A/N: So Sorry this took so long! You know how it is with the holidays and all of that, and now I'm trying to adjust back to normal life, but at least it's here!
A couple responses to reviews: Smilygirl: thanks for your comment about the soundless smoothies, I hadn't thought of that, but pulling a JK and making up a reason on the spot, the only sounds which are effected are sounds that are a result of the person coming into contact with their surroundings, since talking is from their vocal chords which is internal, there is no sound, so if they were to hiccup or their stomach growled, that would be heard too.
For the record, I dont have a beta - I try really hard to do it myself and I'm aware there are some mistakes, but my issue with beta's is that I like to submit the chapter right when I finish it, not after I send it to someone who's away on vacation this week so they can't get it back to me for 1 weeks and yah... I think you get my point.
Anyways, thank you all for the lovely reviews, and Ihope you enjoy this chapter!
Harry was left standing alone in the large, elegant library of 12 Grimmauld Place. After having his discussion with Dumbledore, he was a bit overwhelmed. This year was going to be a very different one... There was so much he wanted to think about, he didn't know where to begin.
"Wow, Harry," Hermione murmured in amazement after Harry briefed Hermione, Ron, and Ginny about his conversation with Dumbledore, "they're preparing you to battle Voldemort! Finally, they're taking you seriously!"
Suddenly, with a flutter of red, Fawkes the phoenix appeared in front of Harry, dropping a letter on his lap. Before Harry could even reach out to pet the bird it was gone again.
"Wonder what that was about!" Ron exclaimed, looking confused.
Harry carefully picked up the letter that Fawkes had dropped. It was a small piece of paper.
Harry,
Forgot to mention that Kingsley Shacklebolt will be by atseven o'clockthis evening for your first lesson! Mr. and Mrs. Weasley already know about the lessons so no explanation will be necessary. Remus has charmed the room next to Sirius's to accommodate your lessons. See you tomorrow!
Professor Dumbledore
"Oh, it's just Dumbledore telling me I have a lesson with Kingsley tonight at seven," Harry explained to his friends.
"That's so exciting, isn't it?" Ginny added, "I mean, I wonder what he's going to teach you!"
"Yah," Harry's stomach fluttered at the thought of the lessons. There was so much he needed to learn, and after the battle at the ministry he knew that there was so much out there for him to be taught if he ever wanted to compete with Voldemort.
He looked out the window; the sun was still high in the sky. Still got a while until seven o'clock, Harry thought.
His thoughts, however, were interrupted by a call from Mrs. Weasley, "Kids! Kids! Come down to the kitchen!"
"Uck," Ron moaned, "I wonder what sort of disgusting cleaning we're going to have to do today."
"Well, we'll find out soon, won't we Ronnie?" Ginny mocked, giving Ron a smirk.
The four friends trudged down the stairs. This was their least favorite part of living at Grimmauld Place; the never ending cleaning. Yes, it was a great house for the Order Headquarters, but was it really necessary for it to have a never ending supply of rooms for them to clean?
In the basement kitchen (the only one the Order used), Mrs. Weasley was waiting with four large buckets at her feet. Ron just moaned when saw them, "Oh nooo."
"Oh yes, Ron," Mrs. Weasley replied smiling, "you bunch will be cleaning the walls of the main formal dining room upstairs. An unhealthy growth of mold seems to be sprouting there…" Mrs. Weasley scowled, "BUT, here, fill these buckets up with soap and water, there's some sponges already there, and I'll call you back to wash up for dinner at 5:30!"
The group did as they were told and went upstairs to the formal dining room. The walls, which Harry guessed were originally covered in wallpaper, were now a stomach-lurching bright green.
"Oh, smells like something died in here!" Harry spat, pinching his nose.
"Yeah, mate, a thousand skunks or something," Ron added, following Harry's lead of covering up his nose.
"Stop complaining, maybe we can get this done early" Hermione nagged as she picked up a sponge and began scrubbing. "Ick!" Hermione sputtered, "it really does smell!" The group of friends laughed as Hermione covered up her face with her hand.
Eventually, the four all took up sponges and began scrubbing one of the long walls of the room. The room was fairly empty; there was a large wooden table in the center of the room that seemed to be deteriorating, along with red cushioned wood chairs that were also in a dreary state. There was nothing else in the room; no paintings or pictures on the wall.
They'd been scrubbing for over an hour, but had made a lot of progress. One of the large walls was already clean. They'd revealed white wallpaper with a green vine pattern underneath the layers of mold. The four friends washed out their buckets and filled them up with clean water, Hermione's suggestion. They moved on to the next large wall.
"Geez, I really don't want to do this all over again," Harry scoffed throwing his sponge into his filled-up bucket.
"Agh," Ron gasped as the soapy water from Harry's bucket splashed him. Ron dunked his sponge in his own bucket and threw it at Harry, but missed and it hit Hermione square in the face.
"Ron Weasley! You did not just do that!" Hermione squealed. Hermione dunked her sponge into a bucket and threw it at Ron in revenge. Ron cleverly ducked and it hit Ginny, who now had bubbles dripping down her chin. Harry snickered at the sight.
"What are you laughing at, Potter?!" Ginny dipped her sponge in the bucket, scooping up as much bubbles as she could and proceeded to walk over to Harry with the sponge behind her back. He just stood watching her, when she whipped the sponge out from behind her back and squeezed it out on top of Harry's head.
"Ah," was all Harry managed to say as water streamed down his head. When Ginny finally stopped, he ruffled up his hair so some of the water in his hair would spray Ginny, but he ended up with his long hair sticking straight up.
"Haha, Harry you look like a monster!" Ron pointed and laughed at Harry.
"We'll see who looks like a monster when I get revenge on you!" Hermione grabbed her bucket of water and poured the entire thing on Ron's head.
Ron just stood there motionless, occasionally spitting bubbles out of his mouth with a scowl while the others watched. Finally, he broke out in a smile, "Hermione you are so dead."
Hermione turned to run away from Ron, but Ron grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a hug from behind.
"Ew, Ron you're getting me all wet!" Hermione exclaimed as she tried to free herself, but with a smile on her face.
"Good! You deserve it!" Ron yelled back at her.
As Hermione was kicking and screaming she kicked Harry, who was watching the scene, who stumbled backwards and hit a bucket that spilled water on Ginny's legs.
"Uck! Harry!" Ginny said looking down at her legs and moving towards Harry.
"I didn't mean to!" Harry explained as he started running away from Ginny.
Mrs. Weasley entered the room to find the 4 teenagers chasing each other and fighting each other and water spill all over the floor.
"What do you all think your doing?" Mrs. Weasley screamed, "Look at the mess you've made!"
The four looked around and saw buckets askew, puddles of water all over the floor, and soap on the walls, floor and furniture.
"Oh, and look at your clothes," Mrs. Weasley hollered, "Go clean up while I clean up your mess,"
Without say a word, the four friends trudged out of the room, defeated but with smiles.
"You look really handsome Ron," Harry joked. Ron was completely soaked in water and with his rather shaggy hair he looked like some sort of animal.
"I'd say the same about you, mate," Ron replied to his best friend. Harry's wet hair was sticking strait up and it looked as if he'd just gotten electrified.
The four friends all went in their respective rooms to change for dinner. Harry's heart was beating fast, he hadn't had this much fun since… well, since his surprise party. He felt suddenly mad at himself, for having this much fun. Having water fights wasn't the way to save the wizarding world… there was too much at stake to risk. His brow furrowed and he seemed suddenly angry.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked after glancing at Harry.
"What? Nothing," Harry replied; Ron wouldn't understand, his biggest worries are quidditch and Hermione.
"Ok… if you say so," Ron said, fully knowing something was wrong, but not quite wanting a Harry temper tantrum.
Without another word to his friend, Harry walked out the door. It was times like this that Harry wished he wasn't in a house full of people. He just wanted to disappear, be somebody else, allow himself to have fun without guilt. Couldn't someone else be Harry Potter for a while? He was a wizard; there must be some sort of spell or potion to switch lives with someone else for a little while.
Harry walked into the kitchen and found Tonks, Remus, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in an animated discussion. They all looked up and stopped their talking when they saw Harry.
"Hey Harry! Heard you and your buds got in a bit of a water fight upstairs?" Tonks, today with blonde hair, asked Harry with a wink.
"Er… yah, sorry Mrs. Weasley." Harry said as he blushed a little.
"Never mind dear," Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a small look of pity, "nothing a few spells couldn't clean up.
The rest of Harry's friends came down the stairs and sat down at the table with Harry. They had a fairly quiet meal that mainly consisted of Tonks telling stories about tricks she'd played by using her metamorphmagus powers.
"So then I came back in the room, this time with black hair, a big nose, brown eyes and asked him if he'd seen an auror around here. And guess what he did? He fainted!" Tonks told the table as everyone erupted into laughter.
As the laughter began to die down, the kitchen door opened and Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in.
"Sorry to interrupt," the man said in a deep voice.
"Kingsley, how lovely to see you! Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? Or maybe some tea?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she started moving around the kitchen.
"No thanks, Molly, I just ate. I'm just here for Harry."
"I'm ready," Harry stood up and walked over to Kingsley, "See you all in a little while."
"So how's your vacation been so far?" Kingsley asked Harry as they walked up the stairs.
"Not too bad, I guess," Harry lied, it was bad, Sirius was gone, and he had to cope with it every day.
"Harry," Kingsley spoke softly as he put a hand on Harry's shoulder, "I'm sorry about Sirius, I know he meant a lot to you. I know how you feel though. During the first war, my uncle was killed by Voldemort. He was a brilliant man; a master of potions, and had just returned to England to visit from teaching in Eastern Europe. Voldemort sought him out to make potions for him, when my uncle refused he was promptly killed."
"How did you deal with it?" Harry asked quietly.
"Well that was when I decided to join the Order, so innocent people would stop getting killed. Just like Sirius, I know there are things that are worth dying for, innocent lives like my uncle's. If I died, but in the long run helped save countless other lives, I'd be happy."
Before Harry had time to think about Kingsley's words, they had reached the room that Harry was going to get to know very well, with time.
"Here we are," the elder wizard announced as he held open the door for Harry to walk through.
The room was very large, about 50 yards, Harry estimated. It was completely empty, no furniture or carpeting. The walls and floor seemed to all be made of the same material, a light gray slightly rubbery material.
"Oh yes, this will be great for practicing," Kingsley said excitedly, "but before we begin I have a gift for you, for your birthday, from Tonks, Remus, Moody, and myself." Kinglsey gave Harry a bag that was in his hand that Harry hadn't noticed until now.
Harry removed a black jacket from the bag, a leather jacket, Harry assumed.
"It's dragon hide," Kingsley explained, "similar to what Fred and George have, but this one is special."
"Yeah, it's not hideous," Harry joked. In fact, Harry thought it was brilliant; it had a slight shine to it and was extremely smooth. There were no scales like Fred and George's and it wasn't an appalling color.
Kingsley laughed, "Yes, that and it has the same properties of Dragon hide, it is a very good insulator and is capable of repelling simple spells and jinxes."
"You mean, if someone tries to jinx me, it won't work?" Could this be true?
"Exactly, so do you like it?" Kinsley asked with a smile.
Harry tried it on, it fit perfectly. "Like it? It's brilliant! Thank you!"
"Well a sixteenth birthday isn't to be taken lightly," Kingsley laughed with his rich baritone voice. "Well, now that you've got the proper attire, are you ready to begin your lesson?" Harry nodded, "Great. As Professor Dumbledore probably mentioned, each Order member will be teaching you a particular skill. I will be teaching you wandless magic."
"Wandless magic? Is there even such a thing?" Harry questioned, he'd never heard of it, but it sounded like it could be true.
"Of course there is, how else could I teach it to you? You've probably seen it before, Dumbledore uses it quite often. It takes an extremely powerful wizard to be able to do it and a lot of practice. Therefore, I do think you shall be able to master it with time."
Harry smiled at Kingsley's compliment, "How does it work? I thought a wand was necessary to do magic?"
"Well Harry, Remus told me that one time when you were younger you blew up your aunt when you got angry with her?"
"Yes…" Was that wandless magic that Harry hadn't realized he was doing?
"That was wandless magic. All wizards and witches have magic within them, in their blood and in their hearts, flowing through them at all times. When you cast a spell with your wand, the materials within the wand have magical properties. These magical properties focus the magic that is within you from your body, to your mouth (when you say the spell), and then to the wand where it directs the power in an almost invisible stream of magic."
"But if that's what your wand does, then how can I perform magic without a wand?" Harry asked, quite confused.
"When you blew up your aunt you were feeling quite angry, no doubt. That emotion was felt strongly in your brain, where your body has its emotions. Since you were feeling it particularly strongly, the magic was able to concentrate in your brain. Though perhaps subconsciously, you were envisioning your aunt blowing up. And so, that magical power in your brain was focused on making your aunt blowup."
"But I didn't say a spell," Harry spoke almost pleadingly.
"Ah, you are correct, but the magical power that was focused was so great that it was not necessary. The words which you say to perform a spell or charm are to help focus your energy on a specific spell, charm, et cetera. That way, not any old emotion or thought comes out when you are trying to perform your magic." Kingsley explained.
"Does that mean you can do magic without a wand and without saying anything?" Harry asked.
"Yes Harry! You're very quick, aren't you? It is possible to do magic without a wand and without speaking, but very few wizards can do it because it involved extreme concentration and power."
"Can you?" Harry inquired.
The dark skinned man blushed slightly, "Yes, but it has taken me many years to master and I'm not nearly as good as Professor Dumbledore."
"Would you show me?" Harry was getting excited, if he could do learn to do magic without a wand and without speaking there was no end to the possibilities of things he could do.
Kingsley chuckled, "Sure." He reachedintohis pocket and put a bronze knut on the ground. With his hands at his sides, he looked intensely at the small piece of metal. After a second, the coin was rising and doing loops in the air. His eyes followed the movement of the coin and after a few loops he made the coin rest on the ground again.
"Will I be able to do that?" Harry asked excitedly.
"Maybe eventually, but for now we're just going to work on wandless, and gradually work on saying things quieter until you can do it without saying anything at all," Harry nodded in understanding, "So the first thing you need to know is that any emotion can drive your magical power. You need to focus on this emotion, think about it, and try and strengthen it. You're going to need to learn how to control your emotions, to find which emotion you can best control so that you can use it when you need to. Eventually, you'll become a more powerful wizard; there will be more magical power within you and less emotion will be necessary. But for now, I need to you to think of the emotion you have felt strongest at some point in your life. It might take you quite a few tries before you find an emotion that's strong enough."
Harry thought, Happiness? When Sirius said I could live with him? Strong, but not the strongest… Sirius… When he died… sadness, but there was also confusion, I thought he'd still come back. But he didn't, anger, at Bellatrix Lestrange… yes! When I tried to cast an unforgivable on her… Harry shuddered at the memory, but could feel the anger rising within him regardless.
"Ok, I've got it." Harry was ready for this, he'd never been as angry in his life as he has been at Bellatrix Lestrange that night.
"Good, Harry. I must caution you now, you need to summon the emotion quickly. You can't take your time building up the emotion. The power resulting from the emotion will be greatest when the emotion is summed in a short period of time. Force equals mass times acceleration, right? So if you want a great force, you must get a strong emotion and get it fast… got it, Harry?"
"Er… yes, I think so," Harry wasn't sure how easy this seemed anymore, getting angry fast? He could barely control his emotions as it was.
"You care to try a few times, Harry?" Kingsley asked, sounding very optimistic and confident in his pupil. He placed the bronze knut in front of Harry on the floor.
"Sure," Harry said a little too quickly.
"Ok, now use that emotion you have bottled up," Kingsley told Harry.
Harry thought back as he stared at the knut, memories of his battle at the ministry came to mind. When Bellatrix and Sirius were battling because neither noticed that Dumbledore had walked in, when Bellatrix hit Sirius with a bolt of red light causing him to fall through the veil, her laugh… Yes, the laugh, Harry thought, her awful cackle… Harry's mind was filled with the sound of Bellatrix laughing at Sirius and himself, mocking them, laughing at him when he tried to cast the unforgivable curse on her. Harry's anger flared a bit.
"Come on, Harry, it's already been 5 minutes, are you feeling any emotion? Maybe you should try a different emotion," Kingsley offered.
"No, this is the strongest one I have," Harry assured his teacher. His life was filled of frustrating and angering memories; he just had to think harder.
He remembered Umbridge, and the time in the headmaster's office when she made Dumbledore flee, and tried to get Harry kicked out of school. His anger was beginning to rise again. He recalled when Umbridge had banned him from quidditch and proceeded to lock up his broom, how bored he'd felt without quidditch. He stared as hard as he could at the knut on the ground, it wasn't moving. Come on, Harry, try harder! Harry encouraged himself, the many nights spent in detention in Umbridge's room, watching as blood trickled down his hand.
Unless they knew what was expected to happen, a person in the room with Harry would never have noticed the small knut on the ground begin to vibrate and even wobble a little. Harry and Kingsley, however, did and both immediately began to laugh when it happened. Kinsley even began clapping and congratulating Harry.
"Stupendous work, Harry! That was much more than I expected on the first day!" Kingsley congratulated as he patted Harry on the back.
Harry couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, but I think I have a while to go before I can do what you can do," Harry replied modestly.
"Ah, with time Harry, you'll see your power, but for now I think we've done enough. Wouldn't want to wear you out, Dumbledore would hex the brains out of me."
Harry laughed, "Thank you for the lesson, I can't wait for the next."
"Good, I'm glad you liked it. I'll contact you through someone to tell you when our next lesson will be. See you at your Order induction!" Kingsley voiced right before he apparated out of Grimmauld Place.
I can't believe I actually moved the knut, well not moved, but, you know, it's a start, Harry mused.
He proceeded slowly out the door and down the hallway. Near the stairs, he passed the door to Sirius's old room and couldn't help but notice that it was open a crack. After staring at the doorknob for a few moments in contemplation, the young wizard decided he might as well go in. The room seemed to have been left relatively untouched. There were books on the shelves, materials on the desk, and he even noticed a bit of blue clothing sticking out of one of the drawers.
Harry walked around, examining the room, but too scared to touch anything. It's just Sirius's room, your godfather, not some scary old dead guy, Harry tried to reassure himself. He was about to head for the door, from fear of breaching Sirius's privacy, when a gleam of light caught Harry's eye. He walked toward Sirius's bed and saw nothing that would reflect light, so he continued his search by the bedside table and saw the gleam again. He moved a book over to reveal a mirror. But not just any mirror, the exact duplicate of a mirror that was currently residing in a hundred pieces within Harry's trunk.
Harry was speechless, or rather, thoughtless. He did not know what to think; he'd realized at the end of the school year that Sirius did not have the two-way mirror with him when he was fighting at the ministry but never thought to look for it.
All potential thoughts were lost when Harry heard someone coming up the stairs. He quickly pocketed the mirror and rushed out the door, leaving it a crack open just like he'd found it. Just as he successively closed it, ginger hair emerged from around the corner.
"Hello Harry," Ginny greeted.
"Hey Ginny," Harry replied.
"Ron told me to come see if you were done because he wants to have an exploding snap tournament before dinner," Ginny told Harry.
"Oh, yep, Kinglsey just left a second ago," Harry lied.
"How was your lesson? What'd you learn?" Ginny asked curiously.
"Wandless magic, but don't get excited, I haven't exactly mastered it yet," Harry reported.
"Sound's difficult, did you think so?"
"Well, it's all about controlling your emotions and using them as power, and well, I haven't been very good with emotions lately…" Harry muttered.
"I understand," Ginny placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, "How could you be able to control your emotions when you have a dark lord to kill, a dead godfather, and a normal life to try and live?" Ginny agreed softly.
"Yes, exactly," Harry stuttered. Wait, since when did people actually understand him? Hermione would have just told him he needed to practice, Ron would have told him he'd get it sooner or later, but Ginny? She knew exactly what he was thinking, and, well it helped.
"Everything's a big change for you right now, isn't it? This must be very difficult; your life has a different meaning now. It may be hard, but when you think about it, it's what your destined to do, you know? I personally believe prophecies don't lie, and so then you are the best person to defeat you-know-who, you're who I would have picked at least." Ginny paused, "I know you'll get through this Harry, with your emotions in tact." She moved her hand to lightly touch his cheek before removing it slowly.
Harry smiled a great big smile, I must look like an idiot with this big goofy smile, and we're talking about me killing someone! But she said it so nicely, and it really did make me feel good… Harry struggled internally. Talking about emotional changes, this new sensation of wanting to hear more of what Ginny had to say was different. It's like she read his subconscious and reassured him of everything that he needed at the moment. He liked the support.
"Thanks," Harry finally piped, "you… really have no idea how much that helps. So… ready for some exploding snaps?" Harry asked, offering Ginny his arm.
Ginny accepted his arm as they began walking down the stairs, "Ready? Ron's already beat me in chess 3 times today alone! It's about time I kicked his arse in something!"
Harry chuckled, his last bit of frustration and gemotional trouble one and his heart beating a little bit faster than normal.