In case you were curious… I don't own any of this - characters and whatnot - it belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Harry awoke the next morning and slowly got out of bed; he hadn't slept well during the night. While it was nice that he didn't receive the Daily Prophet, his nights were still plagued with dreams and visions, mostly of Voldemort and his minions torturing and killing innocent people; muggle and magical alike. He also, sometimes, relived the events that had taken place in the Department of Mysteries, repeatedly watching Sirius fall through the Veil, over and over; not once though had the Sirius in his dreams blamed him.
Harry got ready, and after a quick breakfast, walked out back just in time to see Tonks, once again shoot a silvery mist out of her wand, again seeming to take the shape of a bird just before vanishing in the distance.
"What was that?" Harry asked, startling Tonks enough for her to whirl around and fix her wand on him.
Once she saw who it was however, she visibly relaxed and smiled. Since she offered no answer, Harry asked again. "That spell you just did, what was it? I saw you do it yesterday, and am pretty sure I saw professor Dumbledore do it in my fourth year."
"It's a type of message spell, usually for short distances, but there are a few variations that allow it to go further." She told him.
Harry thought this spell could be really useful in the future, so naturally, he wanted to learn how to use it.
"Could you teach me how to do it?" He asked, then added "Please" in a pleading voice after seeing her frown slightly.
"I suppose, but I can only teach you two of the three variations; one of them is known only to the Order and aurors." She paused for a moment, moving closer to Harry before continuing. "The first type is controlled by thoughts; for example, if you wanted to send a message to me about being hurt, you would focus on you being hurt and me knowing, then say the incantation Mandatum Cogitatus. Try it real quick and let's see."
Harry took a few steps back and thought about saying thank you to Tonks and performed the spell; nothing happened.
"What was your thought?" Tonks asked
"I was thinking of saying thank you to you."
"That wont work," she said matter-of-factly, in a tone not unlike Hermione's. "These are more thoughts on feelings – like anger, pain, love, et cetera. What you were doing is more of a message."
Now Harry was really confused – didn't she tell him it was a message spell, and isn't saying thank you a feeling of gratitude…
"Why don't we just do the other – this one seems kinda iffy to me." Harry said awkwardly; Tonks laughed, but agreed.
"Ok, this time just think of what you would like to say. The person you want to receive it is determined during the incantation. Just say Mandatum Legationis and the persons first and last name. I know there are some people that have the same name, but your thoughts are also forced into the spell, which also direct the spell to the correct person. Try it!" Tonks finished excitedly.
Again Harry thought of saying thank you and performed the spell, "Mandatum Legationis Nymphadora Tonks." Immediately a silvery mist shot out of his wand, similar to his first attempt at a Patronus, and glided towards Tonks, finally disappearing into her forehead.
"You're welcome," she told him. "The reason it moved so slowly is just a matter of practice – with time it will move fast and take a definite shape, usually no more than a foot long and a foot tall, and usually the same form as your Patronus. Also, it is only visible right after you send it and right before it reaches its intended destination."
"Thanks a lot, Tonks.' Harry said sincerely before getting a questioning look on his face. "How far will the second one you taught me go?" He asked.
"The second one" she said mockingly, though with a smile, "also called a message spell, will go as far as you want, I suppose. I sent one to Dumbledore letting him know we are safe, and he must have gotten it because I got one telling me he let your friends Ron and Hermione know you are ok. He still, however, has no clue where we are, and informed your friends of as much."
After that the day passed quickly. Both of them firing spell at each other, an occasional break thrown in for good measure and a quick lunch. Before he knew it, Harry had eaten dinner with Tonks and was getting ready, mentally, to practice – he used that term loosely – Occlumency.
"Ok, Harry; right to it then." Tonks said, and without so much as a warning, cast her spell.
Harry's world dissolved around him and his thoughts were turning to memories of the first time he met Tonks. Completely unprepared for this, as he assumed she would, once again, be searching for his sorting, it took him a moment to regain control of his mind. Slowly, he began to push away the memories she was seeing, and once the first meeting at his aunt and uncle's house melted away, only to be replaced by the greeting he received at the end of last year, when he got off the train. Finally, he was able to both control and direct his thoughts well enough that he, once again, sent his mind and the intruder back to memories of an empty common room in Gryffindor Tower.
When the spell finally ended, Harry looked up at Tonks, who wore a lopsided grin that quickly changed to a bright smile, before she spoke.
"You did well that time, even though you allowed me to see what I wanted. You were able to eventually direct me to thoughts or memories that you chose – completely." She studied him for a moment before continuing, "Let's try one more time then call it a night."
Immediately Harry was under the spell again. Harry had no idea what she was looking for this time, and after only a few seconds was able to direct his mind, and her, to the Gryffindor common room. The spell stopped and Tonks was sporting a broad grin.
"Excellent, Harry! I didn't even have a chance. We'll keep working on this until you can do it second nature, then I will explain to you how to determine what information is being searched for – it can be useful sometimes to lead the attacker astray, instead of just pushing them aside. Once you have that down, we will work on keeping your mind closed off, or guarded, while you are sleeping." At that point, she turned from Harry and towards the stairs, calling a good night over her shoulder as she began to climb them. Harry responded with the same farewell and followed suit, though none too eager to go to bed.
He lay, staring at the ceiling for a long time unable to sleep before finally deciding to practice the message spell. Since he was alone, he held his wand at a distance and tried to send it to himself; it didn't work. After the fourth attempt, he managed to see the familiar stag that was his fathers form. Thoroughly please with himself, he quickly sent a short message to both Ron and Hermione, letting them know that he was ok, and asked them not to be upset with him for leaving . So pleased with his progress, he tried the thought spell one last time; focusing on letting Tonks know how happy he was (because he managed the message spell) – he muttered the incantation and, to his surprise, out of his wand came Prongs, who passed through his wall and into, he assumed, Tonks' bedroom.
A moment later he regretted this decision. A few crashes, followed by a thud, and a shout of 'Harry' brought his state of happiness to a screeching halt. It wasn't the upset type of voice that he normally was at the receiving end of when staying with the Dursley's, nor was it the happy tone that normally accompanied Tonks' voice; rather, it was the type of voice you hear when you have just done something wrong, and if you don't fess up to it you will be in trouble. Deciding that the sound of his name was more of a summons than anything, he went to answer.
Tonks, who had been, still, preparing for bed (it took a while as she was constantly tripping over her things, that were strewn haphazardly around her room(was startled by the sudden appearance of a misty stag, that, before she could think, zoomed towards her forehead and upon contact gave her a feeling of immense happiness and thoughts of Harry. Realizing what this was, after she picked herself up off the floor and wiped the water off her face, she called for Harry.
A few moments later, a very nervous Harry opened the door to Tonks room – trembling head to foot. He opened the door as quietly as her could, hoping that she wouldn't hear him and he could retreat back to the safety of his own bedroom; it wasn't meant to be. As soon as he poked his head around the door, which was only open a foot wide, he saw her, standing there in all her glory. Slowly, he moved from behind the door and into the room – finally stopping no more than five feet from her.
Tonks was standing directly in front of him, completely disheveled and wearing a nightdress. Harry, unsure whether to laugh at her state or run for cover, opted for silence. While running did have its advantages, he figured he would probably not get too far because his knees were coming dangerously close to banging each other as they shook from nervousness. Laughing was out because, well, he valued his life. She, of course, gave away nothing. Her face was like stone as far as Harry was concerned, though he privately thought a lot smoother, and her expression was indecipherable. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Harry broke the silence. "Tonks?" He asked, his voice cracking with anxiety due to the lack of response from her.
Tonks couldn't take it any longer, Harry looked frightened beyond his wits, so she broke down in laughter. Harry didn't know what to think, he was facing what he was sure to be a good berating, but instead, Tonks had gone loony. He was frozen, though he assumed he wasn't in any trouble.
Managing to get her laughter under control, Tonks wiped the tears from her eyes and looked over to Harry, who still stood rooted to the floor. Tonks immediately felt bad, especially after noticing all color had left his face; though she did find some relief in the fact that his shaking was nearly under control. Here she was laughing at him and he was scared stiff, literally. "I'm sorry Harry, but you just looked so worried." She told him while fighting back another round of laughter.
Harry managed a weak smile and nodded dumbly, even though there was no reason to nod, he felt it should be done, a sort of pre-emptive nod. For minutes he stood there, still and silent; it wasn't until Tonks came face to face with him that he snapped back to attention and spoke. "I'm sorry Tonks," he said sincerely, and with a bit of fear in his voice. "I just wanted to see if I could do it." He added quietly at the end of his apology, before dropping his gaze to his toes.
She let him know it was fine and that she wasn't upset with him or mad at him, but he just shrugged his shoulders as though it was nice to hear, but didn't really believe it. As he turned to leave, Tonks gave him a little hug, hoping it would help to reassure him that he really hadn't done anything wrong – it must have worked too, because he smiled up at her and went straight to his room, where he promptly fell asleep. Tonks was not far behind, and she too, soon fell asleep.
The next few days passed quickly and without incident as Harry continued to learn new spells and Occlumency. With his schedule as strict as it was, Harry hadn't given so much as a glance to the books that he brought with him; books on areas of magic usually referred to as Dark Magic. He also hadn't had much in terms of dreamssonce the third Occlumency lesson; Tonks had asked him to try to clear his mind each evening before bed, and apparently, with her approach of not sneering at you constantly, he had improved dramatically. He also had failed to notice that as time went on, blocking his mind was becoming more and more like a second nature to him – when his dreams began to shift, he would subconsciously block the link between Voldemort and himself, thus putting a stop to the horrible images that threatened to enter his mind.
The first change in his training came, or would come, on a Saturday. That Friday, Tonks told him that the next day she would give him a little test over the spells he had learned, then they would spend a few hours dueling; she also told him that that evening she would have a surprise for him. After finishing dinner and saying their goodnights, Harry went to bed wondering what this surprise could be, and what the test Tonks was going to give him would be like. It was with the same thoughts racing through his mind that he finally fell asleep a few hours later.
The next morning after a quick breakfast, Harry went out to meet Tonks in the backyard where she would be giving him her test. "Ready for your test, Harry?" Tonks asked happily, as smile plastered on her face as usual.
"I guess." Harry replied, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "What will the test be?" He asked.
"Oh, it's pretty simple really, I will tell you a spell, and then you will have to perform it." She said this as thought having someone curse you for absolutely no reason was the greatest thing in the world. Well, better he than me, he thought, which cheered him up a bit – it didn't last long though.
"After that, I will send some curses at you, which you will have to correctly identify and successfully fight off the effects." Tonks told him.
Harry's face fell, Tonks laughed. "Come on Harry, you've had all of them on you before; don't chicken!"
Harry nodded his head gloomily as if he were facing sudden death, but at least his would face it sideways – there was a much better chance it would miss him.
"Face forward Harry, and send the laceration curse at me."
Here goes, thought Harry, before he turned to face Tonks and said lacerate. As soon as the curse struck her, she gave him a thumbs up to let him know he performed it correctly. They went on like this for sometime; he knew he had sent at least fifty curses, hexes and jinxes at her before she finally told him it was his turn.
Harry took his place and stood defiantly, knowing that what was about to come would only help him in the future, and nodded to Tonks to begin. The first curse she sent at him he immediately recognized as the Burning curse, and quickly fought off the spells effects. She sent several more like this – simple pain curses – and in a surprise move, used the Legilimency spell. Since Harry wasn't expecting this, it took him much longer than usual to block her out of his mind, but he did. He saw a slight grin on her face, which quickly vanished as she cast her next curse.
For the longest time she sent various spells at Harry, and it wasn't until shortly after lunch time that she finally decided they could stop. After lunch, where Harry did nothing but glare at the miserable sandwich Tonks had supplied for him, as though daring it to tell him he could do better, they went back outside and began dueling.
Harry quickly realized that even though Tonks may be a walking catastrophe, she was quite agile when dueling. It didn't take long for her to disarm and immobilize Harry the first time. After receiving a few pointers they went at it again.
Several hours later, Harry had yet to defeat Tonks in a duel; it wasn't that he wasn't any good, just that Tonks seemed to be so calm, confident and agile. Harry on the other hand was not so calm, though he was rather quick on his feet – thanks to the reflexes borne from five years of quidditch. He also failed to notice one very important fact; Tonks was still wearing the protection charm he had given her.
As they were walking in, Tonks mentioned they might go out and eat, something Harry liked the sound of. Getting out of the house and getting some food prepared by someone other that either Tonks or him, sounded very appealing. He agreed, and the two of them headed up to their rooms and prepared to go out.
When they met each other back downstairs and were ready to go, they headed out of the house and began to make there way towards the center or the historic city. During the long walk, they made some light conversation, and it wasn't until he mentioned the dueling, that Tonks gave the slightest of giggles and wore a look of guilt on her face.
Harry had told her that she was either a very good duelist, or he was the epitome of horrible. "Well…" Tonks said slowly, "I wasn't exactly being fair." She said to gain Harry's full attention.
"What do you mean you weren't being fair?" Harry asked. They had stopped by now, and Harry was staring into her ice-blue eyes intently. A small chuckle escaped her lips, before she finally spoke, though she failed to meet his eyes.
"I, uh, still had on the, uh, protection charm." She smile a winning smile as she looked up at him, hoping to ease the tension. Harry mumbled a bit before he spoke clearly, "Cheater." It seemed to Tonks that her easy-going attitude had, in fact, made an impact on Harry, as he was now more the same, and sometimes joking. Tonks just smiled at him and they took off walking once again.
Eventually they found a pizzeria on a side street off Wenceslas Square, but still with a partial view of the museum that stood at the end of the square. They hadn't really planned on going so far into the center for fear of an encounter, but there were some places this far in where people spoke, and understood, English.
They shared a pizza, and each had a coca-cola while they engaged in conversation. After paying, they walked around the center a bit and looked at the some of the old buildings. Harry vaguely remembered something from his early schooling about an old bridge with a bunch of statues on it, and after mentioning it to Tonks, they set out to find it; which they did nearly half an hour later.
In Harry's mind, the bridge was amazing, he learned that it had been guilt in the fourteenth century by Charles IV, the Czech King and Holy Roman Emperor. He learned a little of the different statues, and just as he had been told to do, touched the statue of Czech martyr, St. John of Nepomuk, for good luck. After spending nearly an hour on the bridge, the two of them began to head back to the rental home, some seven kilometers away.
As they finally began to close on the section of Prague in which there house stood, Harry began to fell slightly uneasy. While it was normally dark in this area, tonight it seemed unusually dark – perhaps their excursion to dinner and the sight-seeing afterwards was not such a good idea; it was along these lines that he thought. As they made their way to the last stretch of unlit road, that would lead them to the main street on which their home resided, an intense feeling of paranoia took over Harry, and he instinctively moved closer to Tonks.
"Tonks, I have a bad feeling something even worse that what I think will happen, will happen." Harry told her quietly, though still looking straight ahead.
"Harry," she said rather loudly, "what could possibly happen in the middle of night in a place where no one knows we are?"
"Well-" Harry was at a loss for words, no one should know they were here, but his feeling of uneasiness was growing more intense the closer they got. Taking a chance and glancing backwards, Harry saw a sight that made him weak at the knees, someone was back there, and appeared to be holding something that resembled a wand. Instinctively, he grabbed his wand and was about to signal Tonks, when a soft tingle went through his body and he slumped forward to the ground, unconscious.
Tonks, who not only heard Harry fall, but saw him as well, immediately put up a shield and turned around to face the attacker. As she caught sight of the person who now stood no more that ten feet away, there was a sudden implosion of silence; then without missing a beat, the young auror went to work on the person responsible for attacking her young apprentice.
Well, another chapter up – hopefully the next one will come out a little quicker than this one did.
paul16 – I suppose Harry could have requested that Tonks look to a different area in his mind, be he probably knew that the quickest way to learn was to really want to keep something secret. In my mind, nothing motivates you more than when you actually have to do something, not just for future plans, but for the here and now. Hope you are enjoying the story so far.
Snifflers unite – Glad you are enjoying the sotry, and thanks for the idea; a 'smattering of action' would be great, and I have adjusted my 'so-called' story line to include your idea. Hope to hear more of them :-)
Destined Enchantress – Can't give anything away now, can I :-)
And to the others who reviewed, thanks for the reviews, and I hope you enjoy the story.
I do hope to see some more reviews as the story goes on. Let me know if you like the story, hate it, and also, if you have any ideas, please let me know – my imagination can only do so much, and an idea from the outside can really help to spice up the story.