Unofficial Portkey Archive

When Harry and Hermione entered the training area, the first thing they noticed was how much the blank, dirt-filled arena had changed. Moody was standing in the middle, talking with Ginny. He was standing on a very large blue mat that covered almost the entire area. On the wall to their right, swords and knives of every kind covered the metallic surface. The left wall was covered entirely with a mirror. Opposite the entrance, where the blue mat ended, was a bunch of equipment of what Muggles would call "work-out materials." Lots of weights and benches.

As they stepped further in, still gaping, Moody noticed them. "Well, glad to see you two decided to join us," he growled. "Don't be late next time or I won't be so nice and I'll just let you skip this training. Not very wise to miss it though."

Harry and Hermione flushed and quickly took seats on the blue mat like Ginny and Draco had done. Draco smirked at them as usual while Ginny simply winked knowingly.

"Now that you're all here," Mad-Eye continued, "I'll explain to you what this training is all about. Everything here is meant for physical combat. No wands or any use of magic are necessary here. Do not think learning this is useless, it is part of Auror training and if a student does not pass this area, they fail the entire course of becoming an Auror. Strength and knowing the physical ways of battle are very important to successfully winning or at least fighting for a long time. The training here will consist of a series of things. First, I will be building up your stamina, hence the weights." Moody pointed a gnarled finger to his right.

"Then we will move to one-on-one fighting, where I will teach you different fighting moves and ways to survive in battle. I would do some of the fighting with you, but because of my leg that is quite impossible." For a second, Mad-Eye looked a little distressed about this but then he went on.

"After that, I will teach you the more difficult practices of sword and knife fighting. Once you learn that, I'm going to insist that each of you carry a knife on yourselves at all times, for they can become quite useful in close combat if you should lose your wands. The mirror is for the purpose of watching yourselves and improving your techniques. Now, any questions?" He paused and glared at them all. The Four Heirs remained quiet though, seeming very intrigued and eager about this form of training.

"Very well," Moody said slowly, leaning himself off of his staff and turning away from them, "follow me."

They stood obediently and let Mad-Eye's clunk clunk lead them. Draco was having a hard time containing his glee and keeping his face expressionless. Maybe he would finally be able to beat Potter at something. He glanced over at Harry's smaller, athletic frame and smirked. Oh, I'll definitely be able to beat him, he thought.

He then moved his eyes over to the petite redhead next to him and a strange thought filtered into his brain. Maybe I can prove myself to her.....ughh...where the bloody hell did that come from? Shaking his head angrily, he stared grumpily at Moody, his happiness evaporating almost instantly.

"All right, you two," Mad-Eye said, pointing to Harry and Draco, "have probably already built up some muscle from Quidditch but that doesn't mean I'm not going to work you just as hard as the ladies. I'm going to be tough about this. Strength and CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he shouted his famous phrase, the four jumping.

"And," he rounded on Hermione and Ginny, "just because you are women doesn't mean I'll be lenient on you two. You'll have to prove yourselves to me by handling everything I throw you. Is that understood?"

Ginny held her chin up high. "We understand. We won't let you down."

"Good," he growled in reply. "Now, off you get, start working. I'll be walking around to help you on your form and make sure you do enough to help yourselves but not strain yourselves. Oh, and yes, I forgot." Moody pulled his wand out and flicked it over the four. Their clothes quickly changed into all of them wearing shorts, with the girls in tank tops and the boys in T-shirts. "More appropriate clothing," he muttered.

Soon, the Four Heirs were hard at work, Mad-Eye having Ginny and Hermione do push-ups and sit-ups, Harry and Draco being forced to grab some of the weights and use them. Moody circled them the entire time, barking out comments.

"Your form is off, Miss Granger," he snapped as she was doing a push-up, "back straight, stop arcing it!"

Draco snorted but Mad-Eye turned to glare at him. "You just pay attention to your technique, Malfoy, or I'll go after you as well."

Draco fell silent but the ugly look never left his eyes. After a half hour, Moody had the two pairs switch, the girls now with the weights and the boys doing push-ups. Harry found himself getting worn out, his shirt sticking to his body with sweat and his hair clinging to his forehead. He wiped his face off, shoving his glasses back up his nose, which kept sliding further and further downward. To his satisfaction, Draco didn't look much better. The other boy was clearly exhausted and kept taking gasping breaths.

With fifteen minutes left to go in the class, Mad-Eye called out to them to stop.

"All right, that's enough for today. We will continue with this tomorrow."

The four stood up, panting and dripping with sweat, completely burned out. This was definitely the most draining lesson so far. How on earth would they survive the Dark Magic training that came next? Harry didn't even want to think about that yet.

"It'll get easier the more you practice," Mad-Eye said softly. "Here, you would probably enjoy this." He flicked his wand and four very tall glasses of ice cold water appeared standing on a small table. The Heirs jumped at them and quickly gulped them down.

"Ah, not too fast, that could do more harm then good," Mad-Eye warned. "And let me clean you up a bit. Scourgify!"

Immediately, their clothes cleaned up and their skin felt much dryer and more refreshed. Hermione set her glass down, empty.

"Much better," she said with a smile, though she still looked tired, no spell could take that away. "Thank you, Professor."

"Fine, and here." Once more, he flicked his wand and their normal clothes reappeared on them. "You won't be needing the other clothing for the next class. I won't be joining you there today either. Once you reach the Unforgivables, I'll step in to help Remus."

An odd silence descended upon all of them. "We're....we're going to be learning the Unforgivables, Professor?" Ginny whispered, sounding terrified.

Moody gave her a surprised look. "Why yes. They are banned by the Ministry and at any other point Dumbledore would not want you actually using them, but they will be quite necessary now, especially against Death Eaters. You got along all right in the Department of Mysteries without using them but there comes a time when "stupefy" and "petrificus totalus" just don't cut it. And I assure you, you will feel enough anger against Lord Voldemort to be able to use them properly."

Ginny shivered at the name but the other three seemed unfazed. Draco had a hungry look in his eyes, Hermione seemed apprehensive, and Harry's face was unreadable, though he didn't look particularly pleased with the news.

"Now, go, before you are late for Professor Lupin." And he shooed them out of the area, shutting the door behind them.

The group walked in silence to the other training area, wondering if they would have any strength left for their last lesson of the day. Hermione looked dead on her feet and Harry had to wrap his arms around her to hold her up. She smiled gratefully at him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Ginny stumbled slightly in her own tiredness and bumped into Draco. He grabbed her shoulders and snarled, "Watch it, Red."

But Ginny noticed that his hands lingered on her shoulders longer than usual and she couldn't help but smile slightly.

They rounded the east corner of the castle and the grassy field came into view. Remus Lupin was standing, waiting patiently for them, and he smiled broadly and strode over to them.

"Well, you four are certainly quite a sight," Remus said with amusement, as they came more clearly into view.

"We just came from Moody," Harry replied.

"Ah, yes, I knew he would work you four hard, he always works his students hard." His blue eyes twinkled and he led them forward. "I'll try not to be so hard at the moment, though I do expect a little work from you. I thought we would start with some minor dueling at the moment. I want to see how much the four of you know. I was only your teacher for one year and I mainly dealt with magical creatures instead of spells. I was informed you took some dueling lessons in your second year but...ahh...well...from not as competent a teacher."

Draco sniggered as he remembered Gilderoy Lockhart, the dense DADA teacher they had been all forced to endure four years earlier. Weasel King's one shining moment, he thought, he erased that idiot's memory. He chuckled lightly and continued to listen to Lupin, though reluctantly.

Professor Lupin halted in front of the grassy hill and turned to his students. "This is where," he indicated the hill, "you will be dueling. As you know, this training is meant to teach you Defensive and Offensive Dark Magic spells, curses, and hexes. This is probably one of your more important classes so I expect you to pay attention quite well. As I said before, I merely want to see your skills up to this point so, Harry and Draco, if you please."

He ushered the two forward and they clambered up the hill, facing each other. Draco sneered at Harry, who stared back steadily, not wavering in his own challenging look. It was just like those years before in second year, when Snape had forced the two to be partners and then square off in front of the rest of the students. It was then that Draco had pulled his trick of making a snake appear in front of Harry, who had then found out he was a Parselmouth. Harry felt an odd sensation of wanting to pull the same stunt on his enemy and he wondered if he could get away with it.

"All right," Lupin began, "wands out and ready. Get in your stance."

Harry and Draco both shifted and got into a fighting stance, their eyes never leaving each other.

"NOW!" Lupin shouted as Hermione covered her face in her hands, afraid to look.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted.

"Impedimenta!" Draco shouted at the same time.

Draco quickly ducked to the ground to avoid Harry's spell as Harry shouted, "Protego!" easily deflecting Draco's spell and rebounding it back.

Draco had stood back up by them and was taken by surprise as the spell hit him square in the chest and he was knocked back off his feet, his wand flying out of his hand and landing in the grass at Ginny's feet. Draco sat up in fury, blonde hair falling in his face. Harry shot him a triumphant smirk.

"Damn you, Potter," he shouted.

"Now, Mister Malfoy," Lupin said calmly, "he won that fair and square. I suggest you start paying more attention. That was a very simple and effective defensive move Harry demonstrated."

Draco glared at Professor Lupin, completely abashed. "Yes, Professor."

Ginny held his wand out to him as he stood up and he snatched it out of her hand, looking even angrier. "All right, Potter," he spat, "you wanna play dirty, I'll play right along."

"Glad to see you caught on," Harry responded with a nasty chuckle.

The two readied themselves again. Hermione dug her fingernails in her cheeks again as Ginny started biting her lip, looking back and forth between the two boys, not knowing who she wanted to win the duel.

"Ready?" Lupin asked. "GO!"

Something flashed in Harry's eyes before he shouted his curse. "Serpensortia!"

Draco yelled out, "Tarantallegra!"

Once again, Harry deflected his spell with a Shield Charm, the curse deflecting to the castle and vanishing into the stone walls. But Draco paid no attention. He was staring in horror at the large snake that was slithering its way toward him, hissing ominously.

Harry smirked a little and hissed in Parseltongue, "Just scare him a little."

The snake moved closer to Draco, who was backing up in confusion. Just as Lupin leapt forward to get rid of the snake, Draco shouted out, "Get away from me!"

The words that left Draco's mouth weren't in English though. He hissed at the snake, which immediately backed off and curled itself up harmlessly in the middle of the grassy hill, flicking its tongue.

Harry froze in shock, staring at Draco with wide eyes. Ginny gasped and gripped Hermione's arm painfully, whose own jaw had fallen open. Professor Lupin went oddly still for a second before muttering a spell and the snake disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He lowered his wand and stared at Draco, who looked even more confused.

"What did I just say?" he asked.

Harry took a step forward and said quietly, "You spoke Parseltongue."

Draco's eyes went strangely wide. "But...but...how is that possible? You and Voldemort are the only two Parselmouths in existence right now."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know."

"The Heir of Slytherin," Hermione whispered, understanding.

"Yes, Hermione," Lupin finally spoke, nodding. "You, Draco, are the Heir of Slytherin. Salazar Slytherin was a well-known Parselmouth. It is only natural that he would have passed this rare and unique gift on to you. Voldemort, the true, blood heir of Slytherin, possess it as well, as does Harry, who acquired some of Voldemort's powers fifteen years ago. But to you, Slytherin passed on his gift willingly. You should feel honored."

Draco looked away and swallowed nervously. "I don't want it. Its not exactly a gift to be proud of. All dark wizards are associated with it."

"I'm a Parselmouth," Harry muttered, "and I'm not exactly dark."

This time, when Harry's and Draco's eyes met, it was not a look of hatred they shared, but a look of understanding. For the second time that day, Draco appreciated Harry, the only person who could really understand him right now. They now had something in common; they could both talk to snakes.

"Ok," Lupin said, breaking their brief connection, "that's enough for you two today. Hermione, Ginny, you're up."

Harry and Draco scrambled off the hill and the two girls took their places. Hermione gave Harry's hand a quick squeeze as she passed him and he smiled at her appreciatively. He seated himself on the grass as Lupin began giving them instructions. Draco stood a little ways away from him, as if considering something.

"Potter!" he whispered, moving forward. "Potter!"

"What?" Harry said, distracted as the two girls hollered curses at one another.

"Train me," Draco said quietly and strained, as if the words hurt to say.

"What?" Harry repeated, his head whipping around to look at Draco and his eyes filled with bewilderment.

"Are you deaf, Potter?" Draco snapped. "I said 'train me.'"

"Parseltongue?" Harry asked, confused.

"No, I want you to teach me German," Draco replied sarcastically. "Of course I want you to teach me Parseltongue."

Harry shook his head slightly. "It can't be taught, Malfoy, its just sorta there. It only works for me if I'm looking at a real snake. There's nothing to be taught, you'll be able to speak it when the time comes."

Draco sighed in exasperation. "Look, I don't care, ok? I need to know more about it and you're the only other Parseltongue I know, except for Voldemort, and I'm not going to go frolicking to him for lessons, am I? I just....want to be able to talk to someone who experiences it as well." He hung his head slightly and didn't dare look Harry in the eyes.

Harry's jaw had fallen open and he was gaping at Draco. Draco Malfoy was asking him for lessons? He was asking to be around his hated enemy even more?

"All right, Malfoy," he said, shrugging, "I'll do what I can, though I can't exactly promise anything."

And for the first time in his life, Harry saw Draco smile. "Thanks, Potter, I owe you."

Well, this is going to be interesting, Harry thought in amusement as he watched Draco stand up and walk away from him.

He watched the duel between Hermione and Ginny a few minutes longer. Hermione was obviously winning, years of knowledge about spells and curses from reading all those books was a big help, but Ginny wasn't doing too awful either, finding a way to block many of Hermione's hexes and only getting hit by a few. She had even managed to get Hermione with a couple of her own. Harry felt very proud of both of them as Lupin stopped their duel and ended the class for the day.

"Good job, love," Harry said as Hermione came toward him. He gave her a quick kiss and they both grabbed their bags.

"Same to you, Gin. You were great." Harry gave her a hug.

"Aw, Harry, you always know how to make a girl blush," she giggled playfully, batting her eyes dramatically, obviously teasing him.

Harry turned slightly red and coughed. "Ah, well...you know me." He flashed her a lopsided grin.

Ginny laughed in amusement. "See you at dinner, Harry, Herm." She paused. "See you, Draco."

Draco's head snapped up and he stared after her in wonderment, noticing how the sunlight reflected off her red hair. He shook his head and followed after her, not even acknowledging Harry and Hermione.

Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and nudged his shoulder. "What were you two talking about? I noticed that during one of the breaks Gin and I had in our duel."

Harry sighed deeply. "He asked me to help him learn Parseltongue and he wants to know my own experiences with it."

Hermione stopped abruptly and turned Harry to face her, her eyes shining with delight. He looked at her in confusion. "What are you so happy about?"

"Oh, Harry, don't you see? This is wonderful! Malfoy wants you to help, with something you both have in common."

She waved her hand impatiently when Harry opened his mouth to protest.

"I know what you're going to say. It doesn't matter that you can't exactly teach Parseltongue to him. What matters is he went to you for help. Its the first step in the four of us really bonding and trusting each other. " Hermione looked absolutely ecstatic but Harry wasn't buying it.

"Hermione, I know you're happy about this, but I'm not going to buddy up with Malfoy just because he asked for my help. He's been my enemy for six years. Two acts of kindness today - one by me and the other by him - aren't going to erase that. Don't you understand that?"

Hermione shoulders drooped a little. "At least try, Harry," she whispered, "this is so important. We have to eventually become friends or we'll never defeat V-Voldemort. I'm not asking you to forget the past, I'm not asking you to even become really great friends. All I'm asking of you is to at least try to get along, in some way. We have to trust each other."

Harry looked away from her pleading eyes and stared back behind the castle to the gently swaying forest. He wanted to try, but he didn't think he could do it. There was too much bad history between him and Malfoy. Could they really, ever get along?

Hermione's hand raised up and she gently turned Harry's face back to look at her, lightly stroking his cheek. She stared into his emerald eyes, they were such a beautiful color.

"Please try, for me," she said softly.

Harry leaned into her hand and then raised his own hand up, mimicking her actions and stroking her cheek.

"You know I'd do anything for you," he whispered.

Harry pulled her toward him and they shared a sweet and gentle kiss. As he pulled away, Hermione threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly to her, tears filling her brown eyes.

"Hermione!" he said in surprise but hugging her back.

"I love you, Harry," she mumbled into his neck.

A thrill of joy ran through his body and he smiled, hugging her even tighter. She had said it before to him but it felt like the first time every time she said it. He never thought it would be possible to love someone so much, especially with the way he was raised by the Dursley's, but he knew what he felt for Hermione was love. She was everything to him.

"Promise me something," she continued, not letting her hold on him loosen.

"Anything," he responded.

"Don't ever leave me. Promise me that. Promise me you'll always be here for me. I don't think I could live without you." Hermione held back the sob wanting to escape her throat and a few tears splashed onto Harry's shoulder.

Harry closed his eyes in pain, not wanting to give Hermione false hope if his promise never came true. As much as the Prophecy of Merlin said, he still had the other Prophecy to worry about, the one about just him and Voldemort. What if he was the one meant to die? Harry didn't want to promise anything that he wouldn't be able to fulfill. He frowned in concentration and worry and then opened his mouth, ready to tell Hermione there was no way he could promise something as big as what she requested.

Hermione pulled away from him sharply as his silence became longer. She grabbed his face in her hands, forcing him to look her straight in the eyes. Harry didn't want to meet her gaze but he couldn't look away. Their eyes were locked and Harry could see so many emotions swirling in her eyes, eyes that were in no way just a dull brown, but a mixture of every color of brown and gold the world had to offer. Hermione's eyes shined at him with tears and emotions. Emotions of pain, anger, hurt, but mostly love. Harry could feel the love she felt for him radiating from her and it hurt him horribly that there may come a time when he wouldn't be able to return that love.

"Harry, please," she begged, breaking into his thoughts, "promise me!"

Before he could stop himself, Harry uttered the last words he had planned on saying. "I promise."

Hermione hugged him again, pressing her body up against his. He ran a hand lightly through her brown curls and watched how the rays of the sun gleamed off of the brilliant blue water in the wide moat.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Harry shut his eyes at her words, feeling tears gathering in them. He didn't want to cry, he didn't want Hermione to see him like this, he didn't want her to see the emotions reflecting in his own eyes. But most of all, Harry didn't want Hermione to know that he might not be able to keep the promise that she was so desperately holding him to.

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

Author's Note: Whew! Finally got another chapter up! I actually meant to have this out earlier but I couldn't quite getting the ending right until just now. I think it turned out pretty good, maybe not my best chapter but it has more H/Hr fluffiness and you know we all love that! :) I'm so thankful to all my reviewers, you are all wonderful and I thank you once more, from the bottom of my heart, for supporting this fic! It means so much!

So, Draco's a Parselmouth, makes things a bit interesting I guess. And I got a little bit of D/G in this chapter. I know I'm taking forever to get them together but its not as easy as Harry and Hermione, who already had a friendship built up, I'm getting there though so don't worry! I hope you guys like how I did the training with this chapter. I'm not going to do so much focus on each specific class from now on unless it is really vital to the story, such as when I get to the Unforgivable Curses. I'm going to have a few chapters that deal with their individual lessons, the lessons with Dumbledore, and of course, their Animagus transformations. I won't be doing day-to-day though cause that would get boring after awhile, even JKR doesn't do that! Ah, such a brilliant writer! I'm still unsure what the next chapter is about, I'm thinking of maybe getting back to Ron....hmm..we shall see I guess.

Oh, btw, I started writing another fan fic, a cute, romantic one for me to work with on the side. It's a Ron/Luna fic, my first ever, and its called To Win Your Heart. I'm going to be working on chapter two shortly and I'd love if you guys would check it out and give me your opinion. It would mean a lot to me!

So, I hope you enjoyed the longer chapter and I'll try and get the next chapter written and posted asap. Please please review!
Much Love,
PhoenixFirebolt