The Celestial Guidance

by FlyingPixie (Lady Lyssa)

Disclaimer: Everything in this fic belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. Everything you do not recognize belongs to me! (That makes me feel so special :D)! If I were her, I would be writing the Half Blood Prince in a small café, rather than sitting here, typing on fanfiction!

A/N: This story takes place in Harry's sixth year, after OotP. H/G, R/Hr, PG-13 rating.

(If anyone recognizes the quote, it is because it is the one from my last chapter. I made a mistake and put the wrong one. Chapter Six now has a new quote, if anyone wants to check it out. Sorry for the inconvenience).

A special thanks goes out to Lourdes1, who reminded me that elevators are known as lifts in the UK! Thanks!

Never Judge a Book by its Cover

How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but also within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.

Barry Lopez

Merlin walked into the large, domed hall. Bright sunlight streamed through the tall windows of the majestic abode of Fate, as it always did. Currently, two of the three sisters were hard at work in the room. Lachesis was sewing the ends of the enormous Tapestry of Life that hung on the wall. Atropos held a pair of scissors in her hands, cutting the threads that needed to be cut. Her scissors were the sharpest in existence, for she alone could cut the threads of life. Merlin assumed that Clotho was off collecting the Fabric of Life.

The sisters made no movement to indicate that they had sensed his presence, which he did not doubt they had, but simply continued to work and waited for him to make the first move. From his viewpoint, he noticed that they both wore identical grins: they knew why he was here.

"What have you done to Harry?"

Lachesis sewed her last thread, put down the basket she had been holding, and walked up to him. Atropos similarly completed her tasks and made her way towards him.

"What makes you think we've done anything at all?" Atropos asked, though she already knew the answer.

"You know perfectly well what I mean! What did you do?" This was by no means the first time that Merlin had visited Fate's abode. Their history went far back, for Merlin visited them even when he had been alive. And people wondered how he could predict the future... The four had developed a friendly nature around one another, and Merlin had no qualms about being blunt with them!

"What do you mean precisely? We've done many things to him," Lachesis smiled. The sisters were having too much fun to let this one go.

Merlin sighed, "How did Harry manage to break his bonds so quickly? That boy is powerful, no doubt about that, but that was ridiculous. He could not be have that much power after I blocked off so much of it. What did you do?" He repeated his question, hoping to receive a clear answer. It had always angered him that he coudl never really get his way with the sisters. And one as powerful as him was used to always getting his way.

"Alright. We cast a – minor – spell on Harry, since we knew he would attract trouble at an early age. We enabled the bonds on his magic to lessen. This allowed some of his excess powers seep through, whenever he was in danger or performing a difficult task that would require more magic than he possessed." The sisters' smiles only grew: they loved playing around with spells that Merlin had cast. His annoyance only increased their joy.

"MINOR? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT COULD HAVE DONE?"

It was at this moment that Clotho appeared. She wore a long, flowing blue gown that played around her ankles. She carried a basket of pure life-force, the substance she would at a later date spin into the Threads of Life.

"What did we do now?" the youngest sister asked.

"You toyed with Harry's magic, that's what! He could have seriously hurt someone if the magic had gone out of control." Merlin knew that he was being foolish, and that they probably looked into the matter to make sure he wouldn't have caused harm, but it always angered him when someone, no matter who it was, toyed with his spells. Especially when they were there for good reason.

"Come on Merlin. You know why we did it. How else would he have survived his encounter with Riddle in his Fourth year? He won with will-power and the support of his parents, but without the extra magical boost he would never have been able to hold on that long." Used to his temper, they did not heed his words as a personal insult to them. He would cool off eventually. He always did.

With a quick good-bye, Merlin apparated away. At least now I know where Harry got his powers.

Harry opened his eyes, but quickly shut them again. The light emanating from the Dream World had blinded him. This could become a definite problem. Resigning himself to having to deal with the problem sooner or later, Harry opened his eyes slowly, giving his eyes time to adjust. When the light once again became too bright for comfort, he closed his eyes again. He opened them slowly once more, only closing his eyes when they had started to water from the brilliancy.

Harry repeated the process several more times for a few minutes, until his eyes had adjusted for the most part, and he was now able to distinguish different objects in the room. When he looked down at himself, he did a double take, realizing for the first time that he didn't shine like everything else. Why couldn't he see his own magic? He could see it when he cast spells, couldn't he? Another question to the ever-growing list of questions that he would have to ask Merlin.

It was at this precise moment that his mentor walked into the room. Merlin signaled Harry to walk over, eyes twinkling. His previous ire had quickly been replaced with intense amusement when he found out what his young charge had done to his bed...

Not wishing to bring up that particular subject just yet, Harry decided to voice one of his other questions.

"How can I now do magic without detection from the Ministry? Is it because the magic is wandless."

Merlin nodded, "I apologize that I did not leave time to explain yesterday. Your hypothesis is exactly correct. Wandless magic is untraceable by the Ministry. The sole reason for this is that the Ministry locates magic and is able to pinpoint the exact wizard who cast the spell only by the wand. Each wand (when legally sold of course) is registered in the Ministry records. They have multiple, very powerful, spells that trace the magical residue left behind from spells back to the wand that cast it."

"Does this mean that, if I were to use someone else's wand, then the spell would be traced back to them, not me?" Harry asked.

"Yes it does. This is one of the faults in this system, which is why they do not advertise their method of tracking openly."

Harry nodded, then remembered his other question.

"How can I see magic, and why can I not see my own? Is this called Second Sight?"

Merlin smiled. The boy had had enough faith in him to practice at home. In order to see magic for the first time, you had to have the necessary ammount of power, and then have used it (i.e. practicing spells out of the Dream World). Harry was also asking all of the right questions. Merlin often purposefully 'forgot' to mention important facts to his charges, allowing them to either discover things on their own or ask the right questions. He found they learned better this way. Arthur had been especially exceptional at this... Pulling back from his reminiscence, Merlin answered the young wizard's question.

"Yes, this is part of your Second Sight abilities, but by no means all of it. You will learn all about your Second Sight abilities soon enough. There is no real reason why you cannot see your own, other than the fact that it is a part of you. You can see it, however, when you cast spells, because it has left your body."

"Is there any way to stop me from seeing the magic? It's giving me a headache," Harry asked, already dreading the answer, but hoping for the best.

"Unfortunately, no, there isn't."

When Merlin saw Harry's face fall, he added, "Do not worry. I promise that you will get used to it soon enough. This is a very powerful gift. You mustn't undermine the advantages you carry because of it."

Harry perked up a bit at that, his mind already reeling with this information. He could use it to his advantage in a duel... Harry then remembered his dilemma: what was he supposed to do about his bed? How best to phrase the question?

"MerlinIneedanewbedbeacauseIblewuptheotherone."

Merlin's eyes twinkled ferociously as Harry's cheeks flushed. This was so embarrassing.

"What did you ask Harry?" Merlin asked sweetly, knowing the answer full well but wanting to see his charge ask his properly.

Drawing on his Gryffindor courage, Harry asked his question again.

"I blew up my bed yesterday –"

"And how did you do that, pray tell." Merlin wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"– because I lost control of my emotions. I need your help to conjure a new bed."

Merlin pretended to deliberate on the problem, as if he hadn't already thought up of a solution.

"Conjuring is way above your level, so we won't be learning that for a while. In the meantime I will conjure a bed for you, and you can use that in the meantime."

"You can conjure a bed and have it appear in my room? No offense meant of course."

"None taken. Even if I have – passed away, I can still use my powers to conjure a bed through this Plane and into the next. It takes a lot more magic to phase the object through Planes than normal conjuring takes, but nothing I can't handle! Now, if there are no more questions, Salazar will be teaching you first today."

Merlin led an extremely nervous Harry to the lower levels of the Dream World. The walk passed in silence; Harry being too nervous to speak. He sincerely hoped that Salazar wasn't like Snape. Then again, from the rumors...

Merlin opened the door to a large, dank room.

"Here you are."

Merlin apparated away, leaving Harry feeling like he was entering the lion's den naked. Then again, he reminded himself, there had been one who had gone into the lion's den before, and tamed the lions (he used to listen to Aunt Petunia's attempts at teaching Dudley the bible). Pulling on his reserve of Gryffindor courage, he stepped inside the dungeon boldly.

While the chamber should have been extremely dark, with only a few flickering candles in the room casting eerie shadows, Harry was almost blinded by the light emanating from the room. Trying to adjust to the new light, he looked around. Potion ingredients lined all four walls of the room, and each bottle glowed brighter than the last. He saw a tall man working on a desk at the back of the room. Another table stood beside him, cauldron already heating up.

Salazar pushed his work aside and looked up to see the young man enter the room. This is going to be interesting, he thought ruefully to himself. He was curious to see how this one would turn out. Hopefully not full of himself. Fame does that to most people.

Salazar looked into Harry's eyes. He often said that the best way to judge a man was by looking into his eyes. Harry's eyes showed much previous pain and suffering, and a very recent wound that had nowhere near closed yet. At the same time, however, he saw sparks of fierce determination light the boys emerald orbs.He saw no hint whatsoever of pride in his eyes. Yes, he thought to himself, this is definitely going to be interesting.

Hopefully he wouldn't be as closed-minded as some of the other 'charges' Merlin brought to me. Perhaps this one won't judge me by what books said.

"Come to the front, where I can see you, and we shall begin." Salazar watched the boy closely as he walked up resolutely towards the green-clad man. "Your lessons with me will improve your potions skills. When this is satisfactory, we shall move on to some darker spells that you will neither be taught at school, nor by Gryffindor."

Harry's eyes flashed.

"Dark spells? Aren't I here to defeat Voldemort?" This would be interesting. Like so many others, he had chosen to hear 'dark spells' rather than 'darker spells'. The change in word would make all the difference.

"Yes, and you must learn to fight fire with fire!"

"If I stoop to his level, then I become no better than him." A very valid point.

"Define dark spells." Salazar's question seemed to take Harry aback. He watched the boy intently as he thought about the question. Well done. He's thinking about this, and not just answering bluntly, with the usual 'they're evil spells' he had heard oh so many times in the past.

"Dark spells are spells that harm others for the sake of harm alone. There is no logical reason to use these spells, and most people who do enjoy harming people. I refuse to use these."

"Do you? Are you not willing to use say – an Unforgivable curse if the need arose?" He could see by Harry's reaction that he had struck a nerve with that one. However, the younger man did not back down, and accepted the challenge. Salazar respected that.

"I regret what I did, or rather what I tried to do, and I will never do so again."

"If you say so. Getting back to our original point, I will not teach you to use dark spells, merely darker spells than what you are used to. Before I can do this however, I must change how you view dark spells. You mustn't be like so many others who sees all spells in two categories: white and black. It is not the spell, but rather the reason for the spell, and its effect that makes the difference."

Salazar could see that he had Harry's attention. He continued.

"For example, would you generally classify the Wingardium Leviosa spell as a 'good spell' or a 'bad spell'?"

"A good spell," Harry answered, not getting the point Salazar was trying to make.

"What if Voldemort used this spell to launch muggles hundreds of feet into the air, only to release the spell and have them begin a freefall descent to their deaths? Wouldn't it then be a 'bad' spell?"

A bit of an exaggeration on his part, of course, but Salazar had always been proud of this example. He continued.

"And about the Unforgivables, classified by most to be 'extremely dark spells'. What if the Imperious Curse was used on someone who was afraid of heights, to force them to walk on a high platform, in order to help him conquer his fear? Or what if the Avada Kedavra curse was used on a very sick patient who was suffering needlessly from a disease that had no cure? Would you want them to suffer, or would you cast the Avada Kedavra curse to end their pain in mere seconds?"

"I never thought about it that way. I can see the point you are trying to make. So I won't be learning dark spells, but simply ones that the Ministry has deemed unfit for many to learn because of their dangerous consequences, but which I can use to my benefit, without harming anyone needlessly?"

Salazar smiled (which was a rare feat in and of itself). Thank Merlin (literally) that this one actually had some brains.

"Some of the curses will cause harm; I will not guarantee anything else. I do not expect you to start using these curses in friendly duels, or even against an enemy unless the need seriously outweighed the effects of the curse. If the only way you could defeat Voldemort would be to use one of these curses, causing harm, would you? If it were either that or Voldemort's reign."

Harry was slightly hesitant before answering, but when he did his voice was loud and clear. "I would use the curses you teach me to the best of my ability if such a dire need arises that I will need to use them in order to save millions of innocent lives." Salazar nodded, pleased with his answer. However, it was time to work now.

"Let's start with the Aconitum Potion, a variant of the normal Poison Potion. It is much more lethal than normal, because of the frozenWyvern blood inside. It is not an extremely difficult potion to brew, but does require much concentration and time, which is why this variant is rarely used."

Seeing that Harry was up to the challenge, he handed him a list of the necessary ingredients, and the steps needed to complete the potion. "The dry ingredients can be found on the back shelves. The Wyvern blood can be found in my personals stores down in the cellar, which requires extremely low temperatures so as not to thaw. Unfortunately, any spells used on the blood diminishes its effects, therefore I cannot simply freeze it with magic. I shall get this while you begin. I expect satisfactory work from you while I am gone.."

Harry walked to the back of the room; picking up various potion ingredients and bringing them carefully back to the desk he would be working at. While he collected the items on the list, he contemplated what he had learned thus far from Slytherin. He is definitely not what I had expected!

Harry decided he would definitely give the other man a chance, perhaps at the same time learning some of the secrets he held. Why had he built the Chamber of Secrets? Salazar did not seem evil. Putting the mystery aside for another day, he concentrated on the task before him. By the time Salazar had returned with the blood, he had already assembled all of the ingredients and had begun the first few steps of the potion.

As Harry brewed the potion (which was not as hard as he had thought it would be, especially now that he didn't have Snape breathing down his neck), Salazar described the effects of the potion, when it was used, and the history of the potion. He never commented on how Harry was doing, and only interfered when he saw the other making a mistake. Harry smiled internally as he added three pinches of powdered Violet Corprinus. This could definitely be interesting...

A/N: Hey! Another chapter up! Hope you all enjoyed it! Don't you all love Salazar... I'm surprised that no one had commented on the fact that Harry seemed too powerful in the third chapter! Oh well... there's the reason! Thanks to all those that reviewed my story! I love you all. The encouragement to keep on writing really helps! I baked a special plate of chocolate-chip cookies just for you!

author hands out virtual cookies to greedy fans

Anyone who can take me away from the Sims 2 (only the best computer game of all time!!!) to write this fic is a miracle worker in my eyes! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Review responses (from now on I will only respond to those of you who had questions or comments):

Lady of the Dragons2: Sirius will come soon, I promise! So will Ginny! Hope you like this chapter though!

Dr. Gero: Harry will eventually get used to seeing the magic, yes. He will eventually tell his friends, but it will be a while. Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed that I brought Sirius back, especially since one of my first reviewers seemed mad about that! He will go straight to Harry of course, no worries! Thanks for the warning. However, I won't stop just because someone thinks it is funny to take down someone's hard work (is it illegal to write responses?). What is a Yahoo group? I've heard about it, but don't know what it entails! Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Harry/Ginnyfan4ever: Excuse me, milady Beta! sheesh, some royal people can be a real pain Thanks for the review, more Ginny later!

Eternity of Twilight: Glad you found that he blew up his bed, because Harry sure didn't! Hope you enjoyed Salazar! Was it everything you expected? More? Less? Please review with your feedback! By the way, I've been meaning to ask: what does glomps mean?

Tanydwr: ??? What brain? I was talking about the brain from the Department of Mysteries that attacked Ron! Sorry if I confused you! Glad you enjoyed Ginny!

Lina Thanatos: backs away slowly from the crazed woman in front of her, who is carrying three poison darts, a straight sword and a Katana Couldn't decide, could you? I would have chosen the poison darts: fast and efficient. Anyway, thanks for the review! I didn't play the Sims 2 to get this out on time!

Lily Evans82: Did you get the chapter? If you did, I hope you enjoyed it!

Lourdes1: Thanks for the 4 reviews! Thanks for thinking I have enough talent and original ideas to write away from fanfiction! To tell the truth, I wanted to be an author when I was in elementary school, but am now leaning towards medicine! Sirius woke up in the Dept. of Mysteries because that is where he died. He fell through the veil to the Medius Plane, and Fate brought him back through the Medius Plane to the veil! Did that clear it up? Thanks for the hint about the lifts! I changed my chapter!

DaBear: He blew it up! lol Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Blueskies: Hope you enjoyed how part of this chapter was in Salazar's point of view! Thanks for the review, it meant a lot to me! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

artdam: Sorry for the confusion. So far, he hasn't spent very much time there, as the council still wants him to adjust to his new schedule. The increased time will become more apparent in later chapters! He will never spend days, however, because he can only spend a maximum of about three hours normal time in the Dream Plane, which makes up for about one day, no more! Don't worry, the romance between Harry and Ginny will blossom over time, not just happen out of the blue! I also hate it when stories do that, and will try my best to avoid it! You will learn more about the others later... Merlin blocked Harry's powers because as a baby he wouldn't have had any control over them, and could either have seriously hurt someone around him, or even died himself (which is what happens to most wizards who have too much power, and can't control it at a young age). You will find out more about Tom's plans and Order meetings later on!

PhoebeH: Thanks for the review! The Sims is like real life... so in no way would I let Harry sleep on the floor forever! He would become too cranky! lol Randomness rules! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks for your help! Not that I listened to what you said...

Hope you enjoyed! The rest of the training next chapter! With Kael, Nedra and Helga! And maybe some Voldemort if you're lucky!

FlyingPixie