Yo.
Productive day, today. Here's the third chapter, fresh off the presses.
Have a looksie and as always, comments/suggestions/corrections or whatnot, bring 'em on!
***
"Mr Moody... You've written eight full pages of questions, both front and back." Narcissa commented after Moody had given her a list of the questions he intended to ask while she was under the influence of Veritaserum.
"And?" Moody retorted.
"Most of them seems to be dealing with my knowledge of Death Eater activities. Do you suppose we could settle for one question that is something along the lines of 'Will I be honest when asked about Death Eater Activities?' and get to the rest of all of these at some other point? If nothing else, there's no way that you'll have time for all these questions during a single session." Narcissa suggested, causing Moody to look dissapointed for a while, before he grudgingly nodded.
Narcissa deftly took possession of a quill and started writing down the questions she had approved of on a separate piece of paper, some of them she combined into one single question instead of two or three separate ones. In the end, the eight pages moody had handed her became one and that didn't even completely use up both sides of it.
Moody carefully read through it, comparing it with his own by far longer list to see what questions Narcissa had removed or changed from how they were originally written.
"I notice here that you changed 'Will you be loyal to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix?' to 'Will you be loyal to the Order of the Phoenix?'." Moody commented. "Care to explain yourself?"
"As long as I am a member, my loyality will be to the Order itself, not the incompetent leader of it." Narcissa replied with a faint shrug.
"Hm..." was all Moody had to comment on that, then he got back to checking the lists against eachother. "Well, I guess the important stuff is all there." he said as he put Narcissa's revised list down onto the table.
"Harry will be asking the questions, acompanied by Nymphadora and Hestia. No others will be present." Narcissa suddenly announced.
"Huh? What?" Mundungus exclaimed.
"The questioning will be conducted by Harry, Miss Tonks and Miss Jones will be present to supervise and take notes. No others will be present." Narcissa clarified. "Him, I trust to keep to the script and those two are capable of ensuring that I don't manipulate things. I suppose Professor Flitwick and Professor Pomphrey can be present as well. Those I feel can be trusted not to ask unscripted questions, which I'm not sure the rest of you can. Some less then others." she explained and finished with a pointed look at Moody, Mundungus and Dumbledore.
"Fine by me." Hestia replied with a shrug.
"No skin off my back." Tonks agreed.
"Albus Dumbledore is the most respected wizard in the world! Alastor Moody is a decorated Auror!" Molly exclaimed before Harry could respond, her words causing Mundungus to bristle somewhat as he was rather pointedly left out of her defence, being given only a dissaproving look and a faint sniff before Molly turned away from him.
"I respect Dumbledore well enough. I just don't trust him to stick to the script." Narcissa countered. "Alastor Moody is the most decorated Auror in the corps history, true. He's also been slapped with more misconduct demeanors then any other three Aurors put together, including the Dark Lord Bloody Radcliffe."
"I will not be present during the questioning. You have my word on that, Mrs Malfoy." Dumbledore promised, taking some of the wind out of Molly's sails.
"I can supervise things well enough from any room in the house." Moody eventually responded with a faint shrug, before he looked over at Harry. "How about you, Potter? Will you accept her terms?" he asked.
"I'll do it." Harry replied after a moments consideration. "Tonks and Hestia can tag along, Flitwick and Pomphrey can wait outside with Moody in case Narcissa tries anything, as well as keep any undesirables away." he added.
"Solid vigilant thinking, Potter. That works well enough for me. Any protests?" Moody asked, but other then a few curious and uncomfortable expressions, nobody spoke up. "That's how we'll do it then." he declared.
Minutes later, Narcissa was given Veritaserum in one of the rooms upstairs and after a few moments for the drug to take effect, Moody who had administered it looked intently at Narcissa's glazed eyes.
"What colour are your panties?" he asked.
"A light yellow." Narcissa replied.
"With lacy edges, yes. The serum seems to work well enough." Moody declared and then walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"That is one blunt man." Narcissa dazedly commented with a distasteful expression and a glare towards the closed door.
"Never thought of that use for his magical eye..." Tonks mumbled and glanced at Hestia.
"You think he does it often?" Hestia asked with wide-open eyes as she squirmed in her seat.
"You think he does it to *everybody*?" Harry asked and shuddered twice, first as he imagined Moody looking at his underwear or worse! Then again as he imagined Moody looking at Snape's underwear!
"Well, we'd better get this show on the road, before the serum wears off. You may start the questioning whenever you are ready, Potter." Narcissa announced.
The questioning itself went smoothly with Narcissa not even trying to resist the serum. Harry was somewhat surprised to find that the only crime Narcissa herself had comitted was by not reporting what she knew to the authorities. In spite of being married to Lucius, being sister to Bellatrix and having a Death Eater wannabe for a son, she hadn't ever been personally involved in any Death Eater activities.
Well, not reporting what she knew and some underage drinking, along with having taken some other illegal substances during her time at Hogwarts.
But no 'real' crimes.
In fact, Harry himself had been up to worse things from a strictly legal standpoint, even if he could justify almost everything he'd ever been guilty of. At least to himself, though a court of justice might not quite agree with his take on things.
She also promised to be loyal to the Order of the Phoenix for as long as she was a member. Harry frowned at that and did a little improvisation, asking if she'd promise to give warning at least a week ahead of time before quitting. She said that she would, though warned him not to get too creative with his questioning from that point onwards.
Which he didn't, keeping strictly to the script from then on until they were finished a couple of minutes later.
"Well, I'm guessing there's at least a minute or two worth of effect left." Narcissa commented and waved away Tonks as she stood up to offer Narcissa the anti-dote. "I'd like to have a little chat with Potter, if you don't mind. I won't harm him, I promise." she requested.
"All right." Harry replied after a few moments, nodding at Tonks and Hestia who seemed hesitant, but took their notes and left the room, closing the door behind them. "What did you want to talk with me about?" Harry asked.
"You're the key to defeating the Dark Lord, but not at all up to the task as far as I can see. Hogwarts is also woefully incapable of adequately preparing you for it. I am one of four people within British borders licensed to take on an Apprentice and I'd like for you to be that Apprentice." Narcissa replied, causing Harry to blink.
"Whatever for?" he asked with a confused expression. "And what do I get out of it?" he added suspiciously.
"I can teach you everything you can learn at Hogwarts. But I can also teach you things you can't, or won't be allowed to, learn at Hogwarts. By only having a single student to focus on, our lessons will be a whole lot more effective and you'll learn quicker then you would at Hogwarts. As long as you aren't a complete dolt, I promise that you'll be ready for your NEWTS within six months." Narcissa replied and leaned forward in her seat.
"At Hogwarts, you'll never reach your full potential and it'll take years until you've learned enough to have even a faint chance of standing toe-to-toe with the Dark Lord. As of the failed assassination attempt on me, I likely became a priority target for the Dark Lord and will probably remain so until he's eliminated and his followers eradicated. You're my best shot at ensuring that he does get eliminated, so your education is one of my top priorities at the moment." she continued with a determined expression.
"You don't necessarily have to become my Apprentice, but I *strongly* urge you to leave Hogwarts and seek out a better form of education. And there is no form of education better then Apprenticeship." she finished and leaned back in her seat again.
"The serum isn't working any longer, is it?" Harry asked.
"No. It stopped working somewhere around the failed assassination attempt, I think." Narcissa replied.
"What do you get out of this?" Harry asked.
"Like I said, you're my best shot at getting rid of the Dark Lord, meaning that you're my best shot at survival. You learn, you stand a better chance and thus I have a higher chance of staying alive." Narcissa responded and Harry slowly nodded.
"I'll think about it." he offered and Narcissa nodded.
"Then all is well. Though I'd make up my mind before school starts up again, if I were you." Narcissa replied. "Because if you don't go for an Apprenticeship, you're going to need a lot of electives and very likely some private tutoring in subjects not offered by Hogwarts in addition to those. If you're the key to the Dark Lords downfall, you can't afford to fool around and do things half-assed any longer."
"As I've been doing up until now, you mean?" Harry asked, bristling at her condesending manner.
"You're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, are you not? That is a lot of time wasted that could be spent learning something that might actually keep you alive." Narcissa replied. "How are your grades and what subjects did you take this year?" she asked and nodded to herself as Harry avoided her gaze. "Ah. I thought as much." was all she said.
"I won't have any spare time at all, will I?" Harry asked morosely.
"Would you rather play Quidditch or actually stand a chance at surviving what will come to pass?" Narcissa countered.
"I'll take a serious look at that Apprentice thing." Harry promised.
When she put it like that, the choice of studying versus goofing off with Ron and playing Quidditch wasn't such a hard decision after all.
***
"Ah, Harry. Did you have a good conversation with Mrs Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked as Harry entered the kitchen, where Dumbledore, Moody, Flitwick, Remus, Arthur, Tonks, Hestia and Mundungus were talking amongst each other, the rest of the Order apparently having left.
"No, but it was an informative one." Harry replied. "Sir, do you know any British citizens currently licensed to take on an Apprentice?" Harry asked, causing Dumbledore's forehead to furrow for a few moments, before he nodded.
"I am one of them. I haven't actually put it to use since 1895, when I Apprenticed Minerva's uncle Theodore." Dumbledore replied. "My brother Aberforth and my old Master Nicolas Flamel." he continued and shrugged. "It's an outdated practise in the western parts of Europe, as we've had a long tradition of excellent wizarding schools. It's by far more common in the eastern parts of Europe, most of Africa and parts of Asia. Why do you ask?"
"Narcissa strongly hinted that Hogwarts can't provide the education I need in order to survive and suggested that I drop out of school in favour of a full-time Apprenticeship." Harry replied and Dumbledore sighed.
"Harry... I can't deny that she has a point. You would progress faster under a capable Master then you would at Hogwarts. But you'd miss out on so much! You wouldn't have your friends, you wouldn't have Quidditch and your days would be filled with nothing but studies. You're only young once, Harry. Enjoy it while you can." he advised. "Besides, I have Hogwarts to look after and wouldn't be able to devote my full attention to you."
"Your brother or Flammel, then?" Harry asked and Dumbledore hesitated for a moment.
"I can ask them, I suppose. My brother might be willing to do it, though I can't promise anything. Nicolas... Well... Once again, I can ask, but chances are that he'll want to spend what remains of his life with his wife and his research." Albus offered and Harry nodded.
"Narcissa offered to take me on." Harry announced.
"She's a licensed Master?" Dumbledore asked with a surprised expression.
"I know that she applied about eight years ago." Flitwick suddenly stated. "She asked me to become one of her sponsors and I accepted. She was planning on having Draco as her Apprentice, but Lucius must have overruled her and sent him off to Hogwarts anyway."
"Well... The lass is a tough one, there's no denying that." Mundungus mumbled and absently scratched his left shoulder where Narcissa had landed a stinging hex when she chased him out of Malfoy manor. "She could teach you a thing or two, I'd wager."
"She was and still is one of the more talented students I've ever had the pleasure of teaching Charms." Flitwick agreed. "She wasn't quite at the level of your mother, but she was very good none the less. Nothing but top grades, both in regular Charms and all the electives I offered."
"She had the fifteenth highest grade throughout the history of Hogwarts. EE in Care of Magical Creatures and A in Muggle Studies, the rest were all Outstanding. She truly was a model student." Dumbledore agreed, before he adopted a more serious expression. "I won't deny that she is a capable and extremly knowledgable witch, Harry. I don't think she's appropriate as your Master, especially not in either of your particular situations. You've just lost your godfather, she's just lost her son and husband. Neither of those circumstances are ideal for a Master-Apprentice relationship. You'd be better off going to Hogwarts, at least for another year to give both of you proper time to deal with your grief."
"Another whole year going to waste?" Harry asked. "Had you told me what was at stake during my first year, that might have been possible as I would have been better prepared by now. But because you didn't, I'm not and now it feels like time is running out. One way or the other, I have to do something drastic to improve my chances of surviving and I have to do it quickly."
"Harry, please. You're still young, leave such matters to the adults for a while longer." Dumbledore pleaded.
"I can't. Not any longer." Harry insisted and shook his head. "If I'm going to be the-man-who-survived, I can no longer be the-boy-who-lived." he said and sighed. "You know... I never really knew how appropriate my nom de guerre was until recently. The-boy-who-lived... The boy who once had a life, but doesn't any longer. Thanks for that, by the way." he said, drawing out a shocked gasp from Dumbledore.
"The next time you have any information that concerns me, I'd appriciate if you tell me right away, instead of keeping it to yourself for more then a deccade. I don't care if you don't think I'm ready for it. If my choices are getting bad news that by it's very nature can keep me alive or live in ignorance and endanger my life by doing so, I'll take the bad news any day of the week." he announced and shook his head. "I won't be attending Hogwarts next year, Headmaster. One way or the other, I'll be Apprenticed. I'd prefer if it was to you, but I can live with either Flamel or your brother. If none of you are available, I'll see if Narcissa is still willing to take me on." he finished and left the room, stepping around Narcissa who had been standing in the doorway for Merlin knew how long.
One week later, Aberforth Dumbledore had declined, stating his own research as the reason for it. Nicolas Flamel replied a day after that, citing that he was too old and frail to take on an Apprentice now when he no longer had the Philosophers Stone to maintain his vitality. Dumbledore offered to take Harry on in his spare time for the upcomming year and full-time from then on, stating that he'd resign as Headmaster of Hogwarts and Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot in order to focus on being Harry's Master.
In the end, Harry decided against it and asked Narcissa if she'd accept him as her Apprentice, which she quite happily agreed to do.
***
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as she burst into his room at Grimmauld Place without knocking.
"'Mione? Hi! What are you doing here?" Harry happily greeted his old friend as he looked up from his desk and dropped his quill. "Ron! Great to see you, mate!" he added and stood up as Ron followed Hermione through the door. Hermione gave him a fierce hug and even Ron pulled him into a half-hug with his right arm, giving him a few solid pats on his back with his left.
"Harry Potter! What is this I hear about you dropping out of Hogwarts?!" Hermione exclaimed with a stern expression.
"Yeah, mate. What's up with that?" Ron added in bewilderment. "It's the best wizarding school in all of Europe. Besides, you're our star seeker! What will the team do without you in it?" he demanded to know, causing Harry to roll his eyes. Trust Ron to focus on whatever would affect him the most.
"I'm banned from Quidditch anyway, Ron. Remember?" Harry sighed and turned to face Hermione. "Dumbledore has apparently spilled the beans and let the Order know that I'm the key to defeating Voldemort, which has changed a lot of things. He told me the prophecy and I now realize what I have to do and I can't learn everything I need for that at Hogwarts, so I'm entering an Apprenticeship."
"An Apprenticeship?" Hermione responded, her eyes widening. "Well... That's good, I guess." she responded hesitantly.
"You thought I was going to ditch my studies alltogether, didn't you?" Harry asked and Hermione blushed, averting her gaze for a few moments.
"That's really unusual, isn't it?" Ron suddenly asked. "I know Charlie was completely stunned by how many wizards were Apprenticed to a Master in Romania instead of attending a proper wizarding school."
"Yeah. Nobody in Britain has accepted an Apprentice since Nicolas Flammel tutored Amelia Bones in Advanced Scrying between 1962 and 1963." Hermione piped up. "Oh, you're going to study with Nicolas Flammel? That's so fantastic!" she gushed. "I read up on him after our first year, y'know? He's amazing!"
"Uh, no... He's dying these days, slowly, but still dying." Harry replied. "Dumbledore and his brother didn't have time for it, so there was only one qualified person left in the country." he continued and took a deep breath. "Narcissa Malfoy." he revealed.
Hermione blinked and her jaw actually dropped for a few seconds, before she closed her mouth with a snap and simply stared at him, not quite knowing how to respond to that.
Ron gasped and stumbled backwards, falling onto his ass with a loud thud. Though he had no problems finding words to say.
"Ow! Have you lost your mind, Harry? Gone completely bonkers? Malfoys mum?!" Ron exclaimed, before he jumped back onto his feet. "Malfoys ruddy mum?! He's going to be even more insufferable after this!" he yelped.
"Malfoy is dead, Ron." Harry replied, causing Hermione to gasp and Ron to freeze in mid-rant.
"Dead?" Hermione asked.
"Dead?" Ron parroted, a completely bewildered expression on his face. It was clear that he was completely torn over joy at being rid of his main tormentor and confused over his death.
"Lucius Malfoy killed him when Draco refused to kill Narcissa. Voldemort ordered Draco to kill Narcissa before he was initiated as a Death Eater. Draco refused and turned on his father who'd come along to oversee the execution. He killed Lucius with an Avada Kedavra, but not before Lucius got off an Avada Kedavra in return." Harry revealed, completely flabbergasting his two best friends.
"How did you find out? I haven't heard a thing about that." Ron exclaimed.
"Me either. I've subscribed to every wizarding magazine in Britain and a few international ones, but none of them have mentioned this!" Hermione agreed.
"I had another vision one night. One of Voldemort ordering Draco do kill his mother and after that, ordering Lucius to tag along and ensure that everything went okay. In the morning, I got a muggle letter from Luna with fourteen knuts and five sickles. All her letter said was 'It'll happen at 10:15. The knuts are for the Knight Bus fee, the sickles are to bribe them to take you to Malfoy Manor before dropping off the other passengers. Luna.'." Harry explained and scratched the back of his head.
"Dunno how she knew about it. I'd almost forgotten about that, to tell the truth. I tried to get a hold of the Order, but my guard was missing and Hedwig out hunting, so the clock turned 9:55 before I grabbed my stuff and rushed outside, called for the night bus and went to Malfoy Manor on my own." Harry revealed, acompanied by twin gasps from his friends.
"On your own! You *are* bonkers!" Ron exclaimed.
"Do you have any idea of how dangerous that is?!" Hermione added.
"I'm around still, aren't I?" Harry countered and shook his head. "Anyway, I was too late to do anything. I arrived just after Lucius and Draco had killed each other. Me and Narcissa came here with Draco's body, then I had to go home for a while. But Voldemort has apparently been recruiting some really nasty demon summoners, then sent them after me on Snape's suggestion. Wards are almost useless against demons, so the Order evacuated me from Privet Drive to here."
"Snape had V-v-o-voldemort sic demons after you?" Ron asked with his eyes opened wide. "So he *is* a creep!" he exclaimed, almost happily.
"He's always been a creep, now it's just been proven beyond any doubt that he's a treasonous creep." Harry replied. "He was interrogated with Veritaserum during an Order meeting after he tried to kill Narcissa and spilled the beans in front of the whole Order, admitting to everything from deliberately screwing up my Occlumency lessons to murdering innocents for his own perverted pleasure."
"Wow..." Hermione breathed. "What is going to happen to him?"
"It's still being debated. Dumbledore wants to ignore his actions and let everything remain as it is. Narcissa and Moody want to keep him as a spy, but keep him ignorant of Order business and interrogate him with Veritaserum every chance they get, Obliviating him after every time to keep him ignorant of what they're doing to him." Harry revealed and observed Ron blinking in bewildered confusion, while Hermione seemed torn between approval and disapproval.
Ron was an easy creature to figure out, but Hermione was a whole different kettle of fish.
At times, she could be incredibly ruthless. He well recalled her treatment of their least favourite bug-lady, Rita Skeeter. At others, she was incredibly kind and forgiving.
"Some in the Order want to turn him over to the Aurors and have him answer to his crimes. The rest of them are unsure or divided between the two camps." he finished.
"If anyone ever deserved a Dementors Kiss, it's Snape." Ron grunted.
"Oh, do be serious for once, Ron." Hermione exclaimed dismissively, him taking a side apparently assisting in making up her own mind about it.
Harry sometimes wondered if Hermione didn't just take certain stands on issues in order to invite an argument with Ron.
"The right thing to do would be to have him answer for his crimes, but as long as he's still useful to the Order, that will have to be put on hold." she reasoned and frowned. "I don't much like either option though. Dumbledore's way is more humane, but... Wait a minute... Narcissa and Moody? She's in the Order now?"
"Yes." Harry admitted. "In fact, once Dumbledore's mistakes came out, she's been more or less leading them, even before she officially joined. I don't even think most of them realize it, but when she talks, most of them listen and many does as she says."
"How do you know all of this?" Ron suddenly asked.
"I've been allowed in on their meetings ever since I was removed from Privet Drive. I'm not allowed to go on missions, but at least they're keeping me informed and allow me an opinion in the meetings." he replied and gestured at the desk where he'd been working as they entered. "I'm even given the occational task. Right now, I'm drawing up a pamphlet for the parents of underage Muggleborn about what's really happening in the Wizarding World and what they can can do and where they can go to get help in protecting themselves and their children."
"Really?" Hermione asked with an excited and eager expression, obviously hardly able to restrain herself from heading on over there right this moment to look over what he had and no doubt suggest things of her own for a while, until she'd completely push him aside and do it all herself.
"Really?" Ron parroted. "Why?" he asked.
"Think about it for a moment, Ron. Most Muggles know almost nothing at all about the Wizarding World and what little they do know, is what their children tell them and what they see when visiting places like Diagon Alley. Some of them might subscribe to the Prophet or the Quibbler, but that's it unless they have friends in the Wizarding World. That is the extent of their knowledge of the Wizarding World. The Muggleborn children likely doesn't understand half of what is going on and are probably too focused on the impressive things they're seeing once entering the Wizarding World to even bother trying to really find out. The Prophet is biased and filled with Ministry propaganda. The Quibbler has the occational smidgeon of truth, but buried between articles of impossibly outlandish conspiracies and the mating habits of imaginary creatures." Harry explained and shook his head. "Incomplete, biased or incorrect information is what they have to go on. This will be the first piece of true information about the current situation that they're likely to get their hands on."
"That's incredible!" Hermione approved, then suddenly looked worried. "Uh, you won't be sending one to my parents, will you?" she fretted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"One will be sent to the parents or other guardians of every underage Muggleborn. Those that are of age, will be sent one themselves, then they can decide what to do with it." Harry replied. "Your parents deserve to know the truth, Hermione. As do all other Muggleborn parents out there. We're at war now, or will be shortly at least, and they are prime targets for Voldemort and his Death Eaters." he continued. "It was Moony who suggested this pamphlet, but I think it's a really good idea. Even Narcissa agreed, once she reached the conclusion that if the Muggles are able to defend themselves, Voldemort might loose a few Death Eaters to failed raids and if they manage to hide, the Death Eaters will be wasting time and effort trying to find them instead of doing something worse."
"You've changed, mate." Ron suddenly announced, not being obvious about if he thought it was a good change or not.
"Matured, even." Hermione agreed.
"We're at war now. Potter can ill afford to remain a child, as the fate of us all rests in his hands." a cold voice stated from the door, causing all three to spin around only to face Narcissa Malfoy standing in the doorway. "Miss Granger, Mister Weasley." she greeted them with a faint nod. "Potter, it's time for our first lesson." she stated with a regal expression.
"Comming, Master." Harry replied, shocking the hell out of Ron who tumbled to the floor once again and causing Hermione to do her fish-out-of-water-impression again. "I'll see you guys later, okay?" he said as he walked after Narcissa as she headed for the basement.
"Bonkers... He's gone completely bonkers, I tell you..." Ron muttered.
"You know, for once I'm wondering if you might not be right..." Hermione mumbled after a few moments of complete silence.
***
"All right then, my young Apprentice. Give me your wand." Narcissa said as the two of them had reached an empty room in the basement that Narcissa had cleared out earlier. Harry hesitantly pulled his wand out, fingering it for a few moments before he handed it to Narcissa who hefted it in her hand and offered him a twisted smile. "You're too trusting by far." she commented and suddenly turned both his and her own wand on him. "You're defenceless, completely at my mercy."
"I'm not afraid." Harry claimed, staring unflinchingly at her.
"Not yet, but you will be. Oh yes, you will be." she simply responded and their gazes duelled for a few moments, until Narcissa broke eye-contact and looked down at his wand. "Well, I suppose trust between Master and Apprentice is a good thing. Let's see what I have to work with." she said and waved her own wand over his, muttering a long incantation under her breath and finished by tapping Harry's wand with her own, which caused it to shine with a variety of colours. "My, my, my, Potter! You've used Dark spells? How... Unexpected." she commented and pointed out a black streak emitting from the business end of his wand that seemed to suck all the life, light and brightness out of the area surrounding it. "Either a lot of them over a long period of time or something really nasty somewhat recently. Which is it?" she inquired and outlined the dark light with her own wand, before she looked up at him.
"The Cruciatus." he replied after several seconds of complete silence.
"Peh, fool!" she groused and shook her head. "I don't know if I should scold you for trying to use that as your first Dark spell or praise you for actually succeeding. This dark area wouldn't be this long if you'd failed. Doesn't seem like a spectacular success, but a success none the less." she commented. "When and against whom?"
"The Ministry. Bellatrix." Harry replied with a nausenated expression as he recalled the incident in question.
"You cast the Cruciatus on my sister?" Narcissa demanded to know with an outraged expression, her eyes blazing furiously at him.
"I did." he replied and was then silent for a few moments. "My only regret is that it didn't worked better then it did." he added with a defiant expression.
Narcissa stared venomously at him for nearly a full minute, neither one of the two stopping their mutual staring contest before Narcissa once again looked down at his wand, then used her own to point out a wide and tall streak of gold emitted by his wand.
"You've got power." she revealed as she indicated the length of the golden light, changing the subject. "Not a whole lot of focus, though." she continued and indicated the width. "We'll have to work on that, all the power in the world can't help you if you don't know how to use it properly." she informed him and then gestured at a large red area of light and a smaller blue one. "Lots of passion in your spellwork, but not so much planning. It seems like you rarely think things through before you do them. This, we'll also work on." she continued and then pointed out a bright white area. "Positive magic. You've cast a really Light spell or several of them, several times too I'm guessing."
"Expecto Patronum." Harry offered and she raised an eyebrow.
"Cruciatus *and* Expecto Patronum?! You're an interesting one, Potter. Considering your lack of focus, I wouldn't have thought it possible for you to use either one of them. I guess all that passion and power counts for something after all." she commented and looked up at him with an odd expression. If he didn't know any better, he'd almost call it 'respectful'. She kept staring at him in silence until he found it so uncomfortable that he had to look away from her. "Well, that gives me a couple of ideas for your combat training, which is what I figured we'd start with. It's very unconventional, but considering the situation at hand and what I've got to work with in you, it makes sense."
"What?" Harry asked as he looked back at her.
"You need focus, badly. You need to check how deep the water is before you dive right in. You need to learn how to defend yourself and how to effectively go on the offensive. You seem to have a knack for the more difficult spells." Narcissa concluded and smiled. "So, instead of starting out with the small stuff, learn lots of spells and build on that, I'll just teach you a couple of shields for your defence. For offence, Reducto and Diffindo which you already know, or at least wrote in your list that you knew, will do for most situations. To improve your focus, we'll go over some of the most difficult and demanding spells there are. Over and over again. ... The Unforgivables." Narcissa finished, causing Harry to flinch away from her.
"T-t-t-the Unforgiveables?" he stuttered.
"Precisely. If you succeeded in using the Cruciatus on your first attempt, you must have a serious knack for them. But you'll find that using one in the heat of battle while drunk on emotions is a whole other matter then using one in training when you're calm. It will force you to build focus and assist in helping you think before acting, as using one without a pressing need is one of the most difficult things you'll ever attempt. So we'll work on the Pain Curse, the Killing Curse and the Governing Curse until you know them like the back of your own hands." she drawled and walked up to him, putting his wand back into his hand. "You'll become so intimately familliar with them that they'll seem like old friends, friends that will hone your power from clumsy sledgehammer bluntness to precise-cutting razor sharpness. When I'm through with you, the Wizarding World will have their weapon against the Dark Lord. But it won't be an imprecise noisy bomb, it'll be an assassins poisoned dagger."
"But what if I don't want to?" Harry protested.
"Potter, Potter, Potter... I *own* you now. The moment you signed that Apprenticeship agreement, your ass became mine for the next three years." Narcissa purred. "If you'd bothered to read up about Apprenticeships beforehand, you'd found out that not only does an Apprenticeship remove you from the Ministry's control when it comes to the underage magic laws, but it completely removes you from Ministry control. Period. The moment you became my Apprentice, I became the sole authority regarding you. I could kill you right in the middle of Diagon Alley in front of a thousand witnesses and no court of law could convict me for it. I could even use the Avada Kedavra to do it. What takes place between Master and Apprentice is a matter solely between the Master and Apprentice." she informed him with a pleased expression. "So if you want to or not doesn't really matter. It's simply a question of how long it'll take me to *make* you do what I want you to." she revealed with a wide smirk.
"In fact, I think we'll start right now." she said and plucked the wand out of his listless fingers, muttering another long incantation over it before she tapped it with her own wand. "There. Now all you're able to use that wand for, is a rather specific version of the Imperius. You'll be able to use the Imperius to get me to stop my attacks, nothing else." she explained and handed him his wand back.
"What?!" Harry exclaimed.
"That's right. We'll start off light and give you some incentive to succeed. There will come a time when I'll require that you can cast either of the three Unforgiveables at the drop of a hat, but that time has yet to come. Know that you will fail. Repeatedly! But I have no doubt that after you've been under fire for some time, you'll somehow summon up the will, desire and drive necessary to force me to stop." Narcissa explained rather calmly, as if she simply was talking about the dreadful weather they'd been having lately.
"The best key to a successful Cruciatus, is hatred. The Killing Curse works with hatred as well, but there are several others that will do almost or just as well. More about that later. The key to a successful Imperius curse, is determination and willpower. You have to want something so much that you are able to overwhelm the one you're governing. If they desire the same thing as you, it's a rather easy matter. Cursing somebody to eat when they're hungry, is easy. Cursing somebody not to eat when they're starving, that's quite the nut to crack. Keep this in mind for this excercise. You'll have to want for me to stop my attacks more then I want to keep them up." Narcissa continued to explain and then smirked.
"And seeing as how you used the Cruciatus on my sister I'm not going to give in easily, Potter." Narcissa finished and brandished her wand. "Now, let's see how well you do with the Governing Curse!" she said and Harry found himself emitting sulpherous curse after curse as Narcissa launched a barrage of curses, hexes and jinxes at him. He scrambled out of the way and dodged to the best of his ability, as he fruitlessly tried to cast shields, transfigure protection or launch a counter-attack.
It appeared as if Narcissa had been serious, however. He really couldn't use magic for anything! Even the most simple of charms, like Lumos, simply failed to manifest as it should. He could feel magic being collected and sent towards his wand, but instead of magic happening as it should, it merely dispersed without effect.
"Imperio!" he desperately cried out and felt the same thing happening again.
"Good. Very good. Remember to also focus on what you want me to do and that the only thing that will work, is getting me to stop attacking you. Trying to get me to fall asleep, turn around or run head-first into a wall, will simply cause the curse to fail just like with any other spell you might attempt." Narcissa hinted and then started throwing minor pain curses at him at a break-neck pace.
"OW!" Harry cried out as one of them landed on his left ankle. "Imperio!" he tried again.
"Nice, Potter. I actually felt a little tingle from that one! But you'll have to do a lot better then that." Narcissa informed him with a faint smile, then proceeded to launch pain curses at him in a seemingly neverending stream.
For a few frantic moments as Harry desperately had to dodge a barrage of nasty curses being sent at him, he resolved to never *ever* get on Narcissa's bad side. If this was how she acted during training, he'd hate to find out how she acted in actual battle!
THE END! ( For now... )
Productive day, today. Here's the third chapter, fresh off the presses.
Have a looksie and as always, comments/suggestions/corrections or whatnot, bring 'em on!
***
"Mr Moody... You've written eight full pages of questions, both front and back." Narcissa commented after Moody had given her a list of the questions he intended to ask while she was under the influence of Veritaserum.
"And?" Moody retorted.
"Most of them seems to be dealing with my knowledge of Death Eater activities. Do you suppose we could settle for one question that is something along the lines of 'Will I be honest when asked about Death Eater Activities?' and get to the rest of all of these at some other point? If nothing else, there's no way that you'll have time for all these questions during a single session." Narcissa suggested, causing Moody to look dissapointed for a while, before he grudgingly nodded.
Narcissa deftly took possession of a quill and started writing down the questions she had approved of on a separate piece of paper, some of them she combined into one single question instead of two or three separate ones. In the end, the eight pages moody had handed her became one and that didn't even completely use up both sides of it.
Moody carefully read through it, comparing it with his own by far longer list to see what questions Narcissa had removed or changed from how they were originally written.
"I notice here that you changed 'Will you be loyal to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix?' to 'Will you be loyal to the Order of the Phoenix?'." Moody commented. "Care to explain yourself?"
"As long as I am a member, my loyality will be to the Order itself, not the incompetent leader of it." Narcissa replied with a faint shrug.
"Hm..." was all Moody had to comment on that, then he got back to checking the lists against eachother. "Well, I guess the important stuff is all there." he said as he put Narcissa's revised list down onto the table.
"Harry will be asking the questions, acompanied by Nymphadora and Hestia. No others will be present." Narcissa suddenly announced.
"Huh? What?" Mundungus exclaimed.
"The questioning will be conducted by Harry, Miss Tonks and Miss Jones will be present to supervise and take notes. No others will be present." Narcissa clarified. "Him, I trust to keep to the script and those two are capable of ensuring that I don't manipulate things. I suppose Professor Flitwick and Professor Pomphrey can be present as well. Those I feel can be trusted not to ask unscripted questions, which I'm not sure the rest of you can. Some less then others." she explained and finished with a pointed look at Moody, Mundungus and Dumbledore.
"Fine by me." Hestia replied with a shrug.
"No skin off my back." Tonks agreed.
"Albus Dumbledore is the most respected wizard in the world! Alastor Moody is a decorated Auror!" Molly exclaimed before Harry could respond, her words causing Mundungus to bristle somewhat as he was rather pointedly left out of her defence, being given only a dissaproving look and a faint sniff before Molly turned away from him.
"I respect Dumbledore well enough. I just don't trust him to stick to the script." Narcissa countered. "Alastor Moody is the most decorated Auror in the corps history, true. He's also been slapped with more misconduct demeanors then any other three Aurors put together, including the Dark Lord Bloody Radcliffe."
"I will not be present during the questioning. You have my word on that, Mrs Malfoy." Dumbledore promised, taking some of the wind out of Molly's sails.
"I can supervise things well enough from any room in the house." Moody eventually responded with a faint shrug, before he looked over at Harry. "How about you, Potter? Will you accept her terms?" he asked.
"I'll do it." Harry replied after a moments consideration. "Tonks and Hestia can tag along, Flitwick and Pomphrey can wait outside with Moody in case Narcissa tries anything, as well as keep any undesirables away." he added.
"Solid vigilant thinking, Potter. That works well enough for me. Any protests?" Moody asked, but other then a few curious and uncomfortable expressions, nobody spoke up. "That's how we'll do it then." he declared.
Minutes later, Narcissa was given Veritaserum in one of the rooms upstairs and after a few moments for the drug to take effect, Moody who had administered it looked intently at Narcissa's glazed eyes.
"What colour are your panties?" he asked.
"A light yellow." Narcissa replied.
"With lacy edges, yes. The serum seems to work well enough." Moody declared and then walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"That is one blunt man." Narcissa dazedly commented with a distasteful expression and a glare towards the closed door.
"Never thought of that use for his magical eye..." Tonks mumbled and glanced at Hestia.
"You think he does it often?" Hestia asked with wide-open eyes as she squirmed in her seat.
"You think he does it to *everybody*?" Harry asked and shuddered twice, first as he imagined Moody looking at his underwear or worse! Then again as he imagined Moody looking at Snape's underwear!
"Well, we'd better get this show on the road, before the serum wears off. You may start the questioning whenever you are ready, Potter." Narcissa announced.
The questioning itself went smoothly with Narcissa not even trying to resist the serum. Harry was somewhat surprised to find that the only crime Narcissa herself had comitted was by not reporting what she knew to the authorities. In spite of being married to Lucius, being sister to Bellatrix and having a Death Eater wannabe for a son, she hadn't ever been personally involved in any Death Eater activities.
Well, not reporting what she knew and some underage drinking, along with having taken some other illegal substances during her time at Hogwarts.
But no 'real' crimes.
In fact, Harry himself had been up to worse things from a strictly legal standpoint, even if he could justify almost everything he'd ever been guilty of. At least to himself, though a court of justice might not quite agree with his take on things.
She also promised to be loyal to the Order of the Phoenix for as long as she was a member. Harry frowned at that and did a little improvisation, asking if she'd promise to give warning at least a week ahead of time before quitting. She said that she would, though warned him not to get too creative with his questioning from that point onwards.
Which he didn't, keeping strictly to the script from then on until they were finished a couple of minutes later.
"Well, I'm guessing there's at least a minute or two worth of effect left." Narcissa commented and waved away Tonks as she stood up to offer Narcissa the anti-dote. "I'd like to have a little chat with Potter, if you don't mind. I won't harm him, I promise." she requested.
"All right." Harry replied after a few moments, nodding at Tonks and Hestia who seemed hesitant, but took their notes and left the room, closing the door behind them. "What did you want to talk with me about?" Harry asked.
"You're the key to defeating the Dark Lord, but not at all up to the task as far as I can see. Hogwarts is also woefully incapable of adequately preparing you for it. I am one of four people within British borders licensed to take on an Apprentice and I'd like for you to be that Apprentice." Narcissa replied, causing Harry to blink.
"Whatever for?" he asked with a confused expression. "And what do I get out of it?" he added suspiciously.
"I can teach you everything you can learn at Hogwarts. But I can also teach you things you can't, or won't be allowed to, learn at Hogwarts. By only having a single student to focus on, our lessons will be a whole lot more effective and you'll learn quicker then you would at Hogwarts. As long as you aren't a complete dolt, I promise that you'll be ready for your NEWTS within six months." Narcissa replied and leaned forward in her seat.
"At Hogwarts, you'll never reach your full potential and it'll take years until you've learned enough to have even a faint chance of standing toe-to-toe with the Dark Lord. As of the failed assassination attempt on me, I likely became a priority target for the Dark Lord and will probably remain so until he's eliminated and his followers eradicated. You're my best shot at ensuring that he does get eliminated, so your education is one of my top priorities at the moment." she continued with a determined expression.
"You don't necessarily have to become my Apprentice, but I *strongly* urge you to leave Hogwarts and seek out a better form of education. And there is no form of education better then Apprenticeship." she finished and leaned back in her seat again.
"The serum isn't working any longer, is it?" Harry asked.
"No. It stopped working somewhere around the failed assassination attempt, I think." Narcissa replied.
"What do you get out of this?" Harry asked.
"Like I said, you're my best shot at getting rid of the Dark Lord, meaning that you're my best shot at survival. You learn, you stand a better chance and thus I have a higher chance of staying alive." Narcissa responded and Harry slowly nodded.
"I'll think about it." he offered and Narcissa nodded.
"Then all is well. Though I'd make up my mind before school starts up again, if I were you." Narcissa replied. "Because if you don't go for an Apprenticeship, you're going to need a lot of electives and very likely some private tutoring in subjects not offered by Hogwarts in addition to those. If you're the key to the Dark Lords downfall, you can't afford to fool around and do things half-assed any longer."
"As I've been doing up until now, you mean?" Harry asked, bristling at her condesending manner.
"You're on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, are you not? That is a lot of time wasted that could be spent learning something that might actually keep you alive." Narcissa replied. "How are your grades and what subjects did you take this year?" she asked and nodded to herself as Harry avoided her gaze. "Ah. I thought as much." was all she said.
"I won't have any spare time at all, will I?" Harry asked morosely.
"Would you rather play Quidditch or actually stand a chance at surviving what will come to pass?" Narcissa countered.
"I'll take a serious look at that Apprentice thing." Harry promised.
When she put it like that, the choice of studying versus goofing off with Ron and playing Quidditch wasn't such a hard decision after all.
***
"Ah, Harry. Did you have a good conversation with Mrs Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked as Harry entered the kitchen, where Dumbledore, Moody, Flitwick, Remus, Arthur, Tonks, Hestia and Mundungus were talking amongst each other, the rest of the Order apparently having left.
"No, but it was an informative one." Harry replied. "Sir, do you know any British citizens currently licensed to take on an Apprentice?" Harry asked, causing Dumbledore's forehead to furrow for a few moments, before he nodded.
"I am one of them. I haven't actually put it to use since 1895, when I Apprenticed Minerva's uncle Theodore." Dumbledore replied. "My brother Aberforth and my old Master Nicolas Flamel." he continued and shrugged. "It's an outdated practise in the western parts of Europe, as we've had a long tradition of excellent wizarding schools. It's by far more common in the eastern parts of Europe, most of Africa and parts of Asia. Why do you ask?"
"Narcissa strongly hinted that Hogwarts can't provide the education I need in order to survive and suggested that I drop out of school in favour of a full-time Apprenticeship." Harry replied and Dumbledore sighed.
"Harry... I can't deny that she has a point. You would progress faster under a capable Master then you would at Hogwarts. But you'd miss out on so much! You wouldn't have your friends, you wouldn't have Quidditch and your days would be filled with nothing but studies. You're only young once, Harry. Enjoy it while you can." he advised. "Besides, I have Hogwarts to look after and wouldn't be able to devote my full attention to you."
"Your brother or Flammel, then?" Harry asked and Dumbledore hesitated for a moment.
"I can ask them, I suppose. My brother might be willing to do it, though I can't promise anything. Nicolas... Well... Once again, I can ask, but chances are that he'll want to spend what remains of his life with his wife and his research." Albus offered and Harry nodded.
"Narcissa offered to take me on." Harry announced.
"She's a licensed Master?" Dumbledore asked with a surprised expression.
"I know that she applied about eight years ago." Flitwick suddenly stated. "She asked me to become one of her sponsors and I accepted. She was planning on having Draco as her Apprentice, but Lucius must have overruled her and sent him off to Hogwarts anyway."
"Well... The lass is a tough one, there's no denying that." Mundungus mumbled and absently scratched his left shoulder where Narcissa had landed a stinging hex when she chased him out of Malfoy manor. "She could teach you a thing or two, I'd wager."
"She was and still is one of the more talented students I've ever had the pleasure of teaching Charms." Flitwick agreed. "She wasn't quite at the level of your mother, but she was very good none the less. Nothing but top grades, both in regular Charms and all the electives I offered."
"She had the fifteenth highest grade throughout the history of Hogwarts. EE in Care of Magical Creatures and A in Muggle Studies, the rest were all Outstanding. She truly was a model student." Dumbledore agreed, before he adopted a more serious expression. "I won't deny that she is a capable and extremly knowledgable witch, Harry. I don't think she's appropriate as your Master, especially not in either of your particular situations. You've just lost your godfather, she's just lost her son and husband. Neither of those circumstances are ideal for a Master-Apprentice relationship. You'd be better off going to Hogwarts, at least for another year to give both of you proper time to deal with your grief."
"Another whole year going to waste?" Harry asked. "Had you told me what was at stake during my first year, that might have been possible as I would have been better prepared by now. But because you didn't, I'm not and now it feels like time is running out. One way or the other, I have to do something drastic to improve my chances of surviving and I have to do it quickly."
"Harry, please. You're still young, leave such matters to the adults for a while longer." Dumbledore pleaded.
"I can't. Not any longer." Harry insisted and shook his head. "If I'm going to be the-man-who-survived, I can no longer be the-boy-who-lived." he said and sighed. "You know... I never really knew how appropriate my nom de guerre was until recently. The-boy-who-lived... The boy who once had a life, but doesn't any longer. Thanks for that, by the way." he said, drawing out a shocked gasp from Dumbledore.
"The next time you have any information that concerns me, I'd appriciate if you tell me right away, instead of keeping it to yourself for more then a deccade. I don't care if you don't think I'm ready for it. If my choices are getting bad news that by it's very nature can keep me alive or live in ignorance and endanger my life by doing so, I'll take the bad news any day of the week." he announced and shook his head. "I won't be attending Hogwarts next year, Headmaster. One way or the other, I'll be Apprenticed. I'd prefer if it was to you, but I can live with either Flamel or your brother. If none of you are available, I'll see if Narcissa is still willing to take me on." he finished and left the room, stepping around Narcissa who had been standing in the doorway for Merlin knew how long.
One week later, Aberforth Dumbledore had declined, stating his own research as the reason for it. Nicolas Flamel replied a day after that, citing that he was too old and frail to take on an Apprentice now when he no longer had the Philosophers Stone to maintain his vitality. Dumbledore offered to take Harry on in his spare time for the upcomming year and full-time from then on, stating that he'd resign as Headmaster of Hogwarts and Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot in order to focus on being Harry's Master.
In the end, Harry decided against it and asked Narcissa if she'd accept him as her Apprentice, which she quite happily agreed to do.
***
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed as she burst into his room at Grimmauld Place without knocking.
"'Mione? Hi! What are you doing here?" Harry happily greeted his old friend as he looked up from his desk and dropped his quill. "Ron! Great to see you, mate!" he added and stood up as Ron followed Hermione through the door. Hermione gave him a fierce hug and even Ron pulled him into a half-hug with his right arm, giving him a few solid pats on his back with his left.
"Harry Potter! What is this I hear about you dropping out of Hogwarts?!" Hermione exclaimed with a stern expression.
"Yeah, mate. What's up with that?" Ron added in bewilderment. "It's the best wizarding school in all of Europe. Besides, you're our star seeker! What will the team do without you in it?" he demanded to know, causing Harry to roll his eyes. Trust Ron to focus on whatever would affect him the most.
"I'm banned from Quidditch anyway, Ron. Remember?" Harry sighed and turned to face Hermione. "Dumbledore has apparently spilled the beans and let the Order know that I'm the key to defeating Voldemort, which has changed a lot of things. He told me the prophecy and I now realize what I have to do and I can't learn everything I need for that at Hogwarts, so I'm entering an Apprenticeship."
"An Apprenticeship?" Hermione responded, her eyes widening. "Well... That's good, I guess." she responded hesitantly.
"You thought I was going to ditch my studies alltogether, didn't you?" Harry asked and Hermione blushed, averting her gaze for a few moments.
"That's really unusual, isn't it?" Ron suddenly asked. "I know Charlie was completely stunned by how many wizards were Apprenticed to a Master in Romania instead of attending a proper wizarding school."
"Yeah. Nobody in Britain has accepted an Apprentice since Nicolas Flammel tutored Amelia Bones in Advanced Scrying between 1962 and 1963." Hermione piped up. "Oh, you're going to study with Nicolas Flammel? That's so fantastic!" she gushed. "I read up on him after our first year, y'know? He's amazing!"
"Uh, no... He's dying these days, slowly, but still dying." Harry replied. "Dumbledore and his brother didn't have time for it, so there was only one qualified person left in the country." he continued and took a deep breath. "Narcissa Malfoy." he revealed.
Hermione blinked and her jaw actually dropped for a few seconds, before she closed her mouth with a snap and simply stared at him, not quite knowing how to respond to that.
Ron gasped and stumbled backwards, falling onto his ass with a loud thud. Though he had no problems finding words to say.
"Ow! Have you lost your mind, Harry? Gone completely bonkers? Malfoys mum?!" Ron exclaimed, before he jumped back onto his feet. "Malfoys ruddy mum?! He's going to be even more insufferable after this!" he yelped.
"Malfoy is dead, Ron." Harry replied, causing Hermione to gasp and Ron to freeze in mid-rant.
"Dead?" Hermione asked.
"Dead?" Ron parroted, a completely bewildered expression on his face. It was clear that he was completely torn over joy at being rid of his main tormentor and confused over his death.
"Lucius Malfoy killed him when Draco refused to kill Narcissa. Voldemort ordered Draco to kill Narcissa before he was initiated as a Death Eater. Draco refused and turned on his father who'd come along to oversee the execution. He killed Lucius with an Avada Kedavra, but not before Lucius got off an Avada Kedavra in return." Harry revealed, completely flabbergasting his two best friends.
"How did you find out? I haven't heard a thing about that." Ron exclaimed.
"Me either. I've subscribed to every wizarding magazine in Britain and a few international ones, but none of them have mentioned this!" Hermione agreed.
"I had another vision one night. One of Voldemort ordering Draco do kill his mother and after that, ordering Lucius to tag along and ensure that everything went okay. In the morning, I got a muggle letter from Luna with fourteen knuts and five sickles. All her letter said was 'It'll happen at 10:15. The knuts are for the Knight Bus fee, the sickles are to bribe them to take you to Malfoy Manor before dropping off the other passengers. Luna.'." Harry explained and scratched the back of his head.
"Dunno how she knew about it. I'd almost forgotten about that, to tell the truth. I tried to get a hold of the Order, but my guard was missing and Hedwig out hunting, so the clock turned 9:55 before I grabbed my stuff and rushed outside, called for the night bus and went to Malfoy Manor on my own." Harry revealed, acompanied by twin gasps from his friends.
"On your own! You *are* bonkers!" Ron exclaimed.
"Do you have any idea of how dangerous that is?!" Hermione added.
"I'm around still, aren't I?" Harry countered and shook his head. "Anyway, I was too late to do anything. I arrived just after Lucius and Draco had killed each other. Me and Narcissa came here with Draco's body, then I had to go home for a while. But Voldemort has apparently been recruiting some really nasty demon summoners, then sent them after me on Snape's suggestion. Wards are almost useless against demons, so the Order evacuated me from Privet Drive to here."
"Snape had V-v-o-voldemort sic demons after you?" Ron asked with his eyes opened wide. "So he *is* a creep!" he exclaimed, almost happily.
"He's always been a creep, now it's just been proven beyond any doubt that he's a treasonous creep." Harry replied. "He was interrogated with Veritaserum during an Order meeting after he tried to kill Narcissa and spilled the beans in front of the whole Order, admitting to everything from deliberately screwing up my Occlumency lessons to murdering innocents for his own perverted pleasure."
"Wow..." Hermione breathed. "What is going to happen to him?"
"It's still being debated. Dumbledore wants to ignore his actions and let everything remain as it is. Narcissa and Moody want to keep him as a spy, but keep him ignorant of Order business and interrogate him with Veritaserum every chance they get, Obliviating him after every time to keep him ignorant of what they're doing to him." Harry revealed and observed Ron blinking in bewildered confusion, while Hermione seemed torn between approval and disapproval.
Ron was an easy creature to figure out, but Hermione was a whole different kettle of fish.
At times, she could be incredibly ruthless. He well recalled her treatment of their least favourite bug-lady, Rita Skeeter. At others, she was incredibly kind and forgiving.
"Some in the Order want to turn him over to the Aurors and have him answer to his crimes. The rest of them are unsure or divided between the two camps." he finished.
"If anyone ever deserved a Dementors Kiss, it's Snape." Ron grunted.
"Oh, do be serious for once, Ron." Hermione exclaimed dismissively, him taking a side apparently assisting in making up her own mind about it.
Harry sometimes wondered if Hermione didn't just take certain stands on issues in order to invite an argument with Ron.
"The right thing to do would be to have him answer for his crimes, but as long as he's still useful to the Order, that will have to be put on hold." she reasoned and frowned. "I don't much like either option though. Dumbledore's way is more humane, but... Wait a minute... Narcissa and Moody? She's in the Order now?"
"Yes." Harry admitted. "In fact, once Dumbledore's mistakes came out, she's been more or less leading them, even before she officially joined. I don't even think most of them realize it, but when she talks, most of them listen and many does as she says."
"How do you know all of this?" Ron suddenly asked.
"I've been allowed in on their meetings ever since I was removed from Privet Drive. I'm not allowed to go on missions, but at least they're keeping me informed and allow me an opinion in the meetings." he replied and gestured at the desk where he'd been working as they entered. "I'm even given the occational task. Right now, I'm drawing up a pamphlet for the parents of underage Muggleborn about what's really happening in the Wizarding World and what they can can do and where they can go to get help in protecting themselves and their children."
"Really?" Hermione asked with an excited and eager expression, obviously hardly able to restrain herself from heading on over there right this moment to look over what he had and no doubt suggest things of her own for a while, until she'd completely push him aside and do it all herself.
"Really?" Ron parroted. "Why?" he asked.
"Think about it for a moment, Ron. Most Muggles know almost nothing at all about the Wizarding World and what little they do know, is what their children tell them and what they see when visiting places like Diagon Alley. Some of them might subscribe to the Prophet or the Quibbler, but that's it unless they have friends in the Wizarding World. That is the extent of their knowledge of the Wizarding World. The Muggleborn children likely doesn't understand half of what is going on and are probably too focused on the impressive things they're seeing once entering the Wizarding World to even bother trying to really find out. The Prophet is biased and filled with Ministry propaganda. The Quibbler has the occational smidgeon of truth, but buried between articles of impossibly outlandish conspiracies and the mating habits of imaginary creatures." Harry explained and shook his head. "Incomplete, biased or incorrect information is what they have to go on. This will be the first piece of true information about the current situation that they're likely to get their hands on."
"That's incredible!" Hermione approved, then suddenly looked worried. "Uh, you won't be sending one to my parents, will you?" she fretted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
"One will be sent to the parents or other guardians of every underage Muggleborn. Those that are of age, will be sent one themselves, then they can decide what to do with it." Harry replied. "Your parents deserve to know the truth, Hermione. As do all other Muggleborn parents out there. We're at war now, or will be shortly at least, and they are prime targets for Voldemort and his Death Eaters." he continued. "It was Moony who suggested this pamphlet, but I think it's a really good idea. Even Narcissa agreed, once she reached the conclusion that if the Muggles are able to defend themselves, Voldemort might loose a few Death Eaters to failed raids and if they manage to hide, the Death Eaters will be wasting time and effort trying to find them instead of doing something worse."
"You've changed, mate." Ron suddenly announced, not being obvious about if he thought it was a good change or not.
"Matured, even." Hermione agreed.
"We're at war now. Potter can ill afford to remain a child, as the fate of us all rests in his hands." a cold voice stated from the door, causing all three to spin around only to face Narcissa Malfoy standing in the doorway. "Miss Granger, Mister Weasley." she greeted them with a faint nod. "Potter, it's time for our first lesson." she stated with a regal expression.
"Comming, Master." Harry replied, shocking the hell out of Ron who tumbled to the floor once again and causing Hermione to do her fish-out-of-water-impression again. "I'll see you guys later, okay?" he said as he walked after Narcissa as she headed for the basement.
"Bonkers... He's gone completely bonkers, I tell you..." Ron muttered.
"You know, for once I'm wondering if you might not be right..." Hermione mumbled after a few moments of complete silence.
***
"All right then, my young Apprentice. Give me your wand." Narcissa said as the two of them had reached an empty room in the basement that Narcissa had cleared out earlier. Harry hesitantly pulled his wand out, fingering it for a few moments before he handed it to Narcissa who hefted it in her hand and offered him a twisted smile. "You're too trusting by far." she commented and suddenly turned both his and her own wand on him. "You're defenceless, completely at my mercy."
"I'm not afraid." Harry claimed, staring unflinchingly at her.
"Not yet, but you will be. Oh yes, you will be." she simply responded and their gazes duelled for a few moments, until Narcissa broke eye-contact and looked down at his wand. "Well, I suppose trust between Master and Apprentice is a good thing. Let's see what I have to work with." she said and waved her own wand over his, muttering a long incantation under her breath and finished by tapping Harry's wand with her own, which caused it to shine with a variety of colours. "My, my, my, Potter! You've used Dark spells? How... Unexpected." she commented and pointed out a black streak emitting from the business end of his wand that seemed to suck all the life, light and brightness out of the area surrounding it. "Either a lot of them over a long period of time or something really nasty somewhat recently. Which is it?" she inquired and outlined the dark light with her own wand, before she looked up at him.
"The Cruciatus." he replied after several seconds of complete silence.
"Peh, fool!" she groused and shook her head. "I don't know if I should scold you for trying to use that as your first Dark spell or praise you for actually succeeding. This dark area wouldn't be this long if you'd failed. Doesn't seem like a spectacular success, but a success none the less." she commented. "When and against whom?"
"The Ministry. Bellatrix." Harry replied with a nausenated expression as he recalled the incident in question.
"You cast the Cruciatus on my sister?" Narcissa demanded to know with an outraged expression, her eyes blazing furiously at him.
"I did." he replied and was then silent for a few moments. "My only regret is that it didn't worked better then it did." he added with a defiant expression.
Narcissa stared venomously at him for nearly a full minute, neither one of the two stopping their mutual staring contest before Narcissa once again looked down at his wand, then used her own to point out a wide and tall streak of gold emitted by his wand.
"You've got power." she revealed as she indicated the length of the golden light, changing the subject. "Not a whole lot of focus, though." she continued and indicated the width. "We'll have to work on that, all the power in the world can't help you if you don't know how to use it properly." she informed him and then gestured at a large red area of light and a smaller blue one. "Lots of passion in your spellwork, but not so much planning. It seems like you rarely think things through before you do them. This, we'll also work on." she continued and then pointed out a bright white area. "Positive magic. You've cast a really Light spell or several of them, several times too I'm guessing."
"Expecto Patronum." Harry offered and she raised an eyebrow.
"Cruciatus *and* Expecto Patronum?! You're an interesting one, Potter. Considering your lack of focus, I wouldn't have thought it possible for you to use either one of them. I guess all that passion and power counts for something after all." she commented and looked up at him with an odd expression. If he didn't know any better, he'd almost call it 'respectful'. She kept staring at him in silence until he found it so uncomfortable that he had to look away from her. "Well, that gives me a couple of ideas for your combat training, which is what I figured we'd start with. It's very unconventional, but considering the situation at hand and what I've got to work with in you, it makes sense."
"What?" Harry asked as he looked back at her.
"You need focus, badly. You need to check how deep the water is before you dive right in. You need to learn how to defend yourself and how to effectively go on the offensive. You seem to have a knack for the more difficult spells." Narcissa concluded and smiled. "So, instead of starting out with the small stuff, learn lots of spells and build on that, I'll just teach you a couple of shields for your defence. For offence, Reducto and Diffindo which you already know, or at least wrote in your list that you knew, will do for most situations. To improve your focus, we'll go over some of the most difficult and demanding spells there are. Over and over again. ... The Unforgivables." Narcissa finished, causing Harry to flinch away from her.
"T-t-t-the Unforgiveables?" he stuttered.
"Precisely. If you succeeded in using the Cruciatus on your first attempt, you must have a serious knack for them. But you'll find that using one in the heat of battle while drunk on emotions is a whole other matter then using one in training when you're calm. It will force you to build focus and assist in helping you think before acting, as using one without a pressing need is one of the most difficult things you'll ever attempt. So we'll work on the Pain Curse, the Killing Curse and the Governing Curse until you know them like the back of your own hands." she drawled and walked up to him, putting his wand back into his hand. "You'll become so intimately familliar with them that they'll seem like old friends, friends that will hone your power from clumsy sledgehammer bluntness to precise-cutting razor sharpness. When I'm through with you, the Wizarding World will have their weapon against the Dark Lord. But it won't be an imprecise noisy bomb, it'll be an assassins poisoned dagger."
"But what if I don't want to?" Harry protested.
"Potter, Potter, Potter... I *own* you now. The moment you signed that Apprenticeship agreement, your ass became mine for the next three years." Narcissa purred. "If you'd bothered to read up about Apprenticeships beforehand, you'd found out that not only does an Apprenticeship remove you from the Ministry's control when it comes to the underage magic laws, but it completely removes you from Ministry control. Period. The moment you became my Apprentice, I became the sole authority regarding you. I could kill you right in the middle of Diagon Alley in front of a thousand witnesses and no court of law could convict me for it. I could even use the Avada Kedavra to do it. What takes place between Master and Apprentice is a matter solely between the Master and Apprentice." she informed him with a pleased expression. "So if you want to or not doesn't really matter. It's simply a question of how long it'll take me to *make* you do what I want you to." she revealed with a wide smirk.
"In fact, I think we'll start right now." she said and plucked the wand out of his listless fingers, muttering another long incantation over it before she tapped it with her own wand. "There. Now all you're able to use that wand for, is a rather specific version of the Imperius. You'll be able to use the Imperius to get me to stop my attacks, nothing else." she explained and handed him his wand back.
"What?!" Harry exclaimed.
"That's right. We'll start off light and give you some incentive to succeed. There will come a time when I'll require that you can cast either of the three Unforgiveables at the drop of a hat, but that time has yet to come. Know that you will fail. Repeatedly! But I have no doubt that after you've been under fire for some time, you'll somehow summon up the will, desire and drive necessary to force me to stop." Narcissa explained rather calmly, as if she simply was talking about the dreadful weather they'd been having lately.
"The best key to a successful Cruciatus, is hatred. The Killing Curse works with hatred as well, but there are several others that will do almost or just as well. More about that later. The key to a successful Imperius curse, is determination and willpower. You have to want something so much that you are able to overwhelm the one you're governing. If they desire the same thing as you, it's a rather easy matter. Cursing somebody to eat when they're hungry, is easy. Cursing somebody not to eat when they're starving, that's quite the nut to crack. Keep this in mind for this excercise. You'll have to want for me to stop my attacks more then I want to keep them up." Narcissa continued to explain and then smirked.
"And seeing as how you used the Cruciatus on my sister I'm not going to give in easily, Potter." Narcissa finished and brandished her wand. "Now, let's see how well you do with the Governing Curse!" she said and Harry found himself emitting sulpherous curse after curse as Narcissa launched a barrage of curses, hexes and jinxes at him. He scrambled out of the way and dodged to the best of his ability, as he fruitlessly tried to cast shields, transfigure protection or launch a counter-attack.
It appeared as if Narcissa had been serious, however. He really couldn't use magic for anything! Even the most simple of charms, like Lumos, simply failed to manifest as it should. He could feel magic being collected and sent towards his wand, but instead of magic happening as it should, it merely dispersed without effect.
"Imperio!" he desperately cried out and felt the same thing happening again.
"Good. Very good. Remember to also focus on what you want me to do and that the only thing that will work, is getting me to stop attacking you. Trying to get me to fall asleep, turn around or run head-first into a wall, will simply cause the curse to fail just like with any other spell you might attempt." Narcissa hinted and then started throwing minor pain curses at him at a break-neck pace.
"OW!" Harry cried out as one of them landed on his left ankle. "Imperio!" he tried again.
"Nice, Potter. I actually felt a little tingle from that one! But you'll have to do a lot better then that." Narcissa informed him with a faint smile, then proceeded to launch pain curses at him in a seemingly neverending stream.
For a few frantic moments as Harry desperately had to dodge a barrage of nasty curses being sent at him, he resolved to never *ever* get on Narcissa's bad side. If this was how she acted during training, he'd hate to find out how she acted in actual battle!
THE END! ( For now... )
:yay: 