A/N I'd just like to point out before we start this chapter that no character in this fic is a Gary Stu, no matter how much it might look like it. I use the name of the character you will shortly meet because I love the name and I am determined to use it in every story I write. Anyway, if I wanted to create a wizarding Gary Stu then he would not be anything like this character, read my profile if you want to know what a real me would look like in the magical world.


Chapter nine: Axerton

A man walked through the gates, he wore a thick brown travelling cloak with his hood covering his face, he raised a tanned hand and casually knocked the hood down, revelling a face with hazel eyes, short brown hair and a lopsided smile.

"Sorry I'm late. Went and splinched myself in Belgium wouldn't you know," he called in an accent that Harry vaguely recognized as Australian from some of the Muggle movies he had seen.

"Axerton!" yelled Mr Weasley and Kingsley together.

"You don't think I'd miss my own Godson's wedding did you? It'd take more than having over a hundred miles separating my head and my body to stop me seeing this."

Bill raised a hand to silence the mutterings that were flitting around, "Everyone, this is my Godfather, Axerton. He is an Australian, who met my father when he was over here to aid the fight on You-Know-Who last time. Well Axe, if you would please come and be seated, just here." Bill pointed at the seat that was beside his father.

Harry watched the man closely as he walked between the scattered tables, occasionally nodding to one or two of the members of the Order. Harry guessed that this must be Kingsley's friend, the one who would teach be teaching him Occlumency. Harry was so absorbed by watching the man as he sat down that he didn't notice Charlie get to his feet, but then Charlie started to speak and Harry flicked his eye's to the best man. Charlie's speech was touching but, to be blunt, boring. It contained a few interesting anecdotes about Bill, including the time that he had tried out for the Gryffindor Quid ditch team, an incident that had resulted in falling off his broom and hanging on for dear life to one of the goal hoops. After that the fathers of the Bride and Groom both made speeches which ran along much the same lines as Charlie's had. Then, as the guests started to mingle, Harry deliberately walked over to where Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, Mr Weasley and Axerton were all deep in conversation.

"Terrible thing," Axerton was saying, "I don't trust the lot of them."

"Their not all bad Axe." Mr Weasley said carefully.

"Arthur, how can you say that after what that... thing did?"

"But hating them all just because of the actions of one..." At this point Remus Lupin and Tonks walked over to them.

"Arthur, they are Werewolves! Dark creatures. In my opinion they should be put down the morning after they're bitten."

"Hello," Lupin said, "My name's Remus Lupin, I don't think we met last time." Axerton spun around,

"Remus, glad to meet you, I think that Arthur mentioned you in one of his letters, very complimentary," Mr Weasley tried to cut in but couldn't fit in the words, "Now there was something unusual about you if I remember... you are a..." Axerton's face paled, as memory clearly came rushing back. "Ah... Well I've gone and put my foot in it, haven't I."

"I must admit I've had better first impressions of people," Lupin said with a small smile, "But I wont pretend that I've never heard it before."

"I'm so sorry, I...well after hearing about what happened to young Bill..."

"Quite understandable. I myself was rather discussed with my own...species...if you can call it that, after that night."

At this point someone bumped into Harry and he was pushed forward into the group of people who he had been listening to.

"Merlin's beard, Harry Potter in person!" Axerton's hazel eyes performed the usual flick upwards to the scar not quite hidden by his long fringe, but unlike most people who remember themselves after a second and forced their eye's down, he continued to stare, then with some trepidation walked forwards, flicked aside the dark hair and with a shaking finger he slowly traced the thin scar, "Fascinating," he muttered slowly. Harry's dislike for Axerton, already high due to indignation on behalf of Lupin, was increasing rapidly. "You must forgive me, for some years now I have studied the darkest magic yet created. And of cause the spell that left that mark is possibly the worst of them all. Maybe if I was to study that scar it might give me some indication as to how to block Avada Kadavra."

"No need Axe. This young lad's beaten you to it." Kingsley said enthusiastically.

"Well of course he has, but he was only a year old and I doubt he can remember how he did it."

"No," Harry said, "I've found out how to block it. A corporeal Patronus."

"I beg your pardon."

"A fully formed Patronus can stop Avada Kadavra." Axerton's mouth fell open, he tried several times to close it, but was unsuccessful each time.

"You mean to say, that the counter curse already exists?" Axerton brought his open palm up to his forehead with some force, "And all this time I've been trying to invent a new spell to do it. Fool! Fool! Fool!"

"Well, it seems that Harry has taught you something, perhaps you could repay him in kind." Kingsley said.

"Pardon?"

"Harry's been looking for someone to teach him Occlumency, I thought you would do nicely."

"Oh of course, Occlumency, Legilimency, anything like that, I'd be glad to help. We could start tomorrow if you'd like?"

Harry hesitated, he had been planing on leaving the Burrow the next day, but maybe they could leave after one lesson, it couldn't hurt after all, "Yeah, alright."

"Perfect. Gives me something to do at any rate."

At this moment Bill and Fleur (who were still bound at the wrist) walked over to the group.

"Axerton! Merlin's beard you made it, I haven't seen you since I was five. How are you."

"Couldn't be better. Actually that's a lie. The Geelong Giants are doing appallingly in the Quidditch season, but apart from that I couldn't be better. I take it you got someone to fill in for me did you?"

"Oh yes, Jeremy's an old friend of mine from Egypt, fitted in perfectly," Bill said pointing out the other Groomsman.

Harry extracted himself from the conversation, thinking he would go and find Ginny, but before he had found her a cry came up from the crowd, "Presents!" Then the whole crowd seemed to be echoing the first cry and eventually Bill and Fleur had managed to force their way through the crowd to the raised table where a small mountain of rapped presents had been placed. Bill and Fleur each grabbed for a present with their unbound hand, then realizing that the other had a different present dropped the one they were holding, Bill gave a laugh and reached forward for the present right in front of them. Fleur nodded once and they opened the present clumsily each only able to use one hand. What was revealed, when they finally managed to open it, was a large clock, on which Harry could just see two handles, one with Bill written on it pointing to home, the other with Fleur pointing to Visiting Relatives.

"Thanks Mum!" Bill said enthusiastically.

"It's nothing dear, I had it made less sensitive to mortal peril so that it will actually move around at these times."

Bill and Fleur went back to the presents. It took them almost two hours before they had finished opening them all by which time they had accumulated several books on basic house hold spells and charms, a small pile of dark detectors, a gold framed mirror that spoke with a quick silvery voice, a large eagle owl (from Harry and Hermione), a glass and marble chess set (from Ron though financed by Fred and George) as well as innumerable other things. Then the party got back into full swing.

Harry wasn't sure why, perhaps it was because of having had a large party only three day's before or possibly that he knew his beautiful excuse for staying at the Burrow was about to be removed, but he didn't feal much like joining in with the celebrations. He wondered how long they would last and vaguely if it would be rude to leave this early. Eventually he decided he should stay and so he continued his search for Ginny. He could not see her, but Ron's lanky profile was evident, over the heads of the crowd, near a table that had been laden with drinks. Harry forced his way over.

"Have you seen Ginny?" he asked noisily over the talk of the throng.

"She's over there." Ron pointed indistinctly with his left hand spilling some of the contents of his Goblet of mead out of his right, "With Hermione."

"Sorry where was Hermione?"

"With Hagrid." Harry was about to walk away when Ron continued. "Do you know what she said to me?" Ron's voice was slightly slurred, he had obviously been drinking most of the time that Bill and Fleur had been opening their presents. "She said, that she wished they had invited Krum today. VICKY. Why the bloody hell would she want that grouchy git here today?"

"I have no idea Ron." This was a complete lie he knew that Hermione had only brought up Krum to stir Ron up, or at least he hoped that was why she had said it.

Harry left Ron to continue drinking and fought his was towards the massive figures of Hagrid and Grawp. Hagrid was in deep conversation with Charlie Weasley, but Harry spotted Hermione and Ginny alone sitting at an abandoned table. Hermione had her hands on the table and her head on Ginny's shoulder,

"Why does he have to be such an insensitive pig?" he just managed to hear her sob. Harry really wasn't sure he could deal with Hermione crying at the moment, but he didn't fancy going back to Ron and being talked to about Victor Krum or what ever else the mead induced Ron would talk about. So instead he wandered aimlessly about, being drawn into conversations with the order or being goggled at by members of Fleur's family.

Eventually darkness started to fall and Harry noticed that Fred, George and Hagrid had vanished. Soon after this Mrs Weasley called Bill and Fleur up to the raised platform. They climbed up and then held their bound hands up to the sky. There was a slight pause where they just look rather stupid, then the platted ribbons began to glow, first red, then white, then bright blue and finally pale gold, there was the slightest pause then the ribbon simply disappeared. Then everyone beneath them roared,

"TO THE BRIDE AND GROOM."

There was a sound of hooves and Harry turned to see Hagrid, walking with two brilliantly white unicorns in tow, who inturn were pulling a golden carriage. The masses in front of the platform parted to let the bridal carriage through. Hagrid led them up to the couple and then stepped aside, so that they could step into the carriage. Harry walked silently up to Hagrid,

"How did you catch the unicorns? I thought they didn't trust men."

"They don't, but I'm a special case see, unicorns have amazing intellectual powers, they can distinguish one human from another, 'nd that's more than most goblins can do. I've been able to help 'em, one of them broke it's leg in the forest, dunno 'ow, but I fixed it up alright and now I'm…well callin' in a favour like." Harry was impressed.

By this time Bill had helped Fleur into the carriage and stepped in himself and, with out a word from either of them, the unicorns set off. They walked in a small circle, then, when they were facing the right way, they broke into a trot. Suddenly something pink shot from the entrance of the Burrow into the sky. People gasped and screamed, but then with a small pop the pink rocket had turned into a large, still pink, baby cupid, bow in hand. It hung in the sky for a second before winking at the spot where it had come from then let it's arrow fly. It shot straight towards Bill and Fleur, then when it was less than a foot away it exploded and there was a shower of pink stars that filled the entire paddock. Harry realised as one of the pink stars landed on his hand that they weren't actually stars but glowing pink love hearts. Bill and Fleur were laughing and waving back at the crowd, and, just visible by the light of the fire work, were Fred and George standing in the door way.

Mrs Weasley ran towards them and pulled them both into a obviously tight hug, and started sobbing into Fred's shoulder.

"Stop it Mum! You wouldn't want anyone to think your proud of us would you." George said loudly.

"I am, oh boys, I am."

"We know Mum," Fred said in complete earnest.

Most of the guests trickled out of the gates, but a few had been invited to stay the night at the burrow, including Axerton, Fleur's parents and Lupin and Tonks. Harry who was not remotely tired after watching Fred and George's fire works found himself almost carrying Ron up the stairs, Harry hoisted Ron through his door and pushed him onto the bed, Ron was asleep before he hit the covers. He turned around and went into his own room, and changed into his pyjamas, but realised that he was still not tired. So he rummaged around in the second cabinet of his trunk until he found the book he was looking for. Important Magical Objects of History, he flicked it open and looked at the index. To his pleasure there was an entire section about the founders and their possessions. He turned to it and saw a large Hogwarts coat of arms. The next page depicted a tall pleasant faced woman stroking a large badger; above it was the familiar yellow emblem of Hufflepuff house. The photo on the following page depicted something Harry recognised immediately, the golden goblet that Riddle had presumably stolen.

Helga Hufflepuff

The goblet of-

Also known as: Sangreal

The rumours about the suspected powers of this cup are many and varied, from that anyone who drinks from it will be transformed, for one hour, into a badger through to the belief that contents would be turned to poison if anyone of impure heart was to drink of it. Although these powers have never been tested due to the fact that for the last three centuries the goblet had resided in the private collection of collections of Huffelpuff's descendents, until it went missing after the death of it's previous owner; Hepzibah Smith. Though many authorities believe, due to the evidence of Helga's descendents and the precise diary entries of Rowena Ravenclaw, that any water that touches the gold incrust bottom of the goblet is turned instantly to the elixir of life, previously only thought to be producible by the use of the Philosopher's Stone. It is known however that Helga herself only used the elixir to heal injuries and curses, and never to prolong her own life. In fact the only know use of is magical powers during her lifetime was after the four battled with the dark witch Libitina when Godric Gryffindor was mortally wounded. In the years that followed her death the goblet was kept at Hogwarts, during which time an ambitious student attempted to steal the cup, but when he drank from it he was poisoned and no antidote could be found. From this we must come to the conclusion that the cup could only be used when there was great need for it, or possibly that the rightful owners permission was required.

Harry turned the page and found more items that related to Helga Hufflepuff but due to the fact that he was confident that he knew that the cup had been used to make a Horcrux he did not see it as necessary to read them. Eventually he found a page showing the red Gryffindor lion and a moving portrait of a tall red haired man brandishing a sword back and forth. He turned and found yet another familiar object pictured.

Godric Gryffindor

The sword of –

Also know as: Snakebane

This goblin forged sword was presented to Godric as a present for his coming of age from his father the legendary swordsman Galahad Gryffindor. When, a year later, Galahad was killed by a serpent Godric swore on the tomb of his father that the sword would only ever be used to eradicate evil. Godric used this sword many times. Some of the most famous uses are the namesake of the sword, the slaughtering of Galahad's killer, a sea serpent that dwelt in the lake of Griffindor's property, now the location of the Hogwarts' grounds, the faithful Runespoor that served Libitina and the killing of Slytherin's pet adder which brought about the final splitting of the Hogwarts' founders and eventually Godric's own death and the ending of the line of Gryffindor. In more recent times the blade has been used by The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, in the destruction of Slytherin's legendary monster that dwelled in the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts, a Basilisk, though it is unknown how Potter gained entry to the Chamber of Secrets or gained possession of the sword when it has, since the death of it's owner some two millennia ago, resided in the office of the Headmaster.

Harry was shocked to see his own name written in print like this, but was just as surprised that the author had known about the battle in the chamber but not known about the finer details. Once he finished the page he flicked over and saw yet another object he knew.

The hat of-

Also know as: The Sorting Hat.

It is unknown where this hat originated but there are three possibilities that most experts have speculated on and continue to believe. One that Godric's mother made the hat for her son, as was a common practice of the time. Another is that Godric, who would have been quite rich for his time had it made up by a professional, though this is unlikely as such extravagance would have been out of character for him. The third possibility was that it had belonged to his father, and was taken from the body after Godric sought his revenge. The story of the Sorting Hat is well known; after the battle with Libitina, when Godric started to realise the prospect that he, as well as his co-founders, were mortal and one day they might not be around to choose which students were in which house. After a long set of councils between the four it was decided that they would create something to divide the students, rather than, as Hufflepuff would have had it, simply selecting someone to follow in their footsteps. A complicated series of spells performed by each of the four gave the Hat, not only enough mental capacity to read the minds of those wearing it and to choose where they belong, but to give it a personality of its own. For some unknown reason the Sorting Hat has resisted all attempts to make it magically immune to the passing of time, resulting in the hat being tattered and covered in patches. The Sorting Hat also resides in the Headmaster's office and is only taken out once a year to be tried on by each new student of the prodigious magic school.

Harry watched the picture of the sorting hat as it clearly gave it's yearly start of term song. He had never considered the possibility that one of the shards of Voldemort's sole had resided in Hogwarts, had even touched his own head twice. He shook his head, it was not possible, Voldemort had never had a chance to explore the castle for objects, and even if he had, the fact that Voldemort had laid such heavy protection over the fake locket, as he had, by the account of Dumbledore, for the ring of Marvolo Gaunt, pointed to the fact that he the other Horcruxes would be well hidden and protected, not sitting on the mantelpiece of Dumbledore's own office for so long. He continued his reading.

The next page showed a tall monkey like wizard, with a beard that touched his knees and a large red and green snake coiled around his shoulders. Above his head a silver shield was emblazoned with the green serpentine S. Harry flicked over the page, it showed a silver bracelet that carried a large fang. Not being terribly interested in this amulet he turned the page and saw the golden locket, exactly as he had seen around Merope's neck.

The locket of-

The stories that surround this locket are as varied as that of those for Sangreal. Salazar always swore that he had made it himself and placed heavy enchantments upon it. However as we read the dairies of Ravenclaw we see that she and many others doubted this story, and believed it to have been stolen from Salazar's elder brother Serpious out of jealousy. Evidence to support this theory though is scarce due to the fact that Serpious was killed when the snake he was conversing with attacked without apparent provocation and the snake venom had killed him before he was found. As for the heavy enchantments placed upon this, only the wildest guesses can be made. Some suspect that the wearer will be imbued with the magical knowledge of Parsletongue, the language of snakes, while others believed that one who could open it would be allowed a brief glimpse into the mind of it's previous owners. Since the death of Salazar this locket had resided in the private collections of his descendents until it was apparently stolen and sold to a widely respected wizarding artefacts shop, it was then sold into the collection of Hepzibah Smith. The locket also went missing after her death.

Even as Harry read this his eyes became heavy but he forced himself to read to the finish of the page. He tried to slowly turn the page but he fell asleep before even taking in the picture.

Harry was woken early next morning when someone decided to rip back the curtains on his window. Harry blinked up at the fuzzy blob with a splash of red on top as he searched, one handed, for his glasses on his bedside cabinet.

"Looking for these?" The blob asked, using Ginny's voice.

"Thanks." Harry said as he put them on and the figure of Ginny appeared before him.

"Umm… don't you think that going to sleep with a book is kind of Hermione's area of expertise?" Harry laughed as he realised that Important Magical Objects of History was still open next to him. He shut it quickly and put it back in his trunk before closing the lid.

"Why are you up so early?" Harry then questioned Ginny.

"Well, it was to make sure that you didn't run off without us."

"Ginny you actually thought that I would abandon you?"

"Well, no, not really." But she still looked slightly guilty.

"Look, don't worry I'm not going anywhere yet, I've got an Occlumency lesson all planned up with that Axerton bloke."

"Oh, well then, I'll go down and make you some breakfast. Don't take too long to get dressed."

When Harry did get down stairs, correct to instructions, not having taken too long, he was surprised to see that Ginny wasn't the only one awake. Axerton and Tonks were both sitting at one of the tables in the, now slightly reduced kitchen, and Dobby was standing in a corner near the door.

"Dobby, why are you still here?"

"Dobby has to wait to be paid Harry Potter sir."

"How much are you charging for this Dobby?" Harry said putting a hand inside his navy blue robes and fingering his money bag.

"Dobby should charge twenty two galleons for the day's work sir but as he is not to take any for himself it is only twenty." Harry pulled out his leather bag and counted out twenty Galleons,

"Here you go Dobby, and not a word to any of the Weasleys about this, OK?"

"Yes Harry Potter sir." Harry then grabbed a extra Galleon and threw it to the elf,

"And buy your self a couple of nice pairs of socks with that."

"Thank you Harry Potter." Dobby said, his eye's starting to leak. He picked up one galleon from the table and put it in a pocket of his football shorts, then waved his hand at the rest of the pile and it vanished. Then with a loud crack he was gone.

Tonks who had almost been falling asleep at the table started at the sound of the house elf vanishing.

"Oh morning Harry," she yawned.

"Morning Tonks. Why are you up so early?"

"Guard duty, Axe agreed to help me with it though. It's dead boring otherwise."
"Harry, good morning, I believe we have an Occlumency lesson planned for today don't we? Well why don't we get it over with now?" Axerton seemed to be far too awake for the time of morning.

"Oh actually, I was going to give you a combat lesson now Harry," Tonks said still half asleep.

"Oh well, Harry you can chose what to do first." Harry thought back to his Occlumency lessons with Snape. He remembered how tiering they had been, and he realised that he might not be able to cope with a combat class after an hour of having his mind pried into.

"Umm, I'll have the combat training first, if that's alright Axerton."

"Of course, of course."

"Well, why don't we go outside? more room there," Tonks suggested.

"Okay." He turned to Ginny who was cooking some eggs, "Ginny I'm just going outside."

They trooped outside, Axerton in tow.

"Well first, let's go over what we did last time. Show us Incendiverberis."

Harry pulled his wand from an inside pocket and held it out. He drew a quick sideways figure eight and muttered, "Incendiverberis," Bright green flames burst into life from the tip of his wand,

"Very good. Now let's test you with that flick." Harry drew a deep breath and flicked his wand. The flame gave a crack as it flew through empty air. "Excellent. But the problem is that this doesn't give you a very accurate indication of how to use it as a weapon. Hmmm maybe I'll just have to…."

"No, no, Nymphadora, allow me to take the hit." Axerton said, Tonks scowled at him for using her despised first name but then seemed to brighten.

"Thank you Axerton. I give you warning that it could do some damage though."

"I'm no stranger to pain let me assure you." He walked up to Harry. "Give me you best shot."

"Okay, I'm going to show you how to use this efficiently." Tonks said before leaning in to Harry, "Hit him in the middle of the chest and make it hard." Harry obeyed. He pulled the wand back over his shoulder and flicked it forward. It hit Axerton in the centre of his chest and he was knocked heavily to the ground. Axerton was breathing hard, and attempting to blink back tears when Tonks walked up to him,

"Let's get one thing straight, my name is Tonks, not Nymphadora." She turned to Harry, "It was a good shot," she said, then she turned back to Axerton, "He's probably broken at least one rib, hold still." She pointed her wand at him and said "Episkey." Axerton twinged a bit but then slowly got up,

"Thank you Ny… sorry Tonks."

"Good, two quick learners, that should make things easier." Axerton gave a reluctant laugh but twinged a bit, "What I was going to say was I'll have to conjure up something to use as target practice." She pointed her wand at Harry, "Doppelganus." Then Harry saw something appear about a foot in front of him. He had to look twice before he could be sure it was true. There standing in front of him was… himself, though somehow not himself, Harry looked at the model. It had the same skin colour, black hair, blue robes, it even had a thin scar, but Harry noticed that it had no fingernails, there was no pupil in the eyes, no hair on the arms, and the skin seemed to meld into the robes.

"Wow." Harry said simply after looking at himself for a minute.

"Nice trick that one. Use him as a target." Harry threw Tonks a quizzical look which she interpreted correctly. "Don't worry, no emotions, no pain. Aim for the legs this time."

Harry raised the wand, still with a flaming tip and brandished it at his other self's ankles. There was a loud crack and then the model Harry fell, it's feet broken off from it's legs.

"Don't worry, that won't really happen to people, that just meant that you broke both their ankles, you've done very well. I think that's enough for this spell. Reparo." The broken Harry's leg's suddenly reattached to their feet and after a second the whole thing was standing up again. "Ok, just do one test of the Pollatrium spell."

"Finite." Harry muttered, and the flame vanished, then he spun his wand and muttered, "Pollatrium," and the clone was completely covered in a thick sheet of ice.

"Excellent, well then let's move on. I think we were about to start the impersonal shield charm,"

"Yes."

"Good. Ok this works almost the exact same way as the normal shield charm, but you can use it to defend anyone, not just yourself. And the conjuring is very much the same except that you have to concentrate on the person you are protecting, and the incantation is Impertrium Protego."

"Impertrium Protego," Harry repeated,

"Got it. Now just try to put a shield in front of the double." Harry thought hard about the thing that Harry suddenly realised looked like a blow up doll of himself,

"Impertrium Protego" A light heat haze appeared in front of the double then faded.

"Good, now let's test it. I'll be throwing stunners at you and your double, you have to defend them all with a combination of the shield and the impersonal shield charms.

Tonks started sending stunning spells at the real and fake Harries. To begin with she was going slow and simply taking it in turns so it was easy to stop but then she started to speed up and would change the order regularly. Eventually she was barely drawing breath between each spell and had just sent four in a row at the real Harry, then she sent one at Ginny who had just walked out from the house and was unable to defend herself due to the plate of eggs an bacon in her hand, Harry only just got the shield up in time, but then he realised that another stunner had just hit his copy.

"Well you did really well. With most people the shield charms would have gotten weaker over time and eventually not been strong enough to stop a stunner, but you did really well. Hopefully you wont ever have to defend yourself and someone else at the same time like that again. I suppose we can move on now. Hmm what could we do next?" Tonks said to herself.

"Tonks, I was looking through some books while I was at the Dursleys and I found some spells that could be useful."

"Oh right, what were they?"

"Well there was Hortulgrip."

"Oh don't bother with those sort of things Harry. They look flashy but they aren't really that useful. But were there any others? Tonks said as she gratefully accepted a egg and bacon sandwich from Ginny.

"Yeah, there was a shield breaker curse."

"Ah yes, that one is a very useful spell," she replied thickly though a mouthful of breakfast, "Very handy if you come up against someone who is always using a shield charm, or to break the charm on one of the Weasley's shield hats. Ok now I'll give you a demonstration." She pulled her wand back over her shoulder, just as the picture in Auror Grade Defence had done, then flicked her wand forwards. The dummy Harry was sent flying backwards and fell with a crash to the ground. "Now this is a non-verbal spell, you have to concentrate really hard for it, think Shatrease. Just let me get the model back, Mobilicorpus." The model was lifted into the air and came sawing slowly back to them.

Harry brought his wand back over his shoulder and brought it forwards with a quick movement, at the same time thinking Shatrease. The fake Harry was knocked over, but there was not the sudden fly back that had happened when Tonks had used it.

"Not bad, not bad, but you just have to practice a bit." She lifted the copy up again and stood back for Harry to have another go. Harry repeated the spell several times and eventually managed to get his target flying back about two or three metres.

"Well done. Now we'll just try it with a shield charm, see if you can break though it. Impertrium Protego." Harry again brought his wand back and brought it forwards quickly, concentrating on the incantation. There was a loud bang and the dummy was knocked off it's feet. "Great, you shattered the shield. I think you've got the hang of that one now. And unless there was anything else that you wanted to look at then I think we can call it a day, and let Axerton give you an Occlumency lesson."

"There is one more quick thing, I know that the members of the order communicate using Patronuses, but how do they send the messages."

"Oh ok that's easy. You just need to think hard about who you want the message to go to, then you summon your Patronus, while your doing it you think of the message you want to give."

"Thanks Tonks, I think that will do for today."

"Right, my turn is it, Harry?" Axerton said walking forwards as Tonks vanished the reproduction of Harry.

"I guess so," Harry said unenthusiastically. He could remember all too well the lessons that Snape had given him.

"Right then, if you learn Occlumency as fast as you learned those spells then this could be a very short lesson." Harry gave a hollow laugh. " Now from what Remus told me last night, you have already been though the basics of Occlumency."

"I suppose you could put it that way," Harry said bitterly.

"Right then I suppose you know that Occlumency is a way of protecting the mind from being invaded by outside forces, the most popular way of doing so is Legilimency." Harry nodded briskly. "Good you also know I take it that there are multiple ways of performing Legilimency, the most common form in battle is by simply maintaining eye contact. Then you can simply gain some insight into the mind, and therefore the planned actions, of those you are facing. But only the most accomplished of Legilimency can do this in a situation as demanding as that of battle. A less complicated form is by simply using eye contact then you can draw emotions and strong memories from the victim. Possibly the most basic, yet the hardest to throw off, is by use of a spell, Legilimens."

"What?"

"You didn't know about the different forms of Legilimency?"

"I didn't know, but I had guessed," he said quite calmly but his brain was racing, so Snape had been using the strongest form of Legilimency on me. Maybe Ron was right, maybe Snape was softening me up for Voldemort.

"Right then, you know that Occlumency is performed by draining your mind of all emotions and thoughts. It might sound simple but it can be incredibly difficult, that why I suggest that beginners think of something like a plain white wall, and really focus on it. Now I'll give you a minute to clear your thoughts then we'll have a go."

Harry stood back, trying to clear his head, but memories of his lessons with Snape kept intruding. Eventually he gave up on trying to clear his head and conjured up an image in his head of a pure white wall, nothing remarkable about it at all.

"Ready?" Axerton asked, Harry nodded while still trying to think of the white wall and nothing else. "Ok, I'll just try with the eye contact, it should be easiest to throw." Harry looked up into Axerton's hazel eyes. After a second Axerton seemed to waver in front of Harry and slowly other images burst forth.

Harry was running from Snape's office when he felt a jar burst on the back of his head. He was watching as a table in front of the lake was consumed in white flames, for a moment it looked like a Phoenix flew from out of the flames but then it was gone, in it's place stood a solid white tomb. He was jumping between Hermione and a twenty foot high Giant. Through all this Harry could just see the white wall in the back ground, as if it was a low quality Muggle projector showing a movie on the wall. But then he was standing in a cave, there was a weird green light coming from the middle. No you can't watch this, it's a secret, Harry thought desperately, then he heard himself say, "We couldn't…. We couldn't just try a summoning charm?" Dumbledore stopped as the white wall of Harry's resistance grew stronger,

"Certainly we could, why don't you do it."

"Me? Oh… OK. Accio….."

But then the cave disappeared, and Harry was looking at a white wall, which faded to reveal Axerton. With a huge effort Harry pulled his gaze away and looked at the ground.

Then after a second Harry couldn't support his own weight, and he slumped. There was the sound of running footsteps and then he heard Ginny say, "Harry are you alright?"

"Yes, he's fine, it takes a lot of energy to repel someone using only your mind, especially when you've let them get in that far already. You did very well boy, I've never taught anyone who could use just his mind to stop me on their first go. I'll give you a minute or two to catch your breath then we'll have another go."

"No, I'm sorry Axerton, we can't keep going. There are things that I know that you can't find out. Thank you for the lesson, but I've got to go." Harry got to his feat and with out looking at Axerton he walked inside. He heard Ginny running behind him,

"Harry what was that about? It was your idea to have lessons in Occlumency in the first place." Harry didn't answer her. There would be time for explanations later. He walked inside and found Tonks back at the table, obviously having left while Harry was fighting off Axerton.

"Where's Lupin?" He asked her, rather rudely.

"Umm, I think he's upstairs. What's the matter Harry? why aren't you practicing Occlumency?" Harry heard Ginny stop to explain to Tonks the little she knew, But Harry simply charged up the stairs. On the first floor landing he ran into Mr Weasley coming out of his bedroom,

"Which room is Lupin's?"

"Next floor, first on the right. Is there a problem Harry?" Again Harry didn't answer but marched on, When he came to the door that Mr Weasley had directed him to he stopped, calmed himself and knocked.

Harry heard Lupin say, "Give me two seconds." Then he turned around to see Ginny appear on the landing,

"Harry what's going on? Why do you want to talk to Lupin?"

"I'll explain later. What I want you to do is to go and wake up Ron and Hermione, and make sure their ready to go, and get yourself ready too." Ginny looked as though she was about to ask questions but Harry cut her off, "If you want to come with me then just do what I say." She turned and left just as the door behind Harry opened.

"Hello Harry this is very early for a social call, can I do something for you." Lupin, said coming out side wearing a dressing gown.

"Yes, Remus, you know where Godric's Hollow is don't you?"

"Godric's Hollow? I haven't been there for nearly twenty years."

"But you know where it is. You could Apparate me there, couldn't you?"

"Yes, but why would you want to go there? There's nothing there any more from what I've heard."

"It doesn't matter what's there, just suffice it to say I want to go there, today, as soon as possible."

"Alright Harry, just give me a second to get properly dressed." Lupin went back into his room and closed the door. Having no real desire to go down stairs and meet Axerton and have to explain himself, he went upstairs to grab his invisibility cloak.

When he reached the top floor he could distinctly hear Ginny in Ron's room saying, "I don't know Ron. He wouldn't explain it to me. You know how he gets sometimes." Harry ignored them, and walked into his own room and unlocked the right most keyhole of his trunk, grabbed his invisibility cloak and ran downstairs. When he passed Lupin's door he called though it,

"I'll meat you outside Remus." There was a muffled sound of agreement and Harry headed off again. When he reached the first floor landing he put the cloak on and walked quietly downstairs.

"You haven't seen Harry have you?" He heard Axerton saying to Mr Weasley.

"Yes, he was upstairs looking for Remus. Why did you want him?"

"Oh, he's just had an Occlumency lesson, did very well too, but sometimes after being so emotionally beaten up your emotions can run a bit high, you know, maybe do something rash. I better go and check on him." Axerton walked up the stairs and Harry had to flatten himself against the wall not to run into him. Suddenly a new worry occurred to Harry; what happened if Lupin told Axerton about going to Godric's Hollow? Harry still wasn't sure if Axerton could be trusted, so he crept after him.

Axerton met Lupin just coming out of his room, "Ah there you are Remus. Haven't seen Harry have you?"

"I have…" Trusting to the fact that Lupin would be used to seeing people appear from nowhere after his days as a marauder Harry pulled the cloak off his head and shook his head violently. "n't" Lupin added quickly.

"Oh, well if you do see him tell him I'd like to talk to him." And he turned around, only a second after Harry had covered his head again.

When Axerton was out of earshot Lupin asked, "Is there any particular reason your avoiding our Australian friend Harry? I'll admit he has the tact of your average giant, considerably less so than Grawp. But I don't think that that's enough to go to this extent to avoid him."

"I just don't want to have to explain things to him."

"Would you like to explain them to me then?"

"Alright, we were having an Occlumency lesson, and he found a memory of what Dumbledore and I were doing on the night he died."

"Ah, I see. Yes if I remember you are not telling anyone what happened that night, but what does this have to do with going to Godric's Hollow?"

"Nothing, I was always planning on going to Godric's Hollow after my lessons today. Now, I'll meet you outside." So Harry still covered in the invisibility cloak went down the stairs, Lupin not far behind.

Once Harry got outside he threw off his cloak and held out his arm for Lupin,

"Not here, the Anti-Apparition boundary is still up." So together they walked out the gates, once outside the translucent grey wall Lupin held out his arm, "No need to hold too tight, I'm just guiding you." So together they turned and then they were being sucked through the uncomfortable tube. Eventually they appeared at the very edge of a forest,

"Thanks Remus, we can go back now, I just needed someone to guide me here. I'll come back later when I've got some time." Lupin gave Harry a quizzical look, "Remus you must swear to me that you wont tell anyone where you took me today, it might just be the first piece of the puzzle that could lead Death Eaters to me."

"OK Harry if that's what you want. I swear on my life that I will never tell anyone where we went today."

"Thank you."

They arrived back at the Burrow and walked through the gates one at a time. Harry could hear the distinctive sound of Mrs Weasley dissolved in tears in the kitchen. Harry's heart sank, Ginny or Ron must have told her they were leaving, he had been hoping for them to slip away unnoticed by everyone except maybe Lupin. He really didn't want to have to go in there and face Mrs Weasley, and he even thought about using the invisibility cloak to go in and grab his trunk and leave, but he would not be able to indicate to Ron,

Hermione or Ginny what he was doing. He would have to face it like a Gryffindor.

He squared his shoulders and walked through the door, there was a slight pause then Mrs Weasley started bellowing at him, "What is this I hear about you planning on leaving right now? Were you planning on saying goodbye, or even leaving a note?" Harry was shocked. He had never been on the receiving end of one of her rants, but had often seen them administered, mostly to Fred and George. Somehow though it felt nice to know that Mrs Weasley felt that he was family enough to shout herself hoarse at. "I would not have believed it of you Harry. What would have happened if I hadn't heard Ginny telling Hermione to pack her trunk? Would we have just been left to worry? Would you have told anyone? I'm disgusted. In fact I'm strongly tempted to stop you going at all after what you did."

"You can't stop me Mum, I'm of age."

"I can't stop you, can I?" Mrs Weasley almost bellowed, turning to face Ron, "Watch me!" and she pulled out her wand and yelled, "Dissasium. There Planning on walking wherever your going? Because you most certainly aren't going to Apparate." Mrs Weasley's rage was such that it was even spilling into uncharacteristic sarcasm.

"I'm sorry Mrs Weasley I'm going to have to ask you to remove the Anti-Apparition jinx. It goes against the International Statute of Freedom, 'No wizard, witch or Muggle may be kept against there will, using magic or physical restraint, unless there is a strong case for them having broken wizarding law.'" Harry spun round and was shocked to see that Hermione had her wand on Mrs Weasley. He expected Mrs Weasley to bellow at Hermione or even jinx her, but instead she simply sank into a chair, she raised her wand slightly and said,

"Resasioum." Hermione lowered her wand and continued

"Thankyou, Mrs Weasley you must understand that Harry has to go, and we have to go with him." Mrs Weasley nodded.

Harry continued, "Mrs Weasley, I'm sorry, The truth is I wasn't going to say goodbye, because this won't be goodbye. You will see us again. That I promise." Mrs Weasley nodded silently then stood up and hurried forwards. She grabbed Harry so hard around the middle that he thought she might break several ribs.

"Take good care of yourself Harry dear, and take good care of Ron and Ginny and Hermione too."

"I will Mrs Weasley."

"Oh please, call me Molly."

"OK then, I'll take care if them the best care I can, Molly."

"Thankyou." She turned to Ron, Ginny and Hermione and gave them each a hug.

"Be good you three, and do try to stay safe."

"We will Mum. We'll see you again soon, I promise." Ginny said.

"Well then, I suppose you should go."

Harry turned to Ron, Hermione and Ginny, "Are you three ready?"

"Yes" they chorused,

"Good, take your stuff out to the gates, I'll meet you out there."

Two minutes later, after saying good bye to everyone in the kitchen, barring Axerton, individually Harry was levitating his trunk and Hedwig's cage out to the gate.

"What should we do with these?" Ginny asked pointing at the four trunks, Crookshanks' basket, the two owl cages and the small glass box that Arnold the pigmy puff was carried around in.

"Hmmm, I don't know. We don't know where we are going yet," He thought for a moment, "I know! Send them to Grimmauld Place, the master bedroom, no one can go in there except me."

"Good idea." Hermione said as she waved her wand and the luggage disappeared.

"So where are we going mate?" Ron asked, "Godric's Hollow?"

"Yeah."

"But how will we get there? You can't remember anything about the village, can you?"

"Not until this morning. That's where I went. Lupin took me. OK, Hermione you grab one arm and Ron you take the other."

"What about me?" Ginny asked indignantly.

"I only have two arms, and because these two can Apparate already all I have to do is direct them, but it will be harder with you."

"OK, but if your not back in one minute I'll go and tell everyone where your going."

"Ginny, I wont leave you behind."

Harry turned, and felt Hermione and Ron do so on either side of him. Then he was travelling though the tunnel, not dragging the others merely steering them, then a moment later they appeared outside the same forest that Lupin had taken Harry to that morning. Harry let go of Ron and Hermione's arms and Dissapparated back, grabbed Ginny and took her to the forest.

"Is Godric's Hollow in there?" Ron said pointing to the thick dark forest.

"Um, no Ron I think it's out there." Hermione said, Harry and Ron turned around to see where she was pointing and saw to their surprise a several disintegrating huts and houses.

"It looks abandoned." Ron said, "There's no one here, no one!"

"Do you want to look around?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"What else are we going to do?" Ginny said. So they set off, all the while seeing no-one They passed what looked like an abandoned pub, several of the other buildings were burnt out, a creaking sign over one of the doors was just discernable as having once said Police Station.

"Muggles must have lived here too," Harry said.

"Of course they did, don't you ever listen to me? I told you, Hogsmeade is the only entire Muggle free town in Brittan."

"When did you tell us that?" Ron asked.

"In our third year."

"Hermione, do you really expect us to remember everything you said to us from nearly four years ago." Hermione merely sniffed and walked off again. Harry rolled his eyes to Ginny and went after her. They walked for a time in silence. When they walked past a small path that went off through some rather dense trees, Hermione, who was in front, made to walk straight past it, but Harry stopped and called her back,

"Hermione, come back, it's this way." She turned and looked at him confused,

"What's this way?"

"My parents house."

"How do you know?"

Harry thought about it, eventually he realised, "I have no idea, just something's telling me it's this way."

"Alright." So the four of them walked along the grass of the path, with thick trees looming on either side of them. But somehow the feel of the place wasn't like that of the Forbidden Forrest, the air wasn't constricted, and it didn't feal like you were being watched from all sides by thousands of tiny, or not so tiny, eyes.

Eventually they came to a clearing, and Harry knew, before he even saw it, that he had found the house that had been his home for his first year alive. Then suddenly he saw it, a pile of burnt and splintered timber all over the clearing, but mostly concentrated on the centre of the clearing, where the house would have once stood. All that remained of the upright structure was the door frame, it's door was hanging off one hinge and there was a large hole in it, but still there was the tarnished golden keyhole.

Harry simply stared at it for several minutes. His mouth was dry, his heart felt as though it had stopped and without bidding an image came up in his mind.

A tall hooded figure, walked briskly up to the house, he tried the handle, it stuck, he pulled out a wand and brandished it at the door, but that failed too. There was a flash of white light and a large hole was blasted out of the door. Now he put the tip of his wand through the whole, then the door swung neatly open.

Voldemort marched in. There was a cry of "Lily take Harry and go! it's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off- ," from the next room. Voldemort followed the sound of the voice, but as he was about to open the door it swung open of it's own accord. A tall black haired, hazel eyed man was at the door. he fired a curse at Voldemort, but it was deflected into the roof, Voldemort gave a cackle of his high pitched laughter and yelled.

"Avada Kadavra," but James was ready, he leapt sideways, then the wall in beside the door exploded as James sent another curse though it, Voldemort was clearly not ready and he was knocked off his feet, James emerged from the destroyed wall he raised his wand, but Voldemort sent anther killing curse at his knees, this time James wasn't quick enough. He slumped to the ground without a noise.

Voldemort stood up and walked purposefully though the door that James had come from. Behind another door a small baby could be heard crying, Voldemort blasted the door out of his way, and saw a thin red haired woman about to run though the door on the opposite side of the room. Voldemort waved his wand and the door crashed closed in her face. She turned around revealing a bundle of blankets in her arms.

"Give me the boy," She brought the bundle up so it was shielded from him,

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry."

"Stand aside, you silly girl, stand aside now."

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead."

"Enough,"

"Don't kill Harry, please have mercy, have mercy."

"Avada Kadavra" Lily fell, dead, still tying to cover Harry. Voldemort gave his wand a flick and the baby, rose out from under Lily's body, a thin tuft of jet black hair on its head, it's eyes closed as it bawled at the top of it's lungs. "Finally true immortality. Avada Kadavra!" Then it faded, Harry was not sure if what he had just seen play out in his head was some form of vision, or if it was just his imagination working with the knowledge he had collected about that night.

"Um… Harry, why are you staring at that big mound." Harry started. He had completely forgotten about the other three, so absorbed had he been in looking at the ruined house.

"What?"

"Why are you staring at that big mound of earth? Its not that interesting."

"Can't you see it?"

"Um… See what Harry?" Ginny asked, as if worried for his sanity.

"Oh, you can see your house can't you?" Hermione said, with her usual exited tone when she figured something out.

"Well, what's left of it. Can't you see it?"

"No," Ginny answered.

"It must be under the Fidelius Charm." Hermione explained, as though she was shocked she hadn't figured it out sooner.

"What? So, who's secret keeper?" Harry asked.

"Probably you Harry. No one's ever told you where it is have they?"

"No,"

"So you must be secret keeper. Tell us where it is?"

"OK. The ruins of Lily and James Potter's house are…" Harry though about it, there was no street sign, no house number so he just said, "In this clearing." It was obvious that it had worked as Ron, Hermione and Ginny all looked stunned and shocked. But before any of them could say anything a voice came from the trees behind them.

"I thought you would come here."


A/N Hmm my chapters seem to be getting longer. Well I have to say there's some important stuff in this chapter, so read it well. Sorry about the cliffy. It just felt right, and I promise this time the speaker is cannon. What do you think of my Voldemort vs Lily James bit, I liked writing that. Anyway reviews are always welcome. Could I also suggest that you put this on Story Alert, because my updating will be sporadic to say the best, due to the fact that I will want to be concentrating on school work at the mo, Y12 sucks. But do not fear faithful readers I will not give up on this story.

B/N (Beta Note) (Shealtiel) I'm so sorry! It's my fault this took so long! Axerton gave his to me 3 full weeks ago and I'm just lazy! And forgetful! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me dear readers! We actually are on holidays already (we both live in Australia), so that shows you how long this took me to do. So sorry! Blame it all on me, not Axerton!