Chapter 1
A Plan

Harry Potter was having trouble breathing due to the muggy air of a hot, humid July day. He was again at the Dursleys' house, his only living relatives. They treated Harry like he was no lower than dirt, especially this summer due to an unusual heat wave that had crossed through Britain. Harry heard thunder rumbling in the distance: it would storm tonight. His open window let in even more of the still air, the only source of cooling Harry had since the Dursleys wouldn't dare make him comfortable with a fan. Harry lay back on his bed, sighing. If the cool weather didn't come the next day, he felt he would seriously consider taking his Firebolt and flying off to his best friend Ron Weasley's house. Harry wiped the sweat that was trickling down his forehead, upon which was a faint lightning bolt- shaped scar, the reminder of his encounter with the Dark Lord Voldemort when he was only a year old. That night years ago made him famous for becoming the first wizard to ever survive the fatal curse of Avada Kedavra. Harry had been trying to get to sleep for hours, but nothing was working. Hedwig, his owl was delivering a rather long, boring letter Harry had written to Hermione Granger, his best friend other than Ron, so her empty cage loomed in the corner, shadowed due to the darkness. He was all alone in the house because his uncle Vernon Dursley had sealed a deal with a well- known construction firm, selling a record amount of drills for his company Grunnings. Harry's aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley had gone with Harry's uncle to a banquet held in his honor. He didn't expect them back until late. Sighing, Harry started thinking about his now deceased godfather, Sirius Black, who had died the year before while courageously battling Voldemort's Death Eaters. Harry's thoughts rested on his godfather often these days.

The almost-sixteen-year-old became so deep in thought that he didn't notice the curtains unnaturally fluttering, as if hit by some sudden breeze. He didn't realize there was a figure above him until it said softly, "Hi, Harry."

"Sirius!" the teenager exclaimed, jumping up upon seeing his godfather in ghost form. "It's great to see you! What have you been up to?"

"No time for talking." Sirius' face was the gravest Harry had ever seen it, including the time when Sirius' face had sunken due to his time in Azkaban. "You have to get out of the place."

"Well, obviously I have to get out of this place! That's what I've been trying to tell people for ages. Have you seen how they treat me?"

"Yes, I have, but that's not the reason you're leaving. Dumbledore sent me. Your uncle was drunk behind the wheel after that banquet and their car ran off the road and over a cliff. All three died. Harry, you're no longer safe here. There are no longer any living blood relatives whose house you would be safe at, so we have to get you out of this house as quickly as possible."

Harry frowned. He felt a rather large twinge of sympathy for his once only living relatives, even though they had treated him horribly. "Where are we going?"

"I can't tell you that until we get there. Voldemort will be here in less than fifteen minutes, and we'll have to fly to your hideout. Get your Firebolt and attach your trunk and Hedwig's cage to it. Dumbledore said you are allowed to use magic as this is an important case."

Not dawdling or asking questions, Harry grabbed his broomstick out of his trunk and carelessly shoved scraps of parchment and books that were scattered around the room. He grabbed his wand and attached the trunk and Hedwig's cage to the Firebolt, which was quivering in anticipation of flying again.

"Ready?" Sirius asked Harry.

With a quick glance around the room for forgotten things, Harry replied the only word that he could think of: "Yes."

* * *

Harry and his godfather had been flying at the fastest speed capable of Harry's broomstick for twenty minutes in silence until Sirius said, "You're safer now. We can slow down."

"What will happen when Voldemort's outraged at finding me gone?" Harry looked at his translucent godfather.

Sighing, Sirius avoided Harry's eyes. "The magnitude of Voldemort's power has obviously crossed Dumbledore's mind, but even he doesn't know what the Dark Lord is capable of. More than likely, though, Voldemort will kill tonight. When he feels particularly murderous, he'll kill somebody, even if it happens to be simply an innocent bystander. Albus Dumbledore can perform almost any magic possible, but he is afraid that many more will die at Voldemort's hand before he is vanquished. He is worried about you in particular because of that prophecy he told you about at the end of last year. You and only you can defeat Lord Voldemort. Only you can destroy him once and for all. I'm afraid these deaths have to occur before the Dark Lord will diminish into nothing." He fell into silence.

Harry felt like yet another lead weight had been added to the weights already placed upon his shoulders, doubling the burden. He knew that he was the only one who could kill Voldemort, but hearing Sirius saying all of this out loud just seemed to finalize the prophecy even more. After a few minutes of thought, he asked, "So where am I safe? Where are we going?"

"I can't tell you that until we're there," his godfather repeated

"OK, then can you tell me why you haven't been here to visit me?" Harry asked, slightly irritated.

"I wish I could have visited you sooner, but there's no way I'm going to stay down there forever and ever. A ghost—or spirit—can be summoned to come down to Earth by an extremely complex spell that very few know how to do, and it only works for ten hours. Dumbledore summoned me and talked to me about the Order's," Sirius' voice broke momentarily, "discovery of the car crash. He explained his plan for you to me."

"What plan?"

"I'll explain everything once we get there. It isn't safe to talk about it in the open." They went to silence once more for ten minutes. "There it is," Sirius finally said, pointing towards a run-down looking house. They descended, and when they touched down, Sirius looked at Harry with a look of despair, sadness, and loss. "Harry, you will be spending the remainder of your summer with Severus Snape."

* * *

"You've—got—to—be—kidding," Harry told his godfather while still hovering in midair. "I'm not spending part of my summer in Snape's house! He'd be worse than the Dursleys were!"

"Believe me, Harry, I don't want you to have to do this either."

"I thought you hated Snape," Harry continued, ignoring Sirius' pleas. "You and my dad looked at him with the same disgust that I look with at Malfoy."

"I do, but Harry, listen to me--"

"I can't believe you'd do this to me. I thought I was going to stay with Lupin, or someone from the Order."

"Snape is in the Order."

"Then I thought I was going to stay with a humane person from the Order."

"OK, calm down, Harry. Let me explain this to you. I pleaded with Dumbledore for as long as he'd let me, trying to convince him that Snape would be hard on you and that you should stay with Lupin, where he would give you your training..."

"What training?"

"I can't tell you now, Harry. I tried to find an excuse so that you would be able to stay with Remus, but nothing worked. Dumbledore just kept on saying that he would be gone a couple days each month in order for him to transform..."

"Doesn't he think I can take care of myself for a few days?"

"Harry, Albus Dumbledore completely trusts you, but you are an underage wizard, and you need protection. A few days are a few days too many. You need someone to be around every day, and Snape—" Sirius cringed at this point, "--Snape has agreed to stick around for the next few weeks to keep an eye on you. He was scheduled to do business for the Order of the Phoenix, but he has been excused from it in order to keep you safe."

"Why did he agree to take me if he hates me?"

This question seemed to make Sirius uncomfortable. "Dumbledore says deep down—but it's Snape so it would have to be very deep down—Snape loves you. I think it has to do with his crush on your mother. He believes he owes it to her to keep her son safe, even if he has an uncanny similarity to James."

"How do you know Snape had a crush on my mum?"

"Well...James and I...interrogated him using a Truth Potion in our fifth year to find out if he and other Slytherins had been the ones trying to curse James while he was playing Quidditch and it kind of slipped out."

"Why were they trying to curse Dad?"

"Sore losers. The Slytherin Quidditch team never managed to beat James in a game, and they weren't very good at losing, especially to Gryffindor." Sirius smirked. "Good times, those were..." A happy look passed over Sirius' face until he again realized where they were. "Well, we'd better be getting inside, since I only have two hours left and Dumbledore didn't explain everything to me either. Snape would know." A disgusted look crossed the handsome features of Sirius. Harry hadn't noticed, but his godfather seemed to be considerably younger.

"Sirius? Can I ask you something before we go inside?"

"Sure."

"Have you seen Dad or Mum lately? You know, wherever spirits go."

"Yes, I have seen both of them. Why do you ask?"

"You seem much younger and much happier than ever. Can—could—could Dumbledore summon my parents' spirits?" he asked hopefully.

Sirius' face fell. "No, the spell only works within ten years of death. I'm sorry, Harry."

"That's OK," he said, trying to sound light to hide his disappointment.

"You miss them, don't you?" Sirius asked softly.

"Yes. I—I wish I just could have—gotten the chance to meet them," Harry said, unable to mask his sadness.

"They're ever so proud of you. You have no idea how much James gloats about your flying skills. It's just like when we were back in school and he was bragging about his flying skills."

Harry managed to smile.

Sirius sighed. "I suppose it's time to get going. Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Harry carried his Firebolt, trunk and cage still attached, across the unkempt lawn and to the run-down house of Severus Snape. As he looked around, he noticed there were no other houses in sight. "I suppose Snape likes his privacy."

"Good thing too, saves anyone the trouble of having to look at his ugly face," Sirius muttered, as if he thought Harry couldn't hear him. Harry stifled a snort of laughter and walked up to the door, dragging his belongings behind him. An old brass gargoyle head was mounted on it with a knocker going through its nose. Harry took hold of it and knocked a few times. The gargoyle seemed to come alive, but it transformed into the greasy-haired head of Harry's Potions teacher, Severus Snape. A familiar sinister sneer crossed Snape's face upon seeing Harry, but the sneer soon turned into what he seemed to think as a hospitable smile.

"Why, hello, Potter—I mean, Harry. And Sirius too. Come in." The head of Snape disappeared and turned back into the gargoyle. Reluctantly, the duo of ghost and human walked into the already open door.

The inside of Snape's house was just as shabby as the outside. No one seemed to have dusted it in years. Harry saw that he was in an entryway where there were a couple old, moldy cloaks and jackets Muggles wear to his right and to his left was a pile of cleaner cloaks and jackets. A door was to his left, which Harry assumed was an unused closet. All different kinds of labeled beakers and bottles filled with potions, all having their own unique colors lined the walls on rows and rows of shelves. Some were bubbling. Others contained what looked to Harry like the insides of a rodent. Sirius looked at everything in disgust, and Harry knew that his godfather would have problems keeping quiet upon the meeting of his old rival. Harry walked forward and out of the entryway. He came across a large, intricate wooden staircase immediately to his right that didn't have a speck of dust on it, but in front of him was a small cluttered, singular room (due to the space the staircase took up), which looked like it was a combination of a kitchen/dining room/living room all in one. In one corner, there was a caldron, which was steaming and boiling vigorously. On the floor around the caldron were bottles with a thick, green liquid contained inside them. A set of shelves was covered in dusty glass jars, which were again labeled, but Harry was too far away to read them. There were a few cupboards and a sink piled with dirty dishes covered in crusted food on one side and a small wooden table with one chair on the other. The table was piled with many editions of the Daily Prophet. The most current newspaper was neatly set in front of the chair with a half-finished cup of tea next to it. Harry caught headline on the front page: More Breakouts In Azkaban: Wizarding Community Questions Authority as Snape appeared from lurking in a corner. "Houseguests. How--wonderful." The forced smile appeared on his face again, revealing yellowing teeth.

"Hello, Professor," Harry said, seeing that if he had to be polite towards Snape he'd better start now. Sirius just nodded, and Harry could see he was fighting the urge to say something about the state of Snape's house.

"I hope you don't mind the state of cleanliness of my house. I couldn't find time to tidy up." He shot a challenging look at Harry in hopes of catching him off his guard where Harry would say something that would offend his professor.

"Enough of the fake friendliness, Snape," Sirius said coldly. "I have less than two hours left before I have to go back and I still don't know what Dumbledore's plan for Harry this summer is."

Snape's face at first fell, but turned to a gleeful expression. "So the headmaster doesn't even trust you to know what he has in store for your own godson? First he doesn't want you out working for the Order and now...?"

"You're just jealous of me, Snivelus. I've always been more popular than you and you've always wanted that fame."

"Stop it!" Harry exclaimed, unnecessarily standing between the ghost of Sirius and Snape. "If we're going to get anywhere with this conversation about what on earth I'm doing here, you two have to forget your differences. You'll have to forget the past and focus on the present."

Sirius looked back at his godson with a softened expression. "You're right, Harry. We're here for your sake." He glared at Snape again. "But if I see you trying to give Harry a hard time or hear from my sources that you treat him unfairly, you'll regret it."

"And what can a ghost do? Am I incorrect with my knowledge that ghosts aren't exactly...solid?" Snape questioned Sirius, with an added sneer. Sirius would have lunged at his opponent if it hadn't been for Harry glaring at him.

"OK, Harry. I get it. I'll be polite this one time."

"That's better," Harry said as he sit down on one of the chairs Snape had conjured out of midair. He picked up the huge pile of Daily Prophets and put them to the side. He then waved his wand as two more cups of tea appeared on the table opposite him (he seemed to have conveniently forgotten that Sirius couldn't eat or drink). Sirius sat beside him. Harry decided to start the conversation. "Now why am I here?"

"Potter, you told Professor McGonagall last year that you wanted to become an Auror. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

Snape picked up the recent newspaper that was still in front of him and pointed to the article entitled: Auror Shortage Critical: Five More Deaths Reported. "Aurors have been murdered by the Dark Lord's followers every day, and with this new breakout," he gestured towards the main article, "there have been even more deaths at a time. Ever since the Minister announced the Dark Lord is back, wizards and witches alike are afraid of committing themselves to the profession of Aurorism. You are the only one in Hogwarts that has expressed an interest in this job area. Usually we have at least five that are interested, although very few pursue becoming one in the end.

"Due to this fear that has taken hold of the Wizarding world, the few Aurors that are interested have to be trained to become the best. If we don't train them well enough, the Ministry will be under the Dark Lord's rule in no time. As you already know, you will have to take a great many N.E.W.T.s next year, including Potions," at this Snape gave Harry a nasty look; Harry would have to work harder in Potions than he ever did.

"Professor? I still don't know why I'm here," Harry said, as politely as he could to Snape.

"I will commence the training for your Aurorship. You will be training to become one on top of all your other classes this upcoming year. We need Aurors as soon as possible, and we can't wait an additional three years for them to learn everything there is to know. I will be focusing on teaching you the spells that Aurors alone are taught. Some of them take a lot of practice in order for the spells to work."

"So you were an Auror?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself from blurting it out.

"Potter, I am an Auror. I thought I had explained the spells are only taught to Aurors. Maybe I didn't explain it clearly enough for your thick head to comprehend it?"

"Did you become an Auror before or after your reign as a Death Eater?" Sirius asked, seething. Harry knew he had gone too far. Snape jumped up from his chair so quickly that it fell over.

"I do not believe I asked your opinion, Black. I don't appreciate you reminding me about my Dark past."

Sirius stood up too. "If you bother Harry you bother me. I have no idea why you volunteered to take Harry in anyway!"

"If you must know, I didn't volunteer, Dumbledore asked me to do it. The Dark Lord would never consider the thought of Harry Potter living with a former Death Eater! He has seen through Quirrell how much Potter and I despise each other!"

"Harry isn't safe here!" Sirius roared. "Voldemort will come for you eventually, Snape, and you know it! Harry himself witnessed Voldemort talking about you saying that he'd kill you whenever he had the chance. How convenient it would be if Harry Potter, the boy he has been after for fifteen years resided in the same house! He could kill two birds with one stone that way!"

"The Dark Lord wouldn't dare come here!"

"Why? Because it's a dump?" Snape's mouth fell into a look of such hatred that even Harry was surprised.

"Stop it!" he yelled, splitting the two up again, with greater difficulty than before. "Sirius only has an hour left and you still have a bit to explain, sir."

"I'll stop if he stops," Sirius said childishly.

"Sirius, you're not getting us anywhere by being so stuck up. If you want to know the whole story, you'd better sit down again and listen before that hour is up."

Reluctantly, Harry's godfather sat back down. He glared at Snape, who was setting his chair upright again. "Now that those interruptions are done and over with, where was I? Oh yes, I'll be teaching you spells like the Web of Life, which blocks all spells--including Avada Kedavra; some Healing Spells to avoid unnecessary trips to St. Mungo's; Deflecting Spells that will redirect even the Unforgivable Curses; and a few hexes that would come in handy when met with a Death Eater. If you get through all of those before school starts back up again, which is quite doubtful, we'll move on to disguising yourself to fit in with certain crowds. I doubt you will get through the first spell, however, since you are so dim-witted." Harry could hear Sirius growling in a very dog-like manner.

"Potter, if you choose to continue the training into the school year, I hope you're aware that it would add a lot of extra work onto your already large responsibility. I hear from McGonagall that you will be taking on six N.E.W.T. courses this year: Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and--" Snape took the time to smirk. "—Potions. To tell you the truth, Potter, I would have sooner chosen Longbottom than have accepted you to my N.E.W.T. course, but the headmaster intervened. He told me that I would see your utmost attention and extremely hard work out of you this year. I do hope he is right; Potter, and you will take the time to actually try to do something useful in my class. If not, I daresay your Quidditch career might find its way down the drain." Harry saw Snape's most evil smile yet as he spoke this. "Potter, the hero of every match he plays in might not be able to play if his grades aren't up to par."

Sirius couldn't stand any more of this. "Snape, you're just foul because your team has lost the Quidditch Cup every year since Harry's third year! Nothing—and no one--can stop Harry from playing. And I thought you cared about Lily. Can you think of her expression if she saw how you are treating her son?"

Snape blushed a beet red and muttered, "That was a long time ago." He shot a look at Harry.

"Yes, Harry knows all about your crush on Lily. I told him before we came in." It was Sirius' turn to smirk.

"Black, you haven't changed one bit!" Snape exclaimed putting his face so close to Sirius' that their noses almost touched. "You were just like this back when we were in school!"

"Get your greasy nose out of my face. It will be dirty for life now—and since I'm a spirit, life is a long time to have a filthy nose."

Before Snape could answer, Harry found himself forcing the two rivals apart yet again. "Enough! You two are acting like you are five-year-olds! What do things that happened over twenty years ago have to do with my training? Remember this is real life we're talking about now, where hundreds of people could die if Voldemort isn't vanquished soon! The prophecy about me I heard last year said I either have to kill him or he kills me, so no matter what, he will be a part of my life, whether it be me who dies or him. You two can't get over a simple rivalry that you've had in school, even when you are both on the same side. Thanks to the time you wasted, Sirius only has a half an hour left until he has to go back. I don't care if you don't like each other! Tonight you will at least be civil for these last thirty minutes. Now, Professor, what were saying about a full schedule on my part?"

Still rather surprised at Harry's mature outburst, Snape was gawking at him, but he quickly recovered. "Oh, yes. Every Monday, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will train you, so plan accordingly."

"Who is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor?"

"Tonks," Sirius said immediately from Harry's left. "She took the position after Dumbledore suggested that she take up training you. That's one thing he was willing to tell me," Sirius said, sulking.

"Yes, Black is right...for once. Professor Tonks knows the ropes of Aurorism, as she is one of the best. She will be teaching you items that you will find crucial in the career path of an Auror."

"How long is Tonks staying at Hogwarts?"

"Two years," Snape replied in what he apparently thought was his nicest voice upon Harry's interruption. "She said that she is willing to take teach you next year as well. Amazing, isn't it? No one has been willing to work at the Defense Against the Dark Arts position for over a year ever since you got here."

"Are you accusing Harry of scaring off all those teachers?" Sirius asked in a restrained voice.

"Well, it appears that Potter has connections with every reason each teacher left. Quirell's death came to be through Potter, Lockhart's memory was completely cleared—"

"I didn't do that! It was Ron's wand he was using when it backfired! He modified his own memory!" Harry said angrily, unable to contain his anger towards Snape.

"Weasley's wand was broken on your own account," Snape said, coolly. "You thought you would attract attention by flying a car to school instead of taking the train."

Harry stood up. "There was a barrier to the platform!"

"It was still your fault. Lupin helped Potter at the end of his third year, aiding Black here in his escape, leading to my disgruntled accident of telling the whole school about Remus Lupin's little secret, the intruding professor dressed as Moody led Potter through the Triwizard Tournament, especially the maze and dragged him up to his office where the identity was finally revealed and he was killed, and Potter and Granger brought Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, which led up to her firing. That seems fairly suspicious to me, Black."

"So two imposters, one git, one sneak after Dumbledore's job, and only one fairly decent teacher are all gone because of me? I don't think so! I helped be rid of everyone besides Lupin! So you tell me that a teacher who has Voldemort sticking out the back of his head is more worthy of teaching at Hogwarts than a werewolf who is completely harmless if he drinks a potion?!"

"Harry, he never said that," Sirius said, trying to stop his godson from getting himself in even more trouble with Snape. "Just ignore it and cool down. I know everything I need to now and I have ten minutes left. Let's go outside." Before he went outside, he turned to Snape with a look of great dislike. "I'll thank you for taking care of my godson, for Lily, but if you even try to give him a hard time you'll regret it, Snivelus." They glared at each other for a few seconds, and then Sirius turned around and floated out of the house, where Harry was waiting for him, seething.

"I won't be able to stand being around Snape for the rest of the summer! Why on earth did Dumbledore send me here?! I can't believe him. I can't believe him!"

"Harry, calm down. I want to tell you a few things before I have to go. First of all, don't let Snape get to you. I know he's foul, greasy, unjust, ugly, and completely horrible, but the Wizarding world is depending on you. You have to become an Auror as soon as possible. Snape's right, people are afraid to get into the profession because of Voldemort's power. The prophecy last year said that you are the only one who has the ability to kill him. The sooner he's gone, the better. Second, I'm sorry you have to carry all this burden." Sirius glanced at Harry with a combined look of admiration, sadness, and pride. "I can't tell you how much I'm proud of you, nor how much I wish I could carry that burden for you. Over the last five years alone, you have accomplished more than many grown wizards have, and you carry a thousand times the weight on your shoulders than someone your age should have to bear. Thirdly, in my will, you inherit all my possessions. The gold in my Gringott's vault, my house, everything. Dumbledore said after this year at Hogwarts, you would be able to live at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. He was going to wait until after you graduated, but due to recent events, you will have to live there this year."

"Sirius, I miss you," Harry said, before he could stop himself. His godfather looked up at him and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I miss you too, Harry. If only I hadn't been killed..."

"It isn't your fault. It's mine. I was stupid enough to think Voldemort was torturing you..."

"It's no one's fault but Voldemort's and his followers. Anyone could have been hoodwinked. Older and smarter wizards than you have died at Voldemort's hand because he tricked them. Don't go blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault."

"I just—I just—have been looking forward to living with you ever since you asked me to at the end of third year. I didn't know how long I could stand living in the Dursleys' house."

"Well, you won't have to worry about going there any longer," Sirius replied, trying to lighten the mood, even though the Dursleys were dead, "that is, if you survive a few weeks at Snape's."

The two were silent for a couple minutes until Harry looked at his watch. "Sirius...it's time for you—to go," Harry barely choked out the words.

"I figured as much." He sighed. "Take care of yourself, Harry. Try not to get on Snape's bad side, OK?" He pulled Harry into a would-be one-armed hug, but he had apparently forgotten that he wasn't completely solid, and Harry felt a cool mist on him as Sirius' arm went through his shoulders. "Whoops, sorry, Harry. Forgot about that." Harry shivered, but appreciated it just as much. "And if you need me, go to Dumbledore and have him perform the spell to bring me back." Sirius' form was starting to fade. "Goodbye, Harry."

"Bye, Sirius," Harry whispered in reply as his godfather's ghost form faded even more. Soon, he was gone.