Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize!

A/N: Thank you a lot for all the reviews! Thanks to The Red Dragon Order for betaing this chapter too!

Chapter Nine

Harry groaned as he came back to consciousness. That had hurt. He sat on the grass, still a bit dizzy, trying to remember what happened. He had just finished his training. He remembered having skipped his classes and trained the whole day. He had headed back to the Headquarters. Then nothing.

He furrowed his brows, trying to find what had happened.

Pain!

He had been in excruciating pain. His scar had been hurting like crazy. He had blacked out a few minutes after that.

Visions of what happened the previous night flashed in his mind. Death Eaters, followed by Dementors irrupting in London, Diagon Alley, killing, blasting everything or everyone they saw., People running, screaming, panic printed on their faces; despair, fear. Fire, screams, cries, blood…. Some tried to escape, only to be killed.

Harry closed his eyes, a lonely tear falling on his cheek. So many deaths, so much pain….. He pushed the visions away, deep in his mind locking them up, with his other personal nightmares.

~ Doing this isn't going to solve your problem, you know. ~

Harry rolled his eyes.

Great, you're a counselor too!

~ Don't laugh at that! I'm serious! ~

For once!

~ Harry…~

It's none of your business what I do with my thoughts.

~ It is when you're doing something which could endanger your health or your sanity. ~

I don't want to talk about it.

~ Alright, but what are you doing when this will happen again? Clearly this guy isn't going to stop and you're going to watch everything. What'll you do when it'll become too much to bear? ~

I don't know…. But what I know is that YOU should keep your nose out of MY business!

~ You need to talk about it to someone! ~

It's my choice, so stay out of it!

~ Alright ~

What time is it?

~ Well, it's time for our little session, if you want to know. ~

Couldn't you let me go of this one?

~ Maybe I would if your soon-to-be partner hadn't been here. ~

Don't tell me you're still on it! I already told you that… What!

~ He's standing behind you. ~

In a few seconds, Harry was on his feet, facing a confused Teneb, leaning on his horse.

Of all the moment possible to see him, he had to find me today !

"Are you alright?" he heard the elf ask him.

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Teneb had woken early, like he always did since he had found about the human nearly two weeks ago. He quickly dressed and went to the stables. In a times and times practiced pattern he readied his horse, petting it lovingly before mounting him and heading for the hill. His stallion had been a gift of his friend, Prince Celen. He had called him Myst, because of its gray coat and deep black mane, tail and stockings on each legs. The horse also had a small white star shaped mark on its forehead. He was of the same breed than Shadow, and looked a bit like the great black stallion, he was only a bit shorter and more slender.

He directed his mount where he knew he would meet the human. He was half-way, when Mystic stopped abruptly.

Startled, he looked around him to see what had made his horse stop like this.

He frowned, there was nothing strange…. Then he looked down.

His eyes widened in surprise.

Harry was sitting in the grass, looking completely dizzy. His attention was caught by his forehead. He could see dry blood around his scar. He saw him frown, wince and tense. Then he opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, knowing the moment the words left his lips that it was a stupid question…

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Harry sighed.

He was probably doing that on purpose.

"Do I look alright?"

"Not really…. Why have you dry blood on your forehead?"

"What?!"

"Why have you…?"

"I understood that part, thank you!"

He raised his had and touched his scar lightly, wincing a bit when his hand came in contact with it.

Great! And Teneb had to show up at this precise moment.

"Care to explain?" asked the young elf, dismounting his stallion.

"Not really, it has nothing to do with you…," replied Harry, "Just with my past," he added in a whisper.

Apparently the elf heard him, as he raised his eyebrows, but for once, and Harry was grateful for that, he didn't press him to explain.

Harry stood up and looked around. He put a hand in one of his trousers' pockets and pulled out a small whistle, carved in wood.

"Be ready to go," he said to Teneb.

Seconds later two sharp whistles could be heard, and minutes later Shadow arrived. He didn't stop and Harry jumped on his back as he passed near him.

They galloped towards the hill, Teneb on their tail, as it had taken the young elf a few seconds to register what had just happened.

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They arrived at their usual spot a few minutes later. Once there, they silently climbed out of their horses and Teneb took off his stallion's equipment.

Before he could try to contact his guardian, Harry spoke up.

"My guardian wants me to talk to you about something. In fact, I think he already talk with your guardian about it."

Teneb look at him a bit surprised, generally, Harry barely acknowledged him, much less spoke to him.

"Yes, and…?"

"To sum up, he thinks that I should practice against a real opponent, meaning you."

This time, Teneb was shocked, but immediately, he started to weight the pros and the cons.

"You're not obliged to accept." Added Harry.

Teneb was still thinking, training with Harry could only help him to improve ; he had to admit that the human was great and could teach him a lot. Moreover a few well chosen words from his guardian achieve to convince him.
"Alright."

Harry looked up at him, a bit surprised by his quick agreement.

"You sure?"

"When do we begin?"

Harry smirked, alright, if he wants to have it this way…..

"Now." He summoned his sword and other weapons, making them appear near him. Picking up his sword, he raised, before bowing, imitated by Teneb.

They faced each-other for a few minutes then Teneb lunged at Harry who parried his blow easily, retaliating immediately.

After half an hour, during which Teneb found himself more often on his back than standing.

Out of the blue, Harry stopped and sheathed his sword.

"Alright, this isn't going anyway."

"What's the problem?"

"Just an advice, if you have to fight one day, don't use your sword, you'd be killed in a few minutes…"

"Why?" asked Teneb a bit curtly. He was proud of his fighting skills and was often praised about them.

"Well, you know how to fight, the stance, the tricks, the ways, but you have a little default that could mean your death in a fight… You're to readable, too predictable. I know your move at least five seconds before you do it."

"How is this possible?" Teneb was stunned by this. His teachers never said anything about that…

"Easy, before attacking, you fix the spot where you'll put your attack. If you're going to attack on your right, you put all your weight on your left side, just before delivering your blow and the opposite if you attack on the left. You furrow your eyebrows before attacking too. Moreover you're doing unnecessary moves, like jumps, turns… You only tire yourself."

"And you're an expert?" said sarcastically Teneb.

"It's only an advice, but that's what my guardian taught me: always keep your opponent in the doubt. And when you fight, you seem to plaster your intentions on your body. But you can do whatever you want…"

At this, Teneb was torn between two feelings: one being pride, he didn't like the tone Harry took while talking to him; the second being his thirst for improvement, his desire to best his abilities.

He sighed.

"Alright! But what could I do, I was taught to fight that way!"

"Well, if I want someone to practice with, we'll definitively have to correct this default of yours…."

"I understood that, but what about the other forms of combat?"

Harry smirked at him.

"We're going to find out how much you have to learn…"

An hour and a half later, Teneb fell on the floor, completely worn out.

"I'm dead…"

"Why are you still talking then?"

Teneb glared at Harry

"That was an image."

"Really?"

Tened only glared more.

"You're loving it?"

"What?"

"Annoying me."

"Me? How could you think me capable of doing such a thing?" replied Harry, batting his eyelashes, faking innocence, his voice filled with sarcasm. "Besides doing it is so easy that it would be a crime to miss the opportunity," he added.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Well I'm done with you for today, I've seen on what you have to work so that I've someone with whom I'll be able to practice."

Teneb looked up at him.

"What about archery?"

"I think you should rest, classes start in an hour." Said Harry.

Teneb raised an eyebrow.

"Why do I have the feeling that you're eluding my question?"

Harry looked coldly at him.

"Think whatever you want."

With that, he approached Shadow and jumped on the stallion, speeding towards the headquarters.

Teneb watched him galloping away, making an assessment of today's session.

Pros: Now he'd trained with the human, something which could only make him improve, since the human was, even if it disturbed him to say it, better than most of his teachers.

Cons: He still hadn't any answer to his questions: Why was his scar bleeding? How did he get this scar? How could he be that powerful? How did he get his necklace? How did he managed to find his guardian without anybody's help? What form did his guardian have? What was this necklace he was always wearing?…. And now, why didn't he want to practice on archery?

He shook his head before mounting Myst.

He hurried to prepared for his first class. After Harry's outburst in Effilin's class and his absence from all his lessons the day before it was promising to be interesting…. Unknown to him, Harry was thinking exactly the same thing.

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He wasn't disappointed.

Harry sighed mentally.

Now I'm sure they're making a contest: one point per insult, reprimands, snide comments, five points per punishment or any sanction possible…

Effilin's class had been more horrible than usual, and that was something. Apparently the elf hadn't appreciated in the slightest to see Harry openly disobeying to him.

After having him running around the room for half the class, seeing it wasn't tiring him, he used him as his 'assistant', meaning his punching-ball and lackey for the rest of the class.

To his disappointment, Harry hadn't complained or showed any pain at this treatment, and he couldn't really do worse than that…

Edevia's lessons….

There had been a reason behind Harry's refusal of practicing archery with Teneb. He knew that the elf was way better than him. Archery was one of his weakest point. He wasn't really bad, just average.

Sword-fighting came naturally to him, when he was holding his sword, he was in tune with it, seeing it as an expansion of his arm. Hand-to-hand combat was easy for him too, as he had set up his own style, adapted to his skills: agility, speed; and he wasn't quite bad with knives.

He hadn't had a lot of problems with magic. The copying he did in Nerthor's and Sarwin's class finally found a use. Dueling was his strong point. He could do it with or without his wand as he continued to practice with it, knowing his wandless abilities would have to remain secret when he'll come back to Hogwarts. He was good at manipulating his element too. Mind magic had been difficult for him to learn, but with training he had reached a good level. He had very strong mental defenses, could read minds or dreams if he entered a trance, had a fairly good empathy and telepathy and if need arise could do some telekinesis. But the last one was particularly draining. Healing magic wasn't his forte, he could heal minors wounds like bruises, mild cuts, dislocated members, simple fractures, but any serious injuries was beyond his ability. His animagus training was progressing quite well, even if he still didn't know his form..

But archery… He could use a bow if necessary, but in a battle he would avoid it at all costs. It felt weird to use this weapon, and he would never hit near the center. For him, archery would always be a bothering necessity.

He had to admit that the bow he got from the dwarfs made it easier for him.

Anyway if he wanted to hit a far away target, he would throw a fireball, some flames, his aim would be more accurate…

So, in Edevia's lesson, he didn't have to fake his uneasiness. And this time, she had decided to put him through Hell.

Once the lesson was over, he dragged himself to the common room for his lunch.

But apparently the teachers had had other plans for him.

As he seated himself, he saw his favorite teachers heading towards him.

Great, the whole Harry-torture group!

Effilin, Edevia, Sarwin, Nerthor and Lienhior approached him, with a satisfied gleam in their eyes.

Uh oh, trouble's coming…

~ I wonder what they come up with. ~

What are you doing here? Enjoy the show?

~ No, just curiosity. ~

Great, in front crazy and human haters, in my head crazy and lunatic guardian. I'm doomed!

~ Took you long enough to notice this. ~

"Human, we met to deal with your behavior yesterday and came up with a right punishment." Said Sarwin.

Effilin threw him a piece of garment.

"You're expected in the kitchen. Now." he barked.

Nerthor smirked.

"You'll work there for three days, and Istyan has been warned about you."

Harry was starring at the masters in shock.

I don't know if it's bad or good news.

~ Knowing them, I would say bad. ~

Yes, but at least I'm lesson-free for three days.

But as Harry found out, it was a mere compensation against what he was told to do.

As he went to the hill this evening, he was fuming. Once he was there, he dismounted Shadow, and started pacing.

A servant! They made me a servant!!!

~ Breath Harry, breath. In, out, in, out… ~

I WON'T calm down. These… These stupid brainless idiots made a slave for three days!

~ Then, training will calm you, now run! ~

I…

~ RUN! ~

Harry complied without arguing for once.

He trained longer than usual, and this time, Teneb didn't join him, something he was grateful for, as he would have probably fried the first elf he saw on the spot. Once he was done, he sat on the ground, panting, feeling drained, but now calmer. He knew Teneb would improve quickly. He couldn't deny that he was skilled, so he'd have to take him to Terio, he will need to find his weapons. He had argued other this with Arxeren, who had been the one to mention it, but in the end, he had lost.

He took his necklace in his hand, closing his hand on it.

As always it had a calming effect on him.

I'm not alone

This thought contributed to finish to appease him.

He called Shadow and petted the stallion. He had come to the point where he considered the fierce animal as a friend.

He mounted the horse and headed for the headquarters.

Before slipping in his bed, he left a note for Teneb, then fell in a welcomed sleep.

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Teneb stared at the ceiling. He had waited for Harry to come back, deciding against joining him for training. He had seen him at the end of classes and he looked murderous. Teneb had judged that it would be safer for him not to approach him until he cooled off, as Elf, Magis or Elementals must not have been on the friend list of the human, not that he had them already in great esteem to begin with.

He was quite confused by his teachers' behavior: once Garth had skipped a whole day, and they hadn't said anything after, even to ask for explanations… Why did they act this way towards the human?

He heard someone dropped something on his bedside and made a mental note to look at it first thing in the morning.

When he woke up, he saw a small note and quickly snatched it. He produced a small light, as everyone was still asleep…

There won't be morning session for the following three days. You can come, in the evening, around 9 PM, same place.

Teneb looked a bit confused at the message, then shrugged, why not?

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The next day was a day of pure torture for Harry. Everyone there took advantage of the situation, and once it was nearly over, Harry was on the edge of explosion. Between, the ridiculous outfit he had been forced to wear, the taunts and being ordered around for the day, he had reached his limits. Garth's group had particularly been happy with this situation.

He sat down on the far end of the Daryns' table and started to ate his meal, which was nearly cold, as he had to served everyone before being able to eat.

Demenor hadn't even looked at him once during the meal. Some mentor he was!

He has completely forgotten about me

Harry was quite saddened by this thought. He missed having someone to talk to. Dumbledore had assumed this role, and against everything, he had always hoped that the leader would remember him and help him one day…

The teachers must have told him some story because he didn't question Harry's clothes or behavior. Finally, once dinner was over, he stood up and clapped his hands a few times, to attract attention.

"Daryns? May I have your attention please?"

Silence fell on the room.

"You have been here for nearly ten months. So at the end of this week, the presentation will take place. Listen carefully to what your teachers will say, as they will prepare you for this ceremony."

Arxeren?

~ I'll explain tonight, oh and we'll try to access the Soul plan too. ~

Really?

~ Yes ~

There was a small silence, then:

Thank you, for everything.

Arxeren didn't answer, there was nothing to say…

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"Dodge! Parry, lunge!"

Clang!

"Your feet!"

Clang!

"You're too open!"

Clang, clang, Skkkkrrrriech.

"Your eyes, stop looking at your aim! Stop exposing your arm."

Clang… BAM!

"Don't let yourself be distracted by your opponent." Said Harry, summoning the elf's sword to him and handing it to him.

Teneb was panting, his hands on his knee, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm going to teach you a basic sequence, like the one I'm practicing, only more simple. Look."

He executed a series of moves.

"Got it? Follow me, sword up, slash, parry, push, drop, sweep….."

For a few minutes, he explained the sequence then watch Teneb execute it, correcting him with curt words, then making him accelerate.

"Alright, I'm going to attack, and you'll retaliate with this series, understand?"

"Ok," said the elf, a bit forcefully as he had trouble catching his breath.

"Good, in position, ready, go." He lunged at Teneb who replied by the movements he had just learned.

"Well done." Admitted Harry once it was done. "Enough for tonight, I'm going to present you to someone."

Teneb looked at him quizzically.

"Who?"

"Terio."

"And who is Terio?"

"A dwarf."

"A dwarf!"

"We have a winner!"

"But,… there hasn't been a dwarf here for decades!"

"And? Where do you think I got my weapons?"

"Well…. Alright! But why are we going to see him?"

"For your weapons."

"What's wrong with them?"

"Terio will tell you what's wrong better than me." Harry replied sharply.

Teneb kept silent. He knew that when Harry used this tone, it was useless to try to get a straight answer.

They walked for ten minutes. Then Harry stopped and kneeled. He put a hand on the grass and muttered a few words Terio had taught him before leaving.

The entrance to the dwarves' caves opened before Teneb's unbelieving eyes.

Harry stepped in and motioned for Teneb to follow.

They walked in silence to a gigantic cave. Once there, Harry look around and stopped a dwarf passing by.

"Sorry, but where could I find Terio?"

The dwarf looked closely at him.

"I'll go and fetch him. Wait here."

Harry thanked him and went back to Teneb.

A few minutes later, the dwarf came back with Terio.

"Harry! It's good to see you again."

"You too Terio."

They chatted for awhile.

Harry had come back a few times to see the dwarf and have him check over his weapons.

"Why are you here anyway?"

"Well, I'm training with him there," he pointed to Teneb who was looking around him, a bit lost.

"An elf?" said Terio, a bit harshly.

"Yes, but he can be tolerable. Anyway, I don't have a lot of choice in this matter, my trainer order me to find a partner to work with, and he's the only one who found out about me…"

"He can be trusted?"

"I don't know. I'm not that fond of elves, but he's ok I think."

"Does he have a background in weapon crafting? Or is he as clueless as you were when I first saw you?"

"Hey! I wasn't that bad! And I'm taking great care of mine"

"That's right, you've been a good student."

"Thank you, but to answer you're question, I don't know."

"Alright, Leave him here, I'm going to see how much he knows, then I'll take the matter in my hands."

"Thanks a lot, I'll come back in three hours."

"See you then."

They approached Teneb.

"Teneb, this is Terio, he's going to show you around."

Terio started immediately to question the young elf.

Harry used this moment to disappear and went outside.

~ Alright, now, that your little companion isn't here, I'll explain about the presentation, then we'll try to reach the plan. ~

Sounds good.

~ Well, the presentation takes place ten months after the beginning of the training and two months before the binding. During this ceremony, the Daryns are presented to the dragons, explained the duties of a rider… It's mostly to allowed the dragons to have a look at the future riders. There is a special outfit for it, I'll show you, as I'm not sure that your beloved teachers will give it to you. ~

Probably not. Is there a special pattern for the ceremony?

~ Yes, listen… ~

For half an hour, he explained how the ceremony took place.

Alright, I think I've got it.

~ Goo, now what about our second task… You're ready? ~

As ready as I'll ever be.

~ In that case, go ahead ~

Harry let himself fall in an heavy trance after sitting in the grass.

He reached the first plan and saw Arxeren.

When he was talking mentally, he wasn't entering the plan, just using the link he shared with his guardian. Once you had found your guardian, you didn't have to go to the spirit plan to talk to him, except if you wanted to see him…

~ Good, you're getting better at it. ~

"Thank you"

It had always surprised Harry to be able to speak normally in the plan and not mentally.

~ Now, concentrate, and do as we practiced. I'll be with you. ~

Harry focused on himself and on the structure of the plan.

To pass to the second plan, he had to pierce the structure of the first one.

Energy, only energy matters.

Chanting this like a mantra, he focused harder.

Little by little the familiar surroundings of the plan started to fade and dissolve into lightness. Harry had soon learned that he could controlled what the plan looked like, well, as soon as he was concentrated. He had finally settled for a nice glade. But soon, there was nothing but light. He concentrated all his will on the light and soon could make out the flows of energy in it.

Now the tricky part was coming. He had to tune himself to this energy. He approached one of the flows and slowly approached his hand. He felt a mild shock when his palm entered in contact with this pure energy. Slowly, he started to channel his own energy and power out. He saw a gold thread exit his hand and join the flow. But he didn't break the connection. He focused on it and willed it to open to the plan's energy. Slowly, the golden color faded a little, while the silver-white taint of the flows, took a few golden sparks. Finally he knew it, he could feel the energy humming under his hand. He channeled in his power and removed his hand. Slowly, he dropped his concentration and the plan get back in its usual form.

Arxeren was still there, but this time he was smiling.

~ Good Harry, Well done, but it took you long! ~

Harry ignore him and smiled.

~ Ready? ~

Yes

~ Then, climb on me, if you've done your job right, we'll be able to pass… ~

Aren't you a spirit?

~ In this plan we have forms, and I have to point out that you are also a spirit here! ~

He didn't have to repeat this twice. Harry immediately jumped on him, even if he was still quite intimidated by having to mount the mighty animal…

Then the dragon took flight to the Soul plan.

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Once again, thank you all for reviewing.

I'll put individual thank you notes later on, because right now, I don't really have the time, and I think that you'll prefer to have the chapter first….

I have change jerxos into Daryn. Somebody pointed to me that the former term, jerxos, was close to the word "jerk" so I change it.

I'm going to fix it in the other chapters as soon as I can, because, right now, I'm supposed to study for my philosophy test for tomorrow…

Well, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Naia

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