Shines A Light

Chapter Two: Learning A Lesson

Harry yelped in pain and surprise as a beefy fist slammed into his stomach, his back protesting violently when he curled his body around the wounded area instinctively.

"Oh, did we hurt you, Harry?" a familiar voice sneered. Harry straightened painfully and looked into the face of Piers Polkiss, who was standing behind Gordon.

Piers was a small rat-like boy, even though he was approaching the age of seventeen very fast. It was not Piers who had punched Harry, that was for certain – it had most likely been Gordon. Piers disliked getting his hands dirty, but was happy to hold people's arms behind their backs while the others did the rest of the work.

"Not really," Harry said, catching his breath quickly and rising to his feet. He mentally cursed himself for allowing anyone to get as close to him as he had – if they had been Death Eaters, he would have been in big trouble.

As it was, he was in a bad enough position. If he had been completely healthy, as he had been the year before, he would have been completely comfortable in this situation, knowing that he could teach these boys that picking on him was not the best idea... since the last day of school, however, all that had changed.

Gordon swung a punch at Harry, which he ducked easily, just as Piers snarled, "No one talks back to us!"

"Why not? They can't all be scared of you?" Harry taunted, dropping to the ground with a hiss of pain and rolling under Gordon's second punch, coming up to his feet behind the group of boys, so that no one could sneak up on him.

They all looked comically surprised about the move, evidently used to keeping people under their eyes and boxed in so they could not escape.

"Everyone is scared of us," Piers told him.

"Not everyone, because I count as a person, and, to be honest, I'm not in the least bit scared of you," Harry informed them. "I'd love to fight you and teach you a lesson that you wouldn't be forgetting any time soon, but since I hurt my back at school ... well, I wouldn't want to slow down my recovery by wasting my time fighting idiots like you."

Piers had opened his mouth to say something, when they saw something behind Harry that evidently frightened them. "That's the way Harry," a rough voice remarked. Harry did not even have to turn to tell that it was Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody who was approaching and scaring Dudley's old gang so much.

"You save yourself for real fighters," added a voice that Harry was fairly sure belonged to Tonks. Knowing that his back was covered, he turned to see, as he had thought, Moody, accompanied by a muscular looking female.

"Hi Moody, hi Tonks," Harry greeted them calmly. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed Dudley's gang moving away – they had seen Moody before, and he had seemed dangerous then ... he looked even more scarred, and was grimmer than ever, now.

"We noticed you were heading in this direction, and we've heard some things about the imbeciles who inhabit the park, so we thought we'd come and make sure no one got hurt ... your back will be a long time in the recovery, and you're needed too much in other, far more important fights, like you said," Moody told Harry gruffly.

"We'll see you home, we have to talk to Tatsu anyway," Tonks added cheerfully, then turned to glare at the boys. "If I think you're going anywhere near Harry again, I'll be right by his side to teach you a lesson!" she told them threateningly, then draped an arm over Harry's shoulders and led him away.

Harry looked over his shoulder only once, to see the shocked faces of Dudley's old gang peering after him, most of them looking scared – he didn't blame them, Tonks and Moody made a formidable pair.

"Sorry to interrupt you there," Tonks said cheerfully as they walked, "But Moody didn't think that it was a particularly good idea for you to be running around and getting into fights so soon after your injury."

Harry smiled at her, "It's ok," he replied, "I was looking for a way out of that situation anyway, I didn't think it would agree with me much ... but it seemed cowardly to run away."

"You wouldn't have been running away, you would have been making a statement to the general population that fighting is not always necessary," Tonks told him airily.

"Where did that come from?" Harry demanded.

"Too much time spent in the company of that sourpuss, Snape," Tonks replied, wrinkling her nose. "He's a bad influence, I've been spouting this crap far too often for my taste, and don't even notice until after I've spoken."

Harry laughed at that. He really liked Tonks, the way she spoke and how she reacted to the world around her – it was so refreshing, especially when she came out with odd bits and pieces, such as her comment a moment ago.

Even Moody seemed to find this comment amusing, as his grizzled lips were curved in the slightest of smiles, which, coming from him, was a lot.

"How goes the Order?" Harry enquired.

"It goes well," Moody growled, "Though I'm searching for a new leader now."

"Why?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Because I'm not the man they're looking for in a leader. I'm too cautious for most of them," Moody told him, "See too many things in the shadows, too many things that aren't there. Kingsley's a good choice, but he isn't interested in leadership quite yet, and he isn't ready to take over anyway. What we need is another Dumbledore, but one of those isn't about to be forthcoming."

Harry nodded. He supposed he could see what Moody meant – a leader had to know when to jump blindly forward, and Moody didn't like jumping blind. A leader also had to be cautious, which Moody was, but he was too cautious, sometimes, and his reputation was against him a lot of the time.

Dumbledore had been the best leader they could have hoped for, but he had gone from them now, and would not be coming back until the war was over and Severus did not have to live in fear of being discovered as a spy.

"Do you think you will find the one that you're looking for?" Harry wanted to know.

"I have already found the one," Moody growled, "But the one is not yet ready."

Harry nodded and left it there, since Moody did not seem inclined to speak ... not that he ever really was.

"Got plans for next year, Tonks?" Harry asked.

"Plenty," Tonks winked back at him, "And I'll be wanting your help with the seventh year classes, of course."

"Right, I'll do what I can," Harry replied. "How are Ron and Hermione doing?"

"Mr. Weasley is delighting in the ability to use magic out of school, and is using it for the most frivolous of reasons," Moody spoke up before Tonks could, "Miss Granger, however, is taking the opportunity to better her understanding of magic by asking those Order members at their ease to teach her what they know. Miss Weasley has followed the better of the two examples."

Harry smiled faintly. "Sounds like Ron and Hermione," he remarked. "Is Hermione happy with being able to use magic?"

"Very," Tonks remarked, "But she's yelling at Ron at every given opportunity for misusing the right... he hasn't started listening to her yet though."

"Wouldn't surprise me if he never does," Harry snorted. "Ron's like that."

"What about you? What are you doing with the ability to use magic outside of school?" Moody enquired.

"Me? Didn't the Ministry tell you? I've been able to use magic outside of school since last year!" Harry exclaimed, blinking in surprise.

"What?" Moody yelped. "This happened a year ago, and no one knew of it? Why didn't you ever mention it?"

"Well, first because the letter that they sent me informing me that the ban had been removed in my case request that I say so to no one, because the Department was doing it without Fudge's authorisation, through the school year because it didn't matter, and this summer because for one thing I assumed you already knew, and for another, it didn't matter again, because everyone is allowed to do magic now," Harry replied.

Moody 'hmphed', but didn't seem to find a problem with Harry's answer, "Well, if something like that happens again, I would be grateful if you let us know," he told Harry, then let the subject drop.

"Is that how you got so great at Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Tonks asked.

"I guess. I practiced a lot," Harry replied. "I wanted to be good."

"You succeeded," Tonks assured him. "You can give me a run for my money, and even though most people wouldn't think so, I'm one of the better fighters ... not the best, but one of them."

Moody nodded in agreement, "You could be better," he told her gruffly, "If you worked hard enough."

"I was good enough," Tonks retorted. "Once I realised that there didn't seem to be anything other than a desk job ready for me after You-Know-Who was defeated last time, I didn't think I needed to work harder. You don't need to tell me that was a mistake, I've already started making up for it."

Moody snorted. "Don't you ever do that, Harry," he told the boy, "You can never be good enough. Keep practicing, keep getting better, and the day that you can get no better will be the day you get good enough – that will be the day you die."

"He's a right bundle of joy, isn't he?" Tonks said cheerfully as the three of them approached Privet Drive. "Would you believe, this is his good mood?"

"I think I would," Harry replied, smiling slightly.

It was Tonks turn to snort, as she knocked on the door. Neko came and opened it before ten seconds had passed. "Harry! And these are Alastor Moody and Nymphadora Tonks!" she said in greeting, shaking hands with Moody and Tonks.

"Just call me Tonks," Tonks told her, grimacing slightly at the use of her first name. "I don't like Nymphadora – then again, who in their right mind would?"

"But it is a lovely name!" Neko protested.

"Just don't go there Neko," Harry advised, "Everyone knows her as Tonks, and no one I know of has gotten away with calling her Nymphadora on a regular basis."

"Tonks it shall be, then," Neko smiled, "Please, come in. I'll put on some green tea!"

"That wasn't quite what I'd expected – I've heard reports that this woman is quite a fighter," Tonks whispered to Harry.

"She is," Harry replied, "She's a fighter who likes house-work, she likes to keep clean, and the Japanese raise their children to be polite. Tea drinking is part of the polite welcome."

Tonks gagged, "She doesn't expect me to be polite and well mannered does she?" she demanded, "I've tried that before, and it just doesn't work! I can do polite, to an extent, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that I could possibly be called well-mannered."

"Don't worry – Neko has seen you before, remember? She was there with the rest of the Japanese Modifiers when they came to remake the wards on the castle," Harry pointed out. "Besides, I've told Neko something of you, and she knows what to expect."

Tonks put a hand to her heart, "Well, that's a lucky thing," she said. "I wouldn't want to offend someone of her power!"

Harry smiled slightly. "She'd be the first to say that she wasn't that powerful," he told Tonks, "I've yet to work out if that's true, or just because denying their good traits is part of Japanese manners ... I do know that she's wicked good with a Katana, but never really admits it."

Tonks looked at him in astonishment, "What's the point in being good if no one knows it?" she asked.

"As long as you know it, all is well," Neko had returned from the kitchen in time to hear the last comment. "You need to know your strengths, but you do not need to tell others of them."

"I think Japanese manners would give me a headache," Tonks confessed to Harry, who smiled slightly.

Neko outright laughed, "They do so to many foreigners. Tatsu had a hard time adjusting when first he came to us, and he had been raised to be very polite ... but his politeness was not ours. Now you could easily mistake him for one of us ... apart from his looks, of course, which remain decidedly European."

"Well, that is hardly something I can help!" Tatsu exclaimed, joining them, shaking hands warmly with Tonks and Moody, who he knew well from the previous summer and school year.

"How are you?" Moody enquired politely.

"I'm fine," Tatsu beamed back, "We've been discovering what it's like to have a 'normal' family life ..."

"However normal things can get when you have a father who's a squib and ran from Britain to Japan, then discovered he could command a whole new branch of magic, and also learnt to fight with the best of them, a mother who is Japanese but decided she liked Britain better and is the best there is when it comes to using a Katana ... and a son with a recently broken back who has a magic that neither of his 'parents' do," Harry grinned.

The group laughed ... well, Moody sort of half smiled, and everyone else laughed. "Your back is recovering?" Moody asked him.

"Seems to be," Harry replied, "It hurts like hell at the moment, but that's probably from all the sit ups Tatsu made me do earlier."

Tatsu smiled, "They helped, didn't they?" he said, pretending to be hurt.

"Of course they did. That doesn't mean it wasn't painful," Harry returned.

Moody and Tonks both seemed amused by Harry's easy going relationship with both of his new 'parents'. "So you're finally learning what family life is really about?"

Harry smiled back at his friends, "It would seem so," he replied.

Moody and Tonks nodded slightly, then Moody turned to Tatsu, "Well, Tatsu, it was you I really came to see ... Minerva wants to see you and Neko both about something ... but I'll let her tell you what."

"When?" Tatsu asked easily.

"How about a week's time?" Moody suggested, "At Grimmauld Place, of course. There is a meeting of the Order which corresponds with that time."

Tatsu nodded, "I'll bring Harry along, it'll do him good to see his friends."

"'He' is right here," Harry remarked, pretending to be offended that Tatsu was talking over his head. Of course, he was completely used to it, as that was how the Dursley's had generally treated him.

"Sorry, Harry. You would like to see Ron, Hermione, and Ginny again, wouldn't you?" Tatsu smiled at him.

"Of course," Harry said, "Thanks for asking!"

Tatsu laughed at that. "You look like you could use another shower," he told his young ward, "What happened, did you fall over?"

"Had to drop and roll to avoid a punch from one of what used to be Dudley's gang," Harry replied, "They cornered me in the park ... I should have been more alert."

"You will be next time," Tatsu told him sternly.

"Of course," Harry responded, then wandered upstairs to do as Tatsu had subtly suggested, and take a shower and put on some new clothes.

Harry reflected that it was a good thing he knew spells to clean clothes, otherwise Neko and Tatsu would get very sick of washing. They were both happy enough to let Harry tend to the washing with magic, and leave them free to cook and clean and do whatever else it was that they wanted to.

Neko loved to cook, as did Tatsu, and both of them enjoyed the monotony of cleaning, which allowed them to let their minds wander and reflect on things.

Harry, who had only ever cooked or cleaned because the Dursley's had forced him to, was now beginning to see why some people enjoyed it so ... though he would much rather be studying magical texts or training with Tatsu in the ways of the unarmed combat or Modifying.

Well, another week and he would see Ron, Hermione, and Ginny again. He would be looking forward to it, because he had not spent much time with them for a little while.

Grypis, lying out full length across Harry's bed, looked up when the boy arrived in his bedroom. Since the curtains were drawn and there was no chance that anyone would see inside the room, Grypis had assumed his real form, that of a griffin.

Grypis had been given to Harry the year before as a gift from Dumbledore and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix. Grypis's family had been killed by Death Eaters, and Harry had ended up taking care of him.

Not long after he and Grypis had first met, Harry had found out that they were actually soul-brothers, and that, just as Grypis's soul name was Grypis, Harry himself was one of the few humans alive to know his own soul name, which was Gryfas.

To everyone but Harry, Grypis was known as 'Gryphon', and to most people, he was a cat that had turned up with Harry on the first day of school in sixth year. A few people, all of them members of the Order of the Phoenix, knew that 'Gryphon' was in fact a griffin. Griffins had the ability to change form to either a cat or a bird, which was what their body was made up of.

Where once, a year before, Grypis had been so small that he could have ridden on Harry's shoulder with ease, and so light that Harry would hardly notice if he did, now, in his true form, he took up most of the bed.

"Hey mate," Harry said, walking into the room, hair still dripping from its second shower in less than that many hours.

Good evening Gryfas, Grypis replied lightly. Harry never referred to Grypis by his true name aloud, as knowing someone's true name could give you power over them, and he had never mentioned to anyone that he had a true name of his own. Only Grypis ever called him Gryfas, and for the moment, that felt right to Harry. You were in trouble earlier ... I regret that I could not come, but I did not think that it would have been a good idea for anyone to have seen me in my true form, which would have been the only way I could have helped you.

"That's ok, I was alright," Harry replied, "Tonks and Moody turned up before I had to leave – I couldn't have fought them anyway."

You would not have needed to fight them. You know perfectly well that you are far better than they are when it comes to matters of battle.

"But they would have still thought me a coward," Harry told the griffin, sitting on the bed, just managing to lie down on it, since Grypis took up so much room.

Let them, Grypis said practically. There is no point in getting hurt proving a point to those who do not matter at all.

Harry smiled. Grypis's logic was, as always, logical, and he loved the griffin's fresh ways of looking at things. Then again, Harry knew it well himself, but still, it would have rankled, knowing that Dudley's gang thought that he was a coward, when he knew beyond doubt that he wasn't.

"I'll be going to visit Ron and Hermione in a week," he remarked to Grypis, "Tatsu has something to do with the Order, and Headmistress McGonagall wishes to speak to him about something."

It'll be good to see Grimmauld Place again, Grypis remarked. I have not been there for some time, and I miss it, in some ways.

Harry smiled. "Well, there's something for both of us to look forward to," he remarked.

Well, there's chapter two done! Again, thanks to Charmed88 for being a wonderful beta! A quick note – this story isn't going to be anywhere NEAR as long as In Every Darkness, and should wind up around the 30 chapter mark, rather than the 90 chapter mark. Sorry to those of you who wanted a longer story, but it's not gonna happen ...

Thanks: (thirty one reviews for the first chapter - not too bad. Not too bad at all)

Kraeg001, Charmed88, mrs-osbornes'-class, Mr Alex James (not surprise that you forgot what went on last story, it was so long ago, and quite a bit of stuff happened ...), Carolina06, skittles-07, Tombadgerlock, Laen, Kaye, Nicoletta, cantfindagoodname, tish tosh, NateP, Charmed1s, JeanieBeanie33, Kordolin, ScrewyLouie12, Dumbeldave, amarilis, tottaly clueless, FreedomStar, ettedanreb, Wytil (look, you've been thanked now!), Lina Thanatos, moonypadfoot, HermioneGreen, uNoeWho, jbfritz, fcuking cathy, Fairy, The Lord NightHawk, Scotty, lyss33, Elvira, animalluvr75, Nita Black (good to hear!), TuxedoMac, LunaLovegood61.

WolfMoon