Author's Note: I made it! I made it through the first few weeks of school! Yay! I had a financial aid scare (any American college student will know of this), had two (TWO!) family crisis, and had to study between all of that. Yes, this semester has been horrible so far, but it can only go up from here, right? That being said, here is the un-betaed version. I didn't want anyone to wait any longer than they already have!
Harry knocked on the door to Sensei's office and entered when Sensei called for him to do so. His teacher was seated by the window, watching the rain fall on the grounds outside. "Come, deshi. Come watch the rain." Harry carried a chair over to the window and sat beside Sensei. Harry relaxed into the soft chair and watched the rain fall onto the window. "You have a question?" Sensei's voice broke the silence.
"How did you do that yesterday?" Harry asked, referring to the impromptu Occlumnecy lesson. Sensei did not answer right away. "How did you know?"
Sensei reached out a hand and laid it on Harry's shoulder. "How did I know?" Sensei repeated the question back to Harry. Harry nodded and motioned for the man to go on. "I just did. It was the same way I knew that someone threatens your life, that he has somehow gotten to you here, and you never told anyone about it." Harry hung his head. He wanted to tell Sensei the truth, but was afraid to test his luck too much in the Muggle world.
"He wasn't here." Harry told Sensei as he turned to look at the window again. He always found it easier to look at something else when trying to explain something. "He attacked me up here." Harry reached up a hand to tap his head.
Sensei startled him by grabbing that hand and turning it to him. "I will not tell lies." Sensei read off Harry's hand. "What is this?" Sensei seemed very upset about this. "Did he do this to you?"
Harry tried to pull his hand back, but Sensei held onto it. "No." Sensei released Harry's hand and stared at Harry. "It was some barmy teacher at school. She's been dealt with already." Harry pushed back the memories of Umbridge's detentions and prayed that she had been dealt with in the harshest manner possible. He wanted nothing more for her to have to use her own blood quill and experience what she put her students through.
"Do not let such thoughts fester." Sensei's voice cut through Harry's vengeful thoughts. "Such thoughts are not important." Sensei turned back to the window. "He attacked you through your mind." It was not a question.
"You must think I'm crazy." Harry said, shrugging.
"Crazy? I have been called crazy many times." Harry turned his gaze back to his teacher. "All a matter of perception. Some consider teaching children defense 'crazy'. Others call inventors 'crazy'. Still others know that 'craziness' is for only those people who see aliens in their televisions. Who am I, to define craziness? Eh?" Sensei laughed at his own joke. "They say, a fine line there is between genius and insanity. Perhaps we are both unknown geniuses?" Harry liked the idea and agreed with him. Harry had endured being called attention seeking, mentally unbalanced, and a spoiled brat. If someone wanted to gift him with a genius/insanity level, he would gladly take it over "attention seeking" any day. "Did I help to keep him from your mind?" Sensei asked.
"Yes, Sensei. More than you can know." Sensei nodded, obviously pleased at Harry's answer. He motioned back to the window. Harry returned his attention to the storm outside.
"Water always falls. Carries with it our hopes and dreams, and never once does it return them." Sensei's soft voice carried an eerie feeling to Harry's ears. "Once it cycles through the earth, to the river, to the air and back down, it often brings us something more than our hopes and dreams." Harry nodded, but unsure as to why he was nodding. "No shape does it have. No container may hold it. No dam stop it forever. Mountains disappear, valleys appear, and a home wiped away like dust." Sensei trailed his hand over the window sill. "Psht, just like that. Strong, but weak. Easily poured, but never truly contained. Flexible, but stubborn."
Senseijumped to his feet and pulled Harry to his own. "Go, change." Harry let the thunder roll over him as he left to change for his workout with Sensei. Something had just happened, but he could not figure out what.
Sensei was meditating when Harry entered the floor. Sensei did not move, so Harry sat down to join him. He cleared his mind on the fifth breath, as he had been doing since the day before. He was brought out of it suddenly when Sensei literally jumped him. "Don't stare at me! Fight back!" Sensei barked at Harry. He could only stare at his teacher in shock. What was he doing? He scrambled out from under his teacher and fought to get up. Harry was a little worried. Neither one had any protective equipment. They could easily be hurt. Sensei was not giving him any time to voice objections. He attacked again the second Harry had gained his feet. Harry had to wonder who had possessed his teacher, because Sensei was starting to scare him. The man kept pushing him backwards, blocking all of Harry's attempts to go on the offensive.
Harry fell over some mats along the wall he was using to guard his back. "Know your surroundings." Sensei told him. Harry was less worried about his surroundings and more worried about trying to keep his hands blocking Sensei's hands and his feet against Sensei's feet. He almost groaned aloud when Sensei somehow managed to speed up his attacks. "Attackers do not care if you trip. They will use it!" Harry could feel the usual sensation of panic settle into his bones. He could not afford to panic in this situation. Sensei drove him along the wall until Harry was in the corner, fighting to stay on his feet. Sensei was not just attacking Harry at this point, he was provoking him, almost taunting him to do…what? Sensei kicked Harry's feet out from under him at same time he managed to pin Harry against the wall. Harry tried to get up as he fought against his teacher. "You will die in this position." Sensei told him, pulling Harry up with one hand while drawing back the other.
Harry did not know how to explain what happened next. He had simply raised a hand to somehow protect his head when he felt something push Sensei away from him. Harry pushed up from where he had fallen when Sensei had let go and hurried over to where Sensei lay on the floor. "Sensei?" Harry shook his teacher lightly by the shoulder. "Sensei?" he said fearfully. One thought ran through his head. I killed him! He sat back on his heels next to his teacher, wondering how he was going to explain this to the Ministry, and worse, Paul. Harry jumped when Sensei groaned. "Sensei?"
"I'm alright, deshi." The man pushed himself up to a sitting position. "Protection, you have." Sensei reached out a hand and placed it on Harry's head. "Do you know what you did?" Harry shook his head as he looked over Sensei for any injuries. He had an idea of what he did, but how did you explain accidental magic to a Muggle? Sensei got to his feet and pulled Harry to his own. "Sorry to scare you so. You needed to learn how to handle your fear more than anything else. Always afraid for others. You focus on too many things. Your focus should be on your opponent and your environment. Nothing else." Harry shuddered at the familiar words that Voldemort had said. He pushed them away into his "will never remember again" section of his mind.
Sensei went over to the bench and pulled Harry along. He nudged Harry onto the seat and prevented Harry from pulling his legs up. "Have you heard of ninja?" The word triggered a distant memory about some movie Dudley had seen with his gang. Harry shrugged. "There were many stories about them. Fantastic stories of supernatural powers. One, you just demonstrated. Perhaps there is a grain of truth in the stories?" Harry looked up at him, amazed that the man was taking this so well.
"You're not angry with me?" Harry asked. Sensei merely raised an eyebrow. "I could have hurt you!"
"I have been hurt before. Always survived before. I'm conscious, there is no blood, and bones are not broken. I think I'll remain alive." Harry could only stare at the man. "The important thing is: can you do it again?" Sensei asked. Harry shook his head.
"I'm afraid to try." Harry told him.
"Afraid for others. You cannot hope to protect yourself if you do not allow others to make their own decisions. You will not kill me. Stand and try again." Harry stared at the man in wonder. Was he mad? Well, their earlier conversation told Harry that Sensei did not care about madness, only the fine line he was so obviously toeing at the moment. "Now." Harry rose to his feet and resigned himself to being sore later that day. He recalled everything he had read in his books about wandless magic and could only hope that he could duplicate what he had accidentally managed so that Sensei would remain unharmed. Harry fell into stance as Sensei attacked again. This was going to be a long day.
Harry walked down the hallway towards his room. He was sore and he wanted nothing more than to curl up on his bed and die. He wasn't hurt enough to do more than grimace with each step. It was muscle soreness, deep muscle pain, pain that told him he had been pushed a little too fast and a little too far. That, or his wandless magic, which he had managed to do several times, just happened to drain his body of essential healing energy. He didn't know which. "Hey, buddy. Ouch, you look like you hurt." Paul said as he came up the hallway.
"I do." Harry would have cried if he had been a few years younger. "I've got something I need to tell you." Harry told Paul in a whisper. Paul nodded and led Harry to his office, walking slowly so that Harry could manage to keep up. Harry sank onto the couch and sighed. "Ow." He complained.
"I can't imagine what Sensei had you doing if you're in enough pain to say 'ow'. Paul held out a water glass and a pain killer. Harry smiled his gratitude and took the medicine. He didn't always like to rely on Muggle medicine (sleeping pills aside, which tasted so much better than Dreamless Sleep!), but he needed it now. "What were you doing?"
"Wandless magic." Harry admitted. "Sensei doesn't know that, of course. He just mentioned that there were stories of martial artists with powers like what I did…" Paul gave Harry a confused look. "Sensei attacked me and told me to fight back. He pushed me into a corner and I panicked. I don't know how I managed it, but my magic pushed him away from me. After that, Sensei wanted to see it again and again. I think that's why I'm so sore now."
Paul nodded. "No more wandless magic until you learn how to control it and what the dangers are, okay? If he asks, tell him to take it up with me." Paul said. "I don't want to see you in the infirmary with no way to explain why you so conveniently passed out or the like. The doctor will think you have food issues and place you on watch and…well, let's just say that you don't want that to happen." Harry smiled at Paul's expression and relaxed a bit.
"How long do these painkillers take to work?" He asked. Harry really hurt a lot, kind of what it felt like after the graveyard in his fourth year. He remembered wanting nothing more than to sleep for a year after that.
"You should be feeling it in just a few minutes." Paul answered. He pulled out a sheet of paper. "Your aunt left this here for you yesterday. She said that you know this man, Remus Lupin? Isn't that your advisor?" Harry nodded and took the sheet of paper.
"It's his Muggle address. I can write to him now." Harry looked at the address. "He's actually really close to here, or I think he is." Harry held it out to Paul for confirmation.
Paul glanced at the paper and nodded. "About a half hour away, I should say." He pushed his chair over to the small refrigerator he kept in his office. "Juice? Coca-Cola?"
"Apple juice, please." Harry let the man hover over him for a while. It seemed that Paul was worried and felt the only way he could convey his worries was through giving Harry a snack. Harry wasn't about to complain. Food just tasted better here than it had at Hogwarts last year, if that was possible.It didn't stick in his throat.Paul returned with Harry's juice and his favorite yogurt flavor (strawberry-banana). "Could Remus come here sometime and visit me?" Harry asked as he opened his juice.
"I'm not going to keep him from you if you want to see him, but if he does anything that looks like he will take you from here, I'll step in." Paul told him. It would be good for Harry to see someone older from the wizarding world, but that didn't mean that Paul would let him walk over Harry's right to make his own decisions.
"I don't think Remus will do that. If he had been Sirius…well, I would have been at Hogwarts already. Remus is more down to earth than my godfather is." Harry paused. "Was." Paul reached out and laid a light hand on Harry's shoulder. "I still miss him." He whispered. "I've got this ache, right here." Harry put a hand on his chest. "It feels like it's never going to go away."
"It's okay, Harry. Give it some more time." Paul said as he took the juice bottle from Harry's shaking hands.
"It's not fair." Harry complained. "It's just not fair." Harry took a deep breath, held it, and let it out.
"Hey, no fair using calming techniques!" Paul objected. Harry smiled through blurry eyes at Paul. "You little nut." Harry snorted.
"That's why I'm here, isn't it? Cause I'm a nut?" Harry joked.
Paul looked scandalized and rolled his eyes. "Super powerful wizard, the Boy Who Lived, saying he is a nut. What is the world coming to?"
"Voldemort ruling the world?" Harry asked. Paul tossed a pillow at his head which caused Harry to return fire. "Don't throw it back! You'll spill my yogurt." Harry protected his yogurt cup from Paul's impending attack.
"Cheater." Paul grumbled good-naturedly from his chair. "You claimed yogurt status." Harry snorted and finished his yogurt quickly. He tossed his cup in the garbage, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. "I think you might want to consider telling Sensei about you being magical." Harry opened one eye and stared at Paul.
"No way." Harry shook his head and sat up. "I'm pushing my luck with you and Joe. I don't want to risk anymore."
"It's up to you, of course. Just think about it, okay?" Harry stared at Paul before nodding.
"I'll think about it." Harry stood and grabbed his book bag. "I've got some homework to finish before dinner and play practice. I'll write to Remus and let you know when he is coming."
"Sounds good, buddy. You still want a sleeping pill tonight?" Paul asked as Harry straightened his book bag.
Harry paused and considered it. Did he want a sleeping pill? He had learned enough Occlumency to please Snape, of all people. He was able to manipulate his little "room". Voldemort wouldn't know what hit him when Harry revealed his shields. He was hoping Voldemort would be flattened like a bug on the windshield of the Knight Bus going at top speed. "No, I think I'm okay. I'll ask for one if I need it though, okay?" He asked Paul.
"Sure, Harry." Harry started to open the door when Paul stopped him. "Harry?" Harry turned back to Paul. "No more studying at night?" Harry shook his head. "Good. If you need more free time in the future, let me know. Two school schedules are tough."
"I will, Paul. See you at dinner." Harry ducked out the door and went back to his room. He had a Charms essay to figure out and needed to answer a few questions about the War of the Roses.
Remus was sitting in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, ignoring the gloom around him as he worked on perfecting his "dottering old fool" persona. He found out a lot of information of the who's who and what's what of the Order by pretending to be asleep. Albus Dumbledore was not as omnipotent as everyone made him out to be. The old man still had no idea where Harry was and repeated visits to Privet Drive had only made the wards impassable to Dumbledore and McGonagall. Remus had had no problems when he had visited Petunia earlier that week for an update on Harry. The invitation to tea had been a surprise, but she had shown Remus a few pictures from when Harry was younger and a few of his early school things she had kept. All of the pictures had been candid shots. Harry probably hadn't realized that the camera was on him at the time.
"The Spanish unit just reported that their target was nothing more than a false alarm." McGonagall's voice reached Remus's ear. "They will continue to search and let us know of the results." McGonagall bustled away at the end of the sentence.
"Headmaster?" Ah, Snape. Remus had never seen the man so…cheerful. He decided to blame it on Severus becoming a father in fact, even if it wasn't official. He practically beamed every time one of Draco's teachers complimented the boy. It was slightly nauseating to see. "What makes you think Potter is there?" Yes, Headmaster. Do tell.
"Whispers among the children, Severus. I have a feeling that Harry is in contact with one of them, at the very least. Several of his friends are Protectors. I'm hoping that one of them will come forward in time with his location." Dumbledore sounded weary. Remus wondered how much sleep the man had gotten recently. "I'm surprised that theyhavelasted this long without telling us. Each of them knows that the longer he is away from Hogwarts, the worse the danger grows." Snape made a non-committal noise. "What does Voldemort say?"
"The Dark Lord is gloating that the boy is missing, but not to the level he would be if he had Potter in his dungeons. I feel the Dark Lord is happy that you are just as clueless as to Potter's whereabouts as he is." Snape paused. "Unless this is some ploy you are using to train the boy into the ultimate fighter."
"You know me better than that, Severus." Remus smirked to himself. There were so many ways Snape could take that.
"Wolf!" Ah, someone finally noticed his presence. Remus jerked "awake" and blinked up at the pair.
"Ah, Albus! Severus! Good evening. How are you both?" Dumbledore gave Remus a benevolent smile.
"We're just fine, Remus. Glad to see you up and about. Did you need an escort home?" Remus waved the offer away.
"No, no Albus. I manage just fine, thank you." Remus got to his feet and leaned on his cane (carried purely for effect at this point). "Have you any news about Harry?" He asked, just as he did every time he saw Dumbledore.
"None yet, but we're hopeful." Same answer as the last time. Remus nodded and looked down at the ground.
"Yes. Let me know if I can be of any assistance." Remus tottered through the doorway and into the hallway beyond.
"I don't think I've ever seen anyone go downhill so fast." Snape's voice was just loud enough to reach Remus' ears. Little did he know! Remus went to the living room, deserted at this time of day, and lit the fire to return home. He tossed in the Floo powder and stepped through to his house. He closed the connection (required by the Order as a necessary precaution) and was surprised to find Fawkes waiting for him.
"Fawkes! What are you doing here?" Fawkes chirped something and held out a foot. A scroll of parchment was wrapped around it. "Is this for me?" He undid the string and looked at the parchment. Familiar handwriting loomed up to meet his eyes.
To Remus Lupin, aka: Moony.
I didn't listen to you, did I? That's the only reason you are reading this now, delivered by my good friend, Fawkes. I don't know what prompted this letter to you. I'm just writing it in case I die. If I do leave you alone because of my own stupidity (let's face it. It's the only way I could die at this point), I just want to say that I'm sorry. I hope that is sufficient apology for you, because you know how I am with all that sappy stuff.
Oh, Remus, all the pranks I have left un-played because you talked me out of them. I still think the kids at Hogwarts would have gotten a kick out of a pink-haired Snape. You spoiled my fun, you know. Oh, that's not important. I know you've put up with a lot from me, especially after the whole Azkaban thing. I'm writing to ask you to take care of Harry. He needs someone in his corner. I know you'll accept being his mentor and advisor (that's all I could pull, Moony. I tried to get custody papers, but it just didn't happen.). I'm writing this when Harry is fourteen, so I've set up eight years salary for you, to be transferred to your vault upon receipt of this letter. You can't fight it, Moony. You have until Harry is twenty-one to get that boy to have some fun! Oh, there's something about his estate as well, some stocks and shares in a company somewhere, my house, his house, and something else...oh it's allinmy vault! I'm sure you can find it all there. The goblins should help you out. If you think you can handle it. Shouldn't be too hard for a man of your talents. That is your mission, Mr. Moony. I know you will not fail.
I've written to Harry and told him that he'll call the shots in this advisor/mentor thing, and how complicated the relationship will be. Expect a frequent house guest. The nice thing about this mentor thing for you is that those pesky werewolf laws just don't apply anymore. The only laws that apply to you are the normal wizarding laws for advisors. You've basically become a VIP for Harry's sake. The Ministry should be sending you some literature about it, but you should already know EVERYTHING about it, if I remember your school record correctly. I still don't see how you got so many OWLS and NEWTS.
That's all I really had to say. Take care of yourself, Moony. I'll be waiting for you, planning a few pranks and dodging Lily's fists because I've somehow managed to tick her off again. I know I'll see you again. It had better not be too soon. I expect a long life of fun for both you and Harry. Well, after the Dark Mold croaks, that is. Heck, have fun before hand. Maybe a prank will do in the Annoying One. (Not Snape, the other evil git!)
Sirius
"Padfoot"
Harry reached up and turned out his light, hoping that he knew what he was doing. He buried all of his doubts and thought positive thoughts. He was part Slytherin, right? He could think like a snake. Now, he just had to fool Voldemort – he must be insane. He lay down in his bed and cleared his mind of all emotions, locking each one down into his covered memories, only allowing unimportant memories to float to the surface. He calmed as he drifted into sleep and started dreaming.
"Good evening, Harry." Voldemort's voice cut through Harry's dreams of Jedi. Harry opened his eyes and sat up to look at Voldemort.
"Hi." Harry returned as he rubbed his face to rid himself of sleep. "Please give me a second." Harry dodged as a spell headed towards his head. "Come on, I was polite!" He objected as he pushed himself to his feet.
"Good! You sensed it coming. That is lesson number one in practical application. How did you know?" Harry stared at the man. He must have wanted to be a teacher in a past life somewhere.
"I just did. I'm not sure how I did it." Harry eyed Voldemort before looking down at his pajamas. "Could you help me out here, sir?" He asked, gesturing to his pajamas. Voldemort waved his wand and Harry watched as his clothing changed to something suitable for physical activity.
"So, you sensed a spell coming at you?" Voldemort asked.
"I felt it. How did I do that?" Harry looked to Voldemort for an answer.
"What is lesson number one?" Voldemort asked.
"I need to pay attention to my surroundings…oh!" Voldemort nodded as Harry figured out what he meant. "Paying attention to my surroundings will give me ways to fight my opponent, right?" Harry fought back his shudder as Voldemort gave him a smile. Why in the world did he have to smile at Harry? Couldn't he just sneer, as usual?
"Very good. Now, spell-casting. Come here." Harry went over to stand next to the man. "Wand out." A target appearedabout ten feet away from Harry. "A wizard can have a different amount of strength in spells depending on several factors. Any idea of what those might be?" Harry thought quickly.
"Physical fitness of the wizard. Magical levels. Ummm…emotional status?" Voldemort flicked his wand, making Harry flinch at the sting produced.
"You don't sound too sure. Explain your answer." Harry cast his thoughts to any power that was listening to somehow get him out of this mess he had managed to get himself into yet again. "Quickly."
"Well, if you're sick, your spells will be a little weaker than normal. Some wizards are naturally stronger than others. And the emotions, well, some spells just come out easier or better if there is a strong emotion behind them, such as the Riddikulus spell for fighting boggarts to the Cruciatus Curse, which needs intent behind thespellto work." Voldemort pondered the answers.
"Acceptable." Harry gave a small nod. "I want you to figure out your best way to boost your power. Only the standard Disarming spell." Harry turned and faced the target. He raised his wand and stared down the length of it. "What kind of stance is that?" Voldemort grabbed Harry's wrist and straightened his arm. "The legs need to be firmly apart, grounding you to the earth." Harry fixed his feet and held his arm as Voldemort instructed. "Now."
"Expelliarmus!" The target glowed green once hit.
"Fair. You have satisfactory levels. Do it again, except this time, go for the next level, orange." Harry fixed his stance again and stared down the target. He pulled up his feelings and focused all of that energy into his magic.
"Expelliarmus!" The target glowed between an orange and a green. Harry felt two quick stings across his back. That was not going to help him!
"Again!" Harry closed his eyes, focused and memorized the target in front of him.
"Expelliarmus!" The target gave a reddish-orange glow. Voldemort applauded behind him.
"Good! You can think after all." Snape must have taught Voldemort how to compliment and insult someone at the same time. "Now, take it as high as you can get it. Go beyond red, if you can." Harry nodded and looked at the target. A quick sting broke his concentration. "You'll need to be quicker." Voldemort told him. Harry ground his teeth and wondered if he really was insane for attempting this.
Harry turned to the target and lifted his wand. His back hurt, he was stressed from dealing with Voldemort, he was starting to regret his decision to do this, and he was tired. What elsecould go wrong?"Expelliarmus!" The target glowed a bright white. Harry lowered his wand in shock, wondering what that meant. White light?
Voldemort stood next to him without any words. Harry's eyes slid towards him to figure out if he had done something right or wrong. He knew that it really didn't matter how well he had done, because Voldemort would do whatever he wanted, regardless of Harry following instructions or not. "You did well. It's time for you to return. Remember, you have power Dumbledore can only dream of." Harry nodded as Voldemort said a sleeping charm and Harry faded away into his "room".
Harry sat up in his mental room and smiled. Potter: 2 Voldemort: 0 Harry pulled himself off the floor and shrugged away his new scars as he applied a bit of wandless magic to his back to dull the pain. He only hoped that he wouldn't become exhausted again. The Ministry had yet to show up to arrest him for magic in front of Muggles so he guessed that wandless magic couldn't be tracked outside the wards on his aunt's house. His plan for Voldemort was coming along nicely. Now, he just had to figure out what to do next and hope that the Dark Lord wouldn't figure it out before Harry was ready.
Author's Note: Well, there you go. Let me know what you think. Question for you all: Does Sensei know about Harry being a wizard?