Hello lovelies! Thank you for all the nice comments, it's great to see how much you all like this story!

Enjoy. And no, the first part of this chapter is not in Italics by accident.

Chapter sixteen - In Dream and Thought

The vague floating notes of a violin drifted through the dark, overgrown ruins of a once grand villa that Harry found himself in. He blinked owlishly. Was he dreaming? Looking down upon himself, the Gryffindor concluded that he must be, wearing a set of extravagant dark blue robes that he most definitely didn't own. It was a good sign that he seemed to be himself, he'd almost feared to have accidentally ended up in Voldemort's dreams again. That rush of relief screeched to an abrupt halt when he found the source of the violin: the Dark Lord, sitting on an ivy-covered, half-crumbled stone wall. Harry watched in amazement, observing the man's fluid movements as Voldemort swayed with the music he produced: a slow, sorrowful song that fit the scene of abandoned rubble all around.

Harry froze as red eyes opened slowly and focused on him. They looked uncanny, until Harry realised why: whereas Voldemort usually had red irises, even the white had now bled into glowing crimson, the pupils mere slits. It looked definitely even creepier than the real-life version Harry had come to expect.

~Evan, how good of you to join me,~ the man hissed. He lowered the violin that had been propped up against his chin, and a second later stood in front of Harry, gazing down in a way that made the teen feel like he was going to be eaten in a moment. His gaze flicked to the pale patch of skin of Voldemort's visible chest that wasn't covered by robe, fascinated when seeing a few shimmering scales.

~You look... different,~ he replied.

The lipless mouth curled into a smirk. ~And I know you still find me just as repulsive as you did before.~ Harry spluttered a bit at that, not wanting to hurt the man's feelings but not able to deny it either. Voldemort certainly wasn't conventionally attractive for sure. The only thing that could be said something positive about were how his eyes normally looked. ~I am not in any way offended by that, my opinion on my own body does not change simply because of your judgment. It did nothing to prevent you from coming closer to me when feeling my power.~ Harry looked away at that. ~Also, I am not the only one who changed my appearance, so did you. This is a dream after all.~

Looking around, Harry could finally confirm this to be true: some of the walls were rather vague and a few of his senses appeared to be dulled. He couldn't smell anything, for one. ~Is this mine or yours though?~ he asked, feeling calmer than he imagined he should be. ~I thought that with the connection stabilising, I wouldn't slip into your dreams again. Also, it's much different than last time... for starters, I am not you.~

~Ah, so many questions again. Let me simply enjoy your company for a bit first. We have all night.~

Harry felt like he should perhaps be more disturbed by those words than he was. He chalked it up to all of this merely happening inside of his head. Or Voldemort's head, whichever fit better. He walked besides the much taller man and enjoyed the light of the stars, which was brighter than a regular night sky, especially considering there was no moon in sight. They finally sat down beneath a part of roof that was still standing, being held up by a low, twisting tree that had sprung up from the tiles beneath. Harry settled on one of the curved branches while Voldemort unceremoniously slid down to the floor against all expectations.

~This is my dream, if you are still curious. I invited you here. Do not worry, the link is still under control.~ Harry felt flattered at being invited into the Dark Lord's head, considering how mad the older wizard had been about the last few times. ~I wished to see how you are faring. I thought it would be more convenient to check upon you like this than to elaborately disguise myself and sneak into Hogsmeade.~

Harry chuckled at the thought.~ Now that would be a sight...~

~So, you have managed then to keep your cover?~

Harry nodded with hesitance. ~Mostly. I did towards the Weasleys, but one of the days Sirius visited and... well, I couldn't keep my anger in about Dumbledore. Thankfully he didn't ask me more about how I knew of Dumbledore's lack of action in his sentencing once I told him I couldn't give him my source.~

~That was reckless of you,~ Voldemort spoke disapprovingly. Harry ducked his head.

~I had hoped that at least Sirius might support my decision in the end.~

~Sirius Black... that man has cost me dearly.~ The bitter sadness that tinged his voice gave away that this was about more than Sirius being a mere enemy who had fought Death Eaters. Harry suddenly realised that Regulus had of course been Sirius' younger brother. Had his betrayal something to do with Sirius as well? Harry didn't dare ask, not wishing to disturb the dream nor give away that he knew anything about Voldemort's past relationship. ~Although I doubt you can convince him even with Dumbledore wronging him, I will not stop you from trying as long as you do not reveal any vital information. I forbid you from mentioning to anyone that you are a vessel for my soul. In fact, you should not mention my means of immortality at all, it would be... risky.~

~But you have all of your vessels near you apart from me, right?~ Harry frowned, counting in his head. There was him, Nagini, the diadem, the cup, the ring and finally the already destroyed diary. Harry blinked, only now realising that that had to be what the diary had been. What else would have had such power and personality? Those were six vessels in total already, surely Voldemort hadn't put even more pieces of his soul away? How far could one shred one's soul in the first place?

~Barty did not manage to retrieve all,~ Voldemort spoke. ~I would prefer to withhold any further words on that topic for now. If you ever come across a piece -which I highly doubt-, bring it back to me, you should have enough knowledge now on how they feel and how to connect to them.~ Harry nodded in agreement.

~So, what is up with the violin?~ he hissed, gesturing to the instrument that had appeared in the man's hands again.

A thin eyebrow rose. ~I happen to have hobbies.~

~Wait, you play? Like, in real life too?~

~Yes... during my childhood, music was considered an expensive luxury, so naturally I wished to possess it, master it. I had plenty of time and resources to get started with several different instruments, in the end settling on this one, finding it to produce the purest sound. It also brought forth a new challenge, since it is considered to be a way to express emotions, which, at the time, I did not fully understand. Naturally, I conquered that obstacle in the end.~

~Is that also why you like chants so much?~

~In part, yes. Another reason is that they leave much additional room for adaptation and personal expression than simple spells do. A few supplementary or replaced words can triple the power involved if you pick them wisely. It is like writing a poem that then unfurls into reality, granting more rewards the better it is written.~

~I somehow had not held you for the artistic type. It is... interesting. I was never good at any form of art. The only hobby I really love is Quidditch.~

~So I have seen, Quirinius didn't even manage to knock you off your broom,~ Voldemort said in amusement.

~What was that about anyways? You said that you didn't try to harm me back then.~

~It wasn't to harm you. With all teachers watching, getting you to fall from your broom would hardly have caused any damage. No, I wished to test your resilience to my magic, to find out if you had any sort of special powers that had hampered me the night of my death. Needless to say, while you stubbornly clung to your broom, there was nothing there. Only Severus' counter spell and then your friend's little trick with her fire in the teacher's stands prevented my spell from taking hold. Speaking of magical resilience, I did not merely invite you to check on you. I have thought much about your words on serving me and the way in which to have you aid me.~

~Oh?~Harry perked up.

~I have decided on a way to both test your current powers and to widen your horizons on magic, dark magic specifically. I need to both see how you deal with overcoming problems as well as to have you publically using sacrificial magic. Since you are currently seen again as the beacon of all that is good, it would benefit the image of dark magic if you use it. Naturally, I am not talking about curses or anything labelled illegal. There are many obscure and forgotten wards, charms and so on that are not in use anymore but were also never explicitly banned due to them having no ill effects if used correctly. They are only dark in the most technical sense of the term in that they are heavy magic that requires an offering in return. I shall send you a few books on those, you can pretend to have received them from your new contacts in France or from your godfather if he is willing to cover for you on this. Since you arrive at Hogwarts the day after tomorrow, I will send them out first thing in the morning.~ Harry worried about having to explain why he suddenly had an interest in old tomes on forgotten and possibly harmful magic. ~They are not dangerous by any means,~ the other added at Harry's look.

~So what will this... this way of testing be?~

~I shall leave that a surprise still, it was merely my intention to warn you of that I will be testing you. I do not wish to be like Dumbledore after all.~ Harry felt himself getting red, which was absolutely stupid because this was a dream damn it.

~I know by now that you are nothing like him. Thanks for the heads-up, I will do my best.~

~That is all I ask.. ah, it seems the day is dawning.~ And indeed, as he said so, rays of sunlight broke through the deep midnight sky, setting the clouds ablaze with gold and red.

~Will I see you in my dreams again?~ he asked, but as he turned around, Voldemort had already vanished. There was only the orange and white of the sky now. Orange and white that was... moving? And had blue eyes? Harry groaned and rubbed his eyes, trying to shake Ron away, who was looking way too frantic.

''Harry, Harry! Wake up! Stop it!'' Ron yelled. Harry finally fully woke and shot up, nearly colliding heads with his friends.

''What is going on? Are we under attack?'' he asked, looking around to see what the fuss was about.

''You tell me! You've beenhissing and spitting in your sleep for over twenty minutes now. Maybe longer, I only woke up from it then. Does it have anything to do with You-Know-Who?'' All colour drained from Harry's face. He'd been talking in his sleep? Merlin, he wasn't sure whether to be happy or not about the fact that he'd been speaking in Parseltongue with Voldemort. It had clearly freaked Ron out, but he was certain of that his friend would have been much worse off, had Harry actually mumbled all of his conversation in English.

''No, it's... I just dreamt about snakes, that's all,'' he lied, instantly feeling bad for doing so. ''The one I saved from the zoo a couple of years back, to be specific. Sorry for freaking you out, I didn't even know that I could do that in my sleep.''

''I totally forgot that you can do that at all,'' Ron muttered. ''Damn, I am glad that it turned out to be nothing, you had me freaking out here, thinking you might be possessed. You also didn't wake at all... Sure everything's fine?''

''Don't sound so much like Hermione please,'' Harry groaned. ''What time's it?''

''Barely seven, we still have two hours before breakfast.'' Harry nodded, not feeling like he'd slept at all this night. He gratefully let his head sink back into the pillow once more to dream of normal things that did not involve a certain Dark Lord.

Being one of the last days before their return to Hogwarts, they finally went to Diagon Alley to get the shopping done. Mrs. Weasley had wanted to go all by herself, but Harry, who wanted to go to Flourish and Blotts to see if there would be any other interesting books on sacrificial magic, convinced her that it would be nice to all go together. She only softened up on the idea when Harry mentioned that Diagon Alley had a much better selection for gift shopping than Hogsmeade did and he still hadn't gotten anything for his friends yet. She had already tried for days after to get everyone moving, but each time it had been postponed until now, on the last Saturday of the holidays, it finally could not be pushed back any further. The list of books they had to get was thankfully rather short, but among their required clothing was one item that Harry had not expected.

''Dress robes?'' he asked. ''What are those?''

''Oh, just some more festive wear, also usable on formal occasions,'' Ginny explained. ''I'm thankful for being the only girl in the family, I bet Ron is going to get those.''

'Those' turned out to be a frilly thing that had been handed down from brother to brother ever since Bill had to get one. -Who had also received it from one of Arthur's uncles apparently- Despite Mrs. Weasley's insistence that all dress robes looked like that and the lace was perfectly normal, Ron didn't seem one bit happy with the announcement.

Ginny's face fell a bit when she looked at her own parchment. ''They're not on my list, maybe it's for an event that only the higher years are allowed at,'' she scowled.

''We'll see what we can do dear,'' her mother said. ''We might not be able to afford brand new ones, but it becomes time that you get some dress robes anyways, one can never know when a party is happening. Bill is about the right age to finally get married.''

Bill sighed. ''I don't even have a girlfriend yet, ma.''

''Becomes about time that you meet someone then,'' Mrs. Weasley insisted. ''Let us finally leave, we only have a few hours for everything. Boys, get your stuff in order, now!''

''Yes mum,'' the Twins chimed together.

Shopping was more uneventful than Harry had thought. After his landing in Knockturn Alley once and having been in Diagon Alley three times, it had lost some of its wonder. They made a regular round to Gringotts, the apothecary, Flourish and Blotts -which thankfully held neither Lockhart nor the Monster book of Monsters- and ended it with Madam Malkins. Mrs. Weasley had wanted to go in and buy Harry a robe that would be a surprise until he arrived at Hogwarts, but not being sure whether she even knew his size and style, he headed inside himself, where it took Harry some persuasion to pay for his own robes. After trying on a few, he forewent bottle-green robes, which he'd spotted first, for some that resembled the blue ones he'd worn in Voldemort's dream.

Both the shopkeeper and Mrs. Weasley complained about it not fitting his eyes and skin well, but he didn't care, having a good feeling about it. After another long, whispered argument with Mrs. Weasley, he could also convince her to buy some new robes for Ron and Ginny, insisting those would be their combined Christmas and Birthday presents. Fred and George both already had theirs, the frilly ones having skipped them since they had suggested at the time to rip it up and each wear half -one the bottom, one the top-.

Ron couldn't keep from constantly giving Harry relieved words of thanks when they left, incredibly happy with his new vivid dress robes in Gryffindor colours. Ginny too kept smiling brightly, hugging the bag with her new robe to her chest. She had gone for something that more resembled a Muggle dress, although it still had a hood and flared sleeves. Harry had wanted to offer some new robes for Mrs. Weasley as well as thanks, but realised that she would never accept it when he saw her guilty expression at seeing the happy faces of her children at finally receiving clothes that weren't hand-me-downs.

With full bags, they sat down at Fortescue's ice cream parlour, where they had fun trying all kind of magical flavours and tastes. Harry could recommend quite a few, having spent a week at Diagon Alley last year and eating here nearly every day during that time. He didn't manage to get free ice cream out of Florean this time, but it was nice to chat up with the cheerful man again.

When they returned, Harry already started packing and flipped through a few of the new books, determined in his new quest to finally start learning more, ignoring Ron's complaints about acting like Hermione. Their new book for Defence looked promising: it seemed that they would be dealing less with dark creatures this time and rather focus on shielding from curses. One piece of magic caught Harry's interest in particular: Hex-deflection, which would send the enemies' curse back at its target. It wouldn't work for any strong curses, but could be useful when having a Stunner or Jinxes thrown at oneself. It was also one of the first books to provide a solid theoretical explanation with the spells it described and background information. This was the first time that Harry found out that, while things like charms and curses were obviously different types of magic; hexes, jinxes and curses were purely human-made classifications to describe the 'grade of severity' of a curse. Additionally, all dark hexes and jinxes had been grouped in the 'curse' category about a century back to be able to outlaw them for the general public.

Harry closed the book to look at the cover, surprised that a book which described dark magic like this was allowed on their school list. The neutral title of 'The Art of protective Magic' didn't give much away, neither did the author that Harry had never heard of. Whoever was giving the subject this year seemed to know better what they were talking about than either Quirrel or Lockhart had, at the very least. The oddest thing about the book though, was that it was split in two parts: the first one covered defensive spells, whereas the second part was dedicated to a list of curses, against which in-text was then not only given possible spells for protection from those specific ones, but also the precise way those curses themselves were to be cast. While Harry was thrilled at the prospect of actually perhaps being able to learn some of those then, he hesitated about someone like Malfoy having access to such a thing. He just knew that Malfoy would misuse them purely for bullying...

As engrossed as he was in the book, Harry barely noticed the time pass. It was really wondrous how much a change of heart could make a difference. These past three years, while he'd always loved seeing magic, he'd still kept a school-attitude: anything in a required textbook was by definition only worth reading at the very last moment the teachers said they had to. He'd been an idiot, having been given the means and place to explore a world in which he could bend the laws of nature to his will and all he could do was complain about foot-long essays? He deeply regretted taking Divination now -arguably still a useless subject in his mind- and Care of magical Creatures. From what he'd seen during Voldemort's rituals, both Ancient Runes and Arithmancy were absolutely vital for any advanced forms of magic. Changing subjects was most likely not an option though, he couldn't even image going to McGonagall and trying to explain why he suddenly wanted to switch.

Harry sighed. That would mean additional hours of nightly studying then, and he hoped that next summer he could pick up a bit from the Dark Lord if the man would allow it and wasn't too busy. An incredulous laugh slipped past his lips. How was it possible that after only a month after starting to believe in his former enemy, two months after being dead-set on killing him, Harry was now hoping for crash courses? Perhaps he'd better go to Hermione, who would not put up so much suspicion as he imaged the teachers would. He'd bet that she would be happy about him finally taking his studies seriously.

The next morning, he was more energised than he'd ever been at six 'o clock as he got his trunk downstairs and nicked a piece of toast and egg off the large plates that Mrs. Weasley had prepared the evening before. Harry briefly wondered how the Weasley family kept their food cool. Fridges wouldn't work, but Barty had explained the difficulty of binding a freezing spell permanently to an object. Well, who knew, Harry had absolutely no idea how skilled Ron's parents actually were in various areas of magic. One hour later, after waving off Mr. Weasley to work, Molly shoved them frantically out of the door towards two Muggle taxis that were waiting for them. Harry couldn't help but think that Voldemort would disapprove very much of how close Muggles could get to such an obviously magical home. Ron kicked a gnome back behind a tussock of grass to hide it from view.

The ride was cramped, Harry wedged between Ron and Fred, with Bill sitting in front. Molly had taken the other car with Ginny, Charlie and George, thinking it best to have at least one adult per car and to split the Twins up to avoid any mayhem. Harry was of the opinion that it would just mean that both taxis would end up the target of a range of pranks instead of only one of them. That theory was proven correct when, after the four-hour long ride to King's cross, the Twins wore identical, devilish smiles as the taxis swerved off, the lacquer of one turning suspiciously pink and yelps coming out of the other as sparks flew out of the windows.

''You think we're going to meet our teacher in the train again this time?'' Ron asked. ''Would be wicked, we should check the compartments.''

''I'd rather not if it can be avoided, don't want to run into Malfoy,'' Harry reminded him. ''I could do without talking to that ass for as long as possible.''

Humming in agreement, Ron instead tried to search for Hermione on the busy platform, who came running with a loudly protesting Crookshanks in her arms. ''Oh shush gorgeous, I know, I'll let you wander free in the train,'' she cooed. ''Harry, Ron!'' Ron eyed the cat warily, who was staring at him with its rather ugly squashed face.

''Hey 'Mione. You think that monster is fine with me now that Scabbers is gone?''

''He's not a monster Ron, he's just a very smart cat! You should be thankful to him! Isn't that right Crookshanks? Yes, yes I know.'' She hugged the cat even tighter and Harry could picture her in fifty years, sipping tea and reading a book with thirty cats surrounding her rocking chair. ''Oh it's so good to see you both again! Harry, I will definitely have a good word with you still!'' she pinned him with a stern gaze that reminded him of their Head of House.

''Sure,'' he meekly spoke, hoping she'd get it over with quickly. She didn't, reprimanding him about his reckless behaviour for the better part of the first two hours of the train ride, wanting to get every little detail about how he had ensured his security during his cross-country travel. Her interrogation definitely pushed the boundaries of his little notebook. He'd have to start adding all the things he was forced to make up additionally so he wouldn't forget them and slip up after... Hermione finally calmed down when Harry seized his chance to ask about Runes and Arithmancy when she finally took a breath during her waterfall of words.

''You want to switch subjects?'' she asked in surprise.

''Not exactly. I mean, it would be great to rid myself of Divination at this point, but it is a bit too late I think. I haven't been such a model student up until now so I also doubt they'd grant me a time-turner for attending classes of the third-years or things like that. Besides, what would Hagrid think if we gave up on Care of Magical creatures after only one year of him teaching it?''

''I'd say he'd probably get the right idea about whatwethink of the course,'' Ron muttered.

Harry gave him a grin, ''Yeah, but that would still be awfully mean. Maybe we can drop it after the OWL's or so.''

''Two more years of holding off teeth and claws?'' Ron protested. ''Oh well, I think it is probably still better than anything that involves math. I completely zoned out at that at elementary school. Loved history though, especially about all the battles and such, 'twas only a shame that Muggle history was taught there exclusively.''

''You went to a Muggle school?'' the girl asked in surprise. ''I never heard of that, but I suppose there are no magical equivalents, are there?''

''There actually are a few, where do you think all those rich little snobs get sent off to?'' Ron scoffed. ''They're not subsidized by the government though, instead funded by parents. There's nothing official about them, but it's better than having each kid be only home-schooled. While I don't doubt that some parents are good teachers, others just can't do that. My own parents were certainly too busy to teach us anything besides some basics.''

''But if you went to school with Muggles, how come you know so little about electricity and all those kind of things?''

Ron shrugged. ''It was only a tiny school in our village, and most people are also not exactly rich there. They didn't have any fancy equipment or technology at school and us kids were not allowed to bring anything from home either. Sure, they talked about phones and stuff but I never really listened much. I mainly stuck to my brothers and a few other kids whom I knew were magicians since I couldn't very well become best buddies with a Muggle whom I would never be able to show my house. It sucked. Still, mum and dad insisted that it would do me good to have a 'basic education' of the Muggle side of things and to interact with them. I half agree to that I guess, it did get rid of the superiority complex that most purebloods seem to have. They never got to see Muggles as people, not even when they were small. I did. That makes a large difference in how we view the Muggle world. Also, as I said, some subjects were really interesting like geography and history, it really is a shame that we have Binns for magical history. Would have loved to learn more about the strategic decisions made in the goblin wars and such but I can forget about that with the old ghost and reading is really not my thing.''

''I wouldn't have guessed,'' Hermione dryly stated.

''Haha, very funny.''

''So Harry,'' the girl spoke, turning towards him again. ''I think it is wonderful that you took an interest in some of my favourite subjects. They are so useful! I will make sure to point you in the right directions with books, you can even have some of my notes from last year, I have them all in a folder. You'll definitely need to spend a lot of time if you want to catch up, but ask me anytime you have questions!''

''Thanks, I knew I could count on you,'' Harry smiled.

''Still think you're nutters,'' Ron mumbled. ''You don't need those for most jobs and you cannot even do your OWL's in them since they're not your official electives either.''

''Maybe not, but it will give me a better understanding of other areas of magic. And as far as I know, OWL's are regulated by the Ministry right? I could maybe apply to take them later after all if I think I grasp it well enough.''

''It's never too early to start,'' Hermione decided, and she started rummaging in her bag, pulling some of her books out. ''I'm afraid I left my copy of volume one at home as the library also has it and I don't need it for class anymore, but there should be a revision in the first chapter of my current book. Here, see this shape? This means-

The rest of the ride was filled with runes and numbers that swam in Harry's head. He'd judged her character well: she indeed did try to cram a full year into his head in the space of a couple of hours. This was going to be an eventful year.

So, finally we are gong to Hogwarts!
Please Read and Review :)
xx Gemerope