Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter, I only own this plot!

A/N: Lady Kiara, thanks again! Harry-an-Ginny, I'm glad that you loved it! Thanks! Please Read & Review!

--- Chapter Three ---

Dumbledore's man through and through

Remus, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody arrived some minutes later to The Burrow. They gave each of the teens Portkeys that would take them back to The Burrow if they held them for more than three seconds. Mr Weasley conjured a Portkey to take everyone to the twins' shop. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the guard touched the Portkey and went to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George were waiting for them with a big smile on their faces. They showed Harry their new inventions but they stopped at one item.

'Hey mate,' Fred said. 'Take a look at this!'

'Too good are these.' George continued.

'Weasleys' Stunning Powder-'

'We got the idea from a Muggle movie, were they threw some weird balls-'

'And people fell to the floor dead!'

'Impressive,' Harry said. 'I suppose you will be selling them to the public don't ya?'

'I dunno,' George said. 'These things could be great against Death Eaters, I'll show them to Moody later.'

'That's loads better mate,' Harry agreed. 'I wouldn't like to suffer the effects of these things, I think they could be vital in a fight.'

The twins showed Harry the new merchandise until Mad-Eye called Harry and the others. They all went outside and headed towards Madam Malkin's shop. Tonks and Kingsley went with the girls and Mad-Eye and Remus went with the boys. Harry already had the robes Mr and Mrs Weasley had given him for his birthday so he tried to help Ron with his robes. As always, Ron tried to get orange robes, because of their similarity to the Chudley Cannons, but Harry and Remus hopefully could break through Ron's stubborness and convinced him of buying dark blue robes that didn't clash with his hair. Harry and Ron were finished in no time, but the girls weren't.

'Oh bloody hell,' Ron said bitterly. 'We will have to wait ages till Hermione and Ginny decide that they are ready.'

Harry chuckled but knew his best mate was right. They paid for Ron's robes and waited till the girls came out of the "Girls part of the shop".

'Oh come on! They can't be that slow,' Ron said, growing more annoyed as minutes passed by. 'We could be visiting the Quidditch Supply Store right now.'

'Great idea!' Harry agreed. He turned to Remus. 'Can we go for a bit?'

'Um, I don't know, let me check with Ton-'

'Yes we go,' Mad-Eye growled. 'I must admit that Weasley is right, they spend too much bloody time in there.'

Ron beamed while Remus went to tell Tonks about their visit to the Quidditch Store. While they walked towards the store, Harry was disappointed to see that Diagon Alley was deserted. The few people who were outside were moving quickly and seemed terrified. Harry, Ron and Remus entered the store and Mad-Eye stopped in the doorway, his electric blue eye spinning in all directions, checking for Death Eater activity.

The teens were instantly charmed with the newest version of the Firebolt, the "X-treme Firebolt". A sign posted above the broom said that it reached 260 km/h in only ten seconds. The price was outrageous; twenty thousand galleons. Remus was too interested in a pair of Keeper's gloves, but he couldn't afford them.

'Oi Ron, come here this might be interesting...' Remus called and showed him the gloves.

'Nice gloves!' Ron praised. 'But I wont be playing Quidditch...'

'Why not?' Remus asked suspiciously.

'Er, we d-don't plan on re-returning t-to H-Hogwarts.' Ron stammered.

Harry had been hearing the whole conversation and a pang of guilt invaded him; Ron wasn't returning to Hogwarts because of him, and now Ron would be in real trouble. Remus' face was very stern as he pushed them out of the store. Mad-Eye looked amused.

'What makes you think that you wont be returning to school?'

'It was my idea Remus,' Harry said. 'But we wont be discussing this out here, when we are back at The Burrow we'll talk.'

Ron cringed as he imagined his mother's reaction at the situation that was arousing. When Harry thought that the worst had already passed, Hermione, Ginny and the rest of the guard reunited them.

'What's up guys?' Tonks asked. 'Why the long faces?'

'Not now Tonks,' Mad-Eye barked. 'Everyone hold to your Portkeys, we are going back to The Burrow.'

'Harry and I will go to the Ministry to get his Apparition license.'

'Don't think I will forget this argument Harry, the second you are back at Ron's house, we will have a little chat young man!' Remus warned.

Harry rolled his eyes, and turned to Tonks, still surprised about the trip to the Ministry of Magic. 'Are we going now?'

'Yup,' answered Tonks. 'I'll have to Side-Along Apparate you.'

'Okay,' Harry replied. He waved goodbye at the rest and grabbed Tonks' hand. 'When you are ready Harry, one, two and three!'

Harry felt the usual, horrible sensation of being forced through a very tight rubber tube and the next thing he saw was the Ministry's Atrium full of people and reporters. Tonks was horrified, but it was too late, the reporters swarmed to where Harry was standing and bombarded him with questions.

Tonks pushed past the reporters and opened a path for Harry to reach to the security guard, who asked them for their wands, measured them and scanned them.

'Eleven inches, phoenix feather core, been in use six years. Correct Mr. Potter?'

'Yeah'

'Thirteen inches, unicorn hair core, more than ten years in use. Correct Auror Tonks?

'Yes, yes. Now hurry up Eric, please.'

As the reporters, led by Rita Skeeter, tried to force entry to the Ministry, the old guard gave them their wands and called for some Aurors to control the reporters. Tonks and Harry rushed to the elevator and only inside they could rest. The doors of the lift shut with a loud BANG and the lift started to go up slowly. They had to go to Level Six, the Department of Magical Transportation. Incredibly, Hary and Tonks were alone in the lift, so Tonks seized her chance.

'Why was Remus angry?' she asked innocently. 'He is so used to pranks, who knows what have you done to enrage him to that point?'

Harry couldn't stiffle a chuckle and replied, 'There was no prank, Ron slipped out that we will not be returning to Hogwarts, and Remus didn't like that.' Harry lowered his head. 'I want to continue school, but I can't, not with Voldemort at large.'

Tonks gave him a sympathetic smile and told him. 'I know these are difficult times, Dumbledore's murder and Snape's treachery proves it, but you should live on, quitting school wont change anythi-'

'I will not discuss this here Tonks, too unsafe, people could be eavesdropping...'

'Right you are kiddo! Besides, this is our stop.' The lift had stopped in Level Six and Harry and Tonks stepped off.

The entrance of the Department of Magical Transportation was simple. Walls were painted in dark green and in the centre of the room, there was a small counter. Three corridors led to this room. One was labelled as "Apparition Point", the other as "Entrance" and the last wasn't labelled. They went to the counter and a girl received them.

'Hello,' she said in a monotonous voice. 'How can I help you?'

'Hi, my name is Harry Potter and I have to take my Apparition License.'

The girl was wide eyed and stammered. 'T-the Harry P-potter? Could I have your auto-'

'Come on girl, get a grip!' Tonks scolded her. 'We haven't got the whole day.'

'Please forgive me,' she seemed frightened. 'You should go through the Entrance corridor. Go inside the third door on your left. Have a good day.'

Harry and Tonks walked through the assigned corridor and entered in a door labelled "Apparition Test Centre". The room behind the door was medium sized. It was an empty sitting room with a counter. Next to the counter, there was a wooden door. Harry headed to the counter and, to his surprise, saw that the receptionist was Alicia Spinnet.

'Hi there Harry!'

'Alicia!' he greeted her warmly. 'How are you?'

'I'm very well luckily, how are you?'

'I've seen better days.'

'You will have to wait till the current exam is over, your examinator will be Wilkie Twycross, the same who taught you at Hogwarts.'

'Okay...'

'How is the Quidditch team faring without the best Chasers in Gryffindor's history?' Alicia joked.

'I dunno, Sirius Black was Chaser a long time ago, he played with my father!'

Alicia punched him jokingly in his arm. 'You can't deny that Katie, Angelina and me made a great trio.'

'Sure thing, but we have found suitable replacements. Ginny Weasley, Demelza Robins and Katie are good also, but now Katie finished school.'

'I know, you will be great this year, you still have the best Seeker Gryffindor had since James Potter.' Harry blushed. 'By the way, are you the Captain?'

'Since last year.'

'Congratulations!' a flying memo landed in Alicia's desk. 'I guess the other boy already finished. Good luck!'

The door opened and Neville Longbottom emerged. He looked slightly nervous but he smiled at Harry. 'Good luck' he told him.

Harry headed towards the door and both Tonks and Alicia gave him thumbs up. Alicia also gave him a big smile, and Harry couldn't avoid blushing a bit.

Wilkie Twycross was waiting in the other side. The room was dimly lit, but it was spacious. The same old fashioned, wooden rings they had used to practice at Hogwarts were scattered around the floor.

'Hello Mr Potter, as you surely must remember, my name is Wilkie Twycross and I will evaluate you. The exam is not complicated. It will be divided in three parts. Part one will consist of Apparating inside each ring in order. Points will be deducted if you have one foot outside the ring or if you step over the ring's borders. In part two, I will show you photos of three rooms, you will have to Apparate to each one and come back. Part three is optional, it is about Side – Along Apparition. There is no license required to do this, but I could give you some tips to avoid future splinching of either yourself or your companion.'

Harry was a bit nervous, but he knew he shouldn't have any problem. In his last adventure with Dumbledore he already had done Long distance Apparition and Side – Along Apparition. This should be a piece of cake.

'When you are ready Mr Potter,' the instructor said. 'we shall start.' With a wave of his wand, a numbers from one to ten appeared over certain rings. 'Please Apparate in each ring. In numerical order.' He added as if Harry hadn't understand.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, mumbled 'okay' and observed the first ring. He was determined to get to his destination, which he imagined as if he was standing there. Now he had to move with deliberation. 'I really want to get there' Harry thought. He combined this three thoughts and, with really loud CRACK, he Apparated inside the first ring.

'Well done Mr Potter,' the old man praised. 'Continue please.'

Harry Apparated in the ten rings in quick succession, landing perfectly in all the rings. 'Excellent Mr Potter. Now we will proceed to the second part of the examination.' Twycross handed him three photos, each one was numbered. 'I want you to Apparate in the first house, after I Apparate inside.' Harry nodded and the instructor vanished with a swirl of his robes.

Harry looked at the first photograph. It was a nice, cozy, wooden cottage. A little forest with lush vegetation emerged behind the house. A small dog house was in the front. He concentrated on his destination, in front of the cottage, next to the dog house. He was determined to get there and impress Twycross and deliberately wanted to get there, he didn't want sheer luck to help him. The next thing Harry saw, was Wilkie Twycross seating in the entrance of the house.

'Well done lad! Now off we go to the second house,' He vanished again.

Harry looked at the second photograph and saw that it was Honeydukes. He smiled and realised that he didn't have to concentrate much to get there easily. He Apparated in the doorway of the famous shop, but was disappointed to see that Hogsmeade was empty with the exception of a smiling Mr. Twycross.

'Great performance, now we will go the third destination.' And he Disapparated.

Harry looked at the third photo. This time he had to Apparate inside the house, in a room which looked familiar to Harry. Harry concentrated on his destination, deliberation and determination and Apparated next to the instructor.

'Very good, now we go back to the examination room in the Ministry if you please.'

They both Apparated back. Harry was too curious. 'Um, sir?'

'Yes Mr. Potter?'

'Where did we go in the last Apparition?'

'It is a room of the Leaky Cauldron. Why do you ask?'

'It seemed familiar.'

'Okay. Now we must do the last part of the evaluation, if you wish.'

'It wont be necessary Mr. Twycross. But I have one question sir. How do you Apparate silently?'

'Oh! Good question!' Twycross seemed delighted that somebody tried to better their Apparition. 'That is an ability that you will be able to control with time. You need experience, in fact it is very similar to casting non-verbal spells. First you need to master Apparition, and then you will need to use extra concentration to avoid the loud cracking noise. Is it clear?'

'Yes sir. Thank you very much!'

'Don't mention it. Miss Spinnet, the receptionist, will give you your Apparition License. Good Luck!'

'Goodbye sir.'

Harry turned round and opened the door. Tonks was waiting for him and smiled when she saw him.

'How did it go?'

'Excellent! I didn't fail even once!' Harry was beaming. Alicia Spinnet walked to where he was standing.

'Here you go Harry, your Apparition License! Well done!'

'Thanks.'

'Twycross was ecstatic, said you got full marks!' Harry smiled proudly. 'It was so nice to see you, we should meet more frequently don't you think?' Alicia was a few inches away now, and Tonks tried, but failed miserably, to stiffle a giggle, in spite of this, Alicia didn't stop. Harry was blushing furiously now, and managed to take a step back.

'It was really nice to see you too, we could get together more fre - frequently,' Harry stammered while saying the last word, seeing how Alicia was cornering him. He couldn't help but notice that Cho had cornered him similarly on that mistletoe. However, the situation was very diferent now. He liked Ginny, but had to restrain himself, and it wasn't worth to hurt Alicia as he had hurt Ginny. He was determined not to lead somebody to danger so he told her. 'Er, I've got to go Alicia, we could meet another time I'll owl you.'

'Oooh, what a pity! I'll see you at Bill Weasley's wedding!' She covered the few inches that separated them with a step, hugged him and gave him a big kiss that would have landed on Harry's lips if he hadn't moved his head just in time. Tonks was laughing uncontrollably now. Harry couldn't have blushed redder than he already was.

Harry walked through the corridor that was labelled as "Exit" and Tonks followed him, still giggling. Harry didn't want to think at the twins' reaction when Tonks would tell everyone what had happened.

'I think Harry has got a new admirer!' Tonks teased him.

'Oh shut it,' Harry blushed again. 'It's not my fault.'

'Oh yes it is,' she looked as if Christmas had come early. 'It is your fault that you turned out to be so cute!' Harry blushed even more, but Tonks was too tempted so as to let this chance pass, she morphed and turned into an exact copy of Alicia Spinnet 'Oh Harry it was sooo nice to see you again!' She turned back into herself and giggled maniacally.

Harry was glad that she finally had stopped her teasing, but he couldn't believe how could a day turned out to be such a bad one. He still had to talk with Remus and face a furious Mrs Weasley, and then a big teasing from the twins and Ron would come. In spite of all of this, he still wanted to return to The Burrow as soon as possible. Tonks, Harry and two other men entered in the lift and went down to the Atrium. A big mocking smile was plastered in Tonks' face, so Harry decided to face the elevator's wall.

They finally got off at the Atrium, and as they walked to the Apparition point and Harry was bracing himself for a big argument with Remus, the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, and his Junior Assistant, Percy Weasley, appeared. The Minister limped till he was in front of Harry

'Harry Potter!What a surprise to meet you here!'

'Hello Minister.' Harry greeted him wearily. He pointedly ignored Percy.

'Auror Tonks,' the Minister continued. 'How are you?'

'Pretty well sir, thanks for asking.'

'Harry have you thought about my last offer?'

'I am still Dumbledore's man Scrimgeour.'

'Potter you should be more respect-' Percy tried to say.

'SHUT UP WEASLEY!' both Harry and Scrimgeour exclaimed. Percy blushed and lowered his head.

'Come on Potter, I am only asking you for support, to raise everyone's morale.'

'How could you talk about raising morale, you are raising Voldemort's morale by apprehending wrong people!'

'You – don't – un – der – stand!' the Minister couldn't hide his anger.

'I know that I am supposed to tell the truth, I will not be you poster boy, at least not when you are misleading the people.'

'Harry Potter, you are not gaining anything by standing up for something a dead man said! Look how he ended up! Only because he believed in second chances. He may have been a powerful wizard, but he was also a fool. Everyone knew Sna-'

'DON'T YOU DARE TALK BAD ABOUT ALBUS DUMBLEDORE YOU COWARD!' Harry bellowed. 'YOU ARE FRIGHTENED OF WHAT WILL PEOPLE THINK IF YOU CAN'T GET DEATH EATERS AND YOUR BEST SOLUTION IS CATCHING INNOCENT PEOPLE? EITHER SOONER OR LATER YOU WILL FALL, AND PEOPLE WILL KNOW ABOUT YOUR DOINGS!'

'You will never shout at me as you had already done, you arrogant boy!'

'I will do as I please.' Harry said coldly.

'Oh, honestly,' the Minister scoffed. 'You are just seventeen years old, you can't do anything.'

'At Dumbledore's funeral I was sixteen, and yet you wanted to bribe me with an Auror position to be your poster boy. I'm fed up with you, goodbye.'

Harry pushed past Scrimgeour and Percy and headed towards the Apparition Point. As Tonks followed Harry, reporters flooded the Atrium and bombarded the Minister with questions. Harry Potter couldn't help but smirk seeing in how much trouble was the Minister now.

Tonks whispered him. 'You are really Dumbledore's man through and through aren't you?' Fawkes appeared and landed on Harry's shoulder, answering her question.