Ok guys really sorry this has taken so long and really sorry about it's short length. This chapter was originally going to be one large tank of a chapter but I have decided to split it a little so that I can give you guys at least something before I start getting angry messages in my inbox. I have the next 2 chapters almost written, about half of the one after and have a good plan on what to do for at least the next 5 after that. It should never take this long to update again though I won't write promises I can't keep.

Expulso!

He was getting tired now but he wouldn't give up. His mother was standing at the other end of the duelling platform, hurling curse after curse, not relenting at all. So far it had been relatively even - the ten minute bout going to and fro as the momentum shifted from end to end. Lily easily ducked the curse and fired back with a silent freezing spell which Harry sidestepped before instinctively pulling up a Protego shield for the stunning spell that followed. He then fired off two cutting curses in quick succession followed by a blasting curse.

Lily flicked her wand skywards and part of the platform that was nearest her, rose out the ground and caught the curses square on, blasting wood and stone everywhere, before she caught the debris in the air and sent it back to Harry at speed. He dove out of the way fast before it smashed into the wall behind him, sending pieces flying everywhere.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Both combatants caught their breath; Lily eyed her son warily, trying to ascertain what he would do next. He had progressed drastically over the last few weeks, soaking up her instruction like a sponge. Much of what he was doing wrong before were merely bad habits, and as soon as they were broken it was like he was a completely different fighter. Almost gone were the stunners he used to use in battle so religiously, gone was his aversion to using dangerous spells, though that did take some reassurance and coaxing from her as he was scared of hurting her. In the end she had taught him some basic healing spells and kept some blood replenisher near the arena in case of emergency. There were also a few bottles of Skele-Grow on hand, just in case.

Undoubtedly Harry felt tired, his mind going a hundred miles an hour as he tried to remember his mother's teachings as he duelled. Yet seeing how he was utterly humiliated in their first duel, he had no option but to keep learning and keep practicing. His mother was completely unpredictable, whilst he was too choreographed. It had taken him a week before he could get rid of those ingrained habits; another of those habits he didn't even realise he had until it was pointed out. He was using stunners almost as a go to spell, casting them almost without thinking. At first he didn't see a problem with this until it was pointed out that no Death Eater was afraid of a stunning spell and that they would either block or dodge them with ease most of the time. A deadly spell however, put them off balance, made them feel fear and that clouded their judgement. Half the battle is in the mind, she had said, and only now did he fully appreciate that.

After the first few sessions he had improved steadily, although he was still soundly beaten in each bout. His mother had taught him how to be flexible and think outside the box, using spells that you wouldn't normally expect to keep the opponent off balance. At first he had found this rather difficult but after a time he began to get the hang of it, though not seamlessly flowing from spell to spell like Lily did. He truly admired the way she fought. She would have been a match for any death eater in his mind, though he had no wish to find this out for himself.

She had taught him how to silent cast, something that he knew would have been taught this year anyway but it was nice to learn it from her. It would have been rather difficult to learn if he didn't have such a patient teacher and after a few days of hard lessons, he gradually got it. To keep him practicing, she told him that from now on she didn't want to hear a word leave his mouth, whether in a lesson or not. It was a pain sometimes, like in the morning when all he wanted to do was summon some clothes out the wardrobe but had to try three or four times before they would even move. The one time he got frustrated and said the incantation out loud, his mother blasted him in the face with an Agaumenti charm as he came down stairs, drenching him from head to toe.

"This is what will happen each and every time I hear you speak a spell. Are we clear with that?" she had said with an innocent smile while casually twirling her wand in between her fingers. He just nodded dumbly as she walked off and, with a flick of her wand, floated his breakfast on the table ready for him to eat. He was still dripping water when he sat down, as Lily refused to dry him as further punishment, whilst also confiscating his wand for the duration of the meal.

It was safe to say that he never spoke a spell out loud from then on.

To be honest he was grateful, for now he could do most spells without uttering a word, although it was still easier for him to say the incantation. The only time he was allowed to say the spell out loud was when he was first learning it and even then, once he had correctly cast it a few times, Lily made him silent cast from then on. Not only could he silent cast with a good level of proficiency, he found that he lasted a lot longer in his duels, even though he still lost them in the end. That was one thing that dumbfounded him; he had not managed to catch her out once. It was like she was a machine, constantly moving in symmetry to his actions. For every spell he threw at her she had a reply. The few times he tried to get creative; she had found a way past it in her own way. She was quicker, smarter, and stronger than him.

Yet even though he was hopelessly outmatched, he couldn't find it in himself to be too disheartened. Sure he had his arse handed to him pretty much on a daily basis but with each bout his endurance increased, his spell repertoire grew and his mistakes were fewer. He knew he was in no way ready to face Voldemort on the field or even Bellatrix (He knew that she would have soundly beaten him had she not been ordered not to kill him by her lord). She talked him through every duel they had, pointing out what he did well and where he could have done better. She explained some of the spells she had used and why she used them, giving him even more information. He knew he wouldn't remember everything but he would keep trying. Maybe something will sink in. This one-on-one teaching was so effective that he was rapidly

Shaking the splinters off him, he steadied his wand and sent a chain of curses one after the other. As soon as the first curse left his wand, he had already casted another, his wrist moving his wand like he was conducting a band. The result was an unbroken chain of spells that left his wand so fast that even Lily couldn't dodge, having to erect a shield in front of her instead, in order to deflect the shots hurtling towards her. However her shield wasn't enough, so she ducked down on the floor and rolled forward, letting Harry's flurry of curses sail over her heard. This caught Harry off guard, as now Lily was a lot closer and he had less room to work with. Not wanting to concede the advantage so quickly, he transfigured Lily's duelling robes to the platform before sending a couple of stunners at her, hoping that one of them would hit. Unfortunately she just quickly shed the cloak and dived out of the way, being careful to stay on the platform. Although in a real duel, this wouldn't matter so much, they were using standard duelling rules so to add an extra layer of challenge into the fight (Dueling rules dictate that if a contestant steps off the platform, either voluntarily or on purpose, they lose).

She was in motion again as soon as she got up from her dive, edging herself away from the platforms edged, conjured a metal chain from the end of her wand, and swung it at him heavily, resulting in him having to move out of its reach or get hit so hard that at there would be a real risk of broken bones. This made Harry back away in slight surprise. He had no idea how to counter this. He could only back out of its reach for so long and his mother was steadily advancing on him. There was almost no platform left to back into. She was swinging the chains so unbelievably hard that shards of wood were splintering from the floor, the metal almost a blur as they travelled through the air. He could hear the air displacement as they cut into the space in front of him, leaving him with almost no room to move.

Making a snap decision, he lifted his wand and spun it in an arc, praying that this would work. He had never tried to perform this spell before, knowing that if he got it wrong, it was going to hurt a lot. He stepped forward just as the chain was about to slam into him and he activated the spell on his wand, hoping to merlin it would work.

It did.

It glowed blue slightly and a small translucent dome of energy erected around him, crackling its power into the air. The moment that the metal chain touched it, it crumpled into ash, disintegrating into the air. He was so stunned that he did it, that for a fraction of a second he didn't move. He only snapped out of it when he saw a spell fly at him and he had to erect a Protego shield to stop himself from being blasted into the wall.

"Don't hesitate…on the battlefield, one split second of…hesitation…could…kill you" she panted while sending a stream of spells Harrys way.

"S…sorry!" Harry shouted back, mentally berating himself for his split second mistake. He was better than this. She was right; it was things like this that could kill him. If this was Voldemort or Bellatrix, he would already be dead.

Shaking off his earlier error, he started to reply to his mother steady stream of spells. This was tricky as not only was she very fast, she didn't use the same spell more than once in a single spell chain and they were almost always cast at random. One minute she would freeze a patch of floor, then try and force Harry to slip on it, before superheating it and using the subsequent steam to obscure his vision as she moved herself into a different position. He rarely got a few seconds to catch his breath as she kept sending her spells at him at the same pace without respite. She said it was to increase his endurance. Some days she would simply force him to dodge and shield, casting spells at him until he could no longer defend himself. At the start he had only lasted a few minutes. Now he could last up to 17 minutes, give or take, before he was struck down. It was still a long way off of his target but he was getting there and for that he was glad.

Spells were becoming more and more furious. By now, the duelling room looked almost like a miniature fireworks display, the colourful lights of spell fire moving across the room at incredible speeds. The two duellists twisted and twirled like dancers, their movements clean and precise. Lily, as part of his training, had taught Harry how to dance. At first Harry didn't know how this would have any effect on his training, but after a long explanation and some practice he realised that it really did help his footwork. He now had a lot better balance and special awareness, allowing him to dodge easier and move with more accuracy.

Where some of the spells had intercepted each other, they exploded in the middle of the podium, temporarily blinding both combatants, though often Lily would send a spell or two through the explosion and Harry would have to block. Harry's problem was that he could not do the same and flinched away slightly whenever there was an explosion. Recognising this, Lily often intercepted his spells on purpose and used the split second advantage to break Harry's momemtum. Due to this, he never really got any headway on her. It seemed that the moment it looked like he had any kind of advantage, the tables would turn and it would be his back against the wall.

The duel had now been going on for nearly half an hour and they were both starting to get tired; Understandably so since the ones they had had before hadn't been nearly things long. Harry suspected his mother wanted to test his endurance more. He wasn't arrogant enough to believe he had improved so much he could how her to a standstill yet; maybe by the end of the summer, not after a few weeks. This was the hardest that Harry had ever managed to push her. Gone were the days that she could easily dispatch him in minutes. He had really improved. There was still a long way to go, but he was getting there.

Finally, after what appeared to be ages, Lily decided to step it up and end the duel. First she drew Harry in slightly, letting him push her back with a spell chain. She made sure that she didn't move and caught each and every spell on her shield except the last. On the last spell, she intercepted it with a stunner of her own which caused an energy explosion on the centre of the podium. She then disillusioned herself and stepped away to the side as Harry recovered and sent a group of stunners at the space she occupied before. Taking her chance, she cast an Accendio charm that sent her in the air and a quick cushioning charm as she fell. When she did finally land back on the podium she was directly behind Harry.

He didn't stand a chance.

"Stupefy" she said calmly at Harry's back.

The next thing he saw was his mother smiling at him as she bent over his body.

"Well done Harry. You did brilliantly"

"I still lost" he countered, smiling weakly as he groggily stirred from the ground. He noticed he was no longer on the platform, instead lying next to a table and chair on the far side of the room.

"I've been doing this a lot longer than you have. And you have improved at a much faster rate than I did at your age. You would give many fully trained aurors a run for their money". She said proudly though that didn't stop Harry from grumbling.

"You're not an auror and you beat me to a pulp daily" he said with a frown.

"I was raised during an era where war was everywhere, and I was a member of the Order. It's different" she said, reassuringly. Holding out her hand, she pulled her son off of the ground and they quickly surveyed the damage. They gasped at what they saw.

The wooden podium they used for duelling was almost completely destroyed, bar about 4 square meters on either side where the wood was left rather untouched. Everywhere else was now reduced to a pile of splinters, the multiple explosions of magic and dangerous spellfire lying waste to what was once the duelling platform. Much of it wasn't even splinters; the smokey smell of ash filled the air, as some of the spells were so superheated they didn't leave anything behind. It seemed that they had duelled for so long that the protections they put on the platform to try and protect it had failed and this was the result. Harry was strangely almost proud at this sight. He'd never been able to cause this much destruction before.

"It's something isn't it" she murmured, taking in the damage around her. After a few seconds she snapped out of her stupor and waved her wand in a large arc, vanishing all the ash and splinters. She waved it again and the platform disappeared into the floor, erasing any evidence anything had happened. There were numerous craters and black marks on the wall behind each end of the platform but with another flick of her wand, the bricks and quickly fixed themselves and the marks faded. She internally thanked herself for remembering to strengthen them with a powerful ward before she decided to use it for duelling. Otherwise she doubted there would be much of the house left. Even with all the planning she put into this, she still didn't expect this much damage.

Oh well nothing that won't fix itself she thought to herself. Even the half destroyed duelling platform would miraculously fix itself in the next 12 hours. Magic was funny like that.

Taking one last satisfied look at the rest of the room she turned back to her son who was now leaning on the table next to her. He was still panting slightly from the duel and he looked exhausted. She knew she wasn't much better, so she slowly walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, we still have potions".

"Mom! I can barely stand" he whined, raising his head from his hands. His eyes were starting to droop a little. To be honest she was knackered as well and could feel her legs starting to shake. She found this odd considering that she was usually fine after a duel. Her breath was heavy and she actually felt a little queasy. Shaking off this strange feeling of lethargy, she looked back to Harry's exhausted form and decided to agree with him.

"I guess your right" she conceded, still breathing a little heavily, though gradually returning to her normal self. Harry had already recovered and was wiping his face with a towel that had been left on the table earlier. She could see his shoulders sag with relief at her words and he slowly trudged away towards the lounge.

"I'll make some dinner. Get some rest or do some reading; whatever you want. I'll call you in half an hour." She said before walking slowly with him until he reached the living room and then branching off into the kitchen to make some food.

Half an hour later the table was set and Harry was slowly dragging himself across the kitchen, slumping himself down on the chair while Lily brought the food over. He had seriously outdone himself today. She was very proud of his progress and could see that he was really applying himself, though she was also slightly worried for him. He was almost pushing himself too hard. After almost every session he came out of it so physically beaten he could barely stand. It wasn't normal. While she knew in a real duel he wouldn't have that luxury, he was in serious danger of overworking himself.

She could see the raw focus on his face every time she saw him, and it was scary. Sure he had fun and they had their banter but it was like this whole task of defeating Voldemort had become his life and while she could see that it was to a degree, she didn't want that to define him.

That was why when she sat him down at the table, the first words to come out of his mouth were…

"We're going shopping tomorrow". she said quietly. "We can't go on like this…" she continued, to which her son raised his head to meet her eyes, and arched his brow.

"Go on like what?" she asked tiredly.

"Like…this. You're working yourself to the bone. I know you want to be better and I fully support you in that, but it seems that every time we finish you're in this near comatose state. And this is every day not just today. I understand this duel today would have taken a lot out you but how does that account for every other day of the week? Last Wednesday you nearly passed out after doing a charms exercise…charms. You were standing still for god sake and by the time you were done you could barely lift your arms!"

"I was practicing my advance shield charm…on your instructions and thanks to that practice it worked in that last duel" he retorted, somewhat petulantly though since he was so tired. Come to think of it so was she, which was odd because she was never tired. While she wasn't holding back anymore so much, she still had the higher endurance levels, something that was trained in her from her time in the order. She really shouldn't be tired but she was…something to think about later on.

"Yes and I congratulate you on that I really do it's a very hard bit of magic to get right but I asked you to only practice it two or three times a day as it takes a lot of concentration and magical energy to perform. How many times did you actually practice it that day?".

Harry replied by mumbling something under his breath.

"I'm sorry what was that I didn't hear it?".

"I said 6…7 if you include the one that actually caused me to pass out"

"See what I mean? I'm all for tutoring you but you're actually endangering your health. I didn't come back to watch you kill yourself from a heavy work load! What happens if you try something overly ambitious and I'm not there to clean up the mess? You could be put into a coma or worse! You scared me to death when you knocked yourself out the other day and the worst part of it that you don't even realise it. I may work you to your limits sometimes but your supervised! I am always with you and if I see you are getting exhausted I stop…you just don't know how to stop!" She visibly saw his face go white at that last statement as the facts hit home. Perhaps she was over doing it a bit; she knew he was in no immediate danger. It was just exhaustion but if it helped get her point across she wasn't going to get too picky on that particular detail.

"I…I'm sorry…I didn't think-" he stammered out.

"No you didn't" she said, and then her expression softened as she reached over the table and grabbed her son's had reassuringly.

"I'm not angry at you. I understand your motivations I really do, just don't forget to live ok? Now as I was saying we are going shopping tomorrow. There will be no training all day ok? I don't even want to see you so much as glancing at a spell book the entire day got it?" she said using her warm smile to disarm any retort he could have had.

"Ok" he resigned in defeat before adding, "I really am sorry" sincerely.

"I know" she merely replied. They didn't say much more than that as they tucked into their meals in silence. The only sound coming from them was the sound of metal scraping against the bottom of their plates. Every now and again they would share meaningful glances. When there was no more food left on their plates, they stood up without making a sound and with a flick of a wand, Lily cleared the table into the sink and cast a charm that did the washing up while she and Harry walked into the lounge to relax.

Letting out a large yawn, he flopped on the sofa and switched on the TV while Lily sat down on her armchair.

"I never did ask you how you managed to get this TV to work considering this is a magical home."

"Trade secret" Lily replied, smiling.

"She won't tell you trust me. She's more tight lipped than a-" came a familiar voice.

"That's enough James. I won't allow you to corrupt our son with your dirty mind" Lily retorted back at the portrait of James above the fireplace that was now smirking down at her in the typical way she remembered. She still found it hard to think of the Portrait of James seeing as she knew where the real James was but all the same she treated him the exact same way she would treat the real thing. Not only did it help keep her frayed mind sane, knowing that some form of James was with them but it also helped her son, who had never really had a family of his own.

"Than who will? He's too innocent for my liking" he replied looking down at Harry fondly.

"And he'll stay that way" chuckled Lily.

"…not if I have anything to say about it" he said with confidence, looking warmly down at the two people in the living room. The painting looked amusedly as Lily gave him a cross look though she couldn't hold it for long before a slight smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Sure James"

"Have you given thought to what we discussed last night Harry?" he asked his son to which a large grin spread across his face. Lily had to fight herself to not roll her eyes as that feral grin seemed to get wider and wider and before long he resembled a Cheshire cat.

"Of course father" he said with an almost sinister purr.

"James…" Lily said warningly.

"Yes dear?" James said with false innocence.

"What have you done?" she said narrowing her eyes and glaring at the painting on the wall.

"Nothing…nothing at all…I may have told our son a few stories from our school days, you know, being a marauder and all. I thought I should at least teach him a few things...you know, to uphold our legacy and all." He spoke casually yet averted his eyes all the same.

"From what I hear that legacy is already being upheld. I seem to recall Harry mentioning the Weasley twins and their exploits over the past few years."

"True, but they have left now. Can't let that gap be left unfilled can we? If there is no-one there to cause trouble then who is going to keep Minnie on her toes."

"Minnie?" asked Harry, still smiling happily from earlier.

"Professor McGonagall…probably best you don't call her that…at least to her face", to that Harry sniggered. Imagining the stern Head of House as anything other than Professor McGonagall was almost impossible to him. Imagining her as…that was even worse and he couldn't help a snigger escaping at the thought of the look on her face if anyone called her that.

"When you come back for Christmas I want to hear that you have pranked Snivellus-" James paused as he almost spat the name out with vehemence "-at least once. And if at all possible, take pictures. If not I'll settle for a pensieve memory."

"We have a pensieve?" asked Harry, thinking of all the possibilities now opened from that titbit of information.

"Somewhere yes." James said. "Did you hear me Lilypad? I said I want him to-"

"I heard you James, I just can't bring myself to care anymore. He made his bed, and I won't forgive him for it" she said coldly, her glare cutting through him like a knife. Within seconds the mood of the room changed, and the look on his mother's face told him all he needed to know.

Don't ask about it.

"Ok..." started James nervously "As I was saying I want to hear about some pranking and maybe some broom closets-"

"Dad!" exclaimed Harry blushing heavily.

"James" Lily scolded.

"What?! It's true. When I was Harry's age I was-"

"Asking me out every ten minutes…and making a pain out of yourself while doing so" Lily countered before the painting of James could finish his sentence.

"You said yes eventually didn't you?" complained James.

"2 years later when you stopped being as much of an arse" she replied.

"As much?" he asked cheekily.

"Well you're still an arse."

"As I was saying Harry" James said in a dramatic voice cutting off whatever Lily had to say, "You really should loosen up more. Get yourself in trouble, find yourself a girl…you do like girls don't you?"

"I…er yeah of course dad!" He spluttered.

"Are you sure? Because from what you told me over the last few weeks about your time at Hogwarts you have not mentioned girls once…that fiasco at the Yule ball doesn't count!"

"How does that not count? I asked Cho, she said no and I ended up having to go with Pavarti…turned into one of the worst nights of my life…and that's saying something considering the life I've had."

"It doesn't count because you were obligated to take someone to the ball…you didn't go by choice did you?" explained James gleefully, satisfied at Harry's embarrassment. Lily just held her head in her hands like she didn't want to hear anything, though she was still smiling.

This is typical James she thought. If you were really here right now I'd strangle you.

"Ok then what about last year. I took Cho out to Hogsmeade then didn't I…that wasn't forced".

"Oh and how did that go?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm, though it lacked malice. They had already shared this story and laughed about it

"…terribly" he coughed out trying not to smile.

"Thought so"

"Not my fault you said that yourself!" Harry said quickly in frustration.

"Never said it was but you can't argue that you really are terrible with girls…I mean terrible…even Draco Malfoy is getting more than you."

"James must you be so crude!" Lily whined irritably from her chair "He's 15 and-"

"Almost scared of girls Lily" James finished, ignoring Lily's look of indignation.

"I'm not that bad" Harry whined.

"Yes you are" the two adults chorused, before looking at each other and bursting out laughing. Even Harry couldn't stop himself sniggering slightly, though he quickly scowled when he remembered why they were laughing, which only made them laugh harder.

"As I was so eloquently saying, you're terrible and I cannot in good conscience let you go back without at least learning a few tricks of the trade" he said giving a sly wink.

"Ideally Sirius would be the one having this conversation but since he is somewhat indisposed at the moment-"

"Dead" said Harry flatly. He didn't see the point of sugar-coating it.

"No I was right the first time."

Harry looked at him curiously.

"What? You didn't think I was the only Marauder to commission a painting did you?" he said smiling brightly.

"What? You mean all this time I could talk to Sirius and no-one bothered to tell me" Harry replied, somewhat petulantly, a fact he recognised immediately as he whispered, "Sorry".

"It's ok dear. We just didn't want to remind you too much of him. I could see how much pain just mentioning his name caused you…I didn't want that. Besides his painting is in his vault like James's was. We couldn't exactly walk straight up to Gringotts and retrieve it. Only the current Head of House can get into that vault and until his will is read, you won't be able to inherit that title."

"Me? Why would I inherit that title…actually wait, don't ask it's obvious"

Lily nodded.

"Yes, he left everything to you. Not only did he love you like a son, do you really think he wanted someone like Narcissa or even worse Bellatrix getting a hand on his gold? He didn't care about his wealth, you know that, but leaving so much as a Galleon to a Death Eater is not something that sat well with him. So one day he came to me and James, it was actually only a few months before he…well you know" she added.

She took a few seconds before continuing.

"He asked us first to see what we thought and to make sure James didn't feel slighted at all; after all they had been friends for years. He reasoned that by leaving it to you, the inheritance stood much less chance of being contested in the event of his death. As godfather, his legal sway as your guardian left anyone that tried to contest the will with far less legal away since you were by right, the next of kin and since Sirius had no trial, the only way to reverse his status as guardian would be to hold a trial and since he was innocent-"

"-then he would retain his vaults anyway" Harry finished. "That's actually pretty smart…for Sirius."

"He did have smart ideas occasionally" Lily smiled.

"He just used them for more worthwhile activities" James added.

"Pranking?" Harry guessed.

"Right in one son" James said with a triumphant grin.

"So…?" James said with a questioning glance. For a brief moment Harry didn't understand what he meant, but then he remembered the conversation that they had a moment ago.

"So what?" asked Harry, knowing full well what his father meant.

"So? Do you want me to help you learn the subtle art of talking to a pretty girl without being rendered a jabbering mess?" he said in mocking tone, eyes shining with mirth.

"Cutting straight to the point I see."

"There really in no way to sugar-coat it let's be honest."

"I'm beginning to think that I'd prefer to still be having my mother fire spells at me…or…well pretty much anything other than this conversation."

"Excellent!" James carried on as if he hadn't heard Harry.

What proceeded was perhaps one of the most awkward conversations he had ever experienced in his life. In fact, he doubted whether there was any other time in his life where he would rather be anywhere than in that room, talking to his dad about girls. As informative as it was and as much as he knew he'd thank his dad for the advice later, he couldn't get the image out of his mind that this was his dad and that his father had put just these kinds of techniques into practice when he was chasing after his mother, a thought he wanted readily available in his head.

He was somewhat glad to have his mother in the room with him. While there were some avenues of conversation that were immensely more embarrassing due to her presence, having her around also served to head James off when he was getting a bit carried away…and he got carried away a lot. It was one thing giving Harry advice on how to get over his nervous streaks around girls, it was another thing to get graphic about…other things. Lily's presence helped curtail that, since she was just as mortified as he was.

One thing was for sure; he was certainly going to have an interesting time when he got back to school. When his mother said she was going to train him, she didn't mention this.

Any worries he had about going back to school had now immediately evaporated. Even this small gesture by his father's portrait gave him the sense of support he desperately needed. He felt…not ready, since he still had much to learn, but…progress was being made for the first time since he had started Hogwarts…like he was finally getting the instruction he really needed. He could feel the resentment against Dumbledore bubbling underneath his skin. Not once did he give instruction, not once did he prepare him for the magnanimous task of toppling Voldemort and saving the wizarding world. For some reason he seemed intent to shroud Harry in ignorance and not let him know anything, even though his best friends seemed to know more than he did. It was infuriating. What was his game here? What was there to gain? Surely he could spend a few hours every week to tutor him in advanced magic or at the very least, get the best out of what he already knew? It was like he didn't care about his magical development at all, which was baffling as how on earth was he supposed to face Voldemort without at least being able to hold his own? Lily's tuition had given him hope. Sure he still feared Voldemort, in truth he was terrified, but at least now he felt better prepared as a whole. Things were starting to fall in place…piece by piece.

And if his "curriculum" included tips on how to improve socially as well as academically, who was he to turn it down.

Well there you go. As I said, I had to split the chapter so that's why it's shorter. Read and review and as usual, message with any questions.

On a different note keep your eyes peeled as I'm in the process of planning another story to work on when my writers block has hit me. It won't be updated very much as...well it's just a writers block story. It's going to be set just after 2nd year and it will be Harry/OC. I don't wanna give too much away so I'll leave it there...

Anyway have fun.