After lunch on Tuesday Harry headed to Flitwick's personal office where they had decided to meet in order for Flitwick to check Harry's progress, it was located on the seventh floor just around the corner from the room of requirement and he wondered briefly if the professor knew it was there.
"Ah Mr Potter come in come in. I have been preparing a vague lesson plan if you wish to go over it and then we can see what sort of level you're at." The professors squeaky voice remained steady and he looked straight at Harry as he spoke.
"I think that sounds like a plan, I know you were a champion duellist and I would like you to know how disastrous I am before obliterating me." The joke helped ease the tension and the half goblin was once more bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet.
"Well in we go then." He led Harry to a door to the left and they were in a large classroom, Harry couldn't recall ever being in here but it was a sensible size with the desks and chairs piled up against the wall leaving an open space that Flitwick stood in the middle of. "Now first of all I think a few basic charms will start so why don't you show me the summoning, banishing and exploding charms. After your excellent displays in the previous tasks I think we can safely say your competent but I would like to see a closer display to have more of an idea of your control and movements etc."
Harry nodded his agreement and drew his wand while Flitwick transfigured a spare chair into a mannequin. Harry quickly cast the spells and Flitwick clapped loudly.
"Splendid, utterly splendid. Now you clearly have the power and excellent control to hit the dummy as you have, however your moves can be improved. They are not as fluid as they could be, if you would not be averse to it, I would like to try a duel. I can recommend improvements as we go?"
Harry agreed and at once Flitwick took off his over robe and carefully laid it on a desk.
"Now, Mr Potter have you ever taken part in a formal duel?"
"No, Professor. The duels that my friends and I have participated in have merely started at the first sparks and no offence to the man but I don't believe what Lockhart taught us in that club of his is any good."
"Well the rules of a traditional duel are simple; you bow and then start. That will be what awaits you in competition, points are awarded based off the spells used both offensive and defensively. Now in a standard competition you will be entered into a grade to battle against someone of a similar level however the times where you will be using it I don't think that will happen, if I have your permission I would like to use a paint spell on you so we can last longer but I would like for you to fire whatever you think of, I will start to use actual spells once I get an understanding. So let us begin so I may analyse your footwork and speed, are you ready?"
"Yes, Professor."
They bowed and not even a second later Flitwick was up and away and it was all Harry could to shoot a few spells while also springing about. Harry hunting and Quidditch made him aware of his speed and dodging abilities from a young age. The training that he'd done with the others as well as his exercise regime had him just able to keep up as the professor bounced around the room, shooting his spells with deadly accuracy even if they were only different colours of paint.
"Protego!" Harry spun quickly and the flash of blue sped past him. Deciding to get his own back as a splash of red narrowly missed him.
"Tarantallegra! Depulso!"
"Move your feet Mr Potter."
"Aguamenti! Rictumsempra!"
"Think outside the box, young man. Use your opponents spells against them, I'm going to start using real spells soon."
"Stupefy! Flipendo!"
A splatter of luminous green and pink splashed on the floor where his feet had just been.
"Expelliarmus! Stupefy!"
Bright yellow landed with a squelch on the wall right where is head had been.
"Arresto momentum! Be aware of your surroundings, don't use energy if you don't have to.
"Locomotor Mortis!"
"Glacius! Bombardo! Excellent change in spells, confuse your opponents by using all spells, not just standard ones."
Now spells were flying past the wizards as they duelled, they came fast and furious between each of them and Flitwick had mostly abandoned the paint, keeping them for distraction. The Professor was making comments every now and then that had Harry able to just keep up, for Flitwick's part he was impressed at the speed of Harry's casting. The younger man had a much better knowledge of spells than he thought he would, he incorporated trick spells as well as defensive magic in ways that Flitwick recognised from his parents. His movement was good and no doubt due to Quidditch training but there were improvements that could be made. After 4 minutes and 37 seconds Flitwick finally put together three spells that ended things.
"Ventus! Depulso! Expelliarmus!"
As his wand soared away from him, Harry breathed heavily and hoped the professor hadn't found him lacking. He only had two smudges of violet and yellow on him, one at the bottom of his leg and the other on his left shoulder.
"An excellent display Mr Potter." Encouraged the Professor as he handed the wand back to the younger man. "Indeed it was most impressive and you should be proud of yourself. Now I do have some recommendations, the spells that you are using are mostly trick magic and although it will surprise your opponents it won't phase them for very long. Defensive spells can do a lot more damage in a real duel, considering your displays at the task I imagine you have quite an arsenal at your disposal; do not be afraid of using whatever you can to ensure your survival. Now your mobility is excellent and it was a lot harder for me to catch you than I thought it would be, I would recommend you focus more on your surroundings you could easily have conjured something to throw at me but you remained very focussed on your spells which meant I could have had more opportunity to tire you out. Now let's do some exercises." After half an hour where Flitwick taught him some footwork and ways of casting to make the wand movements easier so the spells could come quicker the two were quite tired, and as the bell rang signalling that last period was about to begin and after a few more recommendations plus some book suggestions, the two parted with an understanding of meeting the following Thursday. Harry walked back through the castle lost in thoughts, he was happy with how the session had gone and he now wondered if it would actually do any good in the real world.
"Ah Mr Potter, how are you?"
"I am well, my lady. How are you?"
"Well, my friend Violet – the poor soul – she is most upset as that mad eye man keeps dashing past muttering things. She is becoming most confused at his mutterings and she swears that he had a different face at one point but I mustn't keep you, it's a quiet night go right on in dear."
Before Harry could question her on her comments the door had swung open and he stumbled through and went to sit in the comfiest armchair by the fire. There were the twins in the corner scribbling away with Lee and a few others hovering around the common room, some reading and others chatting, some doing homework. An odd few were probably still outside soaking up the evening sunshine before dinner. Deciding to carry on with his training he headed up to grab some books from his dormitory before deciding to head back to the room of requirement, just as he was leaving a quiet voice grabbed his attention.
"Hello Harry." When he turned to face Hermione, he was a little surprised at the sight presented. The girl had her abnormally bushy hair tied back and she wore an oversized Gryffindor jumper with jeans and fluffy slippers; she looked unsure, careful of herself and was a far cry from the bold and confident girl he used to know. They had formed a truce after it all and while Harry still felt pain at the betrayal they had moved onto having small conversations and nodding to each other in the halls, it was why he smiled at her and was happy enough to enter into a conversation.
"Hi Hermione, how's it going?"
"I'm fine thanks, I just need to tell you something if you had a moment."
"Sure, what's happened?"
"I just wanted to give you a heads up, Professor Moody has been asking questions about you and the final task; I think he might have some betting on it like Bagman is doing." It was the schools worst kept secret that Ludo Bagman had placed a ridiculously high bet on Harry winning. "Anyway I just wanted to let you know in case he tries to corner you with strategy points, I know Bagman's tried it once or twice."
"Heh yeah thanks for the heads up. He hasn't tried to yet…" Harry paused as his brain focussed. "Wait you mean Moody has been asking questions about me?"
Hermione's brow crinkled.
"Well yes. That's what I've been saying, I haven't said anything if that's what your worried about."
"No no that's not it. Has he been focussed on the tournament? Or is it more personal things?"
"The tournament, he's been most interested in your level of spells and what your power is like. He has asked a little bit about your previous years and Ron was quick to tell him that he'd done a lot of work and that it was mostly rumours." She said rolling her eyes. It was common knowledge between the Gryffindors that Hermione and Ron had had a blistering row the week before the second task; Ron had accused her of betraying him and believing a coward like Harry and Hermione had yelled back how stupid they had been and some other not very nice things about Ron. Since then Ron's classwork had dropped significantly and the only people who really spoke to him were the ones in their year that felt Harry owed them something.
"Okay, thanks for letting me know."
They said their goodbyes and Harry walked slowly back to the Room. Moody was asking about him? The man had been acting strangely with him all year but as it drew to a close Harry's paranoia was starting to nag him. Two other – make it three if you counted Remus's unfortunate accident – defence teachers had tried to kill him and he found the professors behaviour strange enough that he had told his guardians a while ago about it. They had informed him of the ruckus at Moody's house during the summer but the old auror had investigated and found it to be nothing; with the extra knowledge that the man was asking questions about him, well it made his gut squeeze with some deep-rooted instinct to avoid him.
Entering the room he quickly asked for it to be a training area and at once it shifted into something resembling what he would imagine a muggle gym to look like. The room was split into four sections, one had three dummies within it, the second was an empty floor space, the third had weights as well as a small space with a floor mat and the fourth had a large mirror for the individual to analyse their moves. There were also chairs, tables, books and other things littered around the edges of the room
Deciding on weights first with yoga(Daphne had suggested it in order to gain more control over his body and he'd been rather shocked to find it had worked) and then the dummies he got to work. As his body fell into the familiar rhythm of working out his mind cleared as he focussed on working himself into a light sweat. He went from chest presses to leg extensions; he wasn't worried about working himself too hard, he'd been doing the same work out for months just increasing the weights. Moving onto yoga he forced himself to breathe deeply and centre himself as he moved slowly from position to position, they came naturally to him now and he allowed his mind to fall in on itself as he examined his personal room or requirement and decided to attempt some more advanced defences. Half an hour later, he shook himself out and moved to the section with the dummies but before he initiated the fight, he decided to test out a few of the spells his friends had recommended.
The room quickly changed into a large empty space, summoning his courage he raised his wand and recited the incantation and movement that Theo had forced him to memorise the day before. With a strong voice and a steady aim towards the bare room he said loudly "Fiendfyre." Heat blasted from his wand and curled around the room but it disappeared quickly leaving nothing but a shiny, red-faced man who double checked his eyebrows were there before steadying his stance and tried again. This time a long lick of flame darted from his wand and spun through the room however it once again disappeared quickly. Already feeling the impact on his energy from having to summon the control needed for the extraordinary magic he decided to carry on with his training and immediately the room shifted into what he desired.
The creator of the room had done an excellent job and Harry found himself thanking Rowena Ravenclaw for her ability and insight into creating something so extraordinary as two of the dummies shivered and moved into an offensive position as Harry raised his wand. The dummies would only shoot once shot at, and although their spells were harmless coloured sparks the speed they flew tested Harry's abilities to dodge and deliver back, if struck the dummies froze for ten seconds before carrying on they also moved quickly. Flying around their space they shifted themselves to avoid the hexes and jinxs that Harry sent their way.
For over an hour Harry dropped to the floor, jumped high, spun and kicked out while also sending spells at his opponents. Heat simmered in the room as the three figures moved past each other, Harry slipping in spells when he could but trying to implement Flitwick's training by focussing more on using his surroundings to his advantage by throwing chairs at the dummies. Just as he was thinking of winding down the exercise a blast of heat came from his right, without even thinking his response was to drop low and roll quickly sending out an expelliarmus to his assailant. Theo dodged behind a stack of books and the beam of red sailed harmlessly past his head.
"Some real competition is needed, Potter?"
"Pfft, if that's what you want to call yourself."
Once ignored the dummies retreated to their places, remaining silent and still as the two wizards started to shoot spells at each while also bantering. The two settled into a comfortable competition with each other as they both tried to outdo the others. Eventually it took a more wicked turn as Theo changed the room to include surfaces and pillars to hide around.
Harry snuck under a desk as Theo's stupefy zipped past, he retaliated with a full body bind that Theo threw a book in-front of him to defend himself with. Sending a fire charm at the desk had Harry diving out and scrambling back with a protego to defend as he got back to his feet and thought quickly. He sprinted down the length of the room, shooting jelly legs, stunning, immobulus and a variety of others at his opponent as he ducked down and slid on his knees to rest behind a pillar just as Theo's bone removing charm sizzled over his head.
"Come on, Potter! Lions are braver!"
"You're the one sneaking behind the cracks!" Harry yelled back managing to stick his head out just long enough to catch sight of Theos wand sticking out between two stacks of books.
"Not sneaking, using my intelligence which you have none of!"
"I have enough to beat you!" was the reply as the Boy-Who-Lived sent a carefully aimed water spell before slipping to the floor and crawling around to a desk.
"Hardly, you are not on my level." Theo sent a explosive bang from his wand causing Harry to duck in preparation but Theo only used it as cover to move from his corner and into the open space.
"Your right, I'm far above it."
With a powerfully placed protego maxima Harry also moved into the centre of the room as his shield absorbed the flashes of red, orange, green and blue from Theo. The two circled, Harry's new training helping him to keep up with Theo's fancier work this time rather than tripping over his feet. At the approving nod Theo gave Harry figured he'd done okay. The two carried on sending spells at each other as they dodged, spun and flipped out of each-others way and it was only when Harry managed to hop onto a desk with a pirate cry that a slow clapping caught their attention.
Glancing around they saw Neville watching with a large grin on his face.
"Permission to join?"
"Permission granted." Theo responded with a theatrical bow before sending a stunner, disarming and tickling charm his way.
With a roar, the Longbottom heir entered the battle sending a fire spell at Harry and a confundus to Theo. Flashes of light burst over books, tables and the men as they ducked and dropped to avoid the barrage of spells. The gang had spent weeks putting themselves into obstacle courses and dummy fights and although they'd had a few duels one on one and firing at Harry specifically they hadn't done a battle between them all. For the three it was an exhilarating experience that they used all their sense and surroundings to keep one step ahead of each other, their styles were all different and their spell usage even more so. Theo rarely moved but nearly always had protection and never left a side open, he used offensive spells but continually had a protego ready. Neville threw himself into spell-work using defensive spells while also using his surroundings to duck behind and use for cover. On the other hand; Harry bounced around rarely standing still or using things for cover, he used his agility to evade and his spells were a mix of offensive and defensive that allowed him to sneak around his opponents as they were distracted.
Twenty minutes later and Harry was out of the battle as a mixture of exhaustion and Neville's well placed tripping hex, stunner and rope bounds caught him. The other two were still at it, with Theo clearly tiring as his spells failed to penetrate Neville's shield and the blond-haired boy pressed his advantage. Eventually Neville overcame him with a perfectly timed full body bind that had Theos arms snapping to his sides as annoyance froze to his face as the conjured Danika Addams faded from view.
"And that's how its done." Neville delivered with a smirk as he released his friends from their bounds. He gave in to the laughter as their faces took on a disgruntled glare.
"Oh stop acting like five year olds. You were both training longer than I and your efforts were pretty incredible."
"Well mine were, the boy wonder over there was merely acceptable."
"Acceptable!? You got caught out by your girlfriend!"
"!" Theo opened and closed his mouth before shrugging with a bland look on his face. "She is not my girlfriend and I didn't trip."
"At least I wasn't ogling!"
"I was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Was-"
The two were cut off as they found their tongues suddenly stuck to the roof of their mouths. They turned to glare at Neville who was grinning at them as he walked towards the door.
"Nifty. We really should thank your guardians for sending your dads pranking journals to us. Come on this place looks like a bomb hit it."
The boys laughed as they looked around, tables were flipped, books spread everywhere and random chunks were missing from the wall.
"Well we do try." Harry said as he grabbed his hoodie from the floor and he and Theo joined Neville by the door. After dropping Harry off at the lions den in order for him to clean up the other two decided a simple freshening charm was enough and went down to the kitchen to grab a snack before moving to the library where they found Luna. The blonde raven had wormed her way inside all of their hearts surprisingly quickly and although she was undeniably closest to Harry, they were all surprised to find that it was Theo who she looked to after him. He had taken to being her protector with great enjoyment and did everything he could to make her feel cared for.
"Good evening, little moon and what are you working on so diligently?" The snake asked as he settled near the girl who smiled up at him.
"My potions, its going well and Miss Addams helped me a great deal."
"Miss Addams?" Chocked out Theo who now looked like a niffler that had been caught red-handed.
"Yes, she's rather marvellous isn't she Theo."
"Yes she is." He replied quietly before almost jumping out of his seat as a soft yet dangerous voice spoke from behind him.
"Why thank you, however you're in my chair. And Luna we've already agreed to call me Danika."
Leaping to his feet and turning to face his crush Theo quickly pulled the chair out for her and had to suck in a deep breath as the elegant woman slipped in front of him to sit down and giving a soft thank you.
"You're welcome. I'm sorry I didn't realise it was taken otherwise I would never have sat down."
The lovestruck gaze he had trained on the Slytherin had Neville and Luna giggling behind their hands but Danika smiled serenely at him and gave a nod of her head.
"A perfect gentleman, its what I've always liked about you."
The young man blushed and tried to think up a witty reply until Danika gave a small sniff and frown.
"Of course a gentleman usually cleans up before meeting a lady." The reproach in her voice had both boys blushing deeply and give stammering responses until Luna's laughter gave way as she waved a hand in front of noise.
"I'd have to agree with her, you boys stink!"
"What have you been doing?" Danika asked quizzically.
The boys froze and glanced at each other not knowing how much to give away about Harry's training, luckily Luna solved the problem.
"Oh didn't you just do some prepping for O.W.L.s next year?"
"Yes! That's right…erm…defence…need to practice those spells." Neville said intelligently.
"Exactly, need to make sure we're ready." Theo put in brightly.
Luna decided to put an end to this quickly.
"As we were saying Danika was helping me with my essay, she says the confusing concoction is most effective with finely chopped scurvy grass."
"That is true, also mention that if the scurvy grass is picked with the fresh dew still on it, it makes it more potent." Theo said, quickly latching onto the new subject of conversation.
"Fresh dew?" Danika asked. "I haven't heard that one."
"Erm yes, the water caused by the water charm while effective enough isn't as natural as it could be. If you can contain the fresh dew it has neutral properties which the potion will react with, in this instance its better that the magically created aguamenti which could result in unexplained chemical reactions." The confidence he'd gained lost its momentum and he finished his explanation while looking at the floor.
"Would the neutral properties stop the potion from being as potent?"
"Not necessarily, in this case as the water is natural it contains elemental magic which is stronger." As the two of them got into a debate over potions, Neville and Luna exchanged a high five. However, 10 minutes later they were looking at each other worriedly as their voices got louder and neither seemed to want to back down.
"No no, the sea water has too much salt in it to added alongside the ashwinder egg; it would cause the egg to explode rather than melt smoothly."
"Why would an explosion be so bad? It could give enough of a spark that the beetle eye wouldn't have to be soaked of its liquid but could be entered directly into the potion."
Just as Danika was to reply with scathing response, an even icier one - though it had amusement on its edge - spoke from behind them.
"Only a boy would consider an explosion to not be bad."
Daphne leant against one of the bookshelves as she watched her friends start at her voice. She had come across them in the midst of their argument and had taken delight in seeing Theo open up to Danika but now felt the need to step in before the other students around them took too much interest. In the last few days there had been much interest in seeing how the group had adopted Luna Lovegood, those that had bullied her had been taken care of by Harry, Theo and Tracey who had all creatively and explicitly stated what would become of them if it continued. It had caused another altercation in the Slytherin common room, with Malfoy once again raising concerns of them attaching themselves to people inferior. It had been Theo who had taken the reigns on this scuffle and had annihilated any and all arguments which may have arisen, he had quickly decimated any opinions of those that others would have stayed clear of and instead concluded with a flair that Luna was under their protection.
She nodded to Danika and pushed off the bookcase to move closer and placed a hand on Luna's shoulder, they had found the little girl craved human contact after her years of isolation and found it easy to show her the attention she needed.
"Apart from this stimulating conversation, what's happening?"
"Nothing much, what have you been up to?" Luna asked happily.
"Just finished my essays for charms, Tracey is still struggling with her COMC. Anyone seen Harry?" She asked looking around seemingly having only just realised that her boyfriend wasn't there.
"He's just cleaning up after our practice." Neville said.
"Something you both should have done." Daphne replied as she took a step away from the boys.
"We're not that bad." Complained Neville.
"Yeah, you really are." Came the reply.
5 minutes later the boys had left to get clean while the girls had met up with Tracey and had headed down to the lake while leaving Danika in the library for her study group.
"Luna, did you need some more help with your essay or are you good?" Tracey asked still giggling after Daphne explained the scene she'd come in to.
"I'm alright thank you, Danika helped a lot and her and Theo's argument also highlighted some new ideas I could work with."
"At least Theo managed to look her in the eye this time and actually have a conversation!" Daphne said with a giggle.
"True, do you remember in second year when he kept getting the hiccups?" Replied Tracey.
"Oh my goodness yes. It was only because of his training that he didn't blush."
"Was Harry the same?" Asked Luna curiously.
"Well it was different for us, we were acquaintances and then friends and then more. Our first interactions actually showed him to be very polite and kind. He only really stammers when he thinks he's done something wrong, he'll blush adorably though when I tease him." The blonde said with a deadly smirk.
"Yeah yeah we get you're all in love and totally cute. Moving on, what are the plans for the summer?"
"Well, Daddy and I are going to Switzerland to look for Billywigs."
The conversation carried on about the summer plans before Luna waved behind Tracey's shoulder and they turned to see the boys finally come and join them.
"About time you got here, Daph was starting to have withdrawals." Tracey said teasingly as Harry settled behind his girlfriend and pulled her to him.
"Well I guess its no different that when you need to have your chocolate frog every evening before you go to bed." Deadpanned Daphne.
"Hey that is tradition started by my great grandmother, would be against everything I hold dear to not have it!"
The evening passed quickly between the six of them laughing and entering into silly debates, it ended with Luna leaving after the dinner that Dobby kindly brought out to them and walking back with the little elf and asking him all sorts of questions while calling him sir which had caused the small creature to instantly fall in love. The conversation took a more serious turn regarding Harry's training that day and how it had gone.
"Wait you were still able to summon the energy to fight our duel even after trying to do that?" Asked Theo looking slightly shocked and impressed.
"Well I only tried it twice and it didn't work."
"Harry that doesn't matter! You managed to summon a flame, do you know how much control that takes!"
"Erm no, not really."
Theo was now looking gobsmacked at Harry's lack of flair and his mouth opened and shut several times before sitting back and allowing Neville to take over.
"Harry this is a big deal, most people struggle to contain the fire rather than making it grow. And you tried it twice and still managed to duel Theo and I for quite some time, it means your problem in producing the spell isn't that you have enough power but something else. I suppose it could be your reluctance in actually wanting to perform it, trying to control it too much and therefore not allowing the energy to form in completeness."
Harry closed his eyes for a moment and tried to recall the moment where he had summoned the fire and what he had been thinking about.
"I remember being unsure, thinking that maybe I shouldn't be doing it, trying to resist just letting the magic flow through me but instead trying to regulate it."
"Well maybe you do need to let loose with it."
"How can I do that? I'll kill myself or damage the room or something bad will happen! What if it catches in the school and I hurt all those students or what if it somehow gets out of control and goes into the forest! Or what if -"
"Harry stop!" Yelled Daphne turning to take her boyfriends face in her hands. "Its going to be okay. We're going to figure it out and nothing bad is going to happen to anyone or anything okay."
The frightened green eyes that stared into her own gradually returned to their normal size and he nodded hesitantly at her.
"That's better, now tell us about your guys duel."
Neville immediately leapt into an even more detailed and hilarious version of the duel than had actually taken place and by the time night had fallen and the air had cooled Harry was feeling more confident in his abilities.
As it reached around 8.30 in the evening Dobby once more popped in and announced that "Master Harrys doggyfather wishes to speak with you and Mistress Daffy."
Shrugging their shoulder's, they bid the other goodnight and made their way back up to the room of requirement.
"What do you think this could be about?" Daphne asked.
"Maybe more training, though to be honest I think they just want to check up on me."
"Well you do get into trouble an awful lot."
"Hey I have help." Harry replied as he reached for her hand with a grin.
She rolled her eyes back at him but squeezed his hand as they moved up the final stairway.
"How did it go with Flitwick and give it a little more detail than the mumbo jumbo you gave the others."
"It did actually go very well, he was very professional and treated me exactly like I was a normal student. He gave me pointers and kept to my level whilst also pushing me, he didn't do anything extra but didn't hold back from showing me his own power. He is extremely skilful, I never realised."
"Yeah he was a master duellist and even has a move named after him."
"A move?"
"Yep its called the Flit, in simple terms you spin and shoot out five spells like the points on a star while moving; he's the only person whose won 7 consecutive tournaments without blood being taken. He's also got masteries in defence and charms, if he was a muggle I believe you'd call him a doctor? The final part of education?"
"That's incredible, I'll take him more seriously."
"You mean you haven't been? Harry this is really important I can't believe you haven't been-" Suddenly she caught the glint in his eye and quickly retracted his hand and shoved him hard sending him into the wall. "That was mean, I thought you weren't taking it… I can't believe you'd do that."
Harry laughed before he realised that she'd sped up and had her arms crossed, speeding up too he halted in front of her but her hair was covering her face and she was turned slightly away from him.
"I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to make so light of it. I promise I'm taking it seriously and doing everything I can-" Then he saw her shoulders shaking and fearing the worst he turned her face up only to see the laughter in her cerulean eyes and a giggle spilled past her lips.
"Oh and you say I'm mean!" He stalked away with his nose in the air mockingly.
The banter continued between them as they arrived in-front of Barnabas and entered the familiar room with a loveseat and a couple of squishy armchairs and a warm fireplace and settled against each other.
"Hello my darling godson."
With a small jump the couple turned to face the grinning head of the head of house Black.
"Hey, Padfoot. Whats all this about?"
"Oh Hi Padfoot, hows it going? I'm great thanks Prongslet, how are you? I'm fine thanks just smooching up with the girlfriend. That's great, I'm happy for you. Thanks Pads-"
"Alright alright I get it; how are you, you old dog?" Harry said laughingly.
"That's better. I'm not doing well actually. Well physically I am but you might not be after you here this."
"That does not fill me with glee, go on give us the news." Daphne said as she snuggled herself further into Harrys embrace and griped his arms that were around her.
"So I have kind of good news."
"Which is?"
"The Unspeables got in touch with us, they're still unsure about a lot but have some reasonable guesses if you want to hear them?"
"Why not? We have nothing else planned today." Harry said dryly.
"Theory 1! They think that-Moony!"
The couple watched in amusement as the head disappeared and reappeared several times before finally reappearing along with a grinning Remus.
"Are we done fella's?" Daphne asked as Harry hid his smiling face in her hair.
"I believe so." Sirius said with mock dignity pretending to look down his nose at his fellow marauder who merely rolled his eyes. "As I was saying theory 1 is that they can get it out by summoning enough energy, it would be extreme and they think the pain would be equal to splitting your body in two; they also think the only way they could accomplish this is seeking outside help which they are naturally reluctant to do."
"Theory 2"carried on Remus. "Is interesting, they believe they can follow the shadow through your soul to find out where the other horcruxe's might be."
"How would that work?" Asked Daphne.
"They believe you can access the link which is what the dreams are, its when you have a clearer link to Tommy's mind and are actually seeing the live events that revolve around him. They think that by using this link they can find out where the others are stored."
"They also think I can read Voldies mind…is that another theory?"
"Yep."
"Okay so its not all bad news."
"They also think something is bound to go down on the night of the summer solstice and they believe you are in danger because of it."
"Why?"
"They came up with a number of excuses." Sirius said almost uncaringly.
"Which were…"
"1. He is obsessed with you. 2. He's a dickhead. 3. He's tried to get you every year. 4. He's a moron. 5. It's the perfect opportunity. 6. He's a fucktard. 7. There's been a lot of racket over the last few months and they believe it all points to the him."
"Okay so what's the plan?"
"First step is to make sure you've upped the training like you promised?" Padfoot asked suspiciously.
"Done, had my first session with Flitwick today, we're doing it every Tuesday and Thursday for a few hours each and he's given me extra reading and training drills."
"Good, two days before the final task we'll come up and see it and double check it all and give you some pointers and some extra help but Flitwick is gonna be the real deal and he can give more knowledge than we have combined." Remus said seriously.
"Second step is taking every precaution in the final task. So that you can't be taken in surprise at any time. You've been practising your portkey?"
"Yep, plus floo entrance. He's rarely taken now." Daphne said proudly. They'd found out portkey couldn't be traced in small distances, added into the fact their experiments took place in a room in a magical castle meant that it couldn't be traced. The gang had taken to throwing portkeys at him at random intervals leading Harry to learn quickly how to land with ease and not be taken by surprise spell-fire. For the next half an hour they worked through contingency plans and training until the mother hens were satisfied their chick was doing everything he could to stay safe. Then for the next hour the conversation drifted to happier and less intense subjects, Daphne's schooling and future plans, Harrys abysmal dating skills, Remus's terrible flirting attempts and Sirius obvious prowess.
Eventually Moony caught Harry's obvious attempts at leaving the conversation as Sirius – for the third time – recounted a prank they did involving a slimy snake and turning him orange.
"Alright Pads I think we should let the young people have the rest of the evening to themselves."
"Young people! We are young people! Or at least I am." He sniffed imperiously
"We're the same age!"
"Huh, and yet I am clearly the younger."
"So I'm old now."
"You said it not me."
"Eurgh goodnight Prongslet I need to think up my revenge."
"Bye Moony." He just got in before his uncle's head disappeared.
"Oh fooey, what an old man right-Ouch! Sorry Prongslet also gotta go I think he just sent a stinging hex at me, love to you both." And he also vanished leaving two laughing teens behind to enjoy the peace and quiet of the Saturday night and the privacy it afforded them.