Chapter 12

Divided Attention

Harry looked down at the girl in front of him, her elbows on her knees as she tried to catch her breath, "So, regretting your decision yet?" he teased. Susan brushed her hair out of her face and gave him the evil eye in reply, too winded to speak. He opened his mouth to continue teasing her, when he felt an elbow hit him in the ribs, "Ow! Was that really necessary?" he asked, glaring at Tonks.

"Yes," the pink haired Auror replied smirking, "you wouldn't have liked it if I had teased you the first time I took you jogging."

Harry stared at her incredulously, massaging his bruised ribs, "Uh, Tonks, you did tease me the first time you took me jogging. And the time after that. And pretty much every time since."

"And you didn't like it very much, did you?" Tonks asked matter-of-factly. Harry dropped his face into his hands and groaned, shaking his head at her deranged logic. Tonks turned to Susan who had taken the opportunity to straighten up, her face flushed as she breathed heavily, "So how do you feel?"

"Like- I'm going- to die- or at least throw up," Susan replied haltingly in between deep pants.

"Does that mean you're regretting your decision to join our workouts?" Tonks asked. Susan shook her head from side to side vigorously. Tonks laughed, "Ah, a hard worker, you really do belong in Hufflepuff, don't you," she said, draping an arm over the younger girls shoulders as they began to walk the last couple blocks back to Grimmauld Place to cool down. "I know you probably hate me right now, but trust me, you'll thank me later," she said, lowering her voice. Harry noticed Susan blush deeply and look away from him as he watched them curiously, unable to hear Tonks' last comment.

He hurried up the stairs as they reached #12 and opened the door, allowing the women to go first before following them in. As soon as they were inside Tonks promptly tripped over the troll-leg umbrella stand. Luckily Harry was prepared and managed to grab her before she fell over.

"Stupid troll-leg," Tonks muttered under her breath, "I don't know why we keep it around, we should throw the damn thing in the fire..."

Ignoring her mutterings, Harry led the way down to the basement where they had set up a training room, complete with magic resistant walls. He made his way over to the matted area where he squared off with Tonks and began the hand to hand portion of their training, giving Susan a break before Tonks would start teaching her the basics. He looked over at the metamorph who had changed back from her disguise to her normal self, "Feeling lucky today Potter?" she taunted as they slowly began circling one another.

Harry ignored her, refusing to rise to the bait. He had enough trouble avoiding getting beaten up when he wasn't distracted. No matter what he seemed to try, Tonks would always be one step ahead and he would end up flat on his back with a new bruise. Today he decided to change strategies and quickly closed the distance between them, throwing a few punches at her head. He had gotten over his fear of hitting her after the hundredth time she had knocked him down, but he would usually still try to grapple with her or let her take the initiative and try to use his quick reflexes to exploit an opening. Today he was hoping surprise would swing things in his favor. He smiled, emboldened as he pushed Tonks on the defensive, but he couldn't seem to connect as she ducked, dodged and blocked every single one of his blows. Still it was the longest he had managed to keep on the offensive, so he continued throwing punches at the metamorph, each punch just slightly closer to landing a solid blow. Tonks suddenly stumbled a little, causing her to lose her balance and he moved in for the takedown. He grinned and faked a punch with his right hand, before stepping forward and attacking with his left. He lost his grin as Tonks suddenly regained her balance, completely ignoring his fake and side-stepping his punch. The next thing he knew he was on his knees, his arm wrenched painfully behind his back. He quickly reached back with his other hand and gave a quick tap, signaling his submission before she let him up.

"Not bad Potter, I actually had to put in a little effort this time," she teased, "Again." Harry quickly moved on the offensive again, not waiting to be told twice. He felt himself grow angry as Tonks remained a step ahead of him, until she ducked under one of his punches, hitting him hard in the kidney before sweeping his legs from beneath him. He groaned as she reached down to help him up, "C'mon Potter, I thought having a pretty girl watching would give you some incentive to stop flailing around and actually hit me."

Harry glared daggers at her, but it quickly became apparent that no matter what he did, she was always one step ahead. The only times he even came close to knocking her down were mostly accidents. Time after time, he ended up on the ground and his new bruises quickly began adding up. Tonks reached down to help him up yet again, seemingly disappointed, "Alright Harry, I think that's enough for today."

Harry rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen them up as he looked at her, "One more time," he said before taking a couple steps back. Tonks shrugged and assumed her fighting stance, allowing him time to collect himself. Harry took a deep breath to calm himself, trying to forget all the taunts and embarrassment he had faced over the last half hour. He frowned as he felt something odd, before his eyes widened in realization.

He looked at Tonks, "I was wondering when you'd figure it out," she said, a cunning smile across her face as she moved towards him.

"I can't believe you, that's cheating," he said as she threw a punch at him. He blocked it awkwardly as he backpedaled, his attention divided as he tried to focus on both the fist coming at his face and the Legilimency probe she was using on him.

"This is a fight Harry, there is no such thing as cheating," Tonks explained as she advanced, splitting Harry's focus between her words, her mind probe and the punches she aimed at his head. She seemed to be taking it easy on him, only attacking just enough to keep him from concentrating throwing her out of his head.

Harry focused, nearly succeeding in pushing her out of his mind, when he was distracted by another flurry of punches aimed at his head, forcing him to drop his Occlumency for a moment as he blocked and dodged. When she backed off he shifted his focus back to her mind probe to find that it had returned to its original position, "How are you doing that?" he asked, as he once again began trying to push her out of his head.

"Think Potter, you knew Occlumency was a wandless magic, didn't it cross your mind that maybe Legilimency was too?" she asked, speeding up as she finished, with only Harry's quick reflexes saving him from a bloody nose.

He jumped back as he took a hard blow to the ribs, barely avoiding a kick that had been aimed at his knee, "I never really thought about it," he grumbled as Tonks allowed him a short breather, "you and Snape always used your wands, I just kind of assumed it was necessary." He focused on her mental attack, trying to force her out, but was thrown on his arse before he could manage it.

"Come on Potter," she said, all traces of disappointment gone from her voice, "you need to be able to hold your shields while you fight. Talented duelists will use Legilimency on you, if you can't keep them out, you won't stand a chance. We're not stopping until you manage to push me out of your mind."

Harry stood up, wincing as the new bruise formed on his bum and tried to split his attention between mental and physical fights. He felt himself become drenched in sweat as he strained to form his mental barriers. Minutes passed and new bruises formed as he struggled. In the end it took him ten minutes, half a dozen new bruises and a bloody nose before he finally managed to throw her out of his mind. He bent over and rested his elbows on his knees as Tonks came and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Good job Harry."

He shook his head, disheartened at his poor showing, "If that had been a real fight I'd have been dead a dozen times over."

"It was your first time Harry, that's why we practice," she said, "The fact that you managed it at all was fairly impressive."

Harry looked up at her questioningly, "But I thought you said-"

"That we weren't stopping until you got your shields up? It was an incentive to try harder. Remus and I noticed you seem to learn better when you're being pushed, so thought I would try pushing ahead and force you to work past your limits."

"But why didn't you just tell me you were reading my mind?" he asked, somewhat annoyed that it had taken so long for him to figure out her trick.

"Call it another lesson. I can't tell you everything Harry. You need to be ready for the unexpected, because you can never be prepared for everything," she explained as she turned towards the corner that Susan had been watching from. Harry blinked in surprise as he found Remus standing across from her wearing a pair of padded gloves that he used to block the punches she was throwing at him. He normally didn't join their practices, instead focusing on something he called his 'secret project'.

"How's it coming along?" Tonks asked as she began to move towards the others.

Remus and Susan both lowered their fists and turned towards them, "Great, Susan here packs quite the punch," he said while Susan blushed at the praise, "How about you two?"

"Pretty well, Harry finally caught on to my little trick. Even managed to push me out," she replied.

Remus grinned widely, "Good job pup," he said, reaching over and patting him on the back, "just in time too. Another day and you would have cost me ten galleons."

Harry gaped at him, "Wait, you knew?" he asked.

"Of course I knew, it was my idea," he replied, laughing at the look on Harry's face, "all of this training you're going through isn't being done haphazardly. Tonks and I are putting a lot of thought into what you need to learn, what you'll pick up at Hogwarts and how we should teach you the rest." Harry listened, impressed with the amount of thought the two of them seemed to be putting into teaching him. "Speaking of which, I think it's time we saw where your dueling skills were at, so we can see what areas need improvement."

Harry looked at him confused, "But I can't use my wand, I'll be expelled."

"What do you think I've been working on pup? I've spent the last week adding wards around this room so that the Ministry can't detect what goes on in here," Remus explained. "Not even the Trace can pass through," he said gesturing at the walls with a proud expression on his face.

"So we can use magic?" Susan asked excitedly.

Remus nodded in response, "You sure can, at least in this room."

"How come Dumbledore didn't set this up earlier?" Harry asked angrily, "I asked him if I would be able to train over the summer and he said it wouldn't be possible."

"The headmaster is a busy man Harry," Remus replied in a soothing tone, "And the wards I put up to mask your casting are both complicated and time consuming. Now, why don't you forget about Dumbledore and let's see what you're made of. Unless of course you're scared?"

Harry grinned at the challenge as he and Remus moved to opposite ends of the room, forgetting his anger at the old man. The girls moved back to stand against the wall, both grinning in anticipation. Tonks moved forward until she was standing not quite between them, "Alright on my mark," she said raising her arm, "Three, two, one, GO!" she said, bringing her arm down to signify the start of the duel.

Harry wasted no time shouting "Stupefy!" at the other wizard. He saw Remus' eyes widen as the spell crashed into his shield, causing it to waver for a moment before he followed it up with another stunning spell. Harry maintained the offensive, casting mostly stunning, disarming and binding spells at the werewolf. Remus countered by shielding or side-stepping his curses and cutting any ropes that flew towards him, but remained on the defensive, refraining from casting any offensive spells. Mindful of his lesson from Tonks, Harry slowed his casting and focusing his attention on his own mind, but he was able to raise his Occlumency shields with little effort, unable to detect any foreign presence.

Remus looked at him questioningly for a moment as his attacks slowed, before a look of understanding crossed his face, "You thought I was reading you mind?" he asked.

Harry shrugged, "I figured it made sense, reinforcing the lesson I just learned is something you would have done back at Hogwarts."

Remus shook his head, "Not this time Harry, I just wanted to test your offensive abilities to see where you needed work. Now, I'm going to test your defensive skills, ready?"

He didn't wait for Harry to respond, unleashing a volley of spells towards him. Harry ducked the first one, dodged the next and shielded the third, calling out "Protego!" just in time to block it. Harry felt sweat begin dripping down his face again as he blocked spell after spell, casting shield after shield as Remus attacked, hardly able to even mount a counter attack. He lasted almost five minutes before his exhaustion caught up with him and a stunner burst through his shield before it could finish forming, causing everything to go black.

Harry looked up groggily as he regained consciousness to find Remus standing over him, leaning down to offer him a hand up. Reaching up he allowed the werewolf to haul him to his feet, "Nice work pup," Remus said as he helped him up.

As soon as he was on his feet, Tonks walked up and put an arm around Remus, "Come you three, let's get some lunch, afterward you guys can have an hour or two to rest up before we pick up again."

As they ate, Harry couldn't help but feel disappointed in his performance. He had pushed himself to his limit, yet he'd only been able to hold Remus off for a few minutes. If Remus could defeat him with such ease, how would he ever be able to defeat Voldemort?

He looked up in surprise when he felt an elbow in his side. "What's the matter, you haven't said anything since we left the training room?" Susan asked. It was just the two of them in the kitchen, Remus and Tonks apparently having left without his notice.

Harry sighed, not really wanting to talk about it, "It's nothing," he said, pushing the food around on his plate.

Susan arched an eyebrow at him, "Right. You're just moping around for the fun of it. You've barely even touched your food. I had about half the workout you did and I am starving," she proved her words by adding another helping to her plate. "So I'll ask again, what's the matter?"

He looked at her for a moment, taking a deep breath, "It's just that, I was trying my hardest and Remus beat me without breaking a sweat. How am I supposed to stand up to Voldemort if I can't even give him a challenge?"

Susan flinched as he said the Dark Lord's name, before giving him an incredulous look, "Are you joking? You're upset because you couldn't out-duel the only decent Defense professor we've ever had?"

When he thought about it like that, it did seem somewhat ridiculous. "Fake Moody wasn't bad," he said, trying to change the topic away from his recent duel.

"He was a Death Eater," she said flatly, looking at Harry as if he'd lost his mind.

"I still learned a lot from him," he said with a shrug.

Susan rolled her eyes, "Whatever, I'm pretty sure he was disqualified from being considered a decent teacher when he tried to murder you."

Harry snorted, "Well I think that disqualifies all of them," he said, rolling his eyes.

Susan gave him a questioning look, "What do you mean?"

Harry winced as he realized what he had just told her, "All of our Defense professor's have tried to kill me at some point," he said trying to keep his tone light.

"WHAT!?" she shrieked before donning a puzzled look, "Wait, even Remus?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah, but his was an accident. He was actually trying to protect me at the time," he said, defending the werewolf.

Harry watched as she tried to wrap her head around what he had just told her. "Okay, I think you're going to need to start from the beginning."

He sighed, normally he didn't like telling anyone about his adventures at school, but he figured if he didn't she would probably just keep asking, "Well, first year was Quirrell, he tried to kill me when I went to save the Philosopher's Stone from him and Voldemort."

"Quirrell was working with You-Know-Who?" she asked horrified.

Harry nodded, slightly annoyed at her use of the moniker, "Yeah, Voldemort," he said, emphasizing the name and causing her to flinch, "possessed him to try to get to the Stone," he paused, realizing that he'd just told her that the most feared Dark Lord in history had possessed one of her teachers for a year as Susan's face turned white with terror and figured it would be best to move on. "Second year was Lockheart and to be fair, now that I think about it he never really tried to kill me, just turn me into a mindless vegetable." Susan looked at him with a combination of curiosity and horror, distracted from the thoughts that she had been taught by a man possessed by Voldemort for most of a year and had had no idea. "He tried to Oblivate Ron and I, but he used Ron's broken wand to do it and it backfired on him," he explained.

"He could actually cast a memory charm?" Susan asked, disdain for their old professor evident in her voice.

He laughed, glad that she had apparently gotten over any crush she may have had on the useless fraud, "Yeah, apparently it was the one spell he could cast."

"So, what about the others?"

"Well, Remus came to protect me during my confrontation with Sirius and the rat. Sadly it was a full moon and he had forgotten his Wolfsbane, so when we went to make our way to the castle Moony came out to play. Luckily Sirius was able to run him off and no one was hurt," Susan nodded, likely agreeing that it had been quite lucky. "Fourth year, you obviously know about. Crouch Jr. masqueraded as Moody and added a destination to the Cup, sending me to the graveyard," he stalled her as she opened her mouth to ask a question, "I know you're probably curious, but maybe some other time. It isn't something I like to talk about," he said, grateful as Susan closed her mouth and nodded. "And last and certainly least, Umbridge. She was the only one to try to kill me before becoming my professor. You remember hearing about my trial for underage magic last year?" she nodded, "Well it was for casting a patronus to drive off a pair of dementors that attacked my cousin and I. Umbridge sent those dementors and then threatened to torture me with the Cruciatus at the end of the year."

"Merlin, Harry I'm so sorry," she said, shivering as she remembered her own short exposure to the torture curse. "School is hard enough, I can't imagine trying to make it through with someone trying to kill you every year."

Harry shrugged, feeling now might not be the best time to bring up all the other times over the years when someone or something had tried to do him in. For one, he didn't think they had the time. "Well, I've seen the pattern now, so at the very least I'll be expecting it this time," he said laughing softly.

Susan watched him as if he were crazy, only to jump in surprise as Hedwig swooped past her to land on his shoulder, "Hey girl, what do you got for me?" he asked, before taking the letter off her leg. He quickly pushed part of his lunch onto Tonks' empty plate and allowed Hedwig to help herself, before he opened and quickly read his letter.

"Who's it from?" Susan asked from beside him, carefully looking away to let him know she wasn't trying to read over his shoulder in case it was private.

"Who's what from?" Tonks asked, striding into the kitchen, Remus right behind her, both looking slightly disheveled.

"Letter from Neville," he said, grinning as he took in their appearances and filing it away for later use. He was happy for both of them, but he was even happier that he finally had some ammunition to fire back with when they would tease him, "He invited me over for dinner sometime in the next couple days."

Remus looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, "Harry, I know he's your friend and I'm all for you going out and all, but I don't think you should be going anywhere by yourself."

"I'm not going by myself," he said, showing her the letter, "you're all welcome to come as well. He said to Floo call him to let him know how many to expect."

Remus took the letter, reading it carefully, "Well in that case you should give him a call. If he can deal with short notice, we'll be free tonight."