I own nothing, J K Rowling IS Harry Potter. All my 'ideas' are basically ripped from stuff I enjoy; Harry Potter (duh!), Lord Of The Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dragonball, The Matrix, The Lion King, 24, and anything else that even remotely looks far too creative for me to just make up! Don't say I didn't warn you alright!

The rat is back! He does play a quite important role in my story, as you'll eventually find out.

Chapter 20 – The Unexpected, Hogsmeade And Holiday's

Harry made his way to Advanced Defence class after seeing Hagrid. He had told Harry that he was going to be quite busy for the remainder of the year, and he might not get much time to chat like they used to. Harry had told him that he also expected to be busy, but decided to try and see Hagrid sometime after Christmas, just to catch up. The half-giant looked thrilled when Harry told him how it was no excuse that they'd been busy, and Harry wanted to make time to visit his friend.

"Right, if you people are as smart as I think you are then you'll remember me telling you that we'd be covering the Unforgivables today. We'll break up into three groups, that way it'll go quicker."

With that, Trent then duplicated himself and the three of him strode off to separate parts of the classroom. Most of the class was in shock, but they had come to expect surprises with this Professor. After all, he was giving them the chance to learn whatever they wanted. No one could remember the last time a Professor had let that happen.

Harry made his way over to the group who would cover the Killing curse first. Trent started talking "ok, you've all submitted your essays on it, so you should know exactly what you need to do. Mr Finnegan, if you'd like to do the honours."

"On what? I can't very well practice on someone, can I!"

"True, you'll be doing it on this" Trent conjured a jar with a spider in it.

"When you're ready, Seamus. Everyone else, please stand back."

Everyone nodded. Seamus waited then spoke the incantation. A green jet of light burst from his wand and struck the spider rendering it dead.

"Very good! Mr Potter, your turn."

Harry walked up as Trent conjured yet another spider. Harry felt a strange thrill inside him before he also said "Avada Kedavra!"

Nothing happened. Harry tried again, still nothing. He looked over at Trent who was baffled. He asked Harry if he could borrow his wand and tried it. The familiar green light erupted from its tip so Trent gave it back to Harry.

"This is quite interesting. Maybe you can't use the spell Harry. There has been a precedence before, but not since Merlin himself."

The rest of the class went well. Harry was able to cast the other two curses, but he was still miffed at why he couldn't cast the Killing curse. Harry decided to ignore it and worry about it later.

The first Hogsmeade weekend was fast coming up, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were all looking forward to it. Harry was glad to have a break for a day. Since deciding that he was going to be ready for whatever Voldemort might have for him, Harry had thrown himself into his studies, to the disgust of Ron but delight of Hermione.

Harry was still having a little trouble in sensing his own magical signature. But he had read in a few of Sirius' books that this was the most difficult part of the procedure. Trent had promised him at least two visits to the Spirit Room over the Christmas break to teach him about apparating and the Dark Arts. He had also promised Harry to let him have another go in his car, after Harry pleaded to teach him how to slide the back end out like Trent had done.

The three of them were sitting down in the Hall for dinner, when Professor McGonagall came over to talk to Harry.

"Mr Potter. The Headmaster would like a word with you after dinner."

"What about, Professor?"

McGonagall looked at Harry, and he noticed a tinge of sadness in her eyes before she replied

"It's about recent events. I trust you won't be late"

She walked out of the Hall leaving a thoroughly confused Harry behind.

"What do you reckon that was all about?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "No idea. I wonder if it has to with what happened in Defence class. I might as well go now since I've basically finished. I'll see you two in a bit then."

Hermione and Ron both nodded and Harry set off to Dumbledore's office. He was surprised to see Remus standing outside the office waiting for him. Harry looked up at his face and saw a distinctive wait-until-you-get-inside-before-talking gaze staring him back. If Harry wasn't already curious before, he most certainly would be now. He had no idea what was going on. The only other thing, apart from the Defence class, he could think of was that someone, probably Snape, had found out what Trent had wanted to teach him.

He walked up the stairs and into Dumbledore's office behind Remus and was surprised to see McGonagall and Trent were also present. Harry took the proffered seat opposite Dumbledore, before Trent asked the question Harry was thinking.

"What's all this about, Albus? Why did you insist on meeting us now?"

Dumbledore readjusted his half-moon glasses before answering, "as you know, the first Hogsmeade visit is this weekend. Due to recent events, namely the Azkaban debacle, I think it best if Harry stays at Hogwarts."

Harry was outraged and shot out of his chair. "WHAT! Just because I'm a target, you want me to stay here!"

"Yes, I do."

Remus interrupted "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea."

Trent then voiced his feelings "I agree with Remus and Harry. If Voldemort wants to try something, he will. And if Harry's not there, he'll probably end up attacking anyway!"

"Actually, I tend to agree with my fellow staff members. Potter does have permission to go, and I doubt he finds it fair to deny him this chance to get some fresh air" McGonagall sternly said.

Dumbledore sighed before turning back to Harry.

"The final decision is yours, Harry. Just remember what we discussed at the end of last year" and Harry knew he meant the events that took place after Sirius' untimely demise.

Harry was torn between what he should do. On one hand, he wanted to go with his friends. But on the other, he knew that he could put them in great danger. Dumbledore was giving him the chance for that not to happen this time. He pondered his answer before looking at the Headmaster.

"I…I think I'll stay here then. I don't want to put anyone in unnecessary danger. If you think that my staying here will prevent that sir, then I'll do it."

Everyone looked at him stunned. 'Clearly they didn't expect me to say that' Harry thought, before Dumbledore broke the silence,

"A wise choice, Harry. I hope you will enjoy the weekend despite this."

Harry nodded before making his way from the office. Trent hurried after him and stopped him when he caught Harry up.

"You are getting more mature, Harry. I don't think I've ever met someone who's turned down a chance to visit Hogsmeade during the year. Tell you what, Hogsmeade's all day Saturday right?"

Harry nodded, and Trent carried on "then how about this. Tomorrow night, I'll take you back to the Spirit Room for some early training."

Harry stopped and thought about it. He did want to get more training, but he also wanted to practice his energy sensing. He didn't think he'd get much time to do that in the Spirit Room plus he didn't want anyone to find out, so he made his mind up.

"I'm not sure. I think I'd rather stay here Trent. No offence, but you said you'd take me there in the holiday's anyway. That's only a month away, I can wait until then."

Trent blinked a few times before finding his voice.

"You sure, Harry? It's no problem to take you"

Harry shook his head, "no. I have a fair bit of reading to do anyway. I doubt I'd have enough time to do all that and train as well."

Trent looked thoughtful before answering, "how about this then. We can go to the Spirit Room, and you can do your reading there. I'll help you with anything you have trouble with. You'll get a lot more things done there than here."

Harry had to admit Trent made a good point.

"Ok then. That sounds good. I'll meet you at your office tomorrow night then. What time suits?"

Trent smiled "any time's fine. How about we make it nine in the evening? That way, not too many people will get suspicious."

Harry agreed before heading back to his dorm to catch up with Ron and Hermione. He told them what was going on, and Hermione wasn't too pleased that Harry was getting to spend an extra year learning things, while she was going to Hogsmeade. Harry reminded her that he was only doing this to get his mind off of not being able to go with them. That satisfied her, and Harry spent a little while finishing his essay on the Polyjuice potion for Snape before heading off to bed.

Harry quickly shoved his gear into his trunk, before shrinking it and making his way to Trent's office. Trent showed him inside and finished packing his things up before turning to Harry.

"Right. You ready to have a little holiday, Harry?"

Harry nodded, so Trent grabbed him and seconds later they were inside a familiar white room. Harry settled into the same room he was in last time and unpacked his things. He made his way to the living room where Trent was trying to find a book to read on the massive bookshelf.

"I never noticed that last time" Harry told him.

The bookshelf was enormous. It reminded Harry of the Hogwarts library, but it had only one shelf, and no restricted section.

"It wasn't here last time. This place is similar to the Room of Requirement, in that it can adjust to what you need. I'm trying to find a Dark Arts book that would be suitable for me to teach you. You can do anything you want Harry. This time will be different to the last one. Merlin, if you wanted to, we could just drive my car the whole time!"

Harry laughed. He did admit to Trent that it wasn't a bad idea, but Harry decided to get stuck into his homework. He also wanted as much privacy as he could while he practiced sensing his magical signature. He thought it best not to bring this topic up with Trent again, as he might become slightly suspicious of Harry.

They had been there for six months and Harry was enjoying the experience more this time around. Harry had finished all his homework within the first month, and was spending his time between reading Sirius' books and being taught by Trent. He had taught Harry some more martial arts, and several simple Dark Art spells.

"Wow Harry, I'm impressed. You're learning all this real fast. This'll take me much less time than I though it would. In fact, I mightn't need to teach you anything more about the Dark Arts over Christmas."

Harry smiled. He also had to admit he was enjoying this. The Dark Arts weren't as difficult as he had previously thought. Since he was already very efficient in the defence of them, Harry had found it fascinating to see things from the other point of view.

"Well, you'll just have to teach me everything about driving instead. You promised you'd show me how to slide the car like you do."

"Drifting, Harry. It's called drifting. It's also called oversteer, but I won't bore you with a full racing vocabulary lesson. Besides, it'd take far too long to teach you everything about cars. But you're right, I did promise you, didn't I."

With that Trent summoned his model Jaguar, before enlarging it to the correct size. He then took out a racing magazine and flipped to a picture of an oval track. The room then changed into a racing track, identical to the one in Trent's magazine. They then both got in, with Trent behind the wheel. Harry saw him get a wicked look in his eye before he turned to Harry.

"Right, you ready for some fun!"

Harry grinned, and before he could answer, Trent took off and Harry heard the noise of tyre on tarmac before everything became a blur.

"I don't know Harry, sounds like a waste of time if you ask me."

"C'mon Trent, it'll be great fun!"

Harry was trying to convince Trent to race Harry around the racing track. Trent driving his Jaguar, and Harry on his Firebolt.

"Alright Harry. A three lap sprint. But don't come crying to me after I've trounced you good and proper alright."

Harry smirked "as long as you don't do the same. I think I'll have a butterbeer and come back out to watch you finish."

"I'll make sure to grab you one then for when you land" Trent smiled evilly.

Harry rolled his eyes. Trent had taught him a lot about driving, and Harry had become a half decent driver in his own right. Nowhere near as good as Trent, but not too shabby. Trent had taught him how to control slides, and also do burnouts.

Harry swung his leg over his broom while Trent revved the engine. They looked at each other, before both Harry and Trent set off. Harry accelerated much faster than Trent's car, and had built up a substantial lead. But as the race continued, the Jaguar started to claw back the distance. Harry came around the final corner, and Trent followed soon after, albeit somewhat sideways. Harry crossed the finish line and did a couple of victory loops while Trent sulked back on the ground.

They spent the rest of their time in the Spirit Room doing similar things. Trent had changed the track from an oval to a full road course, complete with inclines and tight corners. Unlike on the oval, Harry had much more trouble getting used to the way the car handled in certain situations.

Trent had gotten the track wet, and Harry couldn't keep the Jaguar in a straight line, until Trent showed him that he had to adjust his driving to suit the conditions. They continued having races, but with Trent in the air, and Harry on the ground. These were much closer, and both had several near misses, but came away unscathed.

Trent had left Harry to his own devices unless Harry came to him to ask for help. This suited Harry just fine. Unfortunately, Harry had hit a bit of a snag with his aura sensing training. He could now easily detect his own magical signature, but couldn't find anything on what he wanted to do. The books he had been reading all discussed how advantageous being able to sense someone's aura would be in duelling situations. Harry wanted to find a way to be able to find out where Voldemort was hiding, not to sense how powerful someone he was going to be duelling against was. But so far, his search had yielded no results, even when he checked on the bookshelf.

Their time drew to a close, and Harry still was unable to find anything out. He hadn't gone through every book of Sirius', but he only had a few left. He decided he'd have to wait until next time they were here to continue his search. Trent had told him that the Apparition classes would start up at the beginning of December, and finish in early February. Harry was looking forward to this, particularly when Trent said he'd still teach Harry the house elf method over Christmas.

They had one last race, with Trent beating Harry and celebrating with some appropriate burnouts, before they packed everything up and waited for the door to appear. Harry asked Trent more about the room, but he just smiled and told Harry that they'd run out of time, and he'll tell him more about it over Christmas. The door materialised, and the two of them walked out of the Spirit Room before arriving back in Trent's office.

Harry made his way to the dorm after bidding his Professor good night. After he'd gotten back to the common room, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all asked him similar questions to the ones they did last time he went. Harry merely told them that he'd gotten in some more fighting, as well as learning to drive. Ron looked amazed and reminded Harry that driving was easy. It was left to Hermione to explain to Ron that ordinary muggle vehicles are much harder to drive than bewitched ones (they didn't fly for starters, or become invisible). Ron had given Harry some sweets from Honeydukes, before the four of them made their way to get some sleep.