Chapter 19: Summer Studies

Sirius Black spun away from a bright red hex while setting his feet on the ornately decorated ballroom dance floor for a counter attack. His wand arm arced gracefully up over his head to give his spell casting the extra-emphasis he would need if he had any chance of taking down his foe. A few feet away, Remus Lupin was already down. With a silent Expulso, he sent the bright beam of blue magical light across the room with a grunt of exertion. Sweat was already pouring down from his face and hair.

The dark haired wizard barely had time to register that his curse was virtually slapped aside with a variation of the protego charm he recognized as the protego duo version of the spell, before having to dance out of the way of a series of stunners, blasting curses, and a few lesser jinxes that would have left him completely open to a follow-up if they struck him. At the last moment, he erected a Protego shield of his own, only to be knocked backwards by the force of a particularly bright (and powerful) stunning spell that struck the center of the shield, despite having angled the protective charm so that the brunt of the magical force was deflected away. Losing his footing meant losing advantage to his opponent, something he could not afford against this opponent.

Fortunately for him, Remus took this opportunity to re-engage their mutual foe, rising up from behind a couple half-blown apart dining chairs and managing to fire off a precise series of stunners and exploding curses from the other side of the room, forcing the other wizard back on defense. Lupin's timing was perfect, his sudden recovery clearly taking their opponent completely by surprise. Sirius shuffled his feet into a more aggressive stance, joining in on his old friend's offensive, he sending his own hexes. In addition to stunners and a few bludgeoning hexes, Sirius Black added several banishing charms into the mix, sending pieces of broken furniture flying from different directions to attempt to catch the wizard off guard.

Harry Potter, after having been firmly in control of the first half of the training duel, suddenly found himself facing an onslaught of spells and attacks from multiple directions for which he was not prepared. For the first time that day, he was in a dangerous, challenging position. But this was why he was training. He could do this. With a deep breath, he carefully cross-stepped his left leg over his right, spinning his wand clockwise to counter-spell multiple attacks simultaneously.

First, the stunners and bludgeoning spells. Those he deflected off in different directions using exorbito, his wrist bending with the motion of the magic rather than against it as he had been taught. Next, Harry took care of the summoning and banishing charms, including the objects that came flying along with them, his right leg now stepping back directly behind his left as he drew back his wand and reversed its direction across the circle, forming a taijutu shape. He could feel each individual dweomer as his wand intercepted and redirected the spells against one another, cancelling out the bulk of their directionality and sending objects of his own to intercept those still heading towards him. Now, came the tricky part, as he had to quickly, but ever so slightly, dip his wand down to cast a finite on the carpet Remus had cleverly transfigured into tripping vines while still holding onto the bulk of the magic that was still heading towards him. He was going to need it.

Harry drew his wand up over his head, the holly tip glowing brightly as the collected magic coalesced into a brilliant blue ball. With his left, wandless hand, Harry made a raising gesture, he could feel the power collecting. Now to make the magic his. The blue ball of energy turned an angry red.

All of this in the span of no more than a couple seconds.

Remus and Sirius had expected Harry to raise a shield to weather the storm of attacks, the pair preparing to attempt to overwhelm the young wizard with their combined volume of spells and better positioning. So, it came as a complete shock to them when instead of blocking the hexes and curses, Harry artfully deflected or counter-spelled the lot of them, gathered the magic from the spells he had just defeated, and then added his own magic into the mix. Harry brought his arm forward.

A bright red beam of stunning magic shot from his wand, and then split off in two directions, right for the pair of attacking wizards. Their attacking positions made dodging untenable. The two could do nothing but raise a quick protego.

It was too little, and too slow. The twin stunning beams powered right through the hastily constructed shields, throwing the pair of Marauders off their feet to skid backwards along the floor.

It was over.

A quick rennervate later, Remus and Sirius were blinking their eyes open. Harry held out a hand for Remus to pull him to his feet while Sirius was groaning and stretching out his back still on the floor. He would get up a a bit slowly, still feeling the effects of the stunning magic.

"Flitwick taught you that, didn't he?" Sirius accused. Apparently, Harry's extra dueling lessons with the Hogwarts Charms professor was already paying off huge dividends.

Despite Sirius's joking tone, Harry frowned. As his godfather and favorite former professor cleared their heads, Harry looked down at his feet and sighed deeply. "Look, Moony, Padfoot," he said in a tone that sounded a touch frustrated, "I know you don't want to hurt me and all, but I need you two to be harder on me. You both have to stop holding back."

Sirius looked at Remus. incredulously. "Remus, did you hear that? We have to stop holding back against young Harry."

"Oh," Remus replied with an amused expression. "Well, in that case, I guess we better stop playing around then and not let him toss us around like garden gnomes." The former werewolf rubbed the back of his head, which was still smarting from where he had hit the ground for the second time, then turned to address the son of his best friend. "Believe me, Harry, we're giving you our all. We aren't under-powering anything or going easy on you. At all."

Harry nodded. "I know you aren't treating me like a kid, I do get that. But," here Harry paused, "I need you to treat me like a real enemy. Like this isn't ust training. You both know darker curses, but you're holding those back. When I face Death Eaters, or Voldemort, they won't."

Sirius walked over to his godson and put his arm around his shoulders. "You're right, Harry, we aren't using the Dark Arts in our duels and the Death Eaters will. But trust me when I say this, we are giving you our best."

To demonstrate, Remus cast a "STUPEFY!" as hard as he had been firing at Harry during the duel, and a bright red beam flew out to strike one of the many half broken tables lying around in the Black ballroom floor. The table cracked and toppled backwards several feet from the force of the impact. "The spells we are using in our duels may not be lethal or dark, but they will drop you just as surely." Harry took a look around the mostly destroyed ballroom. There were scorch marks on the walls and broken furniture littered all around the area. He had to admit, it sure looked like they were trying pretty hard.

"When it comes to training your reaction time, positioning, and footwork, there's no benefit to using darker curses." Sirius said, twirling his wand in his hand as he went about repairing some of the damage. "It's true, you can't learn to directly counter-spell specific dark curses this way, but to be honest, I doubt I could be of much help there. You're already much better at that than I am."

"Or me," Remus added. "I might be able to help you with one or two curses I know, but I think you'd be better off continuing that kind of practice with Filius."

Harry nodded in understanding. He wanted to train against what he would be facing in the real world, but he could accept what they were saying. "Ok, so how am I doing? I mean, really."

Again the two Marauders had to share a look. "Harry, you put the pair of us on our backs," Sirius replied. "You took out two adult wizards, veterans of the war with Voldemort, and I was a former hit-wizard. That's…well, beyond remarkable right there. But, if you want criticism, there are things you can do better.

"Your footwork is solid. Not perfect, not graceful, but competent. Keep working with Filius on that during your tutoring sessions and you'll only get better, but you've got a strong foundation already. You've got natural speed and quickness. There are faster duelists out there, but you will just improve with over time, nothing for it but to keep practicing. And tactics, well, you're getting there. You're still relying on straightforward attacks, though you are starting to anticipate transfiguration and attacks from the environment, but you aren't mixing it up much yourself."

Harry nodded his head as he listened to the frank appraisal. "I'll work on it. How about casting power?"

"I would say in pure, raw power that you'd give James a run for his money, but I know that's a load of centaur manure." Harry looked a bit disappointed until Sirius grinned and continued. "You'd wipe the floor with Prongs. Lily too. Probably both together. You, kiddo, are what happens when you put the best witch and best wizard I've known together. But don't get cocky, kid, I doubt you'd put James and Lily on their backs the way you did me and Moony; that pair were as creative in dueling as the Marauders were in pranking."

Harry beamed at the praise, especially the favorable comparisons with his parents. That's one thing Harry Potter never tired of. "Thanks, Padfoot."

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, and don't think your godfather and uncle are going to go down as easily as this time in our next session. We've still got some tricks and plenty of experience left to show you. There are a few things about magical combat you haven't learned yet. Moony and I might have to cheat, but that's something Marauders excel at!"

The sound of a doorbell ringing from upstairs brought the session to an end.

"Speaking of the next session," Harry said with a wide grin, "it's time for our occlumency lessons now!" And with that, Harry was racing towards the stairs. He was clearly excited to continue his training with Ron and Hermione.

"Already?" Sirius complained. "Don't I get a break?" Then a wheedling look entered the head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. "Moony…my friend…"

The ex-werewolf shook his head. "Uh-uh, oh no. You're the one who volunteered to Dumbledore to teach the three of them. I've got some places to be that don't involve messing around with teenage witches and wizards and mind magic."

"But, we just spent an hour dueling! I'm beat," he whined. "You only joined in on the last hour!"

"That'll teach you not to ask for 'best three out of five' the next time Harry wipes the floor with you twice in a row!" Remus said with a laugh.

Weasley Seer

Harry and Ron sat and watched carefully, "their senses extended"—at least they were trying to extend them anyway—as Sirius Black held Hermione under the legilimens charm. Their bushy haired friend was slumped backwards in a large, comfortable chaise while Sirius stood over her, his eyes boring into hers with a visible magical intensity. Sirius had admitted that he was "barely competent" at legilimency and just "adequate" at occlumency, but when Dumbledore had suggested Harry and his best friends receive training from Severus Snape over the summer, Harry's godfather had vehemently insisted on training them himself. Back at Hogwarts the three of them would still receive supervised sessions with Snape, a master legilimens and occlumens, but supervised and only after they would be prepared. Sirius would see to it.

Hermione broke the spell with a gasp for air. She shot a worried and defensive glance over at Sirius.

For his part, the aristocratic wizard raised his hands placatingly. "Don't worry, Hermione. What happens in your head, stays in your head. I've already forgotten it," he said.

At that, the young witch breathed easier. That particular image Sirius had gotten from her at the end was something she most certainly did not want shared with her two best male friends, or even Sirius. She had no way of knowing if he actually had forgotten, but they were learning techniques that would allow themselves to actually "forget" unwanted memories, so she had no reason to doubt.

"Sorry that I had to go for something personal, but I've got to make you want to fight me to keep me out. You did a fair job in organizing your thoughts, but you let me stay in too long once you knew I was there. You must try to eject me as soon as you can."

Hermione nodded. "I understand. And thank you, Sirius." It had taken Hermione a few reminders to call the older wizard by his given name, but Sirius was insistent that Harry's best friends be on familiar terms with him.

"Me next!" Ron volunteered. "I've been practicing," the Weasley said more eagerly than he usually was about any kind of learning that didn't involve Quidditch or lunch. Ron had reason to be excited, though. He had been more successful than his other two friends from the start, much to Harry's and Hermione's consternation. It wasn't that they were jealous (at least Harry wasn't) or proud, but that they didn't understand how Ron, who had barely studied and had asked them to explain the theory to him, had outperformed them both.

Harry watched as Sirius stepped over to his other best friend, then leveled his wand at the red head and incanted: legilimens! As Ron's head jerked slightly backwards, a sign of an occlumens detecting an intrusion, Harry wondered what secrets Ron was hiding—other than the obvious ones.

Truthfully, Harry despised hiding things from his friends. He had felt some relief at the revelation in the Department of Mysteries that Ron was actually a seer, but he had felt slightly sick at the deception that went along with the partial explanation. Dumbledore had led Ron and Hermione to believe that Ron's predictions were themselves the force that changed probability, when it was actually how much the predictions were believed and how they were perceived that influenced how magic worked to influence events. They had been told, at best, a half truth.

But there was no way Ron Weasley could be told the truth. He was, Harry hated to admit, a hothead and just enough of a braggart that Ron just couldn't be trusted with the secret. Hermione, on the other hand, was certainly capable of understanding the need for secrecy and fully capable of keeping the secret—which was why Dumbledore had allowed Harry to attempt to let her in on it as a future provisional ICW member, but her worldview was so tied to the sacrosanctity of rules and the authority of scholarship that the revelation literally caused her to have a mental breakdown. Three times so far. Dumbledore had called it a classic Type II Denier, same as Professor Minerva McGonagall.

"Very good, Ron," Sirius congratulated. "You managed to hold me off and break out of the charm." Ron beamed at the praise. "But you need to hide that memory of you and those Witch Weekly magazines a little bit better than in a visualization of 'under the bed'—that's the first place anyone'd look."

Hermione giggled while Ron spluttered.

"I thought you said what was in our minds stays in our minds!" Ron protested. "Bloody hell!"

Sirius smirked. "Oh come now, Ron, a wizard your age? Nobody would believe you weren't looking at pretty young witches in magazines."

And then it was Harry's turn. He wasn't as eager as Ron, but he was a lot less nervous than he had been the first time they actually practiced. Harry had been worried that he would let one of the "major" secrets slip, despite Dumbledore's assurances that it was not possible.

"But, Professor, if Sirius will see inside my mind while he's training me, how can we be sure I can protect the secret? I trust him, of course…"

"As you know, it is not simply a matter of trust, Harry. Do not worry, though. Not even Voldemort himself would be able to pry that particular secret from your mind. Sirius will not even be aware that there is a secret there being hidden."

Harry was confused. Wasn't the entire purpose of the occlumency lessons to protect the secret of prophecy and the secret of the nature of magic?

"Oh, most certainly not. If it were that easy, not only would Tom Riddle-a master legilimens-have learned of it, but far many more dark lords before him would have as well," the Headmaster replied to Harry's unspoken question. Harry hadn't even realized Dumbledore had been reading his mind.

"Then why am I learning the mind arts? And how is the secret protected?" Harry asked. This time out loud.

"The reason why will be divulged to you after you have completed your training in occlumency, for obvious reasons. But as to your other question, it is actually quite remarkable, and something you will need to know as a member of the ICW," Dumbledore said, a twinkle in his eye. "Now, considering your history, I'm sure you are familiar with the fidelius charm, are you not?" Harry nodded. "What do you know of it?"

"Well, a person hides the secret of a location. The secret is hidden within the soul of the Secret Keeper, and because of that nobody can find out the secret unless the secret keeper tells them. Right?"

"Essentially, yes. Do you know who invented the fidelius charm?" Dumbledore asked, his characteristic knowing smile on his face.

Harry shook his head. That information wasn't covered, even in NEWT level charms, so it was really not a surprise to the Headmaster. And even had Harry known the official version of the history of the charm, it would have been a fabrication, anyway.

"If you were to look the answer up, it would list Arsenius Giltfeather. In actual fact, it was Merlin who first created the original version. If the lore is correct, it was something of an inadvertent creation You see, Harry, Merlin was attempting to create a spell that would hide a secret from anyone who did not already know it."

"But it didn't work," Harry said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have figured the secret out on my own during Third Year."

"True. Merlin discovered that using binding wizard oaths as a basis, he could create a charm that would protect a person from forcibly or accidentally divulging information of any kind, so long as someone connected with the vow held that information as a secret—within their souls. Unfortunately, while he was successful in creating the initial protection, he could not prevent someone else from discovering the same information on their own. It was then that Merlin had the idea of placing the secret in an object and removing the place of that object from normal space-time."

"He made it un-Plottable! Then nobody could ever find it unless they were given the secret of where it was."

"Precisely. Merlin found that this would protect the secret of where a place was or where an object was, making it impossible for anyone who did not know to even discover the location. And so, the fidelius charm was born, though Giltfeather would later refine it when spreading knowledge of the charm. Unfortunately, however, this did not solve the problem of how to protect the secrets not tied to specific locations or the whereabouts of certain objects, so he founded an organization that would become what today is the International Confederation of Wizards to achieve through diligence and vigilance what charms could not."

"But, the charm that protects a general secret from being shared outside the society still works," Harry surmised. "The socius secretum charm. And the charm the Unspeakables use, it works on the same principle, right?" Harry understood it now.

"Precisely. Only the Secret-Keeper or someone authorized by the Secret-Keeper—which is one difference from the fidelius charm—can share the secret with those outside the society, intentionally or otherwise. However, those outside the society bound by the vow who stumble upon the same knowledge are not bound to keep it secret, nor are they protected by the socius secretum charm. Which is why so much of our effort goes into prevention, and failing that, memory alteration; elsewise the knowledge would spread and very bad things would happen."

Harry opened his eyes to see a frowning Sirius Black. Harry hadn't even realized he had been legilimized during that recollection despite having heard Sirius speak the incantation for the spell.

"That…was odd. You successfully defended whatever your surface thoughts were, but I could easily get into the rest of your memories. There wasn't much resistance at all." Sirius hated to criticize Harry, but his godson had made disappointingly little progress since their first attempt. "What were you doing while I was preparing to cast the spell?"

Harry shook his head in frustration. He knew he hadn't done as well as either of his friends. "I tried clearing my thoughts and hiding my memories behind made up images, but I just can't seem to control my thoughts so easily."

"Hang on," Sirius said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "When you say you were clearing your thoughts and hiding your memories, are you trying to do this with your mind?"

Harry nodded, slightly confused. Wasn't that was occlumency was all about?

Sirius shook his head ruefully. "Now I understand. You've been thinking of this as a purely mental process. No wonder! Harry, occlumency is mind magic. Just trying to organize your mind and clear your thoughts by meditating is something even muggles can do. What you need to do is direct your magic to organize, clear, and protect your mind. Think of your thoughts as if they were your wand and the defenses you want to put as the incantation to a spell. Let the magic do the work rather than trying to strain yourself not thinking of an elephant."

It was like a light bulb went off in Harry's head. That made so much more sense. Tell someone not to think of something and that's exactly what they would think about. But magic could simply vanish the thoughts away.

"Okay, I'll give you a minute. This time, try to use your magic to do all the things you were trying to do just mentally."

Harry nodded his head. A minute later, Sirius was looking intently at his godson, wand pointed at him.

Legilimens!