Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Warnings: Violence , Gore and Lemons(Much Later)

Chapter 26

Harry found himself at Hogwarts. It was summer and the grounds were flourishing with greenery and the sun was high up in the sky. Harry looked around, and thought it was quite odd that there wasn't anyone else outside.

"You're dreaming." Came a voice that sounded surprisingly like his own.

Harry turned around and was surprised to see himself, looking at him intensely. Harry groaned. 'Not again!'

"How've you been?" asked the alter.

"Like you don't know. You're a representation of my subconscious, you know everything I do." Harry replied starkly.

Alter smirked. "And do you know why your mind is pulling me out of the depths you buried me and your talents into?"

Harry didn't acknowledge that question with an answer.

"You know don't you? You need your talents, you need to stop holding yourself back!" Alter said forcefully.

"It's not normal! I don't want a repeat of what happened to me first year."

"You were the one who decided to stop hiding! You promised Hermione that you would do so!"

"Why are you asking me this? I know all this already Damnit!"

"So why are you acting the same way as you have been, continually ignoring things that concern you! Look how that ended up."

"Stop . . ." Harry whispered warningly.

"You chose to let Pettigrew live, even though your instincts told you that it wasn't going to end well . . . you ignored the serpentine nature of the voices that you heard in your second year . . . and who was the one who paid the price? . . . Sirius is still on the run . . . and Hermione-" Alter couldn't finish his statement as Harry flung out his left hand at him, sending him flying away.

"DON'T EVER GO THERE!" Harry thundered, his eyes glowing dangerously, his hand still directed at Alter's form threatingly.

"YOU NEED TO FACE THE FACTS! YOU NEED TO TAKE CONTROL!"

Harry woke up abruptly, stifling his gasping breaths. Organizing his memories by his progress in Occlumency had put a stop to his nightmares, but a new problem had sprung up. His mind had made up it's mind that it wasn't doing enough, and took every chance to shove his errors in his face.

Harry knew that he wasn't normal . . . even by Wizarding standards. His Vampirism was another thing that had him even further placed away from others. He had decided right after his first year that it would be better for him if he was to hide his capabilities. He had been scared. Scared of what he might become. Scared of losing his friends. So he had changed himself, made himself as normal as could be allowed. He had slipped a few times, but he was sure that they wouldn't have any consequences.

He couldn't let himself continue this way. He needed to exert himself again.

-X-

Hermione cast a contemplative glance at Harry, tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. The three teens were lounging around in the hall, after another morning of training. They were to begin in their Dueling training soon, and Hermione was excited to finally find out how the spells that she had been researching up until now stacked up against the others. She had a basic idea of what Harry had been studying, but not anything more. It was much more basic than she had come to expect from Harry. Judging by Harry's . . . acquired fondness for theatrics, she had thought that he would have chosen some of the more flashy spells.

And from the glimpse of the spells that Daphne had used in training, and what she knew of her character, Daphne would cover spells that caused pain. A lot of pain. Hermione herself had thought about it objectively. She had made a list of all the top duellers in the Magical World, studied their techniques, and adopted whatever she thought would suit her best. She had chosen a very defensive style of Duelling. She hoped that her ideas weren't completely wrong.

Glancing again at Harry, she was a bit confused at his recent behaviour. It had been nearly a week since her talk with Perenelle, and she still hadn't got the courage to tell Harry about her feelings. She had considered asking her mum for advice, but given the recent revelation, she didn't think that that talk would go over too well. And this was further complicated by Harry's odd behaviour.

He hadn't touched a book all week.

Now this wouldn't have surprised her before this summer, maybe a little, but not so much that she would be worried. He still sat with them, but she often caught him staring off blindly. He was obviously thinking about something. And not knowing about what he was worried about, worried her.

-X-

"Duelling, as per Official rules, means squat in a war." Perenelle started. "In an Official duel, there are a myriad of rules, and just as many types. It might be an Honour Duel, or a duel to settle a Blood Feud, or anything under the sun. In war, it's pretty simple. Kill or be Killed." Perenelle finished. She noted that Harry shifted slightly at that statement.

"That is a fact that you have to get used to. Now, I will not be training you to be a murderer, but to make the right choice when an opportunity presents itself. Many of the Aurors of Law Enforcement quit altogether, or opt for a desk job after they have claimed their first kill. But there are others that grow stronger from it, it hardens them. Motivates them to make themselves better to avoid a repeat of the situation." Perenelle said. It was really hard for her to do. Hermione and Daphne were looking pale, but she admired them for the fact that they hadn't bolted. They had potential.

Harry clenched his fists tightly, a prickling feeling of pain running up his arm as he tried to block off the images that rose up in his mind.

He wasn't a stranger to Killing, but to be fair, he had only ever taken one life. Professor Quirell. And that was ruled out as self defence, and nearly everyone had forgotten about it. But, Harry knew better. Quirell's death was anything but self defence.

"Hermione, Daphne. You're up first." Perenelle's strict tone brought him out of his musings, as he relaxed his grip.

Harry observed the both of them. The Professor's statement earlier had set them both on edge. This wouldn't end well.

Harry's private thoughts were proven right as both of the participants were too distracted to think straight and were making errors that Harry knew they wouldn't make.

Perenelle pursed her lips, and called out his name and Hermione's. Harry walked up, and as he crossed Daphne, offered her an encouraging smile. She didn't notice it.

"Start!"

Harry flicked his right arm, and his wand jumped into his palm from where it was strapped to his wrist holster. As soon as the wand was in his hands, he intoned.

"Stupefy!"

"Protego!"

Hermione's shield had no trouble blocking his stunner, and she retaliated with one of her own. Harry stepped slightly to the side, making sure to keep his balance. Loosing balance during a duel was not good. Harry didn't wait as Hermione's stunner sailed past him and cast a Full-Body Bind followed up by another Stunner almost immediately. He saw as Hermione's eyes widened and she jumped to the right.

That action of hers would cost her the duel.

Harry took advantage of her slight delay, and cast another two curses back to back.

"Augamenti, Glacius."

Hermione was too surprised by the large amount of gushing water heading straight for her to react, her hearing saturated with the sound of rushing water. She hesitated as she thought of the many different ways that she could counter. So absorbed was she in her thoughts, that she missed the second, Freezing Charm that Harry had cast.

Predictably, Hermione slipped and another Stunner marked the winner of the duel.

"That was . . .nice, actually. Good work, Harry." Perenelle said, an intrigued expression on her face. 'I wonder . . .'

Harry nodded wordlessly and walked over to Hermione, with a quick 'Ennervate' Hermione opened her eyes, blinking several times in confusion. Realization seemed to dawn upon her, and she sunk her head low, her expectations and confidence shattered.

"I lost." She whispered.

Harry knew that any words of encouragement that he offered her right now would only deepen her pain, and chose to stay silent. Perenelle had no such qualms. He growled low in his throat at her statement.

"Well, looks like at least someone knows how to handle themselves in a duel. Glad to see that not all of you are useless idiots." Perenelle said haughtily.

"This was her first duel . . .she's bound to make mistakes." Harry defended.

"And? What about you? Isn't this your first duel as well?" Perenelle asked challengingly.

"No. It isn't." Harry responded in a clipped tone.

'Of course it isn't . . .the real question is. . .how good are you, and why don't you want to show it?' Perenelle thought to herself, as the beginnings of a plan started to build up in her mind. She knew that she would have to apologize to Hermione later. She didn't do that bad after all, her shield were good, and her dueling style fit her personality. The only thing she needed to improve upon was her speed, and not over-analyzing which spell to use.

"Harry, Daphne. You're up. Start!"

-X-

Tonks sighed as she looked over at the amount of paperwork that she had been putting off until now. It was one of the perks of being a Trainee, paperwork.

Glancing down at the large amount of forms and reports, Tonks decided that she needed a break. Lifting her cloak from behind her chair, she put it on and walked to the fireplace. With a quick shout of 'Diagon Alley' she disappeared from the office. She still hadn't thought of a gift for Harry's birthday, and there was now only a week left!

She scoured many shops thinking about what she could give to Harry, it was his Maturity, and she wanted to give him something special. She wasn't sure why it was that she was trying so hard, but one thing that she knew was that she wanted to make her place as a friend, in Harry's mind and heart, permanent.

As she walked out of a shop that specialized in custom works, she felt the need to eat and stopped for an ice cream. While eating her blueberry ice cream, with sprinkles, mind you; her mind wandered to the first time that she had met and properly talked to Harry.

Flashback- Harry's First Year

Tonks slammed the book shut, startling the others at the table she was sitting at in the Hogwarts Library. It had been a month since she had completed her O.W.L's, she had thought that Sixth Year would be relaxing, everyone had said so, and so far, she wasn't convinced.

"Anything?" one of her friends asked.

Tonks shook her head negatively, and picked herself up, intending to get another book, from the humungous collection of books stockpiled in the Hogwarts Library. Walking towards the Restricted Section, she caught sight of a relatively short, painfully thin boy. A Gryffindor Firstie, by the looks of it. That was odd, most Gryffindor's preferred to study in their Common Rooms, issuing books that they might need, but more than that, He was a First Year.

Walking closer, she identified the boy, he was Harry Potter! The Boy-Who-Lived!

Tonks looked at him curiously, he was craning his neck, as if trying to catch sight of as many books that he could. It wouldn't help him though, he would need a Permission Slip to acess the Restricted Section, and no Professor would give out those to students before Third Year at the earliest.

"Hey, what are you searching for?" Tonks asked, holding in her snigger at Harry's startled expression.

"Um, nothing. Sorry" Harry hastily said, and Tonks watched amusedly as he ran off. Tonks thought that he might have been planning to sneak some of those books off.

-X-

The second time that she had met him, funnily enough had been in the Library again. This time he was accompanied by the Weasley brat. Honestly, Hogwarts had seen too many of them. She still remembered the Star Seeker of the Gryffindor team, back when she was a Firstie. Charlie Weasley had virtually slaughtered the opposition every time he took off on the broom. But, Harry would later come close to almost beating his record, by his Second Year no less. Harry was simply amazing in the air.

"This is ridiculous. We're never going to be able to accomplish this!" Marie said.

"Well, Flitwick did say that it was a difficult Charm." Tonks said, turning the page as she read another book that had some theory behind the workings of the Disillusionment Charm. "And, it would really help for my Auror Traning."

"Well, I don't want to be an Auror. I want to be a researcher! Why do I have to do it?" Marie whined. Typical Gryffindor.

"Well, irrespective of what you want, everyone has to pass their N.E.W.T's" Tonks supplied.

"Come on Marie, let's take a break. We'll come back after. . ." Rick cajoled. Tonks rubbed her eyebrows wearily, Marie's boyfriend didn't want to work at all. All he wanted was to get into her pants. And he wanted to become an Auror!

"Yeah." Marie responded with a blush.

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Horny bastard." This was why she didn't want a boyfriend.

"Come on! Harry, we have been here for an hour already, we won't find anything here. We should ask Hagrid, he must know about huge three headed dogs." Came a brat's voice, piquing Tonks curiosity as she heard Harry's name. She looked around and spotted the duo near the Magical Creatures section.

She watched as the Weasley brat tried unsuccessfully to distract Harry way from whatever he was doing. Tonks was honestly surprised by the dedication and seriousness that Harry was showing, curious intelligence shining in his eyes. She was surprised when he suddenly looked up from the book in his hands and looked directly at her. She hastily looked down, and it was only after she did so that she realized that she shouldn't have to do that. She was his senior, irrespective of him being the Boy-Who-Lived. He should show her respect!

By the time she had organized her actions and thought through, she looked up to find that Harry was no longer in the Library and Tonks was left wondering why was it that Harry wanted to know about a Cerberus.

Well, she could help out a little . . . Harry looked as if he was desperately searching for it. Besides, it felt good to help out a cute Firstie. She walked up, and slipped in a note with the name and description of the Cerberus, in the book that Harry was reading.

-X-

"It's been a week, and the only progress that any of us has made is turning blurry." Tonks said. She had asked a couple of others if they had made progress with Flitwick's assignment, but her group appeared to be the only ones who had made any progress.

Tonks opened up the same book that she was reading last week, figuring that she might have missed something the last time. As she opened the book, she was surprised to see that there was a scroll kept between the pages. Curious, she took out the scroll and began reading it.

Disillusionment Charm- A Charm that is used to hide the magical presence from view.

Incantation- Amittere Fidem

To cast this charm one must visualize the whole object that one intends to hide. It's success depends upon both the caster and the object that we intend to hide. More powerful the object, the harder one must try, sometimes casting particularly loudly might help. Visualize the object in its entirety, and then imagine it not being there. There are some methods written below that might help.

P.s. – Thanks.

Tonks read the whole note in amazement. She had a pretty good idea who might have written this, but it simply couldn't be possible. Harry was a First Year, this was a Sixth Year charms spell. And the way he had written it, sounded as if he had tried experimenting himself. There were some basic mistakes, particularly the loud casting part. Tonks figured that he might have not known how to vary the amount of magic poured into the spell. But despite the inconsistencies, it proved the fact that Harry was a genius. And if she was right, powerful to boot!

She turned towards her friends excitedly, and told them about how she had helped Harry, and what she suspected he had done to repay her help. Their reactions were not what she had expected.

"The brat's a freak! No child can do this. There must be something wrong with him." Rick hissed as he shoved the scroll away from him in disgust.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at his action and words. She turned towards Marie, expecting her to scold her boyfriend. She didn't. Tonks scowled.

Tonks was livid. "You're just jealous because you don't want to admit that a First year can be better than you! I'm done here."

Tonks got up from the table, and angrily shoved the table. In her anger, she missed the hurt look on a child's face, who later walked out hurriedly, desperate to keep his composure.

She never saw Harry visiting the Library alone after that. The little game that she had started had come to an abrupt end.

-X-

Tonks was not happy. Not at all. Exams had been cancelled! Sure, it might be a cause for celebration for the majority of the school, but she had worked hard the whole year. And the arrogant jerk, Rick would be reaping the rewards. It wasn't fair, she was looking forward to showing him her superiority.

Huffing, she finished her lunch early, and made her way towards the Black Lake. Hearing the steady rhythm of the waves always calmed down her mind. And if it didn't, antagonizing the Giant Squid was always fun. There was also the rumor that was floating around that Professor Quirell had died last night and somehow, Harry Potter had been involved.

She hadn't thought about him that much after he had stopped visiting the Library on his own. Nowadays, she always used to see him with a bushy, brown hared girl. He looked happy, and Tonks didn't want to spoil that. She figured that there must be a reason he stopped coming.

Walking towards the lake, she was pleasantly surprised to see the object of her thoughts chucking stones into the lake, a lost expression on his face. Tonks noticed that he looked lost. She was surprised, for the second time, when he suddenly looked up at her. What was with the kid? Can he sense someone is watching him?

She walked closer to him, and sat down beside him.

"Hey, my name's Tonks. You're Harry right?" She asked with a polite smile on her face.

Harry gave her a non-committal nod.

"Well, I just wanted to thank you for your help with the Disillusionment Charm. I was the only one in class that accomplished it." Tonks spoke.

"It wasn't me." Harry replied softly.

Tonks immediately knew that he was lying, she might have believed him if she wasn't sure that it was Harry who had left her the scroll. She figured that he simply didn't want to talk. Well, too bad. She was in the mood to vent.

Tonks smiled fondly as she remembered the bewildered expression on Harry's face after she had spontaneously started ranting and raving about the unfairness of the exams being cancelled. She hadn't expected him to vent out on her as well. Apparently, he had seen Quirell die. She remembered that she had been horrified, and apologized for her thoughtlessness. He had smiled at her, and told her that she had helped. They had spent the rest of the afternoon talking.

She now knew that it wasn't Quirell that Harry had faced, but Voldemort. And he hadn't simply watched him die, he had been partially responsible for his death. She was a little amazed that Harry had handled it so well.

The summer after that, she had written a letter to him, but receiving no response to it, hadn't bothered writing another. She had spent the rest of her summer at an Internship at the DMLE.

Tonks walked into a store that sold enchanted items. She had read somewhere that in the olden days, gifting a watch symbolized a sort of rite of passage. She figured that a person's Maturity was a close enough situation.

"Hello. How may I help you?" Asked the shopkeeper.

"Yes. I am looking for a watch, preferably similar to the muggle ones. Something that will appeal to a 14 year old. . ." Tonks replied as she began looking for any timepieces that stood out to her.

"Ah, shopping for your little brother?"

"No. . . it's for a friend." Tonks responded. She had never considered Harry as being her brother. Little brothers were supposed to be snotty nosed brats that made your life miserable. Harry wasn't anything like that, quite far from that actually.

Tonks was standing in front of the Infirmary, waiting for Harry to come out. She had been too busy with her N.E.W.T's to talk to Harry after he had apologized to her for not answering her letter. His reason was a bit ambiguous, but Tonks hoped that he wasn't lying to her.

When she had heard that Hermione Granger, Harry's friend had been petrified, she had made time to make sure that Harry was alright. Seriously, every time something went wrong at Hogwarts, Harry was somehow involved. She hadn't believed the rumours about Harry being the Heir of Slytherin for a moment. The very idea of Harry attacking another student, just on the ideals of a delusional Founder was ridiculous. Anyone who had made the time to get to know Harry as a person would realize it.

Tonks straightened her stance as she heard the doors to the Infirmary open. Harry walked out with a furious expression on his face, which soon relaxed as he caught sight of her. Tonks lifted her arm in greeting, and after a while Harry returned her gesture.

"How you holding up?" Tonks asked.

"Okay . . .I guess."

Tonks frowned. "C'mon, you are bound to be a little angry. Hermione's your friend right?"

"Getting angry won't help Hermione get better." Harry responded sadly, releasing a tired sigh. Tonks couldn't come up with a response to that.

"Tonks? Do you know of any magical creatures that can petrify people?" Harry asked of her.

Tonks wracked her brain for an answer, but there were only a few monsters that were capable of totally Petrifying a Witch, and all of them were ruled out owing either to the inhabitable environment of the castle or their extinction. Tonks shook her head negatively. They continued towards the great hall in silence.

"Tonks, why are there flecks of paint on your robes?" Harry asked her.

Tonks was thankful for Harry's question. She was beginning to despise the uncomfortable silence, and couldn't think of any way to break it. Nevertheless, she had thought that she had vanished the paint from her robes.

"Where?"

"They are only a few drops on your back." Harry responded embarrassedly.

Tonks chuckled at his embarrassment, but wondered how he had caught them. He hadn't spent much of his time observing her back. He's highly observant. So far she had gathered that Harry was a highly observant, powerful genius. And that was besides the affable personality that he seemed to slip into whenever there weren't many people present.

"I was practicing a bit of duelling earlier; I thought I cleaned up everything. Never was much good with household spells." Tonks chuckled embarrassedly.

"For your Auror Training?" Harry asked curiously.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Tonks asked.

"I . . um, overheard you talking about it last year." Harry responded.

Tonks brushed off the offence that he had committed by eavesdropping on her, and clarified. "It's okay, and yeah. I was training to make myself better in duelling."

"Do you think I could come practice with you? I know I am a bit young, but Lockhart didn't exactly teach us anything worthwhile." Harry asked.

Tonks snorted, Lockhart was a bit of a joke amongst the upper year students. Well, some of them at the very least.

"Sure. Meet me outside the tapestry of the Rampaging Radship, on the Third floor after classes." Tonks said as they reached the great hall and made their way towards their respective house tables.

-X-

Tonks laughed heartily at Harry's affronted look, red paint dripping off his face. It had been two weeks since she had started to train together with Harry. Though she didn't teach him some of the spells she was practicing, one thing that she did teach him was that not all duels were staged. Some were downright dirty.

"You cheated! Again!" Harry spluttered as he wiped the paint off his face unsuccessfully.

"And whose fault is it for not learning? Hmm?" Tonks asked merrily. Harry just grumbled in response.

They were practicing a variant of the standard duels that Aurors had to do. It wasn't common information, but Tonks had it on good authority that Auror Applicants were pitted against each other to show their duelling skills. Tonks wouldn't admit it under the pain of death, but she knew that she wasn't the most graceful of women. Her Metamorphmagus powers gave her an extremely unpredictable centre of gravity. That could be countered by choosing a base form and practicing in it, and before now, Tonks had never had ample reason to stop changing her body on the whims of her mood. And watching Harry's expressions during practice was just a bonus . . . honest.

-X-

Tonks examined the black metal watch that the shopkeeper had told her was quite popular these days. It was something that was similar to Muggle wristwatches and Tonks had figured that Harry would like it. It's silver display, with crescent moons for hands was something that Tonks thought looked quite fashionable.

"I'll take it!" Tonks caught the shopkeepers attention.

"Excellent choice ma'am. Would you like some Enchantments to go with it?" the shopkeeper asked eagerly, hoping to increase his sales.

"No, just the watch." Tonks replied. She would do the Enchantments herself, she figured it would be a nice gesture.

"Ah, very well then. That'll be 16 Galleons."

Tonks was surprised at the steep price, but figured that she wasn't exactly hurting for money. Paying the shopkeeper, Tonks went her way, with a noticeable skip in her step.

-X-

Harry ducked under a Stunner thrown by Hermione, and was just about to jump to the side to better position himself, when Perenelle shouted at them to stop. Harry sighed, a little relieved. Hermione's and Daphne's rate of progress was astounding and Harry feared that he would have to showcase more of his skills, which would inevitably lead to inquisitive questions by Hermione later tonight. He didn't intend to hide this from her; he just thought that it would be better if he talked to her first before he sprung this on her. She wouldn't feel betrayed that way.

After her initial baiting, Perenelle had backed off, apologizing to Hermione, telling her that stressful situations often brought out the best in people. Hermione had accepted her apology, a little abashed at the powerful Vampire's words. But, Harry knew there was more to it.

"Well. It seems that I won't have to do much with regards to your Duelling; we will just add a few hours of Duelling every day to your schedule. You all performed very well, but remember, the spells that you use now are the most basic ones, you will need to learn and practice much more complicated and powerful spells before you can truly start to develop your Duelling style."

The three teens nodded sombrely.

"Well, that's it for today. Make sure that you practice your Occlumency daily, you will need to have it somewhat mastered before we go through with the Gedzetzel Ritual." Perenelle finished her statement firmly.

Harry thought about that. The Gedzetzel Ritual was something that he wasn't looking forward to. It was a complicated process that combined two separate Rituals into one. Basically, it increased the Magical Core of the practitioner, and also increased the Magical Pathways present throughout a Wizard's body. It had it's limitations though, first of all, it could only be performed once a year, and for almost a week following the ritual, the Wizard would be left feeling very weak. It also could be performed by an individual a maximum of three times. Perenelle had informed them that they would be the first minors to perform it.

Harry grimaced slightly as he thought about the obvious pain that the Ritual would cause.

-X-

After arriving back at the Granger household, Harry excused himself to freshen himself up. But, on opening his door he found that there was an owl waiting for him, under Hedwig's stern glare.

Relieving the letter off the owl's letter, and again asking Hedwig to check it over, Harry was surprised to see that Ollivander had written to him.

Greetings Lord Potter,

I write this letter in regards to your commissioned wand. I am happy to say that I have located the final ingredient that will allow me to give birth to my finest creation to date! I can barely control myself. But, I was hoping that you would be willing to assist me on this, as I have a theory that I need confirmed. There's nothing to worry about, though, you may have to consent to go on a trip with me, a maximum of two days is all I ask.

Hoping for a positive response,

Garrick Ollivander.

Harry was intrigued to say the least, and very excited. Quickly fishing the rooms for some parchment and quill, Harry wrote his positive response and tying it to the owl, watched as it flew out the window.

(Chapter End)

A/N:- I'm sorry for the lateness for this update. But . . . never mind. I would really like to know if this chapter was believable? I intend to make Harry OOC, but not too much. It was one of the reasons this chapter took a bit longer . . . please send your thoughts through a review!

Until next time . . . .