Amulet of Time 3: The Wolf and The Pelican

Chapter 15: The Prophecy of Four

The following two weeks passed in a blur. Ron and Hermione were spending more and more time together, doing 'couple things'. Most nights they would sneak out of their common rooms and meet at Corvus Corax, where they would find a quiet corner to occupy themselves. Ginny was spending her days with Remus, as she didn't really get on well with anyone in her own House. Remus, she felt, understood her well. They had similar personalities, and while their relationship was entirely platonic, there was a lot of speculation around the school about how close they had become. Ginny had spent the last full moon with the werewolf, and found that her presence eased Remus' transformations as well as taming the wild beast he became. While it was never as fool proof as using the Wolfsbane potion, she managed to keep him under control to a certain extent.

The rest of the Marauders were spending all of their free time in the library researching their animagus forms. They knew from the time travellers that they would have to know everything they could about the animals they would become before they attempted the final transformation. Occasionally, they would take the time to organise a prank, usually on the Slytherins, much to Harry's annoyance. James and Sirius had also resumed their feud with Severus. Although the Gryffindors were always the ones to provoke the situation, Sev had now learned how to fight back, thanks to Harry's lessons.

Harry himself had been spending most of his time on work. In his free periods he would do his homework and do some extra reading from several books he brought from the library at Corvus Corax. In public, though, he only read up on Light magic topics. In the evenings, before dinner, he continued his studies of the Dark Arts. After dinner and before Sev came for his lessons, Harry continued with writing his book. He was currently working on a text describing many lost forms of the Dark Arts. Over the years since he had started this particular hobby, he had completed five books, all of which he intended to publish once he returned to his home time. It was the one thing he did in this time that he didn't share with Sev. Although he taught the younger boy wandless magic, an art which had been lost since the Middle Ages, as well as having given him the immunity necklace, he didn't teach any of the true ancient magics. Even ancient potions had been deemed off limits when he had discussed the issue with Hermione. In truth she didn't approve of his teaching the Slytherin anything as advanced as what he had covered already, but there was nothing she could do about it. Harry was his own person, and while he respected her opinion, he would not be swayed once he had made up his mind about something.

In the evenings, Harry continued with the lessons he had been giving Sev. The younger Slytherin was becoming quite adept at acting, a skill which would be most useful when lying to the Dark Lord. Harry had even disguised himself as Voldemort a few times for his friend to practice on, although every night after he did it he dreamed of what his arch nemesis was doing. It seemed that by the next day the link had closed itself fully, but for the first few hours he could see and hear a lot of interesting things. As well as teaching Sev to spy, Harry had also carried on with his other lessons. Sev was competent in his weapons training, and was very good at wandless magic, having reached a level close to Harry's. He still needed a wand for more complex spells, such as a Patronus, but anything covered in his year he found easy. Although he knew how to do things wandlessly, he did as instructed by his mentor and continued to use his wand in public. Harry had told him more than once that his new ability would be an advantage in battle, but only if the enemy didn't know about it. Sev had also been taught a lot of potions, and showed his passion for the subject on several occasions. With Harry's help, he was far beyond even seventh year level in his chosen field, and was quite proud of his skills. The one thing Sev had yet to master was the animagus transformation. As there was not much information to be found on velociraptors, he had to make do with what was available. He was having the same difficulties Harry had experienced when he first found out his form didn't exist. An extinct creature wasn't exactly the most convenient to have.