"I need you to teach the lads the art that you master yourself in", Arcturus was saying to Sirius.

"Why the sudden interest?", Sirius asked.

"I have seen things that make me fear that the future may be hard on them", Arcturus said, "And I intend to give them every weapon that I can so they won't feel helpless when the time comes."

"What have you seen?", Sirius asked.

"Voldemort is trying to return to a body and it was luck that he wasn't successful. The lads outwitted him without even knowing what they were doing but such luck can't last. They need to be ready."

"Of course, I will do it, Grandfather", Sirius was saying, "But don't you think that that time is not right for it. I mean they are too young right now."

"They are more capable than you were at this age", Arcturus growled, "Now either you are doing this or should I see help from some other place?"

"I won't let anyone else do it", said Sirius defiantly, "It won't be easy for them to begin at such a young age but if that is what you want then so be it."

"Welcome to the day four of the Duelling tournament. Competing against each other are Mr. Jean Montfort from Paris and Mr. Neville Longbottom from Wizarding Britain. Mr. Longbottom is here for the first time and has shown considerable talent at duelling and is being trained in duelling by Filius Flitwick, 10 times world champion. Mr. Montfort is a dab hand at duelling as we have seen from the previous year interactions and we are hopeful for him this year too when he is in the running for the Under- 14 world champion."

Neville bowed to his opponent who gracefully bowed to him. As their eyes met, Neville assessed the boy who was looking at him without flinching. Neville realised this guy was not going to underestimate him, or boast of himself, or duel with him just to brag later and he won't be rushing in things at once. Of all the opponents he had faced so far, this one was actually going to be threat to him.

Neville waited for his opponent to shoot the first shot which he did but just to open the match. The stinger that he sent at Neville was so off mark that Neville didn't even need to move from his place. Neville shot an incendio at him but the boy only stopped it on a shield.

"Stupefy, Tarantallegra, Langlock", Neville cast a few more spells that Flitwick had taught him but all of them were taken by the boy on his shied.

"Why is he not attacking?", Daphne said from the back row.

"He is studying Neville", said Ron, "That bloke will not attack until he is certain that he has found a weakness in Neville and Neville is going to tire himself out fast."

Harry heard Ron's assessment and inwardly agreed with it. Neville would have to end this soon or it would become too hard for him.

Neville too had realised the same thing and had also found that his opponent loved his shield. He won't be letting go of it. That could be a weakness to exploit somehow.

His opponent who had assessed Neville by now thought he had senses a weakness in the chubby Gryffindor. He started casting a few spells and Neville artfully took them on his shields instead of dancing around his spells.

His opponent sent a shield shattering spell at him which Neville saw coming and moved to the right with blinding speed.

"Expelliarmus", Neville roared as he moved to the right and the spell even then found its mark and the boy's wand flew out of his hands.

"Neville Longbottom has won the duel", announced the announcer, "This brings him a step closer to the semi-finals. Just two more undefeated matches will propel him in the semi-finals. Now for the next match, we have Mr. Hadrian Potter-Black of Wizarding Britain and Ms. Fleur Delacour who will step in this ring for the last time."

Harry stepped in the ring and found a very attractive witch facing him. She was so beautiful that her beauty seemed unearthly and somehow wrong with the order of the world. The way she smiled at him; it looked like she was a predator that was stalking her prey. He immediately knew that he will have to be wary of her because there was going to be trouble.

Harry almost failed to notice the stunner that she had sent at him but in the last moment, Neville's shout brought him out of stupor, "Snap out of it, dimwit."

Harry sat down to escape the stunner and then shook his head. The girl was somehow influencing him. He rolled to a side and evaded the bludgeoner that she had sent at him and sent a tripping hex at her which he dodged and then replied with impedimenta charm which was taught in 4th year at Hogwarts. Harry stalled for a second and had to put all of his strength together to shake out of the trance that he was falling in to evade the banishment charm which would have thrown him out of the ring and the ended the duel.

He realised that the girl was somehow addling his brain. She was making it all mushy so he was having trouble acting. It was as if someone was making his brain go haywire.

He started sending unending barrage of hexes at her while he furiously thought of something so he could defeat her.

"Depulso, Tarantallegra, Verdmillious, Incendio", he sent every spell that they had learnt from the book that Flitwick had given to them.

"Remember lad, if you don't allow someone to get into your brain then they can never defeat you. Allow someone to turn your brain and that is half battle lost. That is why Occlumency is important", Lord Black's words from when he was learning Occlumency from him came to his mind and as a reflex he put up his mind shields to the maximum.

Immediately he felt the pressure loosening and things came into focus for him. Now the girl looked pretty ordinary to him. She was still beautiful but there was nothing unearthly about her.

He sent a few more hexes at her in such a way that she had no way but to shield them and then he shot a shield breaker which shattered her shield. As the girl realised her trick was not working on him, her eyes spread in shock but that did not last because Harry raised his wand and shouted, "Accio Fleur's wand."

Fleur Delacour's wand flew to his outstretched arm and the referee announced, "Hadrian Potter- Black has won the duel."

As his opponent came to shake hands with him, she asked, "How did you do it?"

"Did what?", Harry asked of her.

"How did you resist my allure?"

"I don't know what you are referencing to."

"Pardon me, Monsieur Potter-Black", said Sebastian Delacour who had joined them, "This is my daughter Fleur Delacour and her mother is half- veela. She is a quarter veela and has the veela allure to her. I think she was using it during the duel. An underhanded trick which she used and I am sorry for it."

Now Harry understood what he had been facing, "I accept your apology, Monsieur Delacour. And I do not mind that she used her powers against me. If I had something that I could use, I'd gladly do it too."

Harry and Neville's run however ended that day itself in their next matches because their opponents adopted some underhanded tactics against them. Harry's opponent was using a staff and a wand for his duel which was within the rules for if someone has the power to use then they could do it. Harry had dodged the spell sent at him by the staff but the banishing charm had sent him out of the ring and he lost the round. His opponent however praised him and told him that it was only due to Harry that he had resorted to using the staff and the wand together something that he wanted to keep for the semi-finals which he couldn't have reached if he lost to Harry.

Neville's opponent had used a diffindo curse on him while he feinted to cast to the right and Neville went left. The curse had cut a gash in his arm and made Neville drop his wand which counted as a loss. His opponent had apologised to him about it telling him that it was what came to his mind to avoid a defeat. He also offered to heal the injury but Sirius had kindly refused and did it himself within a wink.

They returned to Wizarding Britain a day after the tournament was over. It had been the best week so far that Harry had outside of Hogwarts.

On the morning of the day after they returned; Daily Prophet carried a news item which was going to turn a lot of heads.

"Wizengamot passes Muggle Protection Act

The wizengamot has passed the notorious Muggle Protection Act which is aimed at protection of Muggles even more thoroughly than before. This Act makes even the slightest act of muggle baiting as a capital offence punishable offense with one year of sentence in Azkaban. Second offense assures a trial in front of the full wizengamot.

The Act also proposed imprisonment of 5 years for someone who is found in possession of any object full of dark magic. The Act was passed after a lot of deliberation and surprisingly many members of the dark faction voted for passing the Act.

This Act will be a harbinger of a new era in the history of Wizarding Britain and ensure more protection to muggles and rights to muggle-borns.

Chief Warlock had this to say, "We have been dragging our feet long enough in getting this Act passed and as it is, it is still 20 years too late. If we had laws like this in effect before the war, we could have prevented a lot of bloodshed and deaths.

Minister Bones remained unavailable for comment however the head of DMLE Rufus Scrimgeour was positively elated with this development."

"Grand Uncle", Harry said to Lord Black, "why you didn't vote in the passing of this bill?"

Lord Black laughed, "You think it would have happened without my intervention? Nay lad, I was there in the tournament with you all but I had appointed Andromeda as my proxy for the duration that I was not present in Wizarding Britain and it was she who voted in my stead for both House of Potter and Black."

"You don't leave anything to chance, do you Grand uncle?", Harry asked.

"No lad", the old wizard answered, "I once did that and lost almost all of my family."

"Harrryyyy", came the shout from the kitchen where the floo was situated and Harry cringed, "Grand uncle, can you hide me?"

Lord Black raised an eye brow, "The vanquisher of Voldemort needs hiding?"

"Even Voldemort hasn't faced Astoria Greengrass", said Harry, "If he had, he wouldn't dare try to rise again. Can you help me?"

"There you are", said Astoria who had finally found him, "You are going to take me to the zoo. You had promised."

"Astoria, Sirius had promised you", Harry said, "He said that he will take all of us to the zoo so if you want to harass someone then let's find Sirius."

She grinned, "Let's go. He has also promised to give me two dungbombs."

"What will you do with dungbombs?", Lord Black asked the little girl.

She shyly said, "Daphne keeps calling me midget. I am going to leave it in her closet."

Harry shuddered, "Astoria that is just mean. And if she found it then she will cause trouble for you."

Astoria grinned, "I will simply say that Sirius had given me the dungbombs."

"Merlin save Sirius", murmured Lord Black.

Scandinavia

"Are you sure this is the right place?", asked the square jawed thick accented wizard of his companion, "We have been looking for months but we have not yet found a trace of it."

His companion who was reedy looking, thin, having a cruel and angular face said, "I know this is the right place. It must be here somewhere. The journal that we stole from the archives of Alexandria says that it is buried here. The thief was in this region when he ran afoul of the local tribe of wizards and had to bury it. It may take some time but we will find it."

"Time? We have been looking for it for two decades", said the first one, "We have looked for clues of it everywhere including the famed libraries of the old families, tribes and even the list of items in the archives of Hogwarts but we never got a clue. Even now, we are only acting on a half credible information received from a dusty old tome that we have stolen from a place that is not supposed to exist at all."

"Have patience my friend", said the second one, "It may take us sometime but we will get there eventually. I have contacted one of the local tribes to find it and once we do, we will have everything that we would ever need."

"This is what that has kept me going all these years", said the first one, "But the most I can give is 3 months before I will return to my family. This campaign is turning to be fruitless endeavour."

These two wizards were of unknown origins and had been looking for an artefact of the past that would give them powers unrivalled by any in the world. They called themselves the Knights of Walpurgis after an order which was defunct for nearly thousand years now. It is unknown if there were any other members of this Order but these two were the only ones who knew of each other's identity. What they were searching for something that existed only in legends but they believed in its existence and worked hard towards recovering it.

"Professor Dumbledore", said Harry, "Welcome to Black Townhouse."

"Thank you, my boy", said Dumbledore as he stepped out of the floo, "Is Lord Black home?"

"Yes, Grand uncle is at home", Harry told him, "He is in his study. I will take you to him."

Dumbledore smiled, "Lead the way then, young Harry."

About a minute later, Dumbledore was in the study of Lord Black, "What is the reason for this unannounced visit, Dumbledore?"

"Lord Black", said Dumbledore, "Recent events have made me realise a few things and I find it necessary that I take steps in this direction."

"Stop beating around the bush", growled Arcturus, "Speak clearly."

"Lord Black, as you know Voldemort is still out there and he will keep coming for young Harry so it is important that we prepare him for what lies ahead", Dumbledore said.

"I agree with what you are saying, Dumbledore", said Arcturus, "But I am out of ideas. If I were in the prime of my life, I could have trained him in these ways but it is beyond me now."

"If you don't mind, I will like to take on this task myself", Dumbledore said, "I have quite a few things that I can teach him."

"And what is your motive behind it?", Arcturus asked suspiciously.

"Lord Black, we know that Voldemort will return and he will return no matter what we did. It is also clear that he will come for Harry whenever he gets back a body. And he does not fight merely with his strength or his body but also his mind. I know you have trained young Harry into Occlumency but I will take his instruction further in the area and teach him the delicate art of Legilimancy. And then there are too many things that I can teach in the way of defensive magic that will be useful to him in the long run."

"You make a good case and I agree with it", said Arcturus, "But it will have to wait till the classes start next term since I don't want to burden him with studies when he should be relaxing and enjoying with his friends."

"Harry, if you have a minute to spare will you hear to me?", Sirius asked Harry who was giving unwilling piggy back ride to Astoria.

"Sirius, if only you promise to give Astoria a ride on Padfoot, I will have time by myself", Harry said.

Sirius scowled, "Will you stop throwing me under the wagon? Not that I won't mind giving a ride to Astoria here but she needs to get going for her parents had floo called and they are leaving for France for the week."

After Astoria was gone, Sirius turned to him, "Harry, Remus told me that he had promised something to you."

"What?"

"He told me that he will train you in an art that very few can master. Since I am master in that particular art, I think it is wise that I take a firm hand in your training."

"But Sirius you know I won't do anything until Neville is given the same chance", Harry said, "So if you are not going to do it for Neville too then I am not interested in it."

"I know you both are thick as thieves and I won't have it another way", Sirius grinned, "I have extended this offer to him too and he has agreed."

"So dear Dog father, when are we going to start this training?", Harry asked.

"Soon dogson, soon".

"What about the pranks?", Harry asked, "You had promised to teach us some of your coolest tricks."

Sirius smirked, "You will need to prove that you are worthy of being our apprentice before I will teach something to you."

Harry nodded, "Sirius, it's ON."

In the next few days, an epic prank battle followed.

Once, Sirius was in his shop and tending to his clients when suddenly he heard a whizzing noise. He looked around in the alley but there was nothing to see.

He ignored the noise and kept working but the noise grew and he turned to Arthur, "What is this noise?"

Arthur grinned, "Look down."

Sirius looked down and his shoe looked like it had turned into a miniature version of the Hogwarts express emitting a puffing noise. As Sirius watched in dismay, his other shoe transfigured too and started walking him out of the shop.

With difficulty Sirius was able to stop his shoes from walking himself out of the shop. When he returned, a piece of parchment was waiting for him on his desk. In large letters, it was scrawled, "STRIKE ONE".

Sirius scowled and decided to even the score later.

Another time, Sirius had just sat down to dinner as the chair he sat on gave way as four of its legs disappeared. When he picked himself off the table, Harry and Neville were grinning at him. Neville mouthed, "STRIKE TWO".

Sirius scowled, "Just because I am being lenient on you two, you are getting out of hand."

Arcturus growled, "Then reply to them in kind or have your wits dimmed?"

Harry guffawed silently. Sirius however was thinking about it. None of the times Harry had his wand out and what's more, the magic that was done was out of his league. He had to find out how he was doing it.

In the meanwhile, Harry and Neville were enjoying their vacations so far. Remus was teaching them a few things for the coming year but that did not take all of their time.

He also had a lengthy discussion over magical theory in detail with Remus one day, "Remus, when we are children, we do accidental magic all the time. What's more we don't use wands for them. Why is it so that we need wands to do magic when we grow older? I mean why can't we do wandless magic and why do we need to shout words all the time?"

"Harry, when we are young our magic cores are not settled and they do not begin to settle until we are 11 years old. Accidental magic happens when our emotions get out of control and since it is our emotions which propel it therefore, words are scarcely needed. Accidental magic is wandless but it gets less and less as we grow older and by the time of 11, our cores start to settle and we are better equipped to handle our emotions so we can't just cast magic wandlessly. Wandless magic as it is, is very hard to do because it takes a lot of our strength therefore, most of us find it hard to do it sub consciously. As we train our bodies about the amount of magic that we use in our spells, it gets under control and after years of practice, many wizards find it easy to cast but even then, they can't cast complex spells which require high energy."

"What is the logic behind speaking our spells aloud?"

"Saying the spells aloud forms them, guides them about what the spell is intended to do and also helps train our core. When we repeatedly speak the words aloud, it etches it our minds and it becomes a reflex action. As we grow up, we start using nonverbal incantations but many people struggle with it because it takes time to train your core to do what you intend without saying the words aloud."

"Thanks for the lesson, Uncle Moony", Harry said, "Can you teach me a prank now?"

Moony smiled, "Well there is a prank that we once did and it was monumental."

"What! What did you do?"

Remus grinned and started telling him of one of those legendary pranks.

Sirius Black had a tiring day at the shop and when he returned, what had been on his mind was a quick dinner and then to sleep like a medusa victim until the next day.

"Kreacher, set the table", said Sirius as he returned, "I am knackered and I will retire to bed soon."

Sirius ate what was served to him without really looking. When he was done, he started walking towards the top floor where his room was. Any other day he could have simply apparated to his room but enchanting took a lot out of a wizard and he was dead tired. He went past all those flights of stairs and found eerie silence in the house. This was very uncommon.

He knew that Neville or one of the Weasley boys was generally staying over and they wouldn't go to bed when it was barely 10. He tried to eavesdrop on Harry's room and the room was silent without a sound. The lad was sound asleep. Lord Black was known to go to sleep early so he would be in bed by then. Remus would be in the office of Potter Potions working even now. The werewolf took his job way too seriously.

He reached his room & was about to touch the door to his room when the floor below his feet glistened and Sirius was yanked off his feet. "WHEEEE" went Sirius Black down the flight of stairs flailing his arms and cursing at the top of his breath.

He had fallen on his behind and went down all the way to the bottom where Harry and Neville were waiting for him. As he picked himself off the floor, Harry said, "Strike Three" and they both ran in the sitting room where Lord Black was holding court with Remus.

Sirius swore under his breath. Prongslet had a lot of energy to spend and he had found a conduit for it, namely Sirius Black. The lad was very resourceful. The Glisseo charm that he had cast on the stair was not within his power. He was having some help. Sirius would have to find who was behind it.

"Moony", said Sirius who was visiting his friend at the office of Potter Potions, "How do you think Prongslet is doing all these pranks? I mean all those pranks are out of his league."

Remus smirked, "I see you have devoted a lot of thought to this but have arrived at no conclusion. He used elves, Sirius."

Sirius' mouth hung open, "Why I didn't think of it sooner? He is cheating."

"It is winning, plain and simple", Remus said, "To him what matters is winning no matter what he has to do. You told him to prove himself and he did it."

Sirius grumbled, "Well Prongslet has a thing coming. He sure is becoming resourceful but he can't keep using elves in his plans. If someone caught onto it then it will be a disaster waiting to happen."

"What are you going to do?", Remus asked suspiciously.

"Well, I was once the blood heir of House of Black. Wasn't I?", Sirius grinned.

Remus shuddered at that grin until he realised that it was perhaps the first time that he had seen that grin on his friend's face since the death of James and Lilly Potter.

Next morning, they were sitting at the breakfast table when Sirius Black made his move.

"Grandfather", said Sirius, "I want a boon from you as the pater familias of the Black family."

"What do you want, boy?", growled the Lord Black.

"Recently Heir Black has been using the elves of House Black to torment me, to play pranks on me. I have no grievance against him for it however it seems to give him an advantage without really teaching him how anything is done. In other words, it may give him what he wants for the short term but there are no permanent gains made and…"

"Come to the point, boy. Don't be long winded like Melania", he growled.

"I want you to forbid all the Black Elves from responding to any summons from Heir Black and doing his bidding", Sirius said, "That way, he will at least try to learn things instead of getting the elves to do it."

Arcturus saw through the entire ruse but could also see the point and raised his voice, "Kreacher, Tipsy, Mipsy, Lipsy."

All the elves arrived in the hall with a loud crack and bowed before him, "Master calls?"

"By the writ of the Lord Black, all the elves belonging to the house of Black are hereby completely prohibited from answering any summons made to them by Heir Black until the Lord of Black wishes otherwise. Any elf found to be contradicting this order shall be punished with clothes."

The elves shuddered before taking their leave of the Black lord.

Poor Harry could only watch as Sirius Black left the table smirking and mouthed, "Strike One."