Chapter Twenty Five:

 Harry smiled at the young novice-priest beside him – the man was not that much older than Harry himself, and had already decided on the course of his life. Harry wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but decided to keep it quiet – who knew what he'd be doing at that point in his own life?

 They were walking to one of the Higher Priests tents, where they were both taking lessons on reading and writing in the language of the nomad priests.

 The Council had decided that Harry would be taught to read the writing in the books that he'd brought, though they refused to tell him what they meant by 'the One' as they called him.

 Harry had grown used to their secrecy in the past week he'd been in their company, it was a little bit of a shock when in Atlantis, but he himself was as secretive as they were – he'd told them no more about himself than he had the morning that he'd arrived.

 He'd had a good time in the various camps, running between them several times a day, as the many people he had to talk to were located in every given group of tents.

 Harry was very glad that he'd been he was this 'One' of theirs, because he doubted that they'd have taught him otherwise … but maybe if he wasn't this the 'One' he would not have been in this situation right now anyway.

 "Hey Ferux, aren't you at all nervous about all the tests that we're going to get?" The young priest – his name was Denandor – asked him.

 Harry shrugged. "Not really. I have to learn and it won't be that hard. I can pass the tests, and I'm sure that you can too," he replied easily.

 They were approaching the tent in which they'd need to be for the day's lesson now, and Denandor was looking more nervous than ever. Harry rested a hand momentarily on the other's shoulder as if to try and calm him down.

 Denandor had only been amung the preists for a few months, and he'd just gotten through all of the tests that novices had to go through before they could begin to learn the actual things a priest needed.

 Walking inside, the other seemed to be actually shaking, Harry stood straight and tall, his face immobile and utterly calm.

 The Higher Priest was sitting in front of a desk, writing in the same style as was in Harry's book, and paid no attention to the new arrivals.

 Harry stood still and silent, patiently awaiting the Scribe's attention. Denandor fidgetted. Harry would have sighed, but he was in the presence of a Teacher figure.

 The man carefully finished the page he was scribing, before placing his quill on the table and turning his attention to the 'students' in front of him.

 "You are prompt," the man remarked. "Be seated and do not fidget."

 Harry smiled faintly, this man seemed rather like a cross between Snape and McGonagall.

 Settling himself calmly, Harry focused his mind completely on the lesson, he seemed to have a natural talent for languages since he'd first come to Atlantis, and he was fairly sure that he impressed the older priest with his willingness and ability to learn.

 It was approaching the end of Harry and Elisa's 'holiday' in Atlantis, and Harry had the language of the priests under control, he could read and write fluently, and had made a lasting impression on the priests who'd taught him and gotten to know him.

 He had not seen the books that he'd brought with him until it was decided he'd reached the end of his training.

 "I ask that you not read them until you've returned to your Earth," the Head of the Council told Harry firmly. "You will have questions for us once you've read those books, questions that you must answer for yourself. If you are here, you may be tempted to take advantage of our friendship and find out something from one of the younger ones to make your course easier."

 Harry wanted to protest that he'd never cheat like that, but kept himself still and silent – one did not speak out in front of the council unless one was asked too, Harry knew.

 "You have been a good and willing student, and a fine friend while you were with us, Ferux. You will be missed amung us, but those of us who know your destiny know that you must leave, and leave now – go, for there are many things that you must do!"

 Harry looked at them for a moment, then bowed and shifted form, a huge dragon, a form that Harry had only recently learned, turned it's head to the sky for a moment, suddenly the books appeared, fastened between his huge, golden wings.

 Powerful hind legs pushed off against the ground, sending Harry leaping for the sky, the brilliant golden dragon let out a roar of farewell and thanks, dipped it's wings once and set out flying hard for the Palace.

 The Dragon/Harry seemed to smile as it beat a steady course through the air, he'd learnt a way to make a change to a form that he wanted too, although it did take some effort.

 He had to research a lot about the animal that he wished to become, think on it's habits and learn it's ways of thinking, as much as he could.

 Then, when he went to that space where his mind stayed while his body changed around him, and his magic took the course of his interest.

 He'd kept up his contact with Elisa through the time he'd spend in Atlantis, and she was progressing very well with her magics, she'd learnt to do quite a bit of Wandless Magic recently, which had been a great thing, in Harry's oppinion.

 When they got back he could teach her how to fight with it, but he'd leave that for back on Earth, since Atlanteans didn't like fighting to harm at all.

 A few months into his stay at the Priests camp, Lady Lilith went into labour. Harry wished that he could have taken the time to go and back visit his young almost-relatives. They were twins, a boy and a girl.

 It took him three days to get back to the Palace, compared to the week it had taken him to make the other journey, as he'd wanted to get back fast and had used his Elemental Magic to make the winds move to his needs.

 For the last part of the journey he took the form of the Canis Dracis, because that way they'd know it was him coming, and not some beast they'd never seen before.

 It wasn't much longer before it was time for him and Elisa to leave. On his last day, Harry walked into the Spirit Room to speak properly with his parents.

 "Harry! You came!" Lily said, grinning happily. Harry smiled back, and hugged her and his father. He could actually feel them here, and he loved it.

 "Harry," James's voice was serious, and Harry looked at him in surprise – his father was very rarely serious, it wasn't in his nature.

 "Harry, I'm not sure how long we can continue to talk to you, the way we have been since you first came here," Lily told him, there tears in her emerald eyes.

 "Why not?" Harry asked, his heart suddenly wrenching at the thought of having to leave his parents behind, even if they could be very annoying, chattering away in his head.

 "Because we were using stored magic to speak with you, and what little of our magic was left when we died is almost dried up. If you really need our help, call us, using your own magic to form the link, and we'll come, but we need some magic for … something else," Lily replied.

 "What?" Harry demanded immediately.

 "We can't tell you," James said sadly. "But you'll figure it out for yourself soon enough, if you need to know. You'd best go, kid, you've to pack your things and decide what you're going to take back with you before you go, you know!"

 Harry could feel a wetness on his cheeks, and wondered how long it had been since he'd cried last.

 He hugged them both tightly. "I'll call you every now and then, just to chat, if I have the time, and the magic. There's no point in being a family if I only talk to you when I need something!" he told them.

 They hugged him back, and there were tears in both their eyes as they watched him turn and walk away, out of the door and closed the Spirit Garden from the rest of the Palace.

 He and Elisa could take back three things between them – they decided on Elisa's broom, a copy of a book on Atlantean Magic's and a third Dothae to keep the other two company.

 Once this had been decided, they went to Lilith and bid farewell to her and her two children – she'd named them after Harry and Elisa – Ferux  and Celeres.

 "May they never have to go through their namesakes troubles," Harry said, raising his hand in a parting salute to the people who were as good as his family, in blood as well as in his heart.

 Then they were travelling back to Earth, Elisa clung to his arm, and his other hand steadied the older Dothae, who was actually pregnant, though her mate had died.

 Suddenly they were dumped on the floor of 'Harry's' room, the floor jarring their feet, and their things knocking into them for a moment until they got themselves sorted out.

 Harry looked around the room, hardly believing that it had been a year since he was here, though in this time it was only one day. Shaking his head slightly, Harry used a quite snap of magic to send everything to it's rightful place, and helped Elisa to her feet.

 "We're back," he remarked. "I'd best take Lithia here down to the Forbidden Forest," he added thoughtfully.

 "Ok, I'll go over to Sirius's room, meet you there when you come back?" Elisa offered.

 "Sure," Harry replied, and both of them headed from the room. "I'll bring the stuff there when I come."

 "Right, see you soon!" Elisa changed form and raced away, Harry following her example and changing form to the panther this time, since it had been awhile since he'd changed to his first shape.

 With the Dothae padding beside him, Harry headed for the forest, in some ways glad to be back in his own world, but in others he knew that he would sadly miss the peace and calmness he'd felt on Atlantis.

 He left the Dothae on the edge of the forest, not really wanting to have another meeting with the unicorns, who really seemed to dislike humans in general.

 Heading back up to the castle, he ran as fast as he could, a blur of speed across the ground, streaking up the stairs so fast he wondered why he didn't trip and break his neck or something.

 He reached Sirius's rooms in record time and as he stepped through the door and became human again, he brought the things that he and Elisa had brought back from Atlantis.

 Sirius bounded over to give him a hug. "Hey kid! How was your trip?" He asked brightly.

 Harry rolled his eyes. "As well as may be expected. I learnt what I went to learnt, and had a bit of a 'holiday' as Eli calls it, along the way," he replied coolly.

 A moment later Ron and Hermione bounded in the door, grinning at Harry. "How was your trip?" They asked, even if he'd only been gone for one day.

 Harry rolled his eyes. "I just finished answering that question," he remarked waspishly, but repeated his answer with a grin.

 They sat around and Harry told them of what had happened in Atlantis. Everyone was very impressed about his ability to take on multiple forms, but he decided not to demonstrate the more … unique … forms, they could wait for a little while, and then he could show them in the Forbidden Forest some time later.

 "I'm going to talk to Dumbledore about taking a few days off school, away from the premesis in class times to read them, because I think – and I'm pretty sure he'll agree with me – that this is quite important," he finished up.

 "At least we don't have Potions every day," Ron remarked. "It's hell when you aren't here, because he knows that Dumbledore trusts your word, and that you won't shy away from telling the Headmaster about the way he's been treating Gryffindor students."

 "I'll try and keep in the school on potions days then," Harry said with a grin. "I have to go and see Dumbledore now, I'll meet you again at dinner, ok?"

 They waved goodbye. Elisa was much more relaxed about guarding Harry after a year in Atlantis, though she'd get back into the habit soon enough.

 Harry strode through the halls, evoiding everyone, as he didn't really want to talk to people at the moment. It was a bit of a shock, leaving at Atlantis.

 Harry walked up to the Gargoyle, trying to remember the password, and was surprised to see Dumbledore walking up from the other direction.

 "Ah, Harry! Back are you?" the headmaster asked, smiling at his student.

 "Yeah. I've got a few things that I need to talk to you about –" Harry started.

 "And I have some things to speak with you of as well," Dumbledore interupted him, smiling gently. "The first of which being that it is about time for you phoenix to choose a name."

 Harry had to think for a few moments before he remembered the little creature – he'd been so busy for most of the year that he'd been on Earth, on top of the one spent in Atlantis that the creatures existance had slipped his mind completely.

 "Oh!" He exclaimed, remembering suddenly, brilliant golden-green eyes snapping fully open. "I'd almost forgotten it!"

 "No need to worry, you've been away from Earth for a year in your mind," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Come on, we'd best get up to my office, we can talk there, with your young friend nearby."

 Harry smiled at the man, and waiting for him to say the password to allow them to pass inside and climb the stairs. Dumbledore asked him what had gone on in Atlantis, the old headmaster was quite eager to hear about this other realm, so much so that Harry wished he could take him there, but he was pretty sure that would be impossible.

 In the Headmasters office, Fawkes was sharing his perch with Harry's little phoenix, who was quite dwarfed by the older bird, who was evidently about midway between 'burning days'.

 Harry walked over and the smaller bird flew over to land in his hands, Harry could deffinately sense a change since he'd bought the creature, a more developed conciousness and a sense of individuality.

 Cradling the small creature, pleasantly warm against his chest, Harry settled in a chair that Dumbledore conjured for him out of mid air. "What did you want to ask me, Harry?" The headmaster asked.

 Harry hesitated but a moment before telling the other man the story of his time in Atlantis – a pause just long enough to make sure that there were no others listening in.

 Dumbledore looked at his student, he could no longer call Harry 'young' or a 'boy', for he was a man, and aged beyond his years by the trials of his short life.

 "I can only give you permission to do as you've requested, Harry," he said after a few moments of thought. I, too, think that it is important for you to learn what those books say, but I have one condition."

 Harry, who'd been grinning happily a moment before, immediately looked up, slightly startled.

 "And that is that if you feel that you must tell your friends what you've learned, and I doubt they'd let you not, you bring them here so that I can hear as well – otherwise, I must ask you to come here and tell me anyway, who knows what treasures those books hold?"

 Harry laughed aloud with relief. "Of course, Sir!" he replied immediately, and then was distracted by the young bird in his arms. It was flapping it's wings and squaking.

 Listening for a moment, Harry realised that it was speaking gibberish, not actually phoenix-tongue, but he knew enough about the birds to know that his was about to decide on its Name.

:Caminus: The voice was in Harry's mind, like nothing he'd ever heard before, filled with love and an unwavering loyalty. He knew that they were bound together now, that Caminus would never leave him, until the day he died.

 "Caminus," Harry told Dumbledore, looking up and smiling. "A male, too."

 Dumbledore smiled back at him. "I don't think that you should let it roam the school," he remarked, "he may startle the students."

 "Yeah, that's fine," Harry agreed. "I'd best get going, I might use the Shrieking Shack this time, it's got more space," he added thoughtfully.

 "And you will return to the school for meals?" Dumbledore asked.

 "Yeah. Could you tell the teachers that I'm doing something … some study for you? Since that isn't quite a lie? And that I'll catch up on any assignments over the weekend?" Harry asked.

 "Of course, Harry, now, are you going there now, or tomorrow morning?"

 "I think I'll go and tell the guys what's happening, and then head out now, may as well get things done fast," Harry replied thoughtfully.

 "As you wish. I hope you find what you are looking for!" Dumbledore dissmissed him.

 Harry left quickly and headed down the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't meet up with anyone, but even if he did, it wouldn't matter, since to them he'd only been 'sick' for one day.

 He ran into Neville on the way, paused to greet the boy, who was still a little scared from Potions, and told Harry that he was glad the other boy was back, and well again.

 Slightly touched, Harry continued on, Caminus resting on his shoulder, the young phoenixes wings half stretched out for balance, the invisibility charm keeping him from the notice of Harry's peers.

 It didn't take him long at all to get back to Sirius's rooms. "Hey look, my phoenixes name is Caminus, isn't he cool?" Harry showed the little bird off.

 Completely understanding what was said around him, Caminus swept his wings open to their full extent, perfectly willing to be admired, which is exactly what he was.

 "Oh, he's so handsome!" Hermione cooed, stroking Caminus's flame-crested head. Caminus opened his beak and a few pure, sweet notes drifted forth, almost bringing tears to the eyes of the watchers.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Sirius asked a short time later.

 "He said it was fine," Harry told them, smiling slightly. "I might head out now, and eat dinner down there. I'll be up in the morning for breakfast."

 "Ok. Do you want me to get your homework?" Hermione asked him.

 "No, it's alright, I'll get them when I come back," Harry replied, grinning, and explained what he'd asked Dumbledore to do for him.

 "Lucky," Ron grumbled under his breath.

 With Caminus once more perched on his shoulder and the two books under his arm, Harry headed out of the room, this time under an invisibility spell.

 He was out of the castle in a few moments, running on silent feet across the grounds, he didn't freeze the Whomping Willow, as someone might see that, but instead dropped to the ground, wriggling closer and closer. The tree couldn't sense him, and he wasn't long until Harry tumbled gently into the passageway beneath.

 Caminus swooped down after him, not having wanted to take the road that Harry had. "I'm ok mate," Harry told it, smiling slightly and holding up his arm for the bird to alight.

 Caminus resting securely on his arm, Harry hurried into the dark passage, calling to the Light Elementals to come and light the way for him to pass through without stumbling. This small working didn't take too much energy, and Harry had a lot of magical power stored at the moment anyway – he'd empty it into the stones a little later.

 It wasn't much longer before Harry pulled himself up into the room, and waiting for Caminus to alight on his shoulder and then ventured into the dusty house.

 After sending a wave of his magic around the place, getting rid of the dust, making sure that no one could hear anything that went on within the house, and that no one would be able to see anything out of the ordinary with it.

 Then a quick command to the Fire Elementals, and Harry called a fire into existance in the hearth and created a ball of light as he sat down at a table he'd repaired when he and his friends came here for the final stages of Ron and Hermione's animagus transformations.

 Settingly himself on a chair, Harry placed the two huge books on the table, and Caminus took off from his shoulder to get some flying practice done.

 Harry looked over the titles, trying to decide which should be read first. After a moments scrutiny he found that one book had 'Volume One' and the other 'Volume Two'.

 Smiling faintly, Harry opened the book and began to read…

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Would love to leave you here! Such a good cliffie! *sighs* but the chapter is not yet long enough, so it is not to be! On with the story!

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 "I quote:

 The One shall live a hard life, alone in the world, his blood is not his family, and his family is not his blood, and he holds the weight of the world on his shoulders.

 For it is up to him to defeat the last of the Snake's line, a destiny laid upon him by his great ancestor, Godric Gryffindor, but there is a second prophesy he must fulfil.

 If he is indeed the One, then he alone of all of the world has the power to link the world of Earth to our own wonderful Atlantis."

 Harry was standing in Dumbledore's office, his friends around him, eager to learn what it was that he had discovered from reading the books.

 "It all fits, I think," Harry said softly. "Voldemort wants to kill me because I'm a descendant of Godric Gryffindor, and only one of that line can kill him, the dream I had …"

 "What dream?" Sirius pounced on him, eyes wide with sudden thoughts.

 Harry described his dream as best he could, and Sirius whooped for joy. "Lily and James didn't die in vain then!" he said, happily.

 Harry stared at him. "What do you mean?" He asked his godfather slowly.

 "They thought that you might be the One, and they told me what it meant – they knew, because Godric had told Lily in a dream – Lily is Godric's decendant, and from her you get his blood – and Godric had said that you were likely to be the one.

 "I think that it was because it's Godric's line who must destroy Voldemort, who is the last of Slytherin – the Snakes – decendants, but it's the Potter's who are tied to Atlantis, and you were the first of them to ever be combined," Sirius mused.

 "But anyway, they told me what your destiny might have in store for you, and that if something happened to them, I was to watch over you. I think that might have suspected something would come up to make me unable to care for you, but they never expected what actually did happen, I'm sure of that.

 "So that's what I've done since I met first just under three years ago, in Earth time, and I've kept a closer watch since then, as I could take care of you myself," Sirius explained.

 Harry looked a little stunned by this.

 "So it seems that you are indeed the One," Dumbledore stated softly. "I have heard legends that mention the One, though I never really paid them that much heed … now I can hardly recall them, but it is true that you have a great destiny before you, Harry."

 Ron and Hermione stood up and moved to Harry's side, Ron throwing and arm over his shoulder and Hermione slipping an arm around his waist – they both knew that Harry wanted nothing more than to be normal.

 Elisa hung back a little, comforting Harry in her mind, and Sirius let the three old friends have a quiet moment together.

 Dumbledore sighed heavily. "I hoped that something like this would not happen to you, Harry. It was a great pity that the innocence of your childhood was as abused as it was, you grew up to fast, missed out on so much … but destinies call, and they hurt. I can never stress how much they hurt."

 Harry nodded in complete agreement.  

 "You must be ready for the final battle, Harry, and I'm sure that you will fulfill that part of your destiny, I will help you as much as I can, but I cannot tell you how much that will be – you know more fighting than I will ever possess," Dumbledore added. "But if there is anything – anything at all – my door is always open."

 "Thank you," Harry said, from the bottom of his heart.

 Harry caught up with his homework in no time at all, but it was not long before something else came along to distract him from school.

 A letter from Tiger came.

 Panther –

What I spoke with you about has come to pass, I am fleeing the Seekers Academy with a loyal few to start up your school of fighting, this letter will reach you only a day or so ahead of me, and there will probably be Seekers on my trail, be ready for us,

Tiger.

 Muttering angrily under his breath at the timing of the letter, Harry slipped from the common room with a word to Ron and Hermione telling them where he was going.

 Invisible, Harry slipped up to the trunk of the Whomping Willow, shivering as he looked up at the bright, full moon, reminding him what used to happen in his father's days at Hogwarts on nights like these.

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he froze the trunk of the tree and headed quickly down the passageway.

 Once he reached the Shreiking Shack, Harry walked over the whole place, and cursed Tiger for not telling him how many were coming with him.

 Muttering under his breath, he used a combination of Wandless and Elemental Magics to create a huge chamber beneath the foundations of the house, lining it with stone walls and setting up a fire place and several rooms going off it, to make some space for bedrooms, should he need more than five beds or so.

 He went to the kitchen next, and placed a fridge – people from Seekers Academy generally knew how to opperate Muggle items, as they often had 'jobs' in the Muggle world.

 He then placed a spell on the fridge to create any food that was asked for, in whatever ammounts were necessary. This was a forbidden spell, because it put a lot of shops out of business, if people could just create what they needed using magic, but Harry didn't mind about that, no Seeker ever paid too much attention to rules.

 Setting the rest of the house up so that it could accommodate visitors, Harry smiled at his work, then hurried back out again to get up to the school, he had a feeling that he was going to need his sleep.

 The next day Harry took the Marauders Map with him, invisible, and had Caminus on his shoulder, as the young bird disliked not having him around for any long period of time.

 Having talked to Dumbledore in the morning, Harry had received permission – in the form of a written note – to leave any class that he had the need to, without losing any house points.

 As chance would have it, Harry spied eleven people, with a dot labelled 'Tiger' at their head, entering the school about ten minutes into Potions.

 Harry quickly began to pack up his things. "What do you think you're doing Potter?" Snape pounced on him immediately, but Harry, instead of replying, waved his wand and sent the note that Dumbledore had given him to Snape with magic.

 Ignoring Snape's murderous glare, Harry hurried from the room, Elisa glancing at Snape, then hurrying after him when she received confirmation from Harry that her name was on the note as well.

 Elisa kept close to Harry's right shoulder, her entire body completely ready to fight for the life of her brother and friend, Harry could 'hear' her mentally going over her weapons.

 They met up with the ragged band of Seekers about half way across the grounds, the two groups immediately stopped and eyed each other warilly.

 Harry didn't recongize anyone but for Tiger, but he'd heard of one of them, nicknamed Silent Death for his love of poisons. The man had not been at the Academy while Harry was there, he'd been on a 'mission' in America.

 After a moment, Tiger left his group, Silent Death slipping to his side and the pair of them walked up to Harry and Elisa.

 "Panther, nice to see you again," Tiger said, after the silence had been drawn out.

 "My name is Ferux now," Harry stated calmly. "And it is good to see you, too. If your friends would follow us, we'll get you set up for a while until a more appropriet place can be found."

 Silent Death looked a little surprised, and Harry allowed himself a tiny smile as the two of them turned and hurried back down to the others. The man didn't know Harry Potter at all, had never met him before that day, but he'd probably heard something of Panther and Padfoot, from those who'd been in the Seekers Academy.

 Harry turned and began walking across the grounds, Elisa at his shoulder, the Seekers would catch them up soon enough.

 They hadn't gone very far when the Seekers jogged up, Tiger looked about to come closer to Harry, but the expression on Elisa's face warned him off.

 'I don't trust him,' Elisa told Harry silently. 'Nor any of these others, I'd much rather they stayed away from us, even if they do have a good fighting technique.'

 'I know. They are criminals, Eli, but we need them. Merlin help us, but we need them,' Harry replied sadly. He didn't want these people here any more than she did, even if he had once liked Tiger, but the other man was just another person he had to watch now.

 Harry glanced around quickly, cast a quick charm over the party to direct anyone who was looking at them's attention away, then froze the tree by pressing the knot on the trunk with a stick.

 "This way," he called over his shoulder, slipping into the passageway before turning around to walk backwards so that he could keep an eye on the Seekers, while Elisa walked in front of him, letting him know silently when something was coming up that he might trip over.

 He had to turn to get into the house, but he used a combination of Elemental and Wandless magic to create a very strong sheild, that would protect him from physical and magical attacks.

 He bounded up into the room, let the sheild go, because it cost a lot of strength to keep it up for any length of time.

 He and Elisa took the Seekers on a guided tour of the small shack, showed them where the sleeping quarters were, and then left with Tiger to let them settle in.

 "Is there anyone I should look out for?" Harry asked Tiger coolly.

 "Yes, watch out for Dagger," Harry put the name to the face of a young woman with a nasty sneer and black eyes, with dark tanned skin. "I'm not sure why she chose to came, but I think she'd be better off somewhere else," Tiger replied. Harry could tell he was speaking the truth.

 "Any others?" He prompted.

 "I'm not sure about Black Death, but apart from that, no one who you should be more suspicious of than normal," Tiger replied, and Harry knew that it was the truth.

 "Very well, thank you," he told his old teacher.

 Tiger gave a thin smile and headed back towards the others, presenting his back to Harry, which was quite a trusting gesture for a Seeker to make.

 Harry and Elisa followed him, hanging back a little to reassure him that they wouldn't try to harm him.

 In the room where the Seekers were assembled, they all ranged around the room, and all faced the doors, so that they could be up and running out of the doors in a moment if they had to be.

 "I have to ask that you do not leave the house under any circumstances unless called – there are a lot of aurors in the grounds, they let you in because I had a concealing charm to ward attention off any Seeker, I will not keep that up and waste my energy on you any longer than necessary," he told them firmly.

 Let them think that – he'd told the Aurors to allow the a small group of Seekers into the school, but to attack if he didn't join them swiftly.

 Silent Death and the woman Dagger fidgetted slightly, but Harry only just caught it, reading the expressions in their eyes as only one trained by the former Shadow Master could.

 "I will leave you here," he told them. "I have classes to attend and other things to do."

 Contemptuously he turned his back on them – while in the case of Tiger it was a symbol of trust, the manner of his parting and his expression made it an insult – he was telling them that he didn't think them enough of a threat to worry about turning his back to them.

 He'd sent Elisa ahead of him, telling her that he had to handle this himself, because he was fairly certain that he knew what was going to happen.

 Sure enough, a moment later there was a whir of an object moving fast through the air, and Harry could sense a body leaping after it. He dropped to the ground and a throwing dagger thudded into the wall where the area between his shoulder blades had been shortly before.

 Twisting, he kicked out, sending Dagger spinning over his shoulder. She flipped in the air, landing on her feet, surprise in her eyes as Harry was standing calmly to meet her, his green-gold eyes blazing.

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Ok, I have to go to school now, so I'll write another chapter when I get home and tell you what happened with the fight! Expect it up in a day or so!

I won't do a thanks column for now, I'm going to thank everyone who reviewed EVERY chapter of this story at the end of the last chapter …

BTW, I've put up a homepage thingy. Have a look if you need something to do, there isn't much there for now, but I hope to get some more stuff up soon …

~Wolfmoon~