AN

Well, I would have had this out much sooner, but much of the time that I was going to spend writing these last few days was actually spent holed up in my room with JC-S planning out the rest of the fic. We had a lot of ground to cover too, but I think we've got virtually the entire thing planned out the way we want it. I guess he's practically my co-writer at this point. heh heh.

I'm sorry this is so short, but it's really just a filler chapter with some stuff that was necessary, but not really super-important. The next chapter will be much, much longer, and we'll be reaching a critical point in the story, so look forward to that. If you're lucky, maybe even some action!

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

-Instert text here- Harry speaking to Sirius in his mind

:Instert text here: Sirius speaking to Harry in Harry's mind

Chapter 9

Pranks and Training

Harry sat on his bed quietly, completely motionless. To the casual observer, he appeared to be lost in deep thought, heedless of the world around him. In all actuallity, however, Harry was listening very intently for the slightest sound from the first floor of the house in which he was currently residing.

After the mentally and emotionally draining conversation he'd had with his Sirius the night before, he'd decided to work of some of his frustration by making good use of the supplies sent his way by the Weasley twins.

So that morning, when he'd gotten up extra early, instead of heading for the park, he'd dropped several of Fred and George's special "cough drops" into the tea kettle that was waiting next to the stove.

The cough drops really were quite brilliant, in his opinion. They looked, tasted, and were even wrapped exactly the same as the muggle variety, but with some key differences in other aspects. For instance, they dissolved extremely quickly in liquid, particularly water. This made them ideal for slipping into a targets drink, or made them hard to spit out if the victim unwrapped one and popped it into their mouth.

The main difference, however, was that instead of relieving cough symptoms of any sort, they tended to make the victim unable to stop coughing for several long minutes. Nothing strong enough to choke the person, or make it too hard to breath, Fred and George had assured him. Just a really annoying coughing fit that seemed to last forever.

"Any second now," Harry muttered to himself. They should've poured the tea by now, judging by the slight clinking he'd heard. He'd taken a chance using the tea kettle for his prank. He'd filled it up and put the drops inside, then set it next to the stove. He could only hope his aunt would think she'd filled it up the night before and not try to figure out why it was full that morning.

It was a necessary risk though, really. Tea was the only thing that all three Dursleys drank in the morning.

Then he heard it. A tiny cough started from his Uncle Vernon. Then another, and another, gradually becoming louder and harsher with each subsequent cough. There was the sound of china breaking, then more coughing, this time from Dudley. Before long, all three of his relatives were unable to speak as the drops full effects hit them.

Harry could hold it back no longer, and he collapsed from his bed to the floor in hysterical laughter. He laughed til tears streamed down his face, and in his head he could hear Sirius echoing his laughter.

It took fully 10 minutes for the Dursleys to recover from their coughing fit, and even longer for Harry and Sirius to recover from their laughter. When they'd finally managed to compose themselves, Harry heard his godfather's voice in his mind.

:Well done, Mr. Inferno. Not bad for your first official Marauder prank.:

-Why thank you, Mr. Padfoot. I'm delighted to say that I rather enjoyed that, and we'll have to do some more very soon.-

Harry couldalmost see the sort-of-dead older Marauder rubbing his hands together in glee and anticipation.

:Indeed we will, my young protegé. I look forward to it.:

Harry snorted. -I'm sure you do.-

Just then, they heard rather loud footsteps pounding up the stairs. They were too loud for Petunia, and too quiet for Dudley. 'Vernon then,' thought Harry. 'This should be interesting.'

Vernon Dursley burst through Harry's bedroom door with incredible force, nearly taking it off it's hinges and slamming it powerfully against the wall. He quickly spotted his nephew sitting calmly on the desk chair, and his already red-hot anger reached critical proportions.

Harry, for his part, seemed completely unaffected by his uncle's quite obvious rage, and simply raised a single eyebrow in feigned surprise.

"Yes uncle?" he asked politely. "Can I help you?"

Vernon's face, which was the most magnificent shade of purple Harry had ever seen, screwed up in a very strange (and perhaps even comical) position as he started to scream at his nephew seemingly loud enough to wake the dead.

"IT WAS YOU WASN'T IT BOY? I WON'T HAVE IT I TELL YOU! EXPOSING US TO YOUR FREAKISHNESS, PLAYING DANGEROUS TRICKS! UNGRATEFUL, THAT'S WHAT IT IS! IT'S THE FINAL STRAW! OUT! I WANT YOU OUT NOW! I WON'T TOLERATE YOUR UNGRATEFUL, ABNORMAL SELF HERE ANY LONGER!"

He paused to catch his breath, and just stood there, his fists clenched at his sides, quivering with rage.

Harry, on the other hand, gave no outward sign that he had even heard his uncle, other than to stare at him, for several long moments. Inwardly, of course, was another matter entirely. On the inside he was fuming after Vernon's diatribe. How dare he call him ungrateful? He would rather have lived on the street than in this horrible house where he'd been abused his whole life. His power flared slightly, and he quickly put a clamp down on his anger. This was no time to lose his control.

He stood slowly, and then took a couple steps forward until he was standing right in front of the older man. He noticed, with some small surprise, that he was several inches taller than his uncle. Obviously, he'd grown a bit since last summer. He probably just hadn't noticed it before because he'd only stood next to Vernon the last time they'd been having an argument. Understandably, he'd been rather too busy shouting at the time to notice a height difference.

He decided not to bother trying to deny the prank. Vernon would never believe him anyway. "Calm yourself, uncle, it was only a harmless prank." His eyes narrowed, and he added, "And I suggest you stop calling me 'ungrateful' and 'abnormal.' I warned you once before not to cross me. I was not joking."

Vernon did not (unfortunately for him) take this advice to heart, and decided to teach his upstart young nephew a lesson. He swung his fist wide at Harry's head, in a typical slow, impractical haymaker. Harry, fortunately, had anticipated the move, and ducked at precisely the correct moment. This threw his uncle off-center, and left him with nothing to defend his right side. Harry put his right foot across his own body, and behind the older man's right leg, while at the same time grabbing Vernon's right bicep with his own right hand. He then yanked Vernon's arm forwards (backwards for Vernon), while simultaneously pulling his own leg straight back, sweeping his uncle's leg in the process.

The whole thing went so fast that Vernon didn't even have time to blink, before he was laying flat on his back on the floor of Harry's bedroom. Harry was panting heavily, yet not from exertion. He was actually fuming. His uncle had actually tried to hit him! He hadn't done that since before Harry had gone to Hogwarts. He started taking deep, calming breaths to bring himself back under control. If he didn't get control of his anger and magic fast, there wasn't going to be enough Vernon left to fill a measuring cup.

Sirius whispered calming words into his mind, and Harry unclenched his fists and tried to relax. Vernon just lay on the floor in stunned disbelief. He hadn't even seen his nephew move, and here he was on the floor! That kid was fast!

Harry finally managed to gain enough control to speak, albeit in a very harsh, strained-sounding voice. "I warned you. I warned you, and you refused to listen. This is just a small taste of what I am capable of, and I didn't even use magic." He paused to allow his uncle to flinch at the word the man hated so much. It was ironic really. Vernon was as afraid of saying the word magic as wizards were of saying Voldemort. He continued, "I've got news for you. I don't care about being expelled any more. If you so much as look at me cross-eyed again, I will make absolutely certain that you and your family regret it for the rest of your miserable lives. With, or without magic," another flinch, "You can bet that you will regret it. Now, get out of my sight, before I do something stupid."

There was so much cold, barely contained fury in his nephew's hardened gaze, that Vernon didn't even stop to question the fact that a 15-year-old was ordering him around. All he knew was that he had to get out of there, and fast.

So he ran.

Once he was gone, Harry sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. The next few weeks were going to be awful. He couldn't wait until he got out of there on his birthday. He still hadn't decided whether he was going to inform Dumbledore of his plan to stay at the burrow beforehand or just do it. It would serve the old man right, after everything he'd put Harry through.

:Easy there, Harry. Calm down. Maybe you should lay down for a while. We'll get started on your training later.:

Harry just nodded tiredly, momentarily forgetting that Sirius couldn't actually see the gesture. Maybe if he just laid back for a while and gathered his thoughts, he'd feel better.

Several hours later, Harry awoke with a start. Apparently he'd dozed off while resting, and Sirius hadn't pulled him into the Marauder Realm.

:Of course I didn't. You needed your rest, and while the Marauder Realm is interesting and useful, your mind doesn't get as much rest there as it does when I just let you sleep.:

-Oh. Does that mean I'll actually have normal dreams now and then?-

:You? Have normal dreams?:

-Good point.-

:Alright, now stand up and let's get started on Wandless Magic. Fortunately, the Ministry can only detect wand magic, so you'll be able to get away with this easily.:

-Uh, Sirius?- Harry said confusedly. -Are you sure it's undetectable? Because Dobby didn't use a wand when he smashed my aunt's pudding, and I got a letter for that....-

:Wasn't he trying to keep you out of school?:

-Yes.-

:Any second now....:

Then it hit him. -Oh. Oops,- said Harry, blushing furiously. Fortunately, Sirius couldn't see that. -He altered his magical signature so that I'd get in trouble didn't he?-

:Yep. Now, if there are no more interruptions....:

Another blush. Good thing Sirius was only in his mind.

:I didn't think so. Let's get started then, shall we? As you know, Wandless Magic is fueled by your emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the spell. Your most common emotion will be desire. For instance, a desire to get to what is behind a door will fuel your alohomora spell, and your desire to levitate an object will fuel your levitation charm. Your most powerful emotions are anger and love. Anger will be used for most of your curses, hexes, jinxes, etc....whereas love would be used for the counters to those.:

:Let's start with something very simple. Try to levitate that book on your desk a few inches. Concentrate on how badly you want it to hover, then say the words. Closing your eyes may help, since you can invision the book hovering easier.:

Harry shut his eyes and relaxed a little. Then concentrated with all his might on the vision of the book hovering, of wanting it to hover. He raised his hand and opened his mouth, but before he could say the words, he felt the magic pulse in his hand, and opened his eyes in shock.

There was the book, fully a foot off his desk. It didn't stay long, because his concentration had slipped, but it had been there.

Sirius was impressed, so say the least. :Wow. That was good. I didn't expect you to get the wordless bit down that fast. Most wizards and witches have some small aptitude for Wandless Magic. I know I got as far as summoning matches before I couldn't do any more. Wordless, Wandless Magic though, is another story. Very good, kiddo.:

Harry was still standing there, staring at the book. :Hey! Harry! Wake up!:

Harry shook himself. -Sorry, Padfoot.-

A snort. :By this time, I'd think you'd be used to surprises.:

Harry made no reply, instead opting to start trying a few other spells. Summoning worked out fairly well (but then, he'd always done well with that), but Banishing he had to use the incantation. Basic Conjuring was fairly easy without the incantation, but most conjuring even with a wand was wordless anyway. He got as high as fourth year material before he started having real problems getting the spells to respond even with incantations.

:You did well today, Harry. I didn't expect you to get so much accomplished so soon. I'd say that with a lot of practice you'll be able to do virtually every spell without a wand -- once we've unblocked the rest of your powers of course.:

Vernon had already left for work, so they decided to head down to Harry's favorite diner for lunch and then have some more Martial Arts training in the park. After the way it had helped take down Harry's uncle that morning, it was something the young man was more eager than ever to improve on.

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Review!

I would like to once again thank all my reviewers for their encouraging and helpful comments. If you're not mentioned in the following review responses, it's because I have nothing specific to say to you, but I do express my deepest thanks for reviewing my story. I'd thank you individually, but I'm sure you'd rather I did some more writing!

Dumbledore: You want me to show more of his training? Wow, I didn't think I'd get a review like that. I find stories that do too much of his training to be really boring, but maybe that's just me. I think there will be some more extensive training scenes and such in future chapters, but the only training he's had thus far is Martial Arts (and Wandless Magic in the chapter I'm currently putting up as I type this). I would write more about the Martial Arts training, but I think most people would be totally confused by the terms and such. Good guess on the Wandless Magic being undetectable, though I suppose I was a bit obvious about it wasn't I? The books in Harry's parent's trunk will be mostly light magic books, and he'll get all his dark magic books from Grimmauld Place later (since he inherited the house and everything in it). Although Occlumency isn't really necessary for his connection to old lizard face, he still should learn it for when he's actually face to face with him shouldn't he? Occlumency will be learned some time in the book.....Thanks for your review, I quite enjoyed your thoughts.

marick ishtar: So I should have more dialogue eh? I'll keep that in mind while I write future chapters. Thanks for your review.

Tanydwr: Dragons. Fire. Good grief I feel like an idiot. How could I forget that? Especially with what I'm planning for the rest of the book....

yep, 18th century would be right. July 4 1775. My theory on the whole magic government would be that we Americans had a bit of a fresh start back then. A chance to be a little more open about the whole magicthing so tospeak(minus the Salem incidents). It would then indicate that there wouldn't be all those silly prejudices between muggle-borns and purebloods (working side by side in a new land). I can't say for sure of course, but that's how it seems to me, so that's how I write it. Thanks for your review, I really enjoyed it.

Lady Phoenix Slytherin: She's a somewhat typical American teenager. We'll meet her before Christmas (in the fic) I promise!

Yavinbase: All three forms will be used throughout the story, and besides just being his forms have a deeper meaning for the philosophy of his fighting the Dark Lord. More on that later. Dragons will play a part in this story, but perhaps not in the way you think....enough said

john: The problem I find with fan fiction right now is that so many people have written so many fics, there just aren't any original ideas left. Unless you do alternate universe stuff (like say make Harry a soldier in the American Civil War or something). That doesn't mean I take my ideas from other fics, but it does mean that I won't have a lot of unique things in my story either. As for going to America....I've only read one fic with that in it, and that isn't even where I got the idea from, so how do you come to the conclusion that it's cliche? I will try to explain my reasons for making it happen though. Obviously, he can't get the training he needs in Britain, because everyone there who could train him is loyal to: A) Voldemort B) The Ministry or C) Dumbldore. None of whom Harry is happy with right now. I could've had him go to some other country, but the US is where I live, and thus the one I know the most about. It's also one of the youngest (relatively speaking)more powerfulcountries in the world, whereas places like Germany, France, Italy, etc would have the same built-up prejudices that England has.

You'll be happy to know, however, that I do toss out some cliche ideas. For instance, I originally planned to have Ginny send Harry a letter that berated him for being a fool and broke him out of his pity party. I felt that was rather overused though, so I decided to make him get his godfather back - ina sense, thinking that that was a little more original. thanks for your continued reviews of this story.

B-A-HPlova22: Glad to know that my work is inspiring others, as I know my inspiration comes from many great writers such as JKR, Tolkien, Jeff Shaara, Timothy Zahn, and even some fan fiction writers such as Ashwinder, Jeconais (sp?), and dbzdragonlanceman. Thanks for reminding me about that note thing with Phoenixes (I had completely forgotten) and thanks for your review!

TuxedoMac: A lot of people seem to be wondering whether there will be anything more with Emily, so I guess I'll just say it. She'll be in the fic at least once more (if the current outline stands).

Captain Oblivious: I've always found Harry to be a bit of an idiot. But then, as a friend of mine told me, no one likes a perfect hero do they? Glad you like Sirius coming back. He's a fun character to write, so I just couldn't resist bringing him back. Thanks for your review!

Princess-Fictoria: Glad you see it that way about Dumbledore. I've always liked him, so I didn't want to make him evil, but I've also always felt they see him as too much of an all-powerful figure. Thanks for your review!

captuniv: Thanks for your review! I've come to dislike Ron and Hermione as characters lately, because they have some really annoying character traits which I won't get into right now. So I'm going to sort of cut them out of Harry's life so to speak for a little while until they manage to grow up. Guess Neville will be Harry's best friend.

athenakitty: I don't think Harry really needs to know anything more about his family at this point. Katherine's all the family he has left anyway (excluding the Dursleys is normal). Dursleys die? I haven't decided yet. If they did, it'd be a non-important blip of information much later in the story. What do you mean by who started the Potter family? The name most likely came from when first names started to become too common, and men started using their professions for family names (ie, 'John the Potter' becomes 'John Potter'). In some cases, they used their father's names ('Daniel, son of John' becomes Daniel Johnson). If you mean who were they first descended from, then they were descended from either Adam and Eve, or early humans evolved from primates, depending on your beliefs (there are others I know, but I don't feel like listing them). I hope that answers your question, because I don't understand. As for meditation, do you mean you don't know what that is? Some Weasleys may help Harry (I think Fred and George will always be firmly on his side no matter what) but I can't account for all of them. and of course the new approach will help Harry. It's the key to winning, and a large part of this book is about using the new approach.