The following days were fairly good. Harry's classes were normal enough, and he had settled into them well. Most of the teachers were quite good, though he did miss his Durmstrang ones. He would spend most of his free time with Daphne, Tracey, and their friends. He had received letters from both Professor Albu and Dorea, which both put him further at ease. Professor Albu had spoken with Dumbledore and agreed with Harry's decision. Further she stated that he was to contact her if Umbridge had any other contact with him. Dorea's letter was very similar, though he had written back asking about the Board of Governors potentially siding with Umbridge. Dorea's reply had laid that concern to rest. She evidently knew many of them and had called in old debts and favors to insure Harry would be left alone. In addition there was a very big concern for the Board and Ministry of further angering Durmstrang and thus its Ministerial allies.

And, Harry found that Umbridge did keep her distance. He wondered if she had contacted Fudge yet, either way he would stay away from the woman and keep out of her way. Daphne explained the different Educational Decrees to him. The first, Number 22 allowed the Ministry to appoint anyone if the Headmaster was unable to someone for a position; Number 23 created the position of High Inquisitor and allowed her to evaluate other teachers; Number 24 banned all student organizations and they had to apply to her to get them reinstated, there went one of Harry's favorite pastimes; and Number 25 gave her the control over all punishments. Harry hoped that was the last of the decrees, though he doubted it.

Finally it was Thursday evening and time for Harry to meet with Professor Snape for Battle Magics. Making his way down to the man's office Harry knocked on the door.

"What is it!" Snape did not sound pleased at all.

"Uh, Professor? It's Hadrian Black, sir. I am here for my Battle Magics." Opening the door Harry saw the professor sitting behind the desk, dressed in the same long dark robes as always. The man seemed to be the complete opposite of Professor Dumbledore; Dumbledore was bright, colourful, and cheerful; Snape was dark, gloomy, and seemed perpetually angry.

"Black." The man almost sounded like saying his mere name was painful. "Sit." Harry quickly moved in and took a seat. "Now, Black I have been contacted by Professor Albu who has mentioned she has little on what you have been working on beyond that you are heavily modified, and seemed to have been working off whatever your late professor deemed appropriate. Is that correct?"

"Uh, yes sir. I have mastered most of the spells that I needed to know for this year already. The last spells I mastered were Tempestatem Aquae, Ferrum Ignis, Magnus Clypeus, and I am still working on the Melenchalad. Oh, and I have most of spells bellow fifth year silently." As Harry had been speaking Snape's face had remained stoic except for the raising of one eyebrow.

"Advanced indeed. Ferrum Ignis? The Ironfire spell is a very obscure spell. Most would just go with Fiendfyre instead, it is much easier to cast."

"Ah, but harder to control sir."

"True. How long can you maintain the Melenchalad?"

"A minute sir."

"Hmm… All right. Follow me." Snape stood and moved towards the door.

"Sir?"

"Did you think you would be casting such things here Black? I had thought you were not another dunderhead, but if you thought you would be casting such spells in my office perhaps you are worse."

"Ah, no sir." Harry quickly got up and followed the man. They made their way a little further down into the bowels of the castle until they entered a large room. The room was made out of stone and had none of the many portraits or other decorations like the other rooms of Hogwarts.

"What is this room, Professor?"

"This was once a dueling room, for when Hogwarts' curriculum was more similar to that of your school's." Looking around the room definitely seemed like it was a perfect place for duelling, though it did not look like it could fit more than a class or two of people, explaining why they had not used it for the previous year's dueling club and tournament.

Snape soon had Harry going through his casting. Snape was far from Professor Selwyn, but the man did Know his stuff, he noticed that Harry's stance was slightly off, and told him to move his legs so that he was now able to turn easier. After about three quarters of an hour, Harry had gone through most of the spells he knew and Snape stood thinking.

"Uh, sir?"

"What Black?"

"I was wondering what about dueling?"

"Dueling? All of these spells would be adequate for dueling."

"No, sorry sir. I meant actual dueling practice. I didn't mention it when I met with Professor Dumbledore because I thought that the dueling club was still active." Snape was quiet and seemed to be thinking, though it was hard to tell, the man's face gave nothing away.

"Fine." With that word Snape moved to face him.

"Any restrictions sir?"

"Melenchalad and the Ironfire are out. You may use the others you know." Harry nodded and the two moved to their positions. When Snape started to bow, Harry did likewise. As soon as they were up Snape began. The man was quick, and silent. Not a word had been said and yet Harry counted three spells. But, Harry was used to fighting Professor Selwyn who was just as good. Harry rolled to the side and as he came out his own spells were sent. He had to whisper two of them, but the other two were silent. Snape simply cast a shield and begun his next chain. Harry, not wasting time, had sent his own, with one of his spells causing ice to form beneath Snape causing the man fall. Unexpectedly Snape got his chain off even while falling. One of the spells caught Harry in the knee and seemed to be a paralysis spell of some sort, as he could no longer feel anything in his leg or move it. As Harry tried to reverse the spell he was caught by a stunner right in the chest. As he was revived a moment later by Snape, Harry had to take a moment to remember what had happened.

"Up Black. That will be all for now."

"Sir?"

"What Black?"

"What was that paralysis spell?"

"The phantom touch charm. Its incantation is Tactus Tenuem."

"Oh, well. Thank you professor. Here again on Tuesday?"

"Yes Black, now I have papers to mark." And, without a goodbye Snape swept from the room. Odd man. Though Harry did wonder how his robes seemed to always look like they had wind blowing through them. Just as Harry was going to step out of the room, a voice caught him by surprise.

"That was amazing Harry!" Quickly turning and snapping his wand from its holster Harry looked to where he thought he heard a voice.

"Who is there?" Harry growled. He silently cast a locator charm, but it showed nothing.

"Hey calm down, it's just me." Suddenly a floating head appeared, Henry's floating head. Then the rest of his body appeared, revealing an invisibility cloak. "That was amazing. I didn't recognize half of those spells. How far along are you?"

"What do you want Henry? Why are you here?" Harry's questions seemed to deflate Henry's jubilation a bit, but he continued on.

"I saw you alone with Snape and I was worried, he hates me and so I wante-"\

"You saw me? When?" Harry usually kept track of whenever the other boy was near, and he had not seen him since dinner.

"Well not in person, it was on the map. I didn't even know this room existed." Before he could continue Harry interceded.

"What map?"

"Oh. The Marauder's Map. Fred and George gave it to me a couple years back, but it was made by our dad and his friends."

"Your dad, Henry. My father died long ago." Harry said it softly, but it still shut Henry up. Henry gaped for a moment, but then he continued on.

"Hey I know that you have har-"

"Henry, enough. I am Hadrian Black, son of Regulus Black." He waited a moment to let that sink in for Henry, before continuing, "Now why are you here?" It looked like Henry was going to continue arguing, but he seemed to think better of it.

"Listen I saw you with Snape on the map and I was worried was all. Why are you training with him?"

"This was the deal I worked out with your Headmaster after I dropped Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Oh." Again the boy seemed to be thinking for a moment, Harry hoped he wouldn't take up the family thing again. "Hey, will you meet me Saturday night at 7 p.m.?"

"Why?"

"I-I can't say right now, but please?" The earnestness in his voice was hard to ignore, did Harry truly want to destroy any hopes of connecting with the boy? Harry thought he would see if Henry had changed from the previous year.

"I am spending the day with Daphne." From what Harry recalled from his meeting with the Potters Henry hated Slytherins, thus this would be a test to see if Henry was still the same pigheaded git.

"Ah... fine you can bring her. But, Saturday at 7 p.m. on the seventh floor, left corridor?"

"I, umm, yeah," Well that was a surprise. Henry only seemed to hesitate for a second, "we will meet you there." That seemed to cheer Henry up. "Anything else?"

"No, well, not right now."

"Well goodnight then Henry."

"Goodnight Harry!" With that Harry left the room and made his way back to his quarters. The next morning he explained the weird conversation with Daphne, who was just as surprised. She didn't know about his and Henry's connection, and seemed equally confused. When he asked her what was in that corridor she had shrugged and replied nothing to her knowledge. The rest of the day was fairly normal. Harry finished reading the last book Professor Alfsson had assigned, and wrote him letting him know.

Saturday was good, with Harry, Daphne, Tracey and Blaise heading to Hogsmeade for the morning. They spent most of the morning just walking around, eventually settling for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. After that the group headed back to the castle where they spent sometime in the library finishing up any work they had for the next week. After supper Harry and Daphne made their way to the hall on the seventh floor. They found it empty, except for a painting of some wizard and what could have been dancing trolls, but it was hard to tell. Harry had to stare at the picture in sheer amazement. English wizards seemed to be much more flamboyant than other countries, or at least those featured at Durmstrang.

"Good! You came." Henry's voice caused the duo to turn to find Henry's floating head once again. Daphne slightly squeaked, which Harry couldn't help but find adorable.

"Yes, now what was so important?"

"Hold your hippogriffs, I have to open the room." Both Harry and Daphne looked at Henry with some disbelief. There was no room, the hallway was empty, but Henry was walking back in forth of them. After the third time a door appeared on the other side of the portrait. Harry was sure his face was one of amazement, just as Daphne's. "Come on, everyone else is already inside. He quickly opened the doors and lead the pair inside.

Harry was not quite sure what he was expecting, but he was sure it was not this. The room was huge larger than the dueling room, and had many bookshelves and other artifacts along the sides. Harry noticed several books. Notably Jinxes for the Jinxed, The Dark Arts Outsmarted, Self-Defensive Spellwork, and even some Dark Detectors. There were about 30 people in the room who had been practicing the Reductor Curse, but soon came over to the three.

"What are they doing here, Henry?" Harry recognized that voice, and sure enough he soon found Henry's friend Ron moving through to the front of the group. Next to him was Granger who seemed to be looking just as worried.

"I invited them." That seemed to set redhead off who looked like he was about to argue back, but Granger cut in.

"Why though Henry?"

"Yeah! How do you know he is trustworthy?" That annoyed Harry, who were they to question his trustworthiness?

"He is Trustworthy! He i-" Harry quickly shot Henry a look which caused Henry to pause who then regrouped his thoughts. "Listen, Harry saved my life. Without him I would have died in that graveyard. So, if you don't trust him, then you don't trust me okay?" That seemed to quell the dissent, but Ron had to keep on speaking.

"Well, what about her!" Here he glared at Daphne, moving Harry from annoyed to angry. "She's a snake, she will sell us out to Umbridge without a second thought!"

"Just because I am Slytherin does not mean I like the Umbitch." Daphne's response caught the group off guard, with the taller Weasley's laughing at the back. "Also, I have no idea what you are doing. Neither of us do."

"Yes, Henry what is this?" Harry cut in hoping to move the conversation along before Ron said something causing Harry to hex him.

"Oh, right. Welcome to Dumbledore's Army!" Henry said it with such surety and grandioseness, it was like he was tour guide pointing out some famous landmark or such. 'Hello, welcome to jolly old England, this is Big Ben!'

"And, what is Dumbledore's Army?" Daphne's dry tone showed she felt a similar lack of recognition and annoyance with Henry's tone.

"Well, it is a... Hermione you explain it."

"We are here to learn the skills that we will need to survive with Vol-Voldemort back." The group all shivered with the name.

"And, pass our OWLs!" A random voice called out from the back.

"I see. So why did you invite us Henry? I have my tutorial with Professor Snape, and most of your friends don't seem to appreciative of Daphne's house." Harry brought the conversation back to Henry.

"Well, ah, I know dueling and most of our spells, but you, you are on different level. We could use your help." Henry seemed sincere enough, and Harry thought it was good idea; they sure as hell weren't going to learn anything from that pink woman. He looked at Daphne.

"Your thoughts?" He asked her quietly so that it was not heard by the group watching them.

"It could be good, it would help for me to practice. I would want to bring Tracey and Blaise though."

"Fine, we're in, so long as we can bring Tracey Davis and Blaise Zabini as well." Ron muttered something that sounded like, "more snakes?", but Henry looked to Hermione who nodded in agreement.

"Deal, they can come next time. Alright, everyone you all looked to be doing well with your reductors, I want you all to keep practicing it while me and Harry walk around and check." Everyone split up and moved to the different pedestals where busts kept appearing for the group to destroy. Daphne joined Susan, who was friendly enough and Harry made his way around. Harry started with them and the other Hufflepuffs. Harry was happy to see that Daphne had no problem with the spell and completely destroyed the bust of a very crazy one-eyed, no nose wizard. Watching the group, most seemed to have the spell down pat, with no one needing more than just a little correction.

After everyone had been checked Henry called the group together and went over the stunning spell and had everyone split into pairs to practice the spell. Daphne created a group of three with Susan and Hannah Abbot. Harry and Henry again circled, which went fairly well. When Harry saw Ron struggling he went to help, but as he approached the gangly redhead glared at him so he decided he would move on. Harry tried to focus on the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as he knew them better, and they were a little more friendly. After about 45 minutes everyone had the spell down, and since it was early Henry decided they would do some dueling.

As Henry set the criteria out, one of the Hufflepuffs spoke out, "Why would we practice one on one?"

"Well, when I dueled Voldemort, he made a show of it as one on one. A proper duel, we bowed and everything." That seemed to convince the majority of the group.

"Voldemort will duel one on one, but Death Eaters will not." Harry's voice seemed to scare the group. He had been at the back of the group and they all turned around.

"What? How would you know how Death Eaters fight, Henry has fought V-Voldemort off three times." Granger intervened. Three times? What was she talking about? Harry would have to find out later.

"He was at Durmstrang, Granger." Daphne's intercession seemed to give Granger and the others pause.

"I don't know about Henry's experiences, besides the graveyard. But, at Durmstrang the Death Eaters did not duel us. It was a battle."

"So, it was Death Eaters? The Ministry says it was mostly old followers of Grindelwald."

"No, it was Death Eaters, nearly two hundred." That seemed to give them pause, "They attacked in mass when they could, and they liked to fly around."

"Like on brooms?"

"No, some spell, they collapse into black smoke and shoot forth. When they land they return to normal. They never fired any spells while like that, so I think it is only a way for them to move quickly."

"Why didn't they just apparate, couldn't you tell where they were going?"

"You could follow them, yes, but we had anti-apparition wards, so I think it was their way around it."

"How did you counter it?" Granger again, she seemed quite interested.

"One of teachers, Professor Alfsson, employed a ritual that stopped them."

"A ritual? That was what you used in the second task no?" That from Anthony.

"Ah, yea, but what Professor Alfsson used is so far beyond what I know. But, we are drifting. Voldemort dueled, the Death Eaters did not."

Henry, looking very contemplative, finally spoke, "So, what do you recommend?"

"Well has anyone ever dueled multiple opponents?" Only Susan raised her hand. "Oh?"

"I have done two on two."

"Right and it's much harder right?" She nodded quite vigorously.

"It can't be that hard." Another Hufflepuff, Smith if Harry remembered right.

"Alright how about this. Me and Susan against any five of you." Mutterings went around and eventually Henry nodded. He along with Granger, Weasley, Diggory, and Terry Boot moved to the other side of the stand.

"Five against two? You're off your trolley!" Susan seemed quite nervous about the prospect.

"Nah, none of them have done this before. Now are you good on defence?"

"Ya, I am alright."

"Good, You focus on that I will go onto the attack, and we should be good." The pair made their way to their spot. Coming out of the bow Harry began. He caught them off guard with his speed, but Henry, Granger, and Diggory were quick to get shields. Harry got Weasley and Boot with the first spell in the chain, which was a rictumsempra. As Granger cast the counter spell, Diggory and Henry both went on the attack. You could tell they both had never done this before as they both stepped towards the center, nearly hitting each other. But, their spells were off and coming straight towards Harry, who had begun a chain. Susan was there with her shield stopping the spells, causing both Diggory and Henry to look at her. Harry's chain targeted the two downed boys, who had just been released by Granger, only to be knocked out with some stunners. Granger seemed annoyed and quickly moved to help the others. Harry kept up with his chains and since he didn't need to cast shields he was able to drive the opposition on the defensive. Granger was the one who noticed Susan and Harry's division of casting, and she quickly moved to support the others in a similar fashion. Unfortunately for her, the other two didn't notice she was casting shields for them and still cast their own shields. Diggory picked on it soon enough and started to cast a stunner. Harry quickly was able to use a levitation charm to knock Diggory's arm over, making the boy hit Henry who had advanced forward from the other two. The shock cost Granger and Diggory a moment and Harry was able to get them with his own stunners.

Others quickly moved to revive the other team, then everyone converged again. "See, much harder, not only do you have to keep track of the others or you will collide into each other like Henry and Cedric did, but you also have to count on the other and meld styles. For me and Susan we quickly split offence and defence. But, I have seen others go solely offence and so on. Depends on the group. Also, Henry went out because I was able to nudge Cedric to hit him, so you have to be much more careful with your placement and others."

"So what should we do? How do we get better?"

"You practice of course. Generally if you come across more on one side it will be much harder to win, just due to shielding from multiple directions, but since me and Susan had fought this way before we were able to win. So, you practice dueling individually first and once you have that down you start with a partner and get used to fighting together, and then slowly start including more people and so on.." That seemed to give people thought. Henry noticing the time called an end of the session and everyone split and made their way to their rooms.