The sun beating down on him, sweat dripping in his eyes, and two dangerous opponents moving to circle him, Harry knew the longer this went on the worse it would be for him. He took a step back to increase the distance between them and then a quick second step to mix up the pace of his movements. Unfortunately for Harry he realised that this was what they wanted when his foot almost slipped in the wet patch of dirt they had been shepherding him towards, and they both took advantage of his sudden loss of balance to fire spells his way.

Rather than fight to regain traction, like his body was screaming at him, the boy chose to go with the momentum and fell down, sliding under one spell and taking a nasty cut to his left shoulder from the other spell hitting him. He shook off the pain instantly and started rolling before his opposition could react. Two rotations later he steadied himself on his stomach and lined up the torso of the closer of the two, who happened to be turning to get a bead on Harry.

"Perlius! Perlius!" Two emerald beads shot out of his wand and impacted on the chest of his target, exploding in puffs of green paint. His victory was short lived however as he saw a brief red flash and then slipped into unconsciousness.

~/~

A lovely cup of tea in hand Sirius Black sat on his balcony enjoying the Mediterranean sun. Italy was so much nicer than the crappy house that his family called home in dreary London and he did not regret the decision to move here one bit. The sound of an annoyed child stomping up the stairs carried to him and brought a deeper smile to his face. It was also a great place to bring up his adopted son.

"Porca miseria!" The child further made his mood known as he stepped out onto the balcony. "What happened?"

Taking another sip of tea simply to draw out his answer and make Harry wait, Sirius finally turned to acknowledge the kid. "You took your eyes off the second opponent. You had done well to recover from the slip, even drew a bead on Luca, but you got too narrow focused. You need to be aware of everything around you or you will always be vulnerable."

Harry huffed as he sat down. "I'm 10 Siri! What other ten-year-old boy has to fight two duellers for training?"

The man just shrugged and turned his attention to the sparkling waters that their villa overlooked. His son had a point, but Sirius couldn't protect the child from the world forever and had to insure Harry's safety. Harry would be the most competent first year student to ever walk the halls of Hogwarts. He needed to be.

A whisper from Harry caught his attention and he started turning to look at the boy when he felt an impact to the chest. Pain started radiating from the impact area and Sirius found the spot wet when he reached up to touch it. His fingers came away green. He looked over at his son, shocked at the betrayal.

The boy was smirking at his victim. "You were right. You are vulnerable when you aren't aware of your surroundings."

"Vulnerable? Vulnerable? I will show you vulnerable!" With that he launched himself at the youth and tackled him to the floor.

The laughing and cries for help that Flake heard minutes later when he appeared to clean up the tea and biscuits was solid proof that Sirius was holding down the child and tickling him unceasingly. Shaking his head at the behavior of both children that he had to look after, the house-elf made short work of cleaning up and left his young Master to his fate.

Harry's freedom was only brought about because his bully got a hand-cramp and released him. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Harry grabbed his wand and started to run away. Stopping in the doorway to look back he saw a perfect chance for revenge and fired a stinging hex into Sirius' unprotected rump. A yowell of pain followed the careening boy as he dashed around the place searching for a hiding spot.

Half a minute later when Sirius came hurtling into the hallway in pursuit Harry was out of sight and it became a war of attrition. Sirius would search a room, Harry would move on to a different hiding place while he was distracted. Sirius would hear a sound but Harry would be gone before he arrived. The climax was when Sirius was sure he had him trapped in the cupboard under the stairs, only to have the kid push him in and lock it behind him.

"Let me out you… You… Brat!" The muffled cries of the trapped wizard carried to the laughing child, very pleased with his out thinking of his dad.

Shoving a chair under the handle to hold the door further, Harry sat on the bottom step grinning like a mad man. "What's in it for me?"

"What's in it for you?" Sirius' outcries of displeasure, muffled by the trap, filled the air. "I won't kill you when I get out, that's what's in it for you!"

"With an attitude like that…" Harry stood up and started walking up the stairs all the while making sure to announce his intentions with a heavy footfall.

"Wait, wait, wait! Okay you have me. What do you want?" Harry smiled as he knew once again he had got the better of his dad.

Slowly plodding his way back down the stairs, Harry leant against the bannister. What to ask for? A new broom? His birthday was only a couple of months away and there was a rumour of a new British top of the line broom getting released about that time so it would be better to wait on the broom front. A trip!

Harry and Sirius had travelled to Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australia in the past but always for Harry's training. Being able to cast spells in different languages, or spells completely unknown to the British population would give Harry a massive advantage when his enemies came after him, as would the ability to use focuses other than his wand. Harry wanted to visit somewhere on holiday and have a relaxing time.

"I want to go to France. Next month." Better not push his luck too far, France was just next door after all. And he could swing it as a learning experience. "The Marseille Masters are starting June 12th, and Ruli Gabon has said it will be his final duelling tournament."

"That French bastard." Sirius muttered under his breath, but Harry heard enough to get the gist of his dad's sentiment. Sirius had lost heavily a few years ago when he bet against Gabon at the World Duelling Championship after the Frenchman had just scraped through as European champion to qualify for the World's.

"Please Siri, it will help me heaps seeing what I've learnt put into practice by the experts. Besides Gabon isn't slated to get out of the second round so you can laugh at him as he fails." Harry said as he walked over to the door, removed the chair, and released his dad.

Sirius stalked out of his imprisonment glaring down at the boy, brain already formulating a dozen different forms of revenge. "Fine." He turned and stomped away, letting his inner child show.

~/~

"Remember Harry, do not panic. Stay calm and think about one thing only. Just focus on that image or thought to the exclusion of all else and your adversary will lose." Randy, Harry's tutor on Occlumency, encouraged.

A presence trying to breach his mental wall alerted Harry to the start of the exercise. Not panicking like he had the first few times they had done this he conjured up an image of the Aurelian Walls that he has seen on many of their trips to Rome. Focusing on the wall alone he didn't feel when Randy burst his passive defenses only to come against the solid, single-focused nature of the Roman Wall.

In Europe, especially in the U.K, the traditional view of Occlumency was still held where an individual had to build strong, intricate defenses, and then further defenses, in one's mind with a strong recommendation of hiding your memories as well. In America they had moved on from long-standing tradition and a different method was gaining traction; a simple, but strong, defense to alert you to the presence of an invader and then rigid mental focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else so that the invader can only access that one thought. Sirius had paid for one of the leading voices in the field to come to Italy for 6 months and train Harry in the protection of his mind.

Harry was winning! It was the first time that he felt like he could keep Randy out for more than a few seconds, and with a surge of confidence the wall grew thicker and taller. He was going to finally keep Randy out and the American wouldn't discover the word that Sirius had told him to keep hidden. A loud bang drew Harry out of his head as he spun around to see what had happened.

He saw a puff of smoke the same instant he felt Randy start ransacking his memories for the secret word. "Port-a-loo."

Turning to the American wide-eyed, mouth gaping stumbling over his words, Harry protested. "But… What… But…"

"You did well but you can't expect people trying to get into your mind to play fair. You need to stay present, stay aware of what is going on around you. Focus on your defense, but not to the detriment of all else, or you will be vulnerable to other attacks." The instructor stepped away to get a drink while Sirius came up with a new word.

Harry barely paid attention to his Dad when he came over, joking about the shocked look on the youths face, telling him to keep his cheer up because he was doing very well, and the new buzz word. Instead Harry was thinking of a way to get one over on the American. He refused to be a passive participant any more; it was time for him to go on the offensive.

Waving Sirius away he called his tutor over. "Let's go again, Randy."

The man approached and Harry instantly felt a gentle prob against his passive mental barrier. He didn't know if it would work, to the best of his knowledge the combination had never been tried, but Harry had a plan. Thinking of a hand pulling the finger as a new image for Randy, Harry made sure to stay present to what was happening.

The moment he saw the American's lips moving the boy sprung into action. "Protego!"

Instantly he felt the connection between him and Randy snap as the magic could not penetrate the shield. Harry smiled because he wasn't sure if the shield would stop the subtle mind magic as it was designed for more offensive spells. That was the riskiest part of his plan as Harry wasn't sure he was focusing enough on his mind defense to hold out Randy if protego didn't work. Now came the fun part.

"Expelliarmus! Perlius! Perlius!" The three spells collided with the surprised academic, who only just managed to keep hold of his wand and stared down at the two paint splotches on his chest.

"The best defense is a good offense." Was Harry's one-liner as he left the room, happy to get one over on both Sirius and Randy.

~/~

"Right this way sirs." The usher indicated after looking at the tickets Sirius held.

Taking the pair down a different route to most of the people who were swarming into the arena, the usher led them around the side of one of the stands to an elevator. Elevator might be a generous term given it was just a wooden platform that was magically raised to a viewing platform 30 feet up. Sirius had said they were the equivalent of the Corporate Box that they had used a few times over the years to support Ascoli and had some of the best views of the Duelling Platform.

When they stopped ascending Harry could tell instantly what he meant. While they would be looking down upon the platform that the fighters would be on, at this height it was only enough to give them a clear view but not so far that they wouldn't be able to make out all the details of the duel. Depending on where a spectator sat or stood on the viewing platform they would only be about 50 feet from the duel, close enough to really feel part of the action. It was prime viewing for those willing to pay.

Harry's gaze swept around the box, taking it all in. There was a table with pastries, cheeses and crackers, a table with drinks, and a suckling pig roasting for later in the day. There were 20 seats for the audience to sit in and plenty of space to mill around talking. There was also a pair of smartly dressed elves buzzing around to take care of those on the platform. So far only two other groups were present; one with 4 professional looking men and the other had two men and a woman of an older demographic.

Once when they had gone to watch Ascoli there had been a couple of kids there with their parents but the last two times it had been all adults and was the main reason they had stopped going to games. It looked like it would be the case once again for Harry to not have anybody his own age there, but at least this one involved magic to keep his attention. Besides as much as Harry would like to make some new friends his main goal in coming was to study the pros as they fought. And hopefully see someone lose a limb.

Looking out at the arena it was a fairly simple design. There were three duelling platforms laid out in a capital I shape with two perpendicular to the main stage, one at each end. An open stand matched the C platform in the South and a covered Grandstand to the North had great views of platform B. Directly across from Harry on the other side of the main duelling platform was a second VIP platform. Depending on how busy a competition it was the possibility was there that they could have three duels happening at once.

By the time Harry finished checking out the layout and turned back to his guardian he found the man had already stuffed two pastries in his mouth. From the sounds the man was making Harry guessed they were delicious, but rather than go anywhere near that insanity he went to choose a seat. Halfway between the northern end and the middle was where he settled, decided it would have great views of platforms A and B as well as be out of the way enough to not have adults complaining about him sitting there.

A magically magnified voice filled the arena speaking in French but thankfully Sirius had brought some "Language Learners" for them so they could get by during their time in France. "Welcome to the 1991 Marseille Masters Duelling competition! Two days of excitement and action here in lovely, sunny Marseille. Before the professionals come out to dazzle us with their skills we have a special treat for you all; the chance to witness some future duelling stars from Beauxbatons. The stars of last year's duelling club, open to all 4th year and above students, are here to prove themselves and earn bragging rights for the new school year starting soon. The capstone event will be the school leavers battling it out to claim the honours for the final time and to be crowned the 1991 Beauxbatons Champion. Enjoy!"

Harry watched as six students not much older than him climbed into the three different platforms and bowed to the crowd and each other. Harry focused on the central platform where a platinum-blonde girl was facing off against a boy with a darker, dirtier blond head of hair. Something about the girl just drew in Harry's attention.

He watched as her opponent sent a couple of basic duelling charms her way that she dodged and scrambled sideways to avoid. It was clumsy but the right thing to do. After all, why use up your magical reserves on shields when you can avoid the spell altogether? Harry however saw that her bigger problem was her tendency to dodge left and she was fast running out of platform.

The girl realised too late as her foot slipped over the side and she tumbled over creating a big opportunity for the boy. Seizing the chance he flung several spells at her prone figure, resulting in her wand flopping out from under her and scattering along the wood. The beaming kid bowed towards the VIP platforms as the announcer declared one Pierre Leroux victorious, all while the embarrassed girl slinked off.

As the other two duels were still happening Harry looked over at platform B only to scowl at what he saw. Both boys were standing stationary and flinging spells at each other and relying on their own shields holding. It was lazy, poorly trained duelling that only was a tactic that you would fall back to if you knew you were more powerful than your opponent and so would outlast them.

"Disgusting." He muttered to himself.

"I quite agree. But they are just children after all." A quiet voice speaking in accented English came from his right.

Jumping in surprise, Harry spun to face the individual and saw one of the older men sink into the seat next to him. The man smiled at him before turning his attention out to the duellists. "They have only had the one year in the duelling club, they hardly have had the amount of training as yourself Mr. Potter."

Panicking that this stranger knew who he was, a secret that he and Sirius had kept for a decade, Harry started looking around for his dad. Unfortunately for him Siri was currently facing away from him grabbing morsels of food off of the table. The boy drew his wand and pointed it at the older man, who just smiled at the threat.

"Calm yourself, Mr. Potter, I am not an enemy to either you or Sirius Black. I too have a secret identity that I prefer not to get out. My name is Nicholas Flamel, but I am currently going by Nicholas Duval." As he finished speaking he pointed at the two duelling students and Harry looked to see one shield fade away as it's caster bent over double from exhaustion, giving the win to the other student.

Turning back to the man with a scowl Harry opened his mouth only to close it when he realised he had no idea what to say. Who was this stranger who knew who he was and claims to have a secret identity of his own? Was he a criminal? Or was he like them, somebody hiding from the evil people who hated others because of their circumstances of birth? Or was he simply lying?

"Who are you?" His eyes darted around once more and this time he saw that Siri was facing in his general direction so subtly called him over.

"I was an academic and researcher who stumbled across a discovery in my youth. A discovery that led to me making a lot of money and a lot of enemies. People who wanted my research, my money or who just felt that taking me out would lift them out of a life of mediocrity. When you have made a name for yourself you can never be too careful Mr. Potter." He had been watching the new pair who had climbed onto the main stage when he began speaking but had turned to observe the boy by the end.

Harry felt naked under his piercing gaze, feeling like all his thoughts were laid out before the man. He may not have perfect Occlumency just yet but he was proficient enough to know that the older wizard wasn't using Legilimency which made him feel even less secure. What sort of research he started to wonder.

Flamel had just opened his mouth to continue when he felt a wand jab into the back of his neck and a gruff voice whisper. "Who the fuck are you and give me a reason why I shouldn't just blow your head off right now."

"Because then I would have to kill you Mr. Black and that would be a real shame." This came from the older woman who had been with Flamel earlier and had sidled up to Sirius without him noticing, jabbing him in the side with her wand. "However none of that is necessary. How about you just have a seat Sirius Orion and then for once you might actually know what's going on."

The lady's words were enforced by her poking him a second time, harder than the first, and with a firm grip on his shoulder pushed him into the empty chair next to Flamel. Sirius kept his wand loosely aimed at the old man but was very aware that the lady who sat down next to him still had hers aimed at him as well. This was a shit show and Sirius couldn't believe he had been stupid enough to bring Harry into such a dangerous situation.

Ignoring the glowering adult-child beside him Nicholas turned his piercing gaze upon Harry once more. "As I was saying before we were interrupted; anonymity is a gift that I value greatly. So I will keep who you are secret if you keep who I am secret, how does that sound?"

Harry frowned at that. "Bit unfair given I don't actually know who you are..."

Flamel smiled, not at all offended by the remark. "I guess that's to be expected given your teachers would not have had reason to tell you about alchemy just yet. Trust me when you look me up later you will understand, or you can ask Sirius later he should have heard of me."

"Then why approach me at all? Why let it on that you know who I am and that you are somebody else?" Harry really was confused about who this old man was and what his play was.

The old man's smile widened. "Because I came here today to meet you."

A/N: Sorry it's taken ages. While I do have plenty of time on my hands atm, I'm so out of practice at writing it's just taking ages to get it all down. What was 3 hours work is now like 13. Liked the chance to flip some of the bad memories that Sirius and Harry would have had in cannon with some fun, family experiences. Also played up the fun but bratty kid Harry that never really had a chance to come about in JKR's books. Stay safe all,

Apprentice.