In case you were curious… I don't own any of this - characters and whatnot - it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Harry was surprised when he looked up to see Tonks beaming at him, and when she spoke, what she said was quite unexpected, at least in Harry's opinion.
"That's great, Harry, you did real well. I wanted to make sure you pay close attention to what is going on around you, and you spotted what was out of the ordinary; pretty quick if you ask me. Also, I am very relieved I don't have to move around so slow – you have no idea how difficult it is for me to be as graceful as I have been all day. Now, let's go to the store."
After they arrived back from the store, Harry prepared a quick dinner and they retreated to the living room, where Tonks quickly struck up a conversation about Harry's future and what he planned on doing.
"Well," he began slowly, "I told professor McGonagall last year I would like to be an auror, but I doubt I did well enough on my O.W.L.'s, and I will never take another class from Snape."
Harry thought for a moment and remembered the letter he had received the day before he left Privet Drive, and, more specifically, the one the bore the Hogwarts crest; that must be my O.W.L. results, he thought. He quickly told Tonks he would be right back, and bounded up the stairs to his bedroom, where he found the letter lying next to his books. He grabbed the letter and headed back downstairs and sat across from Tonks, who was wearing an eager smile of anticipation. For several minutes he held it, staring at the emerald ink on the front of the envelope, which bore the words Harry Potter, and underneath, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, followed by Year 6 class selection and supply list; O.W.L. results enclosed. Finally, not being able to hold back any longer, Tonks reached forward and grabbed the envelope, and when Harry didn't protest, opened it with haste. She rifled through the parchments, until she came to what she recalled to be O.W.L. results.
Several things happened at that moment; for one, Harry, who had been watching Tonks with a half-amused expression, suddenly went limp in the neck, and decided the floor was something of great fascination – perhaps it was the Asian style rug. Tonks, who had been holding her breath – she was just as nervous as Harry was, or so it seemed – read the results quickly and let out a stifled gasp; whether or not this was a good or bad sign, Harry was none to anxious to find out.
Tonks fixed her eyes on the top of Harry's head, willing him to look up, which he finally did some five minutes later and barely managed to catch his breath. Tonks face gave nothing away, showed no emotion, she gave away no signs at all as to how well, or poor, he had done. Finally, he spoke, and to him it sounded as though he was hearing his voice from a great distance.
"How did I do – good or bad?" He asked, though not really wanting to hear the answer if it was the latter.
"Well," Tonks drew out the word, long enough for the most patient man to lose some sense of restraint. "I don't think it is a matter of good or bad, why don't I just tell you what you failed to earn an O.W.L. in."
Harry nodded dumbly and she went on; Harry felt as if the sound was ricocheting off a thousand walls before it reached his ears.
"You missed an OWL in, let's see, Divination, History of Magic and Astronomy; I never cared for those much either".
Hearing this, Harry's heart lifted a little – maybe he did ok.
"So," Tonks said, this time sounding much closer to the norm to Harry. "Let's start with Charms, shall we." Before Harry could voice protest, she continued in her cheery voice, which rang out in Harry's mind. "Charms, your overall score is Exceeds Expectations, not bad. Now, Defense Against the Dark Arts, your score is – Outstanding – wonderful job Harry." She added while peeking at him over the top of the parchment. He attempted a smile, though it looked more like he was trying to keep his mouth tightly shut while showing his teeth. Tonks fought back a laugh and went on.
"Care of Magical Creatures – Exceeds Expectations; Herbology – Acceptable. Well, who wants to play around with man-eating plants all day anyway?" She huffed. "Divination – Acceptable; Transfiguration, practical – Exceeded Expectations, theory – Exceeded Expectations-"
Harry knew what was coming next, and he silently wondered if Snape would have threatened the test administrator just to make sure he did poorly. With baited breath, he waited…
"Potions, practical – Outstanding, theory – Exceeded Expectations." Upon hearing this, Harry became lost in thought. Sure, he wanted to take Potions so he could apply to become an auror, but when it came down to Snape teaching, he was unsure. Tonks, in her ever cheerful voice spoke, bringing Harry out of his thoughts.
"Well, it looks like you can take the classes you need to become an auror; you did great!"
"Actually, I probably have no chance to become an auror. I am not taking another class from Snape – ever." Harry told her, his voice leaving no room for imagination or doubt.
Tonks thought for a moment before replying; she could understand Harry not wanting to take a class from Snape. In all honesty, she would prefer she not have to be around him – he was, perhaps, the most unpleasant person she had ever met, and he never passed up an opportunity to insult Harry or his family, Sirius included – She could only imagine what classes would be like with him.
"Perhaps we can find another way for you to learn potions; just because you don't take the class doesn't mean you can't sit the NEWT test. I will talk to a few people later and see what we can do. Snape is not the only person who can teach potions to someone. Let's leave it at that for now and get some rest."
The next morning Harry met Tonks outside around 8:00 a.m. and after a brief greeting, went to his, now, customary spot in the yard, across from Tonks. As soon as he reached his spot, Tonks spoke…
"Ok Harry. Today we will work on a few disabling spells – you'll see what I mean." She finished with a sly grin.
Pointing her wand at Harry, she made a quick, downward slash, and clearly said the incantation; Attero Visum. A stream of magenta light struck Harry right between the eyes and, immediately, everything went black.
"You just have to wait for it to wear off, Harry." Tonks called out.
Harry, despite the foreign sensation, couldn't help but chuckle slightly at Tonks 'joke'; he couldn't see what she meant, though he did nod to let her know he had heard her. While waiting for the effects to wear off, he tried to focus on his remaining sense to compensate for the loss. The effects however, were short-lived, and the curse wore off in just over two minutes.
When he had regained his sight, Tonks immediately began to explain. "Unfortunately, for several of these types of curses, there is no fighting the effects, or counter-curses, they do physically impair you. This one, for example, creates a type of black coating that completely covers your eyes; others may actually cause a bone to break or you skin to rip – the list goes on and on. Now it's your turn."
Harry performed the same spell on Tonks, though it wore off much quicker in her than it had on him, thanks to the charm she now wore around her neck.
The rest of the day was spent sending curses back and forth with Tonks; some caused to recipient to bleed, some made them go deaf for a time and some made them fell like they were falling. All of them proved useful, though Harry's favorite because the opponents tongue to become stuck to the roof of their mouth. When this curse was cast it seriously hindered their speech, making their spells either non-existent or extremely weak. There were ways around this, as Tonks had explained, but in order to overcome speaking an incantation, you had to have a great depth of not only knowledge about magic, but also, and more importantly, what magic really was.
In Harry's mind, he figured that Voldemort and Dumbledore could both probably overcome this, as well as, probably, create spells – after all, Voldemort has already created at least one already.
As they were heading back inside, Tonks turned to him, "Harry, how would you feel if at the end of each week you take a test of sorts, then we can practice dueling, ok?" She asked.
Not big on the idea of tests, but thinking it would be in his best interests, he agreed, to which Tonks smiled, and they continued their way inside. Arriving in their respective rooms, both of them cleaned up before retreating back to the kitchen for dinner, to be followed by Occlumency lessons; something else Harry was not looking forward to.
When the time came for them to work on Harry's Occlumency, Tonks asked what exactly he had been taught, and how to react.
"Nothing really," he began, "all he ever told me was to clear my mind, then he would perform the spell and start looking through my thoughts."
Tonks was surprised at this to say the least. That is not what Snape should have been doing – well, not entirely anyway. She had a different approach, which she explained to Harry.
"That's not really all there is to it, nor is it the best way to learn." Harry huffed in an annoyed and angry sort of way, but Tonks knew it wasn't directed at her. "The important thing" she continued as though she hadn't heard a thing, "is to keep your thoughts organized, and when someone is performing the Legilimency spell on you, you will be able to redirect your thoughts. So to start, yes you want to clear your mind, but that is mainly so that you are more able to sense an intrusion to your thoughts." She paused for a moment to let this sink in before continuing.
"Now, let's try this. This time I want you to clear you mind – try not to think of anything – then, when I perform the spell, I want you to try to find out what I am looking for. I will release the spell as soon as, or before, I reach a thought. I promise" she added after seeing his face, "I will not make it anything embarrassing or personal. Let's go."
Harry did his best to clear his mind, and when he nodded to Tonks to start, she pointed her wand at him and said Legilimens. Immediately Harry's thoughts began to pull towards his arrival at Hogwarts before he began his first year. He saw himself meeting Ron; Hermione coming in and asking about Neville's toad, Trevor. Then it jumped to the Great Hall and the sorting.
Harry was desperate, she couldn't know what the Sorting Hat had told him; then. Just as it had been in Snape's office, the voice in his mind told him 'Show her the feast after the Sorting, or block her.' As soon as he saw the first images that reminded him he was heading up to the center, about to be sorted, he shouted and the spell stopped.
"Do you know what I was looking for?" Tonks asked.
"Um… the Sorting in my first year." It was more of a question that an answer, but Tonks nodded her head nevertheless.
"Let's try again, this time I want you to try to direct your thoughts to something very familiar, ok."
Before he even had a chance to respond, the spell took hold of his mind again – this time much closer to his sorting than before. He, once again, listened to the familiar voice in the back of his mind and tried to focus on the Gryffindor common room. The result was odd to say the least. Hermione was still wearing the Sorting Hat, but now she was in the center of the common room.
The spell broke and Tonks was wearing a look of satisfaction across her face. "I would say that was quite an improvement, let's try a few more times. Now I want you to try and block me, not redirect your thoughts."
They did this a few times, and Harry found it was much easier now the he had a little knowledge to build on. In fact, on his seventh attempt, he was able to block Tonks out completely in less than thirty seconds. Tonks seemed to be satisfied with his progress for the evening, and wished him a 'good night.'
As soon as Harry reached his bed, he fell into a slumber, though for Tonks, she had a much more difficult time of it. She lay awake in her room, trying to think of ways to cheer Harry up. Sure, he was enjoying the training, but he needed more than that.
Finally deciding on a few ideas, over an hour later, she too, fell asleep.
At the same time that the new friends went to their rooms, some 650 miles away, two other friends were reading a letter they had received that afternoon. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were going over a note that had been sent to them from professor Dumbledore.
Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger,
I am sorry to inform you that Mr. Potter has gone away for a while. He left his home on the night of his birthday with a plan to leave unnoticed; this however, was not meant to be. The Order quickly discovered his absence from Number 4 and went to investigate, then to search for him. It was Ms. Tonks who found him and learned of his intentions. She quickly relayed this information to me and the rest of the Order. After much debate, during which she adamantly refused to reveal Harry's location, she turned in her Order medallion and left. From what little we do know, she and Harry left the country that night. We honestly have no idea where they are, as the owl we sent to them with a tracking charm returned; apparently they have placed charms on themselves to prevent them from receiving owl post. I can, however, assure you that Ms. Tonks is training Harry. I am sorry I can not give you anymore information, but at the moment that is all I know.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore - Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry
Neither of the friends really knew what to say or think; both had assumed there was a possibility of Harry doing something rash and foolish, but the way Dumbledore had explained and described it, it had been neither. Rather, Harry seemed to have made a plan, and once found by Tonks, he told her about it and she agreed. Lost in their thoughts, it was Hermione who finally broke the silence.
"I don't like this Ron, I really don't like this. I would like to know what Tonks is teaching him, and why she went against Dumbledore."
Ron, who was looking back at her in an odd sort of way replied.
"Hermione, Dumbledore doesn't seem to be too worried, and I reckon that whatever Harry is learning, he is learning to help him. He knows that You-Know-Who will come after him and I bet he just wants to be prepared."
Ron was trying to be positive about the situation, but was still, inwardly, just as worried as Hermione. However, if Dumbledore was not worried, then he would try to show the same appearance.
Hermione opened her mouth to speak again, but Ron cut her off before she could start.
"Drop it, Hermione." He told her, "There is nothing we can do, so we might as well trust Tonks, Harry and Dumbledore – and get some sleep."
Hermione didn't look like she agreed, but allowed Ron to force her out of his room so he could at least go to bed. Once Ron shut the door to his room, Hermione scowled at it and silently wondered how he could care so little about what could potentially be happening with and to Harry; their best friend. Still upset with Ron's actions, and lack of response, she stomped down the hallway to the room she was staying in and got ready for bed. Still fuming, she lay down and tried to get some sleep; it finally came to her several hours later.
Took a while for this chapter – I was plagued with a new job and it took away a bit of time. I'm sure this chapter is not up to par, but it was written over an eight day period, and things tend to get a little 'out of whack' for me when there is that much space between start and finish. I'll do better next time; promise.
Also, just to cover a few things in the reviews, look below.
Captuniv – I don't believe that Dumbledore is Harry's guardian, so the Goblins would really have no reason to inform him of any of Harry's withdraws or visits to Gringotts.
A Reader – Thanks for the comments, helps to make a poor person, such as myself, want to continue this endeavor.
Destined Enchantress – Thank for letting me know about the mistake; it's difficult to try to proof-read my own story, I know what I mean to say – I got that error fixed too.
To the above-mentioned and others – I am glad you enjoy the story and hope you continue to do so. I also appreciate the reviews, oddly enough, it does motivate you to work on it; bizarre.