Chapter 21: Voices in my Head

Feeling connected to the world was the greatest experience of Harry's life, his recourse after losing that sensation was to seek solitude.  For two days.  He didn't bother summoning the elves to ensure his privacy but used several charms he'd picked up from his reading over the summer to keep the world out.  And he was grateful for the time alone.  It was how he'd grown comfortable with life earlier in the summer, that is before Lestrange and company decided to ruin it.  Harry remembered that then life was clear, he had goals, or at least he thought he did, either way he was making his way towards achieving the things he deemed important.  Now everything was in disarray, and not just as it concerned his own life, all of London was turned inside out. 

'Neither can live while the other survives'

The thought played constantly through his mind like the chorus from a bad song.  Time alone can cause things like that to happen, and by this point Harry was singing aloud "Row Your Boat" trying to purge the thought from his mind.  A stubbed toe and two broken lamps were the products of his failed attempt.  Apparently the mind has a way of knowing what the body needs if both are to move on together.  But it didn't mean that Harry had to like it, unfortunately self deprecation and masochism could only get him so far. 

'Neither can live while the other survives'

"So what, is that supposed to be Fate's attempt at motivation?" Harry screamed aloud.  "A little added incentive for me to get out there and stand up to the world's Boogey Man!" Bullocks! Harry thought.  Who the hell thinks up this rubbish? Is there some sort of barmy panel of old white-haired men…the  prophecy panel? I'd like to see how well they live if I survive to find out the answer!  Harry flung himself backwards onto the bed.  Staring at the ceiling above him the thought ran through his mind again, 'Neither can live while the other survives'.  Then it struck him, he was hearing Dumbledore's voice recite this thought. Ha, that's rich! He thought as the notion sunk in.  The old man keeps me with the Dursleys all my life, and then once I'm old enough to decide not to stay with them, he fills me in on the prophecy.  How's that for making sure the i's are dotted and the t's crossed.  What's he do for an encore, kick me out of school, steal my glasses, and parade me around Diagon Alley in Winky's birthday dress? 

Harry rolled over onto his stomach and stared into the closet where Sirius pensieve rested.  Another glaring example of a taste of life given to him only to be taken away.  The dry humor startled to trickle away from his mind. "What if there's nothing to live for if I do survive?" He asked himself dryly. Either must die at the hand of the other.  Another interjection of his mind.  "That just effing terrific!" Harry screamed.  "Now I'm bloody well answering my own questions!"  You and your freaky little friends boy! Vernon Dursley voiced his mind's response.  He launched himself to the top of the bed and buried his head under a pillow.  If he couldn't stop the voices in his mind maybe he could drown them out through down feathers.  'Either must die at the hands of the other'  Nope, that thought sounded clear as day.  …does this mean that you can't be killed by anyone but Voldemort…"  Hermione's voice joined the symphony in his mind.

But the girl's voice in his head brought a sense of reality out of the delusional conversation.  Is it possible that only Voldemort can kill me? What does that mean?  If I kill him does that make me immortal? "To hell with that, I've only been here sixteen years and I'm already sick of this!"  Harry quipped.  '…he will have a power the dark lord knows not…'  This part of the prophecy wasn't voiced by Dumbledore in his head – and that somehow added an extra level of seriousness to it.  "Well unless that power is the ability to have a conversation with myself, I think he's going to have a shitty life until some one fills him in!"

It wasn't until the following day that Harry finally left his room.  Surprisingly his reappearance wasn't as ceremonious as he expected.  There were some extended looks, mostly due to his ragged appearance, but for the most part everyone seemed to understand.  That was until Remus and Molly came down the stairs.  "What is going on Harry?" Remus asked sharply.  "You've been holed up in your room for nearly a week now!" 

"More like three days." Harry said casually and went about his business of preparing breakfast. Molly jumped in next.  "Three days! You say it as if we all go vanishing to our rooms that way." 

"Well you've never had to live under the same roof as the Dursleys now have you. " Harry said with a hard stare over his shoulder at the lady.  "At least not when it was their roof." The comment managed to silence Molly's next comment.  "This isn't the Dursley's, Harry." Remus interjected.  Harry gave the man a 'perceptive' stare and took his bowl of cereal to the kitchen table.  Remus followed Harry to his seat and crouched near him, "We've seen a lot this summer Harry, you and I, don't let what we've developed fall to the side."  He said and walked towards the door.  "I'm going to be around today should you need anything. Tonks is coming by later this afternoon to teach your friends how to Apparate – I'm sure she'd be happy to see you there as well."  Molly gave Harry one of her pitying looks before leaving as well. 

"Sort things out then Harry?" Ron asked.

"You might say that." He said.  "I was worried for a bit, don't think it's proper to have full conversations with one's self. Wasn't until I remembered that you named your stomach that I started to feel alright with things."

Ron spit half the food in his mouth back on his plate in a snort.  "Well I'm glad I could help."

"Are you planning to join us when Tonks gets here?" Hermione said looking repulsed by Ron's involuntary regurgitation.

Harry watched Ron shovel the pre-eaten food back into his mouth and was suddenly grateful to talk with Hermione, "I don't see why not.  I didn't row with Fudge so you guys could have all the fun without me."

"Remus suggested we use the training corridor to practice, it being wide open and all.  Is that alright with you?" Hermione asked.

"It's fine." He said dismissively. "How you holding up Nev?"

Neville shifted nervously in his seat, "…I-I've been fine…I'm really sorry for what I did. I-I don't know what happened, but I've decided that I'm not going to have a go at it again."

Harry stopped eating his breakfast and turned his attention fully to Neville. "Nonsense! I know what happened when you transformed, I know because I felt just as lost in my form when it happened to me.  It's a part of who we are, you just have to accept that."  Harry said with a brief look over to Hermione, "You'll keep at it or I'll leave you bound in ropes again until you do." Neville made to protest but Harry interrupted.  "You've worked too hard to give up now, just learn to control it. That goes for all of us." 

The group sat quietly in the kitchen finishing their morning meals and tea.  It was almost too quiet, and Harry began wondering if something drastic had happened that no one wanted to tell him about. He thought better of asking though, why seek out another thing to worry about, these things had an easy enough time finding him on their own.  Instead he got up and left the kitchen without a word.  Half way up the stairs he heard the sound of the kitchen door open then close, followed by hastened footsteps pattering in his direction. 

"Harry, I need to talk to you for a moment." Hermione's voice called from the base of the stairs. 

Damnit, had to be something! He thought. "I was on my way to the shower. Can it wait till later?" Maybe he could at least delay the news. 

"Actually, if you would just stop in my room on your way, it will only take a second." 

Nope. It was worth a try.  "That's fine, but I really do want to get cleaned up. It's been three days since I've had a shower you know."  Hopefully the fear of some staunch body odor would motivate the girl to keep this short.

Harry followed Hermione up to her room where he immediately noticed his two felt Gringotts bags laying on a dresser. I can't believe I left those lying around!

"You left these lying in the kitchen." Hermione said.

Covered that thanks! Harry thought.

"This one has been driving me nuts ever since you sealed yourself off in your room" She pointed out the smaller moneybag.  Harry took it and noticed that it was vibrating slightly.  "I think there's something in there for you. I didn't want to open it, but the bag kept making a sound like something was jumping around inside it." Almost on cue, the sound of what might have been paper shuffling came from the bag.  Harry opened it and noticed a small stack of standard sized parchment.  "Well what is it?"  Hermione asked. 

"I don't know," Harry said as he pulled the papers out. "Must be something from Morvac."  Hermione looked as if she was going to question who this person was but decided to leave it be.  "Well that's all I wanted…unless there's something you'd like to talk about."  Harry looked over his papers at Hermione with a confused gaze.  "Er…no, was there something that I should talk about?"  Hermione stared silently for a moment before a dejected expression grew over her face.  "No, I guess not.  I just thought you might want to talk to someone after being alone for three days."  Harry intentionally went back to reading, "No not really." He said as casually as possible.  "I'm going to take a shower then. Thank you for keeping these safe for me." 

Harry left the room without another word, lost to the examination of Morvac's papers.  A note from the goblin was written in abnormally neat penmanship and placed at the head of the stack. 

Harry,

Enclosed are the description, specifications, and legal documentation required to transfer ownership of the home you requested for your muggle relatives.  I am pleased to notify you that I was able to acquire a location which slightly exceeded your family's previous accommodations for a price well below the appraised value of Number 4 Privet Drive.  In addition, I have taken the liberty to complete the insurance claims that were still outstanding for Number 4 Privet drive as well as establish the required policies for the new home at Number 11 Dravis Lane.  A muggle bank check made out to VERNON DURSLEY is attached for the amount collected from the previous residence. 

Please pay attention that there are two sets of forms for completion.  The first for our Gringotts' acquisitions office authorizing us to transfer ownership of the property to the Dursleys. These are to only be signed by you and then returned to me.  The second set of papers are muggle documents, which are only to be signed by the Dursleys. This will acknowledge their acceptance of ownership of the home and responsibility for the policies established on it.  I apologize for this inconvenience, but it seems that due to your age you are not privileged to own and transfer property according to muggle law. To complete this transaction these extra measures were necessary.

I have accessed our agreed twenty percent service charge to this acquisition, however you will find that the total amount is still one quarter less than the anticipated costs.  I would like to add that I believe you and the Dursleys will be greatly satisfied with this new residence.  Per your terms, the house is near enough to the prior location such that minimal adjustment will be required but also far enough away so that it is unlikely that the owners of this home could be associated with those of Number 4 by any unwelcome outside parties.  Though this later consideration was fairly easy to accomplish, as it seems the muggles in this neighborhood pride themselves on having homes devoid of distinguishing characteristics. 

Once all of the documents have been signed place them back into the moneybag so that I may finalize this transaction. Should you have any questions you may reach me by floo at "Gringott's, Office of Morvac", or by sending a letter through your moneybag. 

Regards,

Morvac

Harry set the letter aside and examined the pictures and description of the house.  He didn't know much about what made a house worth more or less, but he did notice that this house was bigger than Number 4 and that it didn't have a cupboard under the stairs.  Morvac could have taken twenty-five percent on account of that alone.  Harry waited until after his shower to muster up the willpower to go see his aunt and uncle. And even then he faltered about going through with it as he descended the stairs.  He considered sending Dobby to deliver the papers and waiting outside the rooms for the cries of horror the elf would earn in their presence.  But why subject the elf to that torture?

With a hesitant hand he knocked on the door to his relative's room.  The sound of something crashing to the floor preceded Petunia's cry to her son, "Oh Dudikins, hurry and hide, those nasty people have finally come to take my baby boy away!"  Harry waited to listen to what else he would hear, but the time away from his uncle must have diminished his ability to comprehend the man's blabbering.  Though he could already tell the man had grown purple in the face. 

"It's only me, and no one is coming after Dudley." Harry irked. There was a pause before he heard footsteps approach the door and then the lock unbolt.  The image of an irritated Dudley staring back at his parent greeted him when the door opened.  Harry smiled at his cousin as he entered the room. "Actually, Dudley made a couple of friends when he decked Professor Snape."  

"Professor! Ha! I told you Petunia that school is run by a bunch of nutcases!"  Vernon spouted.  "Shut the door son, before any more of his like coming nosing around." 

Harry held back the urge to curse his uncle. "No one is going to be nosing around. I've only come here so that you can sign these papers for your new home." 

Vernon eyed Harry suspiciously, "We won't have your no good lot trying to get one over on us, boy. You better hope they've found an acceptable replacement for our once fine home." 

Harry tossed the papers down onto the table in front of Uncle Vernon, "See for yourself then."  The two other Dursleys quickly made their way to the table to look over Vernon's shoulder as he examined the documents.  "Oh Vernon, 11 Dravis Lane! That used to be Mrs. Biggly's home…but that house is much nicer than ours."  Petunia gasped. 

"Indeed, but what is it that they expect in return?" Vernon said with an eye on Harry.  "I'll not give even a quid if it's to go to any of those freaks." 

Harry could have sworn he heard his wand calling to him to hex the fat man. Maybe it was just the voices in his head again. "Then I expect you won't be wanting that check in there if it's coming from us freaks either?" 

Vernon thumbed through the pages quickly until he found said check, his jaw dropping just a moment before Petunia's as they comprehended the amount on it.  "Well that's nearly the worth of our home." Petunia said.  "What's this about boy, some sort of payoff to keep things quiet."  Vernon spat. 

Maybe just a little hex, the voices can't be all that wrong!  "Are you really that thick Vernon? Have you any idea what could have been done to you? No one had to replace your home, in fact they could have just wiped your memory clean and left you lying there like a fat lump in the middle of the rubble that was your living room."  Harry started thumbing the wand in his pocket. Nobody would ever know, the voices wouldn't tell!  "I could do that myself right now, and be done with your foulness."  It was a lie, and not quite as satisfying as actually cursing the man, but the effect it garnered felt pretty good.. 

Vernon faltered for a minute, and the purple color in face lightened noticeably.  "Listen here boy, when we move into this new home you will not be coming to it – EVER!  I don't care what that crackpot old man says, or what sort of agreement my wife had with him!" 

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Harry said flatly.  "Just sign the papers, everything is taken care of the home is yours no strings attached." 

"And the check?" Vernon asked.

Would fit nicely stuffed up your arse! "It's the insurance money due on Number 4, not some ridiculous pay off as you would like to believe."  Harry answered.  Vernon opened his mouth to say something but Harry spoke up, "Just sign the papers. The sooner this is over the sooner you can leave here."

"You'll not take that tone…" Vernon started. 

Followed swiftly by my foot. "I'll take whatever tone I wish!" Harry yelled.  "I'm sorry that all of you were attacked and that your home was destroyed, unfortunately that's the lot I was given in life.  But not having to suffer your foulness any longer after sixteen years is something that I will be glad to be rid of.  If you'd rather argue with me about it then I can tell my freaky friends to keep the home and send you out of here with nothing but the clothes on your back! Now sign the papers and let's be done with it!"

Vernon stood defiantly but Petunia rested a hand on his shoulders. "Vernon, please just sign the papers so we can get back to our lives."  She pleaded.  He huffed angrily, but sat back down and began signing the documents.  After the last paper was signed the man shoved the stack across the table, less the check that was included, and Harry took them up before heading towards the door. 

"Harry." Dudley called behind him. "I'm sorry about dad." He said quietly once he caught up with Harry in front of the door.  "Listen, I know we didn't always get along, but I'm glad we got to train together this summer…and I'm sorry for always being a git to you when we were kids."  Harry had to take a breath to calm down before replying, "Me too Dud. I think it's possible I might miss you a little now that I won't be coming back." 

Petunia joined the boys in the doorway, "Harry you do know that if you need to come back after school is out we'll still take you in at Privet…I mean Dravis Lane." She said. 

Harry was taken back a little by the comment, but noticed she didn't go so far as to say 'welcomed back'. "Er…thanks Aunt Petunia, but I can stay here now so that won't be necessary." 

Petunia and Dudley shared a concerned look that caught Harry's eye, "What is it?" he droned. 

"Harry, Dudley and I…we were just wondering how safe it is to return back to Little Whinging. How do we know that those Dead Eaters won't come around looking for you?  Especially now that the…uh…m-magical shields won't be there like at Privet Drive?"  Petunia asked nervously. 

Harry had been thinking about this since his decision to buy the Dursleys a new home.  It took some time and research, but he had found a series of spells in the library that when placed in sequence worked as a sort of reverse anti-muggle charm.  He was quite surprised at first when he located the book, How to Defy the Wizard Eye, and thought that the content would focus on various types of disillusionment charms.  Which would have been useful. Instead, he found the text was "dedicated to the wizard who no longer wanted to be noticed by the wizarding world", or so the caption inside the cover read.

Harry hesitated to tell the truth, "The ministry…well…I…have found a way to make it so that the house can't be seen by witches or wizards.  That is, unless they already know the house is there or are invited there by another witch or wizard who does. When you move in, which could be as soon as tomorrow if you want, I'll go out there and set up the wards."  At least that was the plan. 

"Wards?" Dudley asked in his old witless tone.  It forced Harry to hold back a smile, "Yes Dud, they're like magical shields. Only these shields make it so that no witch or wizard can see your home, except for me…and maybe Morvac." Harry suddenly realized he didn't know how many people beyond Morvac had seen the house.  "Well I better be off to make the preparations, I'll come back later if there's anything else." Harry said quickly.  He turned and head back to his room.  It only took a moment to prepare and send off a letter for Morvac thanking him for his work and asking about whom else had seen the house. 

The sound of the hat stand crashing to the floor in the living room notified everyone that Tonks had finally arrived a little after noon.  Harry and Ron strolled down stairs to see the young, and now pink haired Auror clambering to her feet.  "Wotcher Harry, that hat rack'll jump out at you if you're not looking!" she said. 

Ron leaned towards Harry, "And this one is going to teach us how to apparate." He whispered. 

"Hey, I heard that Weasley! I'll have you know that apparition was one of my best subjects at the academy!" Tonks said.  

"I thought you told me that healing was your best subject." Harry replied.  Tonks blushed, or maybe it was just the look of her pink hair giving that illusion, "Yeah…well that one too."

Hermione rushed down the stairs a moment later with several books on apparating in hand. "Oh good you're hear, I've been reading up for the past week on this!"

"Bah, books will do you no good, the key to apparition is in doing it." Tonks said as she set the hat stand upright.  "Can't wait to see who splinches themselves first!"  Hermione looked put off by the comment but Tonks didn't seem to notice.  "Well come on then, if everyone's here we should get started." Tonks said.  "Besides, Remus tells me this place has got one hell of a basement for us to work in."

"Did he now?" Harry protested,  "I didn't know that he was sharing that information so freely." 

"Oh don't get your bits in a twist Harry. It's not like I'm going to announce it in the Prophet."  Tonks said with a wink at Harry.  "Now somebody get Ginny and Neville so we can get this party started!" 

"We're here." Ginny called from the top of the steps.  Tonks interlaced her arms with Harry and Ron's as she stepped between them.  "Well then boys show me the way to this excellent basement." 

Ron rolled his eyes at Tonks, "It's not called a basement, hello, we call it a training corridor." 

Tonks managed the difficult task of adorning a serious façade in spite of her pink hair, "I'm terribly sorry Mr. Weasley." She said in a false tone, "didn't mean to belittle the glory of your secret hideout." 

Harry leaned his head back to look behind Tonk's fluorescent colored hair at Ron, "Let it go mate, this one's fallen over the hat rack one too many times as it is."

"OUCH!" Harry screamed and started jumping up and down on one foot.  Tonks smiled innocently, "Oh, I'm sorry Harry. I really am such a klutz. Must have tripped and driven my heel square into your little toe." 

Aside from Harry's painful grunts and the snickers from the ladies that followed them, the trip to the training corridor was done in relative silence. It took a few minutes for Tonks to calm herself as she examined the training corridor, but eventually she got to business. 

"Right then, Apparition is really more simple than you've been led to believe.  In fact once you get it down, it's really just a matter of thinking about where you want to be.  Well, that is if you've been there before.  If not than you have to memorize the apparition map so that you can think about the coordinates. Of course, that can be tricky at first because apparating to someplace you've seen before, and apparating to coordinates are really a completely different type of thought process.  But sort of the same too."

The entire group of students stared blankly at their shape shifting instructor.  "Are you keeping up with me here?" Tonks said almost as a side note.  "Right, so the key is to understand that you're not really disappearing and then reappearing.  Really you're just shifting yourself from one place to the next.  I know that may sound kind of confusing, because we say 'Disapparate' and 'Apparate', but don't think on that, it will only make things worse.  Now this is key…er…too, everything around us has some magic to it, it's in the air, and because of this we can Apparate.  The barebones of it is that you have to will yourself to a new location, but this is only possible because you've successfully managed to combine your magical energy with the magical energy in the air around us. Does anyone know why this is important to know?" 

Both Harry and Ron turned to Hermione before she could even get her hand into the air.  "Figures." Harry said.  "I didn't doubt it for a moment."  Ron added. 

"Stuff it the both of you!" Hermione snapped and then lowered her hand at Tonks acknowledgment.  "The reason this is important is because it explains how anti-apparition wards are possible and also why an unplottable location cannot be apparated into."  Hermione recited. 

"Too right it does." Tonks said.  "Okay then, that about covers it. Who wants to go first?" 

"What?" Ron gasped, "That can't be it, aren't you going to explain how to Apparate?"  

"Ron! Good of you to volunteer!" Tonks said and pulled the shocked boy by his hand into the middle of the room. "So what you're going to do is Apparate to the other side of the room. Nothing fancy now, just somewhere in front of the library table, maybe a little ways in front of the table to be safe." 

"Did that hat rack hit you in the head this morning? How in the world do you expect me to Apparate if you haven't even told me the way its done?"  Ron argued.

"You're right of course Ron." Tonks said as she walked over to the boy and placed her arm on his shoulder. "The hat rack MUST have hit me in the head." She said and slammed her heal onto Ron's little toe the same as she did to Harry.  "Otherwise I would have known that you weren't listening properly."  Ron didn't bother with the jumping around like Harry, he just screamed a loud whelp and fell to the floor grasping his foot.  "Like I told you, all you need to do is concentrate on shifting your body from one location to the next. Just think about what it would be like to be in that place over there and then decide that is where you want to be." 

Ron slowly returned to his feet.  "But what if I get splinched?" 

"Well then I suggest you concentrate on thinking about shifting all of your body to that location and not just certain parts. Come on now, stand up straight and give it a go.  If you do it right I'll fix that sore little toe for you."  Ron hobbled slowly away from Tonks into the center of the floor and started to stare intensely at the spot across the room.  Harry watched his friend squint with a look of deep concentration until there was a loud crack, and the soft sound of clothes falling to the floor. 

"I DID IT!" Ron screamed from across the room.  "I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID IT ON MY FIRST TRY!"  He stared at the looks on each face across the room from him and noticed they were all staring with their mouths held open.  He didn't think he'd splinched himself, at least it sure felt like every part of him was still attached.  It was when he looked down to confirm this that absolute horror struck him.  It wasn't a body part he'd forgotten, it was the clothes covering them.  Ron's head snapped immediately to Hermione, who quickly looked away when she noticed him staring back at her, then to his sister, before finally staring at a laughing Tonks.  Harry quickly took out his wand and banished Ron's clothes across the room to him.

"Wasn't expecting that!" Tonks said through her laughter.  "I figured you'd splinch yourself rather than leave your knickers behind."

"WELL YOU BLOODY WELL FIGURED WRONG!" Ron screamed as he wriggled quickly into his clothes. 

"Relax Ron, besides you've learned a trick wizards long before you have been using for those special occasions." Tonks said.  "Now get your clothes on and let someone else give it a try."  At this everyone took a step back but Neville.  "There's a good lad Longbottom. Same thing as Ron, only try to remember all your body parts and all your clothes." 

Neville stared at the spot for several minutes, squinting his eyes and furrowing his brow, but after a while it was obvious that nothing was going to happen.  "Don't try to force it Neville, just think about being just as you are, only in a different spot."  The Auror said calmly.  Neville stopped squinting his eyes and just stared emotionlessly at the spot across the room.  Still nothing.  "Fine then, one last thing to try.  Stare at the spot Neville, take in all the sights around it and store that image in your mind. Now close your eyes and calmly think about looking back at me from that spot, imagine in your mind that you are staring from that spot across the room back at where you're standing now."  Neville followed the instructions given to him and only a moment later there was a crack, softer than Ron's before, when Neville apparated across the room.  Immediately Neville checked that all of his clothes had made the trip with him.  "Very good Neville, though not quite as entertaining as Ron.  Ok, let's not waste any time, next person." Tonks chirped. 

Hermione walked bravely to the middle of the room and stared determinately at the desired location.  Almost in the next instant the soft crack signaling her apparation was heard and Hermione was standing across the room smiling proudly at her friends. 

"Show off." Ron murmured. 

"Ok that's great." Tonks drawl seemed to agree, "Now let's see someone get splinched. C'mon Harry, you give it a try." 

Harry didn't appreciate the lady's request for a splinch preceding her command that he go next, but he made his way to the middle of the room nonetheless.  Concentrate on bringing your body and your clothes to that spot over there.  Feel what it's like to be in that spot. Don't forget your clothes.  Imagine being at the spot across the room, standing in front of the table, just to the right of the potions lab.  Don't forget your clothes.  Concentrating…don't forget your clothes.  He felt the push of air against his face and everything became a blur.  When the air stopped he knew that he was across the room, but everything was still a blur. 

"I think you forgot your glasses Harry." Tonks called out from spot where he once was. "It's not quite a splinch, but there's hope for you yet." 

Harry walked back to the group and took his glasses from Tonks.  Ginny was the last to go, and had to use the same closed eye technique Neville required to successfully Apparate, but she got it done just the same.  The group spent the next hour taking turns Apparating to the same spot across the room.  Ron had a harder time his next go round, and also had to close his eyes.  But by the end of the hour each of them was able to successfully Apparate across the room with little effort, and without a single splinch much to Tonks' disappointment. 

"You lot tired yet?"  Tonks asked but didn't wait for a reply, "Good cause we're going to step things up a notch.  I'll get a splinch out of you yet!"

"What is it with you and us splinching ourselves?" Ron asked irritably.  Tonks walked over the boy and immediately he withdrew so that she couldn't step on either of his little toes. 

"Easy Ronnie, I just think that it's better if one of you splinch yourself now so that you know it doesn't hurt all that much and more importantly so that I can teach you how to fix it."  Tonks said sweetly and waited for Ron to relax in his spot. "Plus I get a KICK out of it!"  She said and stomped on his toe. 

"DAMNIT WOMEN! Would you stop doing that!" 

Tonks ignored the comment and walked back to the center of the room.  "Ok next thing is to Apparate across the room, and then back to the spot you were originally standing in.  Now you have to be careful to Apparate into the same spot cause if you miss you might Apparate into one of us and get…"

"SPLINCHED." The group said in unison. 

"Very good, and they say Gryffindors aren't the brightest students around."  Tonks replied.  The students went back to their practice, Hermione going first, and eventually each of them had apparated to the spot across the room and back without incident.  Tonks made them do it over a couple of times before she was convinced that she wasn't going to get a splinch out of this exercise either.  "Tough lot we got here.  What's the matter, none of you ready to part with any of your limbs?" the Auror asked.  "Fine, one more exercise and we'll call it a day."  There was a chorus of groans at this.  Despite how easy the act of apparating appeared, the students quickly found that doing it repeatedly was exhausting. 

The last exercise consisted of Tonks lining the students up in a circle and having one of them stand in the middle of it, apparate out, and then back into the circle.  Hermione and Ron went first, and both pulled it off without a hitch, and in Ron's case with all of his clothing too.  Harry was next, and he was half tempted to try apparating back into one of his friends just to give Tonks her much anticipated splinch.  But he lost the nerve at the last moment and just appeared back in the center of the circle.  Ginny and Neville followed, and only Neville came close to making a mistake when he reappeared only inches away from Ron on the far side of the circle. 

"Fine." Tonks said dejectedly.  "We're done for today, but tomorrow we work on apparating to places you can't see, and I know one of you is going to leave a part behind.  Maybe Ron'll leave his bits behind but take his clothes with him, that would be fitting don't you think Hermione?"  Both students turned a bright shade of red.  "Anyone feel brave enough to Apparate back into the cellar upstairs?" 

"But I thought Grimmauld Place had anti-apparition wards around it." Hermione argued. 

"They do, but that doesn't mean that the wards are below it as well.  You really don't think Sirius walked up those steps everyday to get back to the manor?"  Tonks answered.  "C'mon Hermoine, I know you're never one to turn down a challenge."

"I suppose we just need to focus on a spot in the cellar?" Hermione asked and Tonks nodded in approval.  Hermione left nothing to chance and closed her eyes before concentrating on a spot in the middle of the cellar.  An instant later she was there and feeling quiet pleased.  Harry and Ron followed after her, then Tonks, who left Ginny and Neville to the stairs when they decided not to try as well.

The anti-wizard charms were an idea borrowed from FullPensieve's Harry Potter and the Year of Rebellion.

AN: Hmm, still not at Hogwarts.  Well, this was going to be one long chapter which included them returning to Hogwarts but I split it in half.  What that means is a quicker update (much quicker) and a chance for me to get back ahead of the update schedule again. Which means quicker updates in the future. 

As always, thanks for reading, and thank you to all those who have reviewed.  I will post my comments to them tomorrow in the review section as well as at the Yahoo group. 

Cheers,

Omagic