Lost Canyon Ranch, West Texas
The Sweat Lodge

Once again Harry sat cross-legged across from Pablo wearing only buckskins. This time there was no fire, rather the hot Texas sun brought the temperature inside the structure to a slow bake. The two had been strengthening their bond, sending images back and forth while having non-verbal communications. The first few days Harry would end up with a headache as he gradually increased the power behind the broadcasting of his thoughts. Now he could send and receive with no signs of distress.

When Harry had entered the sweat lodge earlier, he had found Pablo already there, speaking with the spirit of his grandfather. Pablo's grandfather did not appear to be at the age he died, rather he had the appearance of a strong, young man in his late 20's. Harry sat down and gazed with respect at the spirit, remembering that this man had given up his comfortable life in Mexico to live in exile on a miserable reservation. All for the love of a muggle. Pablo had reported that since his death, he had reconciled with most of his ancestors. There were some who still carried on about being a blood-traitor, however the grandfather, Estaban, had slapped many of them down by pointing out that as spirits, they no longer had any blood to be proud of.

Estaban turned to Harry. "My grandson tells me that you are doing well in your studies. If you continue following the Way of the Warrior, you will achieve your goal. I tell you now that it will be worth it." Estaban motioned to someone only he could see, then a young Navajo woman spirit stepped into the lodge next to Estaban and put her arm around his waist. "Love is always worth it."

Harry had an idea. "Can I speak with my parents here?"

"No, the sweat lodges can only receive the members of the builder's family who are related by either blood or marriage. If the builder has a non-relative who is bound to the family by some sort of agreement, such as adoption, then they can enter the lodge also." Harry's face fell when Pablo explained this. "Don't worry, Harry. When you get ready to go home, I will give you a set of plans for a sweat lodge along with the magic instructions. In fact, I think that it would be great to have one of my people's buildings on British soil. I can just consider it a counter-invasion a few hundred years late."

At this, Harry and Pablo's grandparents had a good laugh. The spirits said their good-byes and stepped back into their own realm. Pablo turned once again to face Harry. "I will be leaving for a few days. I have a council to attend back at the reservation. I would normally take a portkey back, but I want to test you out for distance on our communications. When I leave, just start talking with me. Don't send any images, since they tend to block out my true vision. Wouldn't want to drive into a mountain while you are showing me pictures of a pasture.."

"Until I get back, I want you to work with Dudley on casting the Patronus charm. You guys will have to battle Dementors when you get home, so Dudley needs to be prepared. There is also a spell that I want both of you to work on. Jack came up with the idea and the strategy. Once you learn it and the strategy, you are going to need to use a pensive to protect the thought so that the enemy cannot learn of your plan."

"Speaking of hiding thoughts, how's Dudley been doing on Occlumency lessons?" Harry asked.

"Much better than you, Harry. He is able to clear his mind and throw up shields in no time flat. I think that his advantage is that he spent years vegetating in front of the television. You had to keep your mind active to keep from going insane. Dudley can also present false images to someone who is casually searching his mind. I wouldn't match him up against Voldemort or Snape, from what you have told me about them, but he could probably fool most of the Death Eaters." Pablo chuckled. "Last night, I tried to break through his shield and he treated me to 30 minutes of a British sitcom. Something called 'Steptoe and Son'… With commercials."

Harry smirked. "Sounds like Dudders all right. Just don't let him treat you to 'Fawlty Towers'. You might get hooked."

"No chance of that. I've seen that show on PBS. I hear that in our wizarding prison, the inmates under the death penalty are given the choice between the Dementor's Kiss and having to watch British TV. The prisoners choose the Dementors claiming that the other option violates the statute against cruel and unusual punishment."

"Do you really have Dementors here?"

"Actually, no. We could never make a deal with those creatures like your ministry did. They are too unstable and don't care who they attack. Instead, we ran open season on them and hunted them to extinction. We did send the last 20 in the country over to England at the request of your ministry. They thought it was humanitarian, we thought it was just stupid. Have you ever wondered where Dementors come from?"

"Not really, I am just glad when I don't see any."

"This is the least known secret of the wizarding world. When a dark wizard is killed, one who has magical powers, the part of his aioua that does not escape becomes a Dementor, always in search of a soul that they can use, but always frustrated because when they use the Kiss, it consumes and digests the soul. They also suck the happiness out of an area trying to replace what they lost. That is why when we execute dark wizards, the first thing that we do is strip them of their magical powers. They die as muggles at the end of a rope. Its kind of a cultural thing, the hanging. When the muggles changed their method of execution, we did not go along with it. We also do not allow the release of a dark wizard's body to next of kin. We cremate them and send the ashes to a landfill with the rest of the garbage. That way they can never be reanimated. With sentences like that, we have very few dark wizards here."

"How are you actually able to kill Dementors though?" Harry was really interested in this part.

With your Patronus. When you cast your Patronus, you then move your wand like this," Pablo demonstrated the wand movement, something like drawing an 'X' in the air and then punching the wand toward the crosspoint. "the incantation is 'Exuro Phasmatis!'. This allows your Patronus to completely destroy the Dementor."

"But if a Dementor is created from the aioua of a dark wizard, what happens when a dark wizard receives the Dementor's Kiss? I though that the Kiss caused the soul to be consumed and digested."

"Harry, the ones that are created that way are the worst type. What happens a few hours after you eat a big meal? The physiology of the Dementors works the same way."

"EEWWW! That's NASTY! The worst Dementors are actually Dementor s…"

"No need to say it. And yes. But it only works that way with evil wizards. The light wizard or muggle who receives that treatment just fades away with nothing left behind. The dark wizard however has a will to survive in any form necessary. Governments who use the Dementor's Kiss as a form of execution are only making bigger problems for themselves."

"Sounds about right for a bloody politician. Every one I ever met only knew how to muck things up farther, never solve a problem. By the way, When you are on the road home, how do I contact you? All the time we have been practicing I have just looked at you."

"Good question! I want you to look at me closely and get a mental image of my face. When you are calling me, bring up that image and send your message." The two headed for the house. Pablo got a slightly distracted look for a few seconds. "Jack and Dudley are coming in from the south pasture. They'll be here in a few minutes, then I will be leaving."

Later that evening.

Harry had been carrying on a running conversation with Pablo since he left. It was five hours later and Pablo informed Harry that he was no longer receiving him. Harry had no problem receiving Pablo since his instructor had quite a bit more sending strength. Pablo instructed Harry to start trying again in the morning at one hour intervals to build up his strength. He heard a noise and saw Dudley coming into the room.

Dudley had 'gone native' in a big way. The only time Harry had seen him without his cowboy boots on was when he was doing physical training with Harry. The rest of the time he looked to be a real Texan. He was even starting to sound like one. It had only taken 3 weeks before he started drawling his words and losing his proper British inflection. Harry figured that if Dudley was here another month that he might as well stay. No one back home would be able to understand him when he spoke. Although he worked on his studies several hours a day, he was also learning how to rope and shoot muggle weapons with great accuracy. He could already ride a horse like he was born in the saddle.

Unfortunately his riding skills did not transfer well to a broom. Dudley was absolutely hopeless on a broom. He made Hermione look like a world class Seeker. 'It all evens out' Harry thought. 'I am still a lousy horseman.'

That had been a surprise and disappointment to Harry. As good as he was with a broom, he still could not get the hang of long rides on the horse. This made their daily fence riding quite the ordeal. Not only did Harry get off the horse every morning with a sore butt, but he knew in his heart that the horse barely tolerated him, and was probably telling equine jokes about him back at the old corral. He also did not like the cowboy boots. The sharp pointed toes hurt his feet. He had seen some boots that had a wider, non-pointed toe, however Jack had nixed those.

"If you can't kill a cockroach in a corner, they're not cowboy boots. Those things are fine for bikers, but they are lousy for putting your feet in the stirrups" Harry doubted that he would ever wear his again once he got home.

The boys decided to head outside and practice the Patronus charm. Dudley had the dueling wand strapped, gunslinger style, on his hip, but had also made a leather holster for his daily use wand which hung under his left arm in the style of a muggle detective gun holster. He had made the holster after his wand had dropped out of his pocket on a fence ride. It took over an hour of backtracking to find it.

After an hour and a half, the best that Dudley was able to produce was a light silver mist that only went a couple of feet past his wand tip. He and Harry went over the spell again and Harry reminded him that he should use the happiest memory he could find in order to successfully cast the charm. Dudley had been through his spoiling by indulgent parents, thoughts of Christmases past, birthdays past, etc. It was no use. Dudley had been so indulged over the years that these memories did not really have the power that they should, they just all ran together. Suddenly he stopped. "Just thought of something."

Taking his mesquite wood wand, he cast the charm again. Again the mist, but this time it started to form an outline. Harry could not see what the animal was before it was gone. Dudley stuck his wand back in the holster, drew his dueling wand and recast. The effect was dramatic. Sparks flew out of the wand, a mist shot out, formed the Patronus. Harry gawked. Dudley's Patronus was a huge Texas Longhorn bull. It snorted (Harry could imagine that he actually heard it), pawed the ground while looking for Dementors, then dove back into the large wand.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. "I would sure not want to be the Dementor in the sights of that monster. What happy thought brought that one out?"

"I'm not telling." Dudly sniggered.

They practiced for another hour, then went inside.

A/N: I am going to stop here for now, but there will be more intensive training soon.

Exuro Phasmatis Burn the Spirit