Destiny of Souls

Chapter 19: The Training

The term came to an end without pomp or glory. Kara was seated at the Head Table surrounded by her fellow Professors, that is all of them except Snape. Voldemort had called him to his side once again during the night as they lay in one another's arms. Now she was representing Slytherin House as they took the House Cup for the first time since Harry Potter had arrived at the school. Kara attributed this to a renewed sense of radicalism by Snape towards his student's study habits and the fact that with Malfoy gone the Quidditch team had a real shot of winning games.

She raised her intricately sculpted silver goblet towards the Slytherin table in a toast as Dumbledore announced the resulting House Points and the winner. Polite applause was heard throughout the hall, except of course from Slytherin itself, whose members were standing and whooping like six year olds. It was childish behavior, Kara thought. Durmstrang never had such outlandish displays of House affection, but there was no harm in it. She put her goblet down and clapped politely, allowing a small smile to come across her face. It was good after all to put on a look of enthusiasm, even if it wasn't real.

She saw the students off the next day as she escorted some of her more adoring ones to the waiting carriages. Kara gave them kind words of well wishing for the summer holiday as they did the same. She ensured them all that her summer would be more than interesting and when they had gone she finally returned to the confines of the castle. Before entering the large oak door, she spied the last of the carriages just as it was preparing to leave. Harry Potter was standing beside it, looking almost as if he wished he were leaving. Ginny Weasley had her arms draped around his neck and it looked as though she were crying. He was trying to console her and eventually he pushed her into the carriage, closed the door and waved goodbye. She waited for him to approach.

"I do hope you understand why we need to begin training immediately Mr. Potter. I hope that you're not going to regret not spending this time with your family."

"Are you kidding? My family hates me. They lock me in a room and starve me when I'm there."

She thought he was kidding, but a look of disdain on his face and the tone in his voice told her the words were spoken in truth. He was looking back at the carriage and sighed heavily as his three friends made their way back to the normal world.

"Well I won't starve you, but I can't promise I wont lock you in a room or two," she said, smiling as he looked up at her. She was rewarded with a laugh.

"We will begin today. Meet me in the Defense classroom in one half hour."

* * *

When he arrived, he walked timidly into the room. It had changed significantly since the students had last taken a class here. The windows were still boarded up from the evening where he had been tested. Kara had refused to let Filch remove the boards, insisting that they would only need to be redone in a few weeks. She had removed all the lighting from the room and replaced it with only a few sconces that now decorated the wall and highlighted the wooden beams on the ceiling. There was no furniture, books or papers in the room now. It was completely devoid of objects, save two body sized silk covered cushions that sat in the middle of the room.

When Harry was near the cushions, Kara closed and locked the door and put several charms on it for privacy.

"We will study here for a few months until your permanent study chambers have been prepared."

"My what?"

"They will be in the dungeon where you wont be disturbed. That is where you will study during the school year. I cannot disrupt my classroom in this manner during the term."

Harry nodded.

"Our schedule will be as follows. You will spend eight hours a day in study and preparation. Two hours are reserved for meditation. You will sleep for exactly eight hours in the evening and the rest of the time is yours to do with as you please. You will eat three meals a day despite your appetite. The same rules that apply during the term apply now. No after curfew strolls through the castle. Any questions?"

"Meditation?"

"You will soon discover that your study will tire you immensely. Also, as your skills progress you will find that your senses are heightened -- Smell, sight, hearing, taste and especially your sense of touch. Meditation is a means to bring yourself back to a relaxed state so that you can sleep.

"That's what the cushions are for then," he said as he looked down at them.

"That, and you will be sitting on them when you study for the first year or so. You might also find that you nap here during your spare time. What you are about to embark on will be very taxing on your body."

He nodded.

"Have a seat," she said as she beckoned him to sit across from her.

And so it began for Harry. His days consisted of sitting in this cold classroom with his Dark Arts Professor across from him. She never spoke above a whisper when they were training, as she guided him through concentration and focusing techniques. When she could tell he was frustrated she would use a voice similar to one that Nabokov had when she was at her wits end. It was calming yet dangerous and she would find Harry staring at her as if some great realization had just dawned on him. She was amazed at his determination, but even more so with his abilities. After two weeks of this constant work he had already progressed farther than she had in a year of training with Nabokov. She wasn't quite sure what she could attribute this to, and it was something she would have to discuss with Snape as soon as he returned.

Snape had been gone for a few days with Voldemort and had spent the rest of the summer holiday time so far at conferences and meetings with the Ministry. It was probably for the best that he was gone. Harry had just begun to trust her fully and the last thing he needed was the domineering Potions Master hassling him and destroying his concentration.

He didn't say away long however. One day Harry was sitting on the silk cushion concentrating on a feather as it rested in between himself and his Professor. There was a slight breeze in the room. The exercise was designed to help him control the side effects of Inner Focus, one of which was air movement. He had just managed to calm everything in the room when the door to the classroom unlocked itself. Harry became immediately distracted and a hurricane type gale came whipping through the room as the intruder walked through the door. It was Snape.

Kara held up a hand and Harry immediately ceased his Focus. She looked up at Snape and sighed noticeably. Snape gave her a bemused look.

"Join us," she said as she pointed to a newly added cushion in the room. "We were just about to meditate anyway."

Snape looked between his fiancé and Harry Potter. It was a scene he had never imagined before, and didn't care to be a part of now. But Kara wasn't going to let him get away with his crime of intruding upon her lessons. She gave him a very stern look that told him he'd better sit down. He glided gracefully towards the middle of the room and with no effort sat down upon the cushion.

Harry spied him with the most curious of looks, wondering how his Potions Master understood what was happening. Kara could almost see the questions as they rushed through his mind. Snape took a deep calming breath and closed his eyes. Harry didn't follow suit however, and Kara simply observed him as he watched the hard features of Snape's face become slack. Harry glanced over at Kara who gave him a look to encourage him to begin.

She closed her own eyes and took a deep breath as she began her mental exercises. Fifteen minutes later she opened her eyes to find Harry still staring at Snape, puzzled. Snape however was completely still and at peace except for his lips that moved just slightly as he recited whatever words he was saying over and over again in his head.

"Harry I do believe you're supposed to be mediating. Is there something wrong?"

Harry shot his eyes back to her, not realizing she had been paying attention to him all this time. Snape opened his eyes, coming out of his trance-like state and glared at Harry.

"No. Sorry Professor. Just distracted, that's all."

"I see. Professor Snape, perhaps we should leave Harry alone to his work," she said as she rose. Snape followed her outside where she closed the door, locked it and put the privacy spells back on.

"I don't think it's wise to intrude upon the classroom in that manner. He doesn't trust you."

"I am well aware of that. It is you who invited me to stay. I had come merely only to tell you that I was back long enough to make the Wolfsbane potion for Lupin."

"Oh. I could have made it you know."

"No. You are too busy with this. I wouldn't ask you to interrupt that for a measly Werewolf." She looked into his eyes hoping to hear that he'd just missed her, but he wasn't letting her read him.

"The training is going well," she said, changing the subject.

"I assumed as much."

She nodded. For some reason their conversation seemed forced. She looked up into his eyes, but he wouldn't meet hers.

"Severus, is everything alright?"

"Yes. Everything is fine. I would appreciate your company this evening if it's possible."

"Yes, it is. Harry and I will be finished before dinner and after that he has free time to himself."

He nodded and turned to walk away. Something was oddly different about his behavior.

He was distracted and upset over something. Just what it was, she couldn't determine, but she would definitely pry it out of him tonight.

* * *

He hardly said anything during dinner to her as they sat at the table with Dumbledore and Harry. It wasn't until they went down to the dungeons to begin the potion for Remus Lupin that he said anything of importance to her. She was determined to get to the bottom of his cold response to her presence.

He walked into the laboratory and began preparing the ingredients. He clearly didn't need her help. Why did he ask her to be here? She tried to make herself useful by making tea and handing him a cup she began her drilling.

"What is wrong? Don't tell me nothing is wrong because I'm not going to believe you," she said in a stern voice as she poised in front of a chair and then sat down.

"I can't tell you."

"Is it to do with me?"

"No."

"Then you're not angry at me or anything of the sort?"

"Not at all, however if you keep pressing me to tell you I might just become so."

"Understood. How can I be of assistance this evening then?"

She understood all too well the limits of his patience; she had seen it first hand with his students. If his problem didn't involve her, then it was related to Voldemort. And in reality she didn't want to know as long as he was safe.

"I don't need assistance per se. Just your company." He stated nonchalantly as he began preparing the Monkswood.

She nodded and sat on a stool across from his workbench and watched him work. His long fingers moved gracefully as he prepared the ingredients and slid them into the cauldron. The lips on his face moved occasionally to repeat the instructions for the potion back to himself but otherwise the laboratory was quiet. That is until Dumbledore came to visit them.

"Good evening Severus, Kara."

Snape looked up at Dumbledore with an annoyed look. It was very rare that Dumbledore came to the dungeons directly.

"Headmaster," Snape said as he bowed his head slightly to acknowledge his presence and then returned his attention to the potion.

"Good evening Headmaster, what do we owe the joy of your visit to?" Kara asked, trying to lighten the mood slightly.

"Ah. My mere delight at visiting Severus while he works of course. I have always found his adept potion making to be quite entertaining," Dumbledore replied as he looked at Snape for a response. He didn't get one.

"And I wanted to let you know that I have informed the Weasleys that Harry and yourself will be arriving at their house tomorrow," he said quickly.

"What? We've made no plans of that nature. In fact I don't believe that it's wise. He is too unprepared for..." But Dumbledore held up a hand to quiet her.

"I understand it is quite early in his training and that under normal conditions a student shouldn't be allowed to leave the confines of his study room but you cannot keep him locked up all summer."

"There are not only issues regarding his study, but issues of safety. Surely this is unwise, even if it is reasonable."

"You will be with him Professor. And as we both know you are more than capable of dealing with Voldemort."

"Headmaster, have you considered the fact that this is going to give his friends the opportunity to discover that he is an Oracle?"

"I have. It is his decision to make Kara. As much as we all agree how unwise it would be to have him do so."

"I suppose there is no way I can talk you out of this," she said as she looked deep into his eyes. Both his mind and his face told her she had lost yet another argument with him. She sighed heavily and his eyes twinkled.

"Very well. We will leave in the morning."

"Excellent. Good evening Severus, Kara. Do say hello to Lupin for me. I believe he's up in Gryffindor Tower now encouraging Harry to sneak down to the kitchens with him," he said as he chuckled to himself lightly as if recalling a funny story.

She looked at Snape when Dumbledore was gone. He was merely muttering to himself and he rolled his eyes.

"He is too easy on Potter. And you let him."

"I don't see I had much choice in the matter," she spat as the potion began snapping up at Snape. He waved a hand over it to smell it and smiled gently when he was finished.

"Blue," he said triumphantly, looking up at her.

"You're joking?"

"I do not joke Kara, you should know that much by now."

She rushed to his side and peered cautiously into the cauldron. It was indeed blue.

"What... How?"

"Molded cactus milk, as I expected."

"You didn't have any fresh?"

"I have not had a chance to purchase fresh ingredients for quite some time with how busy I have been."

"I'm impressed Professor," she said smiling. "I just hope it works."

"If it doesn't there are suitable restrictions in place to ensure the safety of everyone in the school."

He looked very pleased with himself. Whatever had been eating away at him before seemed to be gone. She gracefully placed a hand on the small of his back and rubbed gently in a loving manner. He seemed not to notice.

"I must leave directly for London. Please stay and wait for Lupin," he said as he slid his dragon hide gloves off and went to wash his hands.

"Do you know when you'll be back?"

"In a few days." He dried his hands and went for his cloak that hung near the door. She rushed to him.

"Severus?"

"What?" He turned around to face her. He wouldn't look into her eyes.

She leaned forward, put a hand around the nape of his neck and kissed him. Apparently passion wasn't lost on him as he gasped slightly and wrapped his arms around her waist. She pulled away slightly long enough to get a single sentence out.

"Be careful. And I miss you. That's all."

He kissed her deeply.

"I know. See you in a few days."

She went to bed that night wondering what he was doing. Since the Dementors had been released from Azkaban and there were now stray Death Eaters on the loose under Voldemort's command, the Muggle population had begun noticing more kidnappings and murders. People were being tortured and the Ministry was in a panic of how to stop it. Just where Snape fit in with this commotion was uncertain. He said he'd spent a lot of time at the Ministry, perhaps giving them detailed accounts of Voldemort's actions. Had he been participating in these activities first hand? Was she in love with someone who was actively murdering and torturing people? And just what was he up to tonight that he had to leave so suddenly? She didn't believe he had came just to make the Wolfsbane potion. She could have easily made it; she had before. Had he come back just to see her? Was he expecting to have to endure something awful tonight?

Needless to say, she didn't sleep well and pondered going to sleep in his bed so she could at least feel close to him. She quickly shoved this thought out of her mind when she realized how petty and weak it sounded. She didn't need him in this way. She turned over and forced herself to stop thinking about it.