Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.


Chapter 2: Sandman

Dumbledore arrived as he had promised. As the old man ordered, though the order was veiled as a suggestion as it usually was with the headmaster, Harry tested his ownership of Kreacher and then ordered the house-elf to work at Hogwarts making a mental note to remember Kreacher in the future. Owning a house-elf could indeed prove useful. After handling the Dursleys the two wizards visited Horace Slughorn. As well as Dumbledore hid his emotions behind the genial mask, Harry got the impression his performance at the retired professor's house had left something to be desired. Harry wasn't stupid and he certainly was Slytherin enough to realize what Dumbledore had wanted him to do was to convince Slughorn it would be safer at Hogwarts.

Judging by the photos and books on display at Slughorn's place, Harry came to the conclusion that old Sluggie was most likely a potions professor which meant that either Snape was finally gone or had after years of begging gotten his wish and become the DADA professor. Desperately wanting to keep Snape away from the DADA post, Harry of course did his best to subtly nudge Sluggie in the opposite direction. Slughorn was obviously a very oblivious Slytherin as Harry's tiny little manipulation went unnoticed.

At the Burrow Dumbledore told Harry to tell Ron and Hermione about the prophecy but no one else. Harry wasn't too happy about that. The prophecy was about him so naturally he had the right to decide who tell. It was his secret to tell. Dumbledore had no right whatsoever to decide who should know and who not. Still, Harry decided he would take Dumbledore's words under advisement.

Dumbledore also told him about these private lessons he'd be giving Harry "a little of this, a little of that" wasn't a horribly assuring explanation about the contents of the lessons so Harry wasn't holding his breath. He was happy to hear the Occlumency lessons with Snape wouldn't be continuing but he had also begun to feel like maybe he really should put some effort into learning the art. His lack of skill as an Occlumens was after all one of the main reasons behind Sirius' demise.

The atmosphere at the Burrow was a little tense, though in general nothing had changed since Harry's last visit. The tenseness was mostly due to the increased security measures and the presence of Fleur, who wasn't much liked by the others. Ron and Hermione kept giving Harry concerned glances after he told them he had heard the prophecy and was indeed the Chosen One, the one who would either kill Voldemort or die trying.

The highlight of the few weeks before his sixteenth birthday was when he got a letter a few days after his move to the Burrow.

Dear Harry,

How have you been? I know it hasn't been long since we last spoke, but I know in your life the most fascinating and terrifying things happen in short periods of time. I still cannot believe how much adventure you have found in the short time of the three years since we first met in London. And not to mention the fact that the reason we met to begin with was the accident you had with your Aunt Marge! I'm rambling, I apologize.

Now the main reason why I wrote to you today was to inquire if you happen to know if the Headmaster of your school is still looking for a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor..? I find myself lacking a suitable project to fill my time and perhaps teaching until I've found inspiration would be the perfect solution. What do you say?

Here is the book I promised to send you, my latest one. I hope you will enjoy reading it, and if it is not to your tastes I shall not be offended. Perhaps it will suit your friend Miss Granger better?

Your friend

Nigel Nergui Sandman

It took a while but Harry succeeded in reading between the lines enough to realize what Sanguini (SANdman nerGUI NIgel, Sanguini indeed...) was truly asking was whether Harry would like the vampire to ask Dumbledore for the job. Vampiric as the man's nature was, he would need blood regularly and from what Harry had understood of Sanguini's explanations, he would need strong magical blood to keep up his ability to constantly cast normal human magic instead of the vampiric magic which came more natural to his kind.

The rest of the letter was basically telling him that the cover story explaining how they knew each other was that they had met in London back before Harry's third year when he had run away from the Dursleys' after blowing up Marge and that they had kept contact after that, meeting during the summer time and so on. A quick look through the book Magical Communities in Northern Europe by Nigel Sandman showed Harry that the whole point of sending him the book was to make him read the short bio inside the front cover. It wouldn't do for him to know nothing about his old friend.

Harry quickly sent Sanguini a reply telling him to go for the job wishing him luck as it would be nice to have a competent teacher for a change, and one that wasn't after his blood, he joked. He also vaguely explained his last few days and thanked for the book writing it would no doubt prove informative. He was extra careful to call Sanguini "Nigel" in the letter and made sure to call him Nigel in his head as often as possible to avoid future mishaps.

By the time Harry's birthday rolled around, he was missing Sanguini's calm company. The life at the Burrow was a bit too hectic to suit his taste and something about the other two members of the Golden Trio and Ginny irked him. Too childish, he figured. Having seen his last hope at having a father figure die had forced him to grow up a little and a little too fast. Sanguini could make him feel more at peace, ageless as he was in his ancientness. Sanguini didn't treat him like a child nor did he try place the responsibilities of an adult on his shoulders.

It was nice to have his birthday celebrated at the Burrow but the grim news about Dementor attacks that Remus brought with him cast a dark shadow over his happiness. To him the attacks felt like a twisted birthday present from Voldemort himself, though he knew it was a bit self-centered to think it was all about him.

The present he received by owl from Sanguini, or Nigel, as the letter attached was signed, was definitely his favorite. It was made of the hide of a Hungarian Horntail and while it looked rather like an ordinary school bag, it had several very useful charms on it. It was bottomless, or nearly so and as indestructible as one could make a bag. No one but Harry could open it (after Harry imbued it with his magical signature) unless Harry willed it so (and he had no intention of giving anyone else access to his stuff). There was also a feather-weight charm and a tracking charm on it, the kind that allowed Harry to literally feel the bag no matter how far it was if he concentrated enough. Harry loved it and the fact that the type of the dragon hide used showed that Sanguini hanged on his every word made the bag all the more precious.

Of course receiving an expensive present like that forced Harry to finally explain his friendship with "Nigel". Sanguini he kept secret even from his two best friends. Vampires were even more frowned upon than werewolves and he wasn't willing to risk anyone finding about Sanguini. He didn't doubt the vampire's ability to protect himself, no, but if someone found out that Nigel was vampire Sanguini, Sanguini's teaching career would shrivel and die quicker than one could say "Whoops". He also decided to keep to himself the fact that Sanguini had been hired as the new DADA professor. More out of possibly amusing reactions he would get to observe during the start of school year feast than any particular need to keep it a secret.

The trip to Diagon Alley was surprisingly uneventful, though not completely event-less. Diagon Alley had changed. It was like there was this layer of gloom covering everything with the exception of the shop of Fred and George Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Harry was happy to know the money he had donated had been put to excellent use. A little bit of spying on Draco Malfoy had Harry's paranoid side whispering something bad was going on. If his suspicions were correct, Draco had already taken the Dark Mark and was working on something for Voldemort himself. That meant that whatever it was it most probably had something to do with either Hogwarts or her occupants. He would definitely have to keep a close eye on Malfoy and put a stop to whatever the ferret was planning.

On September the first when they arrived at the platform 9 and 3/4 it took Harry less than two minutes to start feeling a headache coming. Too many people and too much staring. It was like they had never seen him before. To further drive him into insanity people didn't even bother to whisper quietly enough to keep him from hearing. Oh no, he could hear them all around him talking about the Chosen One. He felt a desperate need to run and find some peace and quiet but patiently listened to Mrs Weasley's fussing and assurances that they would be seeing each other during the Christmas holidays.

The train ride passed slowly, excited as he was to finally meet Sanguini again, even if it was just seeing him across the Great Hall. Luna and Neville were good and quiet company while Ron and Hermione were busy with their prefect duties. Harry did his best to try and participate in the conversation but he was mostly daydreaming until they reached the Great Hall. His attention immediately snapped to the head table where he could see Sanguini sitting next to Snape. Snape looked the same as he always did and Sanguini was just like Harry remembered from the beginning of the summer except his attire was more wizardly. The two men were by the looks of it having a casual conversation. Snape didn't look pleased, though it did seem his displeasure was more directed towards the students filling the Hall than the man next to him.

"Is that the new DADA professor?" Neville asked when they sat down. "I don't recognize him."

"He's totally hot!" Lavender giggled with Parvati a few seats over.

"Nigel Sandman", Harry answered slowly. He smiled to the new professor when their eyes met and got a very nice smile in return. Reluctantly turning his eyes back to the friends sitting around him he added: "And yes, he'll be teaching us defense this year."

"Wait, that's Sandman!" Hermione asked excited. Harry had told her and the Weasleys' about his book-writing friend but not much. Hermione had been the most interested in the man that could be called an experienced traveler and researcher of magical creatures and communities around the world. He had written several very highly regarded books on those subjects.

"You know him?" Neville asked Harry.

Harry nodded, "Yeah, I met him a few years back in London and we began talking and came friends of sorts. After that we've met a few times during summer time and stuff. He's very nice and I'm sure he'll be an excellent teacher. Fair too."

"How old is he? Is he taken?" Lavender asked. She was seconds from drooling.

"Never asked", Harry shrugged.

"I'm sure Harry and Professor Sandman had more important things to talk about", Hermione sniffed. It was obvious that while she tried to be all appropriate about the professor, even her wasn't completely immune to the fact that Sanguini was very attractive. It was the way her eyes kept straying to head table. She was not the only witch mesmerized by the vampire.

"Girls..." Neville muttered shaking his head amused. He too had noted the reactions of the witches around them. Ron was somewhere between confusion and miffed.

The Sorting Hat sang of unity and darker times and the sorting passed as usual. The food was excellent as it always was and with a glance at the head table Harry wondered how Sanguini handled the whole food issue. As far as Harry knew, vampires couldn't really digest anything but blood and other liquids. He made a mental note to ask the vampire about it later.

Dumbledore's start of school year speech was less carefree than usual as was expected. His introduction of the new DADA professor got a lot louder response than it would have gotten had the professor been less visually pleasing. Ravenclaws were the loudest as most of them had no doubt heard of his books, perhaps even read them. While a part of Harry wasn't too pleased by the fact that he now had to share Sanguini, he was glad some of the attention was drawn away from himself.

As they were on their way to the Gryffindor tower Harry idly wondered if he might be able to sneak of to see Sanguini that night but came to the conclusion it would be safer to wait. First night at Hogwarts was bound to be full of restless wanderers and thus more closely guarded by the staff and the prefects. It wouldn't do to draw more attention to himself and possibly Sanguini.

O O O

During breakfast the following morning Harry was delighted to find he had only one class that day and it was DADA in the afternoon. Time seemed to crawl by when he was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Ron waiting for the class after lunch and due to Harry's hurry the Golden Trio were the first students at the DADA class room. Sanguini was already sitting behind his desk when they arrived.

"Hi, Nigel", Harry greeted ignoring Hermione who was scoffing at his lack of respect towards the professor.

"Harry!" Sanguini exclaimed and gestured with his hand for Harry to come closer. "How was your summer?"

"I was at the Weasleys' most of it so naturally it was a lot better than usual", Harry replied with a wide smile, "How has your first day teaching been?"

"Lively and busy", Sanguini chuckled, "I had first years and fifth years before lunch."

"Let me guess, the firsties were a bit too full of energy and the fifth years were drooling and asking questions a tad too personal..?" Harry grinned.

"Couldn't have said it better myself", Sanguini agreed with a nod. "Now introduce me to your friends."

"Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley", Harry introduced, "meet Nigel Nergui Sandman."

"A pleasure", Hermione near giggled. Her eyes were gleaming as she stared at the professor hungrily.

"Indeed", Sanguini politely agreed and then turned back to Harry, "Can you stay after class? I heard about your defense club last year and I'd love to hear your opinion about some of my lesson plans."

"Of course", Harry quickly agreed. Students began to file into the room so the three of them took their seats near the front.

"Good afternoon class. My name is Nigel Nergui Sandman, Professor Sandman to you while I'm teaching here which won't be longer than a year if the rumors of a jinx on this post are indeed based on truth." Sanguini made a very convincing image and had already succeeded in making his students listen quietly with small smiles on their faces. "From what I've heard, you haven't had the best of teachers in this subject but I'm sure with some hard work we will be able to correct any damage done to you by my predecessors. Now according to the usual contents of sixth year the DADA lessons consist mostly of non-verbal defense, which is of course very useful to know, but also very useless unless you're already able to defend yourself with verbal casting. This is why I have decided to tinker with the lessons plans more than just a little and we will use most of the school year revising what you should have learned in the past five years of DADA. Naturally the pace we will be going through the study materials will be tough, but I'm sure we'll manage just fine. I'm also thinking if during the practical parts some of you have time to spare, you could try to cast the same spells non-verbal as well and earn extra house points. Any questions, comments?"

Most of the students thought the class had been brilliant. No one had done anything to warrant point-loss and no one had indeed lost any which was a miracle when took you into account the fact that the classroom had been full of both Gryffindors and Slytherins. Sanguini spoke clearly and answered the questions asked with precisions. Harry was left alone with Sanguini after Ron finally physically dragged a very reluctant Hermione out of the classroom. "You were brilliant", Harry praised.

"Thank you", Sanguini smiled warmly, "It's not the first time I'm teaching but it is for defense like this for humans." He began going through his desk drawers, "Take a seat, Harry. I have something for you. Now where did I put it..." It took him a minute or two but he finally handed Harry a letter. "This is from Gringotts. It's something my contacts gave me to give you when I was digging into why you're staying with the Dursleys'."

Harry quickly opened the letter and the more he read the wider his eyes got until he finished and tossed the letter to the vampire to read. He was silently fuming while Sanguini read it and then he growled: "That manipulative old coot had no right to keep this from me!"

The letter was about what he had inherited from Sirius. No doubt Dumbledore knew or at the very least had suspicions. Most likely Dumbledore knew exactly what Sirius had left Harry and had prevented Harry from hearing about it. And what had Sirius left his godson? Almost everything. He had willed heaps of money to the Andromeda Tonks and Remus Lupin but everything else was now Harry's and that included several vaults, a few properties (not just Grimmauld Place) and the title of Lord Black along with which came the right to access all he had inherited even before he was of seventeen years of age.

"No right!" Harry repeated loudly, nearly yelling.

"I would like to say I'm surprised but I really am not. This seems exactly like the thing Dumbledore would do", Sanguini shook his head sadly. It really was quite painful how much the Headmaster had wronged Harry in the last fifteen years. "What are you going to do?"

Harry took a few deep breaths and thought it through. If he went yelling at Dumbledore about this it would raise questions about how he found out and it would give the old coot another chance at trying to control him. "I'm not going to tell anyone that I know until absolutely necessary."

"That may be wise", the vampire agreed.

"Kreacher!" Harry called and the old house-elf appeared. He was muttering to himself but Harry ignored it, "Kreacher, I want you to go and check all the Black properties I now own except Grimmauld. I want a detailed report on the condition the properties are in and a complete list of all the wards the properties are protected by. You are not to touch anything, not to talk or in any other way communicate to anyone or anything unless it is necessary to complete these orders. In fact, you are to stay hidden from everyone until you come back to me with your report and to receive further instructions. Do you understand?"

"Kreacher understands", the house-elf answered and then popped away after muttering something about filthy half-blood masters that are nothing compared to his Mistress Walburga.

"How often do you need to feed from me?" Harry asked abruptly changing the subject.

"Once every two weeks should be enough as long as I stay uninjured and am careful not to over-exert myself."

"Let's make it once a week to be on the safe side", Harry suggested, "The healthier you look the less suspicion we'll have to deal with. I expect people will notice anything odd easier now after we've already once had a magical creature as a professor."

"Ah yes, Remus Lupin the werewolf."

Harry smiled and asked: "Hungry?" offering his wrist to the vampire on the other side of the desk. Sanguini was on Harry's side of the desk and kneeling next to him in a flash, nodding eagerly. Harry flinched a little at the initial pain of the fangs penetrating tender flesh but then there was nothing but the quickly spreading tingling warmth.

After licking the puncture marks closed Sanguini licked his lips and smiled widely: "Thank you. It was even more delicious than I remembered." His gray eyes were glowing with life though the glow was already visibly fading.

"Vampires burn in the sunlight, right?" Harry asked eying the thick curtains covering the windows of the class room as Sanguini returned to his seat behind the desk.

"Yes, though a vampire as old as me can tolerate the sun a moment or two before we burst into flames", Sanguini explained and dug out an amulet he wore around his neck and hidden under his clothing. The amulet was round and made of something that looked like silver with a yellow jewel in the middle. It was carved full of tiny runes. "This amulet blocks the harmful effects the sunlight. It's extremely old and one of the few of its kind. It does have its limitations one of which is that it requires human kind of magic to be fed into it for it to be of any use. In other words a vampire can only use it as long as they have fed on a witch or a wizard powerful enough. To conserve the magic your blood gives me I try to avoid the sunlight as much as possible. It's a good thing the subject I teach is Defense Against the Dark Arts. No one questions it if I decide to keep my classroom gloomy to create a suitable atmosphere."

Harry chuckled and asked: "What about food? You can't eat any, right?"

"Yes, we vampires are quite unable to digest anything solid. It's a good thing I'm adept at using wandless and non-verbal magic. I vanish the food when I pretend to swallow."

"Genius", Harry praised.

"Now, I know you're a master at sneaking around but I'm not entirely comfortable with the risk it would bring on both of us", Sanguini said changing the subject to one of the things he had intended to talk to Harry about, "So I was thinking of asking the Headmaster if he would allow me to make you my assistant, experienced as you are with teaching defense and with the free time you undoubtedly have this year."

"That's a great idea!" Harry immediately agreed. Anything that would give him more time to spend with his blood-sucking friend was better than good in his books.

"I shall take the subject up with Dumbledore no later than tomorrow."

"Eager to get more time with me?" Harry teased a little.

"Naturally", Sanguini good-naturedly agreed.

"Ron and Hermione must be waiting for me", Harry said and got up only to feel dizzy. He was forced to grab the desk in front of him to keep himself upright.

"Drank too much, I see. You're anemic. Here, drink this." Sanguini came around the desk to support him while handing him a potion vial. Harry downed it without further thought and Sanguini explained: "A blood replenisher. You should probably take one after every time I feed from you. It wouldn't look good to have you weak and fainting constantly."

"Thanks", Harry muttered and was quickly feeling better. He smiled at the vampire still hovering concernedly next to him and said: "I'm fine. I'll be seeing you."

"Yes, bye Harry."

"Bye", Harry gave a tiny wave and left. As soon as he reached the Gryffindor Common room he was accosted by Ron and Hermione.

"What did you talk about?" Hermione asked, her tone almost demanding.

Harry didn't much like her tone and almost felt like refusing to answer because of it but decided it would be better to avoid drawing too much attention to himself and his interaction with Sanguini so he said: "DA, mostly. He wanted to know what we taught last year and how." It was a safe lie to tell. He had told Sanguini all about Dumbledore's Army during their nightly meetings at the beginning of the summer. "He was rather impressed, I think." He brushed past two and took a seat on a couch near a window. He began working on the essay Sanguini had assigned them and ignored the surprised stares of his two best friends. It wasn't like him to do the homework before absolutely necessary and without whining.

Harry had decided it was time to start putting some real effort into learning. He didn't much care about his grades, it was hard to when he had no solid future plans or dreams. He had been planning to become an auror, yes, but then he got an E from Potions and realized he wasn't too disappointed. The knowledge that he would have to kill Voldemort or be killed changed everything. Suddenly the violent career of an auror held very little interest to him. He was already being forced to commit one murder if he wanted to live, he didn't want to be forced do any more fighting and killing than that.

No, the reason Harry had every intention of learning more was that he wanted to end this. He wanted to prevent any further deaths of people dear to him and he wanted Voldemort stopped. Having Sanguini near was a great comfort. He knew the vampire would help him. The vampire hadn't exactly told him that, but it was something Harry could feel deep in his bones. Still, no matter how much he was ready to rely on the help of Sanguini, he didn't want to push his responsibilities on to the shoulders of others altogether. No, it was time for him to grow up and face what he needed to do. And right now it was to study and to better himself so that when the day of his final confrontation with Voldemort came, he would be as ready as he could be.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked sitting next to him. "You're studying and you've got a real grim expression on your face..."

"I'm fine", Harry assured without turning to look at her, "Just thinking I ought to put more effort into the few subject I have this year."

That evening Harry got a note from Dumbledore telling him their first lesson would be on Saturday at eight p.m. When he was done with the DADA essay he noticed there was still some time before the curfew and so shaking off Ron and Hermione he visited the library in search of books on Occlumency. It took him a good half an hour to find what he was looking for, reluctant as he was to ask directions from Madam Pince. He didn't want to draw attention to the fact he was looking to learn Occlumency after the disaster his lessons with Snape had been.

Luck was not on his side. As he was returning to the Gryffindor tower he ran into Snape. And by ran into, I mean it rather literally, as both the wizards were moving rather briskly until they collided. Snape was able to stay upright but Harry found himself on his ass on the floor.

"Do you suffer from temporary blindness as well as insistent stupidity, Mister Potter?" Snape sneered.

"You must really miss having me in your class..." Harry muttered too low for Snape to hear picking himself and the book on Occlumency up from the floor.

Snape's eyes took in the cover of the book. "We are not continuing our lessons this year", Snape growled fearing the worst. Dumbledore had the nasty habit of keeping information to himself until the last possible moment and it would be just like him to suddenly order Snape to start teaching Harry again.

"Thank heavens for that small mercy", Harry exclaimed, "I'm eagerly looking forward to a very Snape-free year. If you'll excuse me." Harry walked past the seething professor without a second glance and ignored Snape's growl of "Twenty points from Gryffindor!"

O O O

The week went by slowly. Harry and Sanguini decided it wasn't worth risking sneaking around for them to meet unless necessary so the two of them talked shortly only a couple of times when they happened to run to each other in the hallways. Sanguini had asked but had yet to receive an answer from Dumbledore about having Harry assist him.

On Saturday night Harry made his way to the Headmaster's office mentally preparing himself to avoiding Dumbledore's eyes especially when the subject had something to do with Sanguini. He had been reading about Occlumency and had tried to clear his mind every night before sleep but he knew he hadn't yet made sufficient progress to even dream about keeping the old coot out of his head.

Harry entered the office after being given the permission to do so and looked around curiously. He absentmindedly offered and received the usual greetings. The office looked as it always had before. Full of the oddest silvery instruments and with Fawkes sitting on his perch looking over the proceedings as were the curious portraits of the past headmasters. He took the offered seat and patiently listened to Dumbledore as he explained the purpose of these "lessons" would be to share certain information about Tom Riddle's past. Harry didn't much like the sound of that as he heard what wasn't expressly said: Dumbledore would be doing as he always did, in other words telling what he thought would be necessary and leaving everything else untold.

With quietly Harry listened as Dumbledore explained what he would be sharing wouldn't be facts but conjecture and that he'd be showing Harry memories starting with a memory of Bob Ogden. Together they watched as Ogden visited the Parseltongue-speaking Gaunt family. Realizing these were the relatives of Voldemort made Harry feel uncomfortable. It made him feel pity and Voldemort deserved very little of that. It was no wonder Tom Marvolo Riddle became what he was today with a heritage like that. The Gaunts were obviously less than sane.

Harry noted the locket and wondered if Voldemort now had it. Slytherin's locket had no doubt much value in Voldemort's eyes proud as he was of being the Heir of Slytherin. The ring the oldest Gaunt, Marvolo, as Dumbledore called him, was wearing was now in the finger of Dumbledore and that made Harry wonder if the ring had been the cause of the sorry state of the old coots hand.

After they were done discussing the memory, and the discussion was a short one reluctant as Harry was to ask questions as Dumbledore was obviously expecting him to, Dumbledore asked: "My boy, I hear you were already acquainted with Professor Sandman before he came to teach here..?"

"We are friends, yes", Harry answered not feeling inclined to elaborate.

"Might I ask how you met?"

"It was in the summer before my third year after I ran away from the Dursleys' after blowing up Aunt Marge. We met in London and after that we've met occasionally during summer time", Harry explained keeping his eyes on Fawkes and his expression neutral.

"You're friendship came as quite a surprise to everyone", Dumbledore pointed out.

"I'm sure there a lot of things about my life at the Dursleys' people know very little about", Harry shrugged. And if people knew how his life at his relatives' house was then that raised the question why no one had done anything about it. If Dumbledore had kept close tabs on him, he couldn't exactly admit to it because then he would be responsible of the abuse Harry had to suffer through almost as much as the abusing Dursleys.

Sensing getting answers out of Harry wasn't working too well at the moment Dumbledore decided to leave that line of questioning at least for now and said instead: "Professor Sandman has asked if he can ask you to work as his assistant. I wanted to ask your opinion before giving him the permission."

"I'd be delighted to", Harry replied with a wide and only partly false smile, "I definitely have the time and I'm sure working with Nigel will be interesting."

"Very well. I will tell him the good news tomorrow", Dumbledore nodded, "It's getting late. Perhaps you should be going now, my boy. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sir." And Harry was quickly out of the door. Because of the recent revelations of Dumbledore's manipulations and information withholding Harry hadn't been feeling comfortable in the old coot's presence. Knowing the wizard was a master Legilimens made the situation all the more stressful.

Harry hadn't been expecting much of the lessons but the first had still left him disappointed. It was obvious Dumbledore was slowly paving the ground to something big, something fundamental. If only the old coot wasn't being so difficult. What Harry wanted was information now and not months of introductory lessons before they finally reached the point of it all. He was also mighty disappointed by the fact that they hadn't discussed the prophecy much at all. He would have liked Dumbledore's honest opinion on what he thought it meant for Harry but as it was not to be... I'm sure Sanguini will be more forthcoming, Harry decided, It's time to tell him why I'm called the Chosen One.

Posted 07-03-2012