Chapter 11: Potter Manor, OWLs and Animagus Training

When Harry and Tonks took the protkey from Griphook's office, they arrived in front of a rather ornate gate set into a wall and flanked by stone gargoyles which seemed to be watching them (and Harry's new gift of mage sight confirmed the fact that they were enchanted in some way, he presumed they would come alive and attack intruders), also the area was covered in wards so powerful they could actually feel them.

They assumed that this was the entrance into the expansive Potter estate. As they approached the gate, Harry saw there was a keyhole in it, and having no better idea of how to get in, he placed the portkey in the lock and turned…to discover that it was indeed the correct thing to do as the gate swung open.

They followed the path in what they supposed was the direction of the house, and 10 minutes later, the dominating structure came into sight. It appeared to be of ancient design, more like a (not so) small castle fortress than a house really.

Eventually they arrived at the large, solid oak, doors, to find that there was no door handle of any description, nor a key hole or any other method to gain entry.

After a moment's pause, Tonks spoke up from beside Harry. "The house has been abandoned for a long time, so it has locked itself down…it's a feature that some of the very old family homes have. To get in, all you have to do is to claim the house the same as you did at Grimauld place earlier and it should let you in." she explained with a shrug.

Harry complied, and when he completed the ritualistic incantation for claiming a dwelling as your own, the doors swung open to admit them.

The room that they walked into was an enormous, yet somehow elegant, entrance hall, with marble flooring and a large ornate staircase carpeted it red leading up to the next level.

After standing for a moment, taking in the view, by mutual silent agreement they proceeded to check out the rooms on that floor and then all the others.

On the ground floor they found a formal dining room that could easily seat 100, which opened up into a large ball room. There was also a formal sitting room.

On the first floor was a less formal dining area and a sitting room, obviously intended for use with family and friends, whereas the lower one was for playing politics and dealing with people you would rather duel than entertain.

They also came across a massive library, so large in fact that it would easily put the Hogwarts one to shame, being approximately 4 times the size.

The room next to that was a large study/office area which had doors to both the library as well as out into the hall.

The Second floor had a large room that was obviously designed for training and duelling, both magically and with weapons (of which there was a vast collection lining the walls). It also had eight bedrooms of fairly large size, there were also four bathrooms, each connected to two of the bedrooms.

The Third floor was comprised entirely of bed and bathrooms, having 12 and 9 respectively. There were 3 sets of two rooms which were connected as on the previous floor as well as six rooms that were of a larger size and had their own bathroom.

The fourth and final floor had four bed and bath combinations that were even larger than the previous ones, the bedroom easily being 70'x50'. The final door on this floor was to an even bigger room, approximately twice the size with a bed that looked as though it could sleep a dozen with room to spare. Harry surmised that this was the master bedroom and that the others on this floor would probably be intended for children and other members of the family to use.

All in all the house was very impressive, and Harry was sure that on any other occasion he would have been extremely proud to call it his own. At this moment in time however, he was exhausted considering he hadn't fully recovered from his exertions with his new teachers' power boosts before having to go to the order meeting…that in itself had also been tiring as well as then going to Gringotts which was not only physically tiring but also mentally. Then he had just walked through this entire house, which was no mean feat either.

"Well, I don't know about you but right now I'm just gonna crawl into bed…unpacking and sorting stuff out can wait 'til morning." Said Harry, matching actions to words and getting undressed before climbing under the covers and into the middle of the gigantic bed.

Smiling seductively, Tonks walked towards him, removing her clothes as she went. "Want some company in there?" she asked in a low voice.

Staring at her now nude form, which he had never fully gotten used to seeing (probably because she changed it everyday in one way or another…this time she had blue hair on top and pink down below, was very thin and had very large breasts, obviously designed to turn Harry on) he could only nod.

She climbed into the bed and straddled Harry's naked body, before bending down and kissing him passionately and grinding her pussy and ass into his rapidly expanding cock.

He groaned and started pushing up against her, increasing the contact and slid his hands up her body to cup and squeeze her tits and tease her nipples with his fingers.

Sliding slowly down his body, Tonks licked along his chest and stomach and then enveloped Harry's cock in her warm, wet mouth, sucking hard.

Soon after, she released him for a moment while she spun around and pushed her pussy into his face, before resuming her efforts.

Knowing a good thing when he got it, Harry began to franticly lick at her moist opening.

They continued like this for several minutes until Harry exploded straight into her mouth and down her throat. This was enough to send Tonks over the edge and she had her own orgasm moments later.

Tonks crawled up beside Harry and snuggled up against his body with her head on his chest.

Within a matter of a couple of minutes, they both drifted into a deep sleep, drained from their long days as well as their recent activities.

Many hours later, the couple awoke to the sounds of many owls beating at the windows of the room they were in.

"woz goinon?" yawned Tonks intelligently.

"Owls at the windows." Came Harry's reply.

Figuring that there was really no other solution, Harry walked from one window to the next, opening them all.

Harry and Tonks quickly threw some clothes on and worked together for several minutes to remove all of the letters from the birds who had lined up patiently to await the retrieval of their burden.

"Will you help me go through all this lot? I have no idea why so many people would be writing to me on one day!" Harry exclaimed, once all of the birds were on their way.

He tore one open and began to read:

Potter,

I listened very carefully to what you said to Dumbledore at the meeting and to what his reasoning was once you had left.

I don't approve of what he's done to you or the way he is working.

He isn't the person I thought I knew.

I know you have no reason to trust me. I'd be disappointed in you if you did so without proof. But you should know, I and many others have now left the Order.

I don't know if you will or not, but if you have use of my services, send me an owl and we'll arrange a meet…somewhere public…to discuss it.

Awaiting your reply.

A. Moody

This pretty much set the tone of the majority of the letters (except the others didn't come across quite so paranoid.) There were however, ones from other people who didn't support him at all and were trying to convince him to go crawling back to Dumbledore begging for forgiveness…these were promptly burned.

Tonks found much the same thing, and working together they compiled a list of names of people to talk to and sound out about where they actually stood…neither was stupid enough to take this at face value, but it was interesting.

When he only had a few more to read, Harry came across one that he immediately knew was different. It was sealed with the crest of the ministry of magic with the letters "W.E.B." stamped over it.

This was the letter that he had both been dreading and hoping for.

His OWL results had arrived.

Seeing what he had and also recognising it, Tonks came and sat next to him, wrapping her arm round him and wanting to look over his shoulder while he read them.

"They're not gonna open themselves you know, loverboy. You've gotta read 'em sometime." She said cheekily.

Steeling himself for the worst, Harry tore them open and read:

Dear Mr. H. J. Potter,

Please find below the results for the Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) examinations you took at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this summer.

Grade Key:

Pass Grades

O – outstanding (80%)

E – exceeds expectations (70%, 80%)

A – acceptable (60%, 70%)

Fail Grades

P – poor (50%, 60%)

D – dreadful (40%, 50%)

T – troll (40%)

Please note: Where appropriate the result will be broken into practical and theory portions. The results will be displayed in the following format:

Subjecttheory gradepractical gradeoverall percentoverall grade

Results for candidate HARRY JAMES POTTER:

AstronomyEA73E

Care of Magical CreaturesEO82O

CharmsOO91O

Defence Against the Dark ArtsOO110O

DivinationEA64A

HerbologyOE79E

History of MagicPN/A55P

PotionsOO90O

TransfigurationOO95O

Congratulations Mr. Potter, you have received 8/9 OWLs.

Additionally, it should be noted that you scored the highest score in Defence Against the Dark Arts in recorded history (over 60 million students worldwide), and it was only the second time that bonus points have ever been awarded in any examination.

If you should wish to contest any of your results then please inform us as quickly as possible.

Likewise, should you wish to test in additional subjects that were either not offered or not taken at your school then you should contact the Wizarding Examinations Board (W.E.B) at your earliest convenience to make arrangements.

Yours Sincerely

Prof. G Marchbanks

(chief examiner, W.E.B.)

Harry was amazed at his results, and was sure some one had made a mistake. Once he had read it several times and double checked that the parchment was indeed addressed to him, he broke out into a huge grin.

Tonks, who had read the letter along with him, gave him a quick kiss.

"Congratulations, Harry." She said, smiling at him. "You did way better than I did when I was at school." She added pulling a sour face, that just made him laugh.

When they had both sat down and calmed enough to talk seriously, Tonks asked a question that hadn't even crossed Harry's mind.

"When you've got all this training stuff done, you should test in the other OWLs and see if they'll let you do your NEWTs early, that way you won't have to worry about them later, should you consider getting a job anytime…what do you think?"

"Do you think I would actually be able to take them? I mean I've never studied the other subjects and NEWTs are really hard." He began before she cut him off.

"Harry, were you born dense, or do you practice it? You have the bloody founders of Hogwarts and MERLIN HIMSELF teaching you!! And you want to know if you'll be ready to take a few OWLs and NEWTs?!?!" she asked in total disbelief.

At this point Harry blushed deeply, evidently he hadn't thought of it like that. Sighing and deciding to get it over with, Harry said "You don't even know half of it." And proceeded to explain what had happened the previous morning, the power boost and the transfer of memories.

At first, Tonks didn't know what to say. She wasn't really the jealous type when it came to power and ability, she knew she was above average and that was good enough for her, so there was no problem with that. No, the problem was that she just hoped there wouldn't be any negative side effects for Harry, and that he wouldn't get tempted by the power and stray to the Dark side (though she doubted he would allow that to happen).

Eventually, she decided to take the practical perspective. "That's great really, it should really help with everything that is to come. Well so long as you learn to control everything properly." She added.

Sighing he replied "Yeah, I know…since yesterday morning I've had to make a real effort to hold back almost all of my power when I've done any spells…hopefully with time it will be easier."

Seeing that it was still relatively early, Tonks walked over to some of the things they'd brought with them and started putting together two breakfasts.

Once they were finished eating, Tonks asked Harry, "Would you mind if I borrowed Hedwig for a while?"

Pretending to look thoughtful, Harry replied "Well, that depends…what're you gonna do to her?"

"Hmm…well I was thinking of tying something to her and throwing her out the window…it might be kinda shaped like an envelope…" she said, playing along.

"Ok, I guess that's fine. Who you writing to? Or am I being too nosy there?" he asked carefully.

"Nah, it's fine…just wanted to write a quick note to my parents telling them I'll probably be out of touch for a while but that I'll see them at the will reading." She replied casually.

Harry paled at this. It wasn't the mention of the will, he knew that was inevitable and had been prepared for that for a while now. It was the realization that Tonks' parents would be there and that he'd probably have to talk to them…and that was one conversation he wasn't looking forward to…I mean what was he supposed to say? "Hi, Mr and Mrs Tonks, I'm the guy who's been sleeping with your daughter"? he grimaced at the thought.

Watching him out of the corner of her eye, and guessing at what was bothering him, Tonks said. "If that look is because you are worried about having to meet my parents, then don't worry, they're nice people and I'm sure you'll get on fine…granted, it might come as a bit of a shock to them that you're my boyfr…" she trailed off growing embarrassed before speaking again, "Sorry, that could have been a bit forward of me…we never actually talked about it, I mean I know we've been sleeping together and have been doing stuff with each other, but are we actually together or not?" she asked, uncharacteristically nervous and shy.

Blushing madly, but knowing that really this conversation was past due, Harry replied, "Umm…I don't know. I mean I'd like to be if you would but I won't push for it if you'd rather not."

Launching herself at him, Tonks pulled Harry into a massive hug and gave him a kiss that blew his mind before crying "YES! Of course I want to!" and kissing him again.

Some time later, when they had recovered and had a shower (which took considerably longer than it should have since each insisted on thoroughly washing the other's body), the pair headed down to the training room they had seen the previous day.

No sooner had Harry closed the door behind them than Merlin appeared in the room.

"Greetings, young ones. I trust you are well?" asked the spirit with a smile. "I see we have had a change of venue since last we visited…well, looking around I think this will be for the better as far as our work is concerned." He said happily.

"Good morning Merlin. Yeah, this is apparently my family's traditional home. So, what are we going to work on today?" asked Harry eagerly.

The old man smiled widely at the teen's enthusiasm. "Well, as you recall from our talk yesterday I am going to be covering several topics with you. I thought that I would begin with the one I believe will be easiest for you and one I sense you would vastly enjoy. I believe today we will cover the animagus transformation."

At this, Harry got a massive grin on his face, this was something he had wanted to do since his third year when he first learned about them and that his dad and Sirius had done it.

"I know I can't actually transform 'cos I've tried before, but do either of you mind if I watch?" asked Tonks.

Neither did so they began.

"Now, I know you have seen an animagus transform before so you know some of the basic mechanics of how it works." Began Merlin, slipping into 'teacher' mode. "It is simply a piece of wandless magic in which you focus your magic inwards towards the core of your being while focusing on the animal's form.

"Now, as I'm sure you are coming to expect at every turn, there is something special about your abilities." At this, Harry rolled his eyes and muttered something along the lines of 'it figures'. "You are what is called a 'vertomagus' or a transformer. What this means is that you can assume any shape you wish. This happens whenever someone possess both the skills of animagus and metamorphmagus, the powers merge together to form the third, more potent version of the changing magics."

Surprisingly, Harry seemed to take this in his stride…then again, it wasn't exactly the most shocking news he had received in the past few days.

"Ok, so how do I do this then?" he asked.

"Well, the first thing you should know is that I had this ability as well…in fact, I, like you, had practically every special magical ability that is known to some degree or another. But, I digress. You simply have to fix in your mind's eye how you want to look after the transformation…the same way you did when you thought you were using ordinary metamorph powers. Now, altering your appearance while in human form is the easy bit, forcing your entire body to change is more difficult. Becoming an animal will vary in difficulty depending on how different the form is to your natural one, and becoming an inanimate object will be harder still, but I believe you should be able to manage all of these tasks to some extent within the day.

"We shall begin. You have already fairly mastered the ability to change you human appearance, due to the tutelage of your fair maiden here" he continued with a nod and a smile towards Tonks, who was only slightly offended by being referred to as a 'fair maiden', "so next we shall perform the animal transformations. Choose an animal and focus an image of it in your mind's eye…but be aware of your surroundings, I would not recommend one that relies on water to breathe for instance." At this, the young couple chuckled slightly, Tonks in amusement and Harry out of nerves.

"Do not worry my child. The change back to human form is far easier than it's counterpart, so you will not be stuck. Now, focus on the image and force your magic inwards and imagine yourself as that animal." Instructed the old wizard.

Harry complied, trying to decide on the animal. Deciding to pick something fairly simple, Harry pictured a cat.

He followed his teacher's instructions and moments later felt a strange feeling of compression and expansion in his body for about a second before he opened his eyes and saw that everything was suddenly much bigger.

Merlin and Tonks both congratulated him on his achievement, neither had expected him to get it on the first try, but just as Harry was no longer shocked to learn he was special in terms of magical ability, those surrounding him were no longer shocked when he achieved the impossible.

Harry was walking around, getting used to this new form, all of his senses were heightened and he was rather enjoying the experience.

Then, wanting a closer look, Tonks picked him up, and Harry, not expecting this turn of events, let out a loud screeching meowing sound, much to the young woman's amusement. "Awe, poor kitty! Did I frighten you?" she said in a patronising voice.

Harry had had enough of this after a few minutes and decided to change things a bit. Well, if she wants to play with a cat…he thought.

Moments later, Tonks found that she had her arms around, not a cute little black cat like she had previously, she was now holding a particularly large golden lion, which promptly roared at the top of it's lungs before brushing against her, knocking her to the ground with ease.

By this point, Merlin was outright laughing at the antics of the pair in front of him.

Harry crawled along Tonks' body, pinning her down and holding his face near her own, bearing his teeth and growling low in his throat…all in all it was enough to make the young auror wish she hadn't wound him up earlier.

Deciding she had been punished enough, Harry got off her and changed back to human form.

"Bravo, Harry!" said Merlin "I had hoped you would realise you could change from one to another without having to become human in between. And Miss Tonks, what does this teach us?" he asked as though talking to a small child, "Ah, yes, never provoke him in one form because he can instantly become anything he wants…and some things aren't quite as cute and cuddly as even the lion was." He finished with a grin.

"That lion was not cute and cuddly." Muttered Tonks, but not quiet enough.

"Harry, I think we need to teach your young lady friend a bit of a lesson." He said with a wicked gleam in his eyes. "by the way, when I said you could become any creature I was also including magical ones….perhaps you can think of something that Miss Tonks might find a bit more threatening than a lion."

It took a moment for Harry to realise what Merlin was asking him to do, he then thought back over all the magical creatures he knew of. His decision made, Harry changed.

Tonks, who hadn't really been paying attention, was momentarily paralyzed with fear when she looked up and came face to face with a manticore, one of the most dangerous creatures in existence. She was afraid, that was, until she actually looked properly and recognised the face as a distorted version of Harry's natural one.

"Still think the lion was scary?" he asked her with a grin, that would have looked innocent enough on a real human but in this form it did little but bare his razor sharp teeth.

The young woman could only shake her head.

Back in his real form, Harry sent her a satisfied smirk, which she returned with a rather crude hand gesture.

"Well, you seem to have the hang of that aspect." Said Merlin, trying to regain some semblance of control over the situation. "Perhaps you would like to try the transformation into an inanimate object? Remember, you will still have awareness and will still feel things after these changes, you just will be a different shape and in most cases unable to move, unless that object has the ability in one form or another."

Harry thought about this and, again, decided to go with something he knew well.

Moments later, in place of Harry there was a large, comfortable sofa, which Tonks promptly sat on…and was then surprised, some what pleasantly, when it changed back to Harry and they ended up tangled together on the floor with her on top of him.

The three of them spent the next couple of hours working together on this, having a quick break for the two living people to have lunch, improving Harry's speed and accuracy in the transformations.

Eventually though, it was decided that Harry had gotten as far as Merlin could instruct him, and that the only way for him to improve would be through practice, patience and dedication, which would all take time.

Before he left Merlin spoke one final time, "I am extraordinarily pleased with the way in which you have progressed today, I was expecting it to take several more hours yet for you to even have the basics down, and months to reach the level you are at…I suppose the amount of raw power at your disposal makes it much easier. I will be watching how you progress in your lessons with the others over the next few days and you will be informed the day before our next lesson what we will be studying together. Tomorrow you will be learning under Godric, I believe he is going to be instructing you in the art of sword fighting, and he will make sure you can fight…he is unlikely to let you go until you can beat him in a fight." Seeing the confusion on the young man's face he continued "I know you have not seen us doing so, but if we want to we can temporarily become solid enough to hold objects so he will be able to fight you, however unlike you, he cannot be injured…I suggest you learn quickly to enhance your reflexes." He finished with a smile that made it clear there was more to it but that he wasn't going to be explaining any time soon.

"Ok, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks a lot for everything today" replied Harry.

After a few more pleasantries were exchanged and Harry promised to keep practicing, Merlin left the young couple alone.

The pair spent a couple of hours writing letters in response to the ones Harry had received that morning, the general message they gave was that the support was greatly appreciated and that yes, he would welcome the help, but that they couldn't be too careful and would need proof that the people weren't just there to spy and report back. It also gave a time and place to meet the following week.

That done, Harry did some more practice at changing forms, before long taking requests from Tonks, much to her amusement.

They had a late meal and then set about putting their possessions away, Tonks having retrieved hers from Grimauld place the previous day, and making lists of anything else they thought they would need…including more food.

While completing this last task, they came across a door that they had obviously missed the previous day on the ground floor.

It lead down to a basement which contained a potions lab and fully stocked supply room, complete with some very rare ingredients.

There was also a rather expansive wine cellar, and even though neither particularly knew anything about different types of wine, they could tell that these were all very old and very expensive…and promised themselves they would be sampling this stash in the near future, as both had enjoyed the results of the last time they had gotten drunk.

Another door took them still further underground into a corridor with many solid metal doors leading off it. Further inspection revealed that these doors were in fact very secure holding cells, who's doors could not be magically opened or affected by spell fire of any description due to some excellent ward work.

Further exploration took them to yet another subterranean level, this time a single room, the size of an entire floor of the house, which could be locked down and acted as a safe room should the house's security ever be compromised.

Done with their explorations of the house for the day, the couple returned early to the bedroom to further their exploration of each other.