"Harry," Nataniel said as the boy entered the dojo. "Come over here."
His redheaded professor was standing at the far side of the dojo together with a tall man Harry recognized as Sirius Black – the prankster turned professor and a friend of Harry's. Obeying Nataniel's order, the young boy glided over to them, his feet almost soundless against the soft floor.
"Nataniel, Sirius," he greeted them as he reached their end of the dojo.
"Harry," the black-haired man grinned and bowed to hug him. "It's nice to see you again even if Severus talks about you all the time."
Harry grinned back and arched an eyebrow.
"So it's 'Severus' now, Padfoot," he teased. "Does that mean you're actually friends?"
The Hogwarts professor mock glared at him.
"Have we ever been anything but best friends?" he dramatically said. "You hurt me beyond words!"
Nataniel had amusedly watched their little display until now, but stepped in, as the two dark-haired pranksters were about to throw themselves into a rather heated fake argument.
"Play later," he sternly said. "There's a reason professor Black is here, Harry."
They silenced and Harry looked enquiringly at his friend.
"So, why are you here, Padfoot?" he curiously asked.
Sirius shrugged.
"Severus asked me to," he explained. "He said something about staging a martial arts fight to demonstrate. He said that you have a tendency to remember every move you see and wanted to know how it would work if you were to see a combat between two masters. And as I'm the only martial arts artist he knows who's available, he sent me here to demonstrate with Nataniel here. I have to say it was rather tricky to find the school though."
As he spoke the last sentence, he glared at Nataniel who blushed furiously. Harry smirked slightly; it was fun to see Nataniel ruffled for once. Then he glanced at his watch and made big eyes.
"Uh, guys?" he tentatively said. "If you want to show me any moves, I suggest you start now. Less than half the lesson is left."
The two adults stopped glaring at each other and Nataniel nodded at Harry.
"Clear out and watch intently," he asked.
Harry inclined his head and moved away, giving Sirius and his professor some space. The two men positioned themselves opposite of each other and bowed slightly. Then they began.
Already from the beginning, Harry could see that Sirius was the better of the two men. And in the beginning, he was actually aware of things. But as the fight became increasingly intricate, Harry found himself zoning out.
He was fighting with a slender, redheaded man on the grass, their movements fluent and skilful
"We're well matched," the other man noted. "I wouldn't like fighting you in the future."
The black clad man flew through the air from a well-placed kick as another one attacked the man to his left. He effortlessly rendered his opponent harmless in a flurry of movements, and then looked around to look at the bodies surrounding him.
"You were foolish to attack a Master," he commented. "But you were insane to attack two."
They moved together in silence as the sun rose in the horizon. No words were needed, only movements as they danced the deadly dance of martial arts. None of them were trying to hurt the other; they were simply letting their bodies synchronize in a way that few people could understand.
He was breathing heavily as the world slid into focus again, his head hurting from all the knowledge stuffed in there. It felt like someone had simply split his head open and stuffed an extra brain in. Yet, he sensed that this new knowledge had its origin inside him.
Sirius and Nataniel had stopped fighting, he absently noted. They sat by his side, looking worriedly at him, Sirius cradling his hand. As he saw Harry look at him with clear eyes, he whooped.
"You're awake!" he exclaimed. "Are you ok? You went into some sort of trance a few minutes into the fight."
Harry nodded and sat up, his body strangely enough almost crackling with energy.
"Hai," he absently said. "I feel strange though…"
Sirius shared a strange look with Nataniel. They seemed almost…worried.
"I've sent for Master Snape," Nataniel quietly said. "He should be here soon, there was some trouble at Hogwarts he had to take care of first."
Sirius nodded.
"Good," he said. "I'm worried, it isn't normal to go into a trance like that."
"Or to start speaking a foreign language like that," Nataniel added.
Harry looked irritated at the two men.
"Hello?" he almost snapped, his mood heavily due to the thrumming ache in his head. "I'm still here, you don't have to talk over my head."
Sirius and Nataniel shared another look, and then Nataniel rose and disappeared while Sirius looked seriously at Harry.
"How do you feel?" he carefully said. "Do you feel strange in any way? You don't seem to be quite yourself."
Harry shook his head, then winced at the pain it caused. He definitely didn't want to do that again.
"No," he admitted. "My head…it feels like it's going to burst. I'm sorry I was snappy, but…"
Harry stopped talking as a fresh wave of pain spread through his body, this time originating from the scar on his forehead. It was more intense than the last one too, causing his body to start convulsing as he gripped his head.
"Aaah!" he cried out, almost biting his tongue off as another wave of pain hit his body.
He could feel Sirius' desperate tries to find out what was wrong but couldn't as Harry was without any means of communication now. And what was worse, he was entering a state of preparation for an involuntary spell. He tried to warn Sirius, but didn't manage to get out as much as a sound.
Then someone dragged Sirius away, just as the spell came into action, creating a dome around his body and the other body close to him. The pain abruptly stopped and two callused, tender hands travelled over his body helping his muscles to relax from their knotted state. And as Harry opened his eyes to see his helper, he met the eyes of Severus Snape.
"Hello Harry," the man smiled slightly. "I see you've managed to get yourself into trouble again."
He grimaced and sat up, focusing on keeping himself conscious.
"Well," he absently said. "Trouble is my second name as Viktor always says."
Severus chuckled and helped him sit straight as he found his bearings again.
"What happened?" Severus worriedly said. "Nataniel was rather incoherent as he called me over the fire. He only said that you were in grave need of help."
Harry shook his head, touching his forehead gingerly.
"I have no idea," he slowly said. "Sirius and Nataniel were carrying out your experiment when I suddenly started to see things. And at the same time, I started to know things. Almost as if the visions brought knowledge of the things within them. And then, when they ended, my head felt as if it would split. But then my scar started hurting too, even worse than my head, and I just couldn't think or do anything anymore."
Severus nodded understandingly.
"I think I understand," he mumbled. "Am I correct in assuming that you still remember what you learned through these 'visions'?"
Harry nodded.
"Ah," Severus remarked. "I don't know if I ever told you this Harry, but I think knew your biological parents."
The boy stared at his mentor, mouth wide open. The professor smiled slightly at his expression.
"Apparently not," he commented. "Anyway, it's inheritable in that family to inherit the memories of earlier ancestors. It doesn't happen very often, but when it happens, it's often very important. It seems like you may be one of the lucky ones."
Harry was still gaping at him.
"But," he weakly said, "Why haven't you said anything before?"
Severus waved his question away.
"I never thought it was relevant as I'm not sure," he casually said. "Now, that scar… It hurt, you said?"
The confused eleven-year-old nodded.
"Hmmm," the professor thought aloud. "And you've had it since the day your parents died. I wonder…"
Harry finally gathered his guts together and looked at the dark clad ex-death eater.
"What?" he asked.
"I think the scar binds you to Voldemort," Severus explained. "It would make sense actually. He was the one who
caused the scar, and so, you can feel him through it. It all make sense now!"
Harry pouted.
"It doesn't!" he complained. "I don't understand a thing you're saying."
Severus smiled patronizing.
"You will, Harry," he replied. "In time. Now, don't you think we should get this dome thing down? Sirius, Viktor
and your friends seem rather anxious out there."
Harry glared at the older wizard he considered family. He loved the man, but he was so irritatingly full of riddles sometimes. And he hated riddles.
"How do I get the thing down then?" he asked.
Severus shrugged eloquently.
"I have no idea," he said. "You made it, only you can take it down."
Harry sighed.
"Great!" he muttered.
The boy had an uncomfortable feeling that this would take quite some time.
TBC