Chapter Six: In the Summer of '82

The first week of the Summer holidays, the boys were allowed to relax, something they hadn't been able to do since Christmas, and just be boys for a while. They spent time swimming in the Malfoy lake, and Draco did his rounds in the magical creature miniature zoo that the Malfoys owned, and Caelum and Regulus happily roamed the grounds, Regulus getting a chance to spread his wings after a long period of not using them.

At the end of the week of rejuvenation, the boys got a rather unconventional surprise.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Are we expecting company?" asked Draco, looking up at Harry in confusion.

"Not that I know of… LIPSY!" the Head Elf of the Malfoy estate popped into the room.

"Yes, young Master Harrison?"

"Could you please open the door for our guest?" asked Harry. "If they are hostile, subdue them and put them in the dungeons, though, please."

"Right away, young Master Harrison, sir." Lipsy popped away, and they heard the door opening, and a mad cackling laugh that good only belong to ––

"BOYS! AUNTIE BELLATRIX IS HOME!" The two exchanged gleeful smiles and quickly made their way down from the Solar to the entrance hall, riding down the banister of the spiral staircase.

"Auntie Bellatrix!" said Harry happily as the woman pulled the two boys into a hug. "We've missed you!"

"How was your two year mission in America?" asked Draco eagerly, and Bellatrix scoffed.

"Those Americans, quite the uppity bunch, they are. Always think they're better than everyone else, but they were so taken with what they called 'my accent', they spoke in such a strange, demeaning way…"

"Bella!" called Narcissa as she and Lucius entered the Entrance Hall. "We weren't expecting you until later."

"You know international portkeys, Cissy," said Bellatrix, abandoning the boys in favor of embracing her sister. "Always forgetting to factor in the time difference… how have you and Lucius been?"

"Extraordinary," supplied Lucius smoothly. "The boys here have advanced greatly in their studies, and were sure to maintain a firm grasp on their remedial Hogwarts studies as well. Top of their year, the two of them."

"We made sure to show the know-it-all mudblood Granger who the best really were," said Draco proudly, puffing up his chest. "She was a real ––"

"Language, Draco, really," chided Bellatrix before the words could leave his mouth. "Even if she is filth, we should not dirty our mouths because of it… that would be similar to sinking to their level." Bellatrix had narrowly escaped Azkaban for an attempted break-in at the Longbottom ancestral home, but Lucius had called in a few favors, and she had been one of the main tutors the boys had had when they were younger.

Narcissa sometimes wondered if it was the boys that kept her sister from succumbing to the madness that power under the Dark Lord could bring, but she needn't worry about it now, in any case. Though the blood-traitors might consider Bellatrix mad, in the terms of Dark witches and wizards Bellatrix was perfectly normal.

"Will you be teaching us this summer?" asked Draco excitedly.

"The last thing you worked on with us was the beginnings of Legilimency and Occlumency, which we've been practicing," continued Harry. "We haven't mastered it, year, but as you said, it takes years."

"Will you teach us how to do the shadowy flying thing that the Dark Lord's inner circle can do?" enquired Draco, bouncing on his toes. "You promised that you would when you came back!"

"Boys, boys," laughed Bellatrix, calming the two down. "Yes, we will be working on flying, and we will continue with your studies on Legilimency and Occlumency, and the meditation with the latter will reveal your animagus forms, so you'll have to do some studying on the species you find you will transform into."

"When do we start?" asked the two in sync. A coy smile crossed Bellatrix's lips.

"Well, I will need you to prove yourselves… so… first thing tomorrow morning."

As it turned out, their aunt's idea of 'proving themselves' was participating in a game that Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters often participated in, called muggle hunting. The rules were simple. You had an hour to bait a muggle, bring them to the dungeons of someone's home, and torture them as much as possible until they died.

Of course, the boys saw nothing wrong with this, as they had been raised to treat muggles like rabid dogs that needed to be put down.

"Alright, boys," said Bellatrix, handing them each a portkey that led directly to the dungeons of the Malfoy Manor. "I expect you back in no longer than an hour. I will not interfere, simply observe."

Harry and Draco nodded before they had Dobby and Jinky apparate them to the muggle city nearby. Harry and Draco spent a moment roughing themselves up, using cutting charms to make their clothing look tattered, and smearing each other with dirt and grime. It was disgusting, but necessary.

Soon a woman was passing the alley they were in, and they began whimpering pitifully. She turned, looking rather smart in a pencil skirt and white blouse, she was about to go to a job interview, it seemed.

"Oh, you poor things," she cooed, helping the two of them to their feet. "What happened to you."

"B-b-bullies," stuttered Harry, using his rather phenomenal acting skills to pull off the appearance of a victim.

"They ambushed us," Draco added, doing his best to sound snivelling and weak. He just thought of Lardbottom and the act sort of fell into place.

"I have to get going, soon, but I can hail a cab."

"That won't be necessary," said Harry, before he raised his wand at her. "Petrificus totalus!"

"Silencio!" Draco added, and the bound, silenced woman looked up at the boys fearfully.

"Activate," Harry whispered to the Portkey, before it whisked himself, Draco, and the filth back to the dungeons of their ancestral home.

"Veneno aculeo!" yelled Draco with a complicated twist of his wand, causing the muggle to scream out in pain –– as Harry had removed the silencing charm.

"What are you––" her questions were cut off by another scream escaping her lips, the more lethal stinging hex Draco had sent at her hitting its full effects.

"Fractionem ossibus!" said Harry, twirling his wand in an infinity symbol, and the filth screamed once more as the bone breaking curse shattered the majority of the bones in her body.

"Diffindo!" yelled Draco, and the woman found herself without clothing, writhing on the ground. "Segmentum!" He seemed to draw with his wand as invisible knives cut through her skin, forming a rather crude M for muggle on her back.

"Crucio!" yelled Harry, trying his hand at one of the three Unforgivable curses, and he gave a pleased little smirk when the woman began caterwauling in extreme pain, flopping around on the ground like a worm.

"Tellus iam vivam," said Draco, in order to make sure the woman remained alive to experience the pain of the next several spells.

"Expulsis aruspices!" yelled Harry, and the woman screamed as her entrails clawed their way out of her body, wrapping around her neck like a noose.

"Sanguinem obstiterit!" the blood-curdling curse Draco and Harry had been working to perfect worked flawlessly, the woman's screams getting louder and louder as her throat became raw with the effort.

"Decorticare cutis," said Draco emotionlessly, and the brothers watched in morbid fascination as the woman's peeled off of her body. A twinge of emotion made its way through Harry, and he decided that the filth had suffered enough.

"Avada kedavra." It was a rather simple spell, really. All one needed was the hatred of the victim and the want to kill said victim.

Clapping was heard from behind them, and the boys turned to see their aunt smiling at them, her brown eyes gleaming madly.

"Well done, you two," she said, cackling. "Rest for the day. Tomorrow, our training intensifies."

True to her word, Bellatrix was heaping workload upon workload onto the two boys, not even twelve yet, as they delved deeper into the Dark Arts, but she also had them analyzing Light Magic, to see what they would be combating.

The schedule was as follows.

At six o'clock, the boys would wake up and go for their morning run around the grounds, as Bellatrix had informed them that they needed to be physically, magically, and mentally healthy in order to ensure maximum strength. She even had them sparring without magic, in case of an obscure situation in which they were wandless. After their run and physical training, the boys would come inside, shower quickly, and eat a quick breakfast.

This was completed at around ten o'clock, and this was when the boys began meditating to compile their mental barriers and fortresses, as Occlumency needed to be mastered before their Legilimency could be improved past the basic surface scans.

Harry's mental landscape was a map of the Manor, warded heavily, and memories were stored in different objects throughout the small castle, organized neatly and well guarded by several mental opponents he'd placed.

Draco's mental landscape was their vault at Gringotts, guarded by the large Ukrainian Ironbelly that resided there, and his memories were stored in galleons, sickles, and knuts, as well as family jewels and heirlooms. He spent much time organizing everything, as he was somewhat of a neat-freak, but that was to be expected, as the higher aristocracy were mainly perfectionists.

Occlumency was an important art for all pureblood heirs to learn at a young age, as they had the family secrets that need to remain, well… a secret. There were always those who preyed on the minds of the younger purebloods, hoping to catch them unawares and drag up blackmail material that they could use to gain a higher political standing –– which meant that the art was especially important for the Malfoy brothers to learn, as they were already in league with the Dark Lord and had committed several crimes in their not even twelve years of life.

It was often frustrating to try and keep their aunt out of their mental landscapes, as she was a ruthless and highly cunning Master Legilimens and a Master Occlumance, though their Uncle Sev was further gifted in the art of Occlumency, which both boys knew annoyed their aunt to no end.

Meditation ended at one o'clock, when the two boys would join their family for lunch in the Dining Hall. It was then that they would discuss their progress, and their Aunt Bellatrix would praise them greatly, it was quite the ego-booster for the boys.

Their birthdays came and went –– as Draco had been born the 5th of June, and Harry the 31st –– and their training only kept intensifying.

They'd finally managed to master occlumency –– of course, they were nowhere near the skill of their Aunt Bellatrix and Uncle Sev –– and they'd been able to trigger the meditative trance that allowed them to find their animagus forms.

Harry was in a jungle, he could tell. The trees were thick and tall, and there were vines and many different types of magical plants that he'd never seen before. It looked to be a very remote place, as it seemed there was no civilization anywhere near, all there was was Harry and his surroundings.

A chittering sound grabbed his attention, and he turned over and saw a rather cute monkey –– its structure similar to that of a white faced capuchin monkey –– with long, silky silver fur and bright, intelligent grey eyes, hanging from the vines from his long tail.

It chittered at him again, turning invisible before reappearing, chittering happily and making hand gestures towards Harry, before it finally sprung up and jumped onto his shoulder, climbing all over him. He looked into his eyes, looking deep into his eyes, hanging upside-down from Harry's head.

"You are worthy," said the demiguise, before flipping backwards, landing on the ground, and pushing his body through Harry's, the two of them becoming one.

Harry pulled out of the trance with a start, his Aunt Bellatrix and Draco looking at him expectantly.

"Well?" asked Bellatrix. "What was it?"

"A demiguise," said Harry breathlessly, and Bellatrix practically cooed with joy.

"A magical creature, how wonderful! Draco is one as well, an albino grim, with the capabilities of turning on the quote-on-quote 'Death-gaze' as well."

"Isn't Sirius no-name's form a grim?" asked Harry, and Bellatrix scrunched up her nose in disgust.

"No, my filthy blood-traitor cousin's animagus is no grim," she said haughtily. "It's a mere Irish Greyhound, with resemblance to a grim, but it has none of the magical properties of a grim." Harry and Draco nodded; Draco pleased that he didn't have to share his animagus form with anyone else.

"You two will need to spend time researching your destined animagi, of course," tittered Bellatrix, beaming at the two boys, pride clear in her brown eyes. She pushed her wildly curly hair out of her eyes and motioned for the two boys to go to the Malfoy family Library and start their research.

They started with the very basics: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

"The demiguise is a peaceful, herbivorous creature that can make itself invisible," read Harry. "It is found in the Far East, but only wizards and witches trained in their capture can even see them. It resembles a different species of monkey depending on the person it deems worthy to find it –– almost like a familiar bond, but different."

"Though the forms of the monkey-like creature vary, the common factor is large, black or silver eyes, and long, silky hair. Demiguise pelts are highly sought after as the hair can be woven into Invisibility cloaks. Cloaks made from their hair eventually turn opaque, losing their invisibility effects as time passes. The demiguise's ability to make itself invisible is used to symbolise the number zero, in the runic alphabet."

"The grim is an omen of death," began Draco. "-which is reputed to bring about the demise of the person who encounters it. The grim takes the shape of a large, black or albino, spectral dog. Perhaps the most well-known of omens, the Grim has earned infamy throughout the Wizarding world and is considered to be one of the worst, if not he worst, omens around. The grim takes on the form of a jet-black or bleach-white dog of giant, bear-like size, and is pertained to be spectral. It has a pair of yellow or silver eyes that can gleam in an ominous way."

The two brothers looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well," said Harry. "It wasn't much, but I suppose it's as good a place to start as any."

"Here," said Draco, tossing Harry a copy of 'Anatomy of Rare Magical Creatures'. "Let's read this, get a better gist of what we're delving into."

Harry flipped quickly to the page on demi guises, and he was extremely pleased when he saw the image in the book alter to that of the demiguise he'd seen in his meditative trance. Two weeks were spent researching on their chosen animals, and Bellatrix said they would be ready to begin transforming themselves, but to cease the animagus work for the two remaining weeks of summer –– after all, there were still many other things for them to work on.

"Alright, boys," said Bellatrix after they'd had their midday meal. "In order to be able to participate in this 'shadow flight' as you two refer to it, there need to be two things to be done. One, the slaughtering of a muggle, which you two completed rather wonderfully earlier this summer. Two, you need to be in the presence of a Dark Mark, which I will provide, and third, you need to perform two spells."

"The first is 'fugambrata', while moving your arm in a check mark, which will allow the process to occur. The second is 'continerintuum', which allows one to control the flight, and makes both the first and second spells permanent. The wand movement for that is simply an upside-down arc, like a frown."

The boys nodded eagerly, and Bellatrix pulled up her left sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark. "Fugambrata!"

"Continerintuum!" A black mist seemed to seep over the skin of both boys before their pale bodies soaked it up like a sponge, and Bellatrix smiled at them eerily.

"Well done, you two. That was the easy part. The hard part is actually learning how to fly." She paused, and looked them both in the eyes. "This is very serious, you know. When you fly, you will still be able to feel things you run into, which makes it easier to destroy things, unless you go completely transparent, which takes much more practice, and then you can glide through things, much like a ghost."

"Much like flying a broom, the shadowy form you will be in during flight will respond to the will of your magic, but can be difficult to control if one has rampant emotions, which is why you had to learn Occlumency first. You can perform magic when in the more corporal form, though it is more difficult, as you have to focus your core on both flight and casting spells simultaneously, which is when accidents can occur. I expect the two of you will not attempt such a feat until you have practiced sufficiently."

"Now, then," she continued with a small smile –– which would unnerve most people, but, to her nephews, it was perfectly normal. "In order to begin flight, you must simply turn sharply on your heel, much like you would for apparation –– which we will not be covering until you are at least fourteen, so don't get any ideas, you two –– and you focus on the image of smoke in your mind, and mutter the word: umbra. You're magic will recognize the word and trigger the desired effect."

"Ready?"

The boys, each eager to try, both pictured smoke rising from a flame in their minds, turned sharply on their heels, and repeated.

"Umbra."

Bellatrix had chosen the Casemate for the boys to practice in, as it had sturdy walls and plenty of space, and didn't contain highly breakable things that Cissy'd have her neck for destroying. And it seemed to be a good choice, too, as the boys spent a good half an hour trying to control their flight, stumbling around and running into walls –– and each other –– and had almost knocked over their aunt on several occasions.

Bellatrix had solved the issue by casting a plethora of 'spongify' charms on the walls, floors, and just about everything in the Casemate of Malfoy Manor. After about an hour of practice, the boys finally touched down to Earth, boy with wild hair and face-cracking grins, happy that they'd finally achieved something that they'd been waiting years for, and boy, had it been worth the wait.

"That was wicked!" said Harry, bouncing up and down in a rare show of childishness, as the heirs of prominent families were expected to hold themselves with only the highest decorum.

"Absolutely brilliant!" Draco agreed, nodding freverantly.

Bellatrix simply laughed, and shooed the boys to the Great Chamber, where they bombarded their parents' personal space, twittering on about what their Auntie Bellatrix had just taught them, and Cissy sent Bella a rather scathing look for unleashing the inner child within the two boys, which almost never made an appearance, though Bella knew that Cissy secretly enjoyed it.

"If the two of you don't calm down," said Lucius, his demeanor finally cracking. "I won't show you the surprise I have ready." The two boys calmed down immediately.

"Surprise?" asked Harry.

"What surprise?" continued Draco, and Lucius grinned.

"Well, it wouldn't be a surprise if you knew about it, now would it? Lipsy!" The house elf appeared, clutching seven long packages in her arms, and the boys stood, gaping at the sleek, pristine broomsticks in front of them, the tip of the wood inscribed in emerald, 'The Dragonrider'.

"But Father," said Harry in awe. "How did you get them?"

"They weren't supposed to be available for the public for five more years!" added Draco.

"A small fortune, these must of cost. Not like we couldn't afford it, but still, at three thousand galleons a broom… not even the Potters, Quidditch fanatics they are, would spend this sort of money!"

"The critics say it's better than all the Nimbuses, Cleansweeps, and the newly developed Firebolts combined!" exclaimed Draco gleefully, grabbing the broom that had the inscribing 'Draco Malfoy: Beater', as it was one of the specially modified Beater brooms.

Harry grabbed his, inscribed 'Harrison Malfoy: Beater', and the others were just inscribed with positions, and names would appear when they were handed out to the rest of the Slytherin team.

"I did promise you that I would get you two on the team this year," said Lucius, tossing them matching Beaters bats, composed of only the finest mahogany, black walnut, and silver lime, like the brooms themselves.

"Wait until Potter sees these!" cackled Harry.

"Wood will have a heart attack!" crowed Draco, and Harry sniggered.

"So will Flint," added Draco. "All of the Slytherin team, in fact. These are the top-of-the line, predicted to be the broomstick of the century thus far!"

"Nothing can top this!" said Harry, stroking his broom almost lovingly, and Lucius cleared his throat.

"Are you just going to stare at them, or are you going to go practice?" The boys let out excited yelps, and quickly made their way outside to the Quidditch pitch. The three adults exchanged smiles, and Lucius shook his head fondly.

"It's nice to see them act their age every once in a while," said Narcissa softly, leaning into the warm embrace of her husband.

"They've always been so mature," added Bellatrix. "You two have done a good job raising them… seeing them almost makes me want to have children of my own."

"But we all know that it isn't Rodolphus that holds your heart," said Lucius, and Bellatrix nodded, rather downcast.

"The Dark Lord has better things to worry about than the foolish desires of his followers," she said morosely, and Narcissa pulled her sister into a hug.

"All in time, Bella, all in time."

Outside of the Manor walls, away from the serious talk of the adults, Harry and Draco were acting like children walking into Honeydukes for the first time. Loop-the-loops and daring aerial stunts were pulled, neither of them concerned with falling, as they'd been flying soon after they'd learned to walk.

"This is amazing!" laughed Harry as he shot the practice Bludger they owned back at Draco, as the two were hitting it back and forth in-between dodging and tricky moves up in the air. Harry'd pulled a hundred foot dive and then whammed the Bludger chasing him back up at his brother, who had almost gotten hit.

"I know!" Draco shouted back, firing a powerful shot, sending the Bludger hurtling back at Harry.

The two boys spent a good four hours just romping around and being twelve-year-olds, for once, before they returned to the Dining Hall for dinner, their uncles Rodolphus and Rabastan joining them for the night, as well as their Uncle Severus, who was prepping them for another year at Hogwarts.

Two weeks later, the boys were all packed and ready to go back to Hogwarts, Caelum prowling proudly at Draco's side, having grown to the size of a bobcat, and Regulus flying high above the scarlet Hogwarts' Express.

Both were prepared for the challenges that would be presented to them this year, as their father had briefly outlined the plan during their trip to Diagon Alley, though they didn't know how large this challenge would be.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoy the updates! I think I'll post 1-4 chapters weekly once I complete them, as it is the summer holidays and I have nothing to do except read and write. Thanks for all the follows and favorites, and special thanks to ulquiorra31 and the guest automgold for reviewing! You two get Dragonriders!

Accio reviews!