-1Chapter 4 - Summer passing

Things were smooth the during the next few weeks. The trio mostly enjoyed the quiet spending time in front of the fire, reading, and catching up. Of course that was during the beginning. During the first week of being in his new home, Harry was plagued with horrid dreams and each one drew him away from his friends. Now it was just Hermione and Ron together and stayed together or well Hermione was loyal, Harry knew that. It was Ron he soon began to question, always receiving and sending owls at all hours, sometimes even sneaking out for periods of time.

Wishing to break away from his friends after one nasty dream, he realized he would get them killed. Harry could still see Voldemort, meaning Voldemort could still see him. There was no way in hell Voldemort would take Hermione and Ron from him. So plan A: Break away from his friends. So far that plan was working.

He spent his time in the library reading books of combat, defense, tactics, anything to help him in the war. When he wasn't reading he was working on spells with Remus and Tonks who was giving him training that Aurors received. The training was slowly taking its toll, but it was worth the pain, sweat and blood.

Harry rolled quickly to his left dodging a stunning spell. One of the bedrooms had been magically turned into a battle field with burnt trees, broken down castles and blood red rivers. Harry hid behind a table inside the castle. His black combat clothes consisting of cargo pants, t-shirt, and combat boots were covered in dirt. Harry peeked around a corner aiming a stunning spell of his own, only to quickly invert it into a shattering spell pointed to the ceiling above Tonks. She had no time to dodge and stone blocks fell on her. Remus ran out of his hiding spot and Harry quickly stunned him and summoned both their wands.

He stood, stretching out his sore back and walked forward with a smile on his face. Quickly he revived Remus and freed Tonks. Both stood and dusted themselves off.

"That was cruel Harry, Tonks could have been really hurt." Remus said looking Tonks over, while she stood there blushing at his concern.

"War is cruel, and so is Voldemort. I did what I did and won the battle." Harry replied his words cold. Tonks smiled at him sadly. She had shown concern a few days ago, and asked what was wrong with him to draw away from his friends and dive frantically into battle tactics and fighting spells. Being that she was Tonks and wouldn't train him if he didn't tell her the truth. So he told her, and only her. He dreamed a shared dream with Voldemort, one where Hermione, Ron, Ginny, all of them were killed to lure him out into the open. The dream was so real, he couldn't help to believe that it would truly happen in the future. And for that he pulled away, and is learning everything he can to face his devil.

Ever since Tonks had been watching out for him, and supplying him with combat books used to train Aurors and she agreed to train him the way Aurors were trained. Since the three of them trained in this room everyday unless one was to hurt to even breathe. But Harry continued anyway, through broken fingers and toes to a pulled muscle and fractured shin. He was literally putting himself through hell, just so he could fight the King of hell himself.

"That's enough combat for tonight. Harry I want you to find 3 new combat spells and perfect them before our battle tomorrow. Get Hermione's help if you find trouble." Remus said gathering back their wands and handing Tonks hers. Harry nodded and quietly limped out of the combat room. During that battle he had a cutting spell cast on his leg, a large gash ran from his knee to his ankle at an angle, blood spewing from it. He passed Hermione in the hallway and she looked at him with worry.

"Harry?" She asked and he just waved off her question and entered his room shutting the door in her face. Her eyes filled with tears as she ran to her own bedroom. Harry grabbed a clean pair of sweats and headed for the bathroom to take a much need warm shower.

He stood under the water, steam rising from its boiling temperature which Harry liked. The water burned his skin and helped improve his endurance of pain. But yet the water melted his nerves and he actually relaxed. He finished rinsing his wild black hair, and scrubbed the dirt from his body, wincing as soap got into the fresh wound on his leg. He rinsed it out and cleaned off the blood. Without a trace of him recently fighting aside from his leg, he stepped out of the shower and dried off, dressing in his clean sweats.

He entered the library with a soft pace and saw 3 new books on the table. They were him, left by Tonks. Pleased he headed back into his room, only to have Ron stop him.

"Harry, what is your problem, acting like a child treating Hermione that way," He yelled in his face.

Harry calmly turned to him standing in his room, Ron at his door. " Don't lecture me on how to treat Hermione fairly," and slammed the door on his face, locking it with a charm. He laid his books down on his second desk. He had to get another one when his current desk was laid out with important notes and maps that he couldn't move them in fear of losing them or his place so he simply bought another desk which was covered in notes that would make Hermione seem to be a slacker. He kept notes on best places and things to cast the spell on and how to cast them the easiest. Not to mention battle scenarios that he acted out on paper writing out what tactics to use and which spell. It was good in theory and on paper, but he would only know in a real battle, but Tonks had said it was really good.

He pulled out a new parchment and rolled up the others filling them in a magical filing cabinet that stored them in order of danger, accuracy and most likely to occur. He sat down comfortable in his high back leather chair and opened the book on top. Inside were chapters of advanced spells that could shatter all the bones in the body, separate skin from muscle, clot blood in veins, stop breathing, all complex but very valuable. Each chapter was based on a spell; its history, how to cast it, and when to use it, along with a moving picture to show the steps. He found 3 as he was told to and studied its history (for he knew Remus would ask) and took foot long notes on each on how, when, where, and why.

Hermione and Ron were downstairs sitting quietly in front of the fire, what they did every night. Ron hadn't said a word to her, he was busy thinking about what Harry had said. 'Did he think that I don't take care of her? Does he know I'm cheating on her with Luna?' Loud crashes from upstairs brought Ron out of his rare thinking mode. They both look upstairs then to each other, and in a split second they had out their wands and rushed the stairs. Smoke was coming out from underneath Harry's door and without thinking of danger Hermione quickly unlocked it while Ron kicked it open.

Out of instinct Harry shot stunning spells their way. Hermione blocked hers but Ron, however, was not as quick. He was hit in the chest and flew down the hallway landing at the top of the stairs. Harry smiled sheepishly at Hermione while she dusted off her top. She glanced around the room and noticed the large whole in his bedroom wall next to his bed.

With her questioning look he answered her unspoken thought, "Spell gone wrong, no worries." He smiled broadly, but she knew he was faking it. He soon realized she knew he was faking it and quickly dropped it in hope of saving himself from a lecture. Unfortunately she wasn't letting him off the hook that easy.

"Harry what's going on?" She asked waving her wand at the wall casting a mending charm. The wall quickly patched itself up looking good as new. Harry looked away then walked over to the wall where the Horcrux notes were.

"One was the diary, another the necklace, the ring Dumbledore destroyed," his voice chocking with the thought of Dumbledore, " Hufflepuff's cup, Nagini, no idea about Ravenclaw, and just to be safe I'm destroying Wormtail's special arm." He sat down on the edge of the bed rubbing his chin in thought, unaware of the soft facial hair taking over. "Two have been destroyed and the necklace I have Dobby chasing down. Hufflepuff's cup I have reason to believe is in the Riddle house. I'm hoping that when we get the cup we'll find a clue about Ravenclaw's object." After that he just stared at the notes, almost lost but Hermione quickly found a way to bring him back to present time.

"What reason's?" She asked. He had to be sure. It would be horrible if they ran off on a hunt and ended up empty handed and Voldemort finding out then hiding the rest for them to never be found again. Then the war would truly be lost and good would fail.

" The connect is still strong Hermione. I can't sleep anymore, and I can't be around you and Ron." With his final words he stood and brushed his way past her out the door. He stepped over Ron's stunned body and headed downstairs into the basement where he currently kept a weight set. He would lift weights talking to Tonks while they watched over Remus. Some nights the potion wouldn't work. Slowly his body was gaining an immunity and they were having to up his dosage. Once that had begun Tonks was teaching him to change into a animal like Sirius and his father. His current shape was lion, red hair and a golden mane with bright green eyes. Only Tonks and Remus had seen him as such.

However tonight Tonks was in her room sleeping and Remus downstairs sitting at a desk Harry had moved down for him along with a comfy leather chair. His desk was full of paper work like Harry's only it was reports for the Order, along with a few maps with stickers on them.

"Voldemort is gaining werewolves on his side. Its rare to find those like me, in fact we haven't found any. Because of this Tonks and I are calling in a favor. An old friend of ours is coming to teach you sword fighting, along with Occlumens and Legilimens." He said running his hand through his thinning hair. He was getting old and this war was wearing down on his already shredded soul.

"Of course. I'll learn anything I can. The sooner the world is rid of Voldemort the sooner we can rest." Harry said. Remus studied him, and could see the wear and tear on Harry's soul as much as Harry could see it in Remus. The war had aged them both, but if affected Harry the most. He was a man now, the age of 17, yet his eyes, once a brilliant shade of green were now dulled by death, pain, and suffering. Voldemort stole Harry's soul with each loved one he killed. In return Harry was going to kill the bits of Voldemort's souls in return.

Harry smiled weakly before turning to his weight set, "Do you mind? Thought I'd work out some frustration."

Remus smile softly in return, "Knock your socks off. Just as long as you know your going to get chewed out by Tonks when she finds out you skipped a good nights rest again." He chuckled softly at the thought of Tonks yelling at Harry for not getting any sleep, then throwing him into a difficult training session to prove he needed sleep only to have in pass with flying colors like has every time in the past.

Harry did smile then remembering the same memory Remus was. "No worries, what's the worse that could happen?" They laughed, a real laugh. Something like that was rare in # 12 Grimmauld place these days. Because of that the walls soaked up the sound, making the room seem more friendly. Sound of metal on metal echoed through the darkened dungeon hallway as Harry forced his body to sweat and build, reshaping his fat into lean and sharp muscles which now defined his athletically toned abs.

Upstairs Hermione stared at the downstairs door, leading to the dungeon. She could have sworn she heard the brief sound of laughter. It was rare and she was sure she just heard the wind. Harry couldn't laugh anymore. Not after everything he had been through with the lose of Sirius, his parents and now Dumbledore. It was eating him alive and Voldemort was feeding off of it. She needed to get her Harry back, and she was determined to get him to open up, if it was the last thing she did. Next week their class assignments would be arriving, and what more opportune time then during their study group. Remus had agreed to teach them their assignments with the lesson plans from the teachers. So they would have class together in the library, afterwards Remus would leave them to do their class work and homework. Then she would corner him and get him to talk to her. Of course her plans had flaws, but she was Hermione, the brightest witch of their time and she was going to use that brightness to help achieve her goal.

Authors note: Sorry its been a few weeks. I was researching the Horcruxs along with my pile of homework, so I've been rather busy. I hope you enjoy this chapter, its rather longer than the first 3 which I went back and fixed what errors I knew of.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys are awesome, I enjoy writing for those who enjoy reading what I write. So thanks again and please review, cause good or bad I appreciate them.

aznqudditchchick- thanks for reading and I hope its length is a little bit better

Allowaycar
FroBoy

Hurt Deep Inside- Thanks to the three of you with your help on the Horcruxs. I phrased my question wrong. I meant to ask what objects were turned into Horcruxs but you guys helped me out with them, and I greatly appreciate it.

Synch14- yep, later on in the story. Its going to add a lot of drama and it'll be a lot of fun to write. Not to mention his battle for control, which I'm still trying to figure how he can control the werewolf after time while being in the moonlight. It wont just happen, he work for it, struggle with it. I'm not quiet sure how it'll come about. Any ideas let me know.

And of course thanks to those I didn't mention. I appreciate all reviews and you guys are great. Thank you.

The Wigster