A/N: Okay so, in this chapter, I'm going to try and give you an idea on what I always thought magic would have felt like!

Chapter Twenty-Six - Put aside your differences

"Meena! There you are! Where've you been?"

Her housemates decent upon her the moment she was in the common room, Pansy and Daphne lounging about with a distinct lack of their usual grooming; they obviously weren't planning on leaving the common room at all this Sunday.

"In the Library," Meena replied to them as a whole. "I'm just getting some notes from my trunk and then going out again."

"Where to?" Pansy asked with a sneer. "All of your friends are here."

Meena raised one brow. "I have plenty of other friends in other houses, thank you very much, and i'm meeting with a pair momentarily, i have you know."

"Oh yeah, who?"

Meena rolled her eyes. Pansy really was quite annoying. "Ernie and Neville. I trust their not up to your satisfaction as companions, but i wouldn't wish to take advice from anyone who wears those shoes with that dress."

Meena smirked to herself as she crossed the common room; she could hear Pansy harshly whispering for approval from Daphne that of course, she looked fabulous.

Meena searched her trunk for the shrunken collection of parchments she had kept from her studies in Durmstrang, bound and covered in leather to make a rather ramshackle book.

Once at the bottom of the stairs, she found Theo, Blaise, Draco and Millie waiting for her.

"So, what're you doing with Longbottom and Macmillian?" Draco asked, his still-present distaste for the two seeping into his voice. Despite how well all her friends had managed to mingle at Christmas, House unity was still very far from the truth - unless one counted Theo and Neville, of course.

"Research," Meena said, wiggling her bound parchments. "And a little bit of teaching too."

Theo, ever the academic lad, piqued up at this. "Oh? What're you teaching them?"

Meena shrugged. "Durmstrang basics, really."

"Durmstrang stuff?" Draco asked, his eyes lightening at the prospect.

"Wonderful." Blaise said, picking some invisible dust off his shoulder. "We're coming along then too."

"Uhm… no, guys, really. It's probably stuff you know already." Meena replied hastily. Honestly, why did people at this school want to learn so much, anyway?

Millie sniffed. "Whatever, there's no way i'm letting Longbottom or Ernie be better than me at anything."

"Oh i see," Blaise replied to her with a smirk. "It's Ernie now, is it? Planning on being Mrs. Minster one day, eh, Millie?"

Millie hit Blaise with a hex that left him unable to speak for the next five minutes.

Meena tried, all the way up to the seventh floor, to dispel her friends' interest in her teachings, but they were strongly having none of it. They followed her stubbornly and tricked around her pleadings with Slytherin wit and double negatives that left her head spinning.

Some days i don't even know why the hat put me in Slytherin. I just want to get through school. I know exactly what i want to do when out of school, but until then...

Ambition. That's why you're in Slytherin, a little voice told her, that all-consuming desire to get what you want.

Meena smiled grimly at her future desires, the ones she held higher than travelling the world with her map of lights, the ones she held higher than getting better for Draco even... If she could just do these few small things, and get through school...

"Meena?"

The sound of worry in Draco's voice bought her back to herself.

"Yes?"

"Where are you going?"

Meena looked about herself. She was still on the Grand Staircase. So many dammed steps.

"Seventh Floor." She replied as she continued to climb.

"Not the library?" Draco was looking flushed, and almost, almost, panicky.

"No, what i want to try and tech can't be done in the library."

"So where are you going."

Meena sighed heavily. "I don't know, Draco, alright? The boys just said Seventh floor. That they knew the perfect place."

They boys' 'Perfect place' turned out to be the corridor outside the Room of Requirement that Draco had taken her to on New Years' Eve.

She grinned that them. "Nice thinking, boys."

"You bought company?" Ernie asked as he heard the footsteps of the other Slytherins approaching them.

"Yeah..." Meena sighed. "They're surprisingly hard to shake when they've got their minds set on something."

"Determination, Meena. The word you want is determination." Blaise said with a grin.

Theo stepped forward to clap Neville on the shoulder as they greeted one another, and Meena couldn't help letting a little knowing smile slip, which Theo blushed at when he met her eyes over Neville's shoulder.

Then Millie stepped forward to shake hands with Ernie, and she began blushing the colour of beetroot when, instead of shaking the proffered hand, Ernie turned it over and kissed the back of the palm with a bow.

Blaise smirked at that, which led to Millie smacking him on the back of the head rather loudly.

"So, we're doing this in a corridor, are we?" He asked sceptically of the group in general.

Ernie and Neville grinned and began to pace, eyes squeezed shut. Meena could see her friends exchanging glances saying that yes, Longbottom and Macmillian really had gone mad, and they were now mumbling to themselves whilst pacing back and forth along the empty corridor.

Apart from Draco - Draco looked like he might hyperventilate any second, until her caught her watching and them he sucked in one last lungful of air and turned to face the wall. When he turned back, he wore the cool, static mask of his father. The empty face was even worse than the wild panic there previously, and she had to turn away.

I see... she thought to herself, he didn't know anyone other than I knew of his secret place... interesting.

"Meena, we're done."

They were still grinning.

They stepped aside to push open the door and Meena walked in behind them, to a room furnished half like a classroom and half like a lounge. There were desks lined up, parchment and ink already provided, on one side of the room, and on the other, piles and piles of throws, pillows, sofas and, surprisingly, potted plants.

The boys explained, briefly, about the room, for the sake of Theo, Blaise and Millie, who couldn't hide their impressed faces, not matter how hard they tried to smother them.

Then, suddenly, with a rumble, the room expanded and three more desks grew from specks of dust on the floor, at the same time as the door creaked open.

The Slytherins, Meena included, stood with their wands braced, watching the door, until Neville cleared his throat a little uncertainly. "I uh, hope you don't mind, Meena, but i invited from friends along."

Meena watched the door. In came a girl of bizarre appearance, her hip-length, dirty-blonde locks the more normal thing about her. She wore alarmingly bright clothes, and had her wand tucked behind her ear. She was humming to herself. Meena recognised her as the girl Harry had taken to Slughorns Christmas party; Loony Luna Lovegood, fifth year, Ravenclaw.

Next through the door, a little uncertainly, was Hermione Granger, equipped with her own parchment, and a bag full of what looked like books, judging by the way it bulged at the seams.

And finally through the door, was Harry Potter himself, who breezed in looking calmer than everyone, save for Lovegood, who had her face mere inches from the leaves of a potted plant and appeared to be speaking to it. Harry's hair was a complete mess and he still wore his slightly damp-from-the-rain Quidditch gear.

Meena could see the way they were already splitting off into stand-off groups.

No, Meena told herself, It's my housemates who're looking unwelcome. Ah well, best clear the air before we start.

"Okay, everyone, uhm... looks like i've got a full class here. Please all take a desk." Meena laughed and rubbed her slightly sweaty palms on her trousers. Her friends stumbled about, leaving Millie, Draco and Blaise in the back row, Theo, Neville and Harry in the middle, and Hermione, Luna and Ernie up front. "Now, before i begin, i want to get one thing clear - everyone in the room is here for a reason; to learn. I'm going to tech you my way, and that's the Durmstrang way, and in Durmstrang, we don't have houses."

She cast a pointed look at her own Slytherins, who looked back at her with mock innocence.

"In this room, there is no Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. I don't want any squabbles about inter-house relations; you either get over that or you leave now."

She glared at them each in turn, but no-one moved.

She nodded. "Good. Another thing, blood-status is out the window. As far as i'm concerned, none of you know anything of what i'm about to teach you, if my suspicions are correct, therefore, you're all below me and you're all beginning with a level playing field. Those of you who might be good at one thing," This she directed directly at Draco, "Might be completely rubbish at this compared to others, who see themselves in a paler light." Now she swivelled her head to Neville, and he dipped his gaze and flushed.

"I will be fair to all of you. I expect respect from all of you. You will not act foolishly with your magic, you are here to learn an art taught to the, mastered by fewer. You will listen, or you can leave. Ask questions, but use common sense, please. Contray to popular belief, there is such thing as a stupid question. Here at Hogwarts, i doubt many will know of what i shall attempt to teach you today; even the Professors, a great deal of whom attended this school themselves, are unlikely to know this unless they have a friend or relative from Durmstrang."

She could feel her inner Durmstrang attendee emerging; her no-nonsense approach and flat tone, keeping the details correct and free of any embellishments. She began pacing in front of the desks, and she was amused to see Ernie, Hermione and Luna were scribbling down her words on the parchment already.

"This branch of training is only taught at Durmstrang. It has no real name, and is only taught for the first year; if one has not mastered it after a year of study, one never shall. This nameless theoretic of magic is known simply as 'Training' to those of us who have undergone it. Not all of you here will be able to do it – and there's no shame in that. You can either do it, or you can't. Simple."

Meena took a breath and decided how best to word her next piece of information.

"This training changes a person. In no way does it make one stronger; that is often misunderstood. Instead, what i wish to tech you is a way to control your power. Each Witch and Wizard, whether Pure-blooded or Muggle-born, is born with an amount of power. If untrained, the magic drains through them, like a tap forever filling a leaky bucket - the tap being the natural renewal of your magic, of course. It is not used to its full potential. With this metaphor, spell use is a pouring out of the bucket, whilst the leaks still drip and the tap still fills."

Meena found herself wandering all around the room, between the desks and around the outer circle as she spoke.

"What we shall develop here is a way to fill the leaks and turn the tap so magic is used when necessary. My 'bucket', so to speak, has no leaks. My bucket of magic is currently filled to the brim, stagnant, waiting to be called upon, and as i pour some out," Meena levitated one of the potted plants to show her meaning, "My tap if flicked on and the bucket refilled, so i am always using my bucket, or my magical limit, to its full capacity. Stop pouring from the bucket," She allowed the plant to sit upon the floor once more, "and my tap flicks off again, my bucket full and glistening with magic."

She rapidly fell out of lecture mode and laughed nervously. "Does this make sense so far?" she asked the room in general, and was rewarded with nine fascinated faces all nodding up at her.

"I shall warn you now; this training hasn't got a good reputation. Many people had even gone so far as to call it Dark Magic."

She saw the way Harry, Hermione, Luna, Ernie and Neville flinched in surprise, flickers of doubt running across their faces.

"I assure you, however," Meena hurriedly continued, "This is not so. This skill had been misjudged through the ages as a form of the Dark Arts simply because so many Dark wizards and Witches have possessed it. The Dark Lord Grindelwald had it, but he had it not because he was a Dark wizard, he knew it because he was schooled in Durmstrang. It is true, Durmstrang has an... unorthodox approach to the Dark Arts, but one has to understand all magic to truly master it.

"He who can walk through the Darkest Magic of our world, and come out the other side taming it... they are the ones who hold the most power."

A low hum of wonder filled the room, and Meena saw all her friends were paying strict attention to her.

I guess teaching isn't so bad.

"Now," she said with a clap of her hands to bring them out of their stupor of information. She summoned some chalk and flipped the blackboard that had been helpfully provided by the room. "If you wish to continue these sessions after this one, then this is what i plan for us all."

She jotted down '1. Feeling'.

"The first step of Training is understanding how to feel your magic. Some of you may have this already; when performing a particularly powerful spell, you may have felt sensations in your arm, espically the first time you held a wand." Meena looked about and saw a majority of heads nodding. "Getting a feel of your magic as i have will make you aware of your magic every minute of every hour of every day. It will become a part of you, like the beating of your heart. You will know when it is right, and you will know when something is amiss."

Next, she wrote, '2. Defining'.

"Once you have a general feel for your magic, you can begin to define it. My magic comes to me in the form of the ocean. My magic swells through my veins, runs in currents over my muscles. When i perform a spell, it rushes down my harm in a rapid wave and crashes upon the shore of my spell-target.

"Each person feels their magic differently, and they can all be difficult to explain. People's magics i have known from Durmstrang include; Static electricity that bolts out of them like lightning, a heat that falls upon their skin like the sun's rays and steadily radiates out of them. I had an Elder who describes his magic as growing sensations, as old and sacred as the oaks in the forests that reached out and lingered in whatever it touched. I knew a man whose magic was like the wind, a gentle breeze upon his skin when at rest, a gale when he was in duel. You can have tickling, fizzing, bubbling, crackling, swarming, flowing, oozing."

She smiled at her friends.

"When it comes to your own magic, nothing is wrong, and everything is right."

She turned back to the board and wrote, '3. Research', and she chuckled as she heard Neville groan.

"This is not the kind of research that can be found by the decaying pages of books or a reach through someone's mind. This is research of yourself. This is one of the shortest stages of Training, as most people already have an inkling. Basically, you are researching what kinds of magic best work in harmony with your own.

"Me, i'm best at, quite truthfully, damaging, defensive magic. My oceans reach out in a tsunami and obliterate my opponents. My friend who has radial magic, like the sun, he found himself best at defensive magic, as his magic fell like rays upon his surroundings and sheltered them from harm. The Elder who described his magic as an ancient Oak tree was Durmstrangs old healer - he felt his magic best when he reached out with the strong branches of his tree to heal the wounded and sick.

"There are some things taught that are not generally affected by one's kind of magic - Herbology and Potions the main examples - these require general skill and a basic ability to follow instructions. Let's face it, if you can't shred leaves properly, that's not a magical issue, that's a clumsiness issue."

She finally wrote on the board with a flourish. '4. Control and growth.'

"The final part of training of the longest; it never really stops. Once you have found your magic, and you can recognise it and your own abilities and where they lie, next you have the chance to control your magic. This might mean better accuracy or a stronger force behind your spells, or anything really. Once you can feel you magic all the time, you can control it. You never, ever, try to contain it. If you discover you wield a power far greater than you expected, you must embrace it, learn to live in symphony with it.

"Magic is almost like a separate entity, like an animal within you. Attempt to restrict it, and it could lead to panic, magic that attempts to free itself; like plugging up the buckets' leaks without turning off the tap - you'll have magic spilling over and eventually, you'll most likely hurt someone. Care for your magic, love it, treat it right, and you'll eventually be able to call upon it all at once, so much so that the people around you will be able to feel it, you shall wield it with greater control and finesse."

She sighed, coming to the end of her speech.

"Training does not make you stronger; it reinforces what's already there."

She swept one last gaze over all of their faces and smiled.

"Any questions so far?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air like a rocket.

Meena nodded at her.

"Put as you are describing it," she started, twiddling her quill between her fingers, "This sounds relatively simple. Why is it taught for a whole year at Durmstrang, and how long do you think it shall take us?"

"Good question, Hermione, i didn't think of that." Meena cast her mind back to when she was eleven, first sitting next to the Durmstrang kids in her very first Training session. "Training lesions continue for the whole year in school because it was easier than switching each child out for a different lesson each time a singular child mastered it, basically. As for how long it takes..."

Meena shrugged.

"That would depend on your personal level of confidence, desire to learn, ability, age..." she shrugged again. "There are many factors that can influence the time structure of Training. Most eleven year old witches and wizards manage to complete it within six months."

"Six months?!" Harry cried, and Meena scowled at Blaise when she caught him rolling his eyes.

Meena nodded sombrely. "Yes, Harry, six months. For you nine, however, i believe it shall be much faster."

Meena grinned at the way Harry's eyes lit up once more.

"Why shall we lean faster, Meena?"

That was Ernie, and he had his head tilted to the size, a small pile of left-handed quills piled on the side of his desk.

"As eleven year olds just beginning school, most of us are just coming into our magical stride; we've never really used magic before, instead having it lash out from us in desperate states of accidental magic. An eleven year old is still getting used to actually using magic. Even as a pure-blood child, we're not taught in the ways of magic until eleven, usually."

"So you think we'll be able to learn faster because we've had the chance to familiarise ourselves with our magic?" Millie asked.

"Exactly." Meena smiled in encouragement at her friend.

"Meena?" Harry asked then, half raising his hand, looking not quite sure wither he had to or not - he dropped it when Meena waved it away.

"Yes Harry?"

"I know you said forget about blood ties for the moment, but i have to ask something."

"As long as it academic." Meena nodded him her acceptance.

"I was wondering... if Durmstrang doesn't accept Muggleborns... will Hermione be the only Muggleborn to know how to do this?"

Meena blinked in surprise, and so did several others, Hermione included.

"I don't know, Harry." Meena replied truthfully. "I suppose we can't be sure that someone like myself hasn't gone off and taught Muggleborns how to do it... But i would say that Hermione, you can hold yourself as one of, i suspect, an exceptionally small number of Muggleborns who'll acquire this skill, yes."

Hermione sat up a little straighter in her chair, a proud curve of her spine present.

The Meena grinned and clapped her hands again. "So, who's ready to start Phase One?"

They spent the rest of Sunday afternoon in the room of requirement, starting on getting a feel for their magic. Some of the students, like Luna and Theo seemed to grasp the concept straight away.

Others... not so much.

Meena sat on the raised platform the room had provided for her, and watched her students as they attempted to clear their mind of every single thought, save for the feel of their body. Some called it meditation, others called it a trance. To get a feel for ones magic, the subject first and foremost has to be comfortable.

For Draco, that meant he was half-laid back on a chaise-lounge, hands behind his head and legs crossed at the ankles. Neville had curled up on his side amongst a mass of pillows and blankets, and he looked almost to be sleeping. Luna sat on a pillow, crossed legged and head bowed in a way that would have made Meena's back ache, but Luna's face was one of clear serenity.

"Are you feeling anything yet?"

Meena turned around to the whisper, barley louder than a breath, and lifted an eyebrow at Millie and Blaise.

Blaise, curled up on an armchair, opened one eye in response to Millie and shook his head. "How the hell does one clear one's mind?" He asked her in an equally quiet voice.

A light cough emanated from Hermione as she shifted on her chosen sofa again, and Harry wasn't quite quick enough to close his eyes once more before Meena caught the flash of green as she turned around.

It was safe to say these four were struggling.

Meena cast silencing charms on Blaise, Millie, Harry, Hermione and herself, and lightly poked each one on the shoulder and gestured for them to follow her to the other side of the room, where she set up general silencing enchantments so she could talk freely without disturbing the others.

"You four," She started, once they were all settled at a desk, "Are having issues."

"Hey, don't be hasty," Blaise replied. "You said this process could take a while."

"No, the process of slipping into the Feeling state is supposed to be relatively easy; it's locating your magic that's the tricky part."

Millie and Blaise's faces made it clear that they thought this entire process was going to be tricky.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his already dishevelled hair. "Snape tried to get me to 'clear my mind' last year when he tried to teach me Oc... how to concentrate better at potions."

Millie and Blaise glared at Harry's sudden change of direction in the sentence.

"I sucked at it then, and i suck at it now." Harry moaned childishly, which made Millie roll her eyes behind his back.

"How're you trying to clear your mind?" Meena asked him.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I sit with my eyes closed and focus on the dark."

"Right. And the rest of you?" Meena asked the remaining three.

"I am trying really hard, i honestly am, Meena," Hermione said, her tone showing her obvious frustration at herself, "But i just can't do it. There's too much running through my mind."

Blaise and Millie exchanged looks and then shrugged. "To be honest, Meena, i haven't the slight idea how I'm supposed to go about clearing my mind."

Meena rolled her eyes.

"Alright you four, get comfy." She said, and watched as the room changed their desks to what they found comfy; Blaise developed a full four poster bed, whilst Harry leant back into a patch of grass that had grown, one hand behind his head, the other across his chest.

"If you're going to shift around to get comfy, do it now."

Hermione sat forward on her sofa and punched a pillow into shape behind her back, and Millie sat up from her pile of pillows to put her hair up and out of her face in a ponytail.

"Right, okay. Now relax." Meena said, dropping her voice to a quiet, comforting whisper, indented to calm and be monotonous, to almost fade into the listeners' subconscious.

"Whatever you're thinking of, clear it, for now. Lock them in a drawer to come back to later. Now focus on your breathing. Regulate it, control it. Breathe comfortably, slowly. Feel how every breath moves your body, how you rise and fall with the air that gives your life."

Meena watched as their faces grew the most relaxed they had been since she'd set them the exercise.

"Now focus on your heartbeat. Hear it thump in your ears, feel it as it pushes blood through your body. Feel your chest twitch with each steady beat. Focus on your blood, feel how it surges under each of your pulse points, as steady and strong as the falling and rising of the sun. Focus on your fingertips. Feel the way the blood pools there, the throbbing, tingling of every one of your cells thrumming with life and magic.

"Breathe... focus on your body. Feel the energy that surges through your body, feel for the thriving of your magic."

Meena silently dropped the silencing wards separating the two sides of the room, as she watched everyone, Millie, Blaise, Harry and Hermione finally holding the calm peaceful of inwardly searching themselves.

She silently watched them, and silently cast Tempus beside her.

"Argh!"

The deep cry of shock made everyone jump - apart from Luna, who shook her head and blinked slowly like waking from a sleep, her pupils near fully diluted. Everyone turned to stare at Blaise, who had sat up on his bed, one hand on his chest, eye wide and breathing heavily as if someone had just given him the scare of his life.

He turned to Meena and his face portrayed how deeply he's been shaken - he looked horrified, but there was a tiny flicker of amazement there too.

"I felt it." he breathed.

Meena smiled at him encouragingly, as the others shifted out of their previous positions to listen to him.

"What did you feel, Blaise?" Millie asked him excitedly.

Blaise was still breathing a little shallowly, but he no longer looked afraid, at least. His hand gestured wildly in front of him as he sucked in breaths, staring at his duvet in search for the words.

"It was like a... like a buzzing, almost a crackling, like when you can't find the station on the Wizards Wireless. Right here." he brought his hand to his lower sternum, the middle section between his belly and chest.

Some, like Ernie and Harry, were looking doubtful, but their eyes widened in surprise when they saw the proud gleam in Meena eyes.

"Very good, Blaise. That very well could have been your magic. I'm surprised it took you so little time."

"Woah!" Hermione exclaimed, catching sight of Meena's Tempus charm. "Were we really doing that for two hours?"

Meena smiled in amusement and nodded her head. "It's funny, isn't it," she said, with a knowing smile, "How easy it is to lose track of time when you really get to know yourself."

"What were you doing all that time, Meena?" Draco asked.

Meena shrugged. "The best way to describe it is... swimming in my oceans. Reacquainting myself with my magic. Just revelling in the fact that i am a magical being, i do possess this wonderful ability and i love it, for it is everything that i am. It is me, i am it, my magic and i are one."

Meena chuckled at herself and jumped up, stretching her muscles, which, instead of stiffness, were soothed after the session of feeling her pure magic.

"Right guys, i'm calling it a day. That was really great, all of you, really. If you're serious with this, this is what i want you to do; keep trying. When you have a spare moment, take some time to concentrate on your breathing. Start to pay more attention to your heartbeat. Just little things, during the day, but when you lie in bed at night, do the full exercise. Get comfy, set up silencing charms if you have to, but try doing it again. Try clearing yourself of everything and reaching out for your magic. Report back here on... Tuesday? I know Hufflepuff have Quidditch practice on Tuesdays, but you're not part of the team so it won't be a problem, will it, Ernie?"

"Not at all," he replied with a self-satisfied smile.

"Right, well then: Congratulations for today, give it time and practice, and i'll see you all again for another session on Tuesday."

The nine formed off into groups; Hermione retrieved her book bag and she and Ernie trotted out the room, followed by Theo and Neville, who were already mumbling about their next Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Blaise and Millie left for the common room, Millie quizzing Blaise more about what he had felt.

Meena was surprised to see Harry and Draco leave the room together, Luna between them, who seemed to be lecturing Draco on the beneficial factors for her unique radish earrings. They boys were walking stiffly, the unease between them clear, but hey, at least they hadn't drawn wands yet, right?

Meena stared disbelievingly for a moment, before shaking her head to clear it and running to the door to catch them up, slipping her hand into Draco's as they walked along with Luna and Harry.