"Alive! You can't be serious Albus?" exclaimed McGonagall, glad that she and the Headmaster were alone in his office, considering the contents of the conversation could be devastating to unprepared ears.
"I'm afraid so, Minerva," said Albus with an exasperated sigh.
"How can you be sure?" asked the Transfiguration teacher.
"I cannot explain to you what I saw in Harry's mind..."
"You used Legilimency on him!" yelled an outraged Minerva. "You would doubt his words to an extent where you felt the need to invade his thoughts." Several seconds passed before McGonagall realised what she had said. "My apologies."
"It is quite alright," said Dumbledore. "If anything, I am glad that you would feel such anger towards me for my actions, but know that I only did so for the safety of the students."
"So then...what did you discover?"
Another sigh escaped Dumbledore's lips before he began to explain what he had seen, the memory he was supposedly intruding upon, how the mental image was unlike anything he had ever seen before and how the cold voice had spoken to him. Minerva remained silent during his retelling of the events. While she did her best not to show favouritism to any of her students, she did have something of a soft spot for Harry and his cohorts. Whether this was due to the fact she had watched him dropped off to a Muggle household as a baby may have had something to do with it.
Needless to say, when Albus had finished his explanation there was silence between the two professors, each of them eyeing each other in order to try and better read the situation. Dumbledore was well aware he had crossed into dangerous territory when he had even contemplated entering the boy's mind; had his intrusion backfired any other way he could have left lasting damage on a mind that was still adolescent. Minerva meanwhile was doing her best to understand why Dumbledore felt the need to go to such lengths, a child was allowed to have their own privacy and this was clearly a delicate matter that Mister Potter wished to speak as little of as possible.
Finally, McGonagall allowed herself to audibly exhale as she figured that Dumbledore had seen the situation worth the risk, as much as she herself would like to disagree. "What would you have me do?" she asked.
"I do not yet know," said Dumbledore. "We are touching dangerous magic of which we do not know the origins, the book in which it was inscribed may have done so incorrectly and the magic itself may be of the oldest variety for all we know. I fear that as the children are hosting a yet unidentified form, there is no way to tell if it is malevolent in nature, and I dare not try to enter their minds once more."
"A suggestion, if I may," said Minerva allowing a glint of life to return to Albus' eyes. "Allow me to have them temporarily moved from my class."
"Professor?"
"Hear me out," stated McGonagall not wanting her train of thought to shatter just yet. "Take away rudimental subjects for but the moment in where their knowledge for the future is limited. While we may have had to suffer through History of Magic ourselves as children it is not essential for the short term. We do not know if the magic enchanted to them is vile or not, for all we know it may end up protecting them at a later date, but we must prepare for the worst and we have no way of knowing how to combat an unknown threat. Utilise this time, then to strengthen their magic as a whole. If they are forced into an eternal struggle give them the weapons to do so."
Lacing his fingers beneath his chin, Dumbledore contemplated what Minerva was asking of him. It would show blatant favouritism by all means, and some would ultimately believe that such behaviour is unbecoming of the Hogwarts Headmaster. Still, he could see merit in what McGonagall spoke of as a short term solution.
"You mean to teach them advanced magic," stated Dumbledore having read inbetween the lines.
"My timetable permits me some hours," declared McGonagall. "I believe Professor Lupin too would be more than willing to assist considering his connection to Harry's father."
"Is that an alternate reason for teaching them?" asked Dumbledore.
"We cannot forget the other threat," declared McGonagall. "We can use this as belief that the three of them may be tracked down in unison because of what they have on them by Sirius Black. Use that as an excuse as to not cause them to become more stressed out by alternate dangers."
"So then, what do you propose to teach them?" asked Dumbledore.
Minerva paused before she said anything more, not having particularly thought that Albus would be agreeing with her wholeheartedly on the situation. Taking that extra moment to recall how life had been fourteen years prior, when bloodshed and torture were present wherever Voldemort or his Death Eaters treaded. Skirmishes were common and she herself could recall having fought against the dangerous adversaries on more than a single occasion.
Many more.
"I will teach them what it was like back then," she said slowly.
"You contemplate turning schoolchildren into soldiers?" asked Dumbledore questioning whether or not this was the same woman who had berated him for attempting to take a peek inside Harry's mind.
"I contemplate teaching them to survive," declared McGonagall.
Minutes seemed to pass, Fawkes the phoenix looked between both of the professors who were dedicated to the stare down they had entered into. Finally, it would be Dumbledore who would break the silence. "Very well, teach them what you will, provided it doesn't tear them apart. You will report to me on the fortnight on what they know and what they are learning and I will judge accordingly whether what we are doing is right or wrong."
"As you wish," said Minerva. Believing that the conversation was over, the Transfiguration teacher turned on her heels and headed towards the exit.
"Minerva," stated Dumbledore forcing the Deputy Headmistress to freeze in her place. "Please, be careful."
Albus watched as Minerva headed towards the exit before allowing a sigh to escape his lips for what seemed like the upteenth time that evening. Was what they were doing right? Was it too dangerous for teenagers? Would they come to truly regret their decision?
Time would tell.
...
Remus Lupin was well aware of what he was, more so than anyone. Hence when his fellow professor had told him about the potential danger than James' son was in and what it could do to him, he knew that he would do everything in his power to protect Harry from whatever dangers were around.
Including his best friend.
It was daunting, but if the dementors surrounding the grounds were any indication then they expected a confrontation to occur at some stage. Having witnessed how the dementor had struck out at Harry however, then there was a chance that the dark creatures would strike out not only at Sirius, but Harry as well if given the chance. Hence why the topic of the day would be a helpful one, if not life saving given the potential circumstances.
Looking at the three students standing in front of them, he could tell that they had already been through a lot this school year, which considering they were less than a month in was saying something. They didn't know what was going on, their teachers didn't know what was happening, that was a lot to consider for a young mind. They hadn't asked for this, much like how he hadn't wished for his lycanthropy, but both parties had to deal with their dilemmas differently.
"Now," he said as he started pacing from side to side in front of them slowly, each step seemingly having individual purpose. "As you are aware, you three are quite the spectacle at the moment, both for your peers and your seniors. We are not showing favouritism by any means but Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and myself have deemed it necessary that the three of you be taught something outside of the normal curriculum. Today you will have me as your teacher while in a couple days you will meet here again with Professor McGonagall."
"Excuse me sir, but we have History of Magic at that time," said Harry.
"Everything has been arranged accordingly, you don't have to worry," said Lupin. "Now, this is going to seem unorthodox, mostly because the spell I will teach you today is going to be the groundwork for everything to come. Trust me, this magic is of Auror level, something which should never be taught to the three of you under normal circumstance. These, however, are not normal circumstances."
"Is this safe?" asked Hermione.
"For the moment, as safe as it can be. For the times in which you will need to use this spell, I guarantee you will not," stated Professor Lupin as he turned on his heel and began to pace the other way. "Now I am only going to teach you the method today, and this is something in which the three of you will have to work on in your own time and before you get any ideas, Hermione, not for this."
Ginny and Harry looked towards their friend, but the bushy haired witch said nothing. "Now," continued Remus, "I want the three of you to think about the happiest moment you have ever experienced and focus on that and nothing else, empty your minds and see only that moment."
Remus stopped his pacing to see that the three students had closed their eyes to try and track down their happiest moment. Slowly, smiles spread across their faces and Remus prepared to continue his lesson. "Now, raise your wands, keep focus of your memory and repeat after me, Expecto Patronum."
"Expecto Patronum," they said in unison, opening their eyes to see the effect of their spell. For Harry and Hermione, they saw glimmers of white mist shooting forth from the tips of their wands. Ginny, however, had nothing.
"Don't panic," said Lupin gaining their attention, the white mist fading out of existence. "As I said earlier this is beyond an OWL level spell; if the three of you were to get it on the first try then I'd be shocked. Nevertheless, what Hermione and Harry were displaying were the very beginnings of the Patronus charm."
"What is the Patronus charm?" asked Harry.
"A full fledged patronus is a shield of sorts, constructed by the most positive feelings you can muster," explained Lupin. "Allow me to break it down. A Patronus, imagine it as a kind of positive force, with the Dementor feeding on it rather than the wizard casting it. In order for it to work, you need to think of a memory. Not just any memory, a very happy memory, a very powerful memory, the stronger the memory the stronger the spell. Once you've got a full grip on the memory, speak the incantation. Spend the next few minutes scrounging through your memories for something to latch onto and use it. Go back in time as far as necessary and show me just what you can do."
And so they did, minutes upon minutes and even stretching into hours they cast the spell over and over again, taking small breaks in between each incantation to find another memory or to try and remember more about the event they were trying to use. Eventually, their teacher for the day could see that the students were starting to suffer from fatigue. "I believe, that is enough for today," said Lupin. "I urge you not to show off this spell to your friends; if word got out that the three of you are learning such an advance spell then who knows what the consequences may be. Instead, I ask the three of you to focus on your memories, try to recall the happiest moment you can and we'll utilise that next week. Remember though, you have to be here the same time, and the lessons will be split both between myself and your head of house. I don't know what she has in store for you in a couple of days, but don't inform her of what you've learnt today; we'll give her a bit of a shock next week instead. Likewise, I expect whatever she decides to teach you will be equally as impressive to see. Now, off with you."
...
Harry remained awake, the darkness of night long having set in. Staring at the ceiling he did his best to ignore the snores escaping Ron and tried to focus on the positive things that had happened in his life. During the time he had spent with Professor Lupin alongside Ginny and Hermione he had used as many memories as he could, ranging from when Hagrid had given him his acceptance letter to Hogwarts, the first time he had flown to even the Christmas he had spent the previous year. None of those however had given him little more than a small sliver of the shield that Lupin had been expecting of them.
Thankfully though Hermione hadn't bounded ahead of him much like she did with other lessons.
At least that was a positive.
Rolling to his side, Harry did his best to try and think of something more positive that he could call upon. There was winning the house cup in his first year, but that seemed rather bland and generic. He had managed to slay his professor who had been possessed by Voldemort but that seemed more of an accomplishment as opposed to a positive memory. Same thing with saving Ginny the previous year, a stellar accomplishment that would make anybody proud, but the amount of darkness surrounding it made it something he couldn't call upon to summon his Patronus.
Everything he thought about had some underlying theme of negativity to it, was he just a beacon upon which negativity attached itself to? Slamming his eyes shut, Harry steadied his breathing and ignored the dark thoughts that were currently clouding his judgement.
Emptying his mind with the belief that he would figure something out over the coming week, Harry did his best to fall asleep. As his last breath of consciousness exited his system, he was only just able to hear a voice whispering to him.
"Past...bad...Future...good."