Disclaimer: See Chapter I

Also, I'd like to thank those of you who have taken some time to read and review my work (you know who you are). Your kind words have been felt and hope the wait hasn't been too long for this next installment as I'm trying to update my work every three chapters.

Chapt. 4: Dumbledore's Job

Alex motioned Harry to take a seat as Dudley left towards the kitchen. Harry sat on one of stuffed chairs that faced each other across the coffee table. He looked at Alex straight in the eyes.

Alex by now had also sat down and had pulled forth a letter from inside his jacket. He gave it to Harry

"This is for you, from Headmaster Dumbledore."

Opening it, Harry read the words.

Dear Mr. Potter:

The man who delivered this letter is Alexander Evans, your mother Lilly's brother and your uncle by blood. Due to his youth at the time of your parents' death (he was 19 at the time) as well as other reasons that will be described to you at a later date, he was unable to care for you. At the moment however, he is here in Great Britain from retirement in Belize for several reason, but the one that need concern you is that with the exception of a week before the school year starts he will be training you in the usage of Muggle weapons and tactics. Again there are sound reasons for this, which he will explain to you. This will ensure a total of 7 weeks out of 8 during the Summer Holiday that you will train with him. I regret that you won't be able to spend much, indeed any, time at the Weasleys, but your survival is paramount considering the current status of the Wizard World. Therefore, I wish you good luck and will contact you again soon.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

"Angry, lad?"

Harry, who indeed was furious, couldn't find the words to speak and nodded instead.

"Good, because with anger you'll be susceptible to violence. You're no doubt thinking, I've got a magic wand, and I've survived taking on the blackest fucking wizard out there so what the hell is point in learning how to fight with a blade or a gun? Right?"

"Something like that."

Alex smiled, "Well, let me demonstrate the error of your ways. Go stand near the fireplace. You have your wand with you?"

Harry was about to shake his head before he remembered that he had slipped it into his pocket, as he had been packing. He pulled it out and assumed the dueling stance in front of his uncle.

Alex held up his hand for a moment and spoke, "Give me a moment."

He held out his hand and spoke; "Accio Wand", and a black wand arose from a bookcase on the other side of the room to land in his hand.

"Silencio Uno  "

With that a purplish mist came from the wand, but dissipated quickly. Alex explained, "That was a spell to lower the magical signature of everything within one 100 yard area. With it, other magic users will have a harder time tracking our magic usage. Like the Ministry."

With that, he tossed the wand on to the mantle of the fireplace, and barked at Harry, "Now attack me you runty bastard! You think this is some bloody Jack Pudding's playpen with your dueling stance? ATTACK YOU COCKLESS FUCK!"

Harry pointed his wand at Alex and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" This was a spell that disarmed a wizard by knocking the subject to the ground rather painfully, as it would be expected to do to Alex.

Problem was, Alex had the reflexes of a cat and had executed a rolling dive behind the couch as Harry had raised his wand from the saluting position of his dueling stance.

Harry pointed the wand to the couch and was about yell a spell to raise it when he spotted movement toward the kitchen.

"Expelliarmus," Harry yelled at the movement. Where upon a burst of feathers flew through the air. Harry was stunned to realize it had been a cushion from the couch that he had hexed. If that was a cushion then where the hell…

Harry saw a glint of movement from his left and then was slammed into the mantle of the fireplace. Alex had thrown a cushion he had rolled with into the air to distract him, and then moved in. Using his body, he had pinned Harry against the fireplace while using his left hand to grab Harry's right hand, his wand hand, and point it to the ceiling. With his left forearm and elbow across Harry's throat and elbow, he had placed his dagger casually on the right side of Harry's neck on the crease of it. A leering maniacal grin was etched on his face.

"You just fell for the oldest trick in the book. Were this for real, this blade," motioned with the dagger in his right hand, "would have sliced through your larynx and jugular vein. You wouldn't be able to do any spells for you haven't reached the stage where you can do spells without wands or words, as your larynx and voice box next to it would be open for all to see and your wand is pointed at the ceiling. At the same time, blood from your jugular vein would be going down your main airway into your lungs, ensuring that your would drown in your own blood."

During his whole speech, Uncle Alex sounded as though he were ordering a cup of tea. He pulled his blade back and continued speaking

"Not all the supporters of the Dark Lord use magic alone. Some use both; others use just blades and clubs. Giants, and vampires have human like cunning and use human weapons. Wands can break. There will come times when your only chance at survival comes not in how much you know of spells and magic, but of brute force and animal violence. Muggle fighting with blade and firearm may be the difference between going to your woman and a warm bed and fucking her silly, or being placed in a shallow grave in the middle of fucking nowhere. You understand me, Harry?"

Harry nodded.

Alex released Harry, sheathed his blade in a scabbard strapped to his right forearm, and sat back down on the sofa before he spoke again.

"The training is secondary, however, to what my main purpose of having you in my charge is. Can you hazard a stab at what that might be?"

Harry shook his head as he massaged his shoulder where he had been slammed. While he wouldn't be spending his summer with the Dursleys (well almost all of them as Dudley it seemed would be tagging along with him), it also wouldn't be with what was the closet thing to a family he had. That, and the fact he felt he had made an ass out of himself made sure he wasn't in a mood for talking

Alex looked like he was going to say something but was interrupted when Linda walked in with a tray filled with a pot of tea and china, and stared disapprovingly at the mess of feathers in the kitchen hallway. Dudley followed holding a steaming cup and saucer.

After pouring a cup, Alex spoke once more, "Anyhow before I go on, Harry why don't you go with Linda and ensure that your owl is comfortable. I guarantee you she will take good care of her. I also have a few words for my other nephew here."

Linda got up and motioned for Harry to follow her. Harry picked up Hedwig in her cage and her bag of owl treats and followed her up to the second floor where one of the rooms was an owlery. There, Harry counted two owls, and one of the big colorful birds Sirius used to send messages to him with.

"Give her here, I'll take good care of her." Indeed, that seemed to be quite the case as Hedwig seemed happy near her as Linda gave her an owl treat and refilled her water dish.

Harry, overcome by his curiosity, asked Linda, "Are you my uncle's wife?"

Linda, still playing with Hedwig, laughed and replied, "Now if that was so I'd have been called your aunt and not his housekeeper wouldn't it?"

"No, " she continued, "he and I are close friends, and loves me as such, but he isn't and doesn't want to be married."

Harry still wasn't done, "So, uh, are you a witch? You know, as in the Hogwarts…"

"…School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Yes, a member of House Hufflepuff as a matter of fact. How about you? Gryffindor?"

Harry nodded and was about to ask what was going on when Uncle Alex started yelling, "Right then, I'll get changed and then we can begin our way to Wales. Harry, get down here and wait a bit with Dudley. After that, we got about a good hour's drive then a plane ride for an hour, followed by another drive. So relax, lads, for where you're going, you won't relax for a long time."

Harry quickly said bye to Linda and Hedwig and headed downstairs which was when he remembered Ron's letter. "Excuse me, Uncle?" Alex who had been about to run up the stairs stopped and looked at him. Harry briefly explained Ron's letter and how a friend of his (he didn't mention it was Ginny, for even in the brief time he had met his uncle he had a gut instinct that he would be ribbed mercilessly were to hear of it) was going to visit him on Wednesday.

Alex nodded and went over to the fireplace. Opening a box on the mantle, he showed it to Harry. It was full of a black, finely ground powder. "It's Floo powder, know how to use it?" Harry shook his head, though he admitted to seeing it used before.

"Right, there are two kinds. The kind you see here is for sending people messages, a lot like a wizard's telephone. A more roughly ground powder is used for transportation and then only along a magically linked network. Simply take a handful and toss it into the fireplace while calling out the name of the place, person, or whatever you wish to contact." Alex laughed, "One good thing with this method is you get very few wrong numbers, though one handful of powder gives a connection for about five minutes so make whatever your message is fast and sweet. Clear?"

Harry nodded as his uncle handed him the box and picked his wand off of the mantle.

"Another thing Harry, give me your wand I'll keep it safe until we come back here."

After handing it over to him, Alex bounded up the stairs.

Taking a handful of the powder, he threw it on to the fire as he spoke, "Weasley's" A small green fire appeared, and an image of the Weasley living room appeared. Harry spoke, "Uh, hello? Ron? Ginny? Mrs. Weasly"

The smiling, balding face of Mr. Arthur Weasley appeared. "Hello Harry, I'm surprised you'd be calling on us using floo. Molly took Ron, Ginny, and the boys over to St. Mungo's to see a friend of hers in the hospital. I just got back home from work. Anything you need?"

Harry smiled weakly and replied, "No, thank you, sir, but it's just that I called to let you know…" and proceeded to quickly fill him on what had happened. Mr. Weasley frowned, but then brightened up when he heard Wales. "Wales is it? Then we just may meet as my son Charlie is getting transferred from Transylvania to Wales sometime next month. Though Molly and Ginny will be quite disappointed at not being able to see you for a bit. I can just hear the abuse from Molly now." Arthur started mimicking the voice of his wife Molly, "What do you mean we can't visit Harry? Are those bastard muggles he has for an aunt and uncle forcing him to not see us?"

 Harry laughed and replied, "Sorry about that, but until about an hour ago I thought the only relations I had were Aunt Petunia and my godfather Sirius Black and now to have an uncle…"

"You said uncle, you mean Alex Evans? The Flashman?"

"I didn't know that was what he was called but he claimed to have quit using magic since he was 19 and only started again recently because Dumbledore asked him to."

Arthur nodded, "I was wondering why his request to come back to the Wizard world came in last month. After all, when he quit…"

Alex called, "We are getting ready to leave Harry so make it quick."

"Sorry, Mr. Weasley but I have to leave. Could you tell Mrs. Weasley and everyone else, Ron and Ginny and everyone else I miss them?"

Arthur smiled, "Don't worry Harry, we think of you as family but I'll be sure to tell them none the less. You take care now you hear?"

"Yes sir and goodbye."

"Bye, Harry."

With that the image of Arthur Weasley vanished. Dudley had been watching the whole scene with a bit of awe, just as Alex, this time wearing a pair of blue trousers, blue shirt, and carrying a large green military Bergen came down the stairs and asked, "Ready?" Dudley and Harry nodded, as Alex quickly kissed Linda goodbye and led them to the Land Rover. They got in and settled down as Alex took the driver's seat and pulled out, waving at the figure of Linda standing in the doorway. Harry, who had the shotgun seat, leaned it back while Dudley lay back on the rear seats.

As they drove, he asked the boys, "You lads listen to much music?" Harry shook his head while Dudley merely shrugged. Alex sighed, and said, "I hope you bastards lighten up for a sense of humor at life's little cruelties can really be a good gift. Anyhow, I hope you like listening to U2." With that he pushed in a tape cassette he had laying down near the radio and pushed PLAY. The song Helter Skelter came on loudly, but not too much as Alex seemed to have the knack of positioning anything just so perfectly, even music volume so that nobody felt it was either too loud or too soft. Alex seemed to enjoy as he joined in the singing.

"You get to the bottom you get back to the top!" he enthusiastically sang, patting his hands on the rim of the steering wheel with the tune. Harry couldn't help but grin.

After a while, Alex rolled down his window and pulled a silver case out of his pocket. Opening it on the steering wheel, he pulled out a thin cigar, the kind Harry had seen in old Clint Eastward westerns. Putting it in his mouth, he then closed the case and put it back in his pocket. When his hand came out, it came out with a wooden match which he struck on the steering wheel and used it light his cigar.

Lightly puffing it, he asked, "Any of you lads smoke? If you want, you can have one drag just so you can try it and not get too curious of tobacco." With that he passed it to Harry, who took one drag, coughed, and handed it to Dudley, who took a drag, didn't cough, and passed it on.

Alex took the cigar and placed it on his lips and spoke to Harry, "All things considered, I'm surprised you haven't taken up smoking and drinking yet, Harry. Like Dudley back there."

Harry, who had been cultivating an interest in the darkened streets of London and countryside that they passed through as they drove, stared directly at his uncle and asked, "What do you mean?"

Alex continued smoking, "The dreams at night, the ones where you see that one kid, Diggory right? The ones where he gets zapped; the way it happened at the Triwizard Tournament. The dreams where you wake up shaking and sweating and feeling like shit afterwards. Am I right so far?"

Harry was shocked that he could see into him so easily. "How do you know so much? Did Dumbeldore tell you about what happened?"

Alex nodded, "Yeah, plus it helped that that idiot of a Minister of Magic Cornelius Dunce Cap Fudge had the final trial recorded using wizard film cameras. I saw everything you saw, and heard everything you heard and said up until that port key got you."

Harry was lost for words. He wanted so badly the last couple of days to tell someone about them, but now that he had the chance he didn't know what to say.

Alex must have been reading his mind as he smoked. "I know how you feel. What you're going through is the beginning stage of what used to be called battle fatigue. Now it's known as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD in muggle speak. It's a deadly beast that you'll have to face a long time, but it can be beaten and imprisoned. Dumbledore knew you'd be going through it after the Triwizard Tournament and asked me to help you out; a special job for him."

Alex paused and asked, "You want to hear my story?"

Harry nodded.