Amulet of Time 3: The Wolf and The Pelican

Chapter 6: Joining the Quidditch Team

" Again."

" Expecto Patronum."

" More forcefully. Again."

" Expecto Patronum."

" Think happy thoughts. Again."

" Yes, Peter Pan. Expecto Patronum!"

" This isn't working. Try once more and if it doesn't work, I'll try something else."

" EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Harry shook his head in despair as Sev tried the spell for what seemed like the hundredth time. They had been working on the Patronus charm for an hour, with little success, and Harry was starting to get a headache. So far, his training of the younger Slytherin had gone rather well. It was two weeks into the term and Sev was already getting good at basic wandless magic. As he was the same age as Harry was when he learned the art, the older boy didn't think he would have the same problems as Dumbledore. He expected the future Potions Master to be able to do most spells wandlessly by the end of the year. Over the last two weeks, the boys had set up a sort of training schedule. Sev would arrive at Harry's room at eight, where they would spend an hour working with weapons, an hour on advanced spells that the fifth year may need but wouldn't learn yet, and an hour preparing for Sev's animagus transformation. He was progressing quickly in the animagus training, but he was finding the handling of weapons a little harder. Harry told him it was because he needed to get in shape. When the four time travellers had first started their training with the founders, they had been made to run laps of the lake every day to get fit. Harry had decided the week before that Sev would need to do the same if he was to ever progress. The younger boy had objected at first, but was now resigned to the fact that Harry wouldn't give up.

At the weekends, Harry had decided to have and extra two hours a day with the other Slytherin in his room. He was teaching him advanced potions, which Sev was delighted about. Harry could now see the glee on Sev's face when he was given a challenging potion to brew, and could easily see why he had grown up to be such a good Potions Master. He had talent and an endless well of enthusiasm for the subject. Luckily, it was a passion Harry shared, and they often spent their evenings discussing theories and reactions that most in their years wouldn't be able to follow. Harry found it nice to have a like minded person to discuss such things with.

One thing Harry had vowed when he first started Sev's training was that he would avoid teaching him the Dark Arts as long as possible. It wasn't that he didn't want to share his knowledge, or feared they would be misused. It was more as a sign of respect to Dumbledore. He knew the old headmaster would agree with him training a younger student, but thought he would object if he was teaching the Dark Arts. While he tolerated Harry using them, he didn't think it would be wise to teach them to Sev, not without Dumbledore's approval. Not only that, if he taught a fifth year Dark Magic, and the other Slytherins found out, he would be seen as one of the Death Eaters. The news would soon spread around the school, and would eventually get back to the Marauders. His friendship with them was still tentative, and he didn't want to jeapardise that in any way.

After thinking over the spell he had been trying to teach his apprentice, which is what he classed Sev as, a small smirk spread over his face. Sev, who was watching his teacher avidly, paled at the look and started to slowly back away. Harry whirled around to face the retreating student, and waved his hand, muttering under his breath. His robes immediately changed to cover his whole form and as he started to move towards a very confused Sev, the younger boy felt his insides freeze and voices start to appear in his head. Backing up quickly, he soon found himself with his back against the wall. Seeing no way out, he started to panic. Lifting his wand and pointing it towards the advancing figure, he pictured in his mind the day Harry had told him he trusted him, and wanted to be his friend. The memory firm in his mind, Sev flourished his wand and called out the spell as forcefully as he could.