DISCLAIMER: HARRY AND HIS FRIENDS AND ENEMIES DO NOT BELONG TO ME! THEY BELONG TO THE AMAZING J.K ROWLING! ONLY THE PLOT IS MINE!

A/N: This takes place at the start of the Christmas holidays, OotP. Does not follow HBP or DH timelines.

Chapter 8 — Mind Arts

Harry twisted in his sleep, drops of sweat beading on his forehead.

He slithered through the shelves of misty orbs, tongue tasting the air. It tasted too clean. There was no trace of blood, no hint of what had transpired here merely a week or so ago. He turned, hissing at the shelves. 93…94…95…96…97.

He turned, his body gliding over the metal floor. He slithered for a short distance before he stopped, raising himself so he looked eye to eye with the misty orb sitting on the shelf innocently. Frustration welled up inside him and he nearly spat venom at the shelf just to spite it. Alas, his Master forbade any destruction completely, only observation. He turned around into the corridor and met two wandtips glowing with harsh lights. He rose menacingly, hissing insults and threats. The men pointed their wands at him with alarm on their faces. He tasted the air again and opened his mouth, exposing his fangs. Venom dripped. He smelled the werewolf, but didn't recognise the other human scent. With a menacing hiss, he lunged forward towards the dark-skinned wizard, mangling his neck before they could do anything.

The taste of blood filled his mouth, the warmth invigorating him and sliding down his throat like soothing nectar. He injected his venom and relished in the—

"Harry!"

He withdrew, hissing at the werewolf, who circled them frantically, eyes glowing golden and a snarl on his lips.

"Harry! Harry!"

"Har—"

"—ry!" Harry bolted up, a panicked expression on his face. Ron and Hermione were around his bed, looking at him worriedly.

"Your scar." Ron said quietly. Harry clasped a hand to his throbbing forehead and felt a sticky substance coating his fingers. With a grimace he saw the dark red blood glistening dimly in the candle light. He pulled a tissue from the holder and wiped it off, patting his forehead dry and wiping the remnant blood off.

"Harry, you aren't supposed to be receiving these visions anymore." Hermione said.

"I know." Harry flopped back down down, a grimace on his lips. He was sweaty all over, and adrenaline pumped through his blood. "I'm working on it, Hermione." He said tiredly. It would do nobody any good getting angry at her. He was trying, but he couldn't do it without actual instructions. He gathered his erratic thoughts together and went over his dream. He sat back up again, eyes wide.

"Remus!" He gasped. "And some Auror, I think!" He didn't mention that he was Voldemort's snake once again. "Attacked! The same place where Mr. Weasley was attacked." He said.

"What?" Ron squawked.

"We have to tell the Order!" Hermione said. Harry grabbed his wand and slammed the door open.

"Sirius!" He called. "Mrs. Weasley! Mr. Weasley!" He said, tearing through the house. Door opened, revealing bleary faces.

"Harry?" Fred asked.

"What is it now?" George rubbed his eyes.

"Harry? Ron? Hermione?" Sirius burst out of his door, wand at the ready. His eyes were sharp, and his stance tense.

"Remus!" Harry gasped. "Remus and some dark-skinned Auror were at the Department of Mysteries when they were attacked by Voldemort's snake!"

"What!?" Sirius looked alarmed. Wasting no time, he grabbed Harry and turned, reappearing downstairs with a gasping Harry, not used to the sensation of apparition. He strode over to the Floo and tossed a handful of powder into the flames, stepping in. He looked at Harry.

"Hogwarts, Headmaster's office!" He said clearly, vanishing in a whoosh of green. Harry followed him quickly, stumbling out of the fireplace to see Dumbledore walking out of his private quarters, looking tired, but blue eyes sharp and alert.

"Dumbledore, Remus and Kingsley, where are they!" He snapped. Dumbledore frowned.

"As far as I know, Remus is at home. Kingsley, though, I'm not sure." He said. "I will pay a personal visit to the Hall." He said in a steely voice. "Stay here and await my return."

Before Sirius could protest, Dumbledore vanished into the magical fire. He scowled, sitting heavily in one of the chairs. Harry joined him in sitting, eyebrows furrowed, still gripping his wand.

"So," A snide voice travelled into their ears. Sirius looked up sharply at the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black. "A blood traitor and his ilk." He said, looking down at them disdainfully. Harry had seen the deceased Black around in the times he had been to the Headmaster's office before, but never truly paid attention to the man aside from thinking he was highly unpleasant.

"What do you want." Sirius grated.

"Nothing." Phineas. "Your godson simply woke me from my slumber by his ungodly screeching."

Harry opened his mouth to retort, but Sirius beat him to it.

"As if my dearest mother doesn't do that often enough." He snapped. Before a full-blown argument could break out, Dumbledore returned with a grim look on his face.

"Good news and bad news." He announced. "Remus was at home tonight, but Kingsley was patrolling. Unfortunately he was dead upon my arrival." He said mournfully.

"How could this have happened, Dumbledore?" Sirius asked tightly. "How could Harry have seen something that was partly true but partly false?"

Dumbledore sat down behind his desk, steepling his fingers. "I believe after the last, failed attack on Arthur Weasley, Voldemort has learnt of this connection between him and Harry." He said in a grave tone. There were sharp intakes of breaths. "This means that he, an accomplished Occlumens and Legilimens, can manipulate Harry's visions. This is why I insisted that Harry should learn Occlumency." He looked at Harry over his half-moon glasses, and Harry scowled at the ground.

"Yeah, with Snivellus," Sirius sneered. "He would sooner pave a path for Voldemort to Harry's mind than help him protect himself against the monster."

"Now, now, Sirius." Dumbledore said in a reprimanding voice. "Severus is only teaching him the only way he knows how."

"Yeah right!" Harry couldn't help but to snap. "He refused to teach me after I somehow threw him off by launching myself into his memories!" He exclaimed hotly. "I have never seen a more unprofessional man in my entire life!"

Dumbledore sighed tiredly while the gears turned in Sirius's head. "Harry, my boy, you must understand that Professor Snape is in a precarious situation…"

"Don't give me that, Professor." Harry said rather coolly. "If you truly wanted me to understand you would include me in the Order meetings. You would talk to me instead of ignoring me, and you would tell me things instead of leaving me in the dark. I'm tired of trying to fight a war in which I don't understand a single thing of what's going on. How do you expect me to ever defeat Voldemort like this? I don't even understand why he attacked Mr. Weasley and Kingsley. What is he looking for?" He ranted angrily.

"It's for your own good, Harry." Dumbledore said sadly. "I only wished to protect you—"

"I'm not going to let anyone else die like this anymore!" Harry shouted furiously. His Holly and Pheonix wand vibrated in his hand, responding to his anger. Sirius grabbed Harry's arm.

"If you'll excuse us, Professor. I think we all need the sleep tonight." He said reservedly. Dumbledore looked at the Black with an undiscernible expression before nodding. Sirius ushered Harry into the Floo and they both flooed back to Grimmauld Place, thinking of the location in their minds, unable to speak as the Fidelius was still in place.

The next morning found Sirius curled up at the end of Harry's bed in his Animagus form. Harry nudged Padfoot with his foot, and the dog look up, sneezing. Taking a look at the bed beside him, Harry was surprised to find that Ron was already gone. He looked at his watch and started.

"Twelve ten already?" He said, scrambling up. Sirius leapt off the bed and transformed back.

"You've had a rough night." He said, shrugging. "The rest are having lunch at the moment."

Harry's stomach grumbled. Sirius smiled.

"After you have lunch, I think we should get started with your Occlumency lessons." Sirius said. Harry looked at him in surprise.

"I was actually going to ask you about that." He said. "Do you think you could teach me?"

"Of course." Sirius chuckled.

"I didn't want to ask at the beginning just in case you weren't an Occlumens." Harry explained.

"Of course I'm an Occlumens." Sirius sounded indignant and offended, and Harry looked at him strangely. "Ah, I forgot you didn't know. All pureblood children are required to learn Occlumency as a natural skill while growing up."

"And the other one?" Harry asked. "Le-Legi-Legili—"

"Legilimency." Sirius completed for him. "Let's go down to lunch first. It's not nice working on an empty stomach." He said. Harry agreed as Sirius walked out of the room, changing into casual clothing. He hurried downstairs to find the conversation in full swing. Everyone turned to look at him as soon as he walked in, and he noticed Remus sitting beside Sirius. The man stood and Harry walked over, giving him a firm hug.

"I'm glad you're alright." He said. Remus smiled down at him, weariness in his eyes.

"As alright as I can be in a period like this." He replied. Harry glared at the table when he thought of the corrupt Ministry. One thing led to another, and he sat down on Sirius's other side, clenching his fist and thinking of Umbridge. As he did so, the scars on his hand from the Blood Quill stood out under the glaring lights, and Sirius noticed them, expression darkening as quick as lightning. He vowed he would make that woman pay as soon as he becomes Lord Black.

Harry was thrown out of his thoughts when his stomach rumbled loudly. He broke out into a grin and reached for the ladle, deciding to put his thoughts aside for the afternoon and just focus on devouring Mrs. Weasley's delicious cooking. For the first time after Voldemort's return, he was able to relax and truly open up to his friends and everyone else around him. After all, he had Sirius now, and the plan was slowly falling into place. He was confident that everything would turn out better now that he had something substantial to contribute.

He bade farewell to a burping Ron and Hermione who was chastising him, heading to Sirius's room, where the trunk was currently being kept at. When he walked in, Sirius flicked his wand at the door, locking it and putting privacy wards up.

"Alright, so today we're actually going to put all that theory into practice." Sirius said, gesturing for Harry to join him on the floor. Harry sat and crossed his legs, expression attentive. "I noticed that you said to Dumbledore, in one of your lessons with Snape, you fended him off by counter-attacking and delving into his memories?" He asked. Harry nodded curiously. Sirius smiled.

"Do you remember what I said earlier about Legilimency?"

"Well, you didn't exactly say anything." Harry said.

"True." Sirius admitted. "Well now I'm going to tell you about it. As you may have gathered, Legilimency is the opposite of Occlumency. Instead of defending the mind it invades someone else's mind. It is an extremely useful art in its own right, but almost unknown to all but the most powerful and talented wizards, and of course passed down in families that have an affinity for this magic. I myself am an emotional Legilimens. I cannot necessarily read minds but I can tell when someone is lying to me or doing something dishonest." He said. "With me it's more feelings and emotions than actual memories and thoughts. Take Bellatrix, though. She's a natural Legilimens. Voldemort is a learned Legilimens, and Dumbledore is also a learned Legilimens. Those two are powerful wizards in their own right, but it does not come from any family magic. They have trained themselves and perfected the art, but not without struggles and hardships. Bellatrix on the other hand was born with this ability. As she grew the ability grew with her, and being raised in such an environment it was prized and she used it ruthlessly. She had long since mastered it by the time she graduated Hogwarts. She is the type who can tear into your mind and extract every secret you own unless you are a formidable Occlumens." He said. Harry nodded, eyes wide and fearful.

"So this is how Voldemort did the vision thing." He said. Sirius nodded.

"You're not a natural Occlumens, but you can learn. Occlumency is easire than Legilimency. According to what you did to Snape, you are a natural Legilimens in a twisted, counter-intuitive form. It's what is called Offensive Occlumency. Upon unskilled, unauthorised entry into your mind, intentional or non-intentional, meaning harm or not, you can take the opportunity to attack by crossing into the opponent's mind using that link they formed. The best part of this ability is that people will not expect this. You have read up on the three methods of Occlumency, correct?" He asked. Harry nodded dutifully. "They will only be expecting those three because Offensive Occlumency is a closely guarded secret within families that have affinities for the Mind Arts. Narcissa is an Offensive Occlumens. Mostly people expect to encounter shields and barriers or an organised landscape, or in the case of an accomplished Occlumens, they would expect to be led around in circles and be confused. Non of them will ever expect you to reverse the situation and make it to your advantage." He said. "Often it takes a while before their own mental shields are erected. Most accomplished Legilimens will not expect someone countering their attack."

"I have that ability?" Harry was awed. It sounded brilliant. Sirius nodded.

"I can teach you the basics of it, and the mechanics, but it will be hard to grasp because you have to get experience. You have to actually practice on someone willing, or unwilling, but let's not go there yet." He joked. "When I contact Narcissa you may meet up with her and she can explain the intricacies of it."

Harry nodded slowly, wary of Narcissa Malfoy. Anything having to do with 'Malfoy' couldn't be good.

"For now I'll just teach you Occlumency in its purest states, which is of course the three methods I mentioned earlier. Tell me, which one do you think you would prefer?" He asked. Harry thought about it.

"I don't think I will be able to do the second and third types, but the first type sounds alright." He pondered. "My thoughts tend to jump all over the place, so mastering a landscape which holds all my secrets would be hard, in my opinion, so the third one would probably be even harder, according to the book."

"We'll see." Sirius said. "And have you been meditating?" He asked with a critical eye.

"Er…no." Harry said, flushing.

"Good." Sirius said with satisfaction. Harry looked at him, confused.

"But the book said—"

"You're starting to sound like Hermione." Sirius smirked. Harry ducked his head. "It's not a bad thing, but do not trust everything you read, not even in an educational textbook. Experience in these matters is far more important than textbook methods." He said. "From what I've gathered, meditation is useless because you will always be thinking of something while you're trying not to. It may even be 'don't think of anything', but you will still think of that phrase." He said. Harry laughed, nodding. It was true.

"So what I suggest is that you should just let your thoughts go. You have to know what you have in your mind before you set it to be protected. Sometimes people don't even know what kind of information they deem irrelevant and leave unprotected, but a good Occlumens should know everything and keep everything, however trivial, under guard." He said. Harry nodded again. Everything Sirius said was making sense, which was more than Snape ever did. "So I will set a new exercise for you. Every night before you go to sleep, fall asleep thinking. Anything will do, be it Quidditch, Hogwarts, your studies, Voldemort, hell even girls!" Sirius said, eyes twinkling. Harry grinned abashedly at the knowing look in his eyes. "Don't worry, you're at that age." Sirius said briskly, ignoring Harry's predicatent, which the teen was immensely grateful for.

"Personally I think the best way to approach the first method is not to make shields in your mind, but to make lines of defences. The best way to do this is to visualise some sort of creature as defence. Creatures are unpredictable and can be dangerous depending on what you set. Bear in mind that you have to be able to control them." He said. Harry remembered this in the book as well. "I suggest you skim over the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander to find creatures suitable to your tastes and tasks. When you have found them come to me and I'll help you sort out which ones would be most useful."

Harry nodded excitedly. Finally, he thought, I'm getting somewhere with this. Hopefully when I master it I can give Snape the biggest shock of his life! His expression must have come across as extremely gleeful, because Sirius looked at him weirdly.

"I don't want to know." He said. Harry smirked in amusement, standing.

"Thanks for the lesson, Sirius." He said sincerely as the older man got up. He hugged his godfather. "You've taught me more than Snape did in the entire half year."

"Of course, kiddo. I have to outcompete Snape for your affections, don't I?" Sirius smiled. He held Harry at arm's length, looking into replicas of Lily's eyes and James's features. His expression turned serious.

"Listen, Harry." He said. "I won't let anything happen to you. I will protect you to the best of my abilities. You just have to listen to me, and learn up what I tell you to learn. I have complete faith in your abilities. I just want our family to come out of this war intact." He said, voice never wavering. Harry's expression was solemn and understanding.

"I will, Sirius."

"That's all I ask." Sirius said, then grinned. "Go on and do whatever you do at this time of the day, alright? Just don't forget what I told you today. If you have any further questions just come to me." He said. Harry nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Sirius to his thoughts and plans.

The man walked to his desk, pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, and started to write.

I'm not sure how much I can write, because I will definitely not be updating at a regular pace due to the irregular workload the school gives. However I will try to write a bit every day, at least, but no promises.

Feel free to drop by and give me a review! But please bear in mind I'm writing this for my own pleasure, and I don't have to adhere to anybody else's wishes. You can of course leave suggestions but they'll be up to my discretion.