Chapter six: Of Training and Tomfoolery

He lead me into what, except for the equipment, looked exactly like a muggle gym. He lead me through the gym and into a smaller room. There, we stopped.

"This room is called a focusing room. It will allow you to focus and control your powers no matter how strong you are. Also no harmful magic can exist here. Consider this place your training wheels. Now I want you to cast a disarming spell at me, but try to make the flow of magic gentle, like a trickling stream instead of a roaring waterfall. Picture a gentle slow spell in your mind and cast the spell."

I nodded and began to cast the spell. I could almost see and feel the currents of magic inside me. Too much was trying to go into the spell. With my mind, I blocked off about half of the magic then let the rest go.

"Expelliarmus!"

Dumbledore dodged the spell and grinned. "Good job, Harry, good! I am relieved you did it that well! I think that you could master the mind shield. Before you ask, the mind shield is something you yourself construct in your own mind. It is something only you can break. It, in essence, takes some of your power and holds it back. You can adjust the shield so that it will only hold a little back, or you could adjust it to the point where you would be able to fool people into believing you were a muggle. It will also shield people from your anger. It takes conscious thought to break the shield."

"How much of your power are you holding back, sir?"

He smiled, and his eyes twinkled. "Roughly, I am keeping back forty percent. I believe you will want to keep back quite a bit more than me. All Voldemort and the death eaters know is that you have gained one very interesting talent, and that you have at least somewhat increased in strength both physical and magical. They don't need to know how much you have improved. My suggestion would be to set your power level to that of a student in late sixth year or early seventh year."

"Right and how would I break the shield?"

"That part is very simple. You simply will the shield to break. Let's try and set one up, shall we?"

I must say, building a mind shield is REALLY difficult. Because it was my first time Professor Dumbledore helped me... a LOT. I basically went under a self induced trance and visualized actually building a wall in my mind. It took a while, but I finally managed to do it to the headmaster's satisfaction. After I finished, I was completely knackered and felt strangely vulnerable. Almost like I had walked into the great hall and forgotten my pants, or more correctly, as if I was going into battle without any kind of shielding. Professor Dumbledore told me that was quite natural, and that all I had to do to break the shield was picture the wall breaking in my mind. It was pretty late, by the time I had broken it down, and then built it back up, and the headmaster told me to go straight to bed. I readily agreed. I went back to our common room and found Sirius waiting for me. He gave me a tired smile and a loose hug.

"Hard day hu?"

"Uh hu."

"Well you go on up to your dorm and I will see you in the morning, ok?"

"K."

"Night Harry."

"K."

He chuckled as I made my way upstairs and fell into bed. I barely had time to drink the dreamless sleep potion before I feel into a deep heavy sleep.

"Is everything prepared?"

"Yes my lord. Everything is ready."

"You are certain their will be no suspicion towards our new little death eater?"

"Y-yes master the new recruit was accepted b-back with no problems. And it was you yourself that c-cursed her so there should be no p-problem there..."

"Excellent. I am pleased at how this is working out. A pity that you let Potter's friends escape though. Having them would have made things so much easier."

"My aa-pologies my lord. I did not know the boy would thth-ink of a time turner."

"Of all the things I have taught you which is the one thing I stressed most?"

"Ee-xpect the unexpected."

"And why, prey tell, didn't you? Potter is now a member of the order and we have lost several valuable spies. Also, I know there is a spy somewhere in my ranks. I will find him, and I will slowly skin him alive then feed his limbs to Nagini."

"I-I am sure you will find him soon master."

"Yes, I will, Wormtail. And he will loath the day of his birth before I am done. Oh and Wormtail?"

"Yyes master?"

"Don't fail me again. Crucio."

I woke up with a start and clapped my hand to my stinging scar. "Got to tell Dumbledore." I knew that I probably wouldn't make it all the way to the headmaster's office without falling asleep, so I quickly shook Ron awake.

"Harry... look at the clock... leave me alone."

I did look, the clock said "What are you doing awake at this hour? Go back to sleep!"

"Ron I had one of those dreams... you know... a scar burner." He woke up quick enough after I said that.

"Blimey Harry, why didn't you just say so! Let's go before you fall asleep."

The both of us raced through the castle to Dumbledore's office. Little did we know that Dumbledore was a bit... occupied at the moment. We barely stopped long enough to give the gargoyle the password then we flew up the stairs and burst through the door.

"Professor I..." I stopped short. Screaming!?

"Harry? Ron? Good someone is here. Help me with him."

He moved aside to reveal a shaking Snape. He was screaming like he was under Cruciatus!

"Headmaster wha..." Suddenly the screaming stopped. Snape sat up and looked around.

"Albus! I must tell you something very important! There is... Oh hello headmaster what are you doing here? I told you that I would do my best on this mission tonight."

All three of us, me, Ron, and Dumbledore blinked in unison. Ron spoke up first.

"Umm professor Snape sir? Are you alright?"

"What? Oh course I am alright Weasley! What are you doing inside on such a lovely summer day? Go get some sun or something!"

"But sir, it's night."

"What! No it isn't you little fool! I swear these Gryffindors... can't even tell the time of the day..."

I decided to try and make some sense out of all this. "Um professor? It is night. See? We are in our PJs."

"Well, what in the blazes are you doing in your pajamas in the middle of the morning! I know it is summer but you should have been up long ago. Don't tell me you went down to the great hall in THAT!"

"What are you talking about sir?"

"Potter! Why in the world are you in my dream? I was having a perfectly lovely dream then YOU have to come along..."

Dumbledore decided to try...

"Severus, I believe you were going to tell me something important? I need to know what it was."

"What? I don't know what you are talking about Albus. Do you really think this plan of yours will be effective that He-who-must-not-be-named will accept me?"

"Severus,"

"Yes Albus?"

"What is today's date, and come to think of it, give me the time too."

"It is the fifteenth of August and I think it is around ten o'clock at night."

My eyes widened. "But sir, it is the seventeenth, and it has to be getting towards one by now."

"Don't be stupid, Potter, it is only eight 'o clock!"

Dumbledore sat down in his chair with a thump.

"Oh dear."

For Dumbledore to be worried, it is most certainly bad. "What is it Sir?"

"I believe that Severus has been hit with a de-aging curse. Oh dear, this is quite serious. You boys go on back to bed and leave me to deal with this. Whatever you came for will just have to wait for a while. Ron, make sure Harry gets back down to the dormitory alright. I dare say the sleeping potion is beginning to come back into effect. Harry, for the duration of the summer, Remus and Sirius will be taking over for you. Good night to the both of you."

"Goodnight, headmaster."

I barely remember Ron half carrying me and half dragging me back to the common room where I finally gave up on my battle against sleep and muttering a slurred apology to Ron, fell completely limp against him. I found out later in the morning that Ron had lugged me to the couch, set me down, and thrown one of the blankets kept in the common room for just such an occasion over me. Then, still muttering various curses that would have had him denoming for months had his mother heard them, trudged off to bed.

Next time I woke up my face was sticky and a pink slobbery tongue was on my cheek.

"Arg! Sirius! GROSS!!!" I sat up and glared balefully down at the offending dog that was currently wagging his tail looking quite satisfied with himself.

"Siruis used to get your father with that all the time. It became quite the tradition. All of us waking up to a blood curdling scream of SIRIUS!!!???"

With some annoyance, I looked over at Remus Lupin. He looked as if he was trying to hide a chuckle. "You could have warned me you know."

"I could have, but I didn't want to."

I rolled my eyes and did a water spraying charm on the smug looking dog. "If you are gonna keep waking me up like that I am gonna have to give you a doggy bath."

At this Remus burst out laughing. "James did that once! He put a leg locker curse on him and floated him to the lake! He almost got bit several times. Unfortunately Snape saw the whole thing. I don't believe you ever lived that down did you, Padfoot?"

There was a tiny pop as the dog disappeared and a slightly wet Sirius reappeared. "Ha, ha Mooney. And as for you pronglet, don't even try it."

"Keep those wake up calls going and I will."

"Ya know Padfoot, you STILL smell like a wet dog when you so much as get damp!"

"Shut it Mooney."

"Anyway, in case you don't remember, we are here to take over your training. So without further adieu..."

"Get Ron and Hermione up too. They are gonna take some of the training also. They are your best buds after all."

"Why should you have to suffer alone? Oh... and you can get them up anyway you wish. Just bear in mind. They do eventually need to forgive you."

Many splashes, screams, and curses (self defense I assure you) later everyone was finally up and ready to start training.

"Harry, if you ever do that again I am gonna bloody kill you."

"Hey at least you didn't get woken up by a disgusting pink tongue!"

"There are feelings attached to that tongue I will have you know. Besides I brushed my teeth before I came in to wake you."

"I have no comment to that Sirius."

"So Harry, can you talk about the training last night?"

Before I could answer her, Remus came back into the room wearing a grey muggle sweat suit. "To the quidditch pitch!"

With a wave of his wand all of us were in grey sweat suits like Lupin's. "Well what are you lot waiting for? The sooner we all run laps the sooner we can eat!"

"Running? I thought that we were training to fight against death eaters, not for the hundred yard dash!"

Remus looked down at Ron and winked. "Ah but what is the best way to prevent getting cursed in the first place?"

I bit back a laugh as Hermione raised her hand. Remus' smile got a bit wider. "Yes Hermione?"

"Dodging, sir?"

"Close, but not quite what I am looking for. And for future reference, this isn't a class room. You don't need to raise your hand. Harry, perhaps you can tell me the best way to escape getting cursed?"

I smirked. "Stopping time so the curses can't reach you."

"Ha, ha. Tell me the best way for us poor normal magic folk to avoid getting cursed."

My face went deadly serious. "As soon as you realize you are in a dangerous situation, you get the hell out."

"And assuming you can't apparate and there is no floo or portkeys around?"

"You hop on your broomstick and..."

"No broomsticks either."

"Then you run like hell and pray that you are faster than they can curse."

"Precisely. And if you find you can't run?"

"Dodging, a good shielding spell, and constant vigilance."

"Excellent! Learning to run is what I hope will be the first defense for all of you. Death eaters are dangerous and ruthless. They will use powerful curses that you won't be able to fight against. I need not tell you that all of you are targets. My goal here is to teach you to defend yourself, not to fight back. Also I do stress that you try to do, with the exception of Harry, just as well in your classes as you did before. Try not to look as strong as you will become. Do not tell anyone that you have been through training and that you will continue it throughout the year. Do not tell anyone that you are now allowed to use magic in the summers. Be as vague as you can. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open. Trust no one who hasn't already proven themselves without a shadow of a doubt, and even then be very, very careful. Now, let's all go running. I want ten laps around the pitch today. And I want you to run your best. No slackers, and… GO!"

And we were off. I had always been a pretty good runner from being chased all those years by Dudley, and to tell the truth I had never disliked running. Who wouldn't enjoy the feel of the wind in your face and blowing through your hair, the ground echoing under your feet, the blood pumping in your veins as you laughingly out ran your lumbering cousin?

Needless to say, I was the first one to complete all of my laps. Ron was second, having older brothers to chase him around, and Hermione, having no siblings or cousins to terrorize her, came in last. Remus seemed quite pleased with out efforts.

"Excellent! I could tell that each of you was doing his..."

"Or her."

"or her personal best! Great job, you lot! You have certainly earned your breakfast."

"First though, so you won't stink up the great hall, go take a bath. Snape is enough odor in the great hall for now."

"Just watch it Sirius, you are gonna get a dog bath yet."

"Do that, my little pronglet, and you will find yourself in a full body bind, on the Slytherin table, being licked in the face."

I grinned. "How would you like to be a nice new statue in the Hogwarts court yard? You would fit in nicely with the gargoyles..." I grinned even wider when I thought of... interesting... things I could do to various professors. Oh yes, this next school year would be FUN!!!

We all went upstairs, still bantering back and forth as if we were in a tennis match, then we each retired to our respective prefect bathrooms that we had all been allowed to use in the absence of the actual prefects. For some reason, the Headmaster had decided to announce the prefects and give them their badges at the opening feast.

After taking a quick shower, and lounging around in the luxurious bath for a while, the three of us went into separate stalls and changed from our swim trunks to our respective summer clothing. I was wearing a red T-shirt with a fluttering snitch on the front pocket and muggle jeans. Sirius had taken me clothes shopping about a week after I started living with him. I now had a complete wardrobe of both muggle and magical clothes, including robes that actually fit! He had bought me five completely muggle outfits, five magical outfits, and five non-Hogwarts robes. My dress robe still fit me from last year.

We joined Hermione in the entrance to the great hall. I had just sat down for breakfast when the daily owls fluttered in. Because it was summer there were far less owls than I was used to, but still, it did cause you to sit up and pay attention.

I was quite a bit surprised when a stern looking black owl landed on my shoulder and dropped a letter in my lap. I quickly opened the letter since the owl seemed to expect a reply.

Harry,

We need to talk. Meet me in the library after the welcoming feast. I need answers.

Cho Chang

I quickly got out a piece of parchment and a quill and wrote her back. I was both frightened and hopeful about her request.

Dear Cho,

I will be happy to meet you in the library and am prepared to answer any questions you have for me. Please don't come to any conclusions about me until you hear what I have to say, and please bear with me. The... third task is still difficult for me to talk about.

Harry,

I gave the owl a piece of my bacon and tied the letter to it's right talon.

Ron looked over at me.

"Who sent you that letter, Harry?"

I sighed and speared my eggs. "It was Cho, says she wants answers."

He nodded and clapped a hand on my back. "It'll all work out mate; you'll see!"

I gave him a weak smile and turned back to my breakfast. "So is your family settling in alright?"

"Yeah mum just loves the guest apartments. Dumbledore thinks they will only need to stay here until the school year starts. As we speak, several aurors are over at the Burrow putting more protection charms on it. I think they are even gonna make it unplottable."

We finished breakfast, and Remus took us upstairs to the DADA classroom.

"Before you jump to conclusions, I am not teaching defense next year; Arabella is. However, I will be hanging around and will continue to teach you three. Now, on to the lesson. I believe that Crouch Jr. told you last year that only one of the unforgivables was unblockable?" We nodded. "Harry, which one is unblockable?"

"The killing curse."

"What is one way to block Imperio?"

"Uhh... resist it. Fight the curse."

He nodded. "Correct. I have been given special permission to teach you to block these curses. Don't worry, I won't send the Cruciatus curse at you until I am sure you can block it. Harry, unless I am mistaken, you did manage to block the killing curse last year did you not?"

I blinked. "Hu?"

"The Priori Incantatem Harry, it blocked the killing curse."

My eyes widened. I hadn't even thought of that! I nodded dumbly. "You know... it did..."

He smiled kindly at me. "Today I am going to teach you to both resist and block the Imperious curse. Harry, would you mind it if I put Imperious on you?"

"Umm... no."

"Good, first of all, I need to do a small spell that will allow the others to hear your thoughts. I would make your mind as blank as possible if I were you."

I nodded and pictured a large chalkboard in my mind.

"Cogitaraudire!"

On the wall golden words appeared.

Think of chalkboards. Think chalkboards. Hey! I can see what I am thinking! Cool!  This spell could be interesting. Hey! They can still see this stuff. Chalkboards think of chalkboards.

Then he cast the curse on me.

"Imperio!"

I felt the familiar floating feeling and waited for some instructions.

Hop around the room like a bunny.

Why?

Hop around the room.

No I don't think I will thank-you.

Hop around the room like a bunny!

No.

DO IT!

"No."

"Very good Harry! Finite Incantium. Now that you have all seen how it is done, I want the rest of you to try it. All you have to do is resist the curse with the logical side of your brain. On side note, Imperious is actually the most dangerous if the caster tells you to do something that you don't think is wrong or silly. For instance, you are in a market place, get hit by the curse, and are told to say... shop for a specific hat. That doesn't seem wrong or silly to you, so you do. Only problem is the hat is a portkey and before you can even begin to suspect that hat, you have been whisked away to the death eater's hideout. Unfortunately, Imperious is almost impossible to resist in these instances."

We spent the rest of that session with Lupin and Sirius putting Imperious on us and telling us to do different things. With Herm and Ron they gave them warning, and told them to do something silly. For instance, I must say... Ron did look rather fetching in Herm's dress robe. Though he was just a bit tall for it. They hung around his knees! Ha! He is never gonna live that one down! With me, however, they gave no warning at all, and usually told me to do something like go to the library and get a book. Remus and Siruis had a nice stack of books on the floor before I finally managed to stop myself. When I re-entered the room without a book in my hand the two of them let out great shouts of joy and startled Ron, who, still in Hermione's dress robes, was doing lovely pirouettes on the table, and Hermione, who was playing leap frog with herself, out of their stupors. Herm and I took one look at Ron and burst out laughing. Ron, for his part, scowled both at Hermione and I, and at Remus and Sirius, mostly at the two former marauders though. After I had finally whipped my eyes and picked myself off the floor, Sirius walked up to me and clapped me on the back.

"Excellent job, Harry! Now, lets see if you can catch yourself before you get through the door this time, ok?"

I flopped into a chair with a sigh. "Sirius, it is really hard fighting that curse! Can't I have a break?"

Sirius easy smile turned into a rather hard looking frown. "Harry, do you honestly think that You-Know-Who will give you time for a breather? This training, especially yours, is going to be very hard. Heck, by the end of the week, you probably aren't gonna like Remus and myself very much. But we are doing this because we love you and don't want anything to happen to you. Imperio. Now go get a drink of water."

I realized that I was under the curse, but I decided not to fight it and allowed my feet to take me to the table where the water was. I felt the cool liquid travel down my throat and had just noticed that it tasted rather strange when I suddenly turned into a yak. Sirius, for his part, laughed and said,

"You never know what could be poison, Harry."

I changed back with a *pop*. "Yeah and I never know when some joker will decide to pull a prank. Then again... I am Prongs' son... STOP!"

Everyone froze. I restarted Herm and Ron and together we... redressed our teachers. One hour later, they both found themselves in Snape's office dressed as call girls. Snape almost died laughing. I had actually begun to feel sorry for the guy. He had been hit with a curse that would slowly cause him to de-age until there was nothing left of him. Madam Pomfrey had found that every week and a half, he would loose a year.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the day hiding from the Marauders. Oh but Sirius and Remus were mad! They could have wrung my neck!

The next day was pretty much the same, get woken up by some horrible prank, pay Sirius back, run, eat breakfast and get another prank played on me, get Remus back, train, lunch. But that day I started my private training, and the guy teaching me was...

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

I've got to say Crouch Jr. was almost spot on with his interpretation of Moody. The real man himself did have a sense of humor though, a twisted, dry sense of humor but a sense of humor non the less. The man seemed to think it was funny to jump out of dark corners around the school trying to scare me and my friends. I was seriously thinking of turning him into another Hogwarts gargoyle.

Things settled down into a routine until one night when I was having a bit of trouble sleeping and decided to go into the common room and read till I got sleepy. I was quite surprised to find Ginny down there in front of the fire. She, in turn, didn't expect me down either.

"Oh! Harry, what are you doing down here?"

I flopped into a cushy chair beside the fire and covered my eyes with my hand. "Can't sleep. You?"

She bit her lip. "Same here. I keep having dreams."

That got my attention. "Dreams? What kind of dreams?"

"About the chamber, and... that man. It was awful Harry! If you hadn't shown up he would of..."

I was down beside her in a second. "Gin, I won't let anything happen to you. Your family, they've done so much for me. Heck, if it wasn't for Ron, I  might of been sorted into Slytherin. It was my fault that happened to you. Voldemort was trying to get to me. And let me tell you, it worked a bit too well."

She sniffled. "Harry? Do you think I could join the training that Ron and Hermione are going through? I just don't want to be so defenseless!"

I nodded, "It's fine with me, but you're gonna have to clear it with your parents. I think that is a good idea though."

She smiled a bit at me. "Oh and Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Next time you blame yourself for the dark lord attacking... I am gonna hit you. It wasn't your fault, Harry! In fact, if it wasn't for you I would be dead in the first place! And also... neither Cedric, the Dursleys, or anyone else's death was your fault!"

"But Gin I..."

"Harry Potter, do you think the chamber of secrets was my fault?"

"Of course not Gin! You couldn't have known! He was controlling you, it wasn't. your. fault."

"Harry, if you don't blame me for that... then why do you blame yourself for this? People could have very well been killed because of something I was forced to do. So if you don't blame me, why blame yourself?"

I froze. She was right! But... "Ginny, I knew someone was after me at the tournament! I knew it! I should have put two and two together and..."

"Figured out something even Dumbledore himself couldn't!? Harry, your good, but not that good! No one could of expected you to know, just like no one expected me to know that an innocent looking diary was a trap!" Her voice grew warm and gentle and she laid a dainty hand on my shoulder. "Harry, it wasn't your fault, none of it was. Can't you see that? It was Voldemort's fault, not yours."

"I know that Ginny, it's just... You said his name! You called him Voldemort!"

"Well I have seen him face to face just like you, haven't I? Why shouldn't I use his true name?"

I allowed a soft smile to cross my features. "Gin, you never cease to amaze me."

She giggled. "I try. So do you think my parents will say yes?"

"I think they will, Gin. Why would they object to you learning stuff like, fighting Imperious? Ron and Herm can throw it off pretty easily now. Though, I will miss seeing him in Herm's dress robes. That was funny!"

She laughed with me. "I'm sorry I missed it! Is your cousin, Dudley, gonna see you before the end of summer?"

I sighed. "I think so, considering everything, I think it would be best to bring him here and put some VERY strong protection charms on him. Of everyone, I am most worried about him. I am gonna speak to Dumbledore about it tomorrow."

I heard someone mumbling the password to the fat lady and I subtly inched my hand towards my wand.

"Harry, what in Merlin's name are you doing up at this hour?!"

"Sorry Sirius. I couldn't sleep."

"Oh really now? Seems to me the two of you were snogging!"

I felt my face grow warm. "We were not! I came down and I saw Ginny here and we just TALKED ,that's all!"

"Yeah right, and I'm Slytherins heir. Oh, Professor Dumbledore told me to give this to you. Try not to lose it again, ok?"

He handed me the Marauder's Map. I clutched it, overjoyed to have it back.

"Thanks Sirius."

"No prob. Now don't you two think you should get to sleep? Harry, you have got a hard day of training ahead."

I sighed. "Alright… night Ginny, remind me after supper and we will talk to Dumbledore ok? I figure he can convince your parents to let you join us easily enough."

"Ok I won't forget."

I waved to her and followed Siruis upstairs where he forced me to drink some dreamless sleep potion, I had been trying to wean myself off it, and fell into a deep sleep.

AN: Ok! There it is! The last quicky chapter from THIS fic! I have about a page and a half written for the next chapter sooo yeah it's gonna be a while I'm afraid. TOLD you that I would have the next one up on Friday! YAY I made my own deadline! ^_^

Ok… new spell.. Cogitaraudire, that means roughly display thoughts. Once again THANK YOU Latin/English dictionary!!!

I put a LOT more humor in this chapter than I did in the others… hmm I think I am gonna stay with the humor at least for the next chapter and for the first few chapters of my sequel… By the way the title (and I have known this for a while will be Vir Electus. Basically that means hero chosen ^_^. Of course this is subject to change… *shrug*

Yay!!! I finally managed to develop a relationship between Harry and Ginny! That's right folks! The pairings are as follows. R/H H/G. Then what am I gonna do with Cho you ask? Well you shall just have to read it and find out!

I gave you a HUGE clue in this chapter… last one for a while… if you do think you know DON'T put it in a review. Email me.

I am a bit disappointed… I only got three reviews last time… *pouts* Well here are the people that were nice enough to review.

Amy: XD Hee hee yeah one of my friends almost yelled at me for that one… FOOLED YA!!! ^_^ Yes there will be a sequel *points up* And I am glad you liked the freezing thing. I will admit though the idea wasn't originally mine. I forget the name of the fic I read it so long ago… but yeah I got the idea from there. Glad ya like the fic and I hope you liked this chapter!

Flame: HI FLAME!!! Loooonnngggg time no see! Thanks for the heads up on the grammar mistakes… I will go back and correct them… eventually… probably not here though.. Don't wanna loose my reviews. ^_^ Glad ya like the humor. Hai sarcastic Harry went bye-bye after the first chapter… I might bring him back though! We shall see.

Sara Minks: Ahhh the person that reviews almost all the chapters… MY NEW FRIEND!!! ^_^ My mouse is funny too.. just the other day it told me the best joke about a lady and a cow… XD

Please people.. more reviews next time k?