Author's Note: Okay, this chapter still isn't quite as polished as I would like it to be, but I didn't want to make you wait any longer. More notes at the bottom.

Chapter X – The Vow

The opportunity to speak with Sirius about the Order came on Sunday morning when I woke in the Room of Requirement to find that Sirius had joined me during the night. He looked like he'd just woken up and was brushing his teeth at a basin near his bed.

"Good morning, Sirius," I sighed, stretching my sleepy muscles and then stifling a yawn as I sat up.

"Morning, Beautiful," he grinned around his toothbrush, then leaned over the basin and spat before wiping his mouth and vanishing all of it.

"You're a pure blood, Sirius," I noted curiously, "Why do brush your teeth like a muggle?"

"A habit that Lily got us into," Sirius laughed, slouching over to one of the armchairs and sprawling himself across it. "I don't always do it, but she was actually right. I does leave your mouth tasting better than a cleansing charm. You ever tried it?"

"My father was a muggle," I rolled my eyes. "Of course I've tried it."

"You never know with you half-bloods," he shrugged. "Could go either way. I bet Snivellus never brushes his teeth the muggle way, does he?"

"Do you really want me to knock you on your arse this early in the morning?" I frowned at Sirius.

He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Fine. Severus then. I really don't know what you see in that… Well, in him."

"And I imagine you never will," I said mildly ignoring the obvious insinuation in his words. I'd told him before that Severus and I were merely friends. There seemed no point in continually stressing it to the thick-headed Gryffindor. "I'm actually glad that I've got you here," I admitted.

His face split in a wide grin, "Finally come to your senses, have you?"

I narrowed my eyes but otherwise ignored the remark. "I wanted to talk to you about something, but I won't until I can believe that you'll take it seriously."

The grin slipped off his face as he studied me. "All right," he finally nodded.

"You're no doubt aware of the situation brewing with the Dark Lord and his followers," I began.

His eyes darkened at the mention of it. "Is this about my brother?" There was the warning of violence in his tone.

"This is about you," I corrected. "It's about everyone who opposes the would-be despot."

"Go on," he prompted quietly.

"The headmaster is forming a group of skilled witches and wizards to oppose Voldemort."

He flinched slightly at the name but otherwise maintained his composure. "What kind of group?"

"It is called the Order of the Phoenix," I admitted. "It will consist largely of older witches and wizards, aurors, ministry officials, muggleborns… Anyone willing to fight. He would like you to join. You and James and Remus."

"Not Peter?" he asked after a moment.

"Not Peter," I said severely. "We both know that simpering rat doesn't have the stones for something like this, however much he manages to stroke your egos by following you around like a loyal puppy. This is not a game, Sirius. Lives are at stake."

"You've already joined then?" he assumed.

I nodded.

"What do we have to do?"

"For now, we'll be given special training. Not much else. After we graduate, we'll join the war in truth, when we're better prepared for it. Dumbledore won't ask more of us than we can handle." I hated it that that last bit felt like a lie, but I didn't want to scare Sirius. At this point in his life, I was pretty sure he'd never have had to deal with real life and death. "You'll be expected to keep everything about the Order with the utmost secrecy."

He now looked as grave as I had ever seen him at this age. "I've never even thought about taking sides against the Dark Lord," he said quietly.

"By the time we graduate, we may not have much more choice than which side we pick," I said softly. "I know that you don't want to become a Death Eater. Joining the Order now will see you better prepared. We'll be taught spells that have never been a part of the Hogwarts curriculum. Think of it as having an extra, advanced Defense class. The chance to really make something of all that power you have."

When he didn't say anything for a couple minutes, I stood and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Think about it, Sirius. Let me know when you decide, but do not speak of it to anyone else."

He nodded vaguely and I left him to his thoughts.

~.~.{o}.~.~

The rest of the weekend passed quickly. I decided not to broach the subject with James or Remus until Sirius gave me an answer, and Regulus proved difficult to pin down. I never seemed able to find him alone. I had plenty of opportunities to talk to Severus, but that, I could admit, I was simply putting off. I wasn't entirely sure why, but I had a bad feeling about how he was going to take it.

I spent the weekend working on homework with Severus. I hadn't told him the extent of my difficulties, but we had too many classes together for him to have not noticed that my magic did not seem to have properly recovered after my "illness". He devoted a lot of his time to practicing spells with me that had not long ago come to me with ease. He never outright mentioned my difficulty with magic, but I knew he was aware of how much it bothered me. More than once I'd had tears in my eyes after repeated failures.

Working with Severus seemed to help. For some reason, he helped me to stay more relaxed when I would otherwise have been untenably frustrated. I still made a habit of my solitary nightly practices just because I didn't want to try the more difficult spells in his presence. Probably, I should have given him more credit, but I wasn't good at showing weakness in general, not only because it was dangerous. It was hard enough to let him see me struggle on the easy stuff. I didn't think I could handle his watching me fail.

Professor McGonagall, I gathered, was privy to some of my difficulties considering how understanding she was when I struggled in class. The rest of my professors seemed between concerned and disappointed in my suddenly falling skills even though my book work was always perfect.

Professor Moody was the only one to actually talk to me about it, but seeing as he tutored me one on one, there really wasn't any chance of pretending like it wasn't obvious. I still couldn't believe how that conversation had worked out.

On the morning of October 17th, I sequestered myself in the library after breakfast, surrounded by books with little chance of having any real insight into the problem of my magic. My mind soon began to wander away from the unhelpful text opened in front of me, and I found myself thinking about the Order. I knew that I should recruit Frank and Alice, but I was afraid of being responsible for them being tortured until their minds broke. I probably should have had the same reservations about James and Sirius but I couldn't help but feeling that they were a vital part of the war. Besides, their temperaments virtually guaranteed that they would join in the near future with or without my influence. I just had to make certain that Peter couldn't betray them this time.

I was shaken from my thoughts by the gentle scrape of a chair. I started, hand automatically going to my wand before I realized that it was Dumbledore that had snuck up on me. I exhaled heavily as I willed my suddenly racing heart to slow.

He merely looked interested by my reaction.

"Did you need something, sir?" I inquired as calmly as I could, closing my book and sitting up straighter in my chair as I addressed the headmaster where he sat across the table.

There was a pressure on my ears as he silently and wandlessly warded the area against eavesdroppers. I watched him curiously as he reached into one of those deep pockets and removed a small book with a soft leather binding. He placed it on top of the book I'd just closed.

I opened it curiously and found that it was entirely blank. "A journal?" I asked uncertainly. Did he want me to document something?

"A very special journal," he twinkled. "I've enchanted it for your particular use." He then produced what appeared to be an exact replica, but he held onto that one. "If I wish to converse with you," he explained, "I need only write my thoughts in here, and they will appear in yours. The reverse is also true. May I have your hand for a moment?"

Watching him warily, I extended my hand toward him over the table.

He drew his wand and pointed it at the tip of my index finger. There was no uttered word to warn me before the severing charm sliced into my finger. I bit off a curse and tried not to flinch as he turned my hand and pressed my bleeding finger to the cover of my journal and then his. He muttered a quick enchantment too quiet for me to make out, and waved his wand over the journals. The blood seemed to soak right into the leather. He was then nice enough to heal my finger for me.

I wanted to snap at him for not at least warning me of his intention, but I suspected that it had been another test to watch my reaction. With that in mind, I tried to give as little as possible.

"There," he smiled with satisfaction. "Now they will recognize only you and me. No one else may use these for any reason. When I send you a new message, you will be aware of it by a ringing in your ears." He opened his journal and tapped his wand against a blank page before closing it again.

Almost instantly, my ears began to ring. It wasn't painful or loud enough that I couldn't hear someone talking at regular volume, but it was unmistakable. I opened my journal to a random page and the ringing instantly stopped when I found his message there.

-The ringing will be constant until you open the journal, so I would advise that you keep it with you at all times.-

"I'll keep that in mind," I agreed.

"You can write in it with a spell as I did or with quill and ink, as I suspect will be easier for you at present."

I nodded my agreement.

"Your message is sent as soon as you close the book," he continued to explain. "Should you change your mind about what you meant to send, simply vanish it or cross it out before closing it. Either will prevent it from being sent to me."

"Thank you, sir," I said finally. "If I may ask though, why would you want me to have this method of communicating with you?"

"After our last conversation, Miss Wilkins, I have seen the wisdom in keeping your counsel."

Something in the glint of his eyes suggested that he would much rather simply probe my mind until he'd uncovered every dirty secret of the next twenty years so that he could use them at his leisure. I was glad that he'd chosen an alternative method, and reminded myself to be even more careful around him than I already was.

"As it would be both difficult and untoward for you to be visiting my office too frequently, I think that this will be an agreeable alternative," he continued, apparently oblivious to my suspicions. "Please do try to read the messages quickly. Some may not require an immediate response, but others may."

"I understand, sir," I nodded. "I just hope that you understand that I may not be able to answer all of your questions in the manner you would prefer."

"Of course," he said benignly. "As you are the only one privy to your knowledge, you are the only one who can decide what is safe to share. I trust your judgment."

There was a subtle warning beneath that, I thought. I would only be able to push him so far before he decided to take what he wanted. "Yes, sir," I responded gravely to what he hadn't said.

His smile was deceptively kind as he stood and the silence spell around us vanished. "Good day, Miss Wilkins."

I watched him leave, feeling colder than the temperature warranted. I'd long understood that Dumbledore was not a man to be trifled with. He approached everything in life like a massive game of chess, preparing his moves years ahead of actual events. I was beginning to realize, however, that I was just starting to understand the lengths to which this man would go in order to win.

Wariness did not even begin to cover what I needed to be practicing around him. Despite the fact that I still firmly believed that we were both on the side of the Greater Good, that in no way indicated that we should share an opinion on how to reach those ends. If he decided to take what he wanted from me, I held no illusions about being anything but helpless to resist.

I needed to be treating the man as I'd treat a Death Eater – or maybe even Voldemort himself. Incredible power and intelligence combined with a vast sea of knowledge made Albus Dumbledore a man that scared the living shit out of me. I could believe that Voldemort would fear him as well.

I was going to need help, I realized as I settled myself at my work station in the potions lab. I needed to better my skill in Occlumency, but that meant that someone was going to have to look into my mind to teach me how to block properly. There was one person that I might be able to trust with that, assuming that he actually knew how to use Legilimency at his point, but I couldn't do that to Severus. It was too dangerous. Even if I was ready for him to know that I was from the future, far too many of my memories involved him. There was no way that I could let him see the man he could become. Not when I was trying so hard to make sure that that never happened.

That left me with only one hope. I recalled the conversation I'd had with Professor Moody that had changed so much.

"Albus explained to me a bit about your situation," he said on my first day back at the beginning of October.

I kept my face blank. I knew that Dumbledore wouldn't have said anything about my time traveling, so I was assuming that he'd merely passed on that I was having difficulties with my magic. "It's a temporary problem," I said, trying not to sound defensive. I wasn't entirely certain that he wouldn't lose interest in tutoring me if I couldn't cast properly. He seemed like a decent person to me, but he'd made it clear that he was training me in hopes that I would become an auror.

"That's what Albus said," he agreed. "He also said that it could be some time before your magic righted itself."

"I'll understand if you don't wish to teach me anymore," I offered neutrally. "I already know enough for my NEWTs, and I can practice independently if I feel the need when-"

"Miss Wilkins," he interrupted. "I am not going to stop teaching you just because you've suffered a setback."

I struggled to keep my expression neutral. "Well, this is a bit more than a 'setback', sir. I'm not sure what you can teach me if I'm not able to perform the spells…"

He looked pensive for a moment, then flicked his wand toward the door with a nonverbal silencing charm.

I felt my brow lift curiously.

He stared at me thoughtfully. "Can you keep a secret?" he asked intently.

"Yes, sir," I replied at once. Actually, it had rather become my forte.

"From Albus?" he pressed, still staring at me with an intentness that convinced me he was carefully evaluating my expressions.

I tried not to react to that, but I'm sure my eyes narrowed a bit. I was intrigued by his suggestion, but also wary of the fact that Dumbledore may have put him up to this because he didn't fully trust me. If I agreed to keep something from the headmaster, it may simply be proving to him that I couldn't be trusted. Then again, I could always simply say that I'd lied in order to discover what he wished kept secret. I'd have to judge after hearing what he had to say.

"I believe that I could, yes," I said cautiously without actually stating that I would keep anything from him.

His face was perfectly unreadable as he spoke, "Has Albus recruited you?"

I'd been prepared for just about anything, so I'm pretty sure that my face gave away nothing. I considered my response for a moment. I was inclined to trust this man because of Mad-Eye, but I needed to remember to be careful. Blood relation was not reason enough to trust Professor Moody.

After a long moment, I decided that I could be as blunt as he could. "May I see your left arm, sir?"

His eyes widened just slightly, but after a moment, he rolled back his sleeve to show me smooth, unmarked flesh on the inside of his left wrist.

I withheld my sigh of relief.

"Has Albus recruited you?" he asked again.

"I'd be pretty confused about the question if he hadn't," I answered smoothly.

"I imagine you would," he agreed.

"I take it that he's recruited you as well?"

He nodded, "Can't say that I agree with him about involving students. What happened to you last month, that wasn't… Albus wasn't involved in any way, was he?"

I shook my head.

He looked a little relieved. "I suspected that he may recruit you as soon as he spoke to me about joining," he admitted, finally seeming to relax a bit as he leaned against his desk. "The fact that you've essentially been training for this your whole life makes you an obvious choice."

"And an easy sell," I added objectively.

He didn't dispute it. "I'd really rather you waited until after graduation and became a proper auror," he confessed, "but I can understand your choice. I just want to make sure that you're as prepared as you can be," he explained.

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask.

He smiled faintly, "Honestly? Because I like you. You're a good kid who's had a bad run of luck. You're resilient, hardworking, and intelligent. You're also shrewd and careful. As much as I admire your potential, I fear how Albus will employ those skills, particularly considering…" His eyes darted up and down my body. "Well, from a strictly practical standpoint, your dueling skill is the least of your potential."

I nodded my understanding.

"Let Albus think we're still working on Defense," he suggested. "For the moment, there are other things I could teach you."

"Such as?"

"Cunning, deception, and manipulation. The trademarks of every good Slytherin, Miss Wilkins. No doubt you've some talent already to be in that house, but I could help you to hone that talent into a truly deadly weapon."

I was thoroughly intrigued by the proposition, if a bit intimidated. "You were a Slytherin?" I probed. For some reason, I'd always assumed that he'd been a Gryffindor. A rather large percentage of aurors came from that house considering that bravery was rather a necessity.

He nodded. "My family has always been split fairly evenly between Gryffindor and Slytherin. My son, for example, was Gryffindor, but my grandson was Slytherin."

I wanted to ask his grandson's name, but I refrained as I would have an interesting time explaining that curiosity.

And so I'd found myself spending the hour before dinner each day learning more effective methods of lying and manipulation. While the Gryffindor in me disliked it, I was actually rather good at it. The fact that I'd been lying through my teeth to virtually everyone I'd met in the last four months had likely helped.

Much had changed between Moody and myself over the last two weeks. He was no longer just my professor. He was much more like a friend. Conspiring to keep secrets from one of the greatest wizards alive had a way of eclipsing the student-teacher formality. If there was one person other than Severus with whom I could see myself sharing my most guarded secrets, it had to be him.

When my potion turned banana yellow and started to smoke heavily, I motioned to Severus and he vanished it, his eyes concerned. "Long morning," I said quietly, apologizing quickly to Slughorn before asking him if I could make it up on my own time. It wasn't that difficult of a potion and Severus and I had gone over it yesterday. If I'd been paying any attention, it wouldn't have been a problem at all. Slughorn agreed that I could use the lab after dinner and I breathed a little easier. I really needed to confine my brooding to times when I wasn't in a position to blow anything up.

"What happened this morning?" Severus asked quietly as we left the potions lab.

I had just opened my mouth to answer with an obscure lie when Sirius sidled up to me and threw his arm around my shoulder. He knew better than to touch me, and we never interacted amicably outside the Room of Requirement, so I was just about to snap at him for taking such liberties when he squeezed my shoulder gently.

"Let's find a shady corner, love," he drawled, but I got the message.

With an annoyed sigh for his lack of discretion, I turned an apologetic eye to Severus. "I'll catch up with you."

He looked between Sirius and me with something like disbelief in his eyes, then just shook his head and picked up his pace, his long legs eating up the corridor much more quickly than my usual stride.

I let Sirius lead me into an unpopulated corridor before violently shrugging out of his hold. "What is wrong with you?" I hissed angrily. "Our whole bloody class likely thinks we snuck off to snog!"

He waggled his brow as though he either hoped they thought that or hoped they were right.

"Sirius," I warned quietly.

He heaved a put-upon sigh and leaned against the wall in one of his typical unaffected stances. He was the only man I knew who could seem to lounge while standing up. "I'm in," he frowned.

I calmed down at finding that my assumption of the topic was correct. "Good," I nodded. "I'll pass it on. You'll be contacted when we're ready to begin the extra lessons. Until then, you speak of this to no one except James and Remus."

He frowned curiously at that last.

I sighed, "Dumbledore wants them to join as well, Sirius."

"Why don't you talk to them like you did me?" he reasoned.

"Because James would like nothing better than to hex me on sight and I don't know Remus." I didn't add the "obviously" that my tone implied.

"Oh, right," he frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I don't want to tell them," he said plaintively after a moment to consider it. "They'll think I'm barmy, talking about some super-secret organization rising to fight against the Dark Lord."

"Are they your friends or not, Sirius?" I demanded.

"Well, yeah, but no one ever takes me seriously."

Ah, the irony… "I'm sure you'll figure something out," I said unsympathetically. With everything I had on my mind at the moment, it was difficult to feel for Sirius' plight with his friends. I turned and left him quickly, hoping that he wouldn't try to walk with me to Herbology.

~.~.{o}.~.~

My mind was still spinning with the incident in the library when I entered the Defense classroom that evening. I waited until the professor had warded the room for silence, as had become our usual practice now, then spoke before he could. "Did you truly mean it when you said that you wanted to help keep me safe?"

His brow rose at my abrupt question. "I did," he nodded, watching me warily.

"I need to learn Occlumency," I confessed.

"Has Albus done something, Hermione?" he asked quietly.

"Not yet," I frowned, refusing to allow myself to pace as I wished. He would disapprove of the blatant display of unease. "I have, however, gotten the definite sense that he hasn't ruled it out."

"He believes you're hiding something," he gathered.

"He knows that I'm hiding something," I corrected. "Thus far, he seems convinced that I'll tell him what he needs to know, but I don't know how much longer his patience will last. I feel like I'm one evasion away from him taking everyone he wants to know."

He considered for a moment. "I assume that you understand you would not be able to keep all of your secrets from me were I to teach you this."

I nodded. "I understand. That's why I need to ask you for more than you may be willing to give me." I took a deep breath and came out with it. "If we were to do this, I would have to insist that you make an Unbreakable Vow to never reveal anything you may find in my mind."

His eyes widened and for a long time, he simply stared at me. "Your secrets are that dangerous?" he finally asked.

"Yes," I said gravely.

"And you would trust me to know them?"

"I don't have anyone else, Alek," I admitted. "I know for a fact that it would be incredibly dangerous if Albus got hold of my secrets."

"Then I truly wish that I could help you, Hermione. Unfortunately, Legilimency is not my strong suit. I could teach you the theory and the basics, but you'd need a true Legilimens to properly learn the application."

I sighed heavily and sank down into a chair. "I already know the theory and basics," I sighed. "I studied that much over the summer."

"Well, then I imagine you've gotten a rather good start on it. You've proven yourself quite capable when you decide to learn something."

I nodded. "As much as one can learn something like Occlumency without a Legilimens."

He was thoughtful for a moment. "I might… I might know someone who can help, but… I hesitate to involve him without knowing the nature of your dangerous secrets. If I Vowed to keep your secrets close, would you tell me?"

I considered it a moment. I'd been prepared for him to know the truth in order to teach me Occlumency, but now he was asking to know in exchange for pointing me to someone else who would have to know as well. The urge to tell him just so that I could confide in him about the true nature of my difficulties was considerable, and that made me nervous. I had to remain objective about this. Acting emotionally would get me killed. Constant vigilance, not just when it was convenient.

Logically, however, it was probably more dangerous to remain completely helpless against Albus. At the very least, a greater understanding of Occlumency may prevent him for gleaning the smaller bits from the surface that I'm certain he was already sweeping up whenever it was convenient.

"Very well," I relented.

He drew his wand and extended his left hand.

I took a deep breath, almost surprised that he was actually going to do it. I gripped his wrist as he gripped mine in his scarred and callused hand, then he touched his wand to our hands and I felt the subtle vibration of magic to suggest that the spell was prepared to take the vows.

"Will you, Aleksander Moody, keep the secret of my past and all related information in the strictest of confidences?"

"I will," he agreed, though his eyes were calculating as the fine red coil of magic wound around our joined hands.

"Will you take every precaution available to you in order to prevent anyone or anything from learning this secret by any means magical or mundane without my direct and specific instruction?"

He smiled at that. "I will."

The magic bound us together once more. I waited until it was complete, then released his hand and took a step back.

For a moment, we were both silent. I was adjusting to the weight of what had just transpired and I imagined that he was as well considering that he'd promised his life in exchange for keeping his word. In a very real way, my life was as much on the line. Should the wrong people learn the truth of me, I'd only be able to hope that Dumbledore took my secrets before Voldemort got to me.

Alek took a seat and gestured me toward the other. "Well, I think I've earned a story, Hermione."

I nodded as I sat down and glanced automatically around the room. "You're certain that we're alone and cannot be overheard?" I checked.

"Considering your rather devious wording, Hermione, it would literally be suicide for me to be negligent in that area. I assure you, we are quite private."

I nodded again. Of course. "Myself and Albus Dumbledore are the only two people that know what I'm about to tell you," I stressed. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I am from the future," I admitted.

Alek's brow shot up.

"From the year 1997, to be precise. It is my knowledge of the next twenty years that is so dangerous and so precious."

"You're serious," he said quietly, though he didn't sound like he really doubted it. "How did you come back twenty years? Is something invented in the future to allow it?"

"Not to my knowledge," I sighed. "The means of my transit aren't known to me, though I highly suspect that a certain phoenix was involved."

"Fawkes?"

I nodded.

"Albus did this?"

"It's possible," I admitted. It would be just like Albus Dumbledore to make such a contingency plan in the event of his own death, though that didn't explain why he hadn't sent me directly to the younger version of himself. Unless perhaps the magic didn't work in that way. Perhaps he'd believed that the war would likely not be won without him there to pull our strings. He'd have lessened the odds of our victory in that timeline by removing me as an asset to Harry, but greatly increased the odds by sending me here with so much knowledge of the war's future…

Damn. Why hadn't I considered that earlier? Well, because I'd trusted Dumbledore in my time. It was difficult to believe I'd been that naïve, but perhaps Albus was simply more subtle in the future. Or Harry's opinion of the man had clouded my judgment.

"It's likely," I regretfully amended.

I saw a muscle in Alek's cheek twitch as he clenched his jaw. "Meddling fool," he muttered. "Why would he choose you?"

"Probably because he'd spent the last five years training me to fight Voldemort." Something else occurred to me and my eyes widened. "Bloody hell!" I growled. "That's why he gave me… Damn him! He planned this contingency right from the beginning! Since I was twelve years old!"

He'd given me extra credit to write essays about the first war. He'd pushed me in so many ways that he hadn't pushed Harry and Ron. At the time, I'd thought that it was merely because I was so studious. I'd thought it was because he had faith in me, and I'd been proud of myself for that.

Alek's eyes narrowed, "Albus was the one who trained you? What you told me about your parents…?"

"All lies," I admitted, my anger deflating a bit. There wasn't anything I could do about it now anyway. "My parents are muggles."

He sat back thoughtfully. "You're a better liar than I credited."

"It's not difficult to honestly mourn them," I admitted, "Seeing as I've lost them even though they're still alive. Along with everyone else I've ever known."

"Why would Albus do this to you?" he posed, his calm voice belying the anger in his eyes.

"Apart from the fact that he's a meddling fool?" I smirked, though my heart wasn't in it. I considered how much I could tell him. With that Vow in place, he'd have a difficult time meddling too much without my permission without risking his life. "every precaution available" covered quite a lot. "We were in danger of losing the war," I admitted with a sigh.

"In twenty years?" he asked grimly.

I nodded, "Yes. I fought during Voldemort's second rise."

"You fought? But you're so young." He looked personally affronted by that.

"I won't go into the specifics of the circumstances, but yes. I have fought Death Eaters. I have been petrified, cursed, and interrogated. I have cast dark spells and I have killed at least one Death Eater." I took a deep breath. "Now, if you don't mind, it is nearly time for dinner, and I would like to know who you had in mind to teach me Occlumency."

He stared at me a moment longer, then nodded grimly. "My grandson is a master of Legilimency and Occlumency both despite his age. He's an auror, but I'm sure we could arrange for you to meet with him on the weekends."

"His name?"

"Alastor."

I sighed in relief. I could trust him much more easily than a stranger.

"Did you know him?" he asked intently.

"Yes," I admitted. "In my time, he was among the most highly ranked members of the Order, one of my teachers."

"I probably shouldn't be surprised," he said with a small smile. "I suppose it is inevitable that my family would be drawn into Albus' schemes." He sighed briskly and pressed on, "Well, I will owl Alastor tonight. We can discuss his reply tomorrow. For right now, we'd both best get to dinner before Albus begins to wonder what we're doing in here."

I smiled as I left the Defense tower and started toward the Great Hall. I was excited to meet Mad-Eye again. I wondered what he'd be like in 1977. Would he still have both eyes? Both legs? How old was he? I'd never known that in the future, but I was guessing he'd be around thirty now, give or take five years.

I just hoped that he was a good teacher. I needed to learn this, and I needed to learn it soon.

Okay, I know that I promised more Severus in this chapter. So sorry! I had to add a couple scenes and the chapter was in danger of needing its own zip code, so I split it up. There will not be an accompanying Severus chapter for this one. *ducks for fear of flying objects* More Severus next time. I'm certain of it this time!