Disclaimer: I make no claim to Harry Potter or it's related properties

A/N: This is where the rating ups and the story gets a bit darker. It's only a small bit, and hopefully not too bad, but take it as an indication of where the story is heading. On another note, cheers to those reading the story, I would appreciate if you would take a minute to review though (those of you who haven't already).

Spear Of Christ

Nightmares

The Quidditch pitch lay in darkness, the sun's rays not yet reaching it. Despite the early hour, a small group of people were there, huddled together for warmth.

"I know it's cold, so we'll get started," Harry was dressed in running shorts and a long sleeved jumper. "Some of you are here willingly, some didn't have a choice." Harry pretended not to notice the group of students that stood off to the side and glared at him, making it perfectly obvious which category they fell into. "But you are all here for one purpose. To train, to build muscle power, to build stamina."

"Why?" asked a Slytherin sixth year whose tone of voice made it clear he would have much rather been in bed. "We have magic, why do we need to do muggle training?"

"A good question, Hendrik, so perhaps you'd like to help me explain with a little demonstration. I trust you brought your wand? Right then, if everyone will give us a little space. I'm going to cast a disarming spell at you, I'd like you to block it,"
"That's it?" Hendrik didn't sound impressed.
"That's it," The two combatants raised their wands, and stood facing each other a few metres apart. The rest of the group were eager to see the display, but knew enough to keep a safe distance.

"Ready then?"
At Hendrik's nod, Harry cried aloud, "Expelliarmus!", and a burst of scarlet light shot forth from his wand.

"Protego!" The shimmering shield charm was dissipated by the spell, but still blocked it effectively.

"Easy," smirked Hendrik, obviously pleased with himself. Harry found himself forcefully reminded of Draco Malfoy.

"As you can see, the Shield Charm which Hendrik demonstrated for us, can be very effective, assuming you're facing one attacker who's casting one spell. Let's see what happens when that's not the case. Again, if you will," The two duellists resumed their positions, and Harry prepared to attack once more. "Ready?" This time he cast a stunner, and once more Hendrik's shield stopped the attack, but the disarming charm that Harry fired a second later hit him directly in the chest, blasting Hendrik off his feet and onto the hard ground; his wand landing safely in Harry's outstretched hand. A few of the students clapped.

"The power of the protego shield lessens with each spell it blocks, which is the reason my Disarming Charm hit," Harry turned back to Hendrik, "Not so easy that time was it? And what are you going to do now? How do you block my next spell?" Hendrik raised his arms in a futile attempt to block the Tickling Charm Harry shot at him. The boy rolled around on the ground for a few moments, clutching his dies in The boy gave Harry a murderous glare after he finally removed the spell.

"No fair! You can't attack me when I'm unarmed, how the hell am I supposed to block that?"
"My point exactly. Do You think an attacker is going to give you your wand back, or do you think he'll wait 'till you're ready before attacking? In a professional duel, you have certain rules by which participants must abide. Unfortunately, these rules do not extend to the real world. Because of this, you must learn how to survive without your wand."

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

"I'll show you." Harry handed Hendrik both his, and the boy's own wand. "Here's the situation, you have disarmed me, you have my wand, and now you're about to attack."

Hendrik shared a grin with some of the other students, he obviously didn't doubt his ability to attack an unarmed opponent.

"So, I just attack?"
"Whenever you're ready,"

"Expelliarmus!" The spell was right on target, but Harry simply sidestepped it.

"Well?" asked Harry.
"Well what?"
"Is that all you've got?"
"Of course not,"
"Well then let's continue. This is the real world, remember, you don't have to wait for my permission to attack,"

"Impendimenta!" Once more, Harry stepped aside before the spell reached him.

"Expelliarmus! Diffindo! Incendio!" Hendrik cast the three spells in quick succession, and this time Harry dived to the left and landed into a roll. Back on his feet, Harry raised his hand and signalled Hendrik to stop, then turned to address the rest of the students.

"As you saw, my opponent disabled me, yet he was not able to finish me off. Being able to dodge spells could be the difference between life and death, and the first step in getting to that point is physical exercise. Hendrik, if you'd be so kind as to return my wand, we can get started properly," Hendrik obliged and Harry pocketed his wand.

After an hour of stretching and running, Harry released the students there on detention, the others having all left earlier. He continued running for another half hour; working as a labourer had kept him reasonably fit, but it would take a lot of work to get back to the level he had been at.

"So you want to set up a duelling club," Remus sat at his desk, looking across at Harry.
"Yes. I think it's something that the students could really benefit from,"
"You realize of course, that this would require a lot of extra effort on your part?"

"I do, but like I said, I think it will really help the students,"
"Well then, you have my support. You can use the great hall if you want,"
"Thank you,"

"No need to thank me Evan, it's always good to see our teachers putting in that extra effort. Especially a Defence teacher. While I try never to speak ill of a colleague, I must say that the recent Defence teachers have been slightly below par. But that's neither here nor there, now if that's all?" Remus rose from his desk.

"Let me know when you've got a timetable sorted out. I wouldn't mind dropping in sometime, if that's all right with you,"
"Of course,"

"Terrance!" The thud of Harry's boots echoed down the stone corridor as he chased after the Ancient Runes Professor.
"Huh?" Terrance turned to face him, "Oh, hey there Evan. Was just on my way down to the Quidditch pitch, the Slytherin team's asked me to give some advice. Care to join us? Have a bit of a fly?"

Harry was sorely tempted to take him up on the offer, but there were other matters to attend to.

"Not right now, I'm a little busy. Besides, I haven't been on a broom in years. Anyway, I wanted to ask you a favour,"
"Oh?"
"I'm setting up a duelling club for the students. I was wondering if you'd be able to assist me with the students, and maybe give a demonstration?"

"A duelling club?" Terrance looked intrigued, "Yeah, sound likes fun. I remember back when I was a student, a teacher tried to set up a duelling club. You know Gilderoy Lockhart? That guy who wrote all those books about saving the world, then lost his mind and went crazy?"
"The name rings a bell,"
"Well he was the Defence teacher that year, complete idiot. The man didn't have any idea what he was doing. Did a demo with Severus Snape. Snape knocked the guy flat on his arse. Funny as hell. Of course, this was before he turned Death Eater,"

Harry forced down the feelings of hate the name brought up as Terrance continued, "But yeah, I'll help you. Maybe I could have a go with some of the students? Some of them don't care about losing house points, I think a good curse up the backside would work though,"

Harry laughed,
"Uh, we'll see. First meetings on Thursday at seven, be there at six thirty if you can, help me set up,"
"Yeah, sure thing Evan,"

As Harry watched Terrance head down towards the dungeon, he thought back to the last time he'd seen Severus Snape.

The Death Eaters had struck Diagon Alley so quickly there had been no time to form a defence. Bursts of light shot everywhere, igniting everything they came in contact with. Several shops were burnt to the ground by the time Order of the Phoenix members arrived and started to fight back. But the Death Eaters weren't interested in duelling, they'd done the damage they intended and now they made their escape. Harry was sure it was a coincidence that he was shopping for supplies that day, not even the Order members knew where he was. He was able to quickly stun two Death Eaters and duck back inside Flourish and Blotts without anyone seeing him. It was just as he prepared his third shot, that he heard the words of the killing curse and saw a man drop to the ground. It didn't matter that the killer's face was hidden, Harry knew that voice. He made his way out of the shop and up the road towards the man. In their haste to get away, none of the Dark Lord's followers noticed one of their number being chased down a side alley. Harry raised his wand and the dark robed figure was blasted off his feet, his white mask flung from his face.

"Well well, finally managed a non verbal spell have we Potter? Of course, Expelliarmus is extremely basic," Snape lay on his back, a trickle of blood running down his head as a result of his fall.

"How about this one then?" Ropes shot forth from his wand, wrapping around Snape and securing him.

"Hardly any more challenging, is it Potter? I'd expect a fourth year to be able to cast those spells non verbally."
"I don't really care Snape, they worked didn't they? You're trapped." Harry slowly walked towards the man, never taking his eyes, or his wand, off him.

"Well then I guess you want some congratulations Potter? Pity no one else is around to see your little moment of triumph, I know how you do so adore your pathetic fans." He could have been back at Hogwarts commenting on Harry's potions essay from the casual manner in which he talked. Harry knew that Snape had plenty of practice acting, but he was still surprised to see no fear registered in the man's sallow face.

"You know there's anti-apparation wards up around here. There's no where for you to run. Your coward friends hiding behind the white masks have already left."
"Be that as it may Potter, we both know what will happen now, don't we? You'll turn me over to the aurors, they'll put me in a holding cell, and I'll be let free for lack of evidence. They won't convict me, the Dark Lord controls the ministry now. Face it Potter, you and your gang of insolent little friends have lost."

Harry let our a joyless laugh.
"We haven't lost Snape. Not by a long shot. But you are right about one thing, that is what would happen to you, if I turned you over to the aurors. But that's not what I'm going to do,"
"What, you're going to take me prisoner? Got your own little jail set up have we? Demand a ransom from the Dark Lord perhaps?"

"Don't make me laugh Snape. We both know Voldemort wouldn't care if I held you hostage, he doesn't care about anyone,"
Harry approached him now, standing to the side of his head. He looked down upon the man that had made his life miserable, the man who had embraced the dark side, the man who had murdered Dumbledore.

"No Snape. I'm not going to take you prisoner. I'm going to kill you. Here, and now, I'm going to end your life, before you can end the lives of anyone else. But before that, I'm going to make you suffer,"
"You haven't got the balls Potter,"
The steel toe of Harry's boot smashed forward into Snape's jaw, causing his head to snap back and hit the concrete. Snape had no time to speak before Harry' kicked him once more. Again and again his boot connected, harder and harder, he heard a sickening crack as the man's jaw was dislocated.

"I was there that night. The night you murdered him, up there on the tower. I was there. I was FUCKING THERE!" Harry drank in Snape's screams of pain as he kicked him once more. The lower half of his face was a bloody mess, completely unrecognisable, but Harry kept on.

"You're the reason Sirius is dead! You're the reason he was on the run! Pettigrew escaped that night because you couldn't keep your big fucking nose out of anything!" Harry was completely unaware of anything happening around him, as if Snape and Harry existed in their own universe, the only thing that mattered to him was that this man paid for what he had done. Eventually he realised it had been a long time since Snape had moved, and he finally stopped his brutal assault. Blood was splashed everywhere, as if someone has tossed about a can of red paint. Harry bent down, resting his hands on his knees, suddenly devoid of energy. He looked at the man for one last time, and spat at him, then turned and left.

He remembered telling Ron and Hermione that he'd run into Snape. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Hermione however, asked the question. "D..did you, did you kill him?" He was unable to speak, unable to look her in the eyes, he just nodded. "Oh Harry," She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, but he felt completely unable to respond. He wondered if she'd be hugging him if she knew exactly how he'd killed Snape.

Harry shook his head to clear the memories, it had been a long time since he'd thought about Snape. He'd taken dreamless sleep potion every night, but even that wasn't one hundred percent effective. Nothing could completely dispel the nightmares, the images of the face screaming at him for mercy. Even in death Snape wouldn't leave him alone. He wasn't the only one either, Lestrange, Malfoy, Nott, they all haunted him. There were other's as well, other's that he didn't know, that hid behind the white masks of the Death Eaters. He'd never seen their faces, but they screamed just as loudly as the rest. They'd all chosen to join Voldemort, chosen to join the darkness, and they all deserved the justice Harry brought upon them.

He pressed his face into his hands, exhaling a loud breath. He didn't need this. This was only one of many memories he'd suppressed, hoping to never relive. He had to talk to Remus, to tell him that he had a time for the first duelling club meeting. As he made his way up the stairs that led to the headmasters office, he heard people yelling inside. As he got closer, he recognized Hermione's voice.

"...have to! Haven't I done enough? Haven't I suffered enough?"
"None of us have a choice Hermione, we must do this for the safety of others."
"I can't Remus, you know I cant."

Thinking it would be best to come back another time, Harry went to leave when the doors burst open and Hermione appeared, her face red with tears.

"You!" He barely had time to register the sting on his face from where she slapped him before she'd disappeared down the staircase.

"What the...?"
"Evan. Good to see you. If you'd just wait here I'll be back in a minute," Remus too descended and was gone before Harry could formulate a reply.

He stood in the middle of the office and looked around more carefully, he hadn't really taken much in the last time he'd been here.

Although he hadn't heard anyone enter the room, he definitely heard the voice behind him.

"So Harry, you've finally returned to Hogwarts."