OotP spoilers: some phrases about the concept of Legimency are borrowed from book five for informative facts only.

Disclaimer: We don't own anything except the plot.

A/N: Thanks for all the nice reviews!!

This chapter is written by Guardian Angel of Wolves, with thoughful touches of Mekare.

Lessons worth learning

The next morning a letter came for Harry with the owlpost. It wasn't very hard to guess who'd sent it, so Harry tucked it safely away in his robes until he'd get some privacy to read a certain letter from a certain Dark Lord.

Turning his head he saw Professor Snape glare at him. The two of them had had a little chat. Snape threatened to tell Dumbledore about what really happened at the Adlego Chamber. When Snape refused to listen to Harry's pleas, and explanations that it was the only way to protect his friends, Harry took drastic measures.

Flashback

"If you tell I'll tell Voldemort you're a spy." Harry said glaring at his teacher. He didn't want to have to threaten Snape, but it seemed the only way.

"You wouldn't." Snape said, his usual glare flickering in a moment of fear.

"Wouldn't I?" Harry asked sarcastically, "I AM, after all, the grandson of Voldemort, and the son of James Potter, which in your book makes me the most horrid villain to walk the planet."

Snape stared at his pupil, both outraged, as well as surprised that he was standing up to him; unsure as to which emotion caused it, Snape agreed.

End Flashback

Later that evening in the fifth year boys' dormitories, Harry finally got the opportunity to read the letter his grandfather had sent, though he wasn't eager to find out what it said;

"In this envelope there is a portkey." Harry looked inside and saw a pen cap.

"At 8 o'clock find somewhere private, for it will activate at exactly that time. You will then tell me whether or not you wish to learn with me. If you agree, then you will meet with me four evenings a weeks.

As to which evenings, that is something we can discuss later.

I will see you again soon, my heir."

The Riddle Manor, Tuesday night, 10:29 P.M.

Harry had already told Voldemort that he agreed to the terms. Voldemort had been very pleased.

Harry would now meet every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from

8:00 -10:30 p.m. He was now speaking with Voldemort, who was instructing him on all the things he would learn.

"First of all, I want another test of your dueling skills. One of my servants will be your opponent." Voldemort declared, as he waved a lazy hand towards a big open space in the room that had been reserved for this dueling activity.

"There's something you must remember, concerning good and evil." Tom continued as he watched Harry start the duel McNair.

"I'm not going to fall for your: 'There's only power and those too weak to seek it,'" Harry interrupted in between two spells.

"No, no, I've reformulated it and I think you'll find it more agreeable: 'There's no such thing as good and evil, but thinking makes it so.' Which is true. What makes one person do the 'right' thing and another something 'wrong'? Wise persons of the past have said: 'If you know what good is, you won't do evil.' And there in lies the catch, for who truly knows what's good and evil?"

"Well, for one, I think murdering people is wrong."

"Ah, but I'll have to agree with me that it depends on the circumstances. For instance: if a mother kills a person who's raped her 13 years-old child, is she truly evil? But enough philosophy for now."

The duel lasted another good ten minutes, before Tom was growing somewhat bored.

"You may end this duel, it's a tie. Come here, Harry. I am going to teach you the basics Legimency. I've no doubt that Dumbledore will want you to start studying Occlumency soon, so we'll wait a bit with that branch of mind-magic. Don't want him to get suspicious, right?"

Harry hated it when Voldemort kept reminding him about this secret that he had to keep. It made feel guilty, but he knew that that was exactly what Voldemort wanted.

Two hours later Voldemort finally let his mentally exhausted heir leave by means of his ring, which could always be used as a Portkey after it was activated.

"You should know, Voldemort, that I have an extreme dislike for Portkeys."

Voldemort shrugged.

"Though I'm pleased that you are willing to share these bits of personal information with me, there's not much I can do about it. Hogwarts isn't connected to the Floo network and Portkeys attract the least attention. Thus, it is the most obvious choice for means of transportation. I will teach you to Apparate, but it'll be useless so long as you are or want to be on Hogwarts' grounds. You'll just have to learn to get used to it. Try to find comfort in the fact that you've done well tonight. I expect no less tomorrow evening."

Harry scowled a bit at him as he activated his Portkey.

He reappeared in a deserted corner at the far end of the library. A quick glance at his watch told him Madame Pinch the pit bull-like librarian was about to close off for the night.

The dark haired teenager decided to simply make a mad dash for the exit and don't stop until he'd reached the Gryffindor common room. The first part of that plan worked well enough, that is until he ran into someone on the landing of the second floor. That someone was none other than Professor Severus Snape.

Oh, shit…Was the first random thought that came to Harry's mind.

Snape looked very sour indeed. "Potter, lets talk."

And with that, Harry was literally dragged down the dungeons and hauled into Snape's office. The potions master turned to face him in his own bat-like manner and for the first time since past summer Harry felt fear of the potions master creep into his mind.

"Since you will not permit me to talk to the Headmaster, then I will speak to you. I'd very much like to know why you are not only deceiving the Headmaster and all your other teachers, which on it's own could get you expelled, but you're also lying to your godfather and your pathetic friends. So tell me, heir of the Dark Lord," Snape mocked the name with fake admiration, "What did he use against you? Why the hell did you make an agreement with him and how incredibly stupid are you to try to hide something of that magnitude?"

"Please, no one can know. I tried to tell you when you first talked to me about it, but you wouldn't listen. I swear, it's for there own safety or I wouldn't have done it – I – "

"Stop rambling, boy! Now lets hear this story from the beginning. What happened precisely when Pettigrew abducted you?"

TBC