Unofficial Portkey Archive

Ginny moved restlessly around in her new room at Illustris, wanting to get the day started but dreading the new training schedule that loomed before her. Needing to do something with her hands, she grabbed her school bag and began to load books into it. She finally picked up the schedule of classes that had been owled to her that morning and re-read it for the tenth time:

9 o'clock am - Occlumency Training - Professor Snape
11 o'clock am - Animagus Training - Professor McGonagall
1 o'clock pm - Lunch
2 o'clock pm - Physical Training - Professor Moody
4 o'clock pm - Defensive and Offensive Dark Magic Training - Professor Lupin
6 o'clock pm - Dinner

A letter had been included with the schedule about the special training that would be occurring:

On every other day, starting tomorrow, training will begin earlier. Individual training will take place at 8 o'clock am and last for 45 minutes. All other classes will remain the same. Weekends are free to allow each of you to practice with everything taught in your lessons. Training with Professor Dumbledore will occur every Saturday, from 1 o'clock pm until 3 o'clock pm. Good luck with your training and we expect you all to work hard!

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Ginny sighed deeply and set the letter aside and then shoved her schedule in her bag with her books. In her opinion, the schedule was one of the worst ones she'd ever had. Snape, every day, at 9 o'clock in the morning and then, every other day, she had to proceed him with Trelawney.

Curling her lip in disgust, Ginny looked into the mirror above her dresser one last time, giving a tug on her ponytail, before marching over to her door to head down to breakfast. She surveyed her room one last time, taking in the yellow and black decor that was obvious Hufflepuff colors. At any other point, she would have hated the color combo but, with the way the room was set up, they went together very nicely.

Sighing once more, she walked into the common room area and sat down on the couch, waiting for Harry and Hermione to come out of their rooms. She played around with a thread on her sweater until she heard a door open and she saw Hermione walking out of her room, absolutely glowing. Raising an eyebrow, Ginny opened her mouth to inquire at Hermione's mood when Harry's door opened and he walked out, bearing the same look on his face.

Thoroughly confused, Ginny watched as Harry grabbed Hermione in his arms and gave her a firm kiss on the mouth before pulling her into a tight hug. Harry broke away from Hermione and took her hand, leading her over to Ginny, who still looked puzzled. The younger girl knew the two of them had gotten together already, so why were they acting like their relationship had just started?

Her question was answered when Harry stopped in front of her and said, "I've asked Hermione to be my girlfriend, Gin."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, finally understanding, "I thought you two were together but I forgot you never really finalized it." She smiled brightly at them. "Congratulations!"

Ginny then jumped up and grabbed her two best friends to give them a hug. Feeling elated for the first time in a while, her happiness was broken by the cold, drawling voice behind her.

"You three make me sick," Draco snapped, glaring at them from his bedroom doorway.

He stepped further into the room and smirked at the glares he was receiving, not at all bothered by their hatred. If anything, it pleased him, that he was able to illicit such anger from people.

"So, Potter," he started to drawl, "it seems you finally hooked the Mudblood here." He jerked his head toward Hermione as Harry began to fume. "Or did she hook you?" he continued softly. "I've always wondered how good Mudbloods are. So tell me, Potter, how much is she worth? Did she give you a good f---"

Harry snatched his wand out of his pocket and was pointing it right between Draco's eyes before the other boy could even blink. "You stop that sentence right now, Malfoy," he said in a deadly whisper, eyes flashing, "or I swear to God I'll make your life hell. I know some good curses and right now, you wouldn't stand a chance."

A small flicker of fear passed over Draco's eyes but he stood his ground and gave Harry an ugly sneer. "Well, go on then, Potter, prove it. Prove that you can actually use those curses. Prove that you don't need the Mudblood."

Furious, Harry opened his mouth to utter a spell when Hermione suddenly reached out and shoved his wand away. Harry blinked in surprise and Draco took the moment to snatch his own wand out of his pocket.

"No, Harry!" Hermione said shrilly, "Don't listen to him, he's only trying to provoke you! His words are meaningless unless you let them get to you. Forget what he said."

"You tell him, Mudblood," Draco muttered darkly.

Hermione closed her eyes in slight distress and was about to reply when out of nowhere, Ginny's fist shot out and punched Draco right in the nose. Draco stumbled back in shock, almost falling over the chair behind him. His wand fell to the floor and he grabbed his nose, which was bleeding freely. With his eyes watering in pain, Draco gave Ginny the ugliest look.

"Bloody hell, you stupid whore!" he yelled. "You broke my nose. You'll pay!"

"Oh, I don't care," Ginny responded airily, "that felt good!"

"Serves you right, Malfoy," Harry snarled as he shoved his wand back in his pocket. "Come on, let's go down to breakfast."

Ready to leave Draco on the floor, bleeding, he stopped suddenly at the look on Hermione's face. She was staring at Draco, who was still sneering at Ginny but growing paler by the minute. She then flicked her eyes to Harry, coming to a conclusion.

"Heal him, Harry," she said simply.

Harry's jaw fell open and Draco made an odd sputtering noise before coughing on some blood. Ginny's head was whipping around so fast to look at everyone, her neck looked ready to break.

"Are.....are you....joking?" Harry gasped in shock.

"No," Hermione answered firmly, crossing her arms over her chest, "you need to heal him. I know he was wrong about what he was saying but we'll never learn to trust each other if we don't start helping each other. We need to start benefiting from each other's strengths. You, Harry, can Heal. Dumbledore said you have the powers of a natural Healer now. Put aside the differences with Mal...Draco for a few seconds, and heal him."

Harry continued to stare at Hermione as if he had never seen her before. Draco broke the silence and tried to crawl backwards on the floor. "I don't want him touching me," he muttered.

"Oh, stop being a baby, Malfoy," Ginny snapped.

Draco looked up at her with an odd glint in his eyes and once more, Ginny found herself reduced to a speechless idiot. She could get lost in those gray...no...silver eyes of his. They continued to stare at one another until the connection was lost by Harry taking a step forward and clearing his throat.

"All right, Hermione, I'll heal him," he said softly.

He knelt on the floor in front of Draco and stared hard at him. Draco flinched under his gaze and pinched his nose harder.

"I thought I said I don't want you touching me," he said.

"Oh, I heard you," Harry replied, "but either you'll let me heal you or you can just let yourself continue to bleed all over those fancy clothes of yours."

Draco's mouth snapped shut at the comment but the glare never left his face. Harry seemed to be considering what to do at first until he reached forward and prised Draco's hand away from his nose.

"Hey!" Draco yelled. "OW!"

Harry ignored him and reached his hand forward once more, placing it gently on Draco's nose, his face etched in concentration. He closed his eyes and a look of pain crossed over his brow. Harry shuddered violently, willing his Healing powers to work. Ginny gasped in shock as a red glow emitted from Harry's hand and the glow spread into Draco's body. Draco started shaking as well and he let a funny squeak escape his lips. If the situation hadn't been so serious, everyone would've laughed.

Hermione put her hands over her mouth as Harry gave one last violent shudder and collapsed to the floor. She rushed over to him, afraid he was unconscious from his effort and cursing herself for making him heal Draco, when Harry coughed and blinked, looking a little bemused.

"Did it work?" he asked quietly.

Hermione turned quickly around to see that Ginny was leaning over Draco nervously, who had also collapsed fully to the floor. Reaching a tentative hand forward, Ginny shook Draco's shoulder until his eyes finally opened slowly. Looking almost as confused as Harry, he sat up quickly and lightly rubbed his nose.

"My God," he mumbled, "it actually worked."

Harry's eyes widened. "You mean...I actually.....healed you?"

Draco muttered some more under his breath before saying, "Yeah....you.....did."

The two stared at each other for a long time, unreadable looks on both of their faces. Hermione and Ginny waited with bated breath, expecting some sort of explosion to occur from Draco with a full-blown argument following. Finally, Draco mumbled one word, but it was so quiet no one caught it.

"What?" Harry asked. "What did you say?"

"I said, "thanks," Draco snapped, quickly going back to his moody self, "and don't make me say it again."

He stood up, went into his room and came out a few seconds later wearing a different and clean sweater. Without a backward glance, he swept out of the room, leaving behind a disgruntled group.

"Well, that went well," Harry said sarcastically as the two girls helped him stand on shaky legs.

But they didn't know that their one act of kindness had caused a crack in Draco's icy heart and deep below the surface, a small change had started.

...............................

"Occlumency," Professor Snape began in a slow voice a few hours later, "is a very difficult practice to learn and even more difficult to perform properly. I expect each of you to work extremely hard at this rare branch of magic and to practice it each night before you go to bed. I will know if you haven't." He gave Harry a very nasty look as he said this.

"Out of the four of you, Potter here is the only one familiar with the training of Occlumency but, I daresay, he is not much better than the rest of you."

Harry flushed as Draco openly laughed. "Well, at least we know your incompetence is all around," he chuckled.

"Shut up, Mister Malfoy," Snape snapped, "I am in no mood. At the moment, you are in no higher standard to me than the rest here."

Draco turned pink and muttered incoherently. Harry smirked and then winked at Hermione, who grinned back. Ginny shook her head in amusement but continued to watch Draco out of the corner of her eye. If anything, that statement had been oddly mild compared to his more recent, biting comments. Ginny wondered if maybe, just maybe, the episode in the West End Tower this morning had broken a little something in Draco. She could only hope.

"As I was saying," Snape continued, with a bitter tone in his voice, "Occlumency is very difficult. I will need complete concentration from all of you. The handle on your emotions is very important. The Elemental powers you all possess are very handy in certain situations but also quite deadly if not used properly. If you all just let your emotions run wild through you, this castle would be burned to the ground, flooded, in a crater, and the forest up-rooted."

The Four Heirs gave him piercing looks at his implication but Snape had turned his back on them and was lifting a large stone basin out of the cabinet behind his desk. He placed it down and began extracting memories from his mind with his wand and placing them carefully in the silvery substance of the Pensieve. A few minutes later, he looked up and studied them carefully.

"Now, we shall get started. I will start with Mister Potter because he has experience with this already, though it be little. Get up, Potter," Snape commanded.

The four stood up and Harry stepped forward as Snape flicked his wand and their desks flew to the back of the dungeon-like classroom.

"Wand out, Potter!" he barked, holding his own wand up.

Harry reluctantly slipped his wand into his hand and gave Snape a bored look. His teacher's black eyes bore into him as the lecture went on.

"Now, the three of you, watch closely. I'm going to perform Legilimency on Potter here, which is the ability to extract feelings and memories from another person. The only way any of you will learn to put a block up against external penetration and emotions is if you learn by having your mind invaded and then being taught to put a shield up in your mind. You must learn to shield yourself against my penetration. Emptying your mind of all thoughts and feelings is the first key. So, Potter, empty you mind." Snape smirked, remembering his previous lessons with Harry.

Harry quickly closed his eyes and tried to get rid of all his emotions. But a small voice in the back of his head kept saying over and over, "You're going to fail again!" Irritated, he opened his mouth to stop Snape but before he could, the incantation was shouted.

"Legilimens!"

Harry stumbled and memories passed before his eyes. He was ten, and a giant snake was slithering out of the reptile house at the zoo....he was eleven, watching a Rememberall arc through the air as he chased after it on his broom...he was watching Sirius escape on Buckbeak....Cedric Diggory lay dead on the ground in the graveyard...Sirius was falling through the black veil...Hermione was inches from his face on top of the Astronomy Tower...

Harry gritted his teeth painfully and shouted, "Protego!"

The Shield Charm activated and the spell rebounded toward Snape, who ducked it just it time. The spell hit the wall and vanished. Harry bent over, breathing hard as Snape glowered at him.

"Not good enough, Potter! You need to work harder. The only good thing I can say is at least you were able to successfully take the spell off yourself!"

"Professor," Hermione said timidly, "I think you're being---"

"Miss Granger, I have no patience for your petty comments right now," Snape snapped. "You're next."

His foul mood increasing, he went back to the Pensieve and started extracting more memories. "Get out of my sight, Potter. By tomorrow, I expect you to have learned how to empty your mind. Miss Granger, if you please."

Harry gave Snape a filthy look but moved out of the way as Hermione stepped forward, trembling slightly.

"Good luck, Herm," Ginny whispered off to her right. Too numb to acknowledge her, Hermione stared intently at the wall.

She was book smart, she was logical, and she was studious, but when it came to the inner workings of the mind and emotions, Hermione wasn't so sure. Yes, she had read fully on Occlumency since she learned she would be practicing it, but she was no closer to understanding the complex art. It was as difficult and almost as far-fetched as Divination, with an ancient history behind it. Not many wizards could manage it and Harry was proving his abilities as a wizard by accomplishing it just a little. Hermione felt a shred of doubt creep into her mind, and she hated it.

"All right, I hope you were paying attention, Miss Granger," Snape said sarcastically. He raised his wand dramatically as Hermione desperately tried to empty her mind.

"Legilimens!"

Putting up no resistance, the memories flashed before her eyes. She was eight and was being taunted mercilessly by neighborhood bullies until she ran away in tears...she was ten, clutching desperately onto her books at school as she was tripped in the hallway...she was receiving her letter from Hogwarts...a troll was looming before her in the girl's bathroom...she was giving Harry a kiss on the cheek after fourth year...she was reading a letter about her parents' deaths...

"NO!" she screamed, falling to her knees, scraping them on the rough stone floor.

"Get up, you silly girl, get up," Snape yelled, grabbing Hermione's arm and wrenching her to her feet. She swayed dangerously, tears in her eyes, and stared at Snape in bewilderment.

"What....what...." she started.

"You let me into you mind!" he said in exasperation, "I said, EMPTY IT! Must I keep repeating myself?! You and Potter both need to work. You shall never defeat the Dark Lord properly if you carry on like this! Out of the way!"

He shoved Hermione to the side and called Ginny forward. Hermione moved over to Harry and slumped wearily against him. He put his arm around her shoulders and started to comfort her.

"Shhh...don't worry, it'll be ok. It takes practice, trust me. I've been doing this for a year and I'm horrible at it. You'll get it eventually." He placed a kiss on her temple.

"I can't, Harry," she mumbled, clutching his shirt tightly in her fingers, "it was awful. I was re-living so many bad memories." She shuddered. "And I have to do extra hours of this."

Hermione watched Snape go through the same routine with Ginny and Draco, both of them failing miserably at fighting off Snape. To think she had to do this two times in a row tomorrow. She loved learning, but with Snape, she dreaded it.

Snape was howling mad now. "Incompetent fools! The Four Heirs? You four? I don't believe it! As much as this hurts to say this, Potter was the best out of you four, the only one to rebound my spell! You are all incompetent! Get out of here, I don't want to see you again until tomorrow morning."

Snape turned away from them, seething in anger as he busied himself with the Pensieve. Thoroughly defeated, the four slunk away from his classroom, but not before Snape called out one last time.

"Eight o'clock sharp tomorrow, Miss Granger," he reminded her in a monotone voice.

Hermione shivered again and positively ran from the room.

............................

Relatively calmed down, now that she was in the presence of a teacher she liked, Hermione listened attentively to Professor McGonagall talk about Animagi.

"Animagus training is extremely difficult," she was saying.

Why does every teacher say that? Draco thought in annoyance before he was forced back into reality.

"Not every person is meant to be an Animagus for several reasons. Many just do not wish to even try, for it is tedious work and takes a lot of patience, and then the paperwork with the Ministry is astounding. Others are truly not meant to transform into animals, for their bodies can not handle it. Still others, they just believe it to be pointless." She waved her hand slightly. "It can be very beneficial though, especially for you four, for we are not requiring you to be registered as of yet." She paused and looked at them sternly.

"Just because you all have the ability to transform doesn't mean you should slack off. Take this training just as seriously as your others. It may not be as exciting at first, but eventually you will be able to transform. For now, I will teach you the basics of Animagi. I know all four of you will be transforming into magical creatures, which is unheard of, but then again, you are the Heirs."

Professor McGonagall stood up and went to her desk, pulling out a sheaf of parchment. "All right, parchment and ink out! You will take notes whenever you feel it necessary and then copy down the homework."

Loud groans emitted from the four and Professor McGonagall scowled. "I want no complaining. This is important! Now, the first thing required of Animagus training is that you think about all of the different qualities you possess, every single one of them, strengths and weaknesses, and from those qualities, you come up with one important piece of information. Which animal is most like you? You have your book, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Use that as reference and then I want you, for your homework tonight, to write out on two sheets of parchment, your different qualities, which animal you believe to be like you, and how and why you came up with this conclusion."

"Professor," Ginny questioned, "are we to be graded on these?"

Professor McGonagall shook her head. "No, the training at Illustris is not for grades. Though you will be marked for everything, it is not like Hogwarts. The marks are merely for us to help you to improve. Now, start working."

The four bent over their books and started flipping through the pages. Harry found himself unconsciously going to the "P's" and he was left staring at a full-color picture of a majestic bird, with feathers of gold, and red flames beneath it. The bird opened its beak and the notes of a beautiful yet eerie song floated along the page.

"Strong and beautiful. Tears of healing powers. Loyal, brave, and trustworthy. A firm companion for life," the pages of the book read.

"Phoenix," Harry breathed.

.................................

As soon as Hermione was finished with her lunch, Harry grabbed her arm and dragged her from the hall and outside.

"Harry! What are you doing?" she asked, as they came to a halt by the forest. "What's wrong? You're been acting strange since McGonagall's class."

Her brown eyes watched him questioningly as Harry looked deeply into the forest.

"I know what I'm suppose to transform into, Hermione," he said quietly.

She gasped. "You do? Goodness, I haven't even figured it out yet, how did you?"

"Its sorta like I always knew," Harry continued as if he hadn't heard her, "I flipped to that page and there it was, slapping me in the face. Its obvious, I think."

He finally looked at Hermione, who was puzzled by his coded words. "Harry, what are you talking about?"

"A Phoenix, Hermione. I'm to turn into a Phoenix!" he exclaimed. "Isn't it obvious? Tears of healing powers...I'm a Healer. A bird, it can fly.....my Element is Air. Brave, loyal, lifelong friend.....all things I've been called. Re-born again and again....look at all the times I've defeated Voldemort, it's like having a few lives. I'm a Phoenix," he finished.

Hermione gaped at him. "Yes," she breathed, "yes, it's the only magical creature that's anything like you, that has to be right. Oh, Harry! A Phoenix! Wow!"

Hermione was smiling now and gave Harry a huge hug, which he gladly returned. Hermione pulled back and looked into his green eyes before bringing him down for a kiss. At first, the kiss was very gentle but it soon became more fierce, both of them trying to bring the other as close as possible, wanting to feel every inch of each other. As the heat began to rise between them and their hands started to roam, they were broken apart by a voice.

"Ugh...I did not want to see that," Draco said in absolute disgust.

Harry and Hermione jumped apart, breathing hard and very flushed. Straightening his robes, Harry quickly responded, "Well, then don't watch, Malfoy."

Draco glowered. "I was sent to get you two by Moody. You're both late for physical training. Why he didn't send Red....." he trailed off.

A smirk then lit up his pale face. "So, Potter, figure out yet your transformation? I knew ages ago," he said with an air of someone wanting to brag.

"Sure you did," Hermione muttered, still annoyed about being caught by Draco.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "As a matter of fact, I do know."

"And?" Draco persisted.

"What's it matter to you?" Harry said with a hint of a challenge in his voice.

"Oh, come on, Potter. You're the one always talking about trust and getting along. I'll find out eventually, so just say it." Draco crossed his arms and waited.

Harry considered for a second before responding. "Phoenix," he mumbled.

Draco looked slightly surprised. "Really? Interesting....though I don't know where "scar-headed coward" fits in with a Phoenix," he said with an evil grin.

Harry scowled and made to step toward Draco but Hermione grabbed his arm. "No, Harry, don't do that again."

"What are you then?" Harry spat, getting more annoyed by the second.

"Dragon," Draco said calmly.

"Dragon?" Hermione repeated with confusion.

"Yeah. Large, breathes fire, walks on the ground, sometimes flies. Don't tell me you don't know what a dragon is, Granger." Amusement and sarcasm dripping from Draco's voice.

"Oh, really!" Hermione said, obviously angry now.

"What makes you think you're a dragon?" Harry asked.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Are you that stupid, Potter? What do you think my name means? Besides, my Element is Earth and dragons are always associated with Earth. If you're a Phoenix, I'm definitely a dragon."

He took a few steps toward Harry, who firmly stood his ground. "But you better watch your step, Potter," Draco whispered, "I don't care if you healed me or not. I could take you down in many ways. One wrong move and, Phoenix or not, I'll have you running."

And he turned on his heel and stalked off. Harry glared at his retreating back as Hermione grabbed his arm again to prevent him from going after Draco.

"Like he can intimidate me. I swear, Hermione, I'm beginning to doubt the Prophecy and the Founders choices. There is no way I'll ever get along with that bloody bastard!" Harry shook her arm off and followed in Draco's wake.

Hermione watched him go, the same doubts filling her own mind.

...........................

Author's Note: All right, thank you to everyone who responded on whether the Ravenclaw symbol was a raven or an eagle. Its an eagle, and I apologize for putting a raven in the story instead. I've read the books so much but I sometimes forget the little details. Including the one about the colors of Ravenclaw. They are blue and bronze, not blue and silver like I put. Ugh...thank you to whoever said that to me! I really appreciate it, I'll try and stop from making silly mistakes like that again, lol.

So, I FINALLY got to some training. Granted only two classes but the next chapter will be about the other two, promise! I also felt I needed more Harry and Draco tension. After years of hating each other, one act isn't going to reverse all that, though, from here on, you'll gradually see their relationship change, though the ending scene is a little icy, lol. I threw in more H/Hr too, hehe, I love those two, so cute! I promise to get D/G going some more soon and I'll be getting back to Ron and Luna after the next few chapters, some important stuff with Ron coming up! I hope you enjoyed how I'm doing the training, I'm more shaky on this part of the story and I'm really trying to make it enjoyable. I really hope you like it!

Thank you to everyone for your amazing reviews! To my frequent reviewers: BIG HUGS! You guys are the best!!

Hope you enjoy the longer chapter and I apologize for not getting this out sooner! I used to update so often but now that the chapters are longer and more involved, I need a few more days to get it written, expect the next chapter either tuesday or wednesday, unless, by some miracle, I have it out late late tonight! lol :) Oh, and one question, in the description I said this was a "slightly AU story." The more I write this fic, the more I doubt what I wrote. Do any of you think this is AU or more canon-like? Just want some opinions, thanks!

Please please review and thank you for the support! Enjoy the read!
Much Love,
PhoenixFirebolt