flicked his wrist outwards as he intoned Rumpus Contego loudly. Another shield appeared infront of him, almost box like surrounding him. This one looked like ice crystals shimmering in the light. It was solid enough, but still seemed intent on protecting him. 'Sirius' sent a spell towards Harry, shattering the ice crystals around him, but they didn't fall to the ground. Instead they continued to float in the area around him, as if waiting for a signal. Harry through his hand forward, and the shattered crystals went flying forward slicing through the air, intent on destroying who ever had deigned to harm him. Harry quickly brought his hand up, watching as all the crystals stopped dead, before he dropped his hand, causing them all to fall to the ground and slowly dissipate. 'Sirius' had his hand in front of his face, eyes slightly wide. When he saw the crystals fall, a look of relief flew across his face before he brought his eyes to look at Harry.

The smile on Harry's face was amazing, it was bright and warm. He was proud of himself, if not slightly in awe of the magic he could create. The feeling that rushed through him, was heady, and intoxicating. He almost felt invincible. Seeing this in Harry's bright green eyes. 'Sirius' sent a bludgeoning curse towards him, it knocked Harry off his feet and into the stands that stood behind him. Harry thudded against the wood, before sliding down and landing on his ass, out of breath, and holding his side. "What the hell was that for?" Harry asked aggravatedly.

"For thinking your were all powerful. This magic is addictive, and it can cause you to want more of it. I was just making sure you realized that your still vulnerable, even with all that power." 'Sirius' turned his back on his charge, and began walking back up to the castle. "I suggest you go to your room, and sleep it off. Your power has been drained a little more then usual today, and it may take some time to heal from that bruised rib. Your allowed to miss the rest of training today and tomorrow, to give yourself some time to heal. After that, we'll go into battle training, and master dueling. Once i'm sure your strong and focused. We'll start working on Mind magic and Occlumency. Yes, before you ask, it's possible to learn in even within your own mind. You've already mastered the basics, now we'll just have to push you to the next step. In time, you'll understand what it really means to be a true mind mage. Good rest Harry, I'll see you in a few days." With that,'Sirius' disappeared into the school and Harry was left to tend to himself, and rest up from the minor yet slightly painful injury.

XXXXXX

"Swing Down!" 'Sirius' shouted. He was teaching Harry proper sword fighting. He had seen the image of Harry fighting the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets with Gryffindor's sword. The awkward thrusting movements and parrying had really rub 'Sirius' the wrong way. Why send a boy of 12 a sword that he doesn't even know how to use, to defeat an enemy he barely knows? It just didn't make sense. Another thing 'Sirius' really wanted to punch Dumbledore. So he decided to correct that flaw. They had been traing for a couple of weeks now. When to lunge in, when to thrust, how to fake. Harry was even starting to actually enjoy it. They started with fencing, simple parry's and lunging. To get use to using a weapon like that. Then he switched the fencing swords with real swords, and rejoiced when Harry seemed to pick it up like he was made to do this. He knew how to incorporate what he learned with the lighter fencing sword and adjust it to the much heavier battle, double edged sword.

Harry twisted around swinging his sword on a downward stroke, 'Sirius' quickly brought his sword up to meet the stroke half way, causing a loud ringing when the metal hit, they were locked together before Harry twisted his body away, and ducked the swing 'Sirius' had sent at his shielded head. They wore special armor that was created to mimic the suits fencer's use, so no harm would come to them in the battle. They were bound to hit each other eventually, and not exactly check the power behind the swing when they did, so 'Sirius' felt it was better safe the sorry. Besides, Harry had said when he was told what it was used for, I think i have enough scars to last me a life time, i'd rather try and keep it to a minimum. Or the next thing you'll know. I'll be the Boy-Who-Had-A-Lot-Of-Scars, or some such rubbish with the magical world and it's pension for ridiculous hyphened names. 'Sirius' had laughed at Harry's apparent distaste of the name he had been given when he had survived the killing curse. It was no wonder though, in all honesty, the Wizarding World really did have Ridiculous names for everything.

"Good. Don't stop attacking." 'Sirius' demanded. Harry thrust his Sword in the direction of his mentor, trying to slide past the other sword swinging in his direction. 'Sirius' glanced away, Harry's reach over extended he happened to be to low for 'Sirius' sword to hit, and the sword just passed over Harry's head. Harry quickly dropped to a knee and flipped his body over, so he was on the other side of his mentor, before he swung his sword at 'Sirius' legs. 'Sirius' quickly side stepped twirling to bring the sword down onto Harry's shoulder. Harry fell to his side, bringing his sword up to meet 'Sirius' in the middle, another loud clanging noise reverberated around the dueling room they had been using. Harry quickly lashed his feet out, and was able to trip 'Sirius' to the ground, the Swords sliding apart. Harry quickly gained his feet and brought the sword down. The tip resting against 'Sirius' neck.

"Well done!" 'Sirius' praised as he pried his mask off, then reaching for Harry's extended hand. "That was a most exellent tactic. Good! Now shower, your very sweaty. You've improved so well, i'm giving you the rest of the night off to study other weapon and fighting tactics. I'll be devising a plan for your master dueling training. Good rest my young mage." 'Sirius' said as he dusted himself off and headed in the direction of the changing rooms to hang up his suit and sword before heading to his office, which just soo happened to be the real Headmasters.

Harry shook his head slighty before he too headed to the lockers to hang up his suit and take a relaxing shower. He was covered in sweat from head to toe. That had been sword fighting for the last 3 hours straight. Harry knew that once he was finished his shower, he was definetly going to find something to eat, before he even thought about studying. Thought to be honest, he didn't mind the studying part much either, he never knew how fascinating reading something could be. No wonder Hermione loved it so much.

A few minutes later, Harry had turned off the water and wrapping a thick towel around his waist and using another one to dry his now even longer hair, he moved out of the showering room and back into the locker room where he quickly dressed into a fresh pair of clothing. He had begun to favor the more, surprisingly, comfortable leather pants, but had started wearing t-shirts and those comfortable wife-beater tops, (What a name for a certain kind of man tank. sheesh). He then made his way into Hogwarts, taking the path that he knew lead down to the kitchens where, on the first night he had arrived, was surprised to see about a dozen House elfs working away. At first, the surprise and regret had filled him, but 'Sirius' had gently explained their situation. House elves needed to be bonded to wizards and witches or in this cast a magical school, in order to survive and be able to use their own magic. Without the bond, the house elf would slowly die, and it was a painful death, for it was almost the same as a wizard losing their magic. They would decay, for their was nothing sustaining their magic inside, and it would lash out at the body that held it before it would sink back into the earth, and the body would turn to dust.

Harry couldn't help but feel disgusted, and worried about Dobby, the elf he had freed. 'Sirius' patted his shoulder when Harry had voiced his concern. "Dobby is bonded to you Harry. When you freed him, and showed him the kindness he never knew when he worked for the malfoy's, he had bonded his magic with yours once you had set him free. He will probably never be happier, then when he is serving you. House-elfs can sense a good strong wizard, and when they find one filled with compassion for them and for other's, they tend to treat them as if they are their charge. These house-elfs are bonded to the school, but more importantly are loyal to you. The others are loyal to the headmaster. When you leave this place, these house-elfs will follow, but will not return to your aunt and uncles house, but will appear back at Hogwarts, waiting for you and your friends to return so they can be of service to you. I would suggest bonding with them before you leave. It's always good to have them to trust with errands that you know your owl or person can not deliver in case of interception. House-elves are fiercely loyal to their owners, if their owner treats them fairly. Dobby I believe is one of the more unusual ones. He is the enigma amoung them, like you. It is no wonder that he has taken such a fierce liking to you. Care for them Harry, as they care for you." Ever since that converstation, Harry had always come to the Kitchen to eat, and had talked to them, and insisted they tell him about their lives, and what they had done growing up. He asked for their names, so he knew what to call them, and had asked what sort of hobbies they enjoyed doing on slow days. The house-elves had been shocked at first, but it didn't take them long to warm up to him, or to praise him on how such a wonderful wizard he was.

Harry had noticed that Dobby wasn't apart of the small handful of House-elves inside the kitchen, 'Sirius' had told him, that he couldn't bring Dobby here, for Dumbledore was keeping a tight watch on the little guy, knowing how important Harry and Dobby are to each other. But Dobby had promised to come to Harry whenever he wished to call him inside of school, and that if Harry wishes, Dobby would be willing to officially be bonded to Harry and become Master Harry's elf. Harry had been touched and had promised himself that as soon as he got back to Hogwarts he would see Dobby, and make him his first offical elf.

When Harry entered the Kitchen, their was a flurry of noise as they all started rushing around, cleaning up a spot at the table for Harry to sit. "What is it that Master Harry wishes?" One of the house-elves asked, as they came clambouring to his side, to lead him to the spot they had cleared for him.

"What ever it is you wish to make dolly." He replied to young the female house-elf. She was wearing a clean pink toga, around her small frame. When he had seen them in small tea towels, Harry had insisted they wear better looking clothing, and showed them how they could make larger towels or small bed sheets into dresses and toga's. The House-elves were first afraid, because he told them it was clothing, but when he explained that it was practically what they were wearing now, but just styled more like clothes, they seemed to relunctantly accept it. Soon most of the female house-elves where wearing pretty coloured dresses made out of small sheets or towels. While the male's wore the toga's with the two clasps holding the two shoulder straps on their shoulders. They're were a small few of the females who wore the one shouldered toga, that was also held in place by a small clasp. The House-elves were so grateful to Harry for showing them how to make small differences to their towels and sheets, and make them look more presentable.

Once Harry was seated by Dolly, the rest of the house-elves quickly go to work on his food. When the heard his stomache growl loudly, they flew in the a frenzy making him a large platter of food, to fill him up from his training. "Master Harry is still growing and training, Master Harry must be very hungry" Mandu said as he placed a large platter or chicken, fish, vegetables, bread and cheeses in front of him. Beside that they put a large pitcher of pumpkin juice and a medium size glass for him to fill. Harry smiled and thanked them all individually, making them all blush and turn away, finding something else to do, before he quickly dug into the small feast laid before him. The food was delicious like always, and it covered all the nutrients he needed, and definetly filled him up. Once he finished, he thanked the House-elves again, and jogged up to the library, where he looked for the books he would need to study on different fighting techniques, once he had a few, he shrunk them and slipped them in his pocket, before he jogged to Gryffindor tower where he climbed the stairs to his room, and put the books next to his bedside table after unshrinking them. Harry quickly stripped down to his boxers before climbing into bed, and grabbing the first book off the side table. In no time he had read four chapters on different fighting styles before sleep crept up and claimed him.

A/N: Sorry about this chapter, I know a few of you might be annoyed with the long training and explanation of magic. I promise there is a method to my madness, im not doing this to torture you. I think their might be one more chapter to do with his training, and then back to reality. Please bare with me. I'll try to shrink it to half a chapter...I hope that satisfies you, and thanks to all who reviewed and catwriter for telling me about the longness of my magic explanations. I just want everyone to know where it's coming from...and in later chapters..the reasons will be explained. Thanks again, and please review.