Chapter 10- Training

Classes progressed as usual, for the next week. Harry had noticed an increased workload from most of his classes. Hagrid was the only one not to increase homework. Harry and Hagrid chatted about what had happened at Hogesmeade while the rest of the students chased after gremlins in the pumpkin patch. Ron had an especially bad time with one after it stole his wand. Fortunately, Hermione was able to stun it before it could toss his wand into the Forbidden Forrest.

Ron decided to hold Quidditch tryouts on the weekend since Hogesmeade trips were cancelled. Neville was picked to replace Jack Sloper who wanted nothing to do with Quidditch after he took a bludger to the head last season.

"Neville isn't a great flier", Ron mentioned to Harry, "but he has a good arm, well if didn't keep ducking the bludgers."

Ginny switched to being the lead chaser since Harry was allowed back on the team. Dennis Creevy tried out for the second spot and made it. Seamus Finniganalso tried out for chaser and took the third spot. Andrew Kirke remained as beater from last year.

"A bit inexperienced this year, huh, Ron?" Harry said on their way to the Great Hall after tryouts."

"There is potential." Ron shrugged, "The way I see it, if we practice everyday, before breakfast, during the mid-day break and after classes, we should be ready for our first match."

Fortunately, for the rest of the team, Madame Hooch would not let Ron book the Quidditch pitch for more than three practices a week."

It was late Sunday afternoon when Professor McGonagall entered the Gryfinndor common room looking for Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Neville.

"Please follow me, the Headmaster would like to see you five right away." Professor McGonagall announced.

Luna was waiting outside the common room by the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Do you know what this is about?" Luna asked.

"No, I thought you would." Harry replied.

"Oh, why would you think that." Luna answered.

Before Harry could reply, Luna began to hum to herself while walking closer to the Professor.

In no time, Harry and the rest found themselves together in Dumbledore's office yet again.

"Ah, yes, please sit." Dumbledore said kindly, "This won't take long. I brought you all here because I feel that you six, are among most likely to cross the path of a Death Eater or Voldemort himself. We need to take the necessary precautions if this should occur again you will be ready."

"Ready for what, Professor?" Ginny asked.

"Anything, Ginny, I believe that you all should begin to learn how to apparate."

"Um, Professor, don't we have to be of wizarding age to learn how to apparate?" Hermione asked.

"Well, yes, but I find it prudent that we overlook such policies in light of recent events." Dumbledore said walking over to his bookshelf. "If indeed, you find yourself in a situation that calls for you to apparate, I will deal with the Ministry then."

"You must understand children," Professor McGonagall interjected, "this is not a game, we are doing this for your safety. We do not want you to take this lightly. Potter, train at apparation as you would at Quidditch."

"Why not the rest of DA." Neville asked.

"Well, we are doing this behind the Ministry's back," Dumbledore grinned, "one of many things we do behind their back. However, we needed your guardian's permissions if we were going to train you. It would be easier to keep it a secret if there was a smaller group. The first time you would use it could be a surprise for the Death Eaters, and we wouldn't want to loose that advantage. So we all must keep this to ourselves, agreed?" Everyone nodded in silence.

"How long will it take?" Ron asked after a few moments.

"Apparation will not come easily, it is difficult for most wizard's at first, and it takes about a year to master, however we have been blessed to have a licensed instructor among our staff. Madame Hooch will be instructing you in a facility outside of Hogwarts."

"Why does is it outside of Hogwarts? Ron asked curiously.

"How many times do I have to tell you Ron," Hermione interrupted, "you cannot apparate on Hogwart's grounds."

"Oh, I forgot." Ron said sheepishly.

"You will have you apparation lessons on Sunday afternoon, starting today. Meet Madame Hooch and Hagrid at the Hagrid's Hut right now." Dumbledore said pointing to the door.

"Oh, Harry, wait one minute." Dumbledore said as the rest left his office.

"Yes, Professor?"

"What we spoke about this summer, Occlumency lessons, well I found someone to teach you.

"Who is it?"

"Oh, I will leave that as a surprise. Just be in the Room of Requirements at 7pm tomorrow."

Harry gave a grinning Dumbledore a nod and hurried after the rest. All were whispering to each other about how apparation classes would be.

"I have read that most wizards do not pass their apparation exam on the first try, some have to do it four times before they get their license." Hermione pointed out.

"Why is it so hard to get a license?" Neville asked.

"Because, they don't want you popping on top of a person or in the middle of a tree. I hear Healers hate dealing with apparation injuries cause its complex to reverse." Hermione replied.

"Why do you think we are going to Hagrid's, what's he got to do with it?" Ginny asked.

"I dunno, maybe we will learn in his hut, away from school." Ron shrugged.

"Oh, no, I don't think we would have a class in a place so cluttered, lovely, but cluttered." Luna said dreamily picking a daisy from the path in front of Hagrid's hut.

Harry waited for the rest to get close to the door before he knocked. Hagrid opened the door beaming. "Aw, yer her' fer yer first lesson'. Les' go."

Hagrid stepped outside and onto the path. A moment later Madame Hooch stepped out holding her wand in her right hand and her broom in her left.

"All right, you all must listen close, and pay attention." Madame Hooch said sternly. "That means you too Weasley. Wands out, stay behind me and in front of Hagrid. Single file formation. Don't break formation unless there is trouble."

Harry thought he was listening to Oliver Wood before a Quidditch game, but Madame Hooch was a lot stricter with her words.

"What trouble, Professor?" Ginny asked.

"We will be going deep into the Forbidden Forrest. We all should be ok as long as we stick together and do not stray."

"Dumbledore must be nuts," Ron whispered to Harry, " All these years he tells us to stay away from the Forrest and now he has us having classes there."

"He must have his reasons," Harry answered, "even though I don't know what they are most times."

"Are you bringing Fang?" Hermione asked Hagrid.

"No, he'sa bit mor sheep then dog," Hagrid laughed, "but don' tell em I'd said tha'."

The students followed Madam Hooch silently into the forest. All had their wands out ready for anything. Harry reassured Ron multiple times that they were not going the same directions as cave of Argog. They walked for twenty minutes over the rocks and dirt before they got to the foot of a large hill. Madam Hooch got on her broom and flew over the hill.

"Coast is clear." Madam Hooch said upon returning. She pointed her wand towards the a large boulder at the foot of the hill and chanted, "Alohoboulo."

The boulder rolled to the left to reveal an archway into the enormous hill. "All in, this way, watch your head Hagrid."

All realized that the room they had just entered was almost as big as the hill. It was a very square room, with bright white walls. The room was brightly lit but there was no source for the light. The room was completely empty, a good room to learn how to apparate in, Harry thought.

"Ok, everyone, wands away, we are safe here. We are at Hogwarts new Apparation Center. We are still waiting for certification from the Ministry to use this facility, but for now we have more important issues at hand than dealing with Ministy's red spellotape. There are a few rules, the room has been enchanted so you cannot apparate out of here, however you can apparate in. Funny thing is that when you do learn how to apparate into here, you will not have any use for it. Rule one, you will only be able to apparate within the red circles. Rule number two, stay in the blue circle when you are not apparating. Thats it, any questions."

"Um, Madam Hooch, what circles?" Hermione asked.

Madam Hooch looked around to see the room completely bare of any red or blue circles. With a huff she tapped her wand against the entryway. Several large red circles appeared throughout the room, most on the floors, some on the walls and two on the ceiling. Most were large enough for several adults to stand in, however one on the floor was only big enough for one. A large blue circle appeared underneath where Harry and the rest stood. He didn't move out of the circle until Madam Hooch called him to one of the red circles on the floor.

"First everyone, we have to understand some of the wizarding rules that govern apparation." Madam Hooch started. "First we must think of where we want to be. Have a clear definition of the exact spot and its surroundings. Once properly trained, you will be able to do this without using a wand. This is much easier said than done. If an accident occurs, you might splinched together with a chair, wall, or even another wizard. There have been incidences were wizards have died due to a misplaced lamp."

Madam Hooch walked a circle around Harry before she continued. "Now, Harry do you see that small red circle across the room. Imagine yourself there, close your eyes if you have to. But will yourself there." Harry closed his eyes, he thought of himself standing on top of the small red circle. He felt himself being lifted and then all of a sudden the blood rushed to his head. When he opened his eyes, he saw the rest of the group staring up at him. He looked around the room and realized he was upside down on the ceiling. Harry heard Madam Hooch use the levitation spell to get him down from the ceiling.

"See children, this is not easy as you would think." Madam Hooch repeated. "This room has been enchanted to enhance your apparation magic, so you can apparate within the room fairly easily, but we have to work on aim. The better you get, the less the room will help. This might be very difficult for some of you. Your confidence in your skill might falter if you see yourself fail after a few successes. But you will do well if you just have patience. This is actually a new method of training that Dumbledore and I came up with over the summer. We hope to cut down on the training but still have you very skilled with apparation once you have passed. Now Harry what did you picture, describe it if you can?"

"Well—um, I saw myself standing on the red circle." Harry stated.

"And…" Madam Hooch said pushing for more information.

"…and that's it." Harry shrugged.

"Well, that is why you didn't make it to the appropriate circle. You should have thought of the walls and ceiling in relation to where you stood, and to see us in the far end of the room staring at you. You have to be keen to the environment you plan to apparate to. I would highly recommend never attempting to apparate to a place you are not familiar with.

With that said, the remainder of the afternoon, the students took turns on attempting to apparate onto the small red circle. None was successful, even Hermione who excelled at learning new magic.

After the trek back to Hogwarts, the students were in time for dinner. They spent the rest of the evening finishing any homework that was not completed yet. For Ron, that was all his homework. The next day could not have gone any slower for Harry. Charms were especially boring, that Professor Flitwick nodded of a few times himself. Harry had let the others know that he would continue Occlumency in the Room of Requirements that night. After a quick dinner, Harry left Ron and Hermione to go to his first Occlumency lesson for the school year.

Harry didn't even think of what he wanted the room to be before he opened the door. He entered a warm room, with a lit fireplace. There were two large comfortable couches in the middle of the room. Soft pillows were all over the room. Across the room stood a thin man in shabby clothes. His hair was light brown flecked with gray.

"Remus!" Harry shouted with surprise.

"Its good to see you too Harry." Remus said cheerfully.

"So you are going to teach me Occlumency?" Harry asked.

"I hope to, whether you learn it is a different matter." Remus quipped.

"I didn't know you knew Occlumency…why didn't you teach me it last year?"

"Well, Harry I didn't know it last year. Once Sirius and I found out that Snape would be teaching you Occlumency, we thought one of us should learn it just in case. Since I was the better student, that one became me. I have been studying it for several months now, and Dumbledore caught me up to speed with anything I couldn't find in books. I might not be as proficient in it as Snape or Dumbledore, but Dumbledore and I both decided that you would learn it better if you were more relaxed at your lessons."

"Well, I am sure glad it is you." Harry smiled, "By the way, what are all the pillows for?"

"Well, just some cushion if one of us lets out a stunner when we are connected."

"Good idea." Harry smiled.

"Lets get started, Harry, what do you remember from your last lesson."

"Well we got up to me building a mental wall to protect my mind form attacks."

"Good, try that again, I am going to attack and see how much you can block." Lupin raised his wand and said, "Legilimens."

Harry quickly made his mind blank and built a wall, he could feel Lupin pushing against it. The harder Lupin pushed, the harder Harry had to push back. Harry could feel that Lupin was testing his strength. It wasn't even ten seconds before Harry's thoughts were visible to Lupin.

Harry's thoughts began to swirl around in his head, he saw a flash of green light that he now knew as the Killing Curse… being bullied by Dudley when he was eight…he was chasing after a snitch in his second year…he was getting ready for the Yule Ball with Ron…he was in the Department of Mysteries witnessing Sirius fall into the black veil. Harry had pushed back harder this time. His thoughts began to change. He saw a small boy crying holding his bloodied arm…the same boy being chased by a group of first year Slytherin…an older boy sitting with James Potter, Sirius, and Peter Pettigrew at the Three Broomsticks…the young man naked in the Shrieking Shack. Harry had felt himself thrown back. He landed on one of the couches.

"V—very good, Harry" Lupin said panting. "You actually learned something from Professor Snape."

"Are you OK Remus?" Harry said worriedly.

"Yes, I wasn't expecting those memories to show up, did you know what you were looking for?"

"No, I just wanted you out of my head and I pushed back." Harry said.

"Interesting. Sooner or later you will learn how to select which thought you want to see. Harry, what was that green light?

"I think that is when my parents were murder by Voldemort." Harry replied.

"You remember that?" Lupin asked sounding intrigued.

"Bits and pieces of it…" Harry said, "sometimes I just remember screaming."

"Oh my…" Lupin said with a sad tone, " that's interesting that you remember that, I must tell Dumbledore."

"Is it that important that I remember that?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, but it could be."

Lupin had Harry clear his mind before ending the session. They chatted in the hallway up to Gryffindor tower. Before he left Lupin gave him some more advice in dealing with any more attacks. "Remember Harry, its your mind, if someone invades it you have home pitch advantage, use it." With that Lupin left Harry at the portrait of the Fat Lady. To Harry it seem that he went the direction of Dumbledore's office rather than exiting Hogwarts. Harry knew though that no one would spot him if he didn't want them to. If anyone could navigate the halls of Hogwarts undetected, it would be a Marauder.