Author's Note: See…I told you that I would remember. I even got this out before Sunday for once! Hope that this might satisfy some of your Harry Potter mania while we wait only 13 more days till HBP! YAY!

Chapter 16: Shaping Up

Harry grunted as pain flowed through his beaten body. The pain stretched Harry to the limit and threatened to overcome him as Harry struggled to fight the seemingly unstoppable force.

"Come on Harry, get a hold of yourself."

Harry winced as a new wave of pain shot through his body but ignored it and focused on the job at hand. Harry was surrounded on all sides by figures in dark robes that were sending curses out at him at random intervals. Harry had gotten himself into this mess because his shield had been unable to block an Imperious Curse that had been thrown at his back. Since then, Harry had endured numerous curses while hearing a comforting voice in his ear telling him that it was all going to be okay.

Harry pushed the pain and comforting voice away and clambered to his feet. Harry raised his wand, pointing it at the nearest Death Eater, and blew it away with a Reductor curse. Harry then pivoted, dodging a bright blue spell, before hitting two other Death Eaters with a freezing curse. A brilliant green spell flew at Harry and Harry was forced to summon one of the fallen Death Eaters in front of him. The spell washed over the dark form and left an uninjured Harry standing, ready for revenge. Harry banished the hovering Death Eater across the room, knocking the attacking Death Eater down in the process. Harry sensed something behind him and dove forward as a stunner flew over his head. As Harry came up out of the roll, he put the last Death Eater down with a crushing hex.

Harry took one more look around the dark room, making sure that all the targets were neutralized as a deep booming voice echoed through the small room.

"Good work Potter. You did especially well after taking that much punishment before even starting."

Harry turned and gave a small smile as Kingsley Shacklebolt walked into the room. The tall wizard was the head of the Aurors and was Harry's personal trainer as Harry spent the next three months training to become an experienced Auror. Harry was glad that he was able to train with Kingsley. Not only was he a prominent member of the Order, Kingsley was also the most experienced Auror at training upcoming Aurors. Moody had been through more than Kingsley had of course, but these experiences had slightly rattled his brain. Moody was still a force to be reckoned with but was unable to teach Auror trainees the way that Kingsley could.

Kingsley had seen the best that Voldemort has to offer and was able to live through these experiences while others had not been so fortunate. He had seen horrors that few could imagine, some that even Harry hadn't seen, and Kingsley somehow found a way to describe these situations in a way that allowed Harry to appreciate the severity of what the Dark Lord has done and what he might still do to win this war. Kingsley was a strong and proud man, but a man that knew his limits. Harry knew that he couldn't ask for a better instructor.

"Sorry that I faltered back there," Harry said apologetically.

"Don't tell me sorry, tell yourself; you were the one that was hurt by your lapse in concentration."

Harry grimaced as Kingsley's words struck home. Though it was true that Harry had been exhausted before ever beginning that training exercise, he had already completed the same exercise five times before, Harry knew that he might not feel perfectly well when a Death Eater attack occurred. Harry always needed to be at the top of his game, whether he was in training or in a real life situation.

Harry shook his head and gave a slight smile as he realized what Kingsley was doing to him yet again. Kingsley had always been able to reprimand Harry in an indirect way that somehow seemed worse than any direct lecture could ever be. Every time something went wrong in a training session, Kingsley always made Harry think about what could have happened if he had been in a real battle.

Harry knew that he had learned much over the month that had passed since Voldemort had attacked the Ministry and, when Harry finished his training in two months, Harry knew that he would be ready for whatever threatened either his friends or himself.

Harry was jolted back to reality as he heard Kingsley speaking, "… and that is what you need to work on."

Harry gave him a sheepish smile before replying, "Of course! It all makes sense now!"

Kingsley smiled easily, knowing fully well that Harry had drifted off yet again, before patiently going over what Harry needed to work on again. "You are good Harry, better than any trainee who has ever set foot in this facility, but you lack confidence. Your moves are stiff and are governed by what you have learned in practice; they will not be sufficient enough in the end. You have to feel your opponents; know what they are going to do before they attack. Unfortunately, there is no way to gain this confidence without real life experiences. This is a lesson that will have to be learned with time. I can teach you all the spells and defenses I can, but only time will make you into the Auror that you need to be."

Harry nodded and fell silent, considering Kingsley's advice. Kingsley took the time to assess Harry's progress over the past few weeks. Kingsley was proud of how much Harry had learned in such a short time. Harry had progressed nearly twice as fast as most Aurors and had yet to surpass any training record held by previous Auror trainees. Kingsley knew of the important role Harry would have to play in this war and was proud to be the one to train Harry for the dark days ahead. Kingsley knew that what he taught Harry would be help determine whether or not Harry lived through the final confrontation between Light and Dark.

Kingsley muttered a spell that caused all of the training dummies to repair themselves and gave Harry a smile.

"Well, that's all for today. I'd offer to go and grab a bite to eat with you, but I need to speak with Dumbledore before the meeting tonight. Get some food and rest before tomorrow, from what Dumbledore told me the other day, it sounds like you are going to need it."

Harry seemed to perk up as he suddenly remembered that tomorrow was Saturday. Harry started another portion of his training with Dumbledore tomorrow. Harry really was curious about what Albus was going to teach him, but it was the realization that he would finally be able to see Ginny again that got Harry excited. Harry hadn't seen her since he started his training a month ago and it felt like a lifetime had passed since Harry had been able to hold her in his arms. All in all, Harry was definitely looking forward to meeting with Dumbledore every night.

Harry shook his head, attempting to clear his mind of the ever-present thoughts of Ginny. Harry turned back to Kingsley and gave him a smile.

"I can't wait. As if you don't make the day long enough, I now have some old man to put up with."

Kingsley laughed and slapped Harry on the back. "You're a brave man Harry."

Harry smiled and shook the Auror's hand. As turned to leave, Harry felt a strong grip on his shoulder. Harry turned around to see Kingsley staring intently at him. The tall Auror suddenly spoke in a very serious tone.

"Good work today Harry, you did better than I could have ever dreamed of. If you keep up the good work, we might just make it through this war after all."

Harry apparated into his living room and dropped into a crouch as he felt another presence in the room. Harry suddenly pointed his wand at the couch where a figure was lounging quietly.

"You can put that away you know."

"Damn it Hermione! Are you trying to make me hex you?"

Hermione smiled easily as she rose from the couch to give Harry a hug. After the two broke apart, Harry suddenly smelled something coming from the kitchen.

"Are you cooking something?"

Hermione's smile seemed to widen even more as she gave a curt nod in reply. "I've been working on cooking with magic since we got out of school. I never made much progress before…well, I've had more time to myself lately and studying makes the time pass quicker."

Hermione's voice drifted off and Harry knew what she was going to say. Rather than make it worse, Harry lightened up the conversation. "Excellent, I've been meaning to hire a house elf around here, but you'll do quite nicely."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! IF YOU DARE HIRE A…"

Harry started to laugh at Hermione's outburst and Hermione cut herself off quickly. Instead of wasting her time with the hopeless young man in front of her, Hermione picked up the book she had been reading and started reading once more.

"Reading again I see," Harry said wisely as if it was an observation only he could discern. Hermione only bothered to nod in response.

"So I'm not bothering you at all?" Hermione sighed and shook her head at the question.

"Good, if I was bothering you I want to know. I mean, I know that I can sometimes get out of hand and drive people completely insane with my rambling about pointless things, but I was hoping that I wasn't bothering you at all because I really enjoy talking to you Hermione. I mean, you really know how to listen. There isn't a better listener out there and I mean that. I mean, you just sit there and let me vent all of my problems. I remember this one time, when I was eleven, there was this really annoying girl who would just sit there and show off her knowledge all of the time. My red haired friend and I would just roll our eyes every time she even opened her mouth because it just proved that she was a know-it-all who was striving for attention. She drove us completely insane. There was this one time that…"

Harry shut up as Hermione clamped a hand over his mouth. "Harry, you're annoying me now. Don't speak again unless you want to be hexed."

Harry tried several times to get something out, but Hermione kept her hand tight against his mouth. Harry finally gave up and sat down across the room from Hermione.

Hermione returned to her reading but gave an exasperated sigh when she heard Harry speak again.

"Hermione?"

Hermione pulled out her wand and got ready to hex Harry into tomorrow when Harry quickly finished his sentence.

"Whataboutthefood?"

Hermione cried out as she finally made sense of what he had said and ran out of the room cursing.

Five minutes and many charms to repair the damage done to the food later, Harry and Hermione were sitting at the dining room table enjoying the excellent supper Hermione fixed.

"This is great Hermione," Harry was able to get out with a mouth full of food.

"Harry, hasn't Ginny taught you any manners. I swear the girl is never going to be able to take you anywhere in public."

Harry gave her the Potter grin that his father had been famous for and returned to his dinner.

After the two finished eating, Harry sent the dishes to the kitchen and started them magically washing themselves. As Harry walked back into the living room, he saw Hermione engrossed in her book again.

"Aw, come on Hermione. Put the book down. Talk to me, I haven't seen you in a while."

Hermione held up a finger telling him to wait a moment and Harry groaned out loud. It was like seventh year all over again. Hermione had stayed engrossed in her books, preparing for NEWTS, and Harry had found it difficult to drag her away from them. In fact, it wasn't Harry that ever succeeded, but Ron. Ron's "mysterious power" as he like to call it, was the only thing that could motivate Hermione into leaving her books. Ron's power hadn't been that "mysterious" as Harry often caught them going into an unused classroom as soon as they left the common room.

Hermione finally shut her book with a loud slam and turned to face Harry. "Alright you insufferable git. What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, first of all, why are you here exactly? It isn't every day I come home to a freshly cooked dinner."

Hermione smiled as she replied lightly, "Well, as we both have the meeting tonight, I thought that I would see what you were up to. Hestia let me out early today and I thought that I would be nice and fix supper for the two of us. Your kitchen, by the way, was an absolute mess. I couldn't find anything in that clutter and there wasn't a bit of decent food anywhere. I took the liberty of picking up a few things to eat and charged them to your bill."

Harry nodded and replied, "A small price to pay in order to have something to eat when I get hungry."

"You know Harry; you can go to the market yourself. You don't need me to do it for you."

"I know, but it is much more interesting to have a maid around the house. When the meeting is over, would you mind coming back and tidying up a bit. The laundry is a bit stacked up right now."

Hermione sighed dramatically and replied dryly, "Are you ever going to grow up Harry?"

"Probably not, but there is a slight possibility that I might have to in order to defeat a Dark Lord and all that."

Hermione took the fact that Harry was joking about the prophecy to mean that Harry had finally accepted his role and was ready to start training in order to achieve victory over Voldemort.

Before Hermione could ask Harry about it, Harry quickly steered Hermione away from the question.

"Speaking of Dark Lords, how is your training going Hermione?"

"Pretty well actually. Hestia is a demanding trainer who won't take no for an answer. I am learning a lot and I think that, by the time our training is completed, I might stand a decent chance against Voldemort and his followers."

Harry looked ready to tell Hermione off for her negative attitude, but Hermione continued without breaking stride. "And besides, Tonks comes from time to time and I am sure that having two instructors will make sure that I am ready for whatever Voldemort sends at us."

Harry, though not convinced by what Hermione had said, couldn't help but smile at the word "us". There had never been any doubt between the trio that there would always be an "us". Harry, Hermione, and Ron had something that was rare, something that could not be taken away from any of them. Their friendship was unbreakable and would remain through the war against Voldemort and into the future. Death could do nothing against such a force and Harry knew that Ron's death hadn't changed a thing. It may have changed Harry and Hermione a little, well…Hermione a lot, but Ron was still in their hearts and their mind as they went throughout their lives.

Harry missed Ron terribly, was finally starting to accept Ron's sacrifice as what it was meant to be; a testament to the love the trio had for one another and the strength of their friendship that would never end.

Harry reached over and gave Hermione's hand a squeeze before rising off the couch.

"We need to get going, the meeting starts in half and hour."

Hermione nodded the two walked outside into quiet night before they disapparated with a crack.

Potterfan – thanks for the review. It's always good to know that someone else appreciates your work.