Chapter 2

The four apprentices quickly adjusted to their own schedules. They had enough classes in common to continue to strengthen their bond, yet enough was different to give each of them some personal space. They worked into the routine of having lunch with their respective houses and alternating having dinner at the staff table one week and in their living space the next.

Hermione was progressing rapidly with her Ancient Runes and Arithmancy work. She had come to enjoy working at her own pace, rather than that of a large class, and would get through the sixth year material by mid October.

All of them were helping Ginny who effectively had skipped fifth year. She was doing a lot of extra study in preparation for taking her OWLs in six weeks.

Susan was doing well in her Advanced Herbology work - actually better since she was focusing on the healing aspects of Potions and Herbology. Her work on Mental Defenses with Harry had the extra benefit of each of them having someone to practice with. Dumbledore was teaching them both Occlumency and Legilimency at the same time.

On the first Saturday after school started, the four decided to visit Diagon Alley in the morning. The women had some extra shopping to do and Harry was anxious to visit Tonks. They agreed to meet in the apothecary in two hours. Harry found his way to Tonks' room. Teresa McKinney, the Auror who Harry had met the first time was still sitting there. She beamed at Harry and asked him to wait a few minutes so she could tell Tonks that she had a visitor.

After five minutes, she came out and Harry went in. Tonks had a big smile on her face and was obviously glad to see Harry. "Hi loverboy. I've missed you."

"Hi Sis. I've missed you too. I've been really worried about you. Are you OK?"

"Thanks Harry. I'm a lot better." She scooted over to the edge of the little bed, still hooked up to an intravenous potions bottle. "Please sit by me Harry." He removed his Dr. Martins and sat on the other side next to Tonks. He noticed that she was wearing the diamond studs that he had given her. "The Head Healer said that I can leave in a few more days. I can go back to work in another week after that. It's been nice having a chance to catch up on my reading, but I'm about done with everything. How's school going? Are your students learning anything?"

Harry broke into a smile. It was obvious that he really loved teaching. "I'm going to have three units in class – Recognizing dangerous situations, getting out of those situations and reacting to them if you can't get away. So we'll cover agility, casting accuracy, being alert, proper wand handling and that sort of stuff. We don't want anyone losing a buttock, do we?" They both laughed, remembering Moody's tirade from several years ago. "I'm picking up six dozen leather wrist wand holsters to give out in class, as well as some sweets for affirmations. Actually with the DA group starting up again tomorrow, I think I'll pick up a gross of them."

"Harry, that's a really great thing for you to do. You should pick up the adjustable leather kind. The smallest kids can use them as an ankle holster. I wish I'd had someone like you to start me off right in defense. Your students are really fortunate. On a different subject, how's the morphing coming along?"

"In truth, I haven't practiced much. Maybe you could come up and help me for a bit."

Tonks couldn't resist the opportunity to tease Harry. "Sure…You just want another opportunity to see me in or out of my knickers. Just teasing Li'l bro. I don't think I'll be up to apparating for another few weeks, but I could take the Knight Bus."

Harry looked at her and smiled. "Stan and Ernie would like that. Be gentle on them."

"Thanks for coming to see me today Harry. You really brightened my day. I hope I can return the favor sometime." She leaned over and gave Harry a very friendly hug. Harry was left with no doubt in his mind that she wasn't wearing anything under her hospital gown. He kissed her on the forehead and scooted off of the little bed.

He met the three girls at the apothecary. Susan had found several bags of potions ingredients that Professor Daily had suggested that they each get, as well as some things that she needed for her healing work. They went to the shop where Harry had purchased their dragonhide armor. Harry explained what he needed and the shopkeeper said she'd have them delivered the next morning. Harry paid her, and the four teens left to have lunch.

They left Diagon Alley and found a fish and chips stand on the next street. Ginny ordered for them and they found a table to sit at. As they were finishing, Harry's scar began to twinge. He had them find an alleyway where they could apparate back to Hogsmede station. As they were walking back to the castle, Harry felt a blinding pain in his head. The three witches each held him for a minute until the pain passed. They ran the rest of the way back to the castle to find Dumbledore, only to learn that he'd just left.

Dumbledore returned that evening with disturbing news. Azkaban fortress had been broken into and effectively emptied as a prison. At the time, there were sixteen prisoners being held there. Equally disturbing, the dementors had vanished, apparently having abandoned their posts en masse. Harry asked who the prisoners were. Dumbledore mentioned that the only ones he might be familiar with were Dolohov, Macnair and Narcissa Malfoy. The others had been in the Ministry holding cells at the time of the breakout.

"Voldemort probably didn't get the prisoners that he was looking for," commented Harry.

"He may not have Harry, but don't make the mistake of underestimating Dolohov or Belatrix's sister. They both are accomplished killers. Lucius was a dangerous Death Eater, not so much for the violence that he personally could do, rather because he maintained a degree of respectability within the Wizarding community. He could operate within the visible circles, consorting with Ministry officials during the daytime and with the other Death Eaters at night. Certainly his influence on Fudge cost lives. Narcissa was recently imprisoned for illegal currency transfer, most likely transferring funds from the deceased Death Eater's accounts. I wasn't involved in her trial." Dumbledore appeared reflective for a moment and asked, "Harry have you had any visions from Riddle lately?"

Harry replied, "No. Since working on Occlumency, I haven't seen a thing. My scar twitches from time to time, but the last time I saw anything was the night that he torched the street in Yorkshire."

A wide smile appeared on Dumbledore's face. "Excellent Harry. I believe that indicates that you have truly learned to keep him out of your mind. I'm very pleased with your progress. Strategically, we should change the focus of your mental defense class to implanting false memories and Legilimency, so you can go after Riddle when you are ready." He got up to end the meeting. "Please enjoy the rest of your evening Harry"

"Thank you Professor. You too."

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Harry returned to his room. The women were there spending time helping each other with their hair. They didn't immediately notice Harry's arrival as they were also listening to the WWN. Harry loved the castle, but at that moment missed his home with the leather sofas and DVDs on the television.

Ginny saw Harry walk into the bathroom to shower. She transfigured some napkins into four extra squashy sleeping bags and another four napkins into fluffy pillows. She knocked on his door and asked him to come out. A moment later he walked out. They sat him down on the chair by the fireplace and dried his hair. Susan asked him to lay down on the sleeping bags that they'd set out by the fireplace. She worked on massaging his feet while Ginny did his arms and shoulders.

They talked while they were working on him. Harry told them about the Azkaban breakout and the defection of the dementors. Hermione suggested that he have everyone work on the Patronus charm the next day in the DA meeting.

Ginny turned down the lamps so the only light was coming from the fireplace. She'd charmed the door shut and came back to the sleeping bags. The four of them curled up together by the fire. Harry had his arm around Ginny, Hermione had her arm around Harry, while Susan was "sleeping" by the three of them. Harry was enjoying holding Ginny, who obviously was enjoying what he was doing. After ten minutes, she shocked Harry by telling him to roll over to his other side. The three of them each changed sides with Ginny holding Harry, Harry holding Hermione while Susan giggled at the embarrassed look on his face.

Harry woke up early the next morning. He untangled himself from Susan, Hermione and Ginny and walked into the bathroom. He was shocked to notice that his hair was nearly to his shoulders! He wondered if it had been that way all evening, or just gotten that way.

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Harry really came to appreciate the time that they were spending with Flitwick. Monday evenings they spent going over different charms. He took the time to explain not only the charm itself but the various situations where he'd seen them used.

Harry watched the class not only from the perspective of a student, but also that of an Instructor. In terms of actual teaching technique, Harry felt that Flitwick was head and shoulders above the other Instructors that he'd had. Tonight's lesson was on the use of a staff for casting a staff with additional power. Flitwick had created a staff for his own use many years ago. His was made of unicorn tail hair as a core, similar to his own wand, but 38 inches long, or about head high in his case.

He demonstrated using a Reducto charm on a stump of wood. It split the stump into several pieces. Using the staff on another stump caused it to explode! He had Hermione and Susan try it. Each could split a stump with a try or two. Ginny tried, and surprisingly (to Hermione anyway) split her stump on the first try. Harry tried last. Surprising no one, his stump shattered into a hundred pieces.

"Cor blimey," said Ginny. "Oh, sorry," she said catching herself. "Harry, how did you do that?"

"The same as you I suppose. I think it had as much to do with position as power. I tried to hit the center of the stump. Does that make sense? Hermione, try yours again." She did, and this time it split neatly in two. She beamed at him.

"Good one. Susan, try again." She did, and hers broke in several pieces.

Flitwick noted the wood that each used for their wands as well as the core. He told them he'd contact Ollivander for the supplies to make the staffs with. He'd get several feathers from Fawkes if it was alright with Dumbledore.

Harry told them the experience that he'd had in the graveyard against his brother wand. Flitwick believed that enough time had passed where Harry's staff and Voldemort's wand would not be seen as brother wands, as a phoenix would age and change slightly over time. Harry's wand was about sixty years old when he bought it. Fawkes was a young bird at the time.

Susan asked, "Professor, what else will we need?"

Flitwick answered, "You'll need your wood, the core material and two ounces of your own blood. The blood magically seals the halves of the wood back together after you have placed the core material in them. Then you can carve or smooth the wood to get the exact shape that you desire. Some witches or wizards place a rune or two on the end. We can talk more about that later."

Harry thought about the lesson he'd just had. It demonstrated the difference in power of a well placed spell. He would bring it up at the next DA meeting. When they got back to their common room, Susan commented that it would be awesome to have a staff. The others agreed. Hermione volunteered to go to the library to see if there was a book on staff making. She left to go check.

Susan sat on the sofa by Harry and quietly asked, "Harry, can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course. What's up?"

"What happened with your hair last night? It was as long as mine. Now it's your regular length. How did you do it?"

Harry didn't want to lie to Susan. He told her, "Tonks has been working with me on that all summer. I can change the length and color pretty easily now. Tonks was working with me to change my eye color too, but that's really hard. It's supposed to be a secret. Please don't mention it to anyone outside of this room."

"I won't Harry. I promise." She looked at him for a moment, took a steadying breath and asked, "Harry, sometime could you hold me at night? Sometimes I get kind of lonely too."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"No. Hermione doesn't either."

"But Ginny and I are…"

"We know. We just want to be with you too. Ginny doesn't mind."

"Oh. I'm confused."

"We know. We aren't. It's OK."

"Oh."

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Harry's second class with the first years was a lot of fun. He conjured up a large basket with about a hundred tennis balls, and passed them out to the class. He asked one of the girls, Hanna Smith to stand about twenty feet away from him. She had five tennis balls. Harry asked her to throw them at him, one at a time. Five times she either missed him, or he ducked when her aim had been true. Harry asked her to pick four other students and had them each throw at the same time. Several times they came close, but still there were no hits. Finally he had the entire class throw at him at the same time. To the class's delight, Harry was pelted and hit about a half dozen times.

As the students were gathering up the tennis balls, Harry asked them to think about why he wasn't hit the first two times, but was on the third time. Hanna said, "It was a lot easier for you to dodge one person attacking you than it was five people. You couldn't dodge twenty-two of us even though you're really good."

"Exactly. Two points to Hufflepuff." I hope that you learned two important lessons today. You should always dodge or get away from someone that is attacking you if you can. Second, if enough of you attack, you can hit almost anyone. For next time, please bring the wand holsters that I gave you, and we'll practice aiming. Please read chapter two out of you book. Have a good week."

"Thank you, Professor Potter," they all said in unison.

"You're very welcome. Thank you for allowing me to show you those things." After the students left, Harry turned and said, "OK Remus, you can come out now."

Sheepishly, Remus pulled off Harry's cloak. "How did you know I was there?" he asked.

Harry smiled at his friend. "You didn't follow your own advice and shuffled your feet once as you moved along ten minutes ago. I knew it wasn't Dumbledore because I saw him walk by the hallway, and Moody sounds different with his wooden leg. How are you? It's great to see you."

Remus looked tired. It could have been the moon, but Harry sensed that it was stress. Remus said, "I'm OK. I've been doing a lot of work for the Order, trying to track down Narcissa. Dumbledore thinks she going to try to move some funds from some of the imprisoned Death Eater accounts. We want to try to prevent that if we can. Enough news about me. Obviously your teaching is going well. How are your own lessons going?"

Harry nodded, "I'm learning new things, and re-learning how to use existing skills in new ways. From my perspective, that's almost more valuable." They walked back to the Apprentice common room. Winky popped in, with a tray of sandwiches and six butterbeers. After they ate for a minute, Harry said, "Remus, can I ask you something?"

"Anything Harry. Anything."

"How many friends did you lose in the first war?"

Remus looked sadly at his friend. "I'm not sure if that's a fair question if you're trying to make a comparison. From one perspective, I lost all of them. From another, I had so few real friends, that it was only a handful. Ask the question differently."

Harry thought for a moment and said, "Sometimes I'm scared that I'll be the only one left standing."

Remus wasn't expecting that. After a moment, he said, "I understand what you're trying to say. Come here Cub." Remus gave Harry a hug. "Harry, remember last Christmas when Moody showed you the picture of the Order from the first war? There were about twenty-five people in the photo. Dumbledore, myself, Arabella, Molly, Arthur, Fletcher, Poppy and Sirius were the only ones still alive this last Christmas. Susan's parents were killed, as were your own. Neville's were lost. "You remember him telling you the individual circumstances of the others. That was just people from the Order. A lot of people that I knew of from school had been killed, or their parents, or siblings. Sometimes they were just killed for sport, sometimes tortured, sometimes they were just caught in the crossfire. Dan and Emma Granger got lucky. Molly and Arthur may have been the targets last month, but your friends Ron and Luna got killed instead. No one targeted Luna. She simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her father couldn't stand the loss and killed himself."

There were tears in both wizards' eyes. "Yes Harry, it hurts. It hurt to lose Gary and Florence Bones. They were friends of Lilly's from school. They'd started a wizardwear shop. They were killed one afternoon when their shop was blown up. Amelia is Gary's Aunt. She took Susan in, much like Petunia did, except she loved…" There were tears in his eyes. Harry nodded in understanding.

After a moment Remus continued, "You probably know about Frank and Alice. Little Neville sat and watched them get tortured for hours. He was obliviated and they may never get better. The McKinnon's were most likely killed by the Malfoys. Bellatrix killed the Pruitts. Voldemort killed Sirius' brother Regulus for having second thoughts about becoming a Death Eater." Harry handed him another butterbeer.

Remus continued, "I guess part of the problem last time was that the score was so one sided. They probably killed nearly a hundred witches and wizards, and I'd hate to guess how many muggles, say another hundred or two, so the score was like 300 to 10. Alastor tracked down a few, but we were getting flattened. Then that night your parents were killed, it all stopped. Neville's parents were the final victims for over a dozen years."

He finished, "The Malfoys spread a bunch of gold around and gave out the story that half of the Death Eaters had been under the Imperius curse, and should be held blameless for their crimes." Remus looked around for a moment, got a worried look on his face, and asked, "Harry, who else is in here?"

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