Disclaimer: Nothing is mine; everything is J K Rowling's.

Chapter 41

'You told me you wanted to learn about legilimency, not those silly little hexes and jinxes you've been practising all this time,' Salazar complained from the spot on the floor.

'I need to know them for my OWL exams at the end of the year and to be able to teach Neville, since our current teacher is more interested in keeping us helpless and under the sway of the Ministry.'

'None of them are even remotely useful,' Salazar pointed out, 'why use something like the Impedimenta Jinx when you know how to splinter bones?'

'Because if I use the bone-splintering curse in my exam I'm liable to be expelled, or fail,' Harry remarked, dryly.

'This school has gone downhill,' Slytherin griped, 'I blame the Ministry, they were created to uphold that Statute of Secrecy that Tom Riddle told me was made to keep our worlds separate and safe, not restrict the types of magic wizard and witches can use or learn about.'

'Umbridge won't last long,' Harry smiled darkly, 'Riddle cursed the position she's holding, nobody's ever lasted a whole year, and she's made enemies of the entire school, Dumbledore and myself.'

'You're part of the school,' the portrait reminded him.

'I'm quite a bit more dangerous than your average fifth year,' Harry remarked.

'You're more dangerous than any other student here since Riddle,' Salazar agreed proudly, 'and you're probably more powerful than he was then, if decidedly more moral.'

'All the more reason not to have to worry about Umbridge being here for more than a year,' Harry grinned.

'You have plenty of other things to worry about,' Salazar pointed out. 'That prophecy, Riddle, Dumbledore, the Ministry,' his serpent bobbed its head every time he added another problem, 'and that's just the big ones you know about.'

'I'll figure it out,' Harry assured him, 'I have a plan.'

'It's vague, and you are running out of time. Voldemort is biding his time while he gathers his strength, but soon he'll be back to trying to kill you, probably because of that prophecy, and Dumbledore will be doing his utmost to make sure he's successful. No doubt he thinks you'll make a great sacrifice, and an even better martyr.'

'All the more reason to master the Impedimenta Jinx,' Harry quipped. Salazar shook his head in disgust and Harry relented before he was on the receiving end of a full blown rant. 'I'm finished with them,' he decided. 'I can perform them all well enough.'

'Then it's time you learned about legilimency,' the portrait ordered. 'No heir of mine will be anything less than a master of it and you don't have long left before you need to leave.'

'You were a whole lot more agreeable before I brought that clock,' Harry told him. He'd managed to get one from the Room of Requirement, which seemed to have an unlimited supply of things, but Salazar had taken to using it to schedule his days for him.

'Have you thought of a way to practice your legilimency?'

'I've had a couple of ideas, but nothing particularly practical yet,' Harry admitted.

'What have you come up with?'

'I considered using it on someone who's asleep or stunned,' Harry began, but Salazar was shaking his head in exasperation.

'If they're stunned they won't be thinking much about anything, and there's not a lot a novice can do with a sleeping mind. I suppose it would give you some practice of using the spell and might help you learn control over it,' Slytherin decided, 'but largely it's useless, there would be no practice of actually confronting a defended mind.'

'I could find someone to attack?' Harry suggested, his mind torn between the idea using it on Umbridge or Snape.

'Very bad idea,' Salazar snapped. 'What if they know how to repel you? Legilimency is a very rare skill, but occlumency is known at a basic level by many, since it helps with magic in general.'

'I could offer to teach Neville occlumency,' Harry mentioned finally, expecting to be shot down once more.

'That might be useful,' Slytherin remarked, 'but he would have to keep your ability to use legilimency a secret and needs to know about and want to learn occlumency for his own reasons.'

Harry raised an eyebrow, fairly sure he could just offer to teach Neville it like he had already been doing.

'He'll be suspicious of your motives otherwise,' the portrait explained. It struck him as slightly paranoid. 'Worth trying, though.'

'So what can you teach me?' Harry asked, growing sceptical. 'This isn't like the blood magic where you could only teach me the principles, is it?'

'I haven't taught you half of what you need to know about blood magic before the end of this year,' Salazar replied sombrely, surprisingly melancholy. 'After legilimency, that's what I'll be teaching you as well as a painting can.'

'And legilimency?' The portrait hadn't actually answered the question.

'I am a little limited in how much I can teach you,' the founder confessed, 'but I can tell you how it works in as much detail as possible.'

'I know you form a connection and can then somehow follow emotions,' Harry told him.

'From when Voldemort managed to use it on you?'

'Yes, he didn't get anything particularly important, no more than I glimpsed from him,' Harry realised.

'Then it doesn't matter,' Salazar decided, 'you are similar enough that you will come to understand each other well enough anyway. The spell forms the connection, allowing you to see anything that's currently in the mind of the victim. What Riddle did requires a very strong connection. He latched onto one particular feeling and dissected it, glimpsing some of the memories and thoughts that created it.'

'How can I do it?'

'If your will is stronger, or you can make sure that your opponent can't clear their thoughts so you're unchallenged,' Slytherin informed him simply. 'Legilimency is one of those branches of magic that comes down to some quite plain principles, but can be applied in an infinite number of complex ways.'

'Your favourite,' Harry noted sarcastically.

'Yes,' the founder either ignored or didn't notice his sarcasm. 'You need to practice casting the spell, to get the hang of the scale over which it can be cast. The more magic, the stronger the connection and the harder it is for you to be thrown out. Occluding the mind actually has no affect on the connection itself, simply rendering it meaningless, but you can be expelled by strength of will in a manner similar to throwing off the Imperius Curse.'

'So lots of magic makes the connection hard to break,' Harry summarised, 'but doesn't affect how much I can actually see.'

'Exactly,' Salazar nodded approvingly. 'Once you've got the hang of casting it, you can work on casting it without a wand or an incantation, and then with as little eye contact as possible. The intricacies of legilimency all come once the connection has been made except for passive legilimency, that creates too weak a connection.'

Harry bit his lip thoughtfully, then nodded himself. He followed most of that. Salazar was right, it had simple principles at least until the connection was made.

'What about after the connection has been created?'

'Much more complicated,' Salazar told him with a wry smile. 'Every wizard does it differently because we all think slightly differently from each other. The goal is to get your victim to think about what you want to know, you can do it by showing them images, your own memories and thoughts, or by following and dissecting theirs like Riddle tried to do to you. That's why practice is so important, you need to create your own style and tactics.'

'So teaching Neville to try and protect a secret while I learn how to get it out of him is a good idea?' Harry asked.

'As long as you trust Neville implicitly or are prepared to use the memory charm on him repeatedly,' Salazar warned.

'I trust him,' Harry decided. An idea struck him. 'Can you use legilimency on yourself?'

Salazar stared at him curiously. 'Why would you want to?'

'To see how well I can occlude my mind,' Harry answered, he'd thought it was rather obvious.

'I don't know,' Slytherin mused. 'It's something to experiment with.' The portrait sounded quite excited by the idea. 'You could use the time-turner so you had a version of yourself to attack and defend, or you could try and create a connection from your mind to itself,' he had lapsed into parseltongue in his enthusiasm, 'I have no idea what might happen.'

'Perhaps it's best not to try, in case I make a mess of something important,' Harry suggested.

'But we have to know,' Salazar pleaded. 'Try with the time-turner, you'd be expecting yourself, and not affecting anything too much so it won't do anything too terrible,' and if it does you can leave yourself a warning by going back and warning yourself not to do it.'

'I'm not doing that unless I'm very desperate,' Harry decided. 'It sounds like a great way to kill myself twice in the same moment or too get myself stuck in some ridiculous time loop.'

'Fine,' the painting sulked, 'waste the chance to discover something incredible.'

'I will,' Harry retorted just as childishly.

'You need to go back to Gryffindor Tower,' the founder told him, looking at his brand new clock, something he had complained didn't match the decor of his study until Harry asked him why he had never put one in the first place. He didn't really feel that being able to cast the tempus charm was a valid excuse, but Slytherin had been adamant it was a good enough reason.

'So I do,' Harry realised. 'It's almost time for Quidditch practice.'

Katie had told Angelina that she needed to hold tryouts, and within a week Angelina had managed to book the pitch, despite the best efforts of Hufflepuff's team to book it up to the beginning of the season.

'Before you go,' Salazar began seriously, 'make sure you only portkey out to France from within my chamber.'

'Why?' Harry was confident that he had, though it was only by coincidence.

'The school's wards inform the headmaster the moment a student leaves when they aren't supposed to. The chamber is a loophole. You move outside of the wards which is recorded, but you don't actually leave the castle, so they aren't triggered to actually alert the headmaster.' Slytherin seemed slightly smug. 'So you can leave from here and Dumbledore won't know you've left unless he actually goes to check you're still at Hogwarts.'

'That's how he knew I could apparate,' Harry realised. 'He saw I had a new wand and realised I must have gone to Diagon Alley, so he checked to see if I had left. If he ever looks he'll be able to see every time I've gone to France this year.'

'Yes,' the portrait agreed. 'Don't give him a reason to check, Harry. The only time periods he can't check are those he wasn't headmaster for.'

'Does he know about the loophole of the Chamber of Secrets?' Harry asked

'There are only three wizards who know any of the secrets of this place and Dumbledore is not one of them,' Salazar said simply.

'As long as he doesn't have a reason to look for when I've left I'll be fine,' Harry decided, making a mental note never to trigger the alerts or to let Dumbledore suspect that he'd left the castle at all.

That makes things even more complicated.

'Practice your legilimency,' the founder called after him as he left, striding past the sooty shadow of the basilisk upon the chamber floor.

I will, mother, Harry thought.

'Myrtle,' he called quietly. The ghost wasn't always in the toilet on the second floor, she often wandered the plumbing, rather like the basilisk had, though not quite as terrifying.

There was no reply, even after waiting for a few minutes, so he disillusioned himself and walked far enough from the bathroom to avoid suspicion before dispelling the charm and continuing back towards Gryffindor Tower.

He found the chairs by the fire occupied by Neville and his newfound following of devoted pupils. Somehow the previously shy wizard had managed to teach all three of Ron, Seamus and Dean to produce a half-decent shield charm. They were having what sounded like a highly technical discussion about that very spell, while Colin Creevey dozed across the only other chair, leaning dangerously far across the arm of the chair.

Well, Salazar said to practice.

He owed Creevey for all those photos in the second year anyway.

'Legilimens,' he murmured, pointing his wand out the tip of sleeve of the sleeping fourth year.

Abruptly he was plunged into dreams of taking photos for the Daily Prophet, of passing his exams and, Harry just managed to avoid laughing, of writing an exposé on Umbridge. There was little else beyond the dream, even when Harry tried to concentrate on the feelings of hatred for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, he only found a scatter of images, her office, a horrible, pink-draped room, with china-decorated walls, a glimpse of a black-feathered quill, and the recollection of a sharp, burning pain across the back of his hand.

The pain startled him and broke the connection, and though Colin remained asleep, he stirred and shifted, as if his dreams had suddenly turned unpleasant.

Harry cast the charm several times more, but saw nothing more than he already had even if he did get a slightly better grasp of how strong the connection would be if he put a certain amount of focus and magic into the spell. His attempt to cast it wordlessly failed all but completely as he received nothing but the faintest tickle of pain across his hand again.

It did concern him that Creevey was associating physical pain, and quite a severe one if Harry was any judge, with Umbridge, but it was possibly the product of his dream, and there wasn't anyone Harry could go to anyway, even if she had done something. Umbridge was in full control of the sanctions scheme at Hogwarts now.

'Harry,' Katie bounced across the common room floor, 'it's tryouts time!'

'Then why aren't you in your quidditch gear?'

'We're only trying out for a keeper, Angelina is keeping the old guard together, so we don't have to compete, just help judge.' She pulled him from his chair across from Colin. 'Let's go, we can watch from the stands with everyone else.'

'I don't actually get to fly if I come, though, do I?'

'No,' she admitted, 'but I want you to come and you aren't doing anything here.'

'Fine.' Katie wasn't looking like she was about to relinquish her grip on his arm anyway.

They walked quickly down the marble stairs, and out towards the pitch, not even stopping to let Katie scare any of the first years who were moving back towards the common room. That was a bit of a shame in Harry's opinion, she was getting rather good at it, and it was quite funny.

The group of potential Gryffindor players had gathered at the edge of the stands around Alicia and Angelina who were wearing their team robes and the Weasley twins who were knocking a bludger back and forth between them.

At the other end a handful of Slytherin players were playing a half-game in practice with one bludger and no snitch.

'Harry, Katie,' Angelina waved them over. 'You're a little late, but we're still waiting for Ron Weasley anyway.'

'Where is he?' Alicia asked.

'He has detention with Umbridge,' Harry recognised Ginny's voice from within the huddle.

'Well we'll start with chaser trials then,' Angelina decided. 'Ginny, since you're the only one who wants to try out for seeker and chaser,' Harry laughed quietly at her audacity, 'you can join this first. You'll be reserve seeker either way, as Harry's first and there's nobody else who wants to play there for some reason.'

'They probably think Harry will murder them for trying to steal his spot on the team,' Katie beamed, unhelpfully.

'If anyone wants Katie's place I'll happily murder her,' Harry offered. Katie pouted playfully.

'Get in the sky,' Angelina ordered, producing a whistle, 'murder is only acceptable if you're the captain.'

The five potential chasers kicked off and began to swerve through a series of drills. Harry took a seat on the edge of the stands with Katie and the other members of last year's team.

'What do you think?' Angelina asked after they had made it through the first few.

'Weasley's good,' Alicia decided, 'the other's are reserve material, nobody's losing their spot today.'

'I agree,' Katie voiced.

'Kirke, Sloper,' Angelina called, 'grab that bludger off those two idiots,' she gestured at her boyfriend and his twin, 'and show us what you can do. Ten shots, as many hits on the edge of the ring as possible while your partner hits the bludger back at you.'

They nodded and took off, shouting down at the Weasley twins who knocked the bludger up into the sky and tossed them the bats.

'They're not bad,' Fred grinned. Harry assumed it was Fred since he was sitting next to Alicia and not Angelina.

'Almost as good as us,' George decided.

'Not as handsome though,' Fred added, 'what do you think Angelina?'

'Shouldn't you be asking Alicia?' The Quidditch Captain remarked acidly.

'Can't you tell us apart?!' George gasped, faking horror.

'Yes,' Alicia and Angelina answered together.

'Oh.' They looked a little crestfallen about that and Katie laughed.

Ron came running across the pitch to join them. 'Sorry,' he gasped. 'Umbridge's detention ran on longer than I thought and she wouldn't let me leave until I was done.'

'Get in the air Weasley,' Angelina told him kindly. 'You're not late yet, we haven't started tryouts for keeper yet.' Ron grinned, relieved, and swapped hands on his broom to take off. Harry glimpsed a gleam of crimson smeared across the back of his hand and along the underside of his forearm as his robes shifted.

Umbridge.

There was no coincidence. Colin's dream and Ron's bleeding were both clearly the work of their little Pink Professor. A spot of ice flared to life in his chest at such a disgusting, obviously immoral act. She was doing whatever that was to children like Colin. He wasn't going to let that stand, she needed to learn a lesson about what was acceptable and what was not. Dumbledore and the staff wouldn't be able to do anything, their hands were tied by the Ministry.

I'll find another way to dissuade her, he smiled coldly.

The Slytherin game had drifted near to the tryouts, sweeping through the chaser drills.

'Oi,' Angelina yelled, 'get out of our half of the pitch.'

One of the beaters, Harry recognised the distinctive profile of one of Crabbe or Goyle, just spun and hammered the bludger down at them.

It Katie in the side and there was an audible snap as something broke.

Her face went white, and she clenched her jaw tightly shut.

Fred and George had their wands out, banishing the bludger back twice as fast to knock Crabbe off his broom as the Slytherin team flew down to get a better look at what they'd achieved. Malfoy's henchman bounced twice across the grass, his broom snapping underneath him, before coming to stop and curling up into himself.

The other two members of Slytherin's trio of bullies landed in front of the Gryffindor team.

'You'll pay for that Weasley's,' Malfoy snapped.

'You'll pay for hitting that bludger at Katie,' Angelina retorted, furious.

'That was an accident,' Malfoy shrugged, 'what those two blood-traitors did was deliberate, Professor Snape will see you in detention for the rest of the year at the very least. Personally I'm hoping you'll just be expelled.'

'Shut up and disappear, Malfoy,' Harry snapped. He'd been angry with Umbridge before Crabbe had hurt Katie; he was furious now, all the rage he'd suppressed whenever the Pink Professor said something about Fleur resurfacing.

'Is that a threat, Potter?' Malfoy sneered, his hand flashing to his wand. 'Are you going to kill me as well as Krum?'

'What is going on here?' Umbridge's high, girlish voice carried across the pitch. 'I have never seen such a display of aggression over anything at this school. Mr Weasley and Mr Weasley, you will serve two weeks detention for your unprovoked attack on a fellow student, and,' her smug, smile spread wider, 'since you cannot be trusted to play this sport I'm afraid I will have to ban you both from playing.'

'You can't do that,' Angelina cried. 'He attacked Katie.'

'For life,' Umbridge finished, pleased with the outrage she had provoked. 'And I know what I saw, Miss Johnson.'

'I told you that you would pay,' Malfoy sneered.

'You never learn do you, Draco,' Harry hissed. 'Aguamenti,' he spat, raising his arm and slipping his wand from his sleeve in one smooth motion to produce the spell.

A thick stream of water shot from the tip of his wand, striking Malfoy on the shoulder and knocking him of his feet, but the charm did not act as Harry had intended.

The spell came out twisted by his cold rage and within the water, thick, jagged chunks of ice formed, lacerating Malfoy's shoulder and upper arm. The Slytherin screamed, clutching instinctively at the deep, rough cuts through the tattered remnants of his quidditch robes, but only managing to cut his hands not the fragments of ice that were lodged in his chest.

Both groups of students stared at him in disbelief as Malfoy writhed in pain in the floor, making a high-pitched keening noise and smearing blood and dirt all over himself as the ice melted. It was hard to stop himself from smiling, but he quickly managed to pull his features into a horrified look of shock. The surprise wasn't hard to show.

'Mr Potter,' he had never heard Umbridge sound so satisfied. 'You're also banned for life.'

That's it?

Malfoy was lying in a pool of his own diluted blood, whimpering and shaking. He'd expected to be expelled.

Dumbledore must still be the only one who can expel students.

Umbridge had banned him from playing quidditch, but had seemingly forgotten to give him detention in her joy at finally catching him doing something wrong.

'What have you got to say for yourself, Mr Potter?' Umbridge demanded, no doubt hoping to extract further reaction from him.

Harry ignored her, helping Katie to her feet and in the direction of the hospital wing. He'd get his revenge on Umbridge soon enough.

'That was stupid,' Katie gasped, still pale, as he looped an arm under her uninjured arm to let her lean on him and walk more easily.

'I know,' he replied shortly. 'I shouldn't have lost my temper.'

'Fleur's going to be twice as angry with you,' she laughed weakly.

'Why twice?'

She's going to be disappointed.

The thought left Harry with a very bitter taste in his mouth and he raised his free hand to press it to the triangular locket on his chest.

'You did something stupid,' Katie giggled, wincing each time her chest moved, 'and you did it because I got hurt.'

'I'll blame you,' Harry assured her. 'Then Fleur will come and set you on fire instead of me. Now hush, you need to see Madam Pomfrey, I think you've broken some ribs.'

'And my fingers,' Katie agreed. 'I can't move them, and my chest hurts lots when I breathe.'

'Madam Pomfrey will fix it,' Harry smiled, 'she regrew all the bones in my arm after Lockhart vanished them.'

'You can always have a look first,' Katie giggled again, motioning to her chest with her uninjured hand.

'Not funny, Katie,' Harry reminded her. He really hoped it was the pain messing with her head, because he was glad to have his friend back and didn't need anything to come and spoil that now, not when they'd found such a close, comfortable relationship.

She looked faintly disappointed and a little hurt.

'Fleur,' he reminded her.

'I'm not pretty enough for you, Harry,' she giggled. 'I'm glad you're my friend again,' she sighed, collapsing against him, 'I enjoy scaring the firsties with you.'

'You're the one who does all the scaring,' Harry reminded her, sweeping her legs out from underneath her to carry her through the halls to the hospital wing. Katie was heavier than Fleur was. 'I just stand there.'

'It's still fun,' Katie murmured.

Harry disillusioned them both to avoid awkward rumours or, worse, another Daily Prophet article. Fleur might actually immolate him if she found that.

'Are we there yet?' she laughed.

'Nearly,' Harry told her patiently.

'It's quite painful,' she told him, 'like, it really really hurts, but, at the same time, it doesn't. How weird is that?' She was talking very quickly and quietly, Harry could hardly hear her.

'That is quite strange,' he answered absentmindedly, turning around to back though the doors to the hospital wing.

'You aren't going to do something silly and go after Umbridge, are you?' Harry didn't answer that and placed her gently on the nearest bed.

'Madam Pomfrey,' he called out, disturbing the nurse from her office. She bustled out, pulling her wand from her pocket, and giving Harry a contemplative look that suggested she would have been quite unhappy with him if he'd managed to get himself injured again.

'Promise me you won't get caught doing something stupid,' Katie demanded, glaring up at him through half-closed eyes.

'I promise not to get caught doing something stupid,' he responded smiling reassuringly. She beamed tiredly, then squirmed to take a firm grasp on his hand, forcing him to take a seat on the edge of her bed, and shut her eyes.

I won't get caught at all.

AN: Please read and review :)