A/N: Next time I update the title will be 'Heart to Heart', I'll put it in
the summary, so look out for it!
Not as a Last Resort
Chapter 2: Training
Harry woke up so suddenly he felt a little sick, or maybe it was from the horrible dream he had just had.
Muggles
Muggles being tortured.
The Death Eaters weren't using traditional methods to kill innocent people, they used any means, and not for some colossal plan that Voldemort had - just for fun.
Harry felt dizzy, and sick. It was still dark out. He looked at his clock.
2: 47.
He lay back down in bed. He didn't think he could possibly sleep now. He had nightmares like this many times, but none as clear as this. He thought of telling Dumbledore, but he was so tired that he fell asleep even before the actually thought of getting out of bed.
~*~
It was Thursday.
Harry met Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall for breakfast. The owls flew in to the Great Hall, delivering the mail. One owl swooped down to deliver Hermione's newspaper.
The doors of the Great Hall burst open, and everyone's attention shifted to the person framed in the door way.
It was Snape.
He seemed caught off guard by everyone staring at him, which surprised Harry 'making all that noise, what does he expect?' he thought, but then he noticed Snape's attitude, as did Ron and Hermione.
He walked up to the head table, with a look of forced calm. The closer he got the faster he walked, a walk very unlike his usual stature.
When he reached the head table, Harry noticed that he had a copy of the Daily Prophet and was showing it to Dumbledore.
It seemed that Ron and Hermione must have been watching Snape too, because all three of them seized the paper at once. They opened it at once and read: More Muggle Murders
It was the headline, and there was an article and a captioned picture. The picture was of a small muggle village that looked to be burned, there were several bodies lying on the ground, and the dark mark. The caption read: Muggles terrorized in the night by Death Eater invasion.
Harry scanned the article. '.Unsuspecting muggles murdered in their homes.' '.Six people dead.' '.Around 2:30 in the morning.'
"2:30 in the morning" Harry said out loud as he read this part. "The dream"
"What Harry?" Hermione asked. But the bell rang before he could answer.
~*~
Harry couldn't concentrate in History of Magic, but what else was new.
Most people had trouble staying focused as Professor Binns droned on for hours. But it wasn't his usual bored state that distracted Harry.
He had seen everything that had happened, as it had happened. Harry tried to remember what exactly he had seen. It was all just blurs now.
A note fell on his parchment that he was suppose to be writing notes on. He looked around at Ron who nodded to his other side where Hermione was listening with wrapped attention to Professor Binns and taking notes on Giant wars. 'She wouldn't be passing notes in class.' He looked back at Ron, who nodded to Hermione's parchment - it was blank, she was only pretending to take notes. Harry saw look swiftly at him and than back at the Professor.
Harry seized the note, and was shocked to find that he had been concentrating so hard on the dream he hadn't noticed that his friends had been having a silent conversation.
'Ron, What do you think Harry meant about a dream, did he have more nightmares last night? Hermione
Hermione - writing notes in class, I'm shocked! Ron
Oh shut up, what do you think is wrong?
I don't know, I didn't hear him last night, but he may have had a nightmare, why don't you ask him.
Harry, Are you all right? Hermione'
Harry scanned the parchment, thinking of how exactly to respond.
'Well' he began to write, 'It's just I had a dream last night about muggles being tortured, and it was about the same time as that attack Harry'
Harry passed the note back to Hermione, and got it back a second later.
'Harry, You have to go tell Dumbledore. Hermione'
Harry read this and sighed.
'Hermione, He's busy and it was just a coincidence Harry'
Harry hadn't entirely forgiven Dumbledore for leaving him out of lots of things the Order was doing, granted his wasn't part of the Order, but his part in the war was more than all of their parts put together.
'No it's not, this is really important
Hermione, Leave Harry alone, if he doesn't want to tell anyone he doesn't have to. Ron
Thanks SO much for the help, Ron
Hermione, It was nothing just forget about it!
Harry, You have got
Just drop it Hermoine!'
~*~
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the classroom on the fourth floor at seven o'clock as they had been instructed.
Tonks didn't arrive for several minutes that seemed to last an eternity. They all paced anxiously around the room, thinking about what these classes were and why on earth they had to take them.
"Well, hello" Tonks greeted them as she entered the room. "Sit down"
They all took a desk and so did Tonks. "So I bet your all wondering why you're here"
Harry had seen Tonks many times over the last three summers at Grimmauld Place, and he, Ron, and Hermione all liked her. They knew her better than anyone in the Order, besides maybe Remus Lupin. Maybe it was because of her age, but Tonks always seemed like one of them when she was around.
Now, however, she was very serious, Harry had never seen her like this before.
They all nodded.
"Albus wants me to train you all" They all stared at her. "You will be going through the same basic training methods that all Aurors go through, well, practically the same."
Hermione's hand shot up into the air.
"Yes, Hermione?"
"Well," she seemed less confident than she was a moment ago. "I can understand why Harry is here, but what have we" she gestured at Ron " got to do with this"
"For one reason, we need as much help as we can get, and for another, Albus insisted that you both be trained as well. I think he thought you would do whatever you could not only to help the war, but to help Harry"
"Of course we will," said Ron.
Tonks smiled at him. "Albus told us some great stories about all the things you have done here." She seemed to go back to usual fun state, but then became serious again. "As I'm sure you heard, last night there was an attack on a muggle town" Hermione shot Harry a dirty look. "The Death Eater's aren't just using spells and curses, they are just using any means to hurt people. They know they have to succeed, so I'll be teaching you some different methods of - um - defense, so to speak."
"Are there any more questions?"
They all shook their heads.
"Good, I'll see you next week, Tuesday, seven o'clock.don't worry, it will be fun."
~*~
"There's something I don't understand" Hermione said as they reached the common room ten minutes later and sat down in front of the fire. The common room was deserted, most people were still at dinner, and they the only one's in there that were not working on homework.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, very much doubting there was anything that Hermione didn't understand.
"Should I say it, or do you want to?" asked Harry. Hermione glared at them and they could tell she was serious.
"If Tonks is an Auror, why is she here teaching, shouldn't she be at the ministry?"
Harry hadn't thought of this. It was true, she was here as a favor for Dumbledore, but she wouldn't just quit her job. There was something strange about this whole situation, and Harry wanted to know what was going on.
Not as a Last Resort
Chapter 2: Training
Harry woke up so suddenly he felt a little sick, or maybe it was from the horrible dream he had just had.
Muggles
Muggles being tortured.
The Death Eaters weren't using traditional methods to kill innocent people, they used any means, and not for some colossal plan that Voldemort had - just for fun.
Harry felt dizzy, and sick. It was still dark out. He looked at his clock.
2: 47.
He lay back down in bed. He didn't think he could possibly sleep now. He had nightmares like this many times, but none as clear as this. He thought of telling Dumbledore, but he was so tired that he fell asleep even before the actually thought of getting out of bed.
~*~
It was Thursday.
Harry met Ron and Hermione in the Great Hall for breakfast. The owls flew in to the Great Hall, delivering the mail. One owl swooped down to deliver Hermione's newspaper.
The doors of the Great Hall burst open, and everyone's attention shifted to the person framed in the door way.
It was Snape.
He seemed caught off guard by everyone staring at him, which surprised Harry 'making all that noise, what does he expect?' he thought, but then he noticed Snape's attitude, as did Ron and Hermione.
He walked up to the head table, with a look of forced calm. The closer he got the faster he walked, a walk very unlike his usual stature.
When he reached the head table, Harry noticed that he had a copy of the Daily Prophet and was showing it to Dumbledore.
It seemed that Ron and Hermione must have been watching Snape too, because all three of them seized the paper at once. They opened it at once and read: More Muggle Murders
It was the headline, and there was an article and a captioned picture. The picture was of a small muggle village that looked to be burned, there were several bodies lying on the ground, and the dark mark. The caption read: Muggles terrorized in the night by Death Eater invasion.
Harry scanned the article. '.Unsuspecting muggles murdered in their homes.' '.Six people dead.' '.Around 2:30 in the morning.'
"2:30 in the morning" Harry said out loud as he read this part. "The dream"
"What Harry?" Hermione asked. But the bell rang before he could answer.
~*~
Harry couldn't concentrate in History of Magic, but what else was new.
Most people had trouble staying focused as Professor Binns droned on for hours. But it wasn't his usual bored state that distracted Harry.
He had seen everything that had happened, as it had happened. Harry tried to remember what exactly he had seen. It was all just blurs now.
A note fell on his parchment that he was suppose to be writing notes on. He looked around at Ron who nodded to his other side where Hermione was listening with wrapped attention to Professor Binns and taking notes on Giant wars. 'She wouldn't be passing notes in class.' He looked back at Ron, who nodded to Hermione's parchment - it was blank, she was only pretending to take notes. Harry saw look swiftly at him and than back at the Professor.
Harry seized the note, and was shocked to find that he had been concentrating so hard on the dream he hadn't noticed that his friends had been having a silent conversation.
'Ron, What do you think Harry meant about a dream, did he have more nightmares last night? Hermione
Hermione - writing notes in class, I'm shocked! Ron
Oh shut up, what do you think is wrong?
I don't know, I didn't hear him last night, but he may have had a nightmare, why don't you ask him.
Harry, Are you all right? Hermione'
Harry scanned the parchment, thinking of how exactly to respond.
'Well' he began to write, 'It's just I had a dream last night about muggles being tortured, and it was about the same time as that attack Harry'
Harry passed the note back to Hermione, and got it back a second later.
'Harry, You have to go tell Dumbledore. Hermione'
Harry read this and sighed.
'Hermione, He's busy and it was just a coincidence Harry'
Harry hadn't entirely forgiven Dumbledore for leaving him out of lots of things the Order was doing, granted his wasn't part of the Order, but his part in the war was more than all of their parts put together.
'No it's not, this is really important
Hermione, Leave Harry alone, if he doesn't want to tell anyone he doesn't have to. Ron
Thanks SO much for the help, Ron
Hermione, It was nothing just forget about it!
Harry, You have got
Just drop it Hermoine!'
~*~
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the classroom on the fourth floor at seven o'clock as they had been instructed.
Tonks didn't arrive for several minutes that seemed to last an eternity. They all paced anxiously around the room, thinking about what these classes were and why on earth they had to take them.
"Well, hello" Tonks greeted them as she entered the room. "Sit down"
They all took a desk and so did Tonks. "So I bet your all wondering why you're here"
Harry had seen Tonks many times over the last three summers at Grimmauld Place, and he, Ron, and Hermione all liked her. They knew her better than anyone in the Order, besides maybe Remus Lupin. Maybe it was because of her age, but Tonks always seemed like one of them when she was around.
Now, however, she was very serious, Harry had never seen her like this before.
They all nodded.
"Albus wants me to train you all" They all stared at her. "You will be going through the same basic training methods that all Aurors go through, well, practically the same."
Hermione's hand shot up into the air.
"Yes, Hermione?"
"Well," she seemed less confident than she was a moment ago. "I can understand why Harry is here, but what have we" she gestured at Ron " got to do with this"
"For one reason, we need as much help as we can get, and for another, Albus insisted that you both be trained as well. I think he thought you would do whatever you could not only to help the war, but to help Harry"
"Of course we will," said Ron.
Tonks smiled at him. "Albus told us some great stories about all the things you have done here." She seemed to go back to usual fun state, but then became serious again. "As I'm sure you heard, last night there was an attack on a muggle town" Hermione shot Harry a dirty look. "The Death Eater's aren't just using spells and curses, they are just using any means to hurt people. They know they have to succeed, so I'll be teaching you some different methods of - um - defense, so to speak."
"Are there any more questions?"
They all shook their heads.
"Good, I'll see you next week, Tuesday, seven o'clock.don't worry, it will be fun."
~*~
"There's something I don't understand" Hermione said as they reached the common room ten minutes later and sat down in front of the fire. The common room was deserted, most people were still at dinner, and they the only one's in there that were not working on homework.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, very much doubting there was anything that Hermione didn't understand.
"Should I say it, or do you want to?" asked Harry. Hermione glared at them and they could tell she was serious.
"If Tonks is an Auror, why is she here teaching, shouldn't she be at the ministry?"
Harry hadn't thought of this. It was true, she was here as a favor for Dumbledore, but she wouldn't just quit her job. There was something strange about this whole situation, and Harry wanted to know what was going on.
