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

New chapter! It's not quite as long the last, but that was the longest one I've yet written for this fic. Enjoy...

Chapter 69

'You know I almost began to miss the days like this,' Salazar sighed, sounding surprisingly genuine.

'Almost every day is like this,' Harry commented, rolling his eyes. He'd spent an hour writing about polyjuice potion, and then three hours scrawling down everything he knew about wand legislature and the goblin rebellions linked to it. As it had turned out he could have happily left two hours early and likely managed a comparable amount. He'd snuck down to the chamber after that and repeated the last five hours of the day within it. Speaking to Salazar for the last time this year. Term had all but ended.

'Actually you're normally down here to apparate somewhere else, or to bury your head in books and spell theory like you did for the last few hours,' Slytherin corrected. 'You're rarely here to speak to me.'

'Are you feeling unloved?' Harry asked, grinning.

'I'm feeling angry,' the painting retorted, 'look at the mess you've made of my desk!'

Harry regarded the neat, even stacks of books and papers for a moment and raised an eyebrow at him. The desk hadn't been so tidy in weeks. Evidently Salazar was feeling a bit tetchy again.

'Well,' Harry continued cheerfully, 'I'm here at the moment.'

'Yes,' Salazar peered down at him from the wall, more focused than Harry had seen him in some time. 'And none too soon.'

'Is something about to happen?' Harry inquired.

'The rest of your life,' the painting drawled, 'short as it may end up being if you don't start thinking seriously.' Harry frowned, he thought he'd done rather well this year. 'The summer is here, Voldemort's return is now accepted, and the conflict will now move out into the open. You're out of time, Harry,' the portrait stated simply.

'Surely I still have a year or so left?' Harry disagreed.

'Why?' Salazar asked bluntly. 'Voldemort has no reason to not go directly after what he wants now, and that means Dumbledore's plan to hurl you into his path is moving towards its conclusion.'

'He implied he had things to do first,' Harry reminded his ancestor, not entirely convinced of his impending doom, but not overly sceptical either.

'Presumably there are more horcruxes,' the founder nodded, 'their existence is the only thing, aside from any action you take, preventing Albus Dumbledore from, say, leaving you somewhere only his followers and likely Voldemort, after his rebirth, can enter due to blood magic based wards, and waiting for an inevitable conclusion.'

'Well, when you say it like that…' Harry smiled. 'I'm not going back to my relatives anyway, so Dumbledore will lose track of me, and surely Voldemort will be more concerned by the Order and the Ministry at the moment?'

'For now,' Salazar admitted, 'but not for long. You need a plan again. One that stretches beyond hiding under the Fidelius Charm and sneaking out to search for pieces of Voldemort's soul.'

'I'll have to come back to Hogwarts,' Harry shrugged, 'that was never going to be a feasible plan.'

'So consider what you know,' Slytherin suggested firmly. 'You have a home, a well-protected home, though I would suggest creating a more formidable set of wards just in case your Fidelius fails, and you can remain there relatively safely for the summer. You have to return to Hogwarts for the next term, and I would suggest finding a way to take your NEWTs early and then getting out from under Dumbledore's shadow. There is at least one horcrux still in existence that needs to be destroyed, and then you will have to face Voldemort.'

'And Dumbledore, unless he can be tricked into thinking the soul fragment within me is destroyed.'

'And Dumbledore,' Salazar agreed, adjusting the squirming, serpentine necklace he had draped around him.

'That's not the easiest thing to make a plan for,' Harry remarked dryly.

'No,' the painting said softly, 'much of it lies beyond your control, that's life, Harry, but some of it you can affect, and you should not discount any of the influence you are capable of having over your own fate.'

'My NEWTs are next then, and finding the horcrux, or horcruxes.'

'It is likely, unless Voldemort was extremely paranoid, that only a single, deliberately made horcrux remains. It would appeal to Tom Riddle to have three anchors, given it is a number with arithmantic properties, though I cannot say with complete certainty.' The portrait looked thoughtful, gently stroking the blunt head of the snake entwined about his neck. 'He entrusted one anchor to one of the members of his inner circle, Malfoy, it is possible he gave another to a different member.'

'Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, the Lestranges,' Harry listed those he knew to be within that ring. They would not be easy to catch, and their secrets would be harder still to spill.

'You should do as much research over the summer as possible, and study for your NEWTs, only this time put more effort into it than you did for your OWLs last summer,' Salazar instructed scathingly.

'Transfiguration, Defence, Charms, and I suppose I should continue with Potions should Snape let me,' Harry sighed. 'At least I am well ahead in all but the latter.'

'You would not consider Ancient Runes or Arithmancy?' Salazar asked.

'Maybe Arithmancy,' Harry agreed, knowing that Advanced Arithmancy would prove both useful and interesting, 'but I don't want to take too many, especially not if I intend to take them early.'

'You won't struggle,' Slytherin sniggered, 'you could probably take the first three today and still pass.' He sobered up to stare at Harry expectantly. 'You should take as many as you think you can handle early, Harry,' he recommended seriously, 'they'll be useful to you after you've defeated Voldemort and you might not get a chance afterwards.'

'It's hard to conceive of afterwards,' Harry mused.

'Well you'd better get conceiving of it,' Salazar smirked 'because once you've redeemed my family name I expect you to further it by doing something suitably extraordinary.'

'I'll assume that defeating one of the most dangerous wizards in history isn't enough then,' Harry commented wryly.

'No,' Slytherin smiled, 'you should go out and make yourself into something greater than just Voldemort's opponent.'

'Such high expectations,' Harry grinned proudly, 'what's a wizard to do?'

'Well first you need to find that horcrux, deal with Dumbledore, deal with Voldemort, and, more critically, avoid embarrassing me by using that ludicrous butterfly spell in a public place.'

'We both know you're jealous of that spell,' Harry retorted. 'I bet you just tried to conjure or animate nearby things into the way of spells like that when you duelled and couldn't come up with anything as elegant.'

'I'm Salazar Slytherin,' the painting replied, drawing itself up, 'nobody dared duel me in the first place!' Harry laughed. That was definitely not true, and he rather suspected he was right about Slytherin's tactics.

'I'll apparate back here over the summer to speak with you,' Harry promised, 'no doubt I'll need your help.'

'Did you ever find a portrait or painting of any of my three friends?' Salazar asked softly.

'No,' Harry apologised. 'I know there aren't any on the walls, and the Room of Requirement gave me nothing when I tried to get it to show me.'

'I suppose I was the only one who left one,' Slytherin sighed. 'I guess it isn't all that surprising. Helga would never have been inclined to make one, Rowena died before any of us expected to, and Godric probably couldn't have made one without her or my help anyway.' He stared pensively down at Harry, his mood suddenly shifting sour. 'I suppose it hardly matters now.'

Harry didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to be isolated for so long, even if Slytherin had slept in his frame for all the years before Tom Riddle came and found him.

'You mentioned warding the chamber against Voldemort,' Harry reminded him, changing the subject. 'Should I not do that soon?'

'Very soon, while has little reason to visit the chamber, his backdoor into the school must be looking more and more tempting now he can act openly,' the founder replied solemnly. 'When you come down here to leave tomorrow I will tell you how to ward it from him, but it will be complicated, and I need to consider all of the possible variations first.'

Harry gathered from the way his ancestor said complicated that it would also be tiring, and likely require more than a little of his blood to complete. He was not adverse to the idea though. Whatever it took to prevent Voldemort from being able to simply walk into the school through the Chamber of Secrets would have to be done.

'Off with you,' Salazar ordered suddenly, flapping his hands in a shooing motion. 'I need to think, and your lingering is likely to make me make mistakes.' Harry rolled his eyes at the painting again, but traipsed out regardless, sealing the study and hiding the bridge behind him. If Salazar wanted to think on his own then he could have the study to himself. Harry wanted to briefly try a new spell.

It was not something he wanted to be seen trying, not until he'd mastered it, and certainly not if anyone recognised where he'd stolen the inspiration from.

'Contusio,' he commanded, flicking his wand into his palm. The magic of the spell compressed everything at the ebony tip of his wand into a small point. It created a familiar silvery speck of light, that trailed through the air in front of him as he moved his wand from side to side. Voldemort had managed to make several in one go, but Harry would rather wait until he could make one before he pushed the boat out too far.

With a flick of his wrist he sent it sailing across the chamber.

The small, silver spark drifted slowly and innocently through the air, then it collided with the wall. A violent flash of bright silver light lit the chamber, and a deep, head-ringing percussion echoed up and down it's length incessantly. Whatever he'd done was not quite the same as Voldemort's spell, which had created concussing explosions alone, but he liked it, and if he ever used it against Voldemort having the same incantation, but a slightly different effect, might surprise the Dark Lord.

A furious stream of parseltongue became audible from within the study as the ringing in his ears faded, and Harry decided it was probably a good time to vacate the Chamber of Secrets until Salazar calmed down. The painting did not like disruptions when he was thinking.

He beat a hasty, but tiptoed retreat when Slytherin's portrait went suspiciously quiet, sneaking back up the steps towards Myrtle's Bathroom in the hope that the painting thought he'd already left and went back to whatever it was thinking about. Salazar would likely have forgotten about the disruption by the next time Harry visited.

Harry continued to tiptoe across the bathroom, not because he was trying to avoid Myrtle, she would know he was here anyway, but because the puddle seemed even deeper than usual.

Slipping out through the door, now disillusioned, he took a few steps along the corridor and then dispelled the charm when nobody was looking. The corridors were empty regardless, everyone was busy packing for going home tomorrow morning and lessons supposedly ended early on the last day of term, though Harry had never experienced it himself having somehow spent the end of every year in the hospital wing.

The Gryffindor common room was fairly empty as well, but the sound of trunks moving over dormitory floors echoed down from both sides of the staircases. Harry spied Katie waiting to ambush him on the sofa by the fire and catching her eye he made his way across.

'Not packing?' He asked, slumping down next to her.

'No,' Katie beamed, her toes curling underneath her knees. 'I can't fit everything in my trunk and my shrinking charms won't last long enough for the journey back.'

'You want me to help?' Harry offered. If he pushed enough magic into it he could easily shrink things for that long.

'If you want,' Katie blinked, 'it will only take a second, then we can come back down here next to the fire. It's loud upstairs with everyone packing.' She uncrossed her legs and pushed herself out of the sofa, extending a hand to pull Harry gently up to his feet. Katie wandered casually towards the other set of the stairs, leading him by the wrist she had yet to let go of, but the moment Harry put one foot on the steps they smoothed out into a slide.

Katie gave a squeak of surprise and jumped backwards onto Harry's foot to avoid falling over.

'How inconvenient,' Harry grinned, pulling his foot out from under Katie's and extending his wand. 'If this doesn't work you'll have to do your own packing.'

'Confundus,' he smirked, as a few heads in the common room turned to watch him curiously. He could almost see the horror in Hermione's eyes when he heard her break off quoting the relevant passage about dormitory access in Hogwarts A History to watch the stairs revert back to their original form with Harry's foot still firmly on the first step.

'Someone make a note of how he did that,' he heard Seamus mutter, 'that's got to to be the most useful thing we've seen all year.' There was a murmur of consent from the other Gryffindor males.

'That's against the rules,' Hermione burst out, as Katie giggled maniacally and dragged Harry up the rest of the steps.

'What's he going to do?' Ron asked her incredulously, 'steal your underwear?'

'Have you somehow not heard what his father was like from Padfoot?' Hermione replied desperately. 'If he's anything like him then there won't be a pair of panties left in Gryffindor Tower by tomorrow.' Harry had never heard anything quite so strange as the word panties coming from Hermione's mouth.

'Where is Hermione's spot?' Harry asked innocently. Katie laughed, but said nothing, leading him up to her dormitory and a bed that was filled halfway from mattress to canopy with clothes, half of which were quidditch uniforms or jerseys.

There was a strangled exclamation of surprise from the only other girl in the room who was understandably shocked to see Harry in the room.

'Sorry,' Katie apologised for Harry's unexpected presence, 'but at least you're dressed for once.'

Her roommate, whose name Harry didn't know, fled abruptly towards the common room, turning a brilliant shade of scarlet.

'Now I've got room to watch you pack,' Katie enthused.

'I'm going to shrink things,' Harry told her amusedly, sitting down in the window, 'you're doing all the actual packing.'

'What if I asked really nicely?' His friend tried, fluttering her eyelashes in deliberately ridiculous manner.

'Not even then, Dark Mistress,' Harry grinned, silently shrinking every item on the bed to a third of its size.

'Fine,' Katie pouted, scooping the considerably smaller piles off the bed and none too carefully stuffing them into her battered trunk. 'I hate packing.'

'You're terrible at it,' Harry commented, 'but you do have some nice clothes,' he laughed, as something black and lacy fell out of the middle of one of the piles onto the floor by his feet.

'Not one more word,' Katie growled stuffing it back out of sight, flushing a bright, rosy red.

'So who did you buy that for?' Harry teased, ignoring her warning.

She was saved from answering by the timely arrival of Alicia, who froze at the sight of Harry, glancing between them with her mouth open. Two high spots of colour rose on her cheeks, something Harry hadn't seen since the quidditch training Katie had been injured by Crabbe in. Alicia was rarely so riled.

'Harry's helping me pack, Alicia,' Katie explained, forestalling whatever conclusion Alicia had mistakenly jumped to. 'I needed him to shrink everything so the spell lasts all the way back to London.'

'Oh,' Alicia said eloquently, closing her mouth. 'I just wanted to ask if you had any room in your trunk for an extra pair of shoes?'

'No,' Katie laughed, trying to force the lid of her trunk down with little success. 'Couldn't you have shrunk them a little more?' She demanded, turning back to look up at Harry. Alicia disappeared abruptly, stalking off disapprovingly.

'And miss out on this?' Harry grinned.

'Are you going to help?' She asked pouting coyly.

'If you insist,' Harry agreed, pushing himself up and pushing the middle of the lid down with one foot so Katie could lock it shut.

'Thanks,' she beamed, leaning her head to one side tilt her disarrayed hair out of her eyes, flushed from the effort and panting slightly. 'Shall we go back down?'

'That's probably a good idea,' Harry smirked, 'but you might want to make sure you don't look too dishevelled, let's not have another article written about us.'

Katie made a bit of a show of straightening her robes and smoothing her hair. 'If anyone believes that your reputation is going to suffer,' she giggled, still flushed, 'we've only been up here alone for about a minute.'

'So you never did tell me who you had in mind when you bought that very fetching piece of clothing? Harry reminded her. There was no way he was letting that insinuation be the last word in this conversation.

'And I'm not going to,' Katie stuck her tongue out, a bold, mischievous gleam in her eye, 'so you can stop picturing me in them.'

'I wasn't until you said that,' Harry defended, casting the Confundus Charm on the stairs again so they could go back down without sliding.

'Sure,' Katie giggled, unfazed by his indirect admission of guilt.

There was a quiet cheer from the boys when he appeared on the stairs, and a short round of applause for overcoming the girls' dormitory's stairs, one of the greatest opponents of wizards of Gryffindor Tower. Even Ron was clapping. He resisted the urge to bow, and shooed a pair of second years out of the sofa by the fire, reclaiming their spot and waiting for the attention to move on before speaking.

'I think that did more for altering your Dark Lord reputation than anything else this year,' Katie beamed, settling in next to him and sprawling comfortably across the two seat he'd left unoccupied.

'What kind of self-respecting Dark Lord spends his time sneaking into girls' dormitories,' Harry agreed.

'Alicia's going to give me an earful about that later,' Katie told him absently, 'she wasn't happy to us up there together.'

'She was angry, wasn't she?' Harry remembered. 'At least she's only really mad with me, that article wasn't your fault at all.'

'Like I said,' Katie waved a hand at him vaguely, 'don't worry about it. She's leaving this year so you won't have to worry about it anymore.'

'You will,' Harry pointed out.

'It'll be fine,' Katie reassured him. 'Now how was your History of Magic exam?'

'Tedious,' Harry groaned, 'I lost all feeling in my hand halfway through the essay. That's a subject I won't be missing next year.'

'That's the best thing about going from OWLs to NEWTs,' Katie told him, 'no more Binns, not that you went to any of his lessons this year. Have you chosen which ones you want to take?'

'Yeah,' Harry nodded, 'similar to yours actually. Transfiguration, Defence, Charms, Potions and Advanced Arithmancy.' Katie took all of those except for Advanced Arithmancy, a subject she loathed with a passion only equalled by her distaste for opposing quidditch teams.

'Five's a lot,' she warned him, biting her lip.

'I'm quite good at some of them already,' Harry reminded her modestly.

'Prat,' Katie smiled, squirming around to wave at Neville who had just entered the common room and shifting across into the middle next to Harry to free up a space for him.

'Have you chosen your OWLS?' She asked when Neville collapsed into the free corner of the sofa.

'Herbology, Defence, Charms,' Harry guessed smirking, 'and something Hannah Abbot's taking.

'Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy,' Neville finished, ignoring the jibe about Hannah.

'Really?' Katie asked, 'Astronomy?'

'Lunar phases and things like that can be important for Herbology,' Neville explained, 'and I think that our exam went pretty well.'

'Five as well,' Katie commented, 'most only do three or four,' she warned.

'Maybe I'll not continue Care of Magical Creatures then,' Neville mused, 'it depends on results anyway.'

The portrait swung open and Dennis Creevey bounced across the room wearing a vast grin on his face.

'Looks like the raven didn't get him after all,' Neville sighed.

'It got Pansy Parkinson's wand for a bit though,' Harry chuckled, raising an eyebrow when the younger Creevey bounded across to their sofa and began babbling incoherently while staring at him in a rather starstruck manner.

'Once more please, Dennis?' He asked politely, ignoring Katie's giggling.

'Professor Dumbledore would like to see you,' Dennis repeated just as quickly, 'the professor said something about you both enjoying sherbet lemons, but I didn't really understand.'

'Thanks, Dennis,' Harry said, grimacing, and exchanging a brief glance with Katie.

'I wonder what he wants?' Neville said after a moment.

'He probably wants to know why you aren't in the hospital wing this year,' Katie suggested cheerfully.

'I'd better go and find out,' Harry sighed. 'In case I come back quite late and don't see you guys before you leave tomorrow then I hope you have a good summer. I doubt we'll be able to exchange letters,' the Fidelius Charm rather scuttled the Owl Postal Service, 'but I'm sure we can try and meet up or something.'

'Why won't we see you on the train?' Katie asked curiously.

'I can apparate,' Harry whispered, enjoying her look of pure envy.

'Well,' Katie decided, 'we'll have to meet up over the summer if you can't send letters. You'll be able to find me on Diagon Alley easily enough. My parents own one of the cafés on the South side of the alley and I'll be helping out.' Harry couldn't imagine Katie working in a café, not with her recurring issues with goblets and cups. It seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.

'I can change the date on the badges for the DA,' Neville suggested, as Harry stood up to leave. 'We can meet up there then, none of the other members will know where to be.'

'Sounds like a plan,' Katie beamed. 'Did you actually keep yours Harry?'

'Of course,' he sulked, before realising how much like Salazar he sounded and snapping out of it immediately.

'Well hopefully I'll see you both later,' Harry smiled, picking his way across the common room and ducking out past the portrait.

Professor McGonagall was waiting outside, with pursed lips. She was gingerly holding a sherbet lemon between her fingers.

'I believe this is for you, Mr Potter,' she sighed, passing him the sweet.

'Thanks, Professor.' Harry unwrapped the sweet and slipped it in his mouth.

'You shouldn't encourage the headmaster to give you muggle sweets, Mr Potter,' McGonagall remonstrated him. 'They're very sickly and not at all good for you.'

'This is the first year I've not ended in the hospital wing,' Harry grinned, in a good mood despite his summons, 'it's also the first year I've accepted a sherbet lemon. Coincidence? I think not, professor.'

McGonagall gave him a long suffering expression and led him towards the gargoyle. 'Sometimes, Mr Potter, you act a great deal like your father.'

'So Snape tells me,' Harry commented dryly, eying the entrance to the headmaster's office with some trepidation. It was time for the conversation about returning to the tender care of his relatives.

'Sherbet lemon,' Professor McGonagall sighed at the gargoyle, gesturing for him to go up whe it stepped aside. 'I will see you next year, Mr Potter. I'm assured that there's a very good chance you will be in my class.'

'I'll be there,' Harry agreed, making his way up the spiralling steps.

But maybe not for as long as everyone else is.

The door was open at the top of the stairs, so Harry drifted in unannounced hoping to catch Dumbledore in the middle of something interesting and secretive.

He was disappointed.

The headmaster was calmly leaning back in his chair on the other side of the desk, holding his hand out in supplication to Fawkes who appeared to made off with the bowl of sherbet lemons.

'Harry,' he greeted kindly. 'If you'd be so kind as to bear with me for a moment, Fawkes is experiencing a bout of adolescent rebellion. Sadly, being a phoenix, they come about more frequently than one might hope.'

The phoenix trilled amusedly, tilting his head at Dumbledore, then hopping from his perch to replace the bowl on the wrong side of the desk, just out of reach of the seated headmaster.

'I suppose that will have to do,' Dumbledore chuckled.

'What did you wish to speak with me about, sir?' Harry asked, sucking on the remnants of his own sherbet lemon.

'About the summer,' the headmaster replied gently, adjusting his chair a few inches closer to the desk.

'What about it, professor?' Harry didn't have to try particularly hard to feign confusion. The summoning did seem slightly unnecessary, as far as Dumbledore knew the only place Harry had to go to was Privet Drive, which hardly merited a discussion.

'You know, of course, that you have to return to your relatives to be as safe as we can make you,' Dumbledore told him sagely, 'but I've also asked that a couple of the members of the Order take turns making sure you're still safe.'

That's how he knew I was apparating around last year, Harry realised. Ah well, let them try and find me.

'When can they first get there?' Harry asked innocently.

'The day after tomorrow,' Dumbledore smiled benignly, inching his hand across the smooth desk surface towards the bowl of sherbet lemons.

So there will be time for me to arrive and leave again.

'Who will it be?' Harry continued, watching on as Fawkes extended one taloned foot in front of the bowl to impede Dumbledore's progress. The old wizard sighed in defeat and looked away from his prized stash of sweets.

'Nymphadora Tonks, Alastor Moody and Hestia Jones are the three who will spend the most time there, Harry,' the headmaster shared kindly, 'but I must ask you to try and make things easy for us by not apparating off anywhere. Voldemort will be much more active now he's been exposed, and you remain, of course, in the forefront of his mind.'

Dumbledore's hand flashed forwards with surprising speed, seizing the bowl of sherbet lemons before Fawkes could react and returning it to its proper place on the desk. The phoenix let out a low cry of mourning, and hopped back onto his perch. Harry got the distinct impression the bird was now sulking.

'I promise, headmaster,' Harry answered honestly. 'I'll stay where I'm safest.'

Harry would be very surprised if Dumbledore could find anywhere safer than the Meadow. By the time he and Fleur were finished casting protections over their home it would not only be under the Fidelius Charm, but also behind layer after layer of wards and some blood protections of Harry's own creation. Even if Voldemort found the place he would not find it at all easy to get inside.

'Thank you, Harry,' the headmaster sighed, with obvious relief, 'I know it must be trying for you to endure the company of your relatives. They are not the most affable of people.' He adjusted several books on his desk, uncovering a particularly familiar looking tome. Albus Dumbledore, it appeared, had his own copy of Secret of the Darkest Arts. His likely didn't come with such helpful, how-to, annotations however.

'Now,' the headmaster smiled warmly, 'onto more pleasant, but no less important matters. Professor Tofty, an old associate of mine, and some of his colleagues have been most impressed with your performance in your OWLs. I recall a long, interesting conversation about a large raven you transfigured from a desk stealing the wands of other students before eventually dispersing. Normally, of course, I would frown on such a thing during an exam, but since the fault largely lies with the examiners for not being able to bring themselves to vanish your remarkable piece of magic I can only congratulate you on your accomplishments. That is well in advance of your studies.'

'Thank you, sir.' Dumbledore's compliments were not to be taken lightly, especially not in the field of Transfiguration.

'I remember performing a similar feat back in my youth,' the headmaster beamed, choosing a sherbet lemon from his recovered collection. 'I transfigured a particularly attractive, Chippendale styled chair into a swan. My professor was very impressed, but only up until the moment my creation broke his arm. I had, of course, not accounted for the aggressive nature of the bird.'

'Did you get full marks, sir?' Harry asked, rather hoping this recollection was coming to an end so he might see Katie and Neville before the evening wore on.

'I did,' Professor Dumbledore nodded, 'but I also received a string of detentions with the Alchemy Professor. My interest in your skill with Transfiguration is slightly selfish, I'm afraid. Professor McGonagall has been pressing me heavily to assist her with a personal project of hers for some years, but, alas, I never seem to have the time.'

'I don't think I'd be a suitable replacement for you, professor,' Harry commented disbelievingly. It did, however, explain why McGonagall had been so sure that Harry would be in her class next year.

'Have faith in yourself, Harry,' the old wizard encouraged gently, 'you are a very powerful wizard. Professor McGonagall has requested my help in her study of her subject not because my skill is any greater than her own, but because she needs a wizard or witch capable of sustaining partial, human transfiguration for a long time that she can then study.'

'I'm only an OWL student, sir,' Harry shrugged, 'surely another professor or a seventh year student would be preferable to her.'

'Your modesty is admirable, Harry,' the professor smiled. 'You performed an innovative feat of self-transfiguration last year for the Triwizard Tournament, something I understand Madam Pomfrey was quite horrified by, and I'm sure you would find Professor McGonagall's assistance with any interests in the field quite useful yourself.' The headmaster looked up at him, eyes twinkling. 'I'm sure that the notion of following in your father's and Sirius' examples has ocurred to you.'

'Becoming an animagus,' Harry mused.

'It is quite the useful talent,' Dumbledore nodded. 'My brother, Aberforth, is more adept at it than I and takes the form of a quite spectacular Billy Goat.'

'Do you have a form, professor?' Harry enquired, curious.

'For all my skill at the subject I have never found the inclination,' the headmaster admitted. 'It is no small project, as those who have undertaken it will tell you, and I have never quite had the motivation to begin it.' He looked thoughtful, pushing the sherbet lemon around his teeth with the tip of his tongue. 'I can honestly say that I have little idea what creature might suit me best. Would you be amenable to the idea, Harry?'

'I suppose I might be,' Harry agreed, unable to think of a good reason not to accept. The offer seemed genuine, and he could not, no matter how he considered it, see any trap within the chance. 'I have a request of my own, actually.'

'Oh,' Dumbledore shifted eagerly, 'you are more than welcome to another sherbet lemon, Harry.'

'I was hoping to be able to take some of my NEWTs early, professor,' Harry said cautiously. 'I find myself quite advanced already and with a while summer to spend studying.'

'It's not unknown,' the headmaster steepled his fingers, 'but it does depend on your results, anything less than an outstanding would not be encouraged by the faculty. Which subjects were you considering?'

'Transfiguration, Charms, Defence, Potions and Advanced Arithmancy, sir,' Harry answered swiftly.

'I have heard, from Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall, that you are casting, and have been casting some NEWT level spells since your fourth year, non-verbally as well.' Dumbledore ran a hand along the upper length of his beard, smoothing the silver hairs as he ruminated. Harry was unsettled, but not unsurprised, that the news had reached him. He always seemed to know exactly what was happening in the school. 'Defence Against the Dark Arts has always been your best subject too, but Professor Snape has never intimated any precocious gift for potions, and Professor Vector rarely lets any student take an exam early.'

'Is that a no, sir?' Harry asked, disappointed.

'Quite the opposite,' Dumbledore pulled his fingers from his beard, 'I think it's a splendid idea, provided, of course, you can study hard over the summer, but you will need written permission from each teacher. How early would you like to take them?'

'As early as possible,' Harry decided. Fleur had done it, so he could do it too. He suspected the written consent rule would eliminate the chance of him taking Potions early, but most students only took four NEWTs anyway.

'Next January?' The headmaster regarded him seriously. 'That is an ambitious undertaking, Harry.'

'The sorting hat did want to put me in Slytherin,' Harry reminded him, smiling faintly.

'A test, then,' Dumbledore enthused. 'I haven't done any teaching in some time and I daresay I could use the practice to keep in touch.' He reached into the bowl and drew out another sherbet lemon, placing it on the desk between them. 'I would like you to transfigure this into the most complex thing you can think of.'

Harry stared at the sweet. He knew immediately what would be most difficult. The sherbet lemon was small, inanimate, and technically food. He smiled, since it was food he could transfigure it into a different form of food without violating the first principle, and anything larger and living would be considered an accomplishment provided he did not get overly ambitious and choose something too large to be transfigured from it.

He flicked his wand into his palm and carefully, precisely altered the sherbet lemon into a real, waxy skinned, citrus fruit about the size of the palm of his hand.

'Very good,' Dumbledore nodded, looking pleased. 'You chose something difficult but obtainable. I shall assume you have put the same amount of thought into this choice to take your exams early and allow you to take them early provided you have the written consent from the teacher of each subject.' Harry untransfigured his lemon, frowning at himself. He'd missed the real test that Dumbledore had set, and the perceptive, subtle intelligence of the headmaster was provoking his paranoia. Anyone clever enough to set such a test was also clever enough to see through most deceptions.

'Was that all, Harry?' The headmaster asked. 'It's getting late and while I assume you will be making the most of your ability to apparate you will still have to get up early to say goodbye to your friends.'

I already said goodbye,' Harry answered absently as he left, not noticing the headmaster's slight frown at his words. It was likely too late for either Katie or Neville to still be in the common room, so unless someone woke him up early tomorrow he wouldn't see either of them until they met up in Diagon Alley.

AN: Please read and review, thanks to everyone who does. This chapter appears to have come out quite light-hearted for some reason, but maybe that's just me, or maybe it's because nothing horrible happened for once! ;)