In case you were curious… I don't own any of this - characters and
whatnot - it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Thanks to those that reviewed, it's nice to know some people are actually
reading this :-)
Harry awoke the next morning around 8, and quickly rose from his bed and prepared for the day ahead of him. Energized at the mere thought of learning new magic, but more to the point, magic he had chosen and wanted to learn. Bounding down the stairs, he caught sight of Tonks out in the backyard casting spells around, interested and intrigued with what she was doing; he quickly went outside to ask.
"What are you doing Tonks? "
Glancing over her should at the sudden interruption, she smiled and spoke in her cheerful voice.
"Just casting some repelling charms – have to make sure the muggles around here don't get suspicious, so I set up some spells similar to those around Hogwarts; nowhere near as advanced though. I also set up some illusion charms so we are virtually invisible out here. Pretty neat, huh?" She said cheerfully.
"Yeah, I guess so." Harry replied, not fully understanding what she was on about.
"Why don't you come out and help before we get started… Oh, and if you're hungry, I managed to get some food this morning; dreadful language Czech, had a rather hard time at the store."
Harry quickly went back inside and grabbed a few pieces of toast and marmalade, before gulping down a glass of water and going back out back.
"What can I help with?" He asked once he was closer to Tonks, who was standing in the middle of the yard.
Beckoning him closer, Tonks spoke, "Well, these probably won't help you much as far as survival and dueling go, but it is always good to know. The first spell is a repellent charm so people don't attempt to look in; even if they do, they will only see an empty yard. Just say Repelo Visio and give your wand one of these-" she said while moving her wand in a specific pattern. "Think you got it?" She asked.
"I think so." Harry told her, eager to do something.
"Well, let's go over there and give it a try." She said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder, before dragging Harry to the left side of the yard.
Harry raised his wand and began the necessary wand movements while saying the incantation. Slowly a slim ray of dark blue slithered out of his wand, before finally, upon completing the incantation a burst of cobalt light erupted from the tip of his wand and struck the wall, seeming to spread the entire length before disappearing. He looked over at Tonks, who regained her composure quickly.
"Well, that was interesting, let's see if it worked." She said without further explanation.
She quickly used her wand and muttered a spell Harry failed to hear, and a dim streak of yellow shot out of her wand, struck the wall, and caused a ringing to be heard by Harry; similar to the sound a wind chime would make. She looked back at Harry with a smile-
"Well, it seems to have worked quite well; we will know for sure after you cast it one last time on the opposite wall. After you cast it, we should see a – distortion in the sky – would best explain it. The spell creates something like a dome, and as soon as it goes up, there is a distortion. Well, go ahead." She finished with mock-impatience.
As Harry was about to cast the last spell, Tonks muttered something under her breath and a silvery blur came from her wand, and disappeared into thin air. Before Harry had a chance to ask, she turned and went back inside. Deciding he might as well cast the last spell, he went through the same motions as before and as soon as the color faded from the wall, he saw a slight glimmer a few feet above the brick wall; similar to the shimmer his invisibility cloak makes.
Before he had a chance to wonder if he had done it correctly, Tonks was coming towards him with a smile.
"You did well, Harry. It seems to have worked perfectly. Why don't you get a drink then come back out and we'll get started, okay?" She asked him.
Harry quickly agreed, and had run inside and returned in record time; a grin plastered on his face.
Her first question was to ask Harry what he already knew – aside from jelly-legs and tickling charms – stating that you can hardly use these in a real duel. He told her about learning the disarming spell in his second year after seeing Snape use it in the Dueling Club, about the spells he learned during his fourth year in preparation for the Triwizard Tournament – like the reductor curse and impediment jinx. Finally he told her about some of the spells he had both learned and taught during his fifth year – the shield charm and so on. She seemed to think he had a good start with the basic knowledge of spells, so she decided to start with some minor pain spells, and spells to impair your opponent – either their senses or movement or other necessary functions. She told him as much.
"Let's start out this way," she began, "you stand over there-" she pointed to an area about 15 feet from where she was, "and I will stay here. I will send a curse at you, and after you heave either fought off, or recovered from, the effects, you will cast the same spell towards me. That way we can be sure that you are performing the spell correctly."
As soon as Harry nodded his head in agreement and took his place, she raised her wand and spoke out clearly lacerate. A deep crimson light shot forth from her wand and struck his chest, dead center, immediately causing him to feel as though he had been on the receiving end of hundreds of tiny paper-cuts. For a few moments he felt like screaming in pain, but once he looked down, he realized that there was no blood to be seen anywhere, nor was there a single cut on his body. Trying to force himself to believe that the pain was not real, but rather in his mind, he slowly noticed that the pain, in the smallest possible amount, was lessening, though still terribly painful if he lost concentration. After a few more minutes Tonks stopped the spell, and spoke.
"Good start Harry, but since I already told you it is possible to fight off the effects of a spell, you should have been able to fight that one off easily and in no time. I understand it is difficult the first time, but that was one of the weakest pain spells. Therefore, we will not move on until you can completely fight off the effects of it in… let's say – 10 seconds. Ok."
Harry, thankful for the praise, but also ashamed that he couldn't even fight off the simplest of pain spells, dejectedly asked "How am I supposed to fight it off, can you give me some ideas?"
Tonks appeared thoughtful for a minute before answering. "Well, I suppose the easiest way to start with, would be to concentrate on the fact that the pain isn't real – that doesn't apply to all pain curses, mind, only some. After you have down that technique, we will move on to more powerful spells and a more difficult, but much more reliable and powerful technique."
And without another word, she threw the curse at Harry once again.
It was three hours later that a very weary Harry, along with Tonks, went inside for lunch and a much needed break – though his relief was short-lived. Barely thirty minutes later he was back outside and having Tonks curse him. He wasn't yet able to fight off the effects, though little by little he made progress, and finally, shortly before dinner time, he was able to fight off the curse completely in a matter of seconds.
"Well done, Harry. Now I would like you to cant the spell at me, keep it on me for only a few seconds, then release; I will let you know if it worked correctly. Let's go!" She finished.
Harry wasn't really looking forward to this; he liked Tonks and had no reason to hurt her, but knew he had to make sure he was performing the spell correctly. So, forcing back any negative feelings about it, he raised his wand and spoke the incantation. When the spell hit, Tonks glared at Harry and told him to drop release the spell, to which he obliged.
"Harry," she said. "When you cast this spell, you have to want to cause harm. It is not just the unforgivables that are this way, any spell with a negative effect are like that. You may not want to physically hurt me, but you need to feel the difference when you perform the spell correctly. This time I want you to intend to hurt me. Think up negative feelings if you must, but you will need to be able to perform these…."
"Now, try again, only this time, mean it" She told him forcefully.
Resigning himself to the fact that Tonks would continue this forever, at least until he got it right, Harry raised his wand again and spoke the incantation.
As soon as the spell hit, Tonks gave a small yelp, at which point he quickly released the spell and went over to her.
"Are you ok?" He asked, kneeling down in front of her.
She sounded a bit shaken when she replied "I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting a spell that strong, especially after all the times you had been put under it. Were you trying to hurt me that time?" She finished while taking the hand Harry offered and pulling herself up.
"Well, you told me for the spell to work properly I had to want to, so yeah, I guess I did. I'm really sorry." He finished a bit sheepishly.
"Not to worry. However, before we move on, I would like to make a protection charm of sorts using your wand, specifically, one that will lessen the amount of pain caused by spell from your wand. I know it may seem unfair, but I have already been through this, and your last spell was pretty strong. That ok?"
"Yeah, ok. Here you go." He said, handing over his wand to Tonks and watching her curiously as she took out a necklace from underneath her robe and moved over to a small table that stood on the back patio. As he moved closer, he heard her mumble something, though he couldn't make it out, and thin beam of gold light struck the medallion that hung on the necklace, causing it to glow golden before returning to its original silver color.
"What was that?" Harry asked, interested in what she had done and how it would work.
"That was just a simple protection charm that can be cast on any item you wear, though for some reason if cast on clothes, it burns them – never really read up on why it's like that." She told him
"And how does it work?"
"Well, it only works against the wand, or better to say, the wand core, from which the spell was cast. To actually perform the charm, you just say Protegere Centru." She explained.
She looked over at Harry, who seemed to be lost in thought, and after a few minutes, finally asked him if he was ok. Snapping out of his reverie, he told her-
"Yeah, just thinking." He hesitated before continuing, "Um… if that spell, the protection charm, was cast from one wand, would it have the same effects with its brother wand as well?"
Tonks looked a little confused, so Harry went on. "Let's say, for example, that your wand and my wand both had a core from… say a phoenix - the same phoenix – would you be protected from spells cast from both my wand and yours?"
She thought about it for a second before answering. "Yes, I suppose it would; it is based on and against the core of the wand, but the chances of dueling with a wand made with the exact same core as your opponent are remote."
"Well," he said tentatively, "I would recommend that even once we are done with our training, you keep the charm place on your necklace."
She looked at him inquisitively, as if expecting a further explanation, and when it didn't come, she asked him. "Is her a reason you think that, Harry?" She sounded very serious, which was quite out of character for her.
Harry really didn't want to get into this, so he simply answered with a 'yes', and began to make his way back across the lawn, prepared for more practice. It wasn't meant to be. Tonks grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around so he was facing her; she was looking both frightened and angry, not really knowing what Harry meant.
"What do you mean, yes?" She asked in a near shout.
He tried to turn away, but the firm hold Tonks had on his shoulders prevented any escape. "There is something you aren't telling me, something important, and I would like to know. I promise you, anything you tell me, anything at all, will stay between us."
After a few moments of silence, Harry looked down, and in a voice barely above a whisper, mumbled – "Voldemort's wand and my wand are brothers; we both have a wand core with a phoenix feather from Fawkes." Then, as soon as he finished, he turned away and headed inside.
Tonks was shocked. Once again, she had never been told this; it was amazing to her how much she kept learning about Harry. He had just given her, in a way, an amazing protection charm against You-Know-Who, and was depressed about it. Well of course, she thought, his wand is brothers with that of the most evil person around. If people found out they might be afraid he would turn out the same; trust the public to turn something that could be positive to negative. She pushed these thoughts aside for now and hurried inside to find Harry in his room, sitting on his bed with a book in his hands. She knocked lightly and spoke in a soft and calm voice.
"Harry, may I come in?" She asked.
Harry emitted a soft, slow sigh, and after a few moments, nodded his head. He knew what was coming and wasn't looking forward to it, not at all. Tonks moved towards the bed and sat down next to him, though he was oblivious, staring at a picture of what she assumed was his parents wedding; his mother, father, and Sirius all beaming up at him. She sat in silence, waiting for Harry to acknowledge her and tear his eyes away from the pictures. To him, the picture was something akin to a treasure; it was sacred, and she had no business interrupting – Harry was silently grateful for this fact.
Finally, several minutes later, Harry slowly closed the photo album, which he put on the right table next to his bed, and looked over at Tonks, who was sitting patiently next to him.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, "for walking off like that, I should have handled that better."
Thought Tonks understood, she thought now would be a prime time to play dumb. "Handled what better?"
"You just seemed shocked when I told you about my wand and Voldemort's being brothers, so I assumed you think badly of me now. After all, how can I share wand cores with one of the most evil wizards alive and not have at least some similarities."
"Well," Tonks replied slowly, "I am sure you do have some similarities, but I think you have many more differences. Also, I was not shocked about the wands, but rather the gift that you inadvertently gave me; the protection charm could mean the difference between life and death one day."
"Glad I could help," Harry said sarcastically, before adding in an undertone, "about all I can do." Then he continued in a more normal pitched and volume voice. "Just please don't tell anyone, not many know."
Tonks got a sly grin. "I'll make you a deal; I will give you my word not to tell a living soul, if you will do three things for me. Ok?" She paused for a moment, but after receiving nothing but a blank stare from Harry, continued. "First, you allow me use of your wand and allow me to make a few more of these – I won't tell the people what they are. Second, try not to always think the absolute worst of either of – I'm a friend, not an admirer. Last, go to the store with me, it was dreadful yesterday."
"How many?" Harry asked.
"How many what?"
"The protection charms you want to make, how many?" he asked her seriously.
"I don't know, no more than four or five, why?"
"Well, the more there are, the better chance there is that Voldemort will find out about them. If he did, I am sure he would get a new wand, or figure out some way to overcome it."
"Good point. No more than five, deal?"
"Deal" Harry agreed.
"Now, let's go to the store, just let me change real quick."
While Harry was waiting downstairs, he kept thinking, 'Tonks is in rare form today. She hasn't broken anything or', as far as he know, 'tripped or stumbled. She was also usually pretty quick on the uptake and attentive to details, not today though – quite out of character indeed.'
This, seemingly insignificant detail, sparked a memory from the past; both the fake professor Moody and the actual paranoid auror shouting Constant Vigilance. Now he was confused; if this wasn't really Tonks, why was the person helping him? He remained lost in thought for several minutes, until Tonks arrival at the base of the stairs brought him back to reality. Still a little shaky, but fairly certain this was the real Tonks he was dealing with, he went ahead and put her through the test.
Slowly extracting his wand from his sleeve, he held it low, but trained on Tonks and approached her. "Tonks, this may seem odd, but what were you always tripping over at Order headquarters?" He asked her in all seriousness.
"Oh, you mean that stupid cart umbrella thing that reminded me of a troll's leg? Why do you want to know?"
"Well, I wasn't sure it was you… Sorry." he added at the end, feeling rather stupid about the whole ordeal.
"Why didn't you think it was me?" She asked, genuinely interested.
"Well, you… uh," he shuffled his feet in an embarrassed sort of way before continuing. "you usually fall, break something, or at least bump into a few things at least once or twice a day, and you have yet to do any of that today; at least as far as I know." He looked straight down, hoping to hide the blush creeping over his face. "Also, you didn't seem to be as attentive as you usually are, and didn't seem to think about Voldemort finding out about the protection charms either. It just seemed strange, out of character for you."
This will eventually be a Harry/Tonks fic, though it won't happen right off, I think they need some time to develop a friendship first.