Chapter 14 the last test.

Tonks was making a subdued face as she was eating her breakfast on the next day. She was missing her love so very much and it hurt her, that she hadn't even a clue when she would meet him again.

At least Dumbledore held word and tried to protect her. All post to her was tested before it reached her and the countless hexes and howlers never reached her and that she was thankful for. The students didn't give her a hard time for now and even the Slytherins hadn't tried anything yet. But Tonks was aware that this could change quickly.

Harry's friends had also a hard time and Tonks did her best to be there for them. Ginny had accepted that Tonks was the love of Harry's heart as they met the same evening, as Harry disappeared.

She asked Tonks if she truly loved him, like she did. Tonks answered honestly that she loved him with all her heart and Ginny smiled sincerely.

"As I love him too, I want him to be happy. I could see, that he was happy with you, really happy. I am thankful for that and I wish you both all luck."

"Thanks Ginny. I am sure Harry would be proud of you. He was very worried about you, since he knew about your feelings."

"I know. But he don't need to. It will hurt for a while but I've accepted it."

They had talked a while how it was to be in love and that with the great Harry Potter too.

They had shared more then one laugh.

And now... nearly a week after that they both missed him terribly. Tonks as love and the others as friends.

She was waked from her thoughts as the door to the great hall banged open and two impressing figures walked in. They both had dark blue cloaks and robes on which billowed behind them and with an aura of confidence and power they strode through the hall to the teachers table. They had also the shining silver badges of the magical law enforcement squad on their robes.

They both looked kind of dangerous, because the were visibly equipped with an assortment of weapons. Both had swords on their sides and daggers at their belts and that were only the visible weapons. Both had also hard faces of men around thirty to forty. One had brown the other dirty blond short hair. They were every inch looking like fighters and Tonks recognized their clothing instantly. It was the best battle gear you could get.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dumbledore thundered.

"We are here to protect Miss Tonks." the younger one answered in a cold commanding voice.

"And who would you be? And on what order?"

"I would be Jared and my friend here is Richard. And the order comes from the ministry... see it for yourself!"

As on command a blue phoenix swiped down the hall and took a letter to Dumbledore. After that he landed on Jared's shoulder.

"A Cobalt-Phoenix!" Dumbledore gasped.

Then he opened the letter and gasped even louder.

"You are..."

"Are you revealing another secret? You must become old, Dumbledore." Jared asked with an icy voice and his blue eyes flashed.

Dumbledore swallowed.

"Follow me to my office, please."

"It would be better to cancel the first lesson of Miss Tonks as arrangements have to be made and it would be good if she would accompany us to your office. Mrs. McGonagall may do so as well as she is your deputy. As I am informed, one Mr. Remus Lupin may accompany her too. Now hurry!"

Dumbledore nodded dumbfounded and the three teachers led the two men to the headmaster-office.

The students stared in awe at the two men and were clearly irritated.

"That were officers." Ron stated, "Why would they send two of them to protect her?"

"I think that happens on the demand from Harry." Hermione mused.

"Harry? Why would they listen to him. I mean he is a hero but…" Ron mused.

"Well, they are responsible for that she is now in danger. She is also a employee of the ministry. It could be possible."

The teachers and officials sat down in the office and Tonks looked uncertainly at them.

She seemed to be a little bit overwhelmed.

Dumbledore tried to show, that he was the one in charge here.

"Now, how would we best arrange it? I mean you could stay here at school sure, but she has classes to…"

"Now hear me out, Dumbledore! We will arrange it only in one way and that would be as I say." bellowed the younger one.

McGonagall gasped at this tone.

"May I ask, why you are ordered here in the first place?" Dumbledore asked sternly.

"I really wonder if you are dumb or simply impudent." Jared spoke in a cold voice, "We are here of course, because YOU betrayed her and Mr. Potter. We took it upon us on two reasons. Firstly it was our department, which leaked the information in the first place to your agent."

"May… may I ask what your department is, Mr.…"

"Jared, simply Jared, Mrs. McGonagall and we are Unspeakables."

She and Remus gasped. Tonks nodded slightly.

"What is the second reason?" Dumbledore asked.

"Mr. Potter asked us to protect her." Richard answered smiling fondly.

"He… he asked you?" Dumbledore looked dumbfounded, "How could a mere boy ask the Unspeakables?"

"Well, he is no mere boy… in fact he isn't even a boy anymore, he is more a young man now. But we know already, that you never respected him. You only used him." Richard stated coolly, "And to make that clear, we are good friends with him."

"You… you know him?" Tonks asked excited.

"Yes, that we do, Miss Tonks. And we were asked to give you his greetings. And to you too, Mr. Lupin." Jared said friendly.

"Thank you very much." they both smiled.

"Now back to business." Jared spoke in a hard tone again, "I am her bodyguard from now on. Richard will assist me. I will guard her 24/7."

"WHAT?" Dumbledore yelled.

"You are her bodyguard? That means you would sacrifice your life for her?" Remus asked shocked.

"Yes that it means. I would sacrifice my life for her." Jared stated as a matter of fact.

"You must be a very good friend to Harry then." Remus said.

"Well… lets say I know about his role in his war and it is a honor for me, to help him and an even more honor for me that he trusted me to protect his love. Therefore I will do all I can and I won't betray his trust, even if it should cost me my life."

They stared in awe at this man.

"May I ask, how you came to know Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked politely.

"You may, but you will not get an answer, because that is none of your business."

"You seem to me to be a quite powerful wizard. You are not by any chance the one who charmed her necklace?" Dumbledore asked with a greedy glint in his eyes.

"I will not answer such questions. Such things are only to know by Mr. Potter and if he deems it right his girlfriend."

"That could not be such a great secret." Dumbledore asked annoyed.

A slight smile came to Jared, "You are right. It is not. It was Mr. Potter himself who charmed the pedant."

Dumbledore was speechless and shocked to the bone, that he had such a powerful wizard under his very nose for over five years. And Harry enjoyed this endlessly.

"How could a student cast such a complex and powerful spell?" he asked after nearly minute.

"Hey, it is the boy who lived we are talking about. No wonder here." Jared stated sarcastically.

"Do… do you know where Mr. Potter is? I would like to speak with him."

"Yeah, that I can imagine." Jared stated coolly, "He is currently in an apprenticeship and far out of your reach."

Dumbledore sank back to his chair defeated.

"You know, if you hadn't abused him the whole time, he would have looked up to you and surely supported you in every way he could. But he doesn't take it very well to be used or betrayed." Jared explained with a far away tone.

"Now enough of this. We all have a job to do. Miss Tonks will move to the quarters of Gryffindor. She is to use the master bedroom. We will use the guest rooms. I will accompany her to classes and maybe assist in demonstrations as she is teaching DADA if that is to her liking. If she goes to a meeting of teachers, I or Richard will accompany her. If she goes to a meeting of your precious order, I will accompany her as well. She will not be alone and unprotected anymore."

"You can't do that!" Dumbledore bellowed.

"No? Are you sure? What from the word Unspeakable first class didn't you understand?" Harry sneered.

"First class?" McGonagall nearly fainted. The both men only smirked with beaming eyes.

"But the order… it is a secret organization." Dumbledore was stammering.

"Not as secret as you think. It is also an illegal organization and if you will not admit me to the meetings, Tonks won't go as well. If you put pressure on her or try something, I will blow your order apart, then we have that problem no more. Any questions?"

His tone was made of confidence, steel and power and it tolerated no resistance.

"But we fight for the right thing…."

"Yes, that you do and I acknowledge this. I am proud to see, that there are wizards who see the danger and do something against it. That is the reason why this organization is still existing. But I also told you, that nothing will come between me and my task. If you agree, then you have no problem with your order, because then I will not betray any of your secrets. We do work for the same side."

"Would you assist us?" Dumbledore asked eagerly.

"No. That is not my task. And don't even ask if I accompany Tonks on any assignments, because she will go on none. She will stay here until Voldemort is defeated or Mr. Potter is back and that is not to negotiate. "

"But…"

"No but! I can't hear that word anymore. You will do as I say or I will put you into prison for acting against an Unspeakable during an official mission, even if you are the head of the Wizardgamot or a super mugwump. You know very well, that is my right. DID I MADE ME FINALLY CLEAR?"

Dumbledore blanched and nodded utterly defeated.

"Then give the orders to the house elves to move her things to the quarters!"

"But how will you get entrance?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"As I said, we are friends of Mr. Potter. He granted us access. The only ones allowed in will be me and Richard, Miss Tonks, Mr. Lupin and one Ronald Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger, students of yours as far as I know, at the wish of Mr. Potter. The mentioned students are only allowed in accompanied by one of the above mentioned adults. They will therefore not get the password."

Dumbledore nodded and ordered a house elf.

"Now, the first lesson would be over. May I accompany you to your next lesson, Miss Tonks? I believe you would teach now the sixth years?" Jared asked politely.

She nodded and got up.

"Richard, check the rooms and then the perimeter!"

"Yes sir!" he answered accurately and went out of the office.

"Headmaster, have you any means to know where which person is in the castle every time?" Jared asked.

"There exists such a device, it is called the marauders map, but this is currently in the hands of Mr. Potter. I am sad to admit, that I have not such a fine device. I usually ask the paintings or the house elves if I are looking for someone."

Jared sensed that he was saying the truth. The Occlumency of the old sorcerer may protect him from Harry's Legilimancy but not from his empathy. That would come in handy, because he had the map and Dumbledore was none the wiser what he would do exactly in his quarters… for instance with Tonks.

Jared nodded, "I will ask him to give it to me, if I can get in contact the next time. Unfortunately that will be not possible during the next weeks. Now, shall we, Miss Tonks?"

They went out of the office.

"You know Harry?" Tonks asked curiously as they were walking.

"Yes I do. He is worried about you. How do you do?" he asked concerned.

"I miss him very much. I knew that he would go to train one day, but it came too suddenly. Do you know if he is alright?"

"Yes he is. And I know, that he is working hard to get back to you as soon as possible."

"Do you know, how long his apprenticeship will last?"

"You know what he intends to become?" he asked seemingly carefully.

She nodded.

"Well, as far as I know, the training for that lasts from one up to ten years. The last master had to train five and no one finished under four."

"So long?" she seemed to be really sad now.

"You will see him earlier, I promise. Also he is estimated for a three year training."

Her eyes lit up, "He is so good then?"

"Well that it was what his mentor said. I am fairly sure, that he will do it though. He seemed to be more than determined."

She smiled proudly. For him it was very hard to stay cool and not to hug her and kiss her.

He knew now, why this was his last test and he knew it was the hardest one, especially since he hadn't seen her for three years. He had missed her greatly for the last three years and had thought every free second of her. It was an undercover test if there ever was one.

They reached the classroom and he muttered some spells to check it for traps instinctively.

"I am going to stay in the back today for the sixth and seventh years. If somebody attempts something, it will come from them."

Then he nodded to her, went to the far back of the room and cast a notice-me-not spell on himself.

Tonks only stared at the ease of this man and the routine with which he was working.

Then the first students entered and of course they were his friends including Neville.

"Tonks! They are awesome!" Ron grinned.

"Yeah, you have a mighty boyfriend there, if they send two bodyguards." Neville grinned and Tonks blushed.

"Stop it you two! You know very well that Harry wouldn't want such comments." Hermione scolded them but smiled as well.

Then she asked Tonks, "Do you have any news from Harry?"

"Yes. He seems to be alright and training. As far as I know it would last at least three years though." she added sadly.

"Three years! Wow!" Ron gasped.

"At least you know now he is alright and he now knows that you are protected." Hermione tried to support her friend. Tonks smiled at this.

"Yeah, they seemed to be quite the fighters. I wonder what they are." Ron said.

"They can only be Unspeakables if they are able to order Dumbledore around like this." Neville said and Tonks eyes widened slightly and shot a secret glance at Jared but he only smiled. So she relaxed again.

The rest of the students followed shortly after that and the Slytherins snickered and made rude comments at her but silenced them quickly with a glare and more than a handful deducted points.

She was teaching them about dueling spells and Harry acknowledged that she was quite a good teacher and the whole class hung at every word of her… even the Slytherins.

The lesson went smoothly and without problems but Harry was suspicious as Malfoy stayed back.

"I wanted to ask you something, Professor!" he said and went to her desk. The others had left the room already because he had taken his time as he packed his things.

"What do you want to know, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked politely.

Harry sensed the danger immediately and he got silently up and drew his wand. He sneaked then up to him.

"Well, I wondered where your so called bodyguards are. I am aware that is heavily hindering the plans of the dark lord."

"I hope so!" said Tonks with a hint of uncertainty as she couldn't see Jared anymore.

"Well… we have to do something about that and as the dark lord wants you dead… " He drew his wand really fast and yelled "AVADA…"

Then he was flung to the next wall so hard, that you could hear his bones crushing. He slipped down to the ground unconscious.

"Well, her bodyguard is here." Jared stated coolly and became visible again.

"Are you alright?" he asked Tonks.

She looked shocked, "I.. yes. I would never have thought that they would try something here."

"Well, we kind of forced them to action. As he said, anything will become now harder to them so he had to use this chance. Lets take him to the headmaster."

Harry alias Jared levitated him up to the headmasters office.

The old man was clearly surprised to see them so soon again.

"What is the matter? And wh… Mister Malfoy?"

Harry put him down hard and revived him.

"Mr. Jared what is the meaning of this? And why is he bleeding." Dumbledore asked calmly.

"Mr. Malfoy hit his head at a wall, that's why he is bleeding. I banished him into it, as he was casting the Avada Kedavra curse at Miss Tonks after a death threat too."

"He was what? Mr. Malfoy what do you have to say?"

"He is lying!"

"Miss Tonks?" Dumbledore asked.

"He was trying to kill me. Ask him under veritaserum!" she was now fuming.

"Well, I will ask Professor Snape to bring some. He has a right to know too, because he is the head of his house."

He called Snape over the floo and he joined them some minutes later.

"What is the meaning of this Mr. Malfoy?" Snape bellowed.

"He… he attacked me and hurt me and now they are accusing me of attacking a teacher." Malfoy spat.

"How dare you?" Snape yelled at Jared.

"Well, I would say you should hear our version first, but you can also hear it from him. I order you herewith to administer veritaserum to him."

"You have no right to do this! Albus?"

"I fear he has." The old wizard sighed.

Snape produced a vial of the truth serum from his robes and gave Malfoy three drops.

"Now Mr. Malfoy, did you attack Miss Tonks?" Jared asked.

"Yes."

"With what spell?"

"The avada kedavra."

Snape gasped.

"Do you work for the dark lord?"

"Yes."

"Are you a death eater?"

"No."

"Are you a candidate then?"

"Yes."

"Do you serve him willingly?"

"Yes."

"Who are the others?"

"Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and a seventh year with the Name Wilson."

"Are you all under order to kill her?"

"I don't know."

"Give him the antidote!"

Malfoy was white as a sheet as he got his senses back and the teachers were all glaring at him loathingly.

"What is going to happen now?" asked Snape.

"He will be putted to trial and sent to the new prison."

"Ha! My Dad will get me out." Malfoy spat.

"That would not be possible as you will be joining him there."

"But he … he is free." Malfoy stammered.

"Well, let's say I had an encounter with him and three others just yesterday as I was shopping in Diagon alley. He is now back in jail… and I believe a little bit hurt too."

"YOU! How could you hurt him?"

"Well, it was four against two… and he didn't want to follow us voluntary. He also attacked me with some nasty curses." Jared shrugged coolly.

"Now Dumbledore, call in the aurors to pick him up."

Dumbledore nodded and did as he was told.

"What do we do with the rest of them?" Tonks asked, as Snape had let Draco out of the room.

"I am afraid we could do nothing but be careful. As they did nothing until now, we have no reason to expel them." Dumbledore sighed.

"WHAT?" Tonks yelled.

"He is right, Miss Tonks. We have nothing against them. But at least now, we know who they are, even if we don't know if that are all of them."

She swallowed but nodded.

They went back to classes and now she was teaching the fifth years… with Ginny and Luna.

That would be interesting because now, he had agreed to assist her.

"Now class, today we have a special guest." she announced smiling.

"Yeah… your bodyguard." one of the boys yelled and some of the class laughed.

"Well, that is right." She said and blushed slightly, but she composed herself quickly and continued, "But that is good. We were speaking about dueling and he had agreed to a demonstration. However if you are joking about him, then I doubt that he wants to do that. You know, that is a highly dangerous job he has to do now and a very honorable one too. Not everyone would sacrifice his own life to protect someone whom he barely knows."

The boy swallowed and blushed fiercely and now the others were glaring at him for ruining their chance of a good show.

"I… I apologize to you."

"Accepted." Jared said coolly.

"Now, get up so that we make some room for this." Tonks said eagerly.

The students got up and Tonks charmed the tables too one side so that they had the length of the room for the duel.

The students went to the side of the classroom and Jared conjured a shield that stray curses would do no damage to them.

"Now watch what we do and how we do it. We will give explanations later. You will also have to write an essay about that so watch closely!" Tonks said.

Then she turned to him and asked: "What rules?"

"You are not to hold back and no Unforgiveables." Jared stated.

She stared at him but nodded, "And you?"

"I will use no Unforgiveables too and nothing what would harm you, as I am your bodyguard."

"But… that is not fair."

"Do you want to disregard a direct order, auror Tonks?" Jared asked coldly and Tonks blanched.

"As you wish, Sir. Ginny, you count from three down."

"3…2….1…Go!" Ginny yelled and Tonks jumped into action.

She fired a stunner at Jared who stood cool there and deflected it with a swish of his wand. He did however not fight back yet.

As he deflected the next curses with ease he began to explain calmly: "As you can see, one method to defend yourself is the deflection of the curses. But this is highly dangerous too, if you are not proficient enough. The direct deflection requires a great deal of accuracy, timing and knowledge about the curses the opponent is using. One small error and you are done."

The next curses he deflected or absorbed with different types of shields.

"As you can see, with shields you are not so much depending on accuracy and timing but they have several drawbacks which you could work out in your essays." Jared said calmly.

Then he canceled his shields and began dodging. He did it however with very small and efficient moves.

"Dodging is also a nice possibility." he explained but then Tonks was beginning to get annoyed because he seemed to be at ease while she was doing her best.

She fired a wide wave of stunners at him so it was impossible for him to dodge because of the multiple beams that were charging at him at once.

He remained calmly standing too and was hit by two of the curses but nothing happened.

He smiled, "While that is a good move if an opponent is dodging, it decreases the power of the single beams of the spells. In case if you are wondering why I am still standing, that would be thanks to my battlerobes which are able to resist less powerful curses."

Tonks was now fuming and he was now a little more pressed to counter her attacks.

"And when do you fight back?" a student yelled.

"Well… I think now would be a good time." Jared said smiling and let now out a wave of stunners himself, fired a countercurse for moderate shields behind it again followed by an Expilliarmus and a tripled petrificus totalus.

As he had anticipated she protected herself with a Protego which deflected the stunners but was brought down through the counter. She was able to doge the Expilliarmus but one of the bodybinding spells hit her and froze her on the spot. The class applauded loudly at this.

Jared freed her and restored the order of the classroom with a flick of his wand.

"You are a really good dueler, just as Harry told me." Jared said politely to her and she blushed slightly.

"But you have beaten her!" one boy said.

"That is right but I assure you, she is very good, even for an auror and we were both restricted."

"That do you call restricted?" Ginny asked unbelievingly.

"Yes, sure. We couldn't use apparition and I couldn't use any of the more powerful curses or my weapons. The same goes for Miss Tonks. We were also slightly hindered by the small room."

"Would… would you do this demonstration again for the DA?" Ginny asked hopefully.

"The DA?" Jared asked Tonks.

"It is a defense club led by students. It was founded by Harry and his friends and it will be held today. Remus and I are in charge."

"Do you want to show them another duel?" he asked her with a mischievous smile.

"You bet!" she said determined to win this time.

"Well, ok. Maybe I could show you a more interesting duel against two opponents if Mr. Lupin agrees." Jared said smiling, "Or I could you show a real duel between me and Richard."

Tonks snorted at his confidence.

"That would be nice." Ginny said proudly.

Then Tonks ordered the class still slightly annoyed, "You have heard the explanations of Jared which he kindly made DURING the duel. You will write ten inches about the drawbacks and advantages of shields and another five about the spells I used due on Friday. Lesson is over!"

As they went to the room of requirement in the evening the whole DA was waiting for them including Dumbledore and Flitwick.

"It seems to me, that we have a large audience." Jared mused.

"Well, then we should see, that we don't disappoint them." Rick said grinning.

"Yeah, we should." replied Jared grinning too.

"If you have nothing against it, we would like to watch too." Dumbledore said.

"It would be a pleasure. Let me set up the room. You said three times?" he asked Tonks and she nodded.

He activated the room and as they entered, there were stands at the one side of the room separated with a transparent shield from the arena. They would have now enough room to duel and Harry knew that the shield would withstand anything short of an Unforgivable so they needn't to hold back.

"I would suggest, we start the duel with me against Miss Tonks and Mr. Lupin." Jared said and the students gasped slightly.

Tonks and Moony grinned and nodded at each other drawing their wands.

Rick whispered to him, "I will kick your ass, Nightwing, if you don't beat them."

"I will and it will be fun." Jared said grinning and entered the arena after Tonks and Moony.

"Mr. Dumbledore, if you would do the honor?" he asked and Dumbledore counted down.

At his "Go!" hell broke lose.

This time Harry didn't fought back… he was the one attacking in the first place and the other both could do nothing but defend themselves.

Harry changed his targets so fast, that he was putting both under pressure and his spells were ever dead on target and creative too.

He glued Remus to the ground and fired a wave of stunning spells at him. Before the first reached its target, Harry already attacked Tonks with a disarming curse, body binding spells and freezing spells.

As she wanted to fire a spell of her own at him, she was hit by a silencing spell and she was flung to the ground afterwards.

Moony had managed to deflect Harry's stunners and freed himself from the ground but Harry cast a speeding spell to himself and run over to him.

He kicked him on his chest what flung him hard to the ground and Harry simply picked his lost wand up and attacked now Tonks with spells from both wands.

Nobody of the students or teachers had ever seen such a fast spell-casting let alone form two wands and every spell was really powerful too. Tonks had a hard time to doge or protect herself with shields, deflecting was out of question, the curses were too fast and too powerful for that. She was on pure defense and could counter with only a handful spells of herself.

She was hit with a paralyzing spell after a five minute exchange of a wide variety of curses.

Both had showed an amazing skill this time but Harry was the clear winner.

The students applauded heartily to all three of them as Remus went to the stands rubbing his chest.

"Well that was a nice show!" Dumbledore beamed, "What do you want to see next?" he asked the students.

"You against Jared!" they screamed.

"But that was not agreed upon!" he said hesitantly.

"It would be a nice show though." Remus said, "But let him not kick you. He has a hard punch."

Tonks grinned at this.

"Well, Mr. Jared. Would you agree upon a friendly duel? You would have to duel without your weapons though. I am to old for physical fighting."

"Well, I have heard that Mr. Flitwick is quite the dueler too. How about this? I will fight against you and Richard against Flitwick afterwards. The last one will be Richard against me with only weapons and hands."

"Filius?" Dumbledore asked beaming.

"It would be a honor to me, Albus. Mr. Richard."

"So it is agreed upon. Then shall we?" Albus asked with twinkling eyes.

AN: I thank all of you for your reviews. I decided to give Jared a more controlling position rather than a sneaky one in the background. That is fitting better for his angry and demanding posititon against Dumbledore as well as his rank as Unseakable first class. Furthermore the order as bodyguard is the most believable in my opinion. I hope you support me in this. If not... well I am everytime open to opinions. If I get enough against a chap or a situation I will rewrite it. Keep that in mind! But there aren't many chaps anymore. We are going fastly to the final ;-)
I won't give any answers to your revs now. The next chapter is a very short one and I am going to upload this tomorrow or Sunday. I will give any answers to your revs then. So until chap 15 ;-)