Harry Potter and The Tomb of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and

The Tomb of Hogwarts

Chapter 7

Summer School

Harry's head was spinning. A thousand different thoughts flew through his mind.

"But sir, there's no way I could teach duelling to a whole class of students," he exclaimed a bit louder than was needed.

Dumbledore smiled broadly at him. "Harry, if I remember correctly, you had well over thirty students in the DA last year, and you had no assistance from any of the teachers at the time. I have full confidence that you can handle the lessons with no problems."

"But, I just... I can't be a teacher. I haven't even graduated Hogwarts."

"Indeed. However, as I am sure you have noticed, you have very few classes next year. In fact, if I remember correctly, you only have five classes this year."

Harry counted them off in his head; Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology, and his only new course, Political Sciences of Magic. That made six, which he mentioned to Dumbledore.

"My mistake," he said with a sly grin. "So, you will have your six classes, plus your Animagus training and Occlumency lessons."

"And Quidditch practice," Harry added defensively.

"Indeed. Well, Harry, it does sound like you do have a rather full schedule after all. Well, I guess I can understand if you do not want to take on this additional class."

"I didn't say that," Harry said in an even more defensive tone. He was quickly taken aback by his abrupt change in direction. Did he want to do this or not?

Once again, as though reading his mind, Dumbledore replied soothingly, "Well, Harry. I can understand if you are unsure to teach the Duelling Class or not, and you need not decide just now. However, if you would be able to send me a reply before your birthday, I would be much obliged."

"Uh, yes sir," was all he replied, too exhausted from talking to say anything else.

"Well, Harry. I believe we have kept Professor Snape long enough. Here, take these." He held out three small red toffees. "These will help you focus. Of course, they only work for a few minutes, but I find they can help after an unusual conversation just before meditations, and they should help you now."

Harry took them from Dumbledore's hand and popped them one by one into his mouth. "Mmm. Is that Caramel?" he asked.

"Indeed. Just because they are magic doesn't mean they can't taste good too." He smiled again, then turned and looked across the room at Snape.

"Now Harry, I understand that you have had a less than ideal relationship with Professor Snape over the past five years, but I need you to put aside your differences for the time being."

Harry wanted to speak up to defend himself and to show Dumbledore how it had been Snape who had started their rivalry. How Snape had done everything to him over the past five years, and that he was not the one causing trouble. But Dumbledore had put up his hand to stop him before he even got started.

"And you should know that I have already spoken to Severus about your past relationships and I have a fairly good idea how things began between you two. After speaking to him I believe he may be a bit more receptive to you, but it is now up to you to take the next step, and I encourage you to do so. I don't think I have to mention how much we need to be able to trust each other in these current days."

Harry nodded. He remembered back to a few weeks ago when he believed that Sirius was in danger. Had he trusted Snape, he probably would have been more likely to go to him, and Sirius might be alive today because of it.

Dumbledore paused for a moment as though waiting for Harry to finish his thoughts before he continued.

"I understand that you do not find Severus's company particularly enjoyable, but I do hope you will trust me when I say that he is very loyal to the Order and I believe you may one day find him to be a great asset."

Harry doubted that a great deal, but he nodded in agreement all the same.

"Good," Dumbledore concluded. "So now that we have that settled, I expect that this will not be an issue when you consider whether or not to teach the duelling class." Dumbledore had a way of ending a discussion before it began, and now was definitely one of those times.

"Yes sir," Harry said begrudgingly.

"Wonderful," Dumbledore replied with an upbeat tone. "Well, now that things are settled around here, I must take my leave. But I look forward to your reply about the duelling class, and in case I don't see you before you return to Hogwarts, have a pleasant holiday, and I'll see you back at Hogwarts."

Harry smiled and escorted Dumbledore to the fireplace. After Dumbledore had left, Harry turned and looked over at Snape. As he headed over he pulled his hand up towards his chest and realised that he had not brought the medallion with him.

Then, just as he was about to turn around to head back upstairs, Snape looked up at Harry and said politely, "Mr. Potter, could you please join me over here?"

Harry stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face. He quickly composed himself and stood upright again, still trying to figure out if he had heard Snape correctly. Had he not known better, he'd have thought Snape was being cordial with him.

With each step he took towards Snape he began to feel a change in the air, as though it were filled with a low current of mixed emotions and he could feel the goose pimples running up and down his arms. It was a truly odd experience.

And then Snape did something to freeze Harry to the bone. He smiled. But it wasn't the normal smirk that Harry had grown accustomed to, but the same kind of smile that he'd seen Snape give to Malfoy. It was eerie to see him use the same smile on him, even if it was soft.

"Mr. Potter. Before we begin tonight, I need to speak to you about something unrelated to Occlumency."

Harry didn't move.

"It has been brought to my attention recently that I may have overstepped my bounds with you over recent years. If that is so, I apologise."

Harry looked suspiciously at Snape.

"And no, I am not a Death-Eater in disguise, Mr. Potter. I have simply had a talk with Professor Dumbledore recently and have come to understand that I may have taken some of my dislike for your father out on you. Therefore, he has asked me to clean the slate, if you will, and see if we can find some common ground, and I have agreed. However, this does not mean that I will be taking it easy on you, but I will make an effort to minimise the animosity between us."

Harry noticed that Snape's words were carefully chosen and it seemed that he had rehearsed this speech several times.

"In addition, Dumbledore suggested I ask you about the prophecy which was lost last month. He felt it was best that you tell me what the prophecy involved as you were the primary subject of the prophecy, and you should have the right to decide whether or not to tell me."

"You don't know?" Harry asked, clearly shocked and amused. Harry knew at once that he should have taken a better tone as Snape's face scrunched back into its normal sneer.

"Sorry, sir. It's just that it seemed like I was the only one who didn't know what the prophecy was about. I guess I just assumed that you knew what it was about." Snape's face softened, but not by much. Harry continued.

"The prophecy said that as long as one of us lives, the other must die, and that one must be killed by the other. In other words, if I don't kill Voldemort, he's going to kill me."

Snape's eyes went a little wide for a moment, but returned to normal just a split second later.

"Indeed. I suppose that explains why Professor Dumbledore has favoured you over some of the other students through the past five years, thought I don't know that I can blame him."

Harry couldn't think of a response, so he just sat silent and let Snape continue on.

"So, at the request of Professor Dumbledore, I am going to extend some latitude to you, but I would not press my luck if I were you, Mr. Potter. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied. Then, before he could stop himself, he added," And I expect that while you are in my house you will continue to show me the respect you have shown me today."

It was a bit of a childish remark, but he had to make sure that Snape knew that this was his house and he would not stand to be disrespected in his own home. Snape responded with a sneer, but gave him a slight nod in acknowledgement. When Harry didn't add anything, Snape changed the subject over to Occlumency.

"Now, before we begin working on the Occlumency lessons, I think it would be prudent for us to set some ground rules, and the first rule is to ensure that we extend that respect you just spoke about to each other's property." The word "property" was said with a tone of annoyance as Snape looked over to the table where the Pensive resided. A pang of guilt echoed inside Harry's stomach.

"Second, though I have been asked not to tell you who your new professor will be, I can tell you that we have had Legilimens Duels on two previous occasions and it took me a full day to fully recover from the experiences. So I find it only fair that I should warn you now that I will not accept any excuses from you from here on out, and I expect you to show a greater amount of progress than you did last year because this time it's not just your well being that rides on this training, it's my reputation as a Professor on the line."

"Well then, I guess it's time we got started," Harry replied plainly, trying to make sure there was no inflection in his voice.

Neither spoke for the next few minutes as Snape finished moving his memories to the pensive. As Snape was pulling out the long glowing strings of memories from his head, Harry turned, closed his eyes, and began his exercises. He started at ten and counted backwards three times before he was able to completely clear his mind, but that was much better than he had done the last time he had faced Snape, so he hoped he might have a chance.

Finally, Snape turned around and called Harry over to him.

"Are you ready, Mr. Potter?" he asked gruffly. Harry nodded.

"Then arm yourself," he said quickly, then pointed his wand at Harry and said something low and under his breath. But even if he had shouted, it wouldn't have made a difference. For all Harry's preparation, he hadn't been ready when Snape attacked.

The world went blank for a split second, and then flashes of memories began to run through his head. He remembered the snake escaping its cage just before his first year at Hogwarts, then five years earlier as Dudley had chased him through the school, then to that Friday when Harry asked Cho to the Yule Ball, and then to the submersed room where Sirius died. Time suddenly slowed and he began to watch again as Sirius had been struck in the chest by the red light, then fell back through the archway. Harry put out one hand to try to catch Sirius, but his hand missed and he landed on all fours.

He looked back up to see Snape standing over him, a sneer crossing his face. The anger grew quickly in his stomach, and by the time he had reached his feet, it had turned into a fury that had even surprised Harry, but that didn't stop his from speaking his mind.

"I suppose you think it's funny, watching Sirius die. I'm sure you find it to be your greatest accomplishment in life, watching Sirius get killed. But then, you've been waiting to see that ever since he played that joke on you all those years ago. And now you get a two for one deal. You get to watch me lose my godfather while watching one of your childhood rivals get killed." He spat a he said these last few words, not quite sure if he wanted to scream, cry, or do both while using the Cruciatus curse against him. But his anger subsided a bit as he noticed the smirk was now a look of grave sorrow.

"Contrary to your misguided opinion, Potter, I take no pleasure in Sirius's death. No matter how much I may have disliked him, I will never be happy knowing the Order has lost one of its strongest members."

"Don't give me that. I heard how you mocked him for not being able to do anything for the Order. You treated him the same way you treat me. And don't deny it. You've hated Sirius ever since you were in school. Ever since he..."

"I know full well what he did and how I feel about him, Potter," Snape interrupted loudly, "but I am able to control my feelings and use them to my advantage without compromising myself. That is why I was smiling just now, and that is why you are getting so upset with me now. Do you truly believe it to be a coincidence that you happen to relive memories that were upsetting to you?"

"You mean you wanted to make me watch Sirius die again?" Harry screamed back to Snape. Snape's reply was in a soft and even tone.

"Indeed. Do you think I had not noticed your preparations before we began? Do you truly think that you could so easily shrug off your thoughts with a little forethought? The Dark Lord will take no such measures when he tries to penetrate your mind. He will come after you when you least expect it and he will do his worst to try and learn anything he can from you."

"But I thought you said he couldn't read minds. That you couldn't just pick and choose what you wanted to know."

"Indeed I did, and that is true. However, it is possible to manipulate the emotions of a person to bring about certain types of memories. That's how The Dark Lord manipulated your mind last month."

"And now you get to do the same thing to me," Harry spat back.

"And now I am going to train you on countering such attacks, yes," Snape responded, again in a calm voice. "I am not here to enjoy any pain I must inflict upon you, but if you are going to defeat The Dark Lord, you are going to have to fight more than one battle. Being fast with your want is going to have no effect when he begins to attack your mind. The fastest hands in the world still need an ample mind to direct them."

Harry's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he was done talking to Snape.

"Let's just get back to how I'm supposed to fight Voldemort." Snape flinched at the name, but didn't say anything.

"If you're ready, arm yourself. And this time, instead of trying to avoid me entering your thoughts, why don't you try fighting the thoughts you have after I have made contact."

Harry stared at Snape for a moment, thinking, and then nodded his head.

It started again. Images flashed through his head. He watched himself playing with a small spider in the cupboard under the stairs, then saw him facing Aragog in the Dark forest, then Malfoy flashing his badge in fourth year which read Support Cedrick Diggory which, for just a moment, caused him to look at Snape at the head of the class, and for a split second he seemed to be able to have thoughts of his own, and he concentrated on Snape. Then a second Snape came into view, almost like a ghost, and he concentrated with all his might...

"Expelliarmus!" he cried as loud as he could, though Snape heard it as barely more than a whisper. However, it had its desired effect and Snape dropped his wand. The room came flooding back into view and Harry found himself down on one knee, but his wand was still pointed at Snape, and a new smile crossed Snape's face.

"Very good, Potter. It seems you have been working on this more than I had anticipated, though you could have acted a bit quicker than that. Nevertheless, it is nice to see you making some progress. You may yet prove to become an Occlumens after all. Now, take three minutes to eat some chocolate and we will try again."

Harry pulled a pair of chocolate frogs from his robes and ate. He tried his best to keep a straight face, but it was truly difficult. It had been the first time that he had felt any true control while Snape had invaded his mind. Of course, he knew that Snape now had something to prove and would work that much harder to break him.

Three minutes later and he was once again face to face with Snape. A moment later he was reliving more memories. Snape was talking to Professor Quirrell. Malfoy was pretending to faint as he pointed at a Dementor he claimed was behind Harry. Hagrid was taken away to Azkaban. Then he was back in the cemetery looking down at Cedric's body. Once again time seemed to return to a normal speed. He saw that he was surrounded by dozens of Death Eaters as Voldemort was dressed in his robe.

Suddenly, the dark graveyard disappeared and the room returned once again. But this time, as Harry was taking notice that he was still standing, he realized that he had not done anything to fight Snape. He looked up to see Snape's face covered in sweat, his eyes wide, horror struck. Their eyes met for a moment before Snape quickly turned around and seemed to be looking at the Pensive.

When he turned back around he seemed to have recomposed himself, but his voice betrayed any illusion of strength he may have shown in his body language.

"That is all we will be working on today," he began, his voice a half octave higher than normal. He cleared his voice and continued with a slightly clearer voice.

"There are some things that need mentioning that may help you in future lessons. I want you to look over these three books." Snape handed Harry three relatively thin books.

"The first book will cover what I will be trying to teach you over the next three weeks, which is what you have done here today, breaking the control of an external mental influence. The second book will cover blocking outside influences and controlling what is witnessed by the Legilimens. The third book you can cover in your spare time, though we will review some of the beginning aspects before the start of term. It covers reversing of the flow of information during the connection made during Occlumency and can, with the properly trained wizard, be used to reverse the effects of Legilimens completely and allow the targeted wizard to enter the mind of the assailant."

Harry looked down at the three books, each of them blue, red, and white respectively. The three of them total were still lighter than any of his schoolbooks. He placed them on the table for reading later and looked back up at Snape.

"Your next professor will be working quite extensively on the subject of the third book and will attempt to find out whether you might have the aptitude not only for Occlumency, but for Legilimency as well. Now, I have some things to take care of today so I will cut this session short, but I suggest you cover at least two chapters of the first book before we meet again. I will be arriving promptly Friday evening at seven and I expect you to be ready for a full two hour session. I may not be grading you, but I will still be asking questions to ensure that you have done your homework. Is that understood, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes sir," Harry said. He was surprised to have the lessons end so quickly, but it was a relief at any rate.

"Until Friday, then. If you don't mind, I will only be a few minutes before I take my leave. I take it there is no objection to my using the fireplace there?" he added, pointing to the fireplace across the room.

"Sure," Harry replied. Then, for reasons he couldn't fathom, he added, "And sir, I'm sorry for what happened last time, and it won't happen again."

Snape whipped his head up and looked at Harry with a cold stare, as though trying to read his soul for any deception. After a few moments however, he seemed to come to a conclusion and, for a split second, Harry could see Snape's face soften a bit, and he gave the slightest of nods.

Harry knew he wouldn't get a better reply, so he simply gave a quick nod back and headed for the door.

Upstairs, Ron and Hermione were playing a game of chess. It seemed to be the only thing that required a good deal of intelligence that Ron could do that Hermione couldn't seem to grasp, and it seemed Hermione was now determined to take that away from him, though Harry doubted she'd ever pull it off, unless Ron let her.

"Well that was fun," Harry said, announcing his presence. Ron and Hermione quickly looked up and started fighting over who would ask Harry first. He didn't give either of them much of a chance.

"Hold on," he called out, his hand raised. "If you'll sit back down, I'll tell you what happened."

He told them what Dumbledore had spoken to him about, then about both of his conversations with Snape, and finished by telling them how he'd actually fought back. When he was finished, Ron jumped in quickly, bombarding Harry with questions.

"So now old Snape just wants to make up and be friends?" Hermione sighed loudly.

"Geeze Ron, don't you listen. He's not trying to be friends with Harry; he's just doing what Dumbledore told him to do. You know that no matter how bad Snape wants something, he'll never cross Dumbledore to get it. But I would like to know who your new Occlumency teacher is going to be. I wonder if it'll be the same person who'll take over the Defence Against the Dark Arts class."

"I don't know, but whoever it is, neither Dumbledore nor Snape are willing to talk about it. Either way, I'm just glad I'm starting to get the hang of this. But I'll tell you what really scares me, that third book." He pointed to the three books he had laid on the coffee table. Hermione walked over and picked them up.

"Wait a minute. I recognize one of these. I've seen this book in the restricted section of the library."

"Hold on. What were you doing in the restricted section of the library?"

"I was working on a paper for Arithmancy and I had to look something up in the restricted section. It was actually pretty easy. Professor Vector lets me check out any book I want."

"I'll have to remember that," Harry interrupted.

"Yes, well anyways, I saw that book in the library and I was thinking about checking it out for you last year, but then a sixth-year Slytherin checked it out and I never saw it again."

"Well, now we know where it went. He was checking it out so Snape could give it to Harry."

"But that's just it. He checked it out just before Christmas. Why would he just now give it to Harry if he checked it out way back then?"

"I don't know, but I do know that this isn't the copy. See here." On the bottom of the front page was a business stamp.

Thank you for purchasing Do You Mind? A beginner's guide to Occlumency by Selena Stubortum.

If you enjoy this book, feel free to come back to Flourish and Blotts for all you magical reading needs.

"See. These are brand new copies. There's no way it could be the same book that Snape check out of the library."

"Which means, either he's not as good as he acts, or he was trying to do something specific and he didn't want us to catch on," added Ron.

"Actually, I think there's another possibility. I wouldn't be surprised if he had taken the book just to make sure that I never got a chance to read it. That's probably why he's giving them to me now. He feels guilty for Sirius."

"Guilty? That git? Not likely. He hated Sirius. He probably spends an hour a day gloating about it."

"That's what I thought at first, but you weren't down there with Snape. When I said the same thing to him he got the same look in his eyes that Hagrid got when Uncle Vernon called Dumbledore a crackpot. I was half expecting him to attack me when I accused him of wanting Sirius dead. I don't think he was faking it."

"Sounds a bit funny to me. I'd almost think he was trying to trick you, but you said Dumbledore talked to him, so..." Ron trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

Harry looked deeply at both Hermione and Ron, shaking his head. "I don't know what Dumbledore said to Snape, and I really don't care. All I know is that he was a different person downstairs and as long as he stays that way I might just make it through this summer without jinxing him."

Ron laughed loudly and even Hermione let a slight giggle slip. "Harry. Honestly," She added half-heartedly, shaking her head.

"Hey, don't laugh. I'll get my chance if I take on the duelling club."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other for a moment, then looked back at Harry in unison and said, "What duelling club?"

Harry looked back blankly at them both for a moment. With all the problems that came with the Occlumency he'd completely forgot to tell them about Dumbledore's offer to make him the Head Instructor and a Deputy Professor. He quickly went over it with them and then gave him the exact responses he expected.

"That's great, Harry," came Hermione. "I don't think they've ever done that at Hogwarts before. You'd be bigger than the Head Boy."

"Never mind that. Think of all the thing's you'd be able to do to the Slytherins. And the look on Malfoy's face when he finds out. Oh, he'll be furious."

"I never said I was going to take it. It's a big resp..."

"Not going to take it?" Ron cried. "Are you insane? It's the chance of a lifetime."

"Yea, well think of it this way. What's the next logical step after being a Duelling Professor?"

Ron thought about it for a few moments, but Hermione didn't let it sit long.

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. But Harry, come on. This is you we're talking about. It's you that have taken care of the three Dark Arts Professors. And besides, it sounds like Professor Dumbledore might be thinking of making this a regular part of the curriculum, so you wouldn't move there anyways. Besides, it would be really good if you did go into the Ministry to become an Auror."

"I don't know. I'll have to think about it some more later, but right now I'd rather talk about something else."

Hermione and Ron let it drop for the time being and they all spent the rest of the night playing Exploding Snap and wizard chess. Harry was the first to turn in just before ten, totally exhausted by the day's events. He put the Medallion on and headed to bed, but never got to his practice before falling fast asleep.

The next morning he woke up in a deep sweat. He looked over at the clock. It was only five forty-three. He brushed his hands through his hair and took a deep breath. The last thing he could remember was walking down a seemingly endless series of steps. The further down he went, the darker things got, even with his wand lit.

Then, suddenly, a horrific laugh caused him to wake up. It was the laugh of Voldemort. Even now he could still feel the happiness that Voldemort was going through. Whatever had happened to make him so happy, it was something that made him happy enough to keep him happy for quite a while.

Even as he headed downstairs after getting cleaned up and dressed for the day he could still hear echoes of Voldemort's laughter in his mind.

As always, Dobby was there waiting for him with breakfast. He ate quickly and headed downstairs for more Occlumency practice. If there was anything he hated more than Voldemort, it was having Voldemort's thoughts echoing in his head.

Around eight Remus came down to talk. Harry told him about his hearing Voldemort's laugh and Remus said he would look into it, but couldn't leave without commenting on Harry's good sense to continue his lessons. He promised to come down later with any information he could get about Voldemort's new attitude.

Ron and Hermione joined him shortly after, and when Dudley arrived they continued to help Dudley with his work throughout the day. It was nearly five by the time Remus returned with news. It wasn't good.

"Our spies have told us that the Dementors have met with Voldemort at an underground fortress somewhere in Greece. They are already talking about sending groups of them out to large gatherings of Muggles to give them strength. It has also come to our attention that there are plans in the works for a prison break within the next few months. Now that his return has been announced, his Death Eater count grows on a weekly basis, and it appears that Voldemort himself is gaining strength as well."

"So it sounds like he's going to start making his presence felt," said Harry sombrely.

"It appears so. I hate to say it, but it sounds like he is going to begin his war against the rest of the wizarding world before the end of the year. We can only hope that things are more quickly controlled this time around."

Harry nodded. Though the hadn't been around during the last reign of Voldemort he had heard more than his fair share of stories and seem enough in Dumbledore's Pensieve to know how dangerous a time it was. Without thinking twice about it, he stood up and headed upstairs.

"Where you going, Harry?" asked Remus and Ron together, but it was too late. He was up the stairs quickly and continued going up to the third floor where he went into his room for a piece of parchment and a quill.

It took only a few moments to write his letter, as he had very little he needed to say. Just as he finished up, Ron and Hermione stepped into the room followed closely by Remus. They said nothing as they watched Harry sign his name to the letter before holding it up to read over once before sending it out.

Dear Professor Dumbledore.

I know that this response comes much quicker than you expected, but after what I head today, I don't see any other way to reply. Therefore, pursuant to your request of yesterday, I say yes and only hope that I can be everything you believe me to be. I would appreciate any help you could give me. Please give anything I may need to Hagrid to bring with him when he comes on Friday.

Yours truly,

Harry Potter.

And without a word he walked right back downstairs to the basement and to the fireplace. He dropped some Floo powder into the fireplace and called out for Hagrid. A few moments later Hagrid's large bushy face appeared in the fireplace.

"Hello Harry," he said happily. "How you doing?"

"Good Hagrid," He replied as Hagrid looked around. "Thanks. But listen, Hagrid. I was wondering if you could give this letter to Dumbledore right away. It's very important. Hogwarts business," he said with a wink.

"Oh. Right then. By the way, I like what you done with the place. But anyways, better get this to Dumbledore. He's about to sit down for dinner, so I should be able to catch him in the teacher's lounge. So, see you on Friday then?"

"Right. And Hagrid. Thanks."

"Ahh. Anything for you Harry, you know that. Well, see you then," he said merrily, then disappeared from sight.

Harry turned around to three faces of complete confusion. Finally, Ron spoke up.

"Harry, what was that?" he asked suspiciously.

"What?" Harry asked innocently.

"Harry," said Remus, "I stand by you one hundred percent. I know I was only your professor for one year, but if there is anything I can help you out with, I'm here for you."

"Oh Harry, it's going to be great. I'll bet you'll be the most celebrated teacher since, well, Professor Lupin."

"I wonder who she's trying to impress here, you or me." A broad smile crossed Remus's face as he winked over at Harry.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think Hagrid's right. It's about time for dinner," Harry said with a note of closure. It was evident that he didn't want to talk about his decision just then, so everyone headed back to the kitchen quietly.

The rest of the day continued in the same manner. Harry said very little all day and headed to his room even earlier than the day before. He was in bed by nine thirty, but unlike the day before he had a new resolve when it came to his Occlumency training. He spent over an hour reading Do You Mind and another half hour working on the exercises it listed.

When he finally got to sleep around eleven he was pretty sure that he would have a better nights sleep.

Thursday was much better than Wednesday. First, Harry didn't have any problems sleeping, and second, when he looked at the Daily Prophet there were no articles about Death Eater attacks and nothing about Muggles going into fits of depression.

The day went by quickly enough and nothing major happened, though Dudley did make a good deal of progress with his transfigurations. He was already mastering turning water goblets into rats and back again and had begun to work on turning a teapot into a rock.

Dudley had asked Mr. and Mrs. Dursley if he could stay out until nine and they agreed, stating that it might be nice to go out for dinner for a change. So Dudley was able to stay a few extra hours, had a nice dinner, and even played a game or two of Exploding Snap, though he wasn't sure how he was going to explain to Aunt Petunia how he ended up with burnt eyebrows.

"I'll just tell her I was working on a project for school. Chemistry or something. She'll buy it," He added, sounding confident.

The rest of the night came and went without incident and the next morning everyone seemed to feel the electricity in the air as they waited for Hagrid to arrive. This would be the first time that Ron and Hermione would see Hagrid do magic, and even Harry was looking forward to seeing Hagrid do something more than giving his cousin a tail and giving a boat a little boost of movement.

That's when it hit him. Dudley and Hagrid were going to be in the same room together. The last time Dudley had seen Hagrid he'd ended up with a tail. Unfortunately, Hagrid arrived first which stopped Harry from warning Dudley that he would be sharing his class with Hagrid over the next few weeks. As it turned out, he had nothing to worry about.

When Professor McGonagall arrived with Dudley before nine they headed straight downstairs to find Hagrid in an extra large chair, sitting in front of what would appear to be a Dinning room table to anyone else, but looked more like a tall coffee table in front of Hagrid.

To Harry's great surprise, Dudley walked right up to Hagrid, put his hand out, and said, "Nice to see you again, Hagrid."

"Well hello there. Dudley isn't it? Sorry bout that bit a few years ago, but well sometimes I let me anger get the best of me."

"Not to worry. Thinking back on it, I probably deserved it," he said brightly.

Hagrid then looked over at Harry and smiled.

"Well, it looks like I'm not the only one at Hogwarts who is teaching a class before he graduates," he said with a huge smile. "Dumbledore asked me to give this to you."

Hagrid pulled out a package and handed it to Harry. He opened it and found one large book and one small. The small book was a teacher's guide to Hogwarts which went over all the rules, and more specifically, where Harry would fit in as Deputy Professor, and as it turned out, he had the same rights a Head Boy, plus a few extras that applied when he was in class. But the one thing that caught his eye was the rule about being able to walk the school grounds as a teacher at all times. This meant that he didn't have to worry about Filch any more if he was walking around at night, though with the Marauder's Map that wasn't usually an issue.

The second book was a book on advanced duelling charms. Harry opened this one and was surprised at what he found. There were no explanations on who created the spells or when. It was simply a list of spells in different groups and how they were used, which spells were best to counter them, and a full illustration on how to cast them.

Harry spent most of the day reading his books and working with Ron to help Hagrid with his transfiguration spells. As it turned out, Hagrid had picked up enough over the years so that he had caught on to most things quite quickly. Harry had a feeling that Hagrid had been sneaking in some practice from time to time because he seemed to take to his new wand, a seventeen inch Maple wand with a dragon's heartstring core.

By the end of the day Harry was convinced that Hagrid had been doing something because even though he had been kicked out of school during his fourth year, many of the spells he was doing was well within a fifth year's abilities, and some of the charms were foreign even to Hermione's knowledge.

When confronted, he responded simply, "Well, when you work at a school for fifty years yea can't avoid not learning some things. Besides, I've been doing little bitts here and there ever since I took over the Care of Magical Creatures class."

As Harry thought of it, it did explain a few things. He'd known that Hagrid had breed manti-cores and fire-crabs into Blast-Ended Skrewts, and that had to take some extra spell work.

Harry invited Hagrid to stay for dinner and they ended up having dinner in the basement. Even though he lived at Hogwarts, Hagrid seemed extremely impressed with what had been done to the basement and thanked Harry for letting him take classes here no less than twenty-seven times.

"Don't worry about it Hagrid," Harry would reply. "You've been great to me for five years. You were the one who told me who and what I was. This is the very least I can do."

"Ah, Harry. You're a true mate. You're father would be really proud of how you turned out. We all are."

Harry smiled back to Hagrid. If Remus was his surrogate godfather, Hagrid would be the big brother he never had.

Unfortunately, all too soon, it was six and Snape was back in the corner prepping the area for another round of mental ping pong.

"Did you review the first two chapters as I asked?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied blandly.

"Very good. So, what is the first sign that your thoughts are being invaded or manipulated?"

"Fatigue," Harry answered plainly.

"Correct. And the second sign?"

"Lack of concentration. Your mind wanders and you tend to daydream a lot."

"Correct again. You know Mr. Potter, if you were this attentive in potions you might have been brought into my Advanced Potions class."

"Yea, well I don't know that I'll have enough time this year with everything else."

"Indeed. Dumbledore had informed me of your choice to head the Duelling class. I assume there will not be an issue if I do decide to take on the position of Supervising Professor."

"Well, it's like Professor Dumbledore said. You'll attract the Slytherin students and there are a lot of Slytherin students who deserve the right to defend themselves just as much as everyone else."

Snape took a long hard look at Harry and did not try to hide his feelings of mistrust.

"Honestly, sir, I doubt there's anything I can tell you that will convince you that I'm on the level, so why don't we just get to work and you can see for yourself when we get back to school."

After a moment of hesitance Snape replied, "Very well, let begin."

Two hours later Harry was back upstairs talking to Dudley, Ron, and Hermione.

"So how'd it go this time?" asked Ron.

"Well, we worked for well over an hour on Occlumency, but it was different than the last times. It was more, I don't know, structured? I mean, like how he used to just telling me to get ready and then cast Legilimens It was kinda weird really. He would start out light, like he was taking it easy on me. Then, when I would break his link with me more easily he would try harder. He was working me up to the harder work. It seemed to work too cause I was able to break his control five times by the end of the night. Then, during the last half hour he went over some of the training techniques. I swear for a few minutes there I actually forgot it was Snape who was there."

"Sounds he's under some kind of politeness spell or something," said Ron.

"Don't be silly. He's obviously just doing what Dumbledore told him to do. He's got to be. No matter what happens, Snape will never break his word to Dumbledore."

"I don't care what Dumbledore told Snape. As far as I'm concerned, He's a git and he'll always be a git."

"Well, since you call him a git, I guess it's a closed case," Harry said with a laugh.

They all joined in the laughter and enjoyed the freedom of not having to do any schoolwork the next day. Since Hermione would be leaving on Sunday and wouldn't be coming back until Harry's birthday they all planned to head back to Diagon Alley over the weekend to do some sweets shopping and drop by the Leaky Cauldron for some Butterbeer.

So Dudley left at nine again and said he'd try to see if he could try to stay the night Saturday. The rest of the gang watched TV for some time before retiring for the night.

Harry spent a good amount of time on his Occlumency training, holding the medallion all the time. He felt completely at ease when he finally fell to sleep and once again had no interruptions to a peaceful nights sleep.

Coming Soon

Chapter 8
Summer Surprises