Beyond Boundaries

Chapter Eight: Pure Power

Sirius sighed. Nothing, nothing, nothing. The man just showed up, saved a number of lives, and disappeared. To sum it up, they had very little information on him:

One: He always wore crimson robes and a red cloak with golden rims. He always had his hood up, and this blasted golden mask, so they could see neither his hair colour nor his face.

Two: He was a man. That much was sure now, as one of the Aurors had been close enough to see that he was certainly not a woman. He had the height and body of a human, but one could never know. They assumed he was a human however.

Three: He was extremely powerful, though not invincible; they knew almost for sure that he had been hurt during one of his battles, and he hadn't appeared out of nowhere for a while after that. Sirius was sure that this man was even more powerful than Dumbledore himself.

Four: He certainly wasn't on the Dark side, though some of the Ministry members seemed to think otherwise. Sirius had had enough of the Ministry anyway, so he refused to think about it, as it would only anger him.

Five: He had appeared for the first time last summer, almost seven month ago.

Six: Err... Well, there was no "Six".

That was why Sirius and Remus had spent the last few months in disguise (except under the full moon, that is), searching for information among the criminals, low-ranking Death Eaters and normal people. This meant you had to spend the better part of the night sitting in a pub or something, and other times waiting in the darkness for an informant. Yet, they had found nothing. Sirius would rather search for his godson, but Dumbledore said no. If Harry didn't want to be found, then they shouldn't search for him. Sirius slumped onto his bed in the small wizarding inn, groaning. It had been many years since he was able to stay up the whole night and not show any sign of it the next day. Now he couldn't really recall how he had done it, or how youths did it today. But right now he just wanted to sleep. Was it age or Azkaban that had reduced him to a sleepy old wizard? Sirius didn't really care at the time; he was sound asleep before his head hit the pillow.

~*~

"Go away!" Sirius muttered, and used his hand to push away the 'someone' who dared to interrupt his sleep. He hit nothing but air. There was a flapping of wings, then a hoot. Sirius turned over in his half-sleep, intending to go back to sleep, though hadn't actually woken up. But sadly, this bed wasn't as big as the one he'd managed to get used to after he was pardoned. With a 'thud', he fell out of the bed.

"Ooof!" he exclaimed, before he noticed the owl, which had caused his rather uncomfortable awakening. He glared angrily at the owl, which seemed completely unfazed. He got up from the floor, and freed the owl from its burden, though not very kindly. The owl took off into the morning with a look that clearly said: 'Really!' Sirius rolled his eyes and unfolded the letter.

Sirius, Remus,

Return to Hogwarts immediately.

Albus.

Sirius frowned. Why were they so suddenly ordered back to Hogwarts? Could something have happened? Nah, then Dumbledore would have mentioned it. But wasn't he very keen on finding the Golden Mask? After all, he had ordered them out on this mission. Oh, well, Sirius thought. He probably wants to tell us something that cannot be told by owl because an owl could be intercepted. But what could that be? The attack? But that's four days ago already. He would have owled sooner if it was that. Wouldn't he?

"Remus?" he called, knocking on the door leading into his friend's room. "We're going back."

~*~

"Why so nervous, Christian?" Dumbledore asked jovially. Harry scowled at him. Dumbledore chuckled. "Remember, you got yourself into this all alone. You could have told him two years ago."

Harry groaned. This was going to be more difficult than he thought. Honestly, he could use some sympathy!

"Take it easy, Harry, he's not going to kill you, you know."

"Oh? You're so sure about that?" Harry muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, Dumbledore heard him, and was clearly amused by it. As he heard someone on the stairs that led up to the Headmaster's office, Harry groaned again, before pulling himself together and putting on the emotionless expression of Christian Atos, the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Someone knocked on the door, and Dumbledore called: "Come in,"

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin entered, both looking tired and worn out, but they smiled and shook hands with the old Headmaster. They then noticed Christian (Harry), and frowned slightly, as if wondering why he was there. Harry inwardly grimaced as he was introduced to his godfather and Remus as 'Professor Christian Atos, our Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor'. Help! This was going to be worse than he thought. Dumbledore seemed awfully amused.

"Ahh," Dumbledore said when they were finished with the shaking of hands. "What do you have to report? Found anything?" Again, the two men shot suspicious glances at Christian.

"Nothing Albus." Sirius said. "The man appears and disappears without a trace. People have begun to give him a new nick-name: 'The Crimson Shadow'."

"He comes and goes and no one knows who he is." Remus added.

"Indeed, indeed." Dumbledore said. "But I believe I have news about this 'Golden Mask/Crimson Shadow'," he said, which made Sirius and Remus jump in their chairs.

"Oh?" Remus said.

"What?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yes, indeed. He is sitting right there," Dumbledore said (still awfully amused), and nodded towards Christian, who was now wearing the red and gold outfit of the Golden Mask. Remus and Sirius spent the next few minutes as fish on dry land. Harry/Christian/The Golden Mask sighed, as they didn't seem like they planned to find their tongues again very soon.

"As a matter of fact, Christian Atos is not his true identity either, but that you may have guessed already," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling merrily. Harry glared at the Headmaster, who was thoroughly amused, dropped both disguises, and stood there as just plain Harry. Well, there wasn't much plain about him though.

Next moment, Harry found himself being strangled.

"S-Sirius," he managed to choke out. "I-I n-need to bre-athe!" Sirius released him from the bear hug, only to grab him by the shoulders and shake him violently.

"Where have you been?" Sirius shouted. "I've been so worried! Why didn't you come to me? I would have hidden you those years you were supposed to be in Azkaban! And afterwards too!"

"Sirius," Harry said calmly.

"I never believed you were guilty, Harry, you know that."

"Sirius,"

"You are a free man now Harry, no, a free boy. I'm your godfather, and I have promised to take care of you. Why didn't you come to me?"

"Sirius!" Harry shouted. Sirius stopped abruptly. "It was easiest that way," he said softly.

"How? What do you mean? Easier?" But despite the question, Sirius understood. He'd been charged with murder himself, and he knew how hard it was to trust anyone after that.

Harry sighed. This was going to be a long day. And night.

~*~

"So Hermione is a Pectal, you're a Citatio, and this prophecy claims that the two of you are those who shall cause the downfall of Voldemort?"

"Yes, Remus. We cannot be entirely sure, of course, but that is probably it." Harry answered patiently. Sirius and Remus nodded thoughtfully.

"Does Hermione know?" Sirius asked after a while.

Harry grimaced. "She knows she's a Pectal. She doesn't know about the prophecy or me yet. She has to know soon however."

Sirius frowned at Harry's grimace. "And you're not happy with it," he said, half question, half statement.

"No. How do you think she will react? First she believed me to be a murderer for two years, and now I've tricked her for half a year with this 'Christian Atos' disguise. Do you think she will take that easily?" Harry said grimly, and Remus shook his head. He'd been their teacher for a year, and knew Hermione pretty well.

"She'll feel betrayed, as she will understand you did it because you didn't trust her. She won't like it one bit. It's one heck of a mess you've got yourself into, Harry,' Remus said.

Harry grimaced again. "Maybe I should have told her from the beginning, that would've made things so much easier," he said, and Sirius nodded solemnly. "What a support you are," Harry said, scowling at his godfather.

Sirius grinned. "Harry, are you frightened of her?" he asked, teasingly. Harry raised an eyebrow, but before he could retort, Dumbledore interrupted.

"Not of Hermione, but of her reaction," he said mysteriously, and no one but Harry understood. He didn't want Hermione to be hurt because of what he did, something she probably would be. He wanted her to... He wanted to trust her, and he wanted her to trust him. In more ways than one. Dumbledore's knowledge of his feelings was quite disturbing and embarrassing, and Harry felt a small blush reach his checks. Luckily, Sirius didn't notice, as he was trying to decipher what Dumbledore had said, but Remus did. As realisation hit him, he couldn't help smiling a bit, but managed to hide it before Harry looked his way.

"Well, I think that's enough for tonight. You know where your quarters are, you will sleep there tonight, and will be able to question Harry more tomorrow." Dumbledore said, saving Harry from more pestering, something he was quite thankful for. As he was about to leave, he turned back to the Headmaster.

"Albus, I'd like to test Hermione's animagi abilities next Saturday. As she isn't a Shapeshifter like I am, she probably has potential to be Multiple Animagus," he said and Dumbledore nodded.

"Yes, I'll tell Minerva to bring the mirror." Harry changed back to Christian, and walked out of the office together with Remus and his godfather, who gaped at him.

"Multiple Animagus? But such a person hasn't existed for at least two thousand years!" Sirius said, astonished, as the gargoyle jumped aside and allowed them out.

"No, and that's simply because both Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor were Shapeshifters. A Shapeshifter has no Animagus ability whatsoever, because he or she can change into whatever he or she wants to change into. Thankfully, no one but a Citatio or a Pectal can be a Shapeshifter. Or, that is, I don't think so. I have to make research on that one. However, as I guess you already know, Sirius, the ability to become an animagus depends on how powerful you are. My father was magically more powerful than you, and therefore, his form was bigger than yours, while you are more powerful than Wormtail was -he must have been close to a squib by the way- as he is a very small one. If you are powerful enough you will be able to turn into a magical animal. It depends on the size of course; a dog is no magical animal, but yet you must be more powerful to be a dog than a moke. As Hermione is very powerful she will probably be able to be more than one animal and probably some of them will be magical too," Harry explained.

"Oh, cool!" Sirius said, excited. He apparently didn't know, Harry mused.

"That means that I'm more powerful than Professor McGonagall, as she's just a cat," Sirius grinned.

"No, Sirius, you aren't, as her form is not a cat, but part kneazle. They are magical." Harry corrected. Sirius grin disappeared, and his face fell. Harry chuckled at his expression. "Don't be so sad, Sirius; you aren't far behind her, as her form isn't even half kneazle, only one fourth, and you could have been a one fourth kneazle too, if only it had fitted your personality. Which it doesn't."

Sirius grin came back. "Where did you learn all these things, Harry? You haven't turned into a book-worm, have you?"

Harry groaned. "One eighth, I'm sure of it. Kneazles are smart."

"He said you were stupider than a kneazle, Sirius," Remus kindly offered, as Sirius didn't get it at once.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed, mock-offended. Both Remus and Harry laughed.

"By the way, Harry, when are you going to tell Ron and Hermione?" Remus asked.

Harry sighed. "I'm going to tell Hermione soon, I just have to find the right moment." He said, and Remus nodded understanding. "As for Ron..." Harry smiled grimly. "I'm a Mind-reader, Remus. I probably know Ron better than he knows himself."

~*~

During the next few days, the Daily Prophet was doing big business. Articles about Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley were popping up every day, and headlines like: CAN LUCIUS MALFOY BE TRUSTED AS OUR MINISTER?, ARTHUR WEASLEY, OUR NEXT MINISTER?, could be seen. They were all written by Marice Newman, a popular young witch with a good reputation, and she claimed that she got what she wrote from an anonymous person, and that she tried to check if it was the truth or not. However, she said, when someone asked, she wasn't a hundred per cent sure what she wrote was right, but the wizarding world had to know. What if it was true? Could they risk getting a Minister who supported Voldemort, like half of the wizarding world believed Malfoy did? People had to decide for themselves. Not surprisingly, Lucius Malfoy was fuming, and so was Lord Voldemort, because much of what Marice had written was indeed true, and if Malfoy now had ruined his chances to become Minister... Well, Voldemort wasn't happy.

Ron was one of those who read the papers with great interest. If his father became the Minister, he wouldn't have to get to Parvati. He could just go through his father. But Parvati confused him. At first he'd been determined to get to her, -only as one of his tools, of course- but now it was different. It was like he couldn't get himself to act foolishly in love with her. He'd been able to do that before, but now it didn't work. Not that it mattered, if his father became the Minister. Ron felt a rush of excitement at the thought; he was closer to success than he'd ever been. Without Hermione hanging over him as the know-it-all, -as since Harry was imprisoned, she had withdrawn into herself and concentrated on her studies only- or Harry being there with the bloody Boy-Who-Lived title, he could become something big. Fame awaited him. He just had to kill Voldemort first, and the whole world would be his. And she was the key to his success. His stomach flipped, as it always did when he thought about her, and he frowned. Why did he do that every time he thought about her? Oh, well. Probably just excitement. After all, she was the key.

~*~

"Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said. "Do you know what this is?" Hermione stared blankly at her and the mirror McGonagall had placed in front of her.

"No, Professor," she answered truthfully, however somewhat reluctantly, as she didn't like the prospect of being clueless.

"It is called an 'Animagus Mirror'. When you look into this mirror, you will see what kind of animagus form you have. You don't know anything about this, because the dangers of becoming an animagus are so great that we don't want to tell the students about this. What if they should stumble across a mirror and try for themselves, without supervision?" McGonagall said, and shot Sirius a glare. Sirius in his turn looked as innocent as ever. Hermione saw Professor Atos raise an eyebrow in amusement.

"Well," McGonagall continued, "all you have to do is to place yourself in front of the mirror, and the reflection will show your animal." Hermione nodded, and McGonagall enlarged the mirror with a flick of her wand, so she could see all of herself. She noticed a small rustle, and saw Professor Atos coming up beside her so he could look into the mirror together with her, though not so close that he came into view in the mirror. He held his wand over a piece of parchment, and Hermione briefly wondered what he would do with it, but not for long, as her reflection started to change.

It didn't exactly grow, because then it would have grown out of the mirror. She became brown all over, the same colour as her hair. Her eyes stayed brown, as her reflection bent forwards. It obviously had more than two legs. Her neck stretched, her arms stretched, her legs stretched. A long brown tail suddenly sprouted out of her spine, slightly darker than the rest of her.

She was a horse. A brown, tall, proud and beautiful horse. Hermione guessed it was an Arabian Horse. She noticed that Professor Atos's wand was scribbling like mad. A description perhaps. She looked back at herself, awed by the beautiful creature she was capable of turning into. Suddenly she started, as the picture changed again. She saw that her reflection was shrinking. It got feathers. Dark brown and white feathers, and seconds later a peregrine falcon stood where the horse had been moments ago. Hermione's jaw dropped. Was it possible to have more than one shape? Professor Atos's wand was still scribbling furiously.

"Professor?" she asked bewildered, not knowing what to do, but Professor Atos was concentrating on his wand.

She turned to McGonagall, who smiled proudly at her. "Just stand there, Miss Granger. It will be explained later," she said, and Hermione raised an eyebrow, but complied. The reflection changed again, this time into a kneazle, brown with darker spots, and a beautiful whisk of a tale. Hermione was amazed and excited; she loved animals, and the prospect of being able to be one fascinated her and awed her.

From kneazle it changed into an abraxan, (Hermione gasped when she saw the beautiful winged horse) from abraxan to a wolf, from a wolf to a unicorn, from a unicorn to a tawny owl, from owl to dragon, (Sirius fainted, McGonagall had to sit down, Christian fought the urge to snicker at the two others, while scribbling furiously, Hermione had a déjà vu from her first year, as she remembered Norbert.) from dragon to fox, from fox to tiger, from tiger to graphorn, and from graphorn to dragonfly. Then it changed back into her 'real' reflection, which was practically bouncing up and down out of excitement. Twelve shapes! She looked at McGonagall, who was now gaping; she probably hadn't expected twelve. Much less that one of them was a dragon! Sirius was obviously torn between awe and amazement. (he managed to express both pretty well, and yes, he had recovered from his black-out) Professor Atos's wand was still scribbling like a mad-wand on the paper. Finally he looked up from his scribbling.

"Very well, Miss Granger. Twelve shapes are amazing. Especially the dragon, the unicorn, the abraxan and the graphorn. Indeed, I think I read somewhere that people who can change into a winged horse also can vary which breed they want to change into. Which means that you probably can change into an aethonan, a granian and a thestral too. So that is fifteen shapes."

He chuckled at the three's amazement. "But of course, the abraxan will always be the easiest one to transform to of the four, and you will have to complete that before even thinking about any of the other winged horses. It isn't even certain you can do it. I hope you can though. I have always been interested in the thestral; a beautiful creature." He seemed lost in thought for a minute, before he snapped back to reality. "But anyway, I've written a description of all of your shapes here on this paper." Ah-ha! That was what he was doing! Hermione thought to herself. "You have to read it carefully. It is fortunate that you have two experts with you; Minerva and Mr. Black," he smiled at her, and Hermione barely managed to hide that her knees were about to fold. Luckily he turned back to examine the paper. "Indeed, this is very impressive. We have just proven that you're very powerful." He shook his head slightly.

"Okay. Professor McGonagall and Mr. Black are going to help you; they will explain everything to you. I trust you to do your best." He said, before he handed McGonagall what he'd written, and left, claiming that he had assignments to grade. Hermione spent the rest of the evening with Sirius and McGonagall, and eagerly listened to everything they told her. It was a great evening, despite the fact that being in the same room as Sirius, Harry's godfather, was a bit disturbing.

~*~

Harry was smiling to himself, and hardly grading anything at all. Hermione had practically been bouncing up and down, and it was a long time since he'd seen her that happy. He shook his head, still smiling. He was happy too, because he'd been a lot of different animals, and every time it was just as amazing. He especially loved being a bird, or some animal with wings, and if it was a fire animal with wings, it was even better. Being a tree or a plant wasn't so bad either, and it was great for spying.

His thoughts travelled back to Hermione. She was indeed powerful, and though she still hadn't reached his level, and wouldn't reach it for a long time yet, she'd accomplished much in only a few months. However, she hadn't yet managed to invent something, or do something different. Until now she'd just copied spells, charms, curses and jinxes, and she still had to learn illusions and transfiguration. However, he couldn't exactly blame her, as it had taken him five years to figure out illusions, and he hadn't started to get the hang of transfiguration until the end of his first year at Hogwarts.

He sighed. If he'd revealed himself to her in the beginning, she would have accomplished more. If they had worked as the Pectal and the Citatio, she would probably have been working on transfiguration now. It was not that it required much power, it was just that Hermione didn't know how to do it. He did, and he could have showed her, if he only had the courage to tell her. For he realised now, it was only a matter of courage.

It was his belief, that the Citatio was born with the full extent of his power inside of him, so he could use the years until he found the Pectal to train himself, and learn how to use the powers. That way, only one had to go through the difficult process of self-training, as the Citatio could teach the Pectal. The Pectal was also born with the Power, though not all of it. It grew throughout her whole childhood, and then, when it reached the full extent, or when it grew to such strength that it couldn't be hidden anymore, the Pectal would 'awaken', like Hermione did. Harry didn't know why the Citatio was born with full Powers, and not the Pectal, but he suspected that it was because men are physically stronger than women. It wasn't sexism, but a fact, and perhaps, because of this, nature thought a man would be more capable of controlling the Power at a young age.

It was the way it was, and nothing could be done with that, and Harry was painfully aware that he made Hermione's training more painful -both emotionally, physically and mentally- and more difficult than it had to be. And he hated himself for it. Maybe the Pectal and the Citatio weren't destined to be together; maybe they just became so close during the training that they never could think about living without each other, and therefore always ended up as a couple. Well, Harry thought mournfully, as he went back to grade the tests. Then I've ruined my chances pretty nicely.

~*~

Hermione had to work hard to conceal her excitement that evening, when she came back to the Gryffindor Common Room. She couldn't remember being that high since before Harry left, and she and Ron started to slide apart. It seemed like it was Harry who kept them together. But she refused to think about that now, as Professor McGonagall had told her that because of her powers she would probably manage to complete two or three of her forms before she graduated. Usually it took three to four months to complete a form, because so much could go wrong during the process. But yet, Professor McGonagall meant that she could manage two or three forms by the time 'normal' people managed one. Of course, 'normal' people didn't have more than one form, anyway ...

Hermione lay awake for the better part of the night, excited as she was. As she stared out of the window, she could see a white winged horse. No, two winged horses, and one of them was black. A thestral. That was an omen of bad luck, wasn't it? And what were two winged horses doing at Hogwarts? Then the black one became Professor Atos, but that was ridiculous. And he had golden eyes. How weird, Hermione thought, and suddenly he had black hair and green eyes, but how could she see that, when everything was hidden by a golden mask?

Hermione slept.

~*~

"I just cannot understand it. Why doesn't he tell her? Today would've been a perfect opportunity." Sirius was back in the room where he slept when he visited Hogwarts, and shared his frustrations with Remus. Remus sighed. Why couldn't Sirius stop being so dense! He obviously hadn't seen the way 'Christian' looked at Hermione when he saw her. Of course, he was very good at hiding it, but Remus had had a suspicion already when he revealed himself to them in Dumbledore's office, and since then he had almost followed his every step, trying to find out if he was right or not. And it had paid off. He noticed that every time 'Christian' looked at the girl, his eyes misted over, his mouth curled into a slight smile for a second, before he frowned, sighed and went back to whatever he was supposed to do. The boy was helplessly falling for a girl he was sure he couldn't get, and Remus didn't think Hermione would forgive him for having tricked her.

"Sirius, listen to me," he said. It was time to tell Sirius what he didn't see. "Your godson is afraid of telling her. It has nothing to do with 'the right moment'."

Sirius looked curiously at him. "Afraid? Why?" God, he was completely clueless. Well, he couldn't be blamed, really, as he'd just found his godson again, and was busy trying to be his 'father', as he was supposed to do.

"He likes her." Remus said.

Sirius's eyes widened. "Oh."

"Oh? Is that all you have to say?" Remus raised his eyebrows. "Your godson is falling for a girl who doesn't know who he is, he's firm in the belief that she will hate him when he reveals himself to her, and the chances of her returning his feelings are about one in a hundred. And you say 'oh'? He's miserable because of her, and you, as his godfather haven't even noticed."

Sirius rubbed his temples. "You're sure?" he asked.

"Positive."

"The boy's in deep shit." Sirius said, sighing.

Remus slumped into a chair. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

~*~

"Good morning," Christian said jovially as he entered the classroom. It was Monday morning, two weeks and two days after the attack, and he had sixth year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first thing. He was in a good mood, as today's paper, written by Marice Newman, had revealed different bad secrets about Lucius Malfoy, and complimented Arthur Weasley in every way. He didn't care if it was true or not, as long as Malfoy didn't become the Minister. This time it had been about his son, Draco Malfoy, who had disappeared after the attack. Lucius had managed to cover this quite well, but Marice managed to blow it up with a single headline. There had been an article about Lucius being sacked as a school governor too, earlier this week, something that satisfied Harry greatly. Somehow, he suspected that Dumbledore had a part in this, because he and McGonagall seemed so self-satisfied when it was brought up during the last staff meeting.

Snape could report that Voldemort had been positively livid with them (he hadn't been there himself, something Harry was extremely grateful for) and more than one had suffered under the Cruciatus. Snape had escaped together with the rest of the Death Eaters when the Aurors arrived, and no one had questioned his loyalty yet, though it was obvious that Voldemort didn't trust him, as he hadn't used him to get into Hogwarts, but Draco. Snape was terrified at what would happen if he were discovered. Spies didn't live for long.

The Death Eater students had been taken care of, though no one would be sent to Azkaban, as half of the Dementors had joined Voldemort, and the other half had been destroyed. The prisoners had been sent to a new prison, built by the giants, and enchanted by some of the most powerful spellcasters, including Dumbledore. The guards were humans and some giants who had joined the light side, and the youths would be sent there. The youngest was only fourteen years old, a Hufflepuff, and the teachers were horrified. Four Slytherins, two Hufflepuffs, two Ravenclaws, and one Gryffindor had been arrested, and Malfoy was missing. Who knew if any of the other students were Death Eaters as well?

But the thing that worried him the most, was that the whole staff now knew that Hermione was a Pectal, and that was not good. If some of the other students were Death Eaters, they probably knew too.

Christian shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to the class. He'd decided to teach them the Patronus charm today, and for that he'd brought a boggart, as his boggart was a Dementor, so the students could practice on this. He remembered his lessons with Remus, and had to smile at the memory.

"Today class, you'll learn to fend off a Dementor. Does someone know how to do this?" he said, and raised an eyebrow when no hands came up. "No one knows?" Still no hands.

"Well, as you all know, a Dementor makes you remember all of your worst memories; when someone close to you died; the fight you had with your girlfriend or boyfriend; the howler you got from your mum, and so on. But that is not the only thing they do, because if they get the chance, they will suck your soul out, and leave your body as an empty shell." He talked about Dementors for a good five minutes, before he came to how to defend yourself against it.

"There is one charm that can drive off a Dementor, and it is called the Patronus charm. All you have to do, is to focus on a good memory, and speak the incantation, which is Expecto Patronum." He turned to the trunk he'd brought. "This is a boggart, and I'm going to demonstrate a Patronus for you," he said, and Ginny's hand shot up. "Ms Weasley?"

"Professor, why are you going to demonstrate on a boggart?"

"Because my boggart is a Dementor," he told her, and with a flick of his wand the trunk sprung open, and a black-clad Dementor stood in front of him. He heard his parents screams in his head, he heard Voldemort laugh, he saw Cedric, and heard his voice. "Wands out, you reckon?" Then it was Colin, in a pool of blood. And Hermione. "He killed him. Harry killed him. Dumbledore. "I'm afraid he did, Miss Granger. But now you must leave. Mr. Potter will be taken to Azkaban."

"Expecto Patronum!" He yelled, and a bright silver creature sprang out of his wand. Quickly he used his Citatio Powers and with an illusion disguised his stag as a lion. He had charmed his eyes beforehand of course, so the students wouldn't see when they turned gold. To let his students know that his Patronus was a stag was equal to going and telling Hermione and Ron that he was Harry Potter. Telling his students that he had a Dementor as a boggart was dangerous too, but he took that chance. The students needed the practice, and the best thing to practice on was a Dementor.

The 'lion' charged at the Dementor, who cowered backwards. Another flick of his wand, and the boggart was back in the trunk. He turned back to the class, made them go two and two together and practise the spell. You didn't have to have a Dementor to practise it, but he planned to have them practise on one, when they had learnt it.

Suddenly, he stumbled. He managed to restrain himself from clutching his head, but had to grip the table to remain standing. He gasped. Why now, of all times! Unfortunately, the class noticed.

"Professor," a Ravenclaw asked. "Are you okay?" Christian gritted his teeth, and managed to straighten up.

"Not exactly, Mr. Levard. It must be some after effects of what happened two weeks ago. I'm afraid I cannot continue this lesson. Class dismissed, please go to your common rooms and stay there until next lesson." With that, he slipped out of the door, and his class got busy gathering their stuff. He knew the classroom next door was empty, and managed to get in there. He faded into unconsciousness as the pain in his scar (or where the scar used to be when he was Harry) threatened to split his skull open.

~*~*~

"Crucio!"

Someone screamed. Loudly. Then, the screaming subsided. A voice spoke.

"One little girl. One little boy. And you didn't manage. You've lost half of the trainees who attend Hogwarts." The voice was low and dangerous. Crimson red eyes gleamed in the darkness. There was a pause. "Anyway, we'll soon be strong enough to attack even more openly. First goes the Ministry. You should be glad, Luciusss, that you've ruined your chances to get that particular position as the Minister..." Voldemort purred softly. Lucius Malfoy shivered. "And this Atos." He spat the name out. "I want him dead. I've waited too long for you, Harry Potter. When I take Hogwarts, you will be the first to die." An evil cackle. "No, wait. The last to die is more appropriate. Yesss. That shall be the bessst moment of my lifffe! And Nagini will find a way. Yes, she will..."

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