A/N: Wow. Hi. I'm back with another chapter of The Assassin. I'm almost a year post Chemotherapy and I'm happy to tell you all that I'm doing really well for the most part. I'm just physically and mentally exhausted most days. I just had another bone marrow biopsy about a month ago and I'm waiting on one result still, but the rest of those results point to me still being in remission. Thanks for being so patient as I try to get back into things. Enjoy.

The dreadful sound of wood against skin reverberated throughout the large hall as Harry blocked the rotating piece with his right forearm. He only had a mere second to react and stop it from hitting him in the face. His attention was drawn away from that piece as another wooden piece started to swing at ankle height from the left side. His body reacted on autopilot as he jumped in the air to avoid what would have been a rather painful impact. His feet had barely touched the ground before he had to block yet another rotating piece of wood that came at bicep height from his left.

All of Harry's attention was focused on the wooden dummy in front of him. Alastor Moody had enchanted the dummy to rotate its four cylinder arms in a random pattern that progressively got harder as the minutes elapsed. Harry had started to break a sweat around the ten minute mark as he barely got a chance to blink before another piece of wooden had started to head his way. His skin stung with nasty red marks from the points of contact, his muscles ached from the intense activity, his lungs burned and craved for a break. But nonetheless, he couldn't to defend himself from the wooden dummy.

Twenty minutes into the combat practice, Harry had found a groove where he wasn't stood still on the spot. He had figured out that if he moved around the room, the dummy would follow him. Along with that, he realised that if he timed it right, he could kick the wooden dummy back a meter or two which would then allow him a few seconds to collect himself before it chased after him. He hadn't missed the impressed looks from the three onlooking Aurors as he had developed the new system.

Left, right, left, left, jump, kick it back. Breathe for a second. Repeat as the enchanted dummy raced forward to attack him again. Harry had fallen into a comfortable rhythm despite the blur of constant movement from both himself and the wooden structure. He didn't know when they would deem the hand-to-hand combat practice to be over. Perhaps they were testing to see if he would inevitably make a mistake and lose. Perhaps they were testing his stamina. Perhaps they just wanted to see how well he could do. If any of that were the case then Harry could easily go for two hours if required.

This particular type of training was in Harry's element. It was something he felt comfortable doing and had built up his stamina over the years. Hand-to-hand combat was one of the many activities he used to practice back home every other day, if not daily. His body had been conditioned to endure long periods of physical exertion. Out of everything he had been trained in, armed combat was his favourite. The added danger of potentially being inured always sent an extra wave of adrenaline through his veins and gave it an exciting edge like none of the other training methods did.

The rather empty room they were in continued to be filled with the sounds from the battle between Harry and the training dummy, as well as the occasional whispers from the three spectators. They had been granted access to use the Great Hall for the entire day every Saturday and had been assured from the meddling old fool that they wouldn't be disturbed. The middle of the Great Hall had been cleared before they had arrived, all the table pushed to the sides, to allow the three Aurors enough space for their lessons with Harry. While Harry moved around the large space, the three of them were sat on one of the benches to the left of the room.

"Finish it," boomed Alastor's voice all of a sudden.

Harry didn't say anything as he gave one last kick to the wooden dummy and slipped his wand into his palm. His green eyes watched as the wooden arms continued to rotate at a fast speed. He pointed the tip of his wand in the direction of the dummy, very much looking forward to finishing it. Sweat poured from his forehead and his chest rose and fell rapidly. Just as the dummy started to head in his direction, he whispered a spell under his breath, adrenaline thrummed through his veins.

"Confringo," he whispered.

A fiery orange light flew from the tip of Harry's wand and shot directly at the middle of the wooden dummy. Upon impact, the structure imploded in a brilliant explosion. Chunks of wood flew in all directions which caused all four to erect a shield in order to avoid being hit by the projectile wood. The blinding orange light disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Harry looked down at the place the wooden dummy once stood. There was nothing but a small pile of broken, burnt wooden pieces. They smoldered as smoke drifted into the air from amongst the pile.

"Impressive work, Potter," called out Alastor as he limped his way over to the out of breath teenager. "Not your first rodeo?"

"You could say that," Harry smiled as he tried his hardest to catch his breath.

"I had a feeling that you could fight," said Nymphadora with amusement, both her and Kingsley stood beside the oldest Auror. "I mean, I knew it as soon as I saw all of the knives that you carry with you. They aren't just for display. You would have to know how to use them. But that was impressive."

"Ah thank you," he smiled at the currently purple haired woman.

"Do you need a break? Or would you like to just get on with it?" asked Kingsley.

"What do you have in mind next?" he asked with a frown while he raised his arms above his head in order to open his chest up for my air.

"We were going to duel you if you felt comfortable enough to try that," said Kingsley. Harry noticed since he had arrived that morning that Kingsley tended to take the lead in the lesson. He seemed to be more of a natural leader compared to the other two.

"Can you give me five minutes to catch my breath?" he asked cheekily with a smile that matched.

"Sure," nodded Kingsley as all three smiled in amusement.

The four of them fell into a silence as the three Aurors got rid of the debris that was strewn across the Great Hall. Harry had possible thrown a bit more power behind the blasting curse then he had meant to. And that was why chunks of the wooden dummy had gone from arsehole to breakfast. With his level of skill, he honestly hadn't need to push as much strength into the spell, but part of him had wanted to show off. He wanted to prove that he was capable to some extent - Drew's caution in the back of his mind - and this was all one big waste of time.

"So, can I ask how you are feeling about tomorrow?" Nymphadora broke the silence first after they had finished clearing the space.

"I don't know. I haven't really given it too much thought with all of the study I've been doing over the last week," he answered with a shrug. His breathing under control finally. Although his muscles continued to fiercely ache, something that would most likely take a day to recover from. "I guess I'm a little nervous because of the unknown and I do have some apprehensive about the outcome from the trip."

"Do you think Sirius will let you have access to Grimmauld Place?" she asked.

"It's hard to say," he answered thoughtfully. "I've never met him, he doesn't owe me anything, even if I am his Godson."

In Harry's mind, it was true. That man may have been in his life as an infant, but he had never had the chance to interact with him since then. Once Drew had taught him all about his heritage and family dynamics, Harry had wondered how different his childhood would have been if Sirius Black had never chased after Peter Pettigrew that fateful night. Of course his childish brain couldn't help but wish he had never been left in the care of the Dursley's. But his now mature brain understood that everything happened for a reason.

"Sirius would do anything for your parents. He would have moved mountains for them if he could have," Alastor interjected. "A part of me never wanted to believe the story of what happened the night You-Know-Who attacked your parents. It was hard to think Sirius betrayed them after everything they went through growing up."

"You were in the Order during the first war, weren't you?" Harry asked with a frown.

"I was," he nodded in reply.

"So that means you fought alongside my parents, Sirius, Remus and Peter?" he asked slowly and cautiously.

"I did, yes," answered Alastor, his electric blue magical eye spun back in his head before it returned back a moment later. "Why are you asking that?"

"It just amazes me that so many people were able to witness the dynamics between them all, but they still chose to believe a false narrative," Harry shook his head while he looked down at his shoes. "Did you not see how loyal Sirius and Remus were to my parents? Did you see the same with Peter?"

"Peter always seemed to be in the shadows whenever the four boys were in the same room. He was definitely the more quiet and reserved out of the lot. Never one for attention, or making a scene. He kind of just followed them around and did what they did," the oldest Auror supplied to the other three.

"Did he ever give you a weird feeling?" asked Kingsley, both him and Nymphadora had shared a look while Alastor had been talking.

"No," he answered without a pause. "Mainly because he was so reclusive in a group setting that I didn't get to properly read him."

"But compared to Sirius and Remus, could you see the same level of loyalty in Peter?" asked Nymphadora.

The turn of the conversation intrigued Harry. No longer were they trying to uncover information from him ahead of the planned trip. Instead, they were trying to figure out if there was any truth behind the new prospective Harry had provided. He allowed them to question the oldest Auror, and listened intently to a personal recount, to see if he could also gain any new insight into the history of his parents and their closest friends.

"I never saw anything remotely to the level of loyalty and closeness that Sirius and Remus had with James and Lily," Alastor answered with a shake of his head.

"It really makes you think about the idea of Sirius betraying the Potter's and committing those crimes then," mused Kingsley with a suspicious squint. "It'll be interesting to see what comes out of tomorrow."

"Yes, I'm sure we will be able to discuss everything better after tomorrow. But for now, we should continue. You got your breath back?" Alastor directed the attention back onto Harry after the small sidetrack.

"I'm good to go," Harry gave a nod as he waited patiently for what was to come next.

The entire mood within the Great Hall shifted as they four got into position. Wordlessly, the three Aurors moved further into the space as one unit. Harry observed the cohesion and unspoken bond they all shared, an obvious result from their line of work. They stood in a line towards the end of the Great Hall where the High Table for the teachers usually sat, a meter of space between them each.

Nymphadora stood across from Harry on his left side, with Kingsley in the middle, and Alastor to the right side of Harry. All three had their wands in their hands held down beside their legs. Their stances were relaxed, their gazes were cautious, not yet in the position to strike but ready to pounce into action at any second. Before him stood a unified body of trained fighters. He could see it clearly and only a fool would underestimate their abilities as both individuals and as a team.

Harry walked backwards towards the two giant doors that led out to the Entrance Hall, his eyes never left the three threats that were in front of him. He wouldn't put it passed them to try to get a jump start on him. Teach him a lesson in constant vigilance. Not that he needed to be taught that lesson. Drew had raised him to be on guard at all times, the mentor used to keep him on his toes so that he never knew when he would be under a pretend attack.

"Would you like to duel us one by one?" asked Kingsley as all four held their wands in the palm of their hands.

"I think I can take all of you at once," declared Harry with a cocky smile.

"Be careful what you wish for," chuckled Nmyphadora as she bowed respectfully towards the younger male from where she stood.

Harry reciprocated the bow towards his opponents in the traditional pre-duel mannerism. His upper body deeply bowed while his eyes stayed trained on the three opposite him just in case they tried to catch him off guard. However, the other two male wizards followed suit and bowed respectfully to him, none of them tried any tricks. The tension in the air was palpable. He patiently waited in silent anticipation for one of them to make the first move.

It didn't take long before the first spell hurled his way. With a counter quick spell, Harry nonverbally deflected the basic disarming spell. He pretended to whisper it under his breath, since they couldn't hear him, as he didn't want to give away that he could perform nonverbal magic. His green eyes shifted to Kingsley, a dark gleam in them. He watched the man lower his arm.

For now, Harry wanted to stay on the defense. He wanted to get a gauge on his three opponents. To see if he could spot any patterns in their styles of fighting. After he could analyse them each on their own and as a unit, he would then be able to pick apart any weak spots. If he could find any flaws or vulnerable points he could use it to his advantage to win. But to do that, he needed to let them do most of the attacking to begin with.

And so the dance between the four begun. A variety of different lights flew across the room only to sizzle out when they hit Harry's shield or hit the wall behind him with a loud crack. The three Aurors would attack at random, at least there were no patterns that Harry could pick up on. Sometimes two spells, even three, were sent at him at the same time. In those cases, he could only counter the first one and would have to duck, weave, roll, or spin out of the way for the others.

Adrenaline coursed through Harry's veins the longer the duel persisted. His heart pumped as his brain worked at lighting speed to think of all the counter spells and charms to what was being thrown his way. His green eyes gleamed, a sign he was enjoying the challenge. While he worked on auto-piolet to defend himself, he watched out for any points of weakness. Patience would be the key to take down three fully trained fighters.

It took just under ten minutes for him to pick up the first weakness amongst his opponents. He noticed that whenever Nymphadora moved to either attack or defend, she would get caught up in whatever spell she was trying to cast that it resulted in a little stumble. Maybe this little quirk only came out when she duelled. Or perhaps she was a naturally clumsy person. Either way, he would use it to his advantage. He wondered if he could send a couple of spells her way to get her trip up and get her out that way.

Harry put his theory to the test. He effortlessly deflected the red coloured spell that Alastor had sent his way before he sent two spells in quick succession aimed directly at Nymphadora's legs. And just as he predicted, she tripped over her own feet as she countered the first spell and barely managed to move out the way of the second spell. He didn't let onto his new plan as he went back to simply defending the spells and charms sent at him.

The atmosphere in the giant room grew even more intense as the time in which the spells were sent towards Harry became less and less. He found himself constantly on the move. While he bided his time for the perfect opportunity to attack Nymphadora, he knew he needed to do it sooner rather than later. He could tell that all three Aurors were getting irritated that they couldn't take him down.

All of a sudden, there was a pause. That was all he needed. There seemed to be a small pause in amongst all of the chaotic flurry of spells. Harry immediately went in for the attack. He sent a nonverbal 'Expelliarmus', followed immediately by a 'Stupefy', and rounded up by 'Petrificus Totalus'. The scarlett, red and white jets of lights flew directly towards Nymphadora. She managed to disarm the first, step out of the way of the second, but the third hit her squarely in the stomach.

As the white spell hit her, Nymphadora's entire body went as stiff as a board, her arms and legs snapped together, and her eyes flew wide open from shock. With a nasty thud, Nymphadora's stiff body fell backwards onto the stone flooring of the Great Hall. The other two male Aurors looked beside them to their fallen colleague, all three had been caught off guard from the sudden attack.

Harry noticed the distraction and did not hesitate. With his left hand, he wandlessly and nonverbally summoned up three of his Black Kunai Throwing Knives from their place on his left ankle. His eyes stayed trained on the other two in front of him as the knives floated up towards his shoulder. Just as Alastor and Kingsley turned their head back towards him, Harry had flicked his wrist and sent the three knives to his next target.

Three small knives hurled towards Kingsley at lightening speed, barely visible to the untrained eyed. There was no time for the Auror to react, his brain hadn't registered the threat in time. Harry had taken advantage of the distraction and truly caught the seasoned Auror off guard. But before the knives made any contact, Harry commanded the three weapons to a standstill. Inches from Kingsley's they came to a stop. The older male gulped heavily as he took three cautious steps to his right.

"Go tend to Nymphadora," Harry called out as he pulled the three knives back to him and guided them, magically, back into the holster strapped to his ankle. "Let's just assume you would have been injured from that and you're out."

With wide eyes, Kingsley nodded his head silently before he walked the short distance to the temporarily paralysed witch to his right side. Harry ignored the pair he had declared to be out of the duel as he focused back onto the most experienced of the three fighters; Alastor Moody. Before he could even blink, the other male had sent two spells towards him. The fight was back on in full force.

Harry found that the last standing opponent fought back with a renewed energy. He knew that deep down Alastor would never live it down if he lost to a sixteen year old boy. Especially if said sixteen year old had already taken out two of his colleagues. But that's what spurred Harry on. It was the thought that he had defended, outlasted, and defeated three highly trained Aurors that kept his tired body moving. He just needed to wait for the moment to take out the last male.

The attacks from Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody were relentless. The oldest Auror started to use more advanced spells, charms, jinx and the odd hex. No curses were used, understandably so. But the duel ramped up in intensity. Harry found himself quickly working up a sweat as he moved all around the space to avoid being hit by any of the spells thrown his way. He knew what weakness he could target for Alastor, he just needed a small break in the constant line of attack.

And that moment came as the experienced Auror dropped his arm - the one he had being using - rolled his shoulder from the strain, and switched his wand to his other hand. Harry immediately pounced on the golden opportunity. He could tell that the older Auror was starting to tire, not able to keep up the same intensity as before. It probably didn't help that he had the physical limitations from previous battle wounds, like his wooden leg. He would use it all to his advantage.

He swept his wand in the pattern and nonverbally threw the 'Avis' charm with as much power as he possibly could give behind it. A loud blast, like the sound of a gun being fired, rung around the Great Hall. Smoke floated out of his wand while a flock of birds, coloured black with green flecks, shot out and flew towards Alastor. The flock swarmed the male and partially disabled his sight.

Immediately after Harry had sent the first charm, he had sent another spell in hopes he had caught the Auror off guard. He nonverbally shot 'Everte Satum' in a quick blast of orange. The other male did have the upper hand with his magical eye being able to see past the whirl of birds. Even though Alastor was able to detect another spell being sent his way, because of the distractions from the birds, he saw it too late which resulted in him being hit.

The orange spell hit the Auror on the chest and sent him sliding backwards several metres. Alastor groaned out in pain as a sharp pain shot through his body, part of the effects from the spell. Before he could recover from the sudden jolt, Harry had already sent another spell his way. He had nonverbally casted 'Flipendo' aimed at the Auror's wooden leg in hopes it would knock it off and leave the man with one leg.

It worked as the purple jinx swept clean the wooden leg from right underneath Alastor Moody. Both the collision of the spell and the loss of a limb knocked the experienced Auror to the ground, straight onto the edge of his tailbone. The eldest man in the room cried out from the pain that shot up his spine upon impact, his wand fell from his hand, and he looked up in time to see a blue coloured spell already halfway across the room.

Harry watched as the 'Immobulus' spell hit Alastor on the chest. It rendered the most experienced Auror in the room immobile and froze him to the spot. A dark smirk spread across his lips as he sent one last spell at his last opponent, just to ensure the victory was once and for all rightfully his. He flicked his wrist in the pattern as he sent the 'Incarcerous' spell towards Alastor.

The familiar thick ropes shot out from the tip of Harry's wand and flew across the large, empty space of the Great Hall. The ropes tightly wound themselves around the immobilized Auror and bound him in spot. Silence befell the Great Hall at the end of the immense practice duel. Harry's chest heaved up and down as he wiped the sweat from his brow and forehead. His green eyes swept from where Alastor sat, bound, to the far left side of the room where Nymphadora and Kingsley had moved to safety to spectate the remainder of the duel.

The two Aurors to the left started to clap as they stood up from the bench they had taken refugee on. Harry's smirk turned into a genuine smile as he bowed towards all the Aurors. He flicked his wrist and cancelled the spells that held Alastor hostage. The eldest male grumbled to himself as he summoned his wooden leg and attached it back to its place. All four slowly made their way into the middle of the room.

"Wow," breathily said Nymphadora as she clapped Harry on the shoulder. "You do realise what you just accomplished? Right?"

"No?" he answered with a tilt of his head in faux confusion.

"You just took on and defeated three trained Aurors in one go," answered Kingsley instead. "Not many people can say that."

"Are you sure you weren't going easy on me since it was my first time?" questioned Harry, playing up the innocent act. Because he most definitely realised what he had accomplished.

"Are you kidding me?" said Alastor with a gruff, slightly out of breath, voice as he approached the other three. "Easy on you? You think that was easy?"

Harry knew it was anything but them going easy on him. He had tested them, pushed them to the max, instead of them testing him. He had turned the tables on them by his patience and persistence. And that had ultimately been the reason he had won. Instead of going like a bat out of hell from the start, he carefully analysed each opponent and waited for the most opportune moment to strike. Thanks to his upbringing and training, it gave him an advantage not many wizards or witches utilised during duels.

"Kid, we tried to go easy on you at first," cried out Nymphadora in exasperation. "We thought you were out of you depth trying to take all three of us on at once. But turns out we were the ones out of our depth."

"You've obviously been taught to fight before," observed Kingsley.

"My whole life has been a constant test of fight or flight. To be killed or to fight for my life," he said. He didn't want to admit it was more like 'to kill or be killed' because that would raise more than one eyebrow. So he went with the safer option of fighting for his life to imply he hadn't harmed anyone. "I have picked up a few helpful fighting abilities and skills over my years while I've been running for my life. I've managed to flee from harm more times than I care to count, mostly uninjured."

"Why are we here?" asked Nymphadora in disbelief. "Clearly you don't need our help to train. Your years on the run have given you natural duelling skills."

"Dumbledore wouldn't care. He thinks I'm useless and untrained," Harry answered with a roll of his eyes, not bothering to even use the 'Headmaster' title.

"I think even if he had witnessed this today, he would still insist we train you, Harry," she said as she gave a contemplative look towards her two colleagues. "What should we do?"

"I say we continue to train Potter just to keep Headmaster Dumbledore happy," Alastor said, while Kingsley nodded his head. "We'll tell him that he needs training and we'll keep giving up our Saturdays for these training sessions. Because I don't think he would listen to us even if we tried to tell him he doesn't need it. So we'll keep Potter fit and ready for the future. Agree?"

"Agreed," simultaneously said Kingsley and Nymphadora, all three nodded their heads.

"I think that's enough for today, don't you?" Kingsley turned his attention to Harry as he asked the question.

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "I think I'd like to collapse in the library for a few hours while I wait for the lesson with Professor Snape this evening."

"Make sure to have something to eat and hydrate. That was quite a lot of physical training you did today, let alone how much magic you would have used," instructed Nymphadora with a kind smile to which Harry nodded and returned the smile.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Kingsley nodded his head, his way of formally dismissing Harry.  

With a silent nod and a wave towards the three Aurors, he left them alone in the Great Hall to discuss how they would keep Dumbledore in the dark with Harry's true abilities. He made his way out of the large dining hall to head towards the library where he knew Remus and Hermione would be. The three of them had agreed that they would spend the hours studying the other subjects in between Harry's lessons with the Aurors and Severus. And since the Aurors didn't have a set finishing time for their Saturdays lessons, he knew he had the next three hours free.

As he walked down the most silent hallways, he ignored the whispers from the portraits, he reflected back on the first lesson with Kingsley, Nymphadora, and Alastor. It had been intense, but exactly what he needed. The training style reminded him of home. It reminded him of the years upon years of physical training and duelling practice he had been involved in after Drew had taught him about his true past and what would be required for the future to defeat the Dark Lord. And how it turned into a daily routine after Harry had expressed that he wanted to become an assassin just like the people who had rescued him and given him refuge in a safe home.

Harry hoped that Drew would be proud of the way he carried and conducted himself in front of the three Aurors that morning. He hoped he wouldn't have an issue with the way he had showed off his skills during the duel. The only reason he had felt comfortable enough to do so, was the fact he could tell the three Aurors were skeptical and critical thinkers. There weren't as blindly loyal to Dumbledore as some of the others - like a certain red headed family. He just hoped he didn't misjudge them and that they would continue to train him without Dumbledore's interference.

>_<     >_<     >_<

The corridor down to the dungeons were as cold and dark as they had been over the past two days. Harry shivered despite the leather cloak wrapped tightly around his body. It appeared that after night fell, the temperatures within the dungeons of Hogwarts dropped below freezing. The sounds of his boots hitting the stone echoed throughout the corridor as he approached the Potions classroom. From his understanding, that night they were not doing a Potions lesson.

After he had knocked on the door, Harry entered the dimly lit room and approached the front of the classroom. Severus was sat behind his desk like usual, quill in hand, his attention focused on the parchment in front of him. Harry respectfully waited as he sat down at the desk he usual occupied over the last two days. He didn't want to stare at the other while he finished whatever he was doing, so he pulled a Blackhawk Tatang knife out of its sheath and twirled it around to keep his mind busy.

"Knife away, Potter," came Severus's unimpressed voice almost instantly.

Harry sighed as he looked over at the professor who's attention was still on the parchment. He didn't want to get on the man's bad side before their lesson was due to begin. With much reluctance, he securely placed his knife back into its thigh holster. Apart from the scratching sound of the quill on parchment, the room was otherwise completely silent. Harry shifted in his chair, propped his left elbow on the table, placed his head into his palm, and began to softly tap the desk with his right pointer finger.

It had been an exhausting day for Harry, both mentally and physically, and yet he somehow still had to find the energy to push through the lesson with Severus. Part of him wanted to collapse into any warm bed right then. After all, he had an extremely busy following day. First he would be making a trip to visit Sirius Black in Azkban, only to sneak out later that night, to meet up with Drew. He frankly needed all the rest he could get.

"Follow me," suddenly said Severus which broke through Harry's wishful thinking.

Both of them pushed their chairs in before they silently left the classroom. Harry fell into step behind the stoic Potions Professor as he led the way further into the dungeons. If he had to hazard a guess of where their destination was, it would be Severus's office located somewhere close by. It made sense, if they truly were to be conducting a lesson in Occlumency, it was best to be in an more comfortable environment rather than the cold, unpleasant space of the Potions classroom.

Sure enough, Severus soon came to a stop in front of a door and waved his wand in front of it. Without a word, he entered the room within and Harry followed closely behind. As he shut the door behind them, his eyes quickly scanned the room once to ensure no danger, before they slowly swept back the other way to take in the details of the new environment. The office shared similar aspects with Potions classroom, which made sense considering Severus was a Potions master after all.

The office was dimly lit, even with an active fire within the fireplace in the far corner of the room. At least it was warmer in there than the rest of the dungeons. The shadowy walls were lined with shelves occupied by an impressive collection of large glass jars. Harry noticed many of them were filled with slimy, revolting items. As the flickering light from the fireplace casted enough illumination on the jars, he could make out bits of animals and plants that floated in potions of all varying colours.

In another corner, there was a door to what he could only assume was a cupboard. From the knowledge he had acquired, it could be the potential private stock of Potions ingredients that the Potions master was known to have. Harry moved his eyes over to the desk, next to where Severus now stood, and noticed the Pensive that sat upon it. He briefly wondered if it was there for him, or for Severus. Only time would tell.

"Sit," Severus pointed towards the lone chair set up in front of the desk.

As Harry walked forward to follow the order, he had a closer look at the Pensive. He took note of the swirling light already within and came to the conclusion that its sole purpose was for Severus's use, not his own. Harry didn't mind, it just meant he would have to be extremely careful with what he allowed Severus to see within his own mind. He had many memories he never wanted the Professor to witness. He had people to protect, his own protection only came in as a second concern.

"Occlumency," Severus continued without further delay. "The magical defence of the mind against external penetration. Are you familiar with the concept?"

"No," Harry smoothly answered as he shook his head. Of course he knew what is was. He had even managed to catch Severus off guard for a moment before he was shut out. But the Professor would never know that.

"The Headmaster wants you to partake and practice in the branch of magic. I shall be the one to help you become somewhat adequate at being able to fend off any incoming attacks on your mind. You may be wondering why it is important for you to learn this unusual form of magic," he said as he clasped his hands together in front of him, his dark eyes bore down at Harry from where he stood next to the desk. "Dumbledore is cautious that the Dark Lord may and will use a mental invasion against you to gain information. He believes there could be a potential link between you both and he doesn't want the link to be exploited. The Dark Lord is, after all, an accomplished Legilimens."

As the Professor spoke, Harry carefully listened. He knew that the link Severus was referring to was the horcrux that had been living inside him for many year. If it had still been in him, then perhaps there would have been a point to all of this. But since Drew and his team had extracted the fractured soul from his own, Harry had lost access to Voldemort's mind, to his emotions, to his memories. However, he didn't exactly feel it was in his best interest to bring all this up with Severus, afraid it would just go straight back to Dumbledore.

"Tonight, I will expect you to perform poorly since you have had no formal training in the subject. You may find your mind starts to tire the longer I invade your mind. You must fight off the attack while still keeping your emotions and thoughts hidden away from me. The key is to make it blank and calm," he continued to explain as his wand slipped down into his palm. "The more you can train your mind to remain calm, the easier it will become to ward off attackers."

The entire conversation felt like a strange moment of deja-vu for Harry. But he knew exactly why. He remembered Drew had given instructions to him that were of a very similar nature during their first lesson after Harry had expressed his interest in both Occlemency and Legilimency. Despite the fondness the conversation brought him, he tried to push it away, knowing that he needed to have a blank mind when Severus started. The last thing he needed was to accidentally expose his father-figure all because he had yearned for him in a moment of weakness.

"I am about to attempt to break into your mind. We are going to see how well you resist," Severus said as he straightened up and pointed his wand directly at Harry. After a nod, Harry felt his hands clench the arms of the chair in silent anticipation. "Brace yourself, now.... Legilimens!"

Immediately, Harry could detect a presence in his mind. Something he was all too familiar with from all the practice he had with Drew. He felt a probing sensation as Severus tried to dig around, break through his mental barriers, find an emotion or thought or memory that he could exploit. The entire time, Harry's mind remained blank. He didn't buckle under the pressure that this was indeed dangerous territory.

Not sure how long Severus was expecting him to last under the attack, Harry started to push back only once he felt the Professor attempt to double down. He focused on the feeling of the foreign presence and imagined ejecting it from his mind, severing the connection between them. He reinforced his mental shields as he did to ensure there was no possible straws for Severus to grasp onto on his way out.

Harry opened his eyes, not remembering when they had closed. He stared silently up at Severus who slowly lowered his wand. How he wished he could probe his mind right now to see what he was thinking. But he knew he couldn't risk something like that. Instead he forced himself to keep breathing in a relaxed regular pattern, prepared for another attack, sure it would be non-stop and he would need to remain calm.

"That attempt wasn't as poor as it could have been," mused Severus with a rather blank expression before he held his wand up. "Again."

Another two more times Severus attempted to penetrate Harry's mind. It took all of Harry's mental energy to keep his carefully constructed walls up. He had many years to train for this. He wouldn't allow himself to slip or crumble under the pressure. But he would give Severus credit, he tested him. The relentless push started to tire Harry. It had been a while since he had lasted practiced warding off constant attacks from another person.

"You think that the Dark Lord will show you mercy?" Severus asked as he was pushed out of Harry's mind for the third time. Harry knew the answer, but didn't respond, as he felt his mind be invaded for a fourth time.

The fourth attempt to break through Harry's barriers had been intense. Severus had thrown everything behind it, almost catching him off guard for a moment. But Harry remained calm and fought back. His breathing was more labored as he focused on keeping his mind blank as he tried to throw Severus out. He was definitely being to tire from all of the mental energy being used. Especially after the physical draining morning he had with the three Aurors.

There wasn't even a pause between the fourth and fifth attack, Severus merely went straight back in. Harry could feel his defense start to waver. He tried his best to fend off the intrusion for as long as he could. But his breathing was no longer calm and at that point of time he was exhausted. However, Severus was right. If this was the Dark Lord, he would not show him any mercy simply because he was tired.

That spurred Harry on. He fought back even harder and managed to successfully throw Severus out of his mind without him seeing any thoughts, emotions, or memories another two times. The seventh try, Harry could barely keep his walls up. All it took was the tiniest crack and one slip for Severus to see a surface level memory.

Flashes of two different sizes fists connecting with Harry's small framed body as he cowered in the corner. Hurled insults flew from both his cousin and his uncle during the relentless attack. A cruel, cold laugh as his aunt walked in and simply sat herself down on the couch.

Green eyes met black eyes as Harry threw Severus out of his mind once more. Silence engulfed the room. Both men breathed heavily from the mental exercise. Harry used the pause to get control over his mind, bringing it back down to a calm and blank state, not letting the small slip shake him in case Severus went back at it again. After all, he had allowed Severus to see that memory. It was at the front for a reason.

Drew had always taught him to compartmentalise his memories from least to most important. The ones he could allow people to see would be on the surface level while everything that needed to be hidden was buried deep within him. That way if anyone did break through his mental walls it wouldn't lead to anything that could be exploited. He was taught that if he allowed them to see one or two memories from the surface level, it could give him time to regain a bit of strength to reinforce his barriers, while the attacker thought they had walked away the winner. Little did they know that Harry had only allowed it to be seen.

Majority of Harry's memories, thoughts, and emotions on the top surface level were from his time with the Dursleys. He could easily bring up anything from that period of time since he knew it would not affect him emotionally as much as the stuff hidden deep down. He hid anything to do with Drew, the others, where he had been all that time, and what he did for money, down beneath everything else. By the time any attackers got to his middle level, Harry would have hopefully regained enough strength to force them out.

"You need more practice," Severus said, the first to break the silence, after they had silently been staring at one another. "If it was the Dark Lord, he would have kept going. He would only use your past against you. Giving into your emotions will be your weakness, and he will exploit that. He would not care if you were starting to tire mentally. He would continue until he finally broke through."

"I understand," Harry said, his voice slightly croaky after both not having used it for a while as well as the energy he had exerted.

"If you want to take this seriously, I suggest you mediate each night before bed. Clear your mind of all thoughts and emotions. Next time, I expect you to withstand the attacks longer. I am not here to waste either of our time. Am I understood?" he asked in a stern tone.

"Yes sir," he answered with a single nod.

"You may go. I am sure need to get some rest after a physically and mentally testing day," he dismissed as he moved to sit behind his desk.

"Thank you sir," Harry politely said, immediately he pushed his tired body into a standing position. "One thing before I leave, if I may?"

"What is it, Potter?" asked Severus with no expression, his dark eyes bore into Harry with intensity.

"I know you don't have much of a choice to be here and help me," he said, not having had the chance of the last two days they had been working on potions. "But I just wanted to make my gratitude known. I appreciate you giving up some of your time to help prepare me for the inevitable."

"I'll make a note of it," dismissed Severus. He broke eye contact as he summoned as piece of parchment to him and picked up the quill beside him. The office was silent as neither made a move. "You may go, Potter. It is late."

Not another word spoken as Severus heard Harry leave his personal office. The moment the door had closed and he was left to stew in the silence, he dropped the quill back onto the desk. He ran a hand down his face, mentally exhausted after the relentless effort he had thrown to attempt to break down Harry's mind. It had been a while since he had lasted came across someone with such strong walls.

In a way, the power Harry had shown off reminded him much of the power himself, Dumbledore and Voldemort possessed. As he silently stared at the wall in front of him, Severus believed Harry would have no issue defending his mind from attack in the future if he practiced each night like he had suggested. The following week, he would be able to gauge just how much progress had been made and if it was even worth his efforts trying to teach him such a subject if it turned out he didn't practice.

And despite how Harry had insisted he was unfamiliar with the practice of Occlumency and Legilimency, he was inclined to believe otherwise. Still so much mystery shrouded the boy's past. No one was privy to where he had been, what he had been doing, how much he knows. And as Severus started to pack up to retire for the evening, he thought that no one would find out unless Harry, himself, gave up the information. Because there was no chance Severus would be able to crack through his mental barriers and accidentally see a memory. Harry had too much power and control for Severus to fight against.