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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. If I did I would be doing better things than this.

Ok now. Let's begin....

Chapter Four: On the Home Front

Tonks was furious at what the others were doing. How could they keep Harry in the dark like this yet again? Wasn't that what got Sirius killed last month in the Department of Mysteries? They kept on saying "You'll understand when you're older Tonks." or "Dumbledore knows what he is doing. Let's just let him do what he wants."

'But none of this makes sense,' she said to herself. 'Why would Dumbledore do this? I mean the only reason why Voldemort attacked Harry was because he wanted to show that he was powerful enough to kill the one who destroyed him fifteen years ago. What other reason could there be? Unless... Maybe Harry had a bigger part in this war than Dumbledore was letting out. Yes. That had to be it. Why else would he try to protect Harry unless he didn't want Harry to explode or something?'

"Hey Tonks. How did the visit with Harry go?"

Tonks was brought out of her trance by Hermione, Harry's bushy-haired friend.

"Oh, it was the same as usual. We went to his house, checked inside to see if anything was wrong, and left."

"Oh...," Hermione looked a little downtrodden at this information but questioned Tonks again.

"Can't you just talk to him? He must get really lonely being with that family of his. He doesn't have anyone to converse with."

Tonks sighed. "Sorry Hermione. Dumbledore's orders. He says that Harry should get over Sirius's death before he starts to talk to people again. And mail can't be sent because they are easily intercepted." All the hope that been in Hermione's eyes had just disappeared after Tonks's last statement.

"Well thanks Tonks. I guess I'll see you later."

"Actually Hermione, could you round up Ron and Ginny and meet me back in the dinning hall in a few minutes."

"Why Tonks? Is anything wrong?"

"No, no Hermione. Everything is alright. We just need to talk to you guys about something."

"Oh... We'll meet you down there in a few minutes then."

"Ok. See you Hermione."

"See you Tonks."

And each went there separate ways to ponder about something or another.

Ron was having a great summer. He had just become the boyfriend of the illustrious Hermione Granger and was the newly declared Quidditch captain of the Gryffindor team. He would have asked Professor McGonagall why Harry didn't get it but decided that he deserved it after winning the Quidditch Cup last year. Things just kept on looking out for Ron this summer, and he was definitely not complaining.
He was actually worried that Hermione didn't like him in that way, but his Weasley charm must have won her over. He always had the slight suspicion that Harry might have taken "his girl." After all, what lady wouldn't want a man who is not only rich but famous and not all that bad looking?

'Yes,' he thought to himself. 'Things are definitely looking good this summer.'

"Hey Ron."

"Yeah Hermione."

Hermione had just walked into the room where he and Ginny were playing Exploding Snap.

"Tonks and the rest of the Order want to see you, me, and Ginny in the dining hall in an hour."

'Hmmm. Maybe there is more luck coming my way coming my way than I thought."

"Did Tonks say anything about how Harry was doing?" Ron looked over at his sister who had asked the question. Ginny had grown quite pretty in the last year. (A/N: I don't want Ron to sound like a pervert. I just want to say how each of the characters now looks.) She had long gleaming red hair that moved with the smallest breeze. Her body had also grown and now had the stature of a young woman. Though she, in Ron's opinion, was nothing compared to the woman Hermione was developing into. Hermione was no longer the buck toothed nerd who had came to Hogwarts in their first year. Her smile made guys melt at the slightest glance, and she had developed curves in all of the right places.

Hermione's grin faltered. "Tonks said that they didn't see Harry and that they were ordered not to talk to him by Dumbledore."

"I don't know what Dumbledore is thinking by keeping Harry in the dark again. Didn't he see how angry Harry was last year? And now that Sirius... has past on he probably is dealing with too many emotions to count."

"That's what I said, but those are Dumbledore's orders, according to Tonks."

Ron decided that he should get his say in the matter.

"We must let Dumbledore do what he thinks is best. He is the leader after all of the Order after all, and he didn't get that position without some experience and leadership."

Hermione and Ginny just stared at Ron and an eerie silence filled the room. Ron started to squirm a little under his sister's and girlfriends gaze.

Ginny broke the silence with a comment that suited the situation well,

"You suck."

Still holding a face of disgust, Ginny left the room, presumably towards the dining hall.

Hermione deciding to break the new silence said,

"Well we should start to go to the dining hall. Everyone is probably waiting for us and we don't want to be rude."

"You are always the smart one Hermione."

"Well, I aim to please," she said with a sly grin.

And with that they walked hand in hand towards the dining hall.

________________________________________________________________________ "I don't know what's wrong with Ron, Tonks. He's become so self-centered over the past few weeks, and lately I just can't take it. It's like he's become a different person now that Harry's gone. I think that he's starting to think that he's better than Harry. I mean, Harry has beaten him in just about everything, and with Hermione, the Quidditch captain award, and whatever is going on tonight being given to him, I think that he's beginning to think too highly of himself," said a hysteric Ginny to Tonks after she arrived at the dining hall.

"I know Ginny. I know, but we just can't do anything about it right now. We can't worry the Order with Ron's attitude with everything else going on. We will just have to deal with it for the time being."

"I understand, but it's just becoming so unbearable. I just don't know how Hermione takes it, being his girlfriend and all."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and maybe things will get bette-."

Just at that moment Hermione and Ron walked in, still holding hands, and all of the talking stops. Remus Lupin began to speak to Hermione, Ron and Ginny.

"As you know Harry is still at the Dursley's,"

"But why does he have to be there. Why can't he be here with us?" said Hermione, interrupting Remus's speech.

"Well, Dumbledore thinks I best that Harry stay at his Aunt's and Uncle's for a while to recover from Sirius's...," Remus seemed to drift away with an almost glazed look in his eyes.

Out of all of them, possibly other than Harry, Remus had taken Sirius's death the hardest. Sirius was the last living Marauder other than himself, Peter Pettigrew was dead to them, and now that he was dead, Remus had none of his old school friends with him anymore. Remus hadn't eaten for days and was always cooped up in his room crying for his newly departed friend. Everyone had tried to comfort Remus about the incident but he would always shun them aside and asked to be left alone.

Kingsley Shacklebolt decided to take off from where Sirius left off.

"Well, Dumbledore thinks it best for young Harry to recover from the event before he makes contact with his friends again. But back to the present situation. As Harry cannot be here with us, Dumbledore decided to make him some bodyguards when he comes back to school. You all will be his bodyguards."

Hermione and Ginny at once interrupted Kingsley.

"But Harry is the best fighter out of all of us here. Why don't you teach him? After all, he is always the one who befalls danger, not us."

"But by training you, Harry will have a better chance at surviving the dangers that await him."

Hermione and Ginny both fell silent as the last statement was said. Ron on the other hand was practically bouncing out of his chair with anticipation.

'Here's another chance for me to beat you Harry. Now you'll be in the shadows as I become stronger than you.'

Ron smiled with the thought of doing better in Defense Against the Dark Arts than Harry.

"What type of training will we receive? We will have to have the very best if we are to help defend Harry."

Once more Hermione and Ginny look at Ron strangely wondering what he was thinking.

"Well let's see, you will be learning NEWT level Defense Against the Dark Arts, Newt level Transfiguration, and Newt level Charms. You will also learn how to do some minor wandless magic and get some Animagus training."

Even Hermione's and Ginny's mouths were wide open now.

"You mean that we get to become animals and learn how to do magic without a wand?"

"Yes, to a certain extent. No one can fully harness magic without a wand and the Animagus training may take awhi- "

"When do we get to start?"

Ron was once again practically bouncing out of his chair with anticipation. If you looked close enough you could see a little bit of drool falling off the side of his mouth.

"Hmm, well, we could start later this week if you are all willing to do that."

"That would be great Mr. Shacklebolt," said Ginny before Ron could speak.

"Ok then. How about we start on Monday."

"That would be great Mr. Shacklebolt."

With those last words, the Order of the Pheonix left. When they were all gone, Ron walked up to Ginny fire burning in his eyes.

"Why did you do that? We could have set the date earlier so we could have learned more. Don't you want to protect Harry or do you want to let him get hurt again?"

"Be quiet Ron. You just want to get the training so that you can become stronger than Harry. I bet you didn't even think about Harry's safety during that whole time."

Ginny gave Ron one last look that clearly said that he was the lowest scum on Earth and stomped up to her room. Hermione ran after her but not before giving Ron a slap on the face.

Ron stood there not sure whether to feel angry or ashamed. He did the only thing he could think of and went to up to his room to get some sleep.