Disclaimer; the world of Harry Potter belongs to the talented J.K.Rowling. I am not making any money from this (more's the pity), and will return it when I finish.

This is set in Harry's seventh year and takes place after the events in my last story, harry and the next step. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading! (I'm also really excited that I finally figured out how to save italic's. Yeah!)

                                         Chapter one Return to Redwood

Harry woke up with a smile on his face; his dreams had been pleasant. He dreamt about his parents, mostly about the tricks his father had gotten up to at school.

For two weeks, Harry had been back at Redwood with Moony and they had spent most of that time talking about the past, not the painful memories of the recent past, but his parents' time at school.

Moony was the last remaining 'loyal' Marauder; he was the closest thing Harry had left to family, well if you excluded Harry's Aunt and her family, which Harry did. They had moved away the year before and Harry had not heard from them since.

Harry showered and went in search of breakfast. He heard voices as he approached the dining room; Dumbledore was speaking in low tones with Moony and Mad-eye Moody.

"The attack on Diagon Alley was just the beginning it would seem. Voldemort was very pleased with the effectiveness of the muggle terrorists. Snape has informed us that they are planning more mass attacks," Dumbledore was saying quietly.

"Do we have any idea where the next strike will be?" Moony asked.

"There are several likely targets, The Ministry of Magic, Azkaban or Hogwarts are just a few that come to mind."

"We're stretched out too thin to provide cover for all the possible targets," Moody lamented.

"Precisely. Harry, are you going to join us?" Dumbledore said.

"Sorry Professor, I didn't mean to eaves drop," Harry said, taking his seat at the table.

"Good morning Harry, are you enjoying your holiday?" Dumbledore smiled.

"Yes, though I'm keen to start work."

"You must not be impatient Harry, your body needs time to recover from last term's adventures," Dumbledore told him.

Harry smiled lopsidedly and replied, "Did Madam Pomfrey remind you of that?"

Dumbledore looked at him, one eyebrow raised, then handed him a plate of bacon and eggs. Taking the hint, Harry tucked in. The older wizards seemed to have finished their conversation, or else did not wish to discuss it in front of Harry. Either way breakfast was finished quietly.

"Harry, you expressed a wish to practice Legilimency. Alastor has volunteered to be your test subject," Dumbledore informed Harry.

"Don't look so surprised Harry, you won't hurt me, I've been training Aurors in this for years," Moody told him.

Harry was surprised, he had expected to concentrate on Elemental magic, but he was pleased that the older wizards seemed to be supporting his extra studying.

"Thank you, I just thought that I would be learning Elemental magic," Harry looked to Dumbledore.

"All in good time, Harry," came the reply.

"Elemental magic?" Remus asked. "Do you think he can?"

"I think that it is possible, I have been watching the signs for several years," Dumbledore answered cryptically.

"Don't you think I can learn?" Harry asked in a hurt tone.

"It's nothing like that Harry; it's just … how much do you know about Elementals?" Moony asked.

"Not much ... well nothing actually," replied Harry.

"There have not been any Elementals born for over 400 years Harry; it is not something that you can just learn from books. An Elemental is born, and then they spend years studying their craft," Moony explained.

"Oh … I thought that Dumbl … why are they so rare?" Harry asked.

"No one knows. Elemental magic is not a hereditary power. The last few were unrelated. The difficulties lie in the lack of accurate information on the subject," Dumbledore told him. "But I intend to bring you several historical books on the theory, so that you may begin studying the basics."

What had seemed to be the perfect solution in his fight against Voldemort now looked more complicated than Harry had anticipated. Trying to mask his disappointment, he followed Moody to the training room to begin his practical legilimency lessons.

"Right Harry, the trick is to be gentle, that way your target won't sense the attack immediately. If done correctly it's possible to obtain the information you're seeking without them even being aware of you." Moody told him.

"Then why did it hurt when Snape taught me occlumency?" Harry asked.

"There are some who use Legilimency as a weapon," Moody growled, "but subtly is usually more rewarding than a full frontal attack."

So Harry began slowly, he focused on Moody and said, "Legilimens."

Maintaining eye contact with the Auror was eerie, Harry was unsure which eye he should be looking into, Moody's normal eye or the artificial eye, that for the moment was focused on Harry rather than spinning around in its socket. After a few moments, Harry decided that he was doing something wrong because he had no impression of what Moody was feeling. He let his wand arm drop to his side, disappointed.

"What am I doing wrong?" Harry asked.

"Well for a start you have to be a lot more focused than that, you won't hurt me so stop worrying. Now once you cast the spell, ignore your own feelings, you have to concentrate on mine. I won't block you yet until you get the hang of it, try again."

Harry stood prepared and tried again. This time he concentrated on both Moody's eyes and tried to imagine himself slipping past them into his mind. For several moments, he felt nothing different, and then he felt a tingle of surprise quickly followed by a burst of happiness.

"Well what did you sense?" Moody asked.

"Surprise and happiness, you were surprised!" Harry said.

"Yes I was, but you allowed yourself to be distracted, I wasn't feeling happy, you were. Are you ready to try again?"

Harry and Moody spent the entire morning practicing until Harry was able to read Moody's feelings for several minutes at a time. Harry was amazed at how tired he felt as they went to eat lunch.

"I didn't know it took so much energy," Harry commented.

"Just wait until I'm blocking you," Moody replied ominously.

"Dumbledore left these for you Harry," Moony pointed to a pile of books on the table, as they joined him in the dining room.

Harry looked them over as he ate lunch. There were three heavy leather bound books, 'Elemental Encounters' by Rufus Weatherly, 'Sail on the Breeze' by Christofis Charisma and 'The Elementals,' which had no authors name on it. Harry flicked through the pages glancing at the complex looking charts and diagrams; there would be a lot to study.

 If this proved the answer to the defeat of Voldemort, it would be worth all the extra work. A picture of Hermione popped into his head and he grinned, this sort of thing would be right up her street.

"Make any sense of it all?" Moony asked.

"I was just picturing how jealous Hermione would be, if she saw how much reading I will have to do this summer," Harry laughed.

Moony smiled then said, "I forgot to tell you, Molly spoke to Dumbledore about allowing Ron and Hermione to visit for your birthday."

"Cool, I hope Mrs Weasley makes a cake," Harry replied.

"Don't let Tikka hear you say that, you'll hurt her feelings!"

"Well I'm on duty tonight Harry, so I'll see you tomorrow. Why don't you practice on Remus while I'm gone, you seem to have mastered the basics so don't worry about causing brain damage." Moody said as he left.

"Always cheerful isn't he?" Moony laughed.

"Afraid of me?" Harry challenged.

"Not likely Avis!"

"Avis?" Harry asked.

"It means bird in Latin," Moony told him.

"In ten months all you could come up with was Avis?" Harry smirked.

Moony looked quiet offended when he replied, "Actually I thought of several others, Arnatt means little eagle in old English, Pennula means little wing in Latin, Asfoor means bird in Arabic, and Migizi means Eagle in Anishinabe, will I go on?" Moony replied.

"Okay I get it, you have far too much spare time," Harry laughed.

"Well choose one."

"I think I like Migizi actually," Harry smiled.

"Alright then Migizi, son of Prongs, I declare you officially named," Moony announced.

They went laughing to the training room; Harry could not recall the last time he had felt so relaxed. Moony seemed to have that effect on him, he could forget for a while he was The Boy Who Lived, and simply be himself.

Two hours later Harry was no longer relaxed, he discovered that Moody must have been shielding his memories. He had spent two hour with Moony, recalling terrifying images of being a werewolf.

"Do you want to stop?" Harry asked Moony.

"I'm fine; do my memories make you uncomfortable?"

"I guess I never understood how frightening it could be," Harry replied quietly.

"Okay this time I'm going to try and force you out, not just try to block. Are you ready?"

Harry was running. Following a girl with flowing red hair and laughing green eyes, just as the girl turned and opened her mouth to speak, Harry found himself landing on his backside on the floor. He stared up at Moony in disbelief.

"You fancied my Mum," Harry accused him.

"Harry, every one of us loved your mother, but it not what you think. She was a wonderful woman, we were all jealous of your father."

Moony wouldn't meet Harry's eye as he continued, "But it was only a dream, your father was my best friend."

"Why were you thinking about that now anyway?" Harry asked.

"Well I guess looking into your eyes, they're so like hers, I couldn't help it," Moony admitted.

"Yeaw! You don't fancy me too do you?" Harry asked aghast.

"Don't be stupid Migizi, you're not my type," Moony laughed, and the awkward moment passed.

Harry grinned at him, and then said in a cheeky voice, "You couldn't block me."

"Smart ass," Moony flung over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "Come on, I was never very good at Occlumency anyway, you can practice on Moody from now on."

There was a while before dinner, so Harry took his new books to the living room and sat trying to make some sense of them. He read about the four main elements he should study, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Each had its own unique properties and he would have to learn to sense each one's presence. One book suggested he start by meditating with a small sample of each surrounding him. Earth could be represented by stones, Air by incense, Fire by a candle and Water by a bowl of water.

He was surprised to read that muggles used meditation to bring the elemental forces into their lives, though the magical world was extremely sceptical of their success in this. Harry actually found the section on muggle methods the simplest to understand. He was supposed to meditate, holding the chosen element in his hand, and try to imagine his essence made of that element.

Glancing up at the clock, he realised that it was too late to try before dinner, so he closed the books and went to the dining room. Moony was sitting with Dumbledore; they were talking about Harry's progress at legilimency that afternoon.

"Remus tells me I should guard my mind around you," Dumbledore smiled as Harry sat down.

The words, 'only if you fancied my mother too,' flitted through Harry's mind but he replied, "I don't think I've come that far yet, Sir."

"Still you have made great progress, for only one days practice," Dumbledore said.

"Well I've been studying since last year, I think I must have read every book in the library about it," Harry said.

"Miss Granger would be proud," Dumbledore told him. "How did you like the books I left for you?" 

"I've only read bits of them so far, I want to try the meditation first, but I need to collect a few things," Harry told them between mouthfuls, "Some stones, incense, some candles and a bowl of water."

"Interesting you chose to try the muggle method first," commented Dumbledore.

"It seemed straight forward, but if you think I shouldn't," Harry waited for Dumbledore reply.

"No, I think that you must trust your own judgement, I can only guide you a little of the way," Dumbledore replied.

This was Harry's biggest concern, learning Advanced Magic through his professors and extra lessons was one thing. Learning about a completely new field with no one to tell him what to do was another. Dumbledore was watching him, smiling in his reassuring way.

"If you are indeed an Elemental Harry, much of the knowledge you will need is already within you. I can guide you to the path but you will not need me to walk with you." Dumbledore said gravely.

Harry tried to look confident but he knew that he wasn't fooling anyone.