Chapter 5 – Classes

Harry Potter and the Valeru

By Lady Urquentha

PG – 13

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. K Rowling, the exception being any OC characters that might wander in. The plot is my own, and even that may have been influenced by stories I have read in the past. Any resemblance to real events or places is entirely accidental.

REALbluelightsaber – nice name. And thanks for such a long review. I thought making Harry an elf would be a bit too cliché, but he'll have some interactions with the elves. At the moment I cant think of any, but I'll let u know. If u want elf stories, try The Dragonmasters. The elves are slightly bad guys, but it's a good story. I've taken ur advice, and described only one class of each subject. This was one of the hardest chapters to write. I hope the rush of current updates is good enough.

Lady Of Masbolle – Thanks for the fencing offer, but I think I'm okay. I don't really need to describe all that much, I think, so I'll be fine. Yes, I listen to music as well.

David M. Potter - I know that, but I don't want to describe every single exercise session he has, so I'm skipping most of them.

TamiRose:DarkElementalGoddess - I was a bit hyper, I suppose. Sorry 4 the long wait, but we (my editor and I) have been swamped with work lately

Gallandro-83 - Glad ur interested

Chapter 5

Harry shook out his hands and wrists as he watched the arrow speeding at the target. As he heard the loud thunk of it's impact, he smiled. He'd been doing archery for ten months now, and could hit a stationary target 6 out of 10 times, at a range of about 200 feet, although not in the bullseye. Joan smiled at him,

"Good work, Harry," she praised him. Harry grinned again, as he leaned down to draw another arrow. He set it to the string, and pulled it back to his ear. Setting his stance, he aimed and loosed. It cut high into the air, falling in a wide arc to strike the second ring of the target.

"Right, now, you're aiming slightly off," Joan stood behind him, and adjusted his positioning, "try again." Harry pulled another arrow back, aimed at the point she'd shown him, and fired. This time, the arrow flew straight and true, colliding for the first time with the bulls-eye. Harry's eyes lit up, finally he'd hit the bulls-eye.

"I see you've finally figured out to aim," a voice drawled from behind him.

"And good morning to you to, Carmen," Harry replied without turning around, setting a fourth arrow to the string.

"Morning," Carmen greeted Joan with a warm smile, "...Harry, you're aiming too high!" Without looking at her, Harry shot off the arrow, and smirked as it hit the edge of the target,

"I'm not incompentant, Carmen," he told her, over his shoulder.

"Sure could have fooled me," she retorted. Harry didn't respond, as he walked over to collect the arrows.

His knife-throwing class was in the same place as archery, this time with knives. Harry drew his arm back and flicked his wrist. The dagger in his hand shot forward, aiming at the target. He grimaced as it missed the edge of the target by an inch, tumbling to the ground beyond it. He threw the next one at the target, and swore heatedly under his breath as it missed again. Even though he'd been training for months, ten actually as it had been that many months since the teachers arrived, he was still only hitting the target 1 out of 10 times. Harold sighed,

"Come on, Harry. Just aim slightly further to the left," he said, "and you'll hit the target." This time, when Harry threw, it went far off to the other side of the target. His shoulders slumped, as he admitted to himself what his weakness was. He couldn't throw a dagger at all.

"It's kind of surprising, since it's all about hand-eye co-ordination, which you have from being a Seeker," Harold mused, "well, within the next six years, you have to be able to hit the target regularly. And you'll only do that with practice!" Groaning, Harry tossed another dagger at the target.

Harry crouched as he circled his opponent, a knife in each hand. He kept his eyes trained on Serenity Church's chest, the part of the body that most accurately telegraphed the next move. He dodged left to avoid a slash and then shot forward with a cut of his own. He was far better at hand to hand combat then long-range fighting, he had the reflexives and speed for close combat but they were of no use to him in long-range.

He ducked and rolled to avoid a series of rapid thrusts, and then jumped to his feet again. The first five months of his training in most of his physical subjects had been mainly building up his speed, stamina, strength and reflexes, as well as learning basic gymnastic-style movements that could be used in fighting. He'd learned to roll from a standing or sitting position, to come to his feet from his back in seconds, how to fall without hurting himself and other such things. The last four months had been learning actual fighting, as well as some rather underhanded tricks that could help him.

Adjusting his grip on the blades slightly, Harry continued circling, warily eyeing Serenity. As her foot lashed out in a circle, intended to knock his feet away from underneath him, he leaped into the air. Moments after he'd landed, he slashed at her, causing her to step back quickly to avoid the dagger. A sharp flick of his wrist cut through her sleeve, but then he dropped quickly to avoid the next jab at him. As he rose to his feet, he felt wetness on the side of his face. One look at Serenity's face told him that she'd drawn first blood. With a sigh, he drew his wand and flicked it, murmuring a cleaning and antiseptic charm. He felt it sting, showing the spell had done his work, and then healed it with another spell.

"When you drop, remember to make sure you don't drop onto the blade," Serenity told him, smiling, "you scraped your cheek on the blade when you fell." Harry nodded, readying himself for another bout against her. She too dropped into a ready position,

"Ready?" At his nod, she attacked.

Harry shifted his hands on the long length of wood in his hands. He closed his fingers firmly around the wood and looked up confidently. His eyes widened, and he slammed the staff upwards, blocking a potentially fatal knock on his collar bones. He twisted his staff and slammed forward with one metal shod end. He heard his teacher's breath leave her lungs in a whoosh as the metal connected solidly with her stomach. Harry didn't have time to gloat that he'd gotten her though, as he was forced to block a side strike almost instantly.

The two of them exchanged furious blows and strikes, dodging and blocking as they went. There was only one muggle weapon that he was better at then the staff, which was the sword. His main strength was the sword, followed by the staff, and then the glaive. After that went knife combat and unarmed combat, and then last of all were archery and knife throwing. Of course, his very best method of fighting was dueling.

Thunk! Harry danced aside as Georgia's staff hit the wooden floor, and took the opportunity to get in a good swing. It was blocked hurriedly, and Harry struck again. He blocked to the left, and followed it quickly with a swing. Harry thrust forward, and didn't see the staff descending from above him.

He felt something impact heavily with his forehead, before the pain made him gasp and he toppled over backwards. As he lay there on his back, the world swam before his eyes and little stars swirled above his head. When his vision cleared, he saw Georgia standing over him, shaking her head in amusement. Harry rolled his eyes, and carefully climbed back to his feet. The world spun for a moment, but then settled.

"Never concentrate so hard that someone could sneak up on you, or do a surprise attack," she warned him, "ready to go again?" Harry nodded grimly, settling his grip again and lashed out. Their staffs met with a loud crack, and the battle continued.

Harry rubbed his sore fist, and sighed. He'd been working on his punches today, and even after ten months, punching a solid stone rock hadn't gotten much easier.

"Come on, Harry, it's not that hard," George sounded amused, "if you keep trying, it'll get easier." Harry muttered some rude words under his breath, but obediently took up his stance again. He balled his fists, and then his fist lashed out, as the air left his lungs in a yell. Thump! The sound of the flesh meeting rock echoed around the clearing where he was practicing. He glared at the rock that was so devastating to his hand, and soundly wished it was gone.

Unfortunately for him, the rock didn't concede to his wishes, and he found himself spending the next several minutes punching it. By the end of it, it felt like his hands were about to fall off. He grumbled under his breath about teachers who liked causing pain. George laughed,

"but if we didn't, you'd miss it." Harry had to admit it was the truth; he was so used to having to deal with pain in these classes that it would be strange if there was no pain. He glared at his teacher, who presented him with a thick wooden board. Taking it, Harry balanced it on two rocks.

He took a deep breath, lifted his hand, and slammed it down with a yell. The board cracked and splintered to Harry's satisfaction, and went quite a way to restoring his good humor. He loved hearing the boards crack, it was so satisfying. It convinced him of his own strength; that perhaps he stood a chance of winning this war; that he might not get his friends killed. Both friends that were at the moment completely unaware of their danger and friends who were training or trained in the fighting arts.

Harry could almost see why people turned dark. He imagined that the thrill of power that torture gave them was the equivalent of Harry's thrill at a breaking board. He personally didn't like torture, either receiving it or dealing it out, but he knew that some people would like it. Regardless of his feelings about torture, he wasn't sure if he was right in completely avoiding the dark arts. Studying them would give him the knowledge to counter them, but it'd also give him the knowledge of using them, which he knew would be a great temptation. Carmen herself used minor dark arts often, saying that the magic was not dark or light by itself, but that intent made it so. Harry remembered her exact words when explaining herself to him, 'Magic is magic, the spells themselves have no will and cannot decide what they are used for. Spells are only evil when cast by one who uses them for torture or harm. Spells are only good when cast by one who uses them without causing harm or pain. The killing curse could be used to kill animals quickly and painlessly, or to put people suffering out of their misery if they desired it. The Imperious curse could be used to help people overcome their fears or anxieties. Levitating spells, which are believed to be light spells, could be used for dark purposes if they were used to levitate someone to great heights and then dropped, to plummet to their deaths. A healing spell, another so called 'light' spell, could be used to heal the flesh around something imbedded in it, which could prove fatal or dangerous.'

Harry came back to the present to the sound of George clearing his throat impatiently.

"Oh, sorry," Harry blushed, and concentrated on the task at hand.

Harry took a deep breath as he began the sequence of the most basic pattern dance. Bow...right slash, upper block...left slash...upper block...vertical swipe...right block...vertical swipe...right block...right-to-left diagonal slash...left block...left-to-right diagonal slash...left block...low thrust...low block...low thrust...low block...bow.

He grimaced as he completed it, the vertical swipes had been slightly off. It was the first pattern dance he had learned with the glaive, using only the razor edged point. Within the last four months, he'd advanced from that to a point where he could do much more complicated dances. Nonetheless, regardless of his level, every lesson he had to do every pattern dance he'd learnt this far, with Georgia correcting his mistakes. Georgia was the only one of the teachers, other then Ingrid, who taught him two subjects.

"Alter the angle on your vertical swipes, they were on an angle," Georgia coached, "and your low block was too low." Harry nodded, and prepared to do it again. Bow...right slash, upper block...left slash...upper block...vertical swipe...right block...vertical swipe...right block...right-to-left diagonal slash...left block...left-to-right diagonal slash...left block...low thrust...low block...low thrust...low block...bow.

"Good enough, move on," Georgia told him. Harry nodded again, and continued on with the next pattern dance.

An hour later, he was on the most advanced dance yet. Bow...side block to the right...reverse thrust...duck...roll...low thrust...leg sweep...jump...dodge...upper slash...step back...diagonal slash to the right...low block...chest slash...duck...vertical slash...back handspring...twist and side slash...roll...diagonal slash to the left...high thrust...stomach slash...reverse slash...under-cut...upper slash...jump...side-cut...leg sweep...backwards somersault...step back...bow. Harry was breathing heavily by the end of several rounds of that dance, especially at the high speed that he was expected to do.

As he straightened, his shoulders heaving, Georgia circled him slowly. After a few moments, she barked,

"Fifty sit-ups and eighty push-ups." Without a sound, Harry dropped to the ground and obeyed. He'd soon learnt that sit-ups and push-ups were good for him, even if they were very annoying.

Relieved, Harry sank into the chair when it was time for Transfiguration. Each day, when he got to his magic classes, he was already exhausted. But each day he was less and less exhausted. Originally, he'd been nearly dropping, but now he could stay awake long enough to complete his training for the day.

"Today we're going to start working on human transfiguration," Amalie told him, "transfiguring other humans, that is. Not the Animangus transformation." Harry had already started working on his animangus transformation with Ingrid in his appearance altering classes.

"And so, we begin..."

Half an hour later, Harry was flicking his wrist at Gregorio, who had volunteered for the duty. Harry was concentrating hard on the image of a large monkey, which would be one of the easiest forms to change a human into. The more different the animal was from the native state, the harder it was to transform them. Each time he cast the spell, one or two aspects of Gregorio changed, but he'd never managed to fully complete the transformation. Gregorio currently had a tail and two ape hands, but other then that was completely normal. It did make him look ridiculous, something he wasn't very pleased about. Harry wasn't sure if he'd actually volunteered, or if he'd been forced into it. He was beginning to think that Ingrid and Carmen had had something to do with it, due to Gregorio's dark mutterings about his wife and niece.

In Healing class, Harry found himself staring down the arm of an enchanted dummy. There were dummies that were enchanted to look, sound, act and physically be like humans in everything, and Harry practiced on these, in case he messed up. This dummy's arm was sliced upon, and blood poured from it. It wasn't made any easier by the dummy's yells and screams. Harry twirled his wand over the wound,

"Exonero," he muttered. The dummy's screams died away, due to the pain-relieving spell Harry had cast.

"Perpurgo!" he hissed, trying to block out the sounds. His wand glowed blue, and Harry watched the spell clean away dirt and grime from the wound.

"Suo suere sui sutum," he muttered next, waving his wand, "adnecto." The wound was suddenly bound together by minute threads of skin and sinew, and then completely healed over. Sandrilene bent over his work, examining it carefully.

"Very good Harry, nice and neat," she agreed, "no scar left." Harry smiled in relief, he was going reasonably well in this, although healing didn't seem to be his forte. As a number of his teachers had commented, he was remarkably adept at dealing out dangerous injuries, but as for healing them again, he'd die first. Carmen was the exact opposite, while she could fight, she was far far better at healing than he was. She could heal broken limbs and severe internal injuries with a mere wave of her wand and a few words. She was better even then Madame Pomfrey, who Harry had always thought a miracle with healing, even if she was too mother-hennish with her patients. Harry sighed, as he watched Sandrilene create another injury on the dummy for him to heal. This was absolutely no fun.

"We're going to start practical apparition today," Briar informed him. Harry grinned, he'd looked forward to this ever since he'd found out they'd learn it.

"But there are anti-apparition wards all over this place," Carmen argued. She was joining Harry for the moment, while they were doing apparition. Briar nodded,

"but they have been taken off the training chambers for today," he explained, "although later, when you know how, you two will be able to get through wards without any trouble, because of your Valeru blood."

He led them through into the forest room, and turned to face them.

"Now, apparition," he began, "is a very dangerous magical art. It involves disappearing from one place, and reappearing almost instantaneously in another. Often a soft 'pop' is heard, which is the sound of displaced air. But you can train to appear and disappear without that sound, which we must do as well." Harry nodded.

"The first thing we need to find is your private incantation," he explained, "private incantations normally reflect your feelings, strengths and purpose in life. These private incantations are why most wizards can't apparate someone else without their consent, as everyone has their own private incantation that will allow them to apparate. Some of the most powerful wizards and witches had proved to be able to apparate with unwilling or even outright fighting people. In this century, there have been only three people who can do so, Tom Riddle and Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez."

"Start by shutting your eyes and casting the spell 'commonstro ipse evanidus appareo defigo' on yourself like this," Briar demonstrated, "and think the words loudly in your head at the same time. You should hear a voice saying your password." Harry followed the wand movement as he shut his eyes,

"Commonstro ipse evanidus appareo defigo," he said, both aloud and silently. A voice spoke in his head,

"Defend unto death," it whispered, and words appeared on the inside of his eyelids, written in fire, 'Life does not exist without love'. Harry opened his eyes, puzzled as to why words had appeared on his eyelids, not to mention why those specific passwords had been chosen.

"I got a voice and words written in fire," Harry said slowly, "what does that mean?" Briar looked thoughtful,

"I'm not sure, although I think Lady Cortez mentioned that she had words as well. You'll have to ask her. For now though, merely use the words you heard." Harry nodded, mentally noting that.

"Now, you'll start by imaging the place where you want to be, and then put yourself there," Briar explained, "then you'll think or say your incantation. Pour your power into the will to be there." Harry looked across the clearing, and clearly imagined the clearing and then put himself there,

"Defend unto death," he whispered under his breath. He willed himself to be across the clearing, as he squeezed his eyes shut and poured his strength into the command. He felt a cool sensation washing over him for a moment, and then it vanished. Tentatively opening his eyes, Harry grinned. He'd succeeded in getting to the other side of the clearing. He watched as Carmen vanished with a loud crack and reappeared beside him, just as nosily.

"Well done!" Briar cried, "on your first try too." Harry shot Carmen a broad grin, and the two of them exchanged looks. They vanished and reappeared behind Briar, as Carmen drew her wand. A flick of her wrist conjured a bucket of water above Briar, who had only just noticed their disappearance, as the sound had taken longer to reach him.

He turned around, drenched and glaring.

"What was that for?" he demanded. The two teenagers traded looks and shrugged,

"we felt like it?" they chorused, before Carmen dissolved into laughter. Scowling at the two of them, Briar dried himself off with a quick spell.

Harry bowed politely to his teacher and then lifted his wand. He was in Dueling Class, and therefore, he dueled the teacher.

"Begin," Devin snapped, "Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego," was the first spell Harry uttered, shielding himself, and then followed up with an offensive spell, "stupefy!"

"Adlido!" Devin said clearly, and a bolt of blue light shot from his wand. Harry dodged,

"Conglutino!" Harry returned.

"Expelliarmous!"

"Obscuratio!"

"Lumière!"

"Engourdi!" Harry blocked the spell sent at him, and then gasped as he heard the next spell,

"Difflo!" It was dark arts, major dark arts. It was meant to blow apart the person who was hit by it, and was fatal. Harry gritted his teeth, it was going to be hard to fight dark with light.

"Aquilo!" he called. Wind spun in a circle to rush at Devin, which he struggled to deflect, as Harry used the opportunity to continue his attack,

"Terrae motus! Grando!" The earth shook beneath Devin, and small hail stones bumped against the shield he had up. The hail stones wouldn't kill, only disarm or hurt slightly. It was getting quite close to the Dark Arts line though.

"Tarantallegra,"

"Aveugle!"

"Frapper!" Harry was too busy paying attention to keeping the earth shaking and wind whirling, and didn't see the final spell that would end the duel.

"Stupefy!" He felt the spell too late as it broke through his shield, and he ended up stunned on the floor.

When he was revived, Harry shook his head in disappointment.

"No, Harry, you did very well for someone of your age, especially without formal dueling training and using only the so called 'light' arts," Devin told him, "however, if you wish to be truly prepared and ready to face opposition in the real world, I would suggest you study the dark arts as well. Know every spell that Death Eaters might use, both how to use them and how to defend against them, and you will never be taken by surprise. They might also come in handy when you're surrounded or when your life is at stake." Harry nodded, he was starting to study minor dark arts, although he had yet to actually try any of the offensive spells, just the defensive ones.

"And always pay attention to what is happening around you," Devin reminded him, "never become so entangled in keeping a spell going that you are unaware of the world around you." Harry nodded, he'd certainly learnt that folly today.

"Now, shall we do another round?"

Harry carefully ground up the beetle eyes, and measured out the required amount. He poured it into the bubbling cauldron, and stirred three times counter-clockwise. Next he began shredding the daisy petals, and put them in a cup as well. When the cup was full he slowly tipped them in, stirring constantly in a counter-clockwise direction. He watched the nearly completed potion simmer, waiting for it to change color.

He was brewing an invisibility potion from an ancient Egyptian text. Few people knew of the text's existence, as most of them were lost or destroyed at some point. It was a potion that would turn you invisible for 6 hours, or until you drank the antidote. To turn invisible only took a single mouthful of potion about thirty seconds. It was a long and complicated potion, one of a level that normally only Potion Masters would attempt. Daemon had decided that Harry had to learn to brew complex potions that could be of help to him, and had left the potions he'd study at Hogwarts alone.

The text from which the spell was gotten had been written in Ancient Egyptian, and so had to be translated into English for him. There were translation spells he could have used, a number of different ones in fact. One worked for only a few hours, but allowed the drinker to perfectly understand both written and spoken words in that language instantly without reperussions or side affects while it lasted. The other type, a dark arts potion, taught the drinker the language, at the price of considerable pain while the knowledge was being absorbed, and then the drinker could speak and read only that language for 24 hours. But neither of these were deemed sufficient, and so every text book was charmed to have both the native tongue and English in it.

It had included potions such as disguising potions, endurance potions, drug potions, sleeping potions etc. all of which had been very potent and dangerous. But Harry was being taught them because they were likely to come in handy during the war, and they trusted him to be extremely careful with how many or what he took. As it was, he was taking several endurance potions from another text per day, with his teachers' knowledge. He'd long since stopped taking the potions for one nights sleep in one hour, but he still took endurance potions. Originally he'd taken them to keep awake during class, but now he took them so he rotated on a 48 hour day, instead of 24. Each month, he reduced his intake of endurance potions, as his body adjusting to running on that schedule. By the end of the second year, he was supposed to be doing the 48 hour rotation naturally.

Harry carefully transferred the screaming mandrake into the new pot, and smothered it with dirt and soil quickly. His ears were muffled by the ear muffs, but he could still see the screaming mandrake. He didn't like Herbology as much as the other subjects, as it got quite boring for him. He liked being on the go and moving around a lot, actually doing something. Herbology and Potions were the two things where he wasn't moving around much, and consequently were less interesting. At least in Potions, he was actually brewing something. Herbology, to him, was just like gardening, which he did enough of at Privet Drive.

Harry pointed his wand steadily at a shadow on the floor,

"Expecto Patronum!" His old memories for this spell had been his friends and Quidditch, but now he chose a different memory. The feeling he felt when Carmen, Ingrid and Gregorio had given him gifts for his birthday. It was pure, unadulterated happiness. He didn't know what it was, but there was a difference between being with his friends and being with the three of them. Something in it made him extremely happy and comfortable.

Instead of the usual silver stag, a bright gold cougar appeared. There were differences between this and a normal cougar, this one had long fangs and claws, clearly meant for shredding. It charged at the shadow, and Harry watched as the Lethifold on the floor was ripped apart. He turned to Andrew in wonder,

"how...?"

"Emotion magic changes depending on what you memories you summon up," Andrew explained, "and the level of emotion and power felt at the time of the memory and the moment of casting." So a cougar symbolized Carmen, Ingrid or Gregorio, and the emotion was a lot stronger. Harry guessed it was Carmen, as the cougar was one of her animangus forms. They all had four different forms, including Harry. As the cougar faded, Harry tried again,

"Expecto Patronum!" This time a bright gold unisus appeared, with a razor sharp horn. Harry frowned, it had been the same memory, but this time the unisus was Ingrid. A third attempt brought out a tiger for Gregorio, but the fourth try was a cougar again.

"Your chosen memory must be very strong, and very diverse," Andrew remarked. Harry nodded as he sighed, why did he always have to be different?

Harry concentrated hard on his hand. He was working on wandless conjuring today, which meant he had to try and conjure a whole range of items without his wand. He'd managed to conjure simple things like paper, quills and ink pots, but was struggling with a golden goblet.

Wandless magic itself was magic performed without a wand. It was harder because there was nothing to focus the magic except strength of will, but was a lot more powerful because there was no wand to drain magic from the spell. It was also easier once you got the hang of it, because you didn't have to use as much magic. But while you were learning it, it was far harder then wand magic. But it had rich rewards, mainly in the fact that even if you lost your wand in a duel, you weren't defenseless. Wandless magic was sometimes accompanied by a spoken or thought incantation or small gesture, but not always. They made it easier, but were more noticeable. Harry was being taught to do it without incantations or gestures, because it would be easier for him to keep it from being noticed that way. He wasn't even allowed to think the incantation, only see a vision of what he wanted.

He formed an image in his mind of what he wanted and sent his power through the image and to his hand. He felt his fingers warming slightly, and then slowly, a golden goblet began to form on the table. It was a slightly odd shape, but was unmistakably a goblet. He grinned triumphantly.

"Now try for something a little larger, like a small table," Ingrid told him. Harry nodded, and began constructing it in his mind. When he was complete, he passed his magic through it, and gritted his teeth as he watched it form before him. He'd get faster eventually, as he practiced. Now it took him up to a minute to go from the beginning of planning to the final product, but eventually it'd all be done in the time it took to snap his fingers.

Harry sat on the floor, with a text book open to a picture of a phoenix. He shut his eyes, and poured his mind, heart, soul, magic and will into the image of a phoenix in his mind. The phoenix that he thought of, though, was white and gold instead of red and gold. When he'd taken the potion meant to show him his animal forms in his sleep, he'd seen a white and gold phoenix. He'd been trying for several months now, but still couldn't get past covering himself in feathers.

Harry's own animangi forms were four, only one of which was magical, which was the phoenix. Carmen, likewise, had four forms, one being the cougar. Her cougar was blue and platinum, completely unreal. Ingrid had four as well, one of which was the unisus. A unisus was a winged unicorn, normally white. But Ingrid was a black unisus with a silver horn. One of Gregorio's four animal forms was a red and bronze tiger. All of them, though, once in their animal forms could or would be able to change their coat colors to the color of a normal one of their species at will.

Harry opened his eyes, and found himself covered in white and gold feathers, but otherwise unchanged. Sighing, he shut his eyes and began again.

Harry sighed. He was sitting on the forest floor, surrounded by piles of books. Each and every book was about fire, fire spells and fire elementals. In this class he was basically on his own, as none of the others could help him. He was a Fire Elemental, and they knew of no other fire elemental. Ingrid, Gregorio and Carmen were all elementals, but not of fire. Ingrid was an Air-Elemental, Gregorio was an Earth Elemental and Carmen was the Water-Elemental. He had to muddle his way through by himself, with the occasional input from the others.

Over the last ten months, Harry had learnt to access his fire powers and summon a ball of flame in his hand without burning himself. He could also change it's size and shape. He was currently trying to find out how to create a pillar of fire that could survive on water. The elements summoned by an elemental were could be unharmed by the other elements if the elemental wished it. He knew that eventually he could do whatever he wanted with the element, even up to summoning an elemental guardian.

Harry lifted his hands and concentrated on a bare area of our ground, and called the fire. A ball of fire appeared in his hands, and grew larger and larger. He threw it forward, commanding it to become an immense column without burning anything else. He quickly cancelled the command as the leaves on the nearby trees lit up in flame. He swore under his breath as he hurriedly conjured water to douse the fire. Muttering, Harry began again.

"Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out..." a soft female voice murmured. Harry obeyed, his eyes shut. He emptied his mind of all thought, and let himself go. He floated away from the cares of the world, away from the burden on his shoulders. He relaxed, and felt his mind open up to the world around him. He could feel Isabella beside him, her mind seeming relaxed and calm. As he drew in information from further away, he sensed Carmen, her mind full of determination mixed with exhaustion. Near her was the male Donmensic, whose mind was determined and filled with dislike. Further away, he sensed the presences of each of his teachers, and their emotions. He let himself float, just absorbing the information he was learning.

Finally he brought himself back into his body. He was learning to control one of his private powers, empathy. He could sense other people's emotions and dominant thoughts if they couldn't do Occulmancy. At the moment he had to be in a quiet place and meditating, but eventually he was supposed to be always open to reading other people, but with his inner shields up against mind-intrusion. He'd already mastered Occulmancy, and was going to learn Leglimancy.

The empathy gift he had was private to him; none of the others had it. It would come in handy when dealing with people and the press; he wouldn't make the same sort of mistakes as he had with Cho. But it could also lead to his downfall if he wasn't careful. If he didn't have his shields up and wasn't very careful, the emotions of the people around him could overwhelm him. Empaths often had problems with being in large crowds or group, especially untrained but powerful ones. When he left here, he was expected to be able to survive in large crowds without showing outward strain.

A/N: Chapter 5 completed. The next chapter will contain a little romance perhaps, and probably his last few days there. You'll see a new Harry as well. I am sorry about the long wait, but I hope this rush of chapters will make up for it.

E/N: This story is the best and if you don't like it your crazy (just kidding! Everyone had his or her own taste.) If you don't get anything leave a review and if Lady doesn't have time to answer it I will, Kay? REVIEW PEOPLE!!!!!