A/N: Second chapter for EE3, thanks you all for sticking with it, I had a temporary mind blank but my brain reactivated.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling.

Warning: Mentions of slash.

Embracing Evil Series 3

Chapter 2.

Harry was sick of being at the burrow within 5 days, it was noisy, packed, rushed, tiring and he was going stir crazy. Everyone seemed to want to make him talk about Sirius or his feelings and he was so tempted to snap at them and tell them he set the whole thing up but that would have been stupid and he didn't think Tom would appreciate it. Harry sighed in relief as he had a moment to himself for a minute, he was in the bathroom, it was the only place to be alone, the twins weren't staying at the Burrow as they had premises above their shop; not that Harry blamed them. He was thinking of begging them to stay with them, he was pretty sure they wouldn't mind, he heard someone coming up the stairs and groaned. When he stepped out of the bathroom he came face to face with Ginny, she was all over him this summer and it was disgusting, she had better hope Tom never found out or she would be as good as dead, slightly possessive that man.

"Hello Harry, I was wondering where you got to." She said in a simpering voice, he withheld his gag.

"Bathroom," He pointed out slowly instead stepping away from her, he dodged her outstretched hand and ran back down the stairs, between the noise or her groping him he'd choose the noise. There was a commotion in the kitchen and Harry poked his head around to see what was going on when he saw the twins falling out of the fireplace, Mrs Weasley was smothering them as usual and everyone rushed to greet them, Harry could have done a happy dance and when everyone had left the room he bolted in and all but jumped on them in relief.

"Thank you, just thank you." The twins were slightly alarmed but gently patted his back.

"There there Har-,"

"It's ok." They told him.

"It's not; really I'm surprised I'm still sane." Harry told them seriously and they raised their eyebrows in sync.

"How long have you been here?"

"5 days!" He exclaimed and they cracked up.

"You have to stay here until beginning of term too." George pointed out with a chuckled and Harry groaned.

"I know, you have to help me, Ginny is all over me and it's really not good for her health."

"That wouldn't have anything to do with the lovely bite mark on your neck would it?" Fred poked his neck and Harry's eyes widened; he conjured up a mirror wandlessly and cursed.

"Bastard," Harry tried to reapply a glamour but it just kept fading away.

"Need a little help there Har?" George questioned.

"This need's to be covered; now." Fred pulled something out of his pocked and painted over the mark, Harry watched as the mark disappeared and he sighed in relief.

"Thanks,"

"So do we get to know who gave you that nice mark?"

"Honestly, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." They raised their eyebrows in perfect sync again and Harry smirked.

"So dear Harry," Fred began.

"You seem to be in need of aid that only we can provide." George continued and Harry nodded.

"Well, if you would go and pack a bag we will work our magic." Fred told him and Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, and if you could come down the stairs when our dearest mother calls you looking severely depressed it would help." George added thoughtfully.

"What have you got in mind?"

"Don't question the masters young Harry." They said pompously and Harry shrugged and went upstairs; he would try anything at that point. After around ten minutes the dulcet tones of Molly Weasley yelled up for him to come down, he shrunk the bag and went down with his shoulders hunched and his head bowed.

"Yes Mrs Weasley?" He asked quietly and she gripped his shoulder in a caring motion.

"Oh you poor dear, the twins are right." She sighed, "Would you like to go and stay with them until term, it isn't fair on you to be crowed and rushed when you probably just want some time alone. If anyone can take your mind off of everything it's those two." Harry didn't show it but he was fucking ecstatic, he looked up at her with a small smile.

"Would that be ok? I mean, I don't want to be rude or anything I-,"

"No it's fine dear, I should have realised. Go and pack some things, hopefully when you get back on the 31st you will be feeling better." Harry nodded and went back upstairs, when he was on the top floor he proceeded to jump up and down then calmly walked back down with an unshrunken bag. The twins stepped up and led him to the fire,

"Just say Weasley Wizard Wheezes." George said and Harry threw in the powder and stepped through, he fell out in to the weirdest looking room he had ever scene. It wasn't weird to look at but knowing the twins it was just plain strange, it was stylish with tones of cool blue and cream, the sofa and chairs were a nice leather cream and there was a fluffy blue carpet on the floor, all this was paired with oak furnishings that finished the room of nicely. Two cracks alerted him to the twins arrival and Harry looked around to see them enter with identical grins.

"Not bad ay?"

"Impressive, I must say this was not what I expected."

"We do try," Harry threw himself down in to a chair and let out a groan.

"This is one of the comfiest things I have ever sat in."

"Glad you approve," Fred said sitting down on the sofa with his twin.

"Now as we have saved your sanity for the next week you can answer a question we have." George stated seriously and Harry sat up alert.

"I will answer if I can." They nodded.

"Why are you wearing a glamour?" Harry blinked twice before opening his mouth and shutting it again.

"What?" he managed finally, after 5 years someone noticed.

"You've worn a glamour since you began Hogwarts," Fred stated as if it was obvious.

"We just wanted to know why?" George said with a shrug, Harry was gobsmacked, they had known all these years but had never said anything.

"I wear a glamour to hide my true appearance." He told them honestly, he knew they would want to see what he really looked like which is why he wandlessly covered his hair with a separated glamour.

"Why?"

"I used to get bullied over it because I wasn't handsome I was pretty. I guess when I was younger my magic did what it could to protect me and covered me to look different, then when I got to school they all thought I was a mini version of James Potter so I looked up spells to make me how they wanted me to look like. I began to get used to my appearance and then learned to love it but it's a noticeable change and I have an image to keep so I continue to cast them" Harry explained and they frowned.

"Can we see?" Harry bit his lip slightly nervous, he loved how he looked now and the attention it brought, he was beautiful and powerful; a deadly pair.

"Ok, but if I get one pretty joke I'll hex you in to next week." He threatened and they put on affronted looks.

"As if we would?" Fred gasped in mock hurt and Harry looked at him.

"You are free to hex us with anything you know if we pick fun at you." George agreed and Harry took a deep breath taking off his glasses, he waved his wand and felt his glamour melt away revealing his true self; the twins jaws dropped.

"Holy shit." Fred breathed.

"Harry, your-your stunning," George murmured in awe, Harry leaned back with a smirk.

"I am aren't I?" they nodded, "You can understand why I use glamours."

"Just slightly," they couldn't seem to take their eyes off of him and Harry chuckled.

"You know I'm taken right?"

"By an astounding lucky person."

"Very lucky indeed." Harry shook his head with a laugh.

"Well I can stay like this now which is a benefit for me, where am I sleeping?"

"Spare room, ironically designed around your tastes." Harry raised an eyebrow and went to look at the room George was pointing at, he pushed it open and stopped in shock; it was perfect. The room was nearly a replica of Tom's room except there was no ensuit and instead of black rugs they were green.

"How in Merlin's name did you know this?" Harry demanded.

"We are extremely observant."

"So am I but I couldn't design a perfect room for you."

"It's a gift, we just based it on the colours you wear out of uniform, you always stick to black or green and whenever you use the RoR everything is in those shades with dark wood." Fred shrugged and Harry was impressed.

"You, my identical friends, are genius."

"It has been said before." George nodded and Harry chuckled and threw his bag down in the room.

"So, we work in the shop from 9 til 5 so you are free to come down or chill up here, its up to you."

"I cannot thank you enough for this guys, I owe you."

"We'll remember that."

"I'm sure you will."

It was great living with the Twins. Harry had never seen such a dysfunctional but perfect household, nothing was on time but everything worked out; it was bazaar and Harry was sad to leave. The shop was amazing. They had turned the 1000 galleons he had invested and turned it in to something great. Some of the things they had created were brilliant, the Peruvian instant darkness powder was his personal favourite, it blacked out the room completely and no matter what you tried it would stay black until the powder faded. Harry was sad to go back to school but he had no other choice, he was slouched on the sofa moaning about the injustice to the twins much to their amusement.

"But I don't wanna,"

"You kinda have to." Fred pointed out and Harry groaned.

"I know but its so unfair, I wanna stay with Tom." They had finally weaselled the name of his lover from him but were sworn to secrecy and it was not like they were going to connect the dots to the Dark Lord.

"I'm pretty sure Tom wants you to be there also but I don't think Dumbledore would be all too appreciative." Harry snorted at the irony, Dumbledore would definitely not be appreciative, it was another thing he had learned about the twins; they really didn't like the headmaster.

"You would be spot on there. I just hate having to be famous Harry Potter." He sighed.

"Understandable," they agreed, "You have to leave in about 10 minutes, we're coming for dinner this evening." Fred pointed out, Harry nodded and waved his hand summoning his bag.

"Let's go." They floo'd to the burrow and were greeted by Molly and the rest of the Weasley's, Ginny appeared at his side instantly gripping his arm and Harry tensed.

"I missed you Harry," She whispered and Harry looked at the twins for help, he couldn't actively throw her away but she really shouldn't be touching him. Fred winked and he and George set of a prank as a distraction, Harry slipped away and sat between Ron and Hermione.

"How are you feeling Harry?" Hermione asked and Harry gave her a small smile.

"Better, the twins are a great distraction."

"There shop is great isn't it?" Ron said and Harry nodded with a grin.

"It is amazing." Dinner was a simple affair and Harry went to bed thinking about the lessons Dumbledore was going to give him. As usual, it was havoc in the morning and no one was ready except Harry. The raven head was sat in the kitchen watching them rush about with barely concealed disdain, it was complete and utter madness. They were going to be late if they didn't hurry up, why they didn't pack the night before Harry had no idea.

"Come on Ron, we have to leave now." Molly shouted and the youngest Weasley male stomped down the stairs."

"I'm done."

"Come on, we're floo'ing to the station." Harry went through first and the platform was packed, he pushed his way through with Ron and Hermione following behind and jumped in the nearest compartment, he levitated his trunk in to the rack and sat down with a sigh of relief.

"I hate this platform, you would think being a magical compartment they would make it magically expand." Harry said and Hermione looked at him in shock.

"I never thought of that. It does seem rather strange." Luckily the train journey passed in peace, they didn't have their visit from Malfoy and Harry bought some snacks from the trolley for them. He watched as the sun faded giving in to the inky blackness of the night and he changed his clothes, he had a bad feeling that the lessons he was going to receive were not going to be good. Hermione pulled them to a carriage for themselves and the thestrals pulled away immediately, the castle was alit welcoming him but even that felt uneasy, Harry covered a shudder.

"Who do you think the defence teacher will be this year?" Ron asked and Harry shrugged, he had no idea but he knew who the potions teacher was.

"Hopefully it's someone who doesn't want to kill/maim/seriously injure me." Harry joked and they laughed, when they entered the great hall they looked to the staff table and Harry spotted Slughorn straight away, he looked to the defence spot and saw Kingsley Shaklebolt sat there.

"Kingsley looks to be the new teacher." Harry pointed out.

"Yeah but where's Snape?"

"Who cares, anything's better than that greasy bat."

"Ron!" Harry shook his head and lead them to the Gryffindor table, they sat down and the sorting began, Dumbledore rose to his feet after and the hall went silent.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I have a few start of term notices before we get dazzled by are wonderful feast." Dumbledore began looking around at them, "We have a few staff changes this year, first let me introduce Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor." Kingsley stood and there was a warm applause before he sat back down.

"And secondly, I'm sure most have you have noticed that our own Professor Snape is not sat here with us this evening, this is because he has taken a placement out of the country to concentrate on his potions. However, in his place we have Horace Slughorn who will be taking over as the Potions Professor." Slughorn got a massive cheering applause as he stood up, Harry covered his grin at the explanation of Snape's absence, he was pretty sure he was still in the dungeons of Riddle Manor, Slughorn looked delighted at the welcoming and sat back down with a smile.

"Now, let the feast begin." The tables were soon covered in food or all types and Harry dug in.

"Its such a shame Snape left." Hermione sighed and everyone who was in the hearing vicinity turned to look at her in disgust, she blushed.

"I know he wasn't the nicest person but he was full of knowledge and is the youngest person to gain a potions mastery, he's created some amazing and life changing potions too." She told them, "I wonder if this new professor is as skilled as Snape." Harry couldn't help but snort, she knew all about Snape but nothing about Horace Slughorn.

"Hermione, firstly, it's possibly the best thing to happen to this school the fact that Snape is no longer here. Secondly, how can you not have heard of Horace Slughorn; the man's a legend. He's the one that taught Snape everything he knew, he's the one who Snape apprenticed under and it's rumoured he taught Voldemort when he was in school." Harry had dropped his voice for the end part, Hermione's eyes widened and she released an 'oh' of shock.

"Is he really that good?"

"One of the best." Harry knew that was the truth because Slughorn had impressed Tom which took a lot. The feast came to an end quickly something Harry was thankful for and they were dismissed, he got to the tower first and flashed his best charming grin at the fat lady so he could enter without the password, he hurried up to the dorms and climbed in to bed. It was set to be a long year.

Sticking to usual tradition, they had potions first thing on a Monday morning but for once, Harry was excited. The male came and not surprisingly, he didn't receive anything but then again, if Tom really needed to speak with him he would make his scar burn; handy connection that. Hermione was also excited for their first potions class and she had already been to the library and found a book that mentioned Slughorn.

"Oh Harry you were right. Slugnorn is amazing, but how did you know?" He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"I was shocked that you didn't know. Snape was him apprentice, you should have already known about him." He nicely defected her question and she nodded with a frown.

"You're right."

"I'm not taking Potions, I hate the subject with or without Snape." Ron told them and Harry was surprised.

"I thought you wanted to be an Auror?"

"Nah, I did but then I was talking to Bill and I don't think being an Auror is for me. I prefer a Hit Wizard, like an Auror but you don't need potions." Ron explained.

"That sounds fascinating Ron, I'm glad you've actually put some thought in to this." Hermione told him proudly.

"Well we'll see you later mate, we have potions." Ron waved them off and Harry led Hermione down to the dungeons, they were the first to arrive and Slughorn was already in the classroom, he beckoned them in.

"Come in and take a seat." He told them cheerfully, they shared a look and took the front seats, Harry took out his book and Snape's journal that Tom had let him copy.

"So sir, what are we doing today?" Harry asked curiously, there were 3 bubbling cauldrons at the front of the room and one of them smelt unusually like Tom.

"Ah, today we are going to be doing a little competition but I will tell you the rest when the others arrive – Ah here they are now." The class of NEWT Potions was small but with what Snape left behind it really wasn't that surprising. They all filed in looking around curiously, the dungeon classroom did look different, it no longer replicated a bats cave and it wasn't so gloomy.

"Brilliant, now that you are all here I can explain what we are going to doing in this class." Slughorn began, "I have been told that your previous Professor had a very unique way of teaching." The distaste for Snape's teaching style was obvious.

"I have to tell you that that is not the correct way to conduct a Potions class and I hope that I shall show you all the proper way." Harry grinned at that, anything was better that Snape.

"I wonder who told him how Snape taught?" Hermione hissed in to him, Harry wasn't stupid enough to tell her that it was him unless he had too.

"Can anyone tell me what any of these Potions are up the front now?" Hermione's hand rocketed up and Harry raise his also, but at a more sedate pace.

"Mr Potter?"

"The clear potion is Veritaserum, a truth potion so potent that 3 drops could make anyone spill their darkest secrets. It can be recognised by its colourless, odourless form. The second potion is Amortenita, the most powerful love potion in existence and highly illicit, the use is highly regulated by the ministry. It can be recognised by it's scent, it is unique to each person, showing them the smells that attract them the most. The final potion is Felix Felicis or liquid luck as it is more commonly known, simply put, it makes the drinker lucky, it is another regulated potion banned in all sporting events and examinations and it is also toxic meaning it cannot be drunk repeatedly or you will suffer a painful death. It can be recognised by its golden hue and thickness plus it is also scentless." Harry explained and Hermione wasn't the only person looking at him in shock, he rolled his eyes and looked at Slughorn who was positively delighted.

"Ah just like your mother, you know your potions. Brilliant explanations of all the potions and you are, of course, correct." Harry smiled.

"How did you know all of that?" Hermione demanded.

"It's not exactly hard Hermione, you knew it didn't you?"

"Yes but you were awful at potions before." He raised an incredulous eyebrow to that.

"And who taught the class making it very clear he hated the very air that I breathed? I got an O in my OWL Hermione because I did studying outside the lesson and ignored everything Snape had every told me." She looked as if she wanted to say more but Harry turned back to the teacher.

"Today, I want to have a little competition. I am offering one phial of Felix Felicis to the student who produces the best Draught of Living Dead by the end of the lesson, of you go." There was hurried scraping to get to the cupboard and Harry rolled his eyes, he set up he cauldron and began prepping everything first, when the crowd had diminished he went to gather his things and started. The Draught of Living Dead was a relatively easy potion compared to some of the potions he had made, residing with the Dark Lord you tended to expand your knowledge, he opened his book to make it look as if he was reading the instructions but really he was working from his mind and going Snape's personal notes; the man was a potions genius. Half way through it was clear he was ahead of everyone, Hermione was close second but she couldn't get hers to lighten the way Harry's had, his was lilac rather than the deep velvet hers was currently stuck on and he internally laughed. He kept stirring and slowly but surely by the end of the lesson his had finally gone to the pink which was to be expected at the half way point, Slughorn told them all to step away from their potions as he walked around and inspected each one. Malfoy had done pretty well, he was nearly on par with Hermione but the blonde was way to smug about it for Harry to commend him, some of the attempts were quite alarming after Malfoy. Ernie had created a tar like substance which was physically glowing and Justin had somehow made a solid object at the bottom of his cauldron. Slughorn got to Hermione and made a sound of delight.

"Miss Granger, this is amazing, the violet colour that yours had become is the best I've seen yet." The best you will see Harry could almost here her thought screaming, Hermione thought she had won but she would be disappointed, Slughorn, Harry thought, was saving his to last for effect and he was right. When the Potions Master looked in to his cauldron he actually clapped his hands,

"Mr Potter, magnificent as suspected. Look at this, he had managed to get his potion to a rich pink which is perfect to start the next steps." Slughorn bragged on his behalf to the rest of the class, Hermione and Malfoy both looked mutinous but Harry couldn't care.

"Here you are," Slughorn handed over the phial of Felix Felicis to Harry who pocketed with a grin, "As promised, one phial of Felix Felicis as promised."

"Thanks,"

"Now as it is the first lesson I don't feel much to giving you homework so off you go and have a nice day." Slughorn dismissed them with a cheery wave and the class left, Hermione stormed out without so much as a backwards glance and Harry shrugged; she would get over it.

"Your mother would have been proud." Slughorn told him.

"Do you think?"

"Oh yes, I am sure of it." Harry smiled and left the class, he had Transfiguration next and McGonagall would be taking no prisoners for lateness, he slipped thought multiple passage ways and managed to beat Hermione to the class, the girl in question huffed furiously and stalked in, Ron raised an eyebrow.

"I beat her in potions," the red head looked at him as if he were insane.

"I can make potions as long as Snape's not around." Harry pointed out and Ron nodded, they both went in and took their usual spots. As predicted, McGonagall was on a war path, she told them under no uncertain circumstances were any of them staying in her class if their grades fell under an E, she then proceeded to give them a long lecture in NEWT Transfiguration and set then a 2ft long essay.

"Bloody hell, on the first day back, she's mental." Ron groaned as they headed down to lunch.

"What do you expect Ronald, this is NEWT, you cannot expect to have it easy." Hermione snapped and Ron glared at her.

"It's not my fault Harry beat you at Potions." He returned in the same voice, Harry couldn't help it, he laughed. She glared at both of them and stormed off heading towards the library, Ron shook his head.

"She really doesn't like being beat does she?" Harry shook his head.

"It's not my fault. McGonagall told me what I needed to do to become an Auror so I did some extra studying, she's making it out to be a crime because I actually have some intelligence." Harry complained and Ron patted his back sympathetically.

"She's strange mate," Harry wasn't arguing with that. After a quick lunch Harry journeyed outside of the castle for double Herbology and it was actually quite entertaining, the plants they were working with had complete minds of their own and he had fun watching Ron duck and dodge out of the way every time the plant went to attack him. Hermione still wasn't speaking to either of them come dinner so their ignored her also and went back to the common room to sit in front of the fire.

"If we get McGonagall's essay out of the way now, we won't have to do it with all the others that we are bound to get tomorrow." Harry reasoned pulling out his work, Ron grumbled about them being over worked after the 1st day but mimicked the raven head, the essay wasn't hard at all but he had to make it seem as if he was struggling or he would have to explain.

"Did I tell you Dumbledore is giving me private lessons this year?" Harry said to Ron as they gave the work a break, the red head sat up.

"No, what's he teaching you?"

"I don't know, he was vague only saying this and that." Harry frowned but Ron looked eager.

"It's probably really advanced defence work to use against You-Know-Who." Harry did his best to look excited.

"Do you think?"

"Yeah, or some other way to defeat him, I mean, you are the only one." Ron had the sense to drop his voice so they weren't over heard.

"I hope so, because lets face it, Voldemort's no walk in the park." Ain't that the truth Harry thought, he had seen Tom duel and it was amazing, the man was something else.

"No he's was to powerful for a simple stunner." Harry nodded.

"Definitely,"

"This is great, if Dumbledore is teaching you then you can teach us, me and Hermione when she stops being mad. She should be ok in the morning, you know her." Harry rolled his eyes.

"I hope she doesn't expect me to deliberately cut my scores just so she won't get mad because I won't, its not fair." He internally scoffed at that, he already was cutting his marks by over half of what he could achieve.

"She's just not used to it. She's never had anyone beat her in anything other than defence before so it's a new experience, she'll get over it."

"She better," just then Hermione entered the common room and went straight up to the girls dorms without so much as a look in their direction.

"Make that Wednesday morning." Ron put in.

Ron was right. Wednesday Hermione decided that she would speak to them again and let then know about it at breakfast, she acted like nothing had happened and Harry had the suspicion it was because she still had the top spot in every other class except for defence. Ron wisely decided not to comment on her sudden change of heart which Harry was thankful for, when they go to arguing it was suicide inducing, they had charms followed by a free period which they made the most out off. They were getting essays daily and Harry was alarmed, it was going to be particularly hard to keep up the Gryffindor act with his work if they were setting essay's this much. Flitwick was ever the enthusiast and made the lesson cheerful even if he did set them an essay, Harry used the free period to complete it much to Hermione's delight, he also filled her in on Dumbledore teaching him and she was equally enthused as Ron, the red head had CoMC.

"Its going to be really advanced magic." She stated.

"Yeah, Ron said the same but he didn't tell me. I don't even know when my first lesson is."

"Professor Dumbledore will be sure to let you know." Harry nodded.

"Hopefully it's soon, I can't wait to find out what he's teaching me." And that was the truth, he needed to know if it was anything linked to Tom, with Slughorn returning this year along with these lessons it was too much of a coincidence for his liking. They trekked up to defence for their first lesson with Kingsley, Harry was actually looking forward to this, having an auror for a teacher was bound to be a decent experience. The dark skinned Auror was stood at the front of the class when they entered, the trio took the front seats as usual and waited.

"I am your new defence Professor, Kingsley Shacklebolt. I am a fully qualified senior Auror and I will not put up with people who do not make an effort." Kingsley's calm voice kept everyone quiet easily, he called the register and waved his wand. A sheet of parchment landed on everyone's desk, Harry looked down at his to see it was a test of sorts.

"I want to see what you truly know. I know everyone gained an E in their exam but an exam and the real world are much different." Kingsley told them and Harry withheld a scoff.

"I want these done by the end of the class, if you finish early you can begin your homework which is a 2ft essay on the unforgivables." Harry flew through the test, as he had plenty of hands on experience in the real world and he lived with death eaters it was common knowledge, he started the essay on the unforgiveables which was also easy seeing as he had cast all three of them he was pretty sure he knew enough about them. By the end of the lesson he had finished the Imperious Curse and was half way through the Cruciatus Curse, he handed his test to Kingsley and walked back to the library, he had another free while Hermione had Arithmancy. Harry wanted to finish the essay so he could actually relax tonight and not have to be hunched over a damn table for Merlin knows how long. Ron had to do the Charms essay from earlier also so the red head wasn't complaining about being in the library, Harry neatly finished his description of the feeling of the Cruciatus Curse when a tiny second year made his way up to him with a scroll trembling in his hands.

"I've been told to give this to Harry Potter." He said in a whisper gazing at Harry in something akin to awe, the teen was tempted to roll his eyes but he refrained with difficulty.

"Thanks," the second year squeaked and ran off, Harry shook his head and opened the scroll.

"It's from Dumbledore," He answered Ron's unasked question.

"Is it your first lesson?" Harry nodded,

"Yes, he wants to see me tonight." Ron looked excited.

"Brilliant,"

"Yeah, I have to be at his office at 8." They packed their stuff away and hurried to dinner to tell Hermione, the bushy headed girl was just excited as them and they all began to discuss what Dumbledore could teach him. At 8 o'clock, Harry bid them goodbye and all but ran to the headmaster's office, the man was sat behind his desk like he usually was but this time the pensieve was sat in front of him, Harry got a very bad feeling about the lessons.

"Good Evening Harry,"

"Good evening Professor," Harry took the seat indicated and waited for the headmaster to speak.

"How has your first few days been?"

"Good, Kingsley is a good teacher so far and Slughorn is so much better than Snape." Dumbledore chuckled at that.

"You and Professor Snape never did see eye to eye." He mused and Harry had the urge to laugh loudly, they hated each other and Harry had the pleasure in murdering the bastard.

"Now I am sure you have been wondering what I am going to be teaching you." Harry nodded shifting slightly and Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes I can imagine. This year Harry, I have decided to take you in to the past of Tom Marvolo Riddle and his quest to find about Horcruxes." Harry felt his blood run ice cold and his entire body with deadly still, he kept his breathing even with difficulty but his thoughts were a different matter, they were running wild, each one of them werw screaming at him to protect his lovers secret.

"Horcruxes?" Harry made the term sound strange on his tounge.

"We will come to that in a later lesson. Now I believe to get to Voldemort's final defeat, you need to know as much as you can about the man himself as possible." Harry nodded with effort, he knew where this was going and he didn't like it one bit, they were going in to Tom's past to start a Horcrux hunt, something he would do everything in his power to stop.

"The first memory we will be reviewing is one of my own and it is the first time I every met young Tom Riddle." Harry was motioned in to the pensieve and they fell in to old London. Harry watched as Dumbledore spoke to the matron and then he was introduced to Tom, he was fascinated by the 11 year old Tom. The man, even then, was powerful, Harry could feel it in the memory, Tom was a handsome and Harry knew that he would grow up to be phenomenally attractive; he would know. He could have hit Tom for telling Dumbledore he could control his magic and what he could do with it, honestly, did he have no sense? They left the memory and Harry sat back down thinking, it was obvious why Dumbledore always kept an eye on Tom when he was at school, the man only had himself to blame for that but the headmaster could have, instead of marking Tom for life, helped him.

"That was odd." Harry finally said.

"Yes, even then, the young Tom Riddle illustrated the pleasure in causing others pain." Harry nodded absently.

"I want you to think on that for tonight Harry, I will send a message as to our next lesson."

"Good night headmaster," Harry rushed away and ran back to the tower. These lessons were a very bad thing, he needed to think about what he could do before anything. Ron and Hermione were waiting for him and he gave them an overview of what he was learning, they were shocked about the young Tom Riddle and Hermione mentioned she had never came across the term Horcrux leading her to believe it was very dark magic. Harry went to bed with his head spinning; so much for a quiet year.

Finally got the second one up and chapter 3 is in progress, hope you like it and review to tell me what you think XD,

Jess*