Here's my next chapter! I hope you enjoy. And keep those reviews coming; I look forward to them.
I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 5: Beginning
"Come on, Harry! You can do better than that!"
"I'm not an auror!" came the protest.
"Though you've already beaten one," Remus said ruefully, nursing a bruised arm. Harry had hit him with a particularly powerful stinging jinx. "Well, ex-auror, anyway."
"Exactly. You're out of practice—no offense," Harry added quickly as Remus raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Her, on the other hand...insane!" he exclaimed, barely blocking a stunning charm in time and sending his own back at his opponent.
"I heard that!" Tonks called, laughingly dodging his poorly aimed spell. Without even hesitating, she then sent back a barrage of varied spells, all intended to humiliate or incapacitate without actually injuring. Out of sheer desperation, Harry dove to the ground, firing off a round of stunners with a tripping jinx and a few stinging charms thrown in. The young auror either avoided or deflected all the stunners, but the trip jinx caught her unawares. Harry's last stunner met its target in Tonks's shoulder. She went down hard, her expression one of surprise.
Remus congratulated Harry with a grin before reviving Tonks. "Ugh," she grunted, rubbing her shoulder where Harry's stunner had hit her. "You were shooting nothing but stunners the entire time. I didn't expect the trip jinx."
"That's why I did it," Harry replied, smirking in triumph.
"That is a good strategy," Remus began, "but you still ought to vary your spells. If all you do is shoot stunners and shield charms, you'll just tire yourself out and not do any damage to your opponent."
"He's right, Harry. The element of surprise is your best weapon, but there are better ways to do it. Take this, for instance," Tonks said, and she morphed her face into an exact replica of Narcissa Malfoy.
"I don't get it," Harry stated, feeling very confused.
Tonks grinned. It was a very strange expression on her current face. "Not many people know I'm a metamorphmagus. Now imagine I was dueling with Lucius Malfoy. Neither of us has the advantage, and he's using dark spells. Then imagine that in the middle of the duel, dear old Lucius finds himself facing his dear little wife. He'll hesitate—perhaps only a second, but the surprise will catch him off-guard. And that second's hesitation is all I need to deal the 'killing blow,' so to say."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Clever," he said, an idea forming in his head. "Let's go again."
Tonks and Remus both grinned and Remus, having an idea of what Harry might try judging by the look on his face, conceded the duel to Tonks as she was clearly anxious to redeem herself.
The two combatants resumed their positions about twenty-five feet apart the trampled, overgrown yard behind Harry's newly-acquired house. Remus double-checked the protective spells that kept nearby muggles from seeing the lights from their spells. Standing well clear, he counted down slowly, then: "Begin!"
The air was immediately filled with a rapid-fire of colorful spells and shouts as the combatants cast, dodged, countered and blocked. Before too long, when Harry judged the time to be right, he closed his eyes while shouting, "lumos maximus!" He dropped to the ground immediately, feeling the passage of a spell breeze past the top of his head. Tonks was temporarily blinded by the sudden flash of light, but continued to fire spells in the same general direction. Harry rolled to one side, concentrating hard on his still-immature morphing abilities to mimic Tonks's appearance as best he could. While doing so, he cautiously made his way closer. It had been only a few seconds since his spell, and any second Tonks's sight would clear. When he was close enough, Harry started his assault anew.
Harry knew the exact moment Tonks regained proper use of her eyes. She blinked a few times, then her eyes widened in shock, her spellwork faltering. Harry grinned and threw a stunner into the opening. The young auror tried to dodge but it was too late. The spell sent her unconscious to the ground. Laughing, Remus revived her.
"You weren't a metamorphmagus last summer!" Tonks accused heatedly the moment she was conscious. "Or you wouldn't have looked so clueless when you saw me morph."
Harry adopted a sheepish grin. "To be honest, I didn't know either until yesterday. Remus figured it out, actually," he explained, and related the story of his so-called accidental magic.
"That's the initial reason we wanted your help, so Harry could learn how to use his ability. Then, of course, we remembered that you were a fully qualified auror and a good student, so you can help with his other studies as well."
"Plus an extra hand will get this place habitable twice as fast," Harry added cheekily as they reentered the cottage.
"You mean to put me to work?" Tonks's expression of mock horror was only partly faked. Harry grinned and nodded as he started assembling the food for lunch.
"You'll be a welcome help. And I daresay Harry will get tired of me before long. You have more energy than me."
"You're not old, Moony!" Harry protested. "But you are boring," He tacked on as an afterthought.
Remus smiled slightly. "Thank you for that, cub," he responded.
Lunch passed easily. Tonks interrogated Harry and Remus about Harry's metamorphmagus talents, which Harry occasionally showcased with great pride. By the time they finished eating, Tonks had a good idea of Harry's range of abilities. So, she put him to work practicing.
Harry was able to successfully imitate nearly every change Tonks demonstrated for him. It wasn't always perfect and especially at first it took several minutes. They also discovered that while Harry could alter his hair, skin color, and facial features, including eye color, any way imaginable, he was unable to make any more than the most basic changes to his body type.
"Remus was right, then—you're only a partial metamorphmagus, though you can do more than I expected. You're already pretty competent. And you have one hell of an imagination," Tonks said, smirking. "All you really need is to keep practicing until you can make any change or series of changes faster than the eye can blink."
"You seem to have more difficulty changing multiple things at once," Remus observed, glancing at Tonks to make sure he was allowed. She didn't interrupt, so he continued. "Occlumency will help with your concentration, as will silent casting."
"Do you know Occlumency?" Harry asked Remus.
"I know a bit. As a werewolf I'm immune to most mental attacks, but I know a little more of its counterpart—Legilimancy. You know, the art of entering another's mind."
Harry nodded then turned to Tonks. "Do you know Occlumency or Legilimancy?" he asked her.
"I know the basics—it's part of the requirements for auror training. I could maybe help you get to my level, but after that, you're basically on your own."
"But you can help me?" Harry asked, addressing them both. "Because last time didn't end so well."
Remus grimaced sympathetically at the reference to his lessons with Snape. "I suppose. But you've still got time before this study hour ends, and I think Tonks is getting impatient," Remus said with a slight smile. Harry smiled back, a little sheepishly, and turned back to Tonks, giving her his full attention.
"Well, it's about time," she said huffily, but she winked. Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Remus nodded to the pair and departed. Once he was gone, Tonks spoke. "Well, I think the only thing left for your morphing to keep practicing, so we'll do normal transfiguration. Is there anything in particular that you ever struggled with, from any year?"
Harry thought for a moment but shook his head. Transfiguration had always been one of his stronger subjects. "But I'd really like to learn conjuring," he said hopefully.
Tonks eyed him, clearly doubting that there was nothing he'd ever struggled with in transfiguration. "I don't believe you, but I'll give in this time. If you have trouble with it, we're going to go through every one of your course books to make sure you aren't forgetting anything," she said, grinning dangerously. Harry felt as though he ought to brace himself, though against what he didn't know. Tonks's smile just looked dangerous.
When the allotted hour ran out, Harry retrieved his brand-new Ancient Runes text and Remus, who had taken the course at Hogwarts, began Harry's first lesson in the subject. Tonks occasionally chimed in, also having taken the class though only through O.W.L. level. When she wasn't helping teach, she was helping clean or completing assignments for her own work. She was still an auror, even if she wasn't in the field. She had an easy evening shift at the actual Ministry, but to her dismay, there was still plenty of paperwork to keep her busy in and out of the office.
When Remus finished the Ancient Runes lesson—leaving Harry's brain feeling like mush—he and Tonks worked together, helping Harry increase his arsenal of spells to use during duels. They also worked on silent casting. Harry didn't make much progress in the latter the first day, but he became competent with two new, useful spells for dueling. At the end of the time the three of them had a short mock duel to test Harry's ability. By then Tonks had to leave for the Ministry, leaving Harry and Remus to work on tidying up the kitchen to take a break from spell work. Then Harry took out his Occulmency book to try and make sense of it.
Harry didn't get much out of that half-hour of studying, other than the first step to a protected mind was an organized one. The text explained that the mind—memories and knowledge—must be organized somehow to allow for a defense. At first Harry had no idea how to begin, and he felt a hint of resentment because "organize your mind!" had been one of Snape's favorite commands during Harry's disastrous Occlumency lessons with him the previous year.
After reading farther, however, the book gave a clearer explanation. Basically, one had to organize his mind like a king would prepare his castle for invasion—everything in its proper place, the important things hidden away and the weapons at the ready. The book suggested picking a setting that could be defended, and then sort one's memories within it. After some thought Harry decided to organize his mind like a bookcase. Books would represent groups of related memories or information, sections of the bookcase would be by topic, and shelves would be by year and divided into Hogwarts and the Dursleys'. He didn't have time to begin right away, but at least he knew where to start. And he decided that the easiest way would be to start with his most recent memories and work backwards.
After his break, Harry spent an hour with Remus learning about healing and healing spells. When Harry asked how he knew so much, Remus said it was because of his time with the Marauders with pranks going wrong, not to mention the many full moon romps they'd had. James and Sirius had forced him to learn the spells and then teach them.
As already evidenced in Harry's third year, Remus was a very effective and patient teacher. Harry learned three simple healing spells in the hour allotted as well as the basic theory behind them. The same was true of Potions, which came after dinner. Remus took the time to explain the why behind the use and preparation of ingredients in terms Harry understood and patiently correct him when he made a mistake. As a result Harry learned more in that single hour from Remus than he had in five years with Snape.
"Why did I never think of tutoring before?" Harry lamented as he bottled his third successful potion of the evening, knowing exactly why it was successful.
Remus chuckled. "You'll have to find that out on your own."
Harry grinned and nodded, then he joined Remus in clearing their brewing area. Afterward they moved into other areas of the house, slowly but surely making the little cottage livable. It may even be worth it to get extra furniture by the end of the week, Harry thought as he surveyed the restored bedroom they'd been working on.
It was in the last hour before going to bed that Harry began the process of organizing his mind. He started with that day, carefully cataloguing the things he'd learned as well as memories of the banter he'd shared through the day with Remus and Tonks. Then he slowly worked backwards, day by day. Remus sat nearby in a conjured chair reading one of Harry's new Defense texts.
It wasn't long before Harry realized just how many memories he had, and how many were completely insignificant yet still necessary to organize. With that he realized why skilled Occlumens were in such low supply. The process was incredibly tedious, more so than the average witch or wizard would bother with. But Harry now recognized just how important it was that he learn the skill, and so he took his time with each one, sorting it carefully into its place. By the time Harry decided to go to bed, he'd only made it back to his last day at Hogwarts, just over a week ago. But Harry was willing to put forth the effort if it meant he could end this war sooner rather than later.